“Tyler Jones!”
I open my eyes, and spears of bright light stab into my skull. I wince at the silhouette above me.
A Syldrathi girl, like the one from my dream just now, beautiful, radiant. But where her hair was gold as starlight, now it’s black as midnight, same as the stripe of paint across her eyes and gleaming on her curling lips.
“Awake at last,” Saedii says, one dark eyebrow rising slightly. “I wondered if you planned to sleep through the entire war.”
My mind is ringing, and the lights are way too bright, the thrum of heavy engines rumbling through the medi-cot beneath me. There’s a dermal patch on my arm, the metallic taste of stims in my mouth, and antiseptic in the air. It hurts a little to breathe.
I’m on a ship, I realize. Black metal. Syldrathi design. But the light is gray, not red, so we’re Folding… .
“Maker’s b-breath,” I cough. “W-what happened … ?”
“Is that not obvious?” Saedii leans back in her chair, and lifting her long black boots, she rests one sharp heel on the edge of the cot beside me. “You almost died, Tyler Jones.”
“… Where am I?”
“Aboard my ship. The Shika’ari. Well …” She glances around briefly, tosses a thick black braid off her shoulder. “My ship now, at any rate.”
“Last thing I remember … was the battle on the Kusanagi.” I lever myself up onto one elbow, my head pounding like a war drum. “We broke out of our cell. Your people attacked.” I wince again, my memory fuzzy, that strange dream still echoing in my head. It feels like I’ve been run over by a grav-freighter.
… you still have a chance of fixing this …
“We evac’ed … in escape pods?”
“The Terran cowards on the Kusanagi fired upon your pod.” Saedii sneers, one sharpened canine gleaming. “But I was aboard the Shika’ari by then. Our defense grid intercepted their missile before it struck you. The explosion’s proximity still disabled your pod, knocked out your life support. You were close to dying by the time we recovered you.”
She quirks one sharp black brow.
“But recover you we did.”
I meet her eyes, black-rimmed, deep violet irises running to gray. Her face is all sharp angles, perfect symmetry, cold and imperious.
“You saved my life.”
She inclines her head. “As you saved mine.”
I feel the touch of her thoughts then. Tentative, as if to make sure all we’d shared during our time in that prison cell aboard the Kusanagi was real. The revelation about the Syldrathi blood in my veins sits in my mind like a sliver of ice. Thoughts of the Waywalker mother my dad never told me about swirling like smoke.
I remember those other truths we shared. The truth of her bloodline. Her father’s name. The lie her brother told me. But before I can grow too angry at the reminder of my friend’s betrayal, thoughts of Kal lead to Auri, then to Scarlett and—
“Earth,” I hiss, sitting up. “The Unbroken are at war with Earth.”
“Yes.”
“We have to stop it! A galaxy at war is just what the Ra’haam wants!”
Saedii shrugs, black lips pursed. “Fortune smiles, in that case.”
“Well, where the hells are we?” I raise myself up off the bed, head swimming as I get to my feet. “We have t—”
Saedii stands, so tall that she’s almost eye to eye with me. And placing one hand square on my chest, she holds me still. I can smell her hair, the fragrance of leather and lias flowers and traces of blood. I remember the press of her lips to my cheek as we said goodbye. The look in her eyes, her voice in my mind as I covered her escape.
“You have courage, Tyler Jones. Your blood is true.”
“We are undertaking tactical withdrawal,” Saedii says. “The battle with the Kusanagi was costly. Only the Shika’ari and one other of our cruisers survived. And both our vessels sustained significant damage.”
“I need to talk to my people at Aurora Command,” I insist. “Admiral Adams and Battle Leader de Stoy. The fate of the whole galaxy is—”
“You should be concerned with your own fate, Terran. Not the galaxy’s.” Her fingers twitch against my chest, pressing a little harder. “You are my captive now, after all. And your people showed me precious little hospitality while I was in their care. My entire command staff is of the opinion I should have let you die in your escape pod.”
My mind returns to my final minutes in captivity. That confrontation near the pods, those eyes, once brown, now blue, boring into my own. The mind of the enemy, the voice of a friend, begging me to stay.
Tyler, don’t go… .
Cat …
I love you, Tyler.
Saedii searches my eyes. Her hand still rests on my chest. I can feel the warmth of her skin through the Terran uniform I stole. She’s taken the time to change into Unbroken colors again—sharp black lines, sharper curves underneath. I can still recall the sight of her stripped down to her underwear in that storage locker if I try, but I’m desperately trying not to, because people who share Waywalker blood can apparently hear each other’s thoughts, and the last thing I should be thinking about right now is—
“What happened to the Kusanagi?” I ask.
“It retreated, heavily damaged.” She tilts her head. “Why do you care?”
“There were Terrans on board that ship,” I reply. “My people.”
“Is it your people that concern you? Or your lover?”
“Tyler, don’t go …”
“Cat’s not my—”
“She was.”
I nod, swallowing. “But that’s not Cat anymore.”
“Mmm.”
Saedii leans in closer, swaying like a snake, watching me through the haze of her long black lashes. I can sense it in her if I try—the rush of the battle we’ve just escaped, her thrill at the scent of blood and smoke and fire. She feels almost … drunk on it. And look, I know there are way more important things at stake right now, but a part of me can’t help but notice how good she looks, remembering the sight of her as we fought side by side, her eyes alight, my blood pounding.
Saedii presses her fingertips into my chest.
“We Warbreed have a saying, Tyler Jones. Anai la’to. A’le sénu.”
“I don’t speak Syldrathi.” I scowl down at her nails, long and black, pressing hard into my skin now. “And that hurts.”
“Live for tonight,” she translates. “Tomorrow we die.” She drags her fingers down my chest, nails catching in the fabric. “We who were born for war learn not to waste time on trivialities. Void knows when our time will run out.”
I nod, thinking about anything but the parts of her body now pressing against me. “We have a saying like that, too. Carpe diem. Seize the day.”
Black lips curl into a smile. “Ours is better.”
I wince as her nails dig deeper into my skin. “Stop it.”
“Make me.”
“I’m not kidding,” I growl, pushing her hand away.
As my skin touches hers, she moves, grabbing my wrist quick as blinking.
I gasp as a bolt of pain shoots up my shoulder, the throb in my head forgotten as she tries to twist me into an armlock. I break her hold, backing off with my hands up. “Saedii, what the hells is—”
But she’s closing before I even finish speaking, smile twisting into a snarl as she feints toward my face. Almost faster than I can see, she claps her hands onto my shoulders and brings her knee up between my legs.
Lucky for me, Saedii has landed this move on me a few times already—I mean, the boys didn’t feel lucky at the time, but, you know, live and learn. My muscle memory kicks in, and I block her strike.
“Have you gone crazy?” I demand.
She draws back a fist to hit me, but I shift my weight, twist aside. Letting her own momentum work against her, I shove her in the spine, sending her crashing into the wall, and she whirls on me in fury.
Her kick takes me in the solar plexus, and I tumble over the medi-cot, smash onto the ground, grunting as a heavy weight slams atop me.