“That day in the laboratory. You woke it up.”
“Me? I didn’t have anything to do with those whirling lights.”
“Perhaps not on purpose. But you were close to it after the explosion, and I saw it come alive with my own eyes. You, Princess Kalinda, are exactly what we’ve been searching for for so long. You are the one person who can save the system.”
For a second, shock flashes through me, but then I realize she’s laying it on a bit thick. “I’m sure there are a lot of people who—”
“There aren’t,” she interrupts. “We’ve been trying for years to find the one person it responds to. You are definitely that person.” She must realize how strident she sounds, because her voice softens immediately. “Together, we can solve all the issues caused by the dying sun. Make the system a place of peace and prosperity once more.”
My thoughts are whirling. Normally I wouldn’t believe something like this, but her eyes are filled with the fervor of a zealot, and I have trouble believing she doesn’t mean every word she’s saying.
What if I really am the only person who can save the system?
What if I can finally make good on my promise to save those who need me most—and more, to save everyone?
Chapter 70
Ian
“What the hell happened to you?” I growl as Gage walks onto the bridge. He’s got a black eye and a cut on his left temple.
His eyes widen at my tone, and he takes a few steps back. Not surprising—everyone’s been giving me a wide berth since we found out Kali snuck out in the middle of the night like a damn thief. I haven’t seen Merrick at all this morning, and this is the first time Gage has had the nerve to poke his head in here to see what’s going on.
“I fell,” he says after a minute. “Lost my balance during the Starlight’s last acceleration and took a header into the galley sink. Loving the head-injury pattern I’ve got going on.”
“Ouch,” Beckett says, not unsympathetically. “It looks bad. You should wrap it.”
“Already have, but I’ll do it again in a while.” He flops down in the chair farthest away from me. Probably afraid I’ll blacken his other eye.
Which isn’t an unfounded fear. I’ve torn into Beckett half a dozen times in the last several hours over stupid shit—and that’s after I ripped her a new one over dropping Kali on some fucking moon in the middle of fucking nowhere late last night.
I get that Kali made her own decision and—as Beckett reminded me—she wasn’t a prisoner. But a little heads-up would have been fucking nice. A chance for me to change her mind. Instead, I slept through the whole thing like a fucking asshole.
I don’t know if I’m madder that she left or that she played me for a fool. If she wanted to leave so fucking bad, why didn’t she just tell me? Yeah, I would have had a fucking fit, but I wouldn’t have stopped her. I’m not in the habit of holding anyone against their will—usually.
“She did what she had to do.” Max’s calm voice barely infiltrates the haze of betrayed fury that is currently my brain.
“Drokaray shit. She didn’t have to leave. She chose to leave.”
“To protect us,” he reminds me.
“Or because she couldn’t handle us,” I mutter, and there it is. The root of my anger—and the hurt buried just below it. “She found out about the gestalt and checked the fuck out, Max. That’s what she did.”
“You don’t really believe that.”
“Damn straight I believe it. What the fuck else would make her go running like that?”
He sighs. “Exactly what she said. She didn’t want to be responsible for getting us killed.”
“I wouldn’t have let that happen.” I run a hand down my face, telling myself that I’ve got to calm down. That I can’t go into the asteroid belt like this—not if I’m going to have any chance of getting Milla out alive.
I can’t believe she left. I cannot fucking believe she left. She left me. I thought— I don’t know what I thought. Whatever it was, it was ridiculous, though. I didn’t really think a princess would actually fall for me, did I? A poor kid from Kridacus with more red flags than one of the Corporation’s secret labs?
Of course I didn’t. I just forgot for a minute, and now I’m here. All fucked up with no one to fight. It’s a bad situation for all of us.
“We’ll see her again, Ian.” Max sounds so confident. “When this is over and we’ve got Milla—”
“I don’t ever want to see Kali again,” I tell him. And because I want him to hear the absolute fucking truth in those words, I don’t even growl them.
It must work, because he doesn’t try to talk anymore. He just leaves me to brood and plot the princess’s downfall. Not that there will be a downfall, because I’m never going to see her again. But if I was, I’d definitely make sure to—
“Ian.” It’s Merrick, standing in the doorway, looking rumpled from sleeping late but also like he ran here at top speed. “Rain just told me Kali left?”
“She sure as shit did,” I snarl. “And she’s never coming back.”
“We have to find her,” he snarls right back at me. “Now.”
Over my dead body. “Yeah, well, that’s not going to happen, so you should probably come up with another wish for your fairy godmother.”
“That isn’t a wish. It’s a necessity—we have to get to her before it’s too late.”
“Oh, well. That sounds nice and dire, but she’s not my problem anymore,” I tell him, doing my best to sound as unconcerned as I feel. “She’s on her own now.”
“What do you mean?” Beckett asks. “Is Kali in danger?”
I want to ask her when she started to care, but I’m too busy listening for Merrick’s answer. Not that I give a fuck what happens to her—she could fall into a black hole for all the shits I give—but I probably should know what’s going on. Just in case it affects the rest of us. Or Milla.
“The whole system’s in danger,” Merrick says.
“I should go get Rain,” Beckett adds, standing. “Everyone should be here for this together.” She rushes out toward the bedrooms.
“Merrick, you’re going to have to give me more than that,” I prod.
“The heptosphere,” he says. “It’s a weapon. The heptosphere is a weapon—”
“I don’t give a shit about that hunk of metal,” I retort. Then nearly kick myself. I’m not even supposed to be listening, let alone caring what he’s saying. I busy myself with studying the buttons on the captain’s chair that I have never once figured out—might as well start now.
Merrick sighs. “It’s a weapon—one they think is powerful enough to revitalize the dying sun.”
“Well that sounds convenient,” Max tells him. “Isn’t that what we need?”
“Yes and no,” Merrick answers. “Do you know why a sun dies?”
“No,” I say. “Why don’t you educate me.”