[Ben is still staring at the tooth, not with blank horror like others might, but zooming in on it from where he's standing and taking slow, deep breaths. The sharp, copper tint of blood is heady and distracting, and he would know whose it is even without the abrupt line of questioning from Rhade.
His eyes flick sideways to the door, and then quickly down at his own hands, just in case. But they're clean, marked only with a smudge of blue from a colored pencil he'd been working with before he started reading, and the interior of his new cabin is pristine.
Ben wants to protest again. He wants to say he wouldn't do this, that Kozak is neither a Nomlie or marked or a threat; that he has been obediently avoiding the man with the tail since even before the conversation he had with Rhade about it. But the fact of the matter is that none of that, really, does matter.
And he's angry. He didn't do anything but someone wants others, possibly Rhade, possibly Kozak himself, to think he did. He can't, immediately, think who would - that, too, barely matters right now.
His voice is resigned and toneless when he speaks quietly.] Will you need me to go to Zero now?
[ Spam ]
His eyes flick sideways to the door, and then quickly down at his own hands, just in case. But they're clean, marked only with a smudge of blue from a colored pencil he'd been working with before he started reading, and the interior of his new cabin is pristine.
Ben wants to protest again. He wants to say he wouldn't do this, that Kozak is neither a Nomlie or marked or a threat; that he has been obediently avoiding the man with the tail since even before the conversation he had with Rhade about it. But the fact of the matter is that none of that, really, does matter.
And he's angry. He didn't do anything but someone wants others, possibly Rhade, possibly Kozak himself, to think he did. He can't, immediately, think who would - that, too, barely matters right now.
His voice is resigned and toneless when he speaks quietly.] Will you need me to go to Zero now?