“Home.” Nev breathed the word next to me, his hands on the dash as he stared out the viewport. I joltingly remembered that this was his city too. I couldn’t imagine calling such a place a home, but he turned to me and said, “You’re going to love it.”
“Tell me some of your favorite things about it,” I said in a choked voice. Maybe if I saw it through his eyes, it would look less intimidating, less outrageous. He could be my bridge to this place. Preferable a bridge less frilly and impractical than the one I’d just flown over.
He smiled almost wistfully. “The architecture. It expresses the traditions and values that have likewise stood for centuries, especially in our palaces, temples, academies…our bridges.”
My grip on the controls only tightened.
He glanced at me, as if realizing that I certainly didn’t see any of our “architecture,” such that it was on Alaxak, that way. “We also value nature for its inherent value to society, unlike others who might only see it for how they can profit from it. Parts of Luvos are protected, untouched. Those are some of my favorite places on the planet.”
Funny, coming from the family that owned the mining drones. And our nature on Alaxak usually tried to kill us while we tried to scrape a living from it. Not that I didn’t value it for its sort of savage beauty, but still, my hands squeezed the throttle as if they wanted to strangle something.
His eyes grew distant. “Most of all, I love the joy, the laughter. People here have hope, express it, and work toward it for others.”
Having hope was probably pretty easy when you were filthy rich. The sight of Dracorva made it even harder to cling to my hope that these people could somehow save the ragged remains of both my family and my planet. Nevertheless, that hope was the only thing that kept me flying forward.
My doubts weren’t alleviated in the slightest by the time we approached a denser cluster of spires that stood taller and grander than any other. They rose from the side of a mountain at the far edge of the city, the first in a range that stretched into the distance. I didn’t need to be a genius to guess that this was the Dracorte citadel.
Which meant it was even more Nev’s home than the city, as if it were a blasted house like any other.
“And we even made it in time for the conference tomorrow.” He sighed in evident relief.
The conference, with many people in attendance. So many, so rich, and so important…so many people who would want to use me.
“What am I doing here?” I asked before I could stop myself. “This isn’t…” I realized I was breathing faster and faster. “This isn’t me.”
He looked at me in mild alarm, which vanished under a confident expression that unrolled across his face like a royal carpet. “You’ll be treated like family, I promise.”
“But…” I wasn’t sure I wanted to be, if it meant a place like this would be my home too, if only temporarily. I didn’t say that, because I didn’t want to spit at his offer.
Not saying it didn’t change the fact that people weren’t—or at least, I wasn’t—supposed to live like this. Not when most of the people on other planets in the systems lived the way they did, in the dust and ice and mud.
But there was no going back now. I highly doubted the destroyers would let me turn around, especially not with their prince still on board. And maybe not even without him.
Do it for Arjan, for Telu, for Alaxak…
We docked alongside one of the towers, in a bay that was more of a warren of bays on different levels. It sheltered more jets and ships than I’d ever seen together in one place, and in every sleek shape, size, and color. And this was just his family’s private collection. I distantly, half deliriously, wondered how many of them were Nev’s.
Inhaling deeply, I tried to get my breathing under control while I set us down. I was beginning to feel light-headed.
“Qole?” Nev asked, lowering his voice to the gentle tone someone would use to coax an animal out of its burrow. I realized I’d squeezed my eyes shut as soon as we’d landed. I kept them closed as he continued. “Can you drop the ramp? There’s a contingent waiting, and I—we—need to go meet them.”
A contingent? “Can I just stay here a second?” I asked through a clenched jaw.
He half laughed, cutting off when he realized I was serious.
Someone took my hand, sliding it away from the controls and placing it firmly in their own. My eyes snapped open, and I stared at Nev’s hand in mine.
He was holding my hand. And he wasn’t letting it go. It made me no less light-headed—if anything, my heart pounded even faster—but at least I was less scared of a stupid citadel and any contingents it might throw at me. Nev had fought for me before, and he wasn’t abandoning me now, even though I didn’t feel good enough to set foot in his home—either worthy enough or like it was right.
“Come on,” he said, and gave me a gentle tug.
I let him pull me out of my chair. His hand stayed around mine as we wound down the stairs from the bridge. When I passed by the others, I tried to pull away, but Nev held on tighter. Maybe he was trying to say he was sorry for dropping my hand before. Or maybe he thought I would try to run. In any case, Eton looked like he’d swallowed a sour rock, but Arjan smiled faintly at me as he stood next to Basra, who was as expressionless as usual. It occurred to me that I’d hardly seen or heard from Basra since leaving Nirmana. He’d said he’d been “buying things,” and I wondered if that was his way of alleviating stress about what was coming.
Telu was flat-out grinning. “Did you see that view? Can we come with you?” she asked excitedly.
Dazed, it took me longer than it should have to gather myself enough to say, “Maybe you should stay on the ship. Eton, stand guard. Basra, monitor any comms, and Telu—”
“Arjan and Telu should join us, at least, as fellow representatives of Alaxak,” Nev said. It was more a declaration than a suggestion, and a brief flash of anger cleared my head even more.
“Telu stays.” I rode over them when both he and she opened their mouths to object. “No, I trust you, Nev, but no. Tell no one that Telu is a native of Alaxak until we know more about the kind of attention we’ll receive.” It was too late for me and Arjan, since Nev had already told his family about us—and especially since I had a bounty on my head—but at least I could protect Telu’s privacy a little longer. “Can you give a command, or whatever, that my crew can stay on the ship and should be left alone?” I waited until he nodded before turning to Telu. “I want you to keep out of sight as much as possible. Only Arjan and I will go until we know more about what we’re getting into.”
She grumbled, but retreated to her station. Arjan exchanged a look with Basra—and gave him a smile that was less showy than a kiss, but that still lit up my brother’s eyes in a way I’d rarely seen. Basra, in actuality, was working wonders on him, whatever Arjan might have been doing to him in return.
“Ready when you are,” Arjan said.