Burn Bright

The pair followed Retra down to the neglegere, chatting about music, and Brand, and boys, while she washed and put on the fresh clothes from her locker; black net stockings this time, with a soft, clinging tunic and boots. Retra’s boots on Grave were the walking kind, not high-heeled and running up above her knee. She tried to fold the top back and Suki slapped her hand away.

‘Leave them alone,’ she said. ‘They’re supposed to be like that.’

‘They feel strange,’ she said.

‘Sexy,’ giggled Krista-belle. ‘You’d better watch out.’

Retra wondered if Markes would like them then chided herself for such a shallow thought. Joel was the most important thing in her life. She had to find him and then … and then what? Persuade him to leave Ixion. They would go somewhere else, together. Not Grave, but one of the places that Charlonge had spoken about. ‘I’m ready,’ she said.