She looks down at the marshy ground. “She was always doing something stupid—like dying to save my life. I wish I could yell at her for it.” When she lifts her gaze again, there are tears in her eyes.
“I know how you feel,” I say, thinking of Nishi. “We were lucky . . . to have friends like them.”
? ? ?
Most ships have already taken off to their home worlds, but the Arieans, Scorps, and Librans remain, overseeing the last of the cleanup.
“Wandering Star,” says General Eurek. “We’ve just heard from Prophet Marinda, whose health is improving by the minute. She reports that most Piscenes are coming out of their comas.”
I feel my face glowing with delight. “Thank you so much for telling me.”
“Thank you,” he says, and he offers his hand for the greeting. I reach out to bump fists with him, but he takes my fingers in his, and he plants a kiss on my skin.
Now my face begins to burn, but he spares me the struggle of speaking by saying, “It has been an honor to serve with you.” His orange-red eyes simmer with emotion as he adds, “You will always be welcome on House Aries.”
When he turns to go, I see Skarlet behind him, hidden by his burl and bulk. Even the cuts on her forehead and cheeks do nothing to mar her beauty or dampen the shimmer of her bronze brown skin.
“I’m going to hitch a ride back on an Ariean ship,” she says. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry for being a bitch.”
“Not your fault,” I say with a sly smile. “You can’t fight what you are.”
Her cat-eyes widen in shock—and then we both burst into sudden laughter, and when we try to stop, our gazes cross and we start up again, until we’re both clutching our stomachs and gasping for air.
Once I’ve calmed down enough to speak, I say, “I’m sorry, too.”
“I was thinking we could combine forces to see what we can do for Risers,” she says tentatively, “and try to make some changes in the Zodiac.”
“I’d like that.”
She nods, and we bump fists before she turns to go. But she’s only taken a step when she spins around and says, “For the record, I think Hysan made the perfect choice.”
? ? ?
When most of the Zodai have cleared out, I spy a glimmer of gold, and I see Hysan on the ground, tending to someone. As I move closer, I recognize Lord Neith.
The android’s nose is tipped open, and Hysan is uselessly trying to spark the Guardian back to life, but nothing is happening. Before I can say anything, Strident Engle comes over and rests a hand on Hysan’s shoulder.
“The Scarab’s poison can’t be extracted from a machine,” he says softly. “I’m sorry.”
Hysan doesn’t answer him, and he keeps trying to revive Neith, like a healer who won’t give up on his patient.
Engle spots me and he comes over, his red eyes mournful. The sky is dark enough on this planet that he doesn’t need to wear sunglasses. “I’m sorry about Skiff,” I say.
I saw Sage Ferez earlier, and he told me the Scorp Guardian went down fighting. The only reason the Capricorn centenarian survived is because Skiff had him locked up on one of his House’s ships to keep him safe. He was a loyal friend to the end.
“So am I,” says Engle sadly.
I look at Hysan again, who’s now reviewing information from his Scan and still refusing to resign. “I don’t understand,” I say, speaking softly and hanging far enough back that Hysan can’t hear me. “He synced Neith with his ship on our way here—can’t he just download the data into a new body?”
Engle shakes his head. “That’s not how his artificial intelligence works. He could create a new Neith that has the same knowledge as this one—but it would never possess the same subtleties or . . . for lack of a better word, emotions.”
“So he’s . . . gone?” I ask incredulously, my heart plummeting for Hysan.
Engle frowns and nods. “I’m sorry, Rho.”
“I need to go to him, but I’ll be in touch soon,” I say, thinking of what Skarlet said about getting organized. Engle would make a good addition to our team—as would a lot of the Zodai here.
Kneeling next to Hysan I say, “I’m so sorry.” When he turns to me, there are tears in his eyes.
I’m so startled that I reach out and envelop him in a hug, the way he’d do for me.
“You were right,” he says when he pulls away, his green eyes so bright they glow. “What you said to me on Aries—I’ve never lost anyone before. I’ve never felt . . . this.”
He suddenly sits up, like he’s remembering something, and his eyes widen. “I should be comforting you, Rho. You lost your mom—”
I rest a hand on his cheek. “Don’t worry about me. Take care of yourself,” I whisper, and I hear Nishi speaking through me as I repeat what she once said to me. “It’s okay to feel your pain before walling it off.”
He kisses the inside of my palm, and I lean into his chest and keep him company as we stare down at Neith in silence. In the distance, I spot Gamba digging a shallow hole in the ground that’s the length of . . . Mom.
“Go to her,” says Hysan, who’s following my gaze. “She needs you.”
I press a kiss on his lips, and they taste salty. “I’ll be quick.”
Gamba must have seen me coming, because when I’m just a few feet away she says, “I told Mom once how on Virgo they don’t launch their dead to Space—they bury them in the ground to become part of the soil.” She doesn’t look up from her work while she talks. “She told me that’s what she wanted when she went.”
“Can I help?”
“I’m done,” she says, standing up and wiping her hands on her pants. “Pretty sure it’s not deep enough, but she’ll decompose anyway.”
She kneels and lifts Mom’s corpse by the shoulders, and I pick up her feet to help her. We gently deposit her body in the hole, and then we look at her for a long moment. “I didn’t mean to take her from you,” says Gamba, her voice tight.
“You didn’t,” I say, fighting back my own tears. “I think you saved her.”
Gamba turns and starts shoving the soil over Mom, and I help her until her whole body is covered. Wiping my hands on my suit I ask, “Ready to get going?”
She finally meets my gaze. “I’m staying.”
“What?”
She sighs. “I may not be imbalanced like the Marad members, but I am a Riser, which means I hail from this world, and I clearly had a strong enough pull to it to change Houses. I’ve left the Luminaries, which means I can’t go back . . . I don’t belong anywhere else.”
“You belong with me,” I say, and the words come out almost angry. “We’re sisters.”
She looks at me and smiles, and a tear spills over her eye. “I guess that means I’ll have a place to crash when I’m ready to leave this world.”
? ? ?
Since Ezra and Gyzer left with the Sagittarians, it’s just Hysan, Mathias, Pandora, and me on Equinox.
We’re going back to Libra, and I’m excited at the thought of seeing Hysan’s home for the first time. None of us are sure what we’ll do tomorrow, but I’m not thinking about that. I’m still too caught up in yesterday.