Page 60 of Saved By Starlight
“Oh, honey.” Rose’s hand flutters to her throat. “Are you okay?”
“Are you hurt? Did he hurt you?” Harl demands roughly, hands fisting with intent to bludgeon me, apparently.
“Here’s the deal,” Lena says, ignoring their questions. There’s a new, hard edge to her voice. One that I put there, and I’m not sorry for it. “You want me to sing for the Hatching.”
“Of course,” Rose says, syrupy like she’s soothing an infant. “We need your help.”
“Well, I’m not going to do it unless you let Lyro go.”
I draw in a breath. Her plan to keep me alive is to separate us. Sheispunishing me.
“Absolutely not,” General Raknu barks, pushing between Rose and Harl to loom over her. His weathered bulk is several times larger than her slight form. I want to kill him for standing so close. “He’s a prisoner of war. An enemy combatant.”
“The war is over,” Oljin remarks blandly, moving to Rose’s side. I don’t miss how his gaze sweeps over the guards around them, assessing them for threats. He may have lived among the Frathiks for decades, but he doesn’t fully trust them. We are born of the same blood, my uncle and me. “It’s been over since before he was born.”
“How can you say that when we fight for survival every day?” Raknu snarls. “Irrans who crawl all over planets that aren’t theirs by right wouldn’t understand the pain of being planetless, but I thought you would.We are still fighting.”
“I’m just as planetless as you,” Rose reminds him. “So is Ollie, for that matter. It’s not like he can go back.”
Not like I can, either. Nor my Alara, now that she’s bound to me. For the first time, my soul smarts with sympathy for all of us, and my skin colors orange and indigo and white, pain and fear and shame. I hate it. Hate what loving Lena has done to me. How does anyone survive this raw tenderness?
Rose continues, “Lena holds the key to your survival, so call off yourdahgsand hear her out.”
“You wouldn’t do that, would you?” Harl asks Lena. “Sit by and watch our young die? The one we made together?”
A growl slips out of me, hearing Harl talk like she’s the mother of his spawn. Oljin, the only one who can hear at this distance, shoots me a warning look. It sayslet her save you, idiot. So I keep my teeth clenched and focus on the pain of my claws digging into my palm to distract me from tearing out the Frathik’s throat.
Once again, Lena ignores him like the queen she is and addresses General Raknu instead. “Open the hangar and let Lyro go, and I’ll sing my heart out. Don’t and I don’t. We all win or we all lose. Your choice.”
The general grunts dismissively. “Impossible. He’ll sabotage us. He’ll reveal our location to his brothers before the new treaty is settled.” He balks, but I can tell he’s considering it. She’s offered them a prize too tempting—her willing helpandthe possibility of using her as a pawn later.
I’m still not sure I want to be saved this way. I’m uncertain I’ll survive if we separate.
“He won’t tell them anything,” Lena says. “He doesn’t even like them.”
It’s really that they don’t like me, but it’s all the same in the end. We’re not sharing secrets. Only Lena knows the lining of my cloak.
“Yes,” Harl blurts out. “Let him go.”
“It’s not your call,” General Raknu rumbles. He’s going to agree. His posture is already resigned. He just doesn’t want an underling telling him what to do.
“He needs a comm that works,” Lena continues.
“He can have mine.” Harl lumbers off without a word, apparently to retrieve it. He’s so close to having Lena to himself, he must be drooling.
As if I wouldn’t return for her. I will follow her to the end, wherever that may be.
The general grunts. “He is a lot of trouble. And he could jeopardize the Hatching if he has influence over her. Maybe it’s better to be rid of him.”
Rose clasps her hands. “It’s settled then. All’s well that ends well, no hard feelings.” I doubt that’s the case, but the terrakin is right about one thing. We all get what we want, at least temporarily.
Lena looks back at me, cheeks pink and eyes shiny. She did it. She cut the thread that bound us together in one brilliant stroke. I could not have planned it better myself. She’s done exactly what I’ve hoped from the beginning—freed me.
So why does it feel like defeat?
The next few minutes are chaos as the scheduled transport runs their launch sequence again. Harl returns with the comm and insists on installing it himself. He returns my R’Hiza-damned blade, too. I can only assume it’s a guilt-gift for stealing my mate.
“If you don’t return,” he begins, but he cuts the sentence when he sees my murderous expression. “I only mean to say that I will take care of her.”
