The Rule of Luck (31 page)

“Konstantin told me you were leaving for Mars, probably thinking I could do nothing to prevent it. He doesn't like the perceived hold you have on me. Nothing personal. Just not good for business. He tried to rush your travel permits. I slowed them. I needed time to consider what I had to do.”

His hand moved from my hair to lightly graze my neck and bare shoulder. I shivered.

“Consider what?” I breathed.

“I knew Roy was going to Mars. I transferred him to Venus, which was far better than he deserved. I didn't want him on the same planet as you.” The hand on my neck went higher, to my jawline. With light pressure from his thumb, he tilted my head until I looked up at him. His eyes locked with mine. They were as blue as I remembered, maybe even more so. I felt the pull then, like an ocean current drawing me back to him and threatening to drown me, just as I'd known would happen. “Then I sniped the CN-net to discover what you and Konstantin discussed at your shop. I wanted to know if his version of the story was the true one. Plus I wanted to see you again, even if it was through the filter of someone's stored memories.”

“Were you successful?”

“What do you think?”

“I don't know. I stopped thinking about five minutes ago.”

His laughter was soft and intimate. “It was difficult, given your lack of CN-net presence and Konstantin's t-mod blocks. I couldn't track the actual conversation. Then I realized that ridiculous nursemaid was the key. Doesn't speak any English or hold a thought in her head, but she was there for the entire conversation. I knew it would be in her memory blocks and I could find it on the CN-net somewhere.”

He leaned in, lips grazing my throat. I felt his hair brush my ear and cheek, and my breath hitched. His other hand rested at the base of my spine, caressing me gently through my dress. I shivered. His nearness overwhelmed me; there was no escape.

“I said you weren't allowed to touch me.”

“I don't follow rules I have no vested interest in, particularly when they're in the way of something I want.”

My head swam. “Didn't you once say when you decided to seduce me, you wouldn't need much to get the job done? Seems like you've gone to an awful lot of trouble, considering we're bound for Mars.”

“Sometimes, my bluff is called and I need to step up.” He pulled back enough to gaze down at me. “You told Konstantin we didn't have enough time. You said we could have worked through the secrets and lies if we'd had more time. We have thirty-six point five standard Earth days until we reach Mars. How much time do you need?”

The man had trapped us together on a star cruiser for over a month just to discuss a relationship? I tried to pull away. The firm hand at the small of my back wouldn't allow it, holding me still with deliberate strength.

“That's a risky move. I'm not the confused woman whose world is falling apart now. I'm starting a new life on Mars and I'm going to make it work.”

“Of course you will. I have every faith in you.”

“So shouldn't you be on Earth, leading the Consortium's charge across the tri-system? After all, you did what you set out to do. I assume you took over the Consortium's leadership,” I said, hearing the bitterness in my voice.

“Yes, it's mine now. All of it.” His tone was surprisingly bland.

“Does this mean Mr. Pennyworth will reappear at some point?”

“That project has been shelved for the foreseeable future. The side effects outweigh the benefits so I'm reprioritizing. Mars has issues that require my attention. I'm looking into the asteroid mines between Mars and Jupiter. I've heard there may be a handful of companies for sale. We've already secured the rights to building a base for human settlement on Callisto. Then, we'll see.”

Mining companies? Building on one of Jupiter's moons? I tried to imagine the Consortium controlling the tri-system's entire resource base along with access to the outer solar system. What would he do with all that might at his back? Not my problem to worry about. However…

“Then I'm not the real reason you're here.”

The pressure in the hand at my back increased until he pressed me flush against him. His other hand stroked my jaw, knuckles grazing my skin in mesmerizing circles. I felt everything then, including how much he wanted me, as he no doubt intended. “You are the
only
reason I'm here. The rest is irrelevant. The things I've spent my life chasing are meaningless—which is the only useful thing I learned in the time we were apart. If I can't make you fit into the world the Consortium wants to build then I have no desire to create it. You know what I am…Who I am…I can't undo that. All I want now is for this to matter. I need you to say you can look beyond what happened before and what I am, and tell me this means something to you.”

