Pure Chocolate by Amber Royer

Author:Amber Royer
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: space opera, Science Fiction
Publisher: Watkins Media
Published: 2019-03-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chestla insists that I stay with her, while the council offers lodging for Tawny and Brill at a nearby hotel. My friends are invited for dinner, though. Chestla’s papá is a chef, so it’s kind of a big deal. Tawny bows out, saying she’s ill from being out in the sun. So an hour before dinner, it’s just me and Brill sitting on a black leather sofa in Chestla’s family’s living room, waiting.

Chestla’s family’s “house” is the entire forty-second floor of one of the skyscrapers. It’s spacious enough for all the kids, and feels like a comfortable place to hang out, pero the smells coming out of the kitchen are disturbing.

“Don’t worry,” Brill whispers. “I put enough provisions on the levbots with our water to last the three of us a couple of days. I gave Tawny something for dinner, and I can sneak you some food in here later.”

“It would be rude not to eat something,” I whisper back.

Brill’s eyes go violet, showing amusement without having to laugh out loud. “I stopped worrying about who I might be offending after I got food poisoning on Cherdon. It’s amazing how different our base biology can seem with races that still manage to cross.” He wrinkles his nose towards the kitchen. “I mean, how do you mix their taste buds with mine?”

I raise an eyebrow. “There have been Krom–Evevron tewakelle?” That’s the Krom word for an interplanetary gene-cross.

Brill does laugh out loud. “You’ve never heard anybody talk about a Duracell?”

“Like a battery?”

“Something about energy that just won’t stop? It’s Earth slang, uan I’m not sure of the exact reference. They’re exceedingly rare. Like if tewakelle in general are rare, a Krom and an Evevron hitting it off long enough to reproduce is almost a myth. But most of those crosses wind up with book lungs and claws. The Evevrons recruit them young as special cops. The status and the preferential treatment tends to give them an attitude.” He makes an exaggerated face like he’s bitten into an unripe t’tel.

“You sound like you know this from experience.”

Brill shrugs. “Tyson’s partner when I first met him was a Duracell. In every sense of the word.”

“What happened?”

The violet fades from Brill’s eyes. “Guy thought he was invincible. From what I hear, he ignored Tyson’s request that he wait for backup and charged into a den full of art thieves. Can’t say it didn’t make me happy, knowing he never walked back out.”

Brill’s never been the vengeful type. What would it take to make him happy someone’s dead?

“This has to do with Darcy, no?” I hold my breath as soon as the words are out. Darcy was Brill’s best friend, who died as a result of an illegal trade deal gone bad, before I had even met Brill. Jeska had implied that Tyson was somehow involved in Darcy’s death. I’ve never pushed Brill to talk about it, and from the look on his face, now was a bad time to start. Can I blame it as aftereffects of the truth cocktail? “I’m sorry.

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