Hotter on the Edge by Erin Kellison Page B

there was room for two. If the bobs caught them, could he have her forever?
    "What about an on-comm reunion?" Pilar said. "Push Starcaster out of the limelight. The miners only want you anyway, but Mica gave orders that you weren't to be bothered with the problem."
    "What do you mean?"
    Pilar swiped her hand in the air to pass through different comms. He caught a second of his fight against the scavengers, a spotlight on mining, and a street-level view of the crowd massing on the street, voices rising in protest demanding to see him.
    No, Pilar was right. That mob wouldn't want to hear about bioform.
    "I mean," she said, "will you bust in and save her all over again?"
     
    ***
     
    Lana leaned forward slightly, eager, as a three-dimensional lightscape of the chaos of Pia's wedding sprang up before Mica. An image of Simon was frozen mid-strike, fighting with fistfuls of dome glass. Mica had played the comm once and had sobbed until Pia started showing her the offers Simon was getting around the sector: a part in an upcoming alien survivor action flick, the kind that got xenobioform wrong every time; modeling for high-end hubwear like some kind of space dandy; and bodyguard services, which included a contract clause for bedsport. Mica did stop sobbing long enough to respond negatively to the last one on his behalf, and then vowed never to watch the comm again.
    Lana altered the comm projection to Simon, lying in a pool of his blood. "We've had an official report from your father, Drummond Sol, that Simon Miner, your consort, is in stable condition. Have you seen Simon, and can you confirm that he is alive and improving?"
    Mica was wary about the shift in topic. But yes, she had demanded to see Simon as soon as she could sit without the world going into a dark spin. His coloring had been ashen, bruised under his eyes. His chest had been dermo-bandanged, so she had to force the medic to show her the sims of his treatment. His hands had been covered in rejuvy-gel to knit the tissues back together, but the deep gashes were still visible. What had they been like when he'd been first brought in?
    "My father's report is accurate," Mica said. She wasn't going to undercut him. He'd been wrong about how he'd handled the mining accident and wrong about Simon in general, but he was still her father and still the ruler of Sol. It helped that he'd finally caved on the issue of the theft and Simon's men had been released. "Yes, I've seen Simon. He is alive. He's undergone two successful surgeries."
    "Is it true that he died at the site?"
    By most standards, yes, so she answered with the technical details to buffer herself from the pain of it. "The Peace had him in a bio freeze and vitals capture within the sixty minute window."
    Lana Starcaster frowned at her. Maybe technical wasn't the way to go there either, but with all the trouble the Peace were now having beyond the palace walls, it didn't hurt to remind people that they'd played their part in saving Simon, too.
    "Wasn't he exiled from Sol City for theft?" Lana asked.
    The whiplash back in time had Mica stammering. "That was a mistake. The charges have been dropped."
    "And then again, two men claiming to be associated with Simon—one even swears that Simon used his slicer gun during Pilar Sol's wedding—were arrested for theft. Do you deny it?"
    Mica shook her head. "That was a mistake, too."
    "So many mistakes," Lana mused. "Are you in love with him?"
    That was easy. "Yes. He's everything to me."
    Lana's expression went pained. "But really , is there hope for a lowly miner with a corp-born Princess?"
    Again, easy. "Absolutely. I'm his, if he'll have me. I've already asked him."
    Lana did a double-handed flourish. "You're telling me that with a simple yes, a miner could wed the heir to Sol corp?"
    "Ah, no. I didn't mean that," Mica said. "With a simple yes, Simon could marry me. And the rest will work itself out—whether I remain corp or not. If the shareholders don't approve my