Revalia was a night for celebration. A time to lose oneself in the joy that came from being on a planet dedicated to harmonious peace.
Lira was home. Her brother was at her side. Her aunt had forgiven her, more or less, for the crash landing. She should feel as light as the wind that tickled her cheeks and tugged at her loose tan gown.
She should feel as jubilant as everyone else around her.
But as Lira looked at Breck and Gilly racing toward her and thought of Andi finally facing her demons when she’d confronted Valen and when spilled her thoughts to the girls about Dex...
Her heart fractured a little more.
All she could think of was the image of the starship with her name above it, the promise that she could stay here and live a life where she was always meant to be.
“Lir?” Lon asked. He pointed toward the transport, which was nearly full as everyone piled on. “Time to go.”
Lira nodded.
She tucked her arm into her brother’s, then reached out the other to take Breck’s hand as she and Gilly finally made it to them.
“Ladies,” Lon said, smiling at Breck and Gilly. “The desert awaits us.”
Together, the four of them walked to the transport, joining the crowd. Lon talked to Breck and Gilly, explaining how the festival would go, telling them how lucky they were to be here on Adhira’s most exuberant night.
All the while, even as they climbed onto the transport, even as the wheels began to move, as the pathway toward the Sands of Bailet opened wide and Lira could see, far down the hillside, the expanse of glittering red sand pocked with dancers already twirling in the firelight...
All the while, her heart whispered, You can’t have two families. Her mind hissed, You can’t have two lives.
She didn’t know which she should choose.
Her own flesh and blood or the heart-deep bonds she’d formed with these girls over the past three years.
The clock was ticking, moving toward a decision. If she rejected Alara’s offer...it would never come again.
“It’s time to let loose,” Breck said. “Lir, you look like you’ve just puked up a pound of Moon Chew.”
“Lira doesn’t puke,” Gilly said.
“That’s ridiculous. Everyone pukes,” Breck added.
“I’ve never seen her do it. And I spy on her, like, all the time.”
Lon chuckled beside Lira. “I see it,” he whispered. “What draws you to this crew.” He lowered his voice even more. “Whatever you decide, Lira...I will still love you.”
An explosion rocked the night. A trail of fire spread into the sky, illuminating it bright pink. Sparkling like a falling star.
“I do so love explosives,” Gilly sighed, staring up as the rest of the show began.
Lira smiled, rolled back her shoulders and shoved the choice she had to make down deep.
She wouldn’t decide tonight.
Tomorrow, perhaps. She’d sit down with Andi and the girls, tell them what she’d been hiding.
For now, she settled into the warmth of her brother on one side, Breck and Gilly on the other, and let the glittering sky call her forth into the promise of a perfect, thoughtless night.
Chapter Fifty-Five
* * *
DEX
IF EVER THERE was a time for Dextro Arez to drink his way into blissful oblivion, it was now.
As he climbed down from the transport wagon, his boots landed on soft desert sand. He felt his face break into a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
The Sands of Bailet.
Dex had been here before, shortly after he’d first met Andi. It was one of the first places they had traveled together. She’d helped him track down a target for Raiseth, his former boss and leader of the Bounty Hunters’ branch. They’d marveled at this planet’s beauty and, later that night, celebrated their victory by drinking and dancing in a small village bar until morning.
Spread across the Sands of Bailet were towering, spiral mounds of red rock, each large enough to house hundreds of citizens.
Tonight, the giamounds had been transformed. Glowing Adhiran spirals were painted on their sides, and some had flags staked to the rock, waving in the wind.
Hundreds of people twirled beneath them on the sand, their loose clothing dancing in the wind as their bodies moved in time with the music. The beat was alive in the firelight, hundreds of hands clapping at once whenever the stringed instruments rose to a sweet, piercing high note.
On the edges of the festival, booths had been set up, and shopkeepers called out their wares to passersby. Colorful garb hung from the booths, fluttering in the wind. A flock of pure white birds soared from a cage, exploding into the sky as the crowd cheered below.
Dex almost tripped over his boots as a pillar of orange flame suddenly spiraled high into the sky before him, then arced back down, where it disappeared into the waiting mouth of a firebreather from the Endless Sea, the green gills on her neck glowing as the fire shot out of the slits.
She must have a hell of a time firebreathing underwater, Dex thought sarcastically.
Beside her a little round droid rolled around on the sand, collecting Krevs from outstretched hands, depositing them into a waiting seashell the size of Dex’s head.
Dex passed a star-reader, her stand draped in holographic sheets and wind chimes, their music mingling with the sounds of the festival.
As he got closer to the center of the crowd, Dex could smell the mouthwatering scent of freshly cooked meat, likely coming from a booth where orange smoke trailed high into the sky. The shopkeeper, an Uulvecan man with four arms, quickly flipped slabs of meat into the air and slapped them back down onto a fiery table. A long line of patrons stood waiting, some with thick mugs of the sweet Jurum that swept its drinkers up into a warm, bubbling embrace.
That, Dex thought, is exactly what I’m after.
He looked back over his shoulder to where Andi’s crew was making their way down from the top of the hill. Breck looked like a wonder in her gown. Gilly walked beside her in a dress of glittering purple that made her red braids shine bright as moon lava. She was already twirling in time with the music.
Thank the Godstars she’d left her furry horned demon behind in the mountain fortress with Alfie.
Then there was the pilot. Her face was alight with a serene smile as she led the pack, walking as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Lira’s twin brother glided along beside her, his muscular chest bared to the desert.
For a moment, as Dex looked at them, he caught himself thinking, There’s my crew.
Though he hadn’t set out to, he’d bonded with the Marauders. Their personalities were magnetic. They each shone brightly in their own ways, and the thought of leaving them behind once this was all over suddenly saddened him.
He looked back up the hillside just in time to see two figures crest the horizon.
Dex actually stopped walking at the sight of them.
Valen didn’t look quite so off-putting as he had before. He was still atrophied and greasy, Dex noted, but there was a smile on his face. He looked more alive, transformed since Dex had last seen him shattering Andi’s heart back in their living quarters.