Page 37 of Until the Stars Fall

“I was about to go to bed when I got Zola’s text. How are you?”

“I never knew your hair was so curly.” He reached up, tugged on a curl, and let it go. “I love it. I’m glad you came,” he said again, yawning. “I’m good, thanks to you.” He took a big breath, and looked at me solemnly. “Thank you for saving my life. Twice over. I swear I thought that was the end.”

“Of course. And thank you for saving the ship.”

“Only because of your brilliance. Gem, I can’t—” His eyes filled with tears. “You risked your life to save me. Zola said you untethered.”

I smiled through blurred eyes. “You risked your life to save the rest of us. Besides, we’re supposed to finish inventorying the storage rooms this week, you know. You’ll have to do better than almost dying in space to get out of it.”

He chuckled softly. “I’m serious, Gemma, I owe you my life.” His eyebrows went up. “I don’t know how I could ever repay you.”

I glanced down at his arms. I’d been curious since I met him. “You can tell me about your tattoos.” I tilted his arm slightly so I could see the whole black design running down his forearm.

“Nah, now you’ve crossed a line and asked for too much,” he said, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb.

I caught the teasing in his voice, even as his caress awakened my whole body. “No really. Tell me about this one.” I ran my finger down the black, runic design. “What’s it say?”

He shifted his arm, looked at it himself. “A couple of years ago, when I was studying out at the Kerry Dark Sky Reserve in Ireland, I connected with some local witches, and I met this amazing woman, Máthair Chríona Niamh. It’s Gaelic for Wise Mother Niamh. She was the coolest old lady I ever met. A divination witch, but not like anybody else. She wouldn’t read for everybody, but when she agreed to read you—and she was selective—she’d go into a trance and tattoo what she saw, on the person, with her eyes closed. I kept seeing witches with these similar markings on their arms.” He turned his arm to look at the tattoo. “And they were all beautiful.”

I side-eyed him in amusement. “You let an old woman tattoo you with her eyes closed?”

“Well yeah,” he said, as if I was the one being silly. “I figured if nothing else I’d get a reminder of my trip. But it came out awesome.”

I traced the outlines of the black ink on the inside of his forearm. It was beautifully designed, artfully balanced, skillfully executed. And his skin was warm. Alive. My eyes teared up. “What does it say?”

“It translates to love will save you from the abyss.”

A presumptuous little thrill skipped through me, and I shifted closer to him.

He caught me smiling at him, and his eyes twinkled with mischief. “She was Christian. I figure she meant I had to love my neighbor so I didn’t go to hell.”

I nodded, smiling. “That’s probably it.” We both knew it wasn’t. “She did a beautiful job.”

“I think she’s already on Gaia.” He yawned again. “I could put in a good word for you, if you want one. No promises, though.” His eyes fluttered closed again. The clock on the wall read past midnight.

“I should let you get some sleep.” I stood up, but he gripped my hand tighter.

“Will you stay until I fall asleep?” he mumbled, eyes still closed. A sweet smile lit his face. “I love having you around. Think you’ll chase away the nightmares.”

“Of course.” I sat against him and pulled his hand on my lap. I loved having him around, too.

CHAPTER NINE

I waited for the consequences of using my magic to save myself and Beck. But three days had gone by, and...nothing. Beck was up and about. Nobody died. We’d caught our waypoint and were traveling on schedule toward Gaia. Everyone on board was well and in good spirits, and Beck was beyond pleased that I’d used my magic to save us.

“You ready for candlepalooza?” he asked, his arms outstretched over our project for the evening: rows and rows of fresh candles.

“As I’ll ever be!”

“Speaking of which, you left your rose candle in here earlier. I can’t help but sniff it every time I pass it, so you’d better take it before I steal it.”

“Aww no. You didn’t use up all the smells, did you?” I asked, feigning disappointment. I grabbed it from the table and sniffed it. I’d stopped by the med bay earlier to turn in my depleted candle and get a fresh one. Zola said the rose candle, which had appealed to me the most this time, was good for wellbeing, affection, and love. “Can’t you go get one yourself?”

“Yeah, I probably could. It’s just easier to mooch smells off yours.”

“Gotcha. Let’s get this thing over with.” I settled down onto the floor with a lighter and held my hand out.

“Why, you got somewhere to be? An appointment in the Andromeda galaxy?” He brought over a crate of candles and crouched beside me, beginning to hand them to me one at a time to replace the guttering ones.

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