Hammer of Time (The Reforged Trilogy) Read Online Free

dirty little missile and dropped it into the soapy water. Maeve rolled up her sleeves and began scrubbing. The sorts of nanites that made it unnecessary to wash dishes may have been amazing, but they were also expensive and it was often Maeve's job to scrub away the congealed dinner remains. Logan smiled at her. The expression was still strange on her hunter's serious face. Clumsy, somehow.
    "I believe there is still dessert," she told him.
    "I'll watch you." Logan hesitated and then added: "You're sweeter than any dessert."
    "You could help me with the dishes."
    Logan raised his left hand. The battle-scarred illonium was flatly unreflective as a gray shadow. "It's manufactured more or less waterproof, but I've cracked the casing more than once. Not a good idea to submerge it."
    Maeve was silent for a long moment, trying to figure out if Logan Coldhand was making a joke. She decided that she could not be sure and gave him a kiss instead. His lips were slightly cool to the touch, as though the cracked casing of his cybernetic hand had leaked cold metal out into his entire body.
    "You could dry them," she suggested.
    "I could." Logan searched around until he found a threadbare dishtowel.
    Panna had been thumbing through something on a datadex – the same one she had been reading earlier that day, Maeve suspected – but now looked up with a frown. "Are you… doing dishes?" she asked.
    "Sort of," Maeve admitted. "Logan was distracting me."
    "I bet." But Panna was still frowning. "You shouldn't be washing things, princess."
    "Why not?" Maeve asked. She hoped that Panna did not think she was unequal to the task.
    Panna got up and plucked the sponge from the sideboard. "You're a princess," she said, emphasizing the title. "You're above this kind of scullery work!"
    "She does it all the time," Gripper objected. He didn't look at Panna, but was eyeing Logan as though afraid the Prian might kill him with the towel he held.
    "And what else is a princess supposed to do on a starship?" Maeve asked.
    Panna shook her head and did not answer. Gripper fidgeted uncomfortably. Maeve took the sponge. Panna was visibly torn between wanting to keep it away and reluctance to fight with her princess. It made Maeve more than a little uncomfortable, but she could at least take a moment's advantage of Panna's indecision. Logan held out the dishtowel to Panna.
    "You can dry them," he offered.
    Panna sighed and took the towel. Maeve squeezed some bright green soap into the water and got to work. Tiny iridescent bubbles sifted up from the sink and landed on her skin, smelling of artificial pine.
    "Our landing fees are only paid through tomorrow night," Duaal said. He smoothed down thick, curly brown hair. Ever since Prianus, he had stopped bleaching it. "Should I renew them? Or are we going somewhere?"
    "What about Axis?" Xia asked. "There's got to be someone who will listen to us about the Devourers."
    "We can't go there," Duaal reminded her. "We're dead there, and if we come back to life on Axis records, we're criminals, remember? We'll have to go through a trial and pay fines before we could talk to anyone."
    "You don't have enough information to make your case," said Logan. He leaned against the counter next to Maeve as she scrubbed a dented pan. "We need to be able to tell them where to look and what to look for."
    "But we don't know that, Freezer," Gripper objected in a squeaking voice. No one on the Blue Phoenix had adjusted to Logan's presence, but it was hardest for Gripper. The huge brown alien was still terrified of Coldhand.
    "We need to find out," Logan answered. "We need to find Xartasia."
    "How?" Duaal asked. He leaned back in his chair and kicked his feet onto the table. His tall leather boots filled the mess with the slightly chemical smell of polish and left little black smudges on the tabletop.
    "I don't know yet."
    Duaal turned to look at Maeve, who had stopped washing to listen. "He doesn't know? And this is the guy who always