Page 59 of Fire Forged

As Lily disappeared through the hatch, Britt flicked from one pattern to another.Finding the perfect elephant-shaped shirt pattern would be like stumbling on a diamond on a beach.She bookmarked possibles.It’d been so long since Mom had taught her the basics.Doing this with Lily would be a hard learning curve for them both.

“I suppose you heard?”Nerx appearing at the hatch made Britt squeak.

“Not much.”She frowned.“How did you know I was listening?”

He laughed.“Even if you moved on silent feet, I would still know where you are.As my Dar Eth, I find your presence discernable.”

Okay.She wasn’t going to touch that.“I heard Haiz is missing, and you’re sending the operatives.”She forced a shrug she was far from feeling.Inside, she squealed like Lily would.At last, her mother would be rescued.Diplomacy be damned, right?“Lily and I have more important things to do.”

He glanced down, then climbed into the star deck for a flushed Lily to dart around him to slump on the blanket.Poor Ollie was crushed to her chest, bulging his eyes.

“What do you think?”Britt asked, sliding her tablet over while flicking through the patterns.

“Oh, I love the flower one.”With a delicate pinching of her brow, Lily bit her lip.“It looks hard.I don’t know how…” She grabbed the closest needle and held it like a dagger.

“What are you doing?”Nerx asked, leaning down with a head tilt to study the image of a pink jacket.

“Making Ollie clothes,” Lily said like it was obvious.

“Ah, good,” he said.With a kiss to her temple and to Britt’s lips, he disappeared down the hatch.

She released a pent-up breath, then grabbed the two balls of wool.“Which one?”

Of course, Lily chose the pink, leaving the purple for Britt.With patience she didn’t know she had, she showed Lily how to start.Dad always said that keeping busy would make time fly.Britt was counting on that even as worry fiddled with the frayed edges of her mind.Operatives implied spies or agents.That meant they knew what they were doing.And if Nerx trusted them, then so would she.

Sendingmalestopossiblydie was the worst part of being a commander.Nerx was supposed to consider all scenarios, to mitigate any losses, and he’d done so on numerous occasions.But having met Britta, he couldn’t bear for one male to die.He longed for his males to be as free of the void and their inevitable fates.

The silence wasn’t helping.Edon managed the console, his fingers returning to the same button, forcing the system to refresh the scans when they were set to timed intervals.

Fear.

An uncontrollable flood of emotion.

Spiraling in ever-increasing concentric circles.

Down.

Until a physical manifestation takes over.

To fight.

To roar at the situation.

To save my males.

And yet, the mission is noble.

A must and a chance to earn honor.

Conquer the fear.

He opened his tablet to write the poem before he lost it.A distraction was what he needed.

Britta.

Except she was helping Lily make tiny garments.The replicator would’ve done that.Yet, their eyes had sparkled with excitement as they did this together.Perhaps it was the shared experience?He couldn’t remember ever making anything by hand.Such skills were lost to them centuries ago when the replicator became common place and birthing females the main goal.

“Keep monitoring.I will make sure the med-E.D.is ready.”

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