Valen shakes his head. “It isn’t as if they’re completely ignorant to the fact that there are other ways to live; that there are other, more advanced societies. The people are foolishly loyal to their planet and their ways. I truly think they’re all willing to die there, to slowly kill each other off until the planet is empty. It’s their way. Their tradition.” I shake my head. “It’s just so…savage. So brutal. I don’t understand it.” Valen doesn’t say anything, and I can tell he’s already thinking about something else. But it occurs to me. Valen isn’t just the way he is because of Cyrillius and Dominion. It stems from the very planet he was born on. He was brought into a world that valued hunting one another down. A planet that runs off the survival of the fittest. “But not everyone is like that on Starvis, right?” I ask. He takes a moment to respond as he shakes his trousers in the water. “No. Most, but not everyone. If a ship came and offered them safe passage off the planet, the

I nod. “The Kinduri only touched me once. I can’t believe how sure their hold was on me, considering I didn’t even realize it had happened at first.”“You’re sure it’s gone?” he asks, reaching a hand up and brushing his thumb over my cheek.I think of it again, this time changing the way I kill Cyrillius. I imagine slicing him right down the middle with my Neron staff.I nod as a wicked smile crosses my lips.“What about you?” I ask, excitement sparking in my heart. “Did I do it? Did I break the weight?”Valen lets out one breath and brushes his thumb over my lips just once. “It’s small, but there’s still a little tug in the back of my brain. I think one more time and we’ll eliminate it.”“Let’s do it then,” I say, my voice excited. I raise my hands up to press my fingers into his temples, but Valen catches my wrists, lowering my hands into his lap.“You need to rest, Nova,” he says, his voice calm and gentle. “You’re depleted after everything we just did. We can try again in the morn

I roll out of the bed, being careful not to jostle it. I don’t want to wake Valen. I don’t want him to see me like this. As I walk across the room to the washroom, I try to reason with myself.It isn’t logical that Valen and I will be in each other’s physical presence every minute of every day. It probably means nothing, the fact that I didn’t see him there with me. We still have to lead our lives, we’re still individual people.I pull my uniform on and brush through my hair, telling myself to forget about it.Valen still sleeps when I walk back out so I decide to leave him to rest, and head into the Command Deck.The sky is still dark outside and when I look out, I only see the peak of the mountain beginning to have a silhouette as the sun makes its way around the globe. I can’t hear anything through the thickness of the ship, but I can see the vague form of a bird as it soars through the air. I see a beast dart through the clearing, heading back into the trees.Alone in the Command

Wires and electrical currents. Connections to internal satellites. Amplifying relays and long-range signals.The communications system is the most complicated part about this ship. I think the surge of Neron when we punched through space nearly melted everything through. I feel like I’m rebuilding everything from scratch. Having to reform every connection and wire.Valen doesn’t say a word to me as I work throughout the day. He walks by once an hour or so, pacing. I feel the uncertainty, the questioning in him.He doesn’t know how he feels about this, either.All throughout the day, I’ve felt this rising sense of…more, building inside of me. This isn’t all you were meant for, a little voice in my head whispers, and it sounds a little like Evander Nero.I shove the voice out and concentrate on what I do know. I know I can fix this communications transmitter. It’s just going to take me some time.Around mid-day, Valen brings me a plate of food and I offer a small little smile as thank

When I wake up the next morning, I roll over to see Valen staring up at the ceiling. There’s a deep furrow between his brows. His hands are tucked behind his head. He’d deep in thought.“What are you thinking about?” I ask, resting a hand on his bare chest.He doesn’t answer me right away, and I can almost feel his tangled thoughts like they’re a tangible thing in the air. He breathes slow, hard. His vivid blue eyes don’t break their accusation of the ceiling.“The only way this ends is if we kill Cyrillius,” Valen eventually says. “But it’s nearly impossible to get to him with his armies, and then there are the Kinduri.”It’s the Kinduri that really worry me. I could have killed Cyrillius lunars ago if it hadn’t been for them getting in my mind. “The numbers aren’t in our favor, Nova,” he says. He places one of his hands over mine, holding it firmly to his chest. “A group of Nero tried to take Dominion out solars ago, and they failed. If just you and I go in there, I don’t know if w