It was all I could do not to let him sweep me away. Already, my arms rose of their own volition until my hands skimmed along his waist and stomach, tracing the hard muscles there. I raised them so they slid over his chest and went to his shoulders. I pulled myself up onto my toes and tugged him down to me, sighing a little at the feel of his body against mine. I'd missed him, and wanted him in defiance of all common sense. More importantly, I believed him. These past months without him, I thought I'd been living. Instead, I'd barely been existing. I understood now that his fear had always been greater than mine. He may have been the next step in the evolutionary ladder, but what did that mean? Was he still human, and could I want him if he wasn't? And that fear made him very human to me. Maybe this feeling was the luck gene working overtime. Maybe it was real. Maybe I'd know for certain in thirty-six days.

“Does your room have a shower?” I heard myself ask.

“It does.” His lips were inches from mine. “Do you have something in mind that requires my assistance?”

“Maybe. We should at least go back to your room now and investigate.”

“Yes,” he agreed. “We could do that. I've never known a back that could wash itself. There are some things genetic enhancements still can't do.”

I arched leisurely against him, starting to melt inside. He molded my body against his; his hands knew exactly where to stroke and his lips placed a line of devout kisses along my throat, as if he was trying to eliminate the bruises there. He'd always known where to touch me right from the beginning, giving me everything I hadn't even known I needed.

“You know, I think I like this business of being seduced,” I murmured softly.

He pulled back then, looking down at me with an expression so intense, it took my breath away. I felt the tension sing throughout his body, demanding I answer it.

“Felicia…please.” He sounded desperate, as if holding us both back from the edge of a cliff before we tumbled to our deaths. “All this time, I've thought of nothing but you and what I had to do to become the man you needed. But I need to know if I'm what you want and that I matter to you. Or if not now, that someday, I will. Without that, I can't do this. Please, I need to hear the words.”

I smiled up at him, my heart feeling like it would burst and explode in my chest as he spoke. “Yes, Alexei, you matter. You matter to me so much I don't even know how I existed before you or how I could go on if you left again. With you here, I feel like I'm finally waking up to the rest of my life.” I felt my eyes tear up against my will. “If you make me cry and I ruin my eye makeup, I'll kill you.”

“I don't plan on making you cry,” he promised solemnly, carefully wiping away the single tear with his thumb before it could fall. “Not now. Not ever.”

“Good.” I took the hand touching my face and brought it back to my waist, arching an eyebrow at him. A slow, dark grin spread across his face—one that caused all sorts of wicked chain reactions throughout my body and my heart. “Since it looks like I have the evening free, I guess I'm open to other options. Did you plan on talking for the rest of the night, or are you finally going to kiss me? And when do I get my shower?”

“Now,” he said softly, pulling me back to him. “It all starts now.”

Then he lifted me up until my toes left the floor, and lowered his lips to mine. Tentative at first, the kiss grew deeper and bolder until only feeling remained, and I didn't need my cards to know how events would play out for the rest of the trip. As for what might follow once we reached Mars…Alexei was right. This mattered, and with luck on my side, anything was possible.

Photo Credit: Ash Nayler Photography

CATHERINE CERVENY
was born in Peterborough, Ontario. She'd always planned to move away to the big city but the small-town life got its hooks in her and that's where she still resides today. Catherine is a huge fan of romance and science fiction and wishes the two genres would cross paths more often.
The Rule of Luck
is her first novel.

by Catherine Cerveny

It used to be that you didn't often see dogs on Mars. With the strict quarantine laws bordering on the ridiculous, and the month-and-a-half-long voyage from Earth, it was easier to clone one from the pet you'd left behind. However, that tended to be expensive when you'd already spent your life savings trying to get to Mars in the first place.

