Page 120 of Shadows of Stardust

But even that comfort feels intolerable right now.

Like a splash of lemonade on a busted lip, something that should be sweet is sharp and painful. One more wound I can’t handle. One more thing I’m going to lose.

I pull my hand gently away and slide out of bed.

35

Zandrel

I wake with a start, thrown off-balance by the feeling of something missing.

In the bleary haze of lingering sleep, I can’t immediately figure out what it is. All I know is that it feels important, vital, like coming back to consciousness with one of my limbs no longer attached to my body.

It only takes a few blinks to realize.

Roslyn is gone.

I’m on my feet in half a heartbeat, panic rising hot and urgent in the back of my throat.

“Ros?”

There’s no answer as I jog from the bedroom to the living space, skidding to a stop in the middle of the room, eyes darting to each empty corner.

She couldn’t have left, could she?

Was she desperate enough to steal another hover and go back to the village? To risk being seen, being caught?

Did she feel like she had nothing left to lose?

In my panic, I take longer than I reasonably should to remember I’ve got direct access into every comms andsurveillance system in on the beach. All the cameras, the sensors in the bungalow, everything.

Heart pounding, I return to the bedroom and pull on my cuff, fish my comms device out of my pack. Rapidly flipping through a few screens, it takes me an even more unreasonable amount of time to make sense of what I’m seeing, and then to toss the comms screen onto the bed as I bound for the front door.

My panic doesn’t ebb until I spot Roslyn on the beach.

A couple dozen meters in front of the bungalow, she sits in the sand with her legs bent in front of her, elbows resting on her knees, eyes fixed on the horizon.

She doesn’t turn to look at me as I approach, but I know her well enough to read the slight tensing of her posture when she realizes she’s not alone.

“I can go,” I say softly. “If you’d rather me not be here. I just… I woke up, and you weren’t… I wanted to… I can go.”

Idiot. I’m an idiot.

Of course she wasn’t going to run. She was never in any danger. And here I am, disturbing her peace when she likely wants to be alone.

Slowly, she shakes her head. “No. I don’t want you to go.”

I sink to the sand behind her. Legs bent just like hers, but with room enough for her between them, I wind my arms around her waist and gently urge her back. After a moment of hesitation, she melts into me, all the rigid tension in her loosening in one long, shuddering exhale.

There’s no need for any more words.

The weight of everything that’s happened over the past day presses down on us both, though I know Ros feels it a thousand times more keenly.

The only necessary chore is keeping the fatesforsaken cameras away, and I do so with a quick flick of my fingers overmy wristband. Most of them are charging at this time of day, and the ones that are still stalking up and down the beach are easy enough to redirect without rousing suspicion.

Cameras taken care of, I settle Roslyn more comfortably in my arms and follow her gaze out toward the sea.

The sky is a wash of pastels. Blues and purples, with the faint hint of pink dawn just visible over the water.

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