It took almost no time for us to get to Declan’s ship. Instead of moving from point A to point B as quickly as possible, the Aunare ships did a series of jumps through space. That’s how Lorne had moved through the galaxy in a few days, while it’d taken us weeks to go from Earth to Abaddon on a SpaceTech ship.
One jump and we were to Declan’s ship. Easy-peasy.
Lorne was running his hands along the desk in front of him as he set up his ship to tow Declan’s. He was standing, eyes darting from the screen to the desk and back again. I couldn’t quite figure out what he was doing exactly. I couldn’t even see what was on the desk. No specific buttons. No keyboard. I had to be missing something, but he was busy. I filed my questions away to ask later.
“Coupled,” Lorne said. “We’ll be there in ten minutes or so. Jumping while towing is a little more complicated. Takes a bit for the ship to enter in all the variables. I set it to drop us just a little outside of SpaceTech’s detection. We’ll swing around to the moon while you land and wait for your signal.”
“Sounds good,” Declan said. His image only took up a small corner of the vidscreen now. He was busy getting stuff ready in his ship.
There wasn’t much for me to do, so I started pacing. Staying still wasn’t something that I did very well, especially when I was nervous. I wasn’t sure about this plan, but I wasn’t turning back. My friends were worth the risk. And beating Jason at his own game? I needed that.
I ran my hands along one of the stone walls as I paced, and a light caught my eye. I stepped back, touching it again. When I turned my head, the light was gone. Only when I stood right in front of it could I see the lights and commands. They were bright blue-white against the dark sand-colored stone. The lights rippled and swirled. I wondered what would happen if I touched one of them, but I didn’t dare try. The Aunare’s swirling script was indecipherable to me. It was beautiful and lovely but completely foreign.
I looked over my shoulder to find Lorne watching me. I couldn’t read anything on his face. That made me want to shake him. I wanted to know what he was thinking, but I was too chicken to ask.
Lorne stayed that way—watching. Observing. Waiting. For what I didn’t know, but his gaze made me feel exposed. I’d been hiding most of my life, and now that was suddenly over.
I turned away, not able to look at him anymore. I seemed to do that a lot with him, and it was starting to get on my nerves. I didn’t back down. I wasn’t a chicken. But with him, I was.
Maybe that’s where the exposed feeling was from. Maybe it wasn’t even him making me feel this way. He wasn’t looking at me and seeing Maité. He looked at me, and he saw Amihanna di Aetes. Daughter of Rysden di Aetes. The lost di Aetes heir.
I wasn’t sure who I was anymore, let alone how to be Amihanna. I’d lost her so long ago.
I glanced back, but he was still watching me. This was getting awkward. Him just watching me in silence, so I turned to him and asked a question that had nothing to do with my feelings or the Aunare or being Amihanna or anything emotionally intense at all.
I motioned to the wall. “I can only see it when I stand directly in front of it. Is that how the control panel is with you? No buttons or switches?” My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat, but he didn’t seem to notice or care.
He nodded. “Yes, but it’s also keyed to certain people. Only me and a few trusted others can fly this ship.”
“Is that why I can’t see anything on that desk?”
“Yes.” He leaned back into the desk, still patiently studying me.
I didn’t want to think too hard about what he was seeing when he looked at me. “But I can see this?” I pointed to the wall. I didn’t understand the difference.
“It’s not ship operations. Or not critical operations. I assume you can’t read it?”
I didn’t want to piss him off again. He’d been so upset by how little I knew about the Aunare, but I wasn’t going to lie. I shook my head. “Is it your fingerprint that unlocks it?” I motioned to the desk.
“No.” He gave me a small smile. “Everyone has a unique signature—frequency might be a better description, but there’s no human word for it. The ship’s keyed to detect who’s in it at all times and adjust accordingly.”
A soft beeping started, and Lorne turned back to his desk, silencing the sound. “You ready?” he asked Declan.
“Yes. Go ahead. Turning off the video. I’ll have audio on mute.”
“Disengaging now,” Lorne said.
The ship shuddered, and I glanced at the screen.
Abaddon was straight ahead. From up here, the planet looked like a swirling ball of gray and black and red. It was beautiful. If I didn’t know better, I would’ve thought it might be fun to visit, but that planet would haunt me. Looking back at it, I knew with every part of my being that I would rather die than walk the surface of Abaddon one more time.
I was glad I wasn’t the one to be going back there. “Be careful, Declan.”
After a second, his audio came back on. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be in and out.”
He could say that, but I was still going to worry. “Just don’t forget to tell us if you need anything,” I said.
“Will do. Muting again.”
“I’m muting as well, but we’ll leave the line on if you need us.” Lorne pressed his hand against the control panel. “We’ll give him a few minutes, and then head to the moon.”
I nodded. “Do you have some shoes for me? And maybe something better for being on the surface of the moon?” Although I didn’t want to give up the sweater. The scent of his soap was comforting, and the woven material was softer than anything I’d ever felt before. I wondered if he’d notice if I kept it.
“This way.” Lorne motioned for me to follow him.
He led me back through the hallway to the bedroom. The door slid open, and he grabbed a jumpsuit for me. It was a deep forest green, with some Aunare writing sewn over a pocket on the left chest of it and…
A bright red firedrake spewing golden fire from its mouth.
My breath caught and I rubbed my thumb over the ridges of the embroidered dragon. I pressed my free hand to the inside of my left hip.
It was the exact same one I’d drawn for the tattoo artist. The exact same one. It’d faded with all the burns and nanos, but it was still there. When I noticed it’d faded, I made a plan to get it fixed as soon as I was off Abaddon, but why was it here? On his clothes?
I tried to tell myself that dragons were popular. That so many different people and cultures used them as logos and icons and legends. Maybe this was just something my subconscious pulled up. A general Aunare thing. It didn’t mean that it was specific to Lorne.
“What does it mean?”
He glanced at the embroidery. “House of Taure. Each member of the Taure bloodline is given a special symbol. This particular firedrake is mine.”
Lorne bent down and picked up a pair of slip-ons, and I was glad that he wasn’t looking at my face right then. I wasn’t sure what it meant or why out of all the things in the world, I’d picked Lorne’s personal symbol to tattoo on my hip.
He stood up and I tried my best to wipe all the emotions from my face. He never had to know about my tattoo.
“This is my personal ship, although I keep some clothes and shoes in various sizes in case of emergencies.”
“Emergencies?” I asked, trying to focus on what he was saying. “You pick up half-dead girls from moons a lot?”
He laughed, and from the look on his face, I wasn’t sure who was more surprised by it—him or me. “I shouldn’t have laughed. That wasn’t funny.”
“Too soon?”
He shook his head. “No. I don’t pick up half-dead girls a lot. This is a first for me.” His grin. God. That smile. It stole my breath.
I cleared my throat, not wanting to seem as affected as I was by him or the firedrake or the sound of his laugh. “Right. So other, more normal types of emergencies.”
But I wondered why he needed the clothes. He’d asked a lot about my past back in the warehouse. Roan had practically spilled my whole dating history, the jerk. It should’ve been fair play to ask about his, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear his answer.
I looked into his eyes, and that aquamarine gaze saw right through me. I didn’t know how, but he did. “You can ask.”
My cheeks heated. Would I feel jealous if I knew the answer? I didn’t want to find out. “It’s none of my business.”
He raised a brow but offered nothing, so I took the jumpsuit and shoes from him and went back into the bathroom to change.
I threw the clothes by the sink, leaned against the wall, and closed my eyes. I needed a second. The man threw me off balance. My glow had dimmed, but it was still there. I couldn’t get control of myself around him at all.
I hoped all the Aunare weren’t like this. I wasn’t sure I could live on Sel’Ani if this wasn’t just a Lorne side effect.
Get it together, Mai— I didn’t even know what to call myself in my head. I slammed my hand down on the counter. I had to get it together before I made a complete fool of myself or worse—got us killed.
I snatched up the clothes and quickly changed. This plan was going to be hard enough to pull off. I had to force all my worries and lingering questions out of my mind. I couldn’t be distracted. Not when I was about to do something so incredibly insane.