Starfall

by Melissa Landers

  “You seem to be doing a great job,” Kane said.

  “Ah, well.” Ahmed sheepishly tucked both hands in his pockets. “I try.” A faint beep sounded, and he touched his earpiece as if receiving a message. “Duty calls,” he told them, and delivered another round of handshakes before striding to the door. He paused and glanced at Renny. “Please keep me informed. I’ll do whatever it takes to get my men back.”

  “I’ll be in touch,” Renny told him.

  Cassia watched the prime minister leave. “Keep him informed? Does that mean you learned something?”

  “Interesting that you should ask,” Renny said, and patted the guard’s shoulder. “This is Captain Forrester.” By way of introduction, the guard raised a weak hand. “His vocal cords are out of commission, but while you guys were in the tank, we chatted with this.” He lifted an electronic notepad from the table. “And he told me some interesting details about Fleece.”

  The guard poked Renny in the ribs and made a twirling motion with one hand.

  “Oh,” Renny said, nodding. “But first he wants me to say thank you. He knows it was a risk to bring him topside. He’s not sure why you didn’t leave him behind, but he’s grateful all the same.” After another prod, Renny added, “His wife thanks you, too. She’s expecting again, baby number…five, I think.”

  The guard held up seven fingers.

  “Wow,” Renny muttered. “Now I know the national pastime here.”

  Kane moved closer to the bed and settled a brief hand on Cassia’s shoulder. “You have Cassy to thank for that. We all pitched in, but she’s the one who wouldn’t leave your side. She resuscitated you, too.”

  The guard turned his gaze on her. Strangulation had burst his capillaries, but beyond the veil of redness shone an unmistakable gratitude reflected by his smile. He took the notepad from Renny and tapped a message, then held up the screen so Cassia and the crew could see it.

  When the baby comes, we’ll name him Cass.

  An instant lump rose in her airway. No parent on Eturia would name a baby after her. It had been so long since she’d felt truly appreciated that she almost didn’t recognize the emotion, but her greatest reward came when she shared a glance with Kane and noticed the admiration shining in his eyes, enough to tell her she’d earned back his respect.

  She cleared her throat and said, “I’m honored.”

  Renny saved her from tears by changing the subject with no tact whatsoever. “Yes, yes. Very nice. Now back to the interesting part.”

  The guard slid Renny a glare, which he ignored.

  “Right before Captain Forrester was attacked, he overheard a conversation outside the infirmary. You’ll never guess where Fleece told the workers he was taking them.”

  “Bet it wasn’t Narnia,” Solara quipped.

  “You’re closer than you think,” Renny said. “Both are mythical lands no one’s seen.”

  “Middle Earth?”

  “Better.” Renny paused for dramatic effect. “Adel Vice.”

  It took a moment for Cassia to recall where she’d heard that name. Then it clicked. Adel Vice had been written on the scrap of paper the ferret had left behind on the black market satellite. “Then it’s a location, not a flower?”

  “So it would seem.”

  “Did the workers say anything else?” Kane asked. “Like what planet it’s on? Or what they’re supposed to do there?”

  Renny shook his head. “That’s the last thing Forrester heard before…” He trailed off with a glance at the guard’s bandaged neck.

  “Still, this is huge,” Doran said. “Now that we know Adel Vice is a place, we can start putting out feelers.”

  Cassia agreed. This information changed everything. “I’ll call Jordan and have him alert the tech team. Someone has to know where it is.”

  “And what the mafia wants with all those people,” Renny added. “Speaking of which, we should head out soon. I don’t want Fleece coming back to finish what he started.”

  The crew had no arguments there. They said their good-byes to Captain Forrester, who gave Cassia’s hand an extra squeeze when he shook it. She kissed her index finger and gently touched it to the man’s bandages, then left the infirmary with more spring in her step than she’d felt in at least a month.

  She found the Banshee docked outside the merchant dome with its boarding ramp already lowered and ready for departure. Eager to tell Jordan what she’d learned, she jogged up the ramp but skidded to a halt the instant she reached the cargo hold and slammed into an invisible wall of fish.

  She waved a hand in front of her nostrils and noticed Acorn scurrying from one storage crate to another, her tiny pink nose twitching furiously as she investigated the pungent new cargo. “Does the whole ship smell like this?”

  The rest of the crew had the same reaction, each stopping short when they reached the top of the ramp.

  “I didn’t think anything could smell worse than Doran’s burnt porridge,” Solara said. “I stand corrected.”

  “Really?” Doran asked. “We’re still talking about that?”

  Renny strolled into the cargo bay, the only person not cringing. Either his nose had died or else he really loved tuna. “Relax. I already found a buyer.”

  “A close buyer?” Cassia asked.

  “Very close. Only two days away.” From behind his glasses, his blue eyes twinkled. “You might’ve heard of the place—a little colony by the name of Pesirus.”

  Cassia gasped. “Don’t play with my heart, Captain.” Pesirus was her mecca. Hellberry wine was made there from berries grown in bioluminescent bogs.

  “It’s no joke. I think we can afford an hour or two, provided you lie low”—he slid her a glance, chuckling—“and history doesn’t repeat itself.”

  She felt the color rise in her face while Doran and Solara snorted with laughter. Much like the topic of Doran’s burnt porridge, the crew loved regurgitating the tale of her infamous first visit to the hellberry festival, where she and Kane had overindulged on wine and woken up on the lawn of First Pesirus Presbyterian wearing nothing but grass clippings. That night had changed everything. They’d risked their friendship by sharing a first kiss. Maybe a grope, too. It was hard to remember.

  But Kane didn’t smile, or even blush, when he walked on board. Without a word, he strode past them and continued up the stairs, reminding Cassia there was something more important to discuss before her call with the general.

  She followed him to the residential level but made a detour to the washroom to retrieve something special before joining him in their quarters. When she shut the door behind her, he glanced expectantly at her from his seat on the lower bunk.

  “You know why I’m here,” she said, lingering at the door because apologies never came easily. Especially not this one. “I’m sorry for doubting you. I didn’t mean it.”

  “Are you sure? It sounded like you meant it.”

  “I’m sure. My brain might’ve lapsed, but in my heart I knew you would never spy on me.” She left the safety of the door and took the spot beside him on the cot, facing him with one leg curled beneath her. “And I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

  “I know.” His voice carried an unspoken but…

  “But I did anyway.”

  “Yeah.”

  “I can’t take back what I said, but I can give you a token of my sincerity.” She placed her pink laser blade on the cot between them. “If this doesn’t prove I’m sorry, nothing will.”

  One corner of his mouth lifted. “Mine to keep?”

  “It’s all yours. Maybe let me borrow it on shower day?”

  He lifted the blade and tipped it to and fro, inspecting its curved handle as though he hