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  She giggled as one wrapped itself around her wrist. “It tickles!”

  “How can you let them do that?” Angie complained, as a band of nudus headed in her direction. “Ew, gross, gross, gross!” She shrieked as they wriggled up her legs and wrapped themselves around her forearms, their pulsing bodies glowing happily with every piercing wail of disgust she gave.

  “Look!” Ronad shouted excitedly, lifting his arms. The nudus seemed to adore him, as they swarmed him with their glowing affection, covering him wherever they could find an available spot. Evidently, he had the purest heart amongst us.

  “You’re playing host to a parasite, Ronad. I wouldn’t act so giddy about it, if I were you,” Bashrik said dryly, though it appeared nothing could dampen Ronad’s spirits.

  Angie flashed her boyfriend a knowing look. “Do I sense a hint of jealousy, my little Bashy-Boo?”

  “I have asked you repeatedly not to call me that in public,” Bashrik muttered. “And no, I am not jealous. Why would I be jealous of some glowing little space slugs that suck the energy out of you, when I have you for that?”

  Angie cackled, brandishing her own slugs at him. “You can say all the mean things you want. You’ve got yourself a pure-hearted woman over here!”

  I kept waiting for the nudus to come to me, but they seemed to be distracted by the people on either side of me. Feeling self-conscious, I scooched closer to the edge of the crater, making it easier for them to get to me.

  Meanwhile, Stone had picked up a few more nudus for his arms, acting surprisingly gentle toward them. He brushed his finger along the back of one of them, smiling as it bristled under his touch, the glow getting brighter for a moment. They really did seem to love him, their pulsing forms moving across his body like caterpillars on a leaf. It was a welcome opportunity to see the softer side of Stone. With him like this, I could almost understand how Lauren had warmed to him, forgiving him for everything he’d done to her. Besides, if the nudus were attracted to him, there had to be something good about him, deep down.

  A short distance from Stone, Xiphio was also picking up a fair number of nudus. I’d expected him to, given the sweet manner he had about him. What I hadn’t anticipated, however, was the lengths to which the merevin’s competitiveness could stretch. Although he had collected a good number of nudus, he didn’t seem satisfied. Glancing back at Stone, I realized why: the ambaka had collected more than him.

  “I bet you have resorted to cheating, Mr. Stone!” Xiphio called. “You do that whistle thing and it confuses them, I imagine.”

  Stone shot him a look. “These nudus come to me ‘cause they know I’m good o’ heart. Ain’t my fault I’ve got more than ye—I must be a better bloke.”

  “I refuse to accept that!” Xiphio cried, moving closer to the lip of the crater so a new swarm of nudus could come to him.

  Seeing this, Stone did the same, the two of them desperate to outdo each other, regardless of the fact that Lauren wasn’t even watching; she was too engrossed by the movements of her own nudus. I had to laugh. The pair of them looked ridiculous, trying to coax the slugs onto their arms, just to impress a girl who wasn’t even paying attention.

  Before I could count who’d won between the two of them, a purple nudus wriggled up toward me, moving across my legs and up to my arms, which lay flat against my thighs. It seemed to sniff me, bringing its glowing snout close to my skin.

  Come on, little sluggy, pick me, I urged. I promise I won’t pull a face if you choose me.

  For a moment, it looked like it was going to wrap itself around my wrist, but then it stopped, moving slowly away from me with an air of disappointment. I even thought I saw its light dim for a moment, because of what it had sensed in me. The thing was, I couldn’t blame it for not wanting to choose me. I understood why it had said no. I had Pandora’s blood on my hands; what else had I expected?

  “Hey, I’ll gladly wrap myself around you, if it’ll make you feel better,” Navan said, leaning in to put his arm around my shoulders. “These slugs don’t know the first thing about good hearts. I know what’s in yours, and it’s better than anything in the universe.”

  It was the nicest thing he’d said to me in days, and the sentiment took me by surprise, leaving me tongue-tied for a moment. “Same goes for you, mister,” I said, at last.

  “I love you,” he whispered, kissing my cheek.

  “I love you.” Who needed a space slug, anyway?

  In the end, Lauren, Angie, Ronad, Stone, and Xiphio all had several nudus on each arm, of varying colors and sizes. They seemed pleased about it, though I could see that Lauren was starting to feel woozy, her eyelids blinking more slowly than normal. Ronad looked a bit off color, too.

  “Let’s get to the ship and put these beasties away soon as poss,” Stone announced. “Those without nudus, do us a favor and scoop up some o’ that there mossy stuff. Make sure ye pull it up from the roots. If we’ve got that, we won’t have to wear these critters all the time and feed ‘em with our nutrients.”

  Bashrik, Navan, Alfa, Dio, and I nodded, before clambering down into the crater to pick some of the multicolored moss, which twisted in circular vines across the basins of the craters. It smelled of dirt and something lavender-like. As I picked up armfuls of the stuff, I looked up to see Stone flashing Lauren an impressed grin.

  “Ye did well, Ren!” he commended. “I knew yer heart was as pure as driven snow.”

  “Not too shabby yourself,” Lauren replied. “I knew this hard man act was just pretend. Inside, you’re a softie with a heart of gold.”

  His gaze met hers. “Only fer the right folks, Ren. Only fer the right folks.”

  With my arms full of colorful moss, I hurried after the retreating nudus-achievers, with Navan, Bashrik, and the other two bringing up the rear. They looked around as we entered the cruiser, and Alfa gave a low whistle of approval as he took in his new surroundings. Dio seemed impressed too, his wide eyes saying everything, his jaw nearly hitting the floor. As promised, the star-marked crates had been stacked just inside the hatch, awaiting Stone’s inspection.

  “Nice digs, Stone!” Dio enthused, heading through to the cockpit, where everyone else had disappeared to. As I followed him inside, I saw the others removing the nudus and placing them in metal boxes, where I proceeded to dump the mossy vines, spreading the plants across each one.

  “It’ll do, Dio, though you are guests on this here ship,” Stone insisted. “Ri here is the cap’n, and I expect ye to treat her as such.”

  Alfa smiled. “Happy to have a captain who knows what they’re doing for a change!”

  Stone laughed, gripping his pal in a headlock. “Take it back!”

  “Never!” Alfa slipped out of the headlock easily, though I had no idea how he did it. One moment, he was trapped, the next he was on the other side of the room.

  “Once everyone is finished messing around, perhaps we can get to the business of upgrading these engines and heading for Earth,” Xiphio interrupted loudly, clearing his throat. “We are running out of time, after all.”

  Bashrik nodded, taking the controls. “I’ll chart our course now and get my toolkit. Hopefully, it won’t take us too long.”

  “Thank you, Bashrik. At least we have a pilot we can rely on,” Xiphio replied curtly. “Now, while I have your attention, I was hoping to make a suggestion. Perhaps, on our way to Earth, we might enlist the assistance of other Federal agents. Now that I may use my capture of Stone as leverage to restore my reputation, I firmly believe my colleagues will join forces with us.”

  Stone snorted, his fellow crewmates chuckling. “Ye didn’t capture nothin’. Ye couldn’t capture a fart in a jar.”

  Xiphio scowled at him. “You all realize this is temporary, yes? As soon as Earth is saved, I shall be forced to arrest every single one of you, as per my obligation as a Federal agent. It is not my wish to do so, but it is what I must do.”

  I wondered how far he would end up going with his threat, even though the
re were a million things standing between us and the end of all this. Truthfully, the merevin’s heart didn’t seem to be in it anymore… except when it came to Stone.

  With him, it was personal.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  I awoke with a start, my eyes flying open, my body drenched in a cold sweat. I couldn’t remember having a nightmare, but it felt like the aftermath of one. My breath was coming in sharp gasps, my heart racing, my temples thudding. As my pulse slowed, I glanced at the clock, noting that it was still the middle of the night, even if the view outside remained the same.

  As my racing brain slowed down, I realized what had happened. It wasn’t a nightmare that had woken me but something far worse—the terrifying reality of what lay ahead of us. We had the nudus tucked safely away in their boxes, nourishing themselves on the mossy vines, but I was still anxious about what we planned to do with them. The barriers were strong and could cover vast distances—we’d already seen that in action from Stone and Glossa itself—but there was no way of knowing what would actually happen, when it came to using them. What if they failed? What if Queen Gianne found a way through? What if we got there too late to be of any use?

  Navan, Bashrik, Ronad, Stone, and myself had MacGyvered a working deep-space engine from the endless stash of useful junk that the ambaka had scavenged over the years. Those crates had been a cave of engineering wonders. Thanks to Stone’s thievery, we would get back to Earth way quicker than we would have without it. But even then, there was no telling whether Gianne would get there before us. I just wished building the barriers could be as straightforward as building an engine. Machines were predictable and logical; these barriers we were intending to create were anything but.

  Taking a deep breath, I rolled over in bed, seeking out Navan’s arms to comfort me. But his side of the bed was empty, his covers thrown back, and there was no sign of him anywhere. Instead of feeling sad that he’d disappeared in the middle of the night without a word, I felt a bristle of anger rise through me. I was tired of this. I was tired of turning over in bed to find him gone and not knowing why.

  Enough was enough.

  We were supposed to be in a partnership, but I was feeling more and more alone with every night that passed. I didn’t see the point in him keeping secrets from me, especially when we were about to ride into certain death together.

  Powered by pure exasperation, I scrambled out of bed and stormed out of the room, into the darkened silence of the ship. Everyone else was asleep, having gone to bed hours earlier. Something was wrong with Navan, and I was determined to find out what.

  Halting outside the room where he’d holed himself up the other night, I lingered on the threshold, pressing my ear to the closed door. I could hear strange noises inside. He wasn’t coughing up his insides this time. Instead, it sounded almost like metal scraping against the ground. I also caught the slam of drawers being closed and the gentle hum of Navan singing to himself.

  I tapped the entrance pad, only for it to flash red. It was locked from the inside. I rapped my fist on the closed hatch.

  “Open the door, Navan!” I hissed. “I’m not leaving until you do.”

  Inside the room, the sounds changed. I heard things being shoved into drawers before they were slammed shut frantically.

  A moment later, the hatch went up, and Navan stepped to the side as I strode in.

  “Riley—” he began, his eyes wide.

  I barely looked at him as I stalked around the room, flipping the lids off boxes and searching inside the cabinets. To my frustration, I still couldn’t find anything amiss, though I knew he was doing something in here.

  “What are you hiding from me?” I snapped, whirling around to face him.

  “I’m not hiding anything,” he replied, after a tense pause. “I was doing some… meditation, that’s all.”

  “Why are you lying to me?” I gasped, feeling as though someone had squeezed the air out of me. Tears beaded in my eyes, and my stomach was churning with nerves.

  He stepped forward, but I backed away. “I was just stretching in here. I haven’t been sleeping very well, and I hoped it might help.”

  “Bull! A load of lying bull!” I wheezed, clutching my chest. “I know you’re sick, Navan. I know you’re sick and you’re keeping it from me. I heard you the other day, coughing and spluttering. All I want to do is take care of you and be there for you, but how can I do that when you won’t tell me what’s going on?” Tears trickled down my cheeks, hot and fierce, refusing to be forced away.

  To my disbelief, Navan laughed. “Well, I suppose I am sick. In a way.”

  “I knew it!”

  He shook his head. “I am… lovesick.”

  “This isn’t the time for jokes, Navan. I just want to know what we’re facing so I can help. I don’t want you to shut me out of anything, no matter how bad it is. Honestly, I can take it. Just tell me what’s wrong with you.”

  “You are what is wrong with me, Riley, in the most incredible way possible.”

  He sank down on one knee, lifting his gaze to meet mine. From his pocket, he took out a small silver box, intricately carved with what looked like a river scene, with trees surrounding a winding brook and pretty birds with their wings outstretched, swooping low over delicate flowers. I stared at him in shock. Nothing was registering properly. Half of my brain was still asleep. None of this made sense.

  “What… What’s going on?” I mumbled.

  He smiled shyly. “I had this whole romantic idea planned out,” he explained, laughing softly. “If we got back to Earth and Gianne hadn’t arrived yet, bringing her harbingers of doom and gloom with her, I was going to take you on a little trip… to the fields of Texas, where we first met. I was hoping to take you to the creek and propose there. I guess I never factored in your inquisitiveness.”

  I felt like I was going to crumble, my knees shaking. “I don’t understand…”

  “I’m trying to be romantic… and failing miserably,” he said, still grinning. “Honestly, I should have done this ages ago. It took me way too long to realize that I couldn’t bear to be without you. When Kaido took you away, and we got separated on Vysanthe, I started to think about it more. Then, when all that stuff happened with Seraphina… I knew I never wanted to be separated from you, ever again.”

  I staggered across the floor and sank to my knees in front of him, unable to stand a moment longer without keeling over. Tears were coursing down my face, and my chest was heaving, though not out of sadness anymore.

  I shook my head. “I’m dreaming…”

  With a nervous smile, he opened the intricate box and turned it toward me, revealing a beautiful ring cushioned in dark red velvet. In the center of a silver band, a sea-green stone glittered, surrounded by smaller green stones of a slightly paler shade. It suited me perfectly, reminding me somehow of Earth. Plucking out the ring and turning it over, Navan gently squeezed the sides together. A hologram shot up out of the stone. Moving inside the flickering golden light was an image of Navan and me standing together in a field of swaying corn, a billion stars glittering overhead. Written in the constellations was a message: May the light of our love never go out.

  “My love, my only love… will you marry me?” he asked, his voice thick with emotion.

  I lunged toward him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him tight to me, kissing him on the lips with every ounce of love and passion I felt. It was overflowing from me, my heart and soul too overwhelmed to respond to his question with mere words. His mouth moved against mine, his free hand trailing up the length of my spine, making my nerves tingle.

  A few moments later, I pulled away, gazing into his eyes.

  “So… is that a yes?” He looked so adorably nervous that I wanted to smother him in kisses all over again. It was clear he wasn’t sure what the correct human response was, in a scenario like this.

  “Of course it’s a yes!” I cried, though Navan lifted a finger to his lips, conscious that the others
on the ship might still be asleep. After all, the hatch was still open. I wanted to yell it to the universe, but I could understand his hesitancy. With a war approaching, this felt like it should be oddly private—a moment between the two of us.

  As Navan lifted my hand and pushed the ring onto my finger, a little excited squeak rose from his throat. I shared his excitement as I stared down at the beautiful piece of jewelry, my cheeks aching from the relentless smile that had appeared on my face. I marveled at the ring and the way it glinted in the light, the sea-green gemstone shifting color with every subtle turn. Without warning, Navan scooped me back into a passionate embrace, catching my lips in his, placing the box on the floor so he could hold me properly.

  I pulled back and peered up into his glittering eyes. “Wait, what have you actually been doing in here all this time? Did you make this ring?”

  The pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming together in my mind. There was something so unique about the stone and the setting, not to mention the hologram, that it had to be handmade.

  He kissed me on the lips. “Yeah, I’ve been in here making it. I didn’t want to pick a room too close to ours in case the hammering disturbed you and you came snooping. I should’ve realized constantly disappearing in the middle of the night was a bad way to go about things, but I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn’t want you to accidentally find it before it was finished.”

  “I thought you were dying!”

  He chuckled against my neck, tracing kisses across my collarbone. “Why would you think that?”

  “I came sneaking up here one night and heard someone coughing. I thought it was you, choking up your lungs or something.”

  He looked thoughtful for a second. “Ah, I know what that was,” he said, at last. “I was putting the hologram together, but it requires piecing together these miniscule holographic fibers, which create the picture when the ring is turned. I’d accidentally inhaled a bunch of them and was trying to cough them all up. They’re not dangerous or anything, just itchy.”