When the Tsarist Consortium took over the transit routes, they'd lobbied hard to abolish the quarantine—a move applauded throughout the tri-system. One Gov relented under general pressure from just about everyone and now all sorts of pets were appearing on the once red planet. The fact that I was seated across from a woman with a teacup Yorkie was actually pretty amazing, given I hadn't known the breed still existed. That the woman wanted me to run my Tarot cards and tell the future of said Yorkie, was not. It took a concerted effort on my part not to sigh out loud or reach over to throttle the woman. Besides, I'd hate to upset the dog, who, though I was loathe to admit it, really was a cutie.

“I'm sorry, but I don't do readings for dogs,” I said, not for the first time that week. “I know…Sunbeam is a member of your family, but that's not how the cards work.”

The woman on the other side of my card reading table, Lila Chandler, was a potential new client. Definitely older, though only her eyes gave it away. They had a hardness to them that came from decades of Renew treatments and a lifestyle that said been there, done that, and had all the T-shirts she could ever want. I would have put her around ninety, or maybe even a hundred. Otherwise, she was flawless with pale porcelain skin, blond hair cascading down her back, and luminous blue eyes—and
luminous
wasn't a word I threw around just for fun. And she was absolutely filthy rich. The kind of rich that got whatever it wanted and could afford to indulge in frivolous things the rest of the world would never think about, like Tarot card readings for dogs apparently. Mars had two social classes—the ultra-rich and everybody else. I was still working out which class I fell into.

About a third of my clients were of this sort—rich, curious women with nothing but time on their hands. In fact, she was the fourth client this week who'd come in requesting a pet reading. I knew exactly who to blame for her appearance and why I was in this situation. If Alexei had been there right then, I would have given him yet another earful.

“I'd heard you'd done a reading for Mrs. Larken's dog, Puddles, and I want the same for Sunbeam,” she said instead.

Puddles belonged to Mrs. Larken, whom I'd met onboard the
Martian Princess
on the trip from Earth. She'd been old—like really old, maybe two hundred—and something about her charmed me. Maybe because she reminded me a little of Granny G, and gods knew I was a sucker for anything that put me in mind of family. Plus, I don't think my head was screwed on straight once I'd reunited with Alexei after having thought him dead for six months. When we'd come up for air, I'd met Mrs. Larken, taken a liking to her, and done a reading. Once on Mars, she'd opened doors for me I'd never dreamed of touching on my own. When she'd imported one of the first dogs allowed on Mars and asked me to do a reading for her mini schnauzer, I couldn't think of a polite way to refuse. The end result was I'd been tagged as some sort of psychic dog whisperer. And although Mrs. Larken had genuinely liked me and vice versa, Lila Chandler was something else entirely.

“Well, then perhaps Mr. Petriv might be here and you could introduce us? I'm told you're acquainted with him and he drops by quite frequently,” Ms. Chandler said, meeting my gaze with a level one of her own.

Wonderful. Now the claws were out, along with the real reason for her visit. “I'm sorry, but he isn't here at the moment. Unfortunately, I can't predict when he'll decide to drop in.”

“Oh, that is too bad. In that case, perhaps I should rethink this entire appointment. Things don't seem to be going well for either of us today, do they?”

Fuck. And now I was being threatened over a dog card reading.

“Not necessarily. I can run a combined reading for you and Sunbeam,” I said brightly, and proceeded to shuffle the Tarot deck, making a mental note to tell Lotus to screen for dogs and their psycho owners beforehand. This would have never happened with Natty back on Earth. Then again, I'd never been in this situation on Earth.

Sorry, Granny G,
I thought out to the universe.
A gold note is still a gold note and a girl needs to eat and keep the shoe industry in business. I can't lose business on account of crazy.

“Oh, how exciting!” Ms. Chandler exclaimed. Then she held her little dog to her face and proceeded to baby talk us to death. “Isn't that right, Sunbeam? Who's a good girl? You are! Mommy loves you. Yes, she does. You're going to get a card reading today! Yes, such a good girl,” and on it went until I wanted to put all of us out of our collective misery. At least Sunbeam seemed happy given how quickly she gulped down her doggy treats.

Like my shop back on Earth, I'd used the same décor scheme of exotic Old World meets space-age New World, yet somehow the look hadn't translated well to Mars. And the fact that I now essentially had a day job was a little depressing. On Earth, I'd only worked nights. On Mars, it just hadn't attracted the same clientele so I had to open during the day instead. The only time evenings were profitable was on weekends during the Witching Time. Then, I could pretty much double my fee. People expected a show extravagant enough to blow their minds, so I gave it to them. A Martian day, or rather a sol, was thirty-seven minutes and twenty-two seconds longer than an Earth day. For some reason people went wild then, as if the extra time meant the rules didn't exist. They partied harder, committed more crimes—even wanted their babies born then. And if it helped my shop's month-end numbers, who was I to argue?

Half an hour later, I walked Ms. Chandler out of my reading room and to the front reception area. I made sure she transferred her three hundred gold notes to the shop's account and reassured her I'd already uploaded the reading transcript to her CN-net memory blocks. Then I got her the hell out the door. I'd jacked up the price on the spur of the moment, tripling the rate to include an annoyance fee—Sunbeam had passed out in a treat-induced coma after making little tiny doggy poops on my reading table. Besides, we both knew she hadn't come for a reading and wouldn't be a regular client. Nope, all she wanted was a glimpse of the infamous Alexei Petriv, leader of the Tsarist Consortium who was too damn hot for his own good, and to see if she could get the current competition out of her way. Namely, me.

I stood in the middle of my small reception area, taking deep breaths in hopes of avoiding a meltdown. I turned to Lotus, who'd skipped Career Design and looked at me like having me explode might be entertaining to watch. That she was my fourth cousin and had been recommended to me by family back on Earth sometimes made me regret I was such a softy when it came to my relatives.

“No more dogs, Lotus. I don't care how rich the client is, if they have a dog, I don't want to see them.”

“Sorry, Felicia.” Lotus hung her head, her blunt-edged pixie cut doing nothing to hide her face. She didn't look the slightest bit repentant anyway. Did I mention I come from a family of con artists? “But you have to admit, little Sunbeam was so cute! Did you see her little tiny doggy paws? I've never seen a teacup Yorkie before and I couldn't pass up the chance. Didn't they bring those back from extinction? Maybe you could get one and I could babysit on weekends?”

“Dogs are still too expensive to import from Earth, never mind finding a breeder here. And even if I could afford one, I'm not sure I'd trust you with it.”

Lotus rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on, I'm very responsible. Who practically runs things here? And we both know if you really wanted a dog,
he
would get it for you. The man would try to reterraform the planet if you said you thought Olympus Mons wasn't tall enough.”

We both knew exactly who
he
was, and I wasn't going there. “I'm serious, no more dogs. Screen the clients first. If you get the slightest whiff of dog, forget it.”

“Fine, whatever. I'll have Buckley sift them on the CN-net and let you know what shakes out,” she said, referring to her boyfriend who was fully wired with t-mods, unlike me and Lotus, who relied on antiquated tech like charm-tex bracelets and visual flat-files on the CN-net. I wasn't sure I liked the idea of Buckley going through my potential clients, but my gut hadn't warned me away from him, so I decided to let it slide for now. “I thought you said you needed to increase the shop's revenue. You said—”

“I know what I said, but I changed my mind. I don't need that much money or the headaches that come from dealing with those women,” I said, then ran a distracted hand through my hair and froze.

Ah, hell. I'd forgotten I braided a thin chain mesh weave through the nearly black waves that morning. Now my hand was stuck. I sighed as I tried to get free, pulling out a few strands in the process. Lotus watched me struggle before bursting out laughing and coming to rescue me from my own damned hair.

“You really should cut it off. It's so much less work,” she said, gesturing to her own short hair.

Hers was just a shade lighter than mine, just like her eyes were more green, her skin a little more olive toned—everything in keeping with the Romani looks she shared with me and most of the Sevigny family. I just happened to look more like my mother, which drove my father crazy. Literally. Me too, actually, though not so literally. I'd gotten off easy in the crazy department, considering my mother had cloned me, then tried to kill me so many months ago. With family like that, it was a wonder I wasn't in therapy.

“I like it long,” I said, even as I winced when she tried tugging at my two rings still caught in the mesh weave. “Ouch. Take it easy!”

“Sorry. And does
he
like it too?” she asked with seeming innocence. “I bet he does. I bet he wraps his fists in it and—”

“Just put whatever dirty thoughts you're thinking right out of your mind. We're at work and I'm not discussing this with you now.”

“Fine. Don't be any fun. See if I care,” Lotus griped. A beat of silence, a little bit of tugging, and my hand was out. “There, you're free, Medusa. You probably shouldn't wear that mesh thing anymore.”

“You're probably right,” I agreed as I pulled a few long black hairs out of my rings, all of them elaborate costume jewelry I'd brought from Earth. Maybe it was time I did away with all the props. It seemed like everything I used back home wasn't cutting it on Mars. Maybe I needed to rethink the whole business model. “And for the record, yes, he does like it. A lot. Now if you need me, I'll be sanitizing my reading table and spraying air freshener everywhere. Sunbeam shit on it in the middle of the reading.”

“Oh, Felicia, I'm sorry!” Lotus laughed behind her hand, green eyes wide. “That's awful. You're right. No more dogs. Let me take care of that since I feel like it's my fault anyway. I'll get the cleaning stuff.”

She headed to the supply closet where we kept a few basic cleaning supplies since the shop was professionally cleaned every evening. Then she froze, caught like a baby rabbit in some big bad hunter's trap. I blew out a snort. I knew the exact reason for her reaction. It was written all over her face, plus it wasn't the first time I'd seen this particular behavior from a woman before.

“Good afternoon. Nice to see you,” Lotus said in girlish tones. Her cheeks flushed and her tongue darted out to lick her lips as if tasting something sweet.

I turned and my heartbeat seemed to skid to a halt before resuming again, just as I suspected it did for all the women who met him. Except in my case, I knew the look he wore was solely for me.

Alexei Petriv stood in the open doorway of my shop, removed his sunshades, and slid them into the breast pocket of his charcoal gray suit jacket. Tall, broad shouldered, well-muscled and built like a rock, he seemed to fill every room he entered with his presence alone. He didn't have to do anything other than just stand there, and he was still overwhelming. His thick black hair fell nearly to his shoulders and his eyes were so intensely blue, sometimes I wondered if they could cut into me if they stared at me long enough. At the very least, they gave the disturbing illusion they could look into your soul. Saying he was gorgeous and sexy as hell was a ridiculous understatement. In fact, words failed me. His MH Factor was off the charts, up in some stratosphere no one could calculate. The same could be said for his t-mods, meaning his mind could manipulate the Cerebral Neural Net in ways few others could. Looking at him left me breathless and sometimes made me doubt what I saw was real because he was utterly perfect. So perfect, in fact, that he might not actually be human anymore.

I'd secretly been cataloguing the oddities I'd noticed during our time together. So far as I could tell, he never got sick—not even a cold. If he hurt himself, such as when he'd once sliced his palm with a paring knife, the wound healed within a few hours. He needed very little sleep, and some nights I wondered if he even slept at all. He was definitely stronger than average and had no trouble keeping in shape, though he worked out like a fiend and forced me to go to the gym with him, which hadn't thrilled me. He could hold his breath for ridiculously long periods of time, something I'd learned when we'd gone on a day trip to Aeolian Beach. And one thing I'd discovered almost immediately the first time I'd slept with him—he needed almost zero recovery time before he was ready to go again. Sometimes it was thrilling to have that much attention. Other times, it was exhausting and made me wonder how I could ever be enough for him. However, I didn't let myself dwell on it. If I did, I knew I might flee the room screaming, which even I knew wasn't appropriate behavior when your boyfriend came to visit you halfway through the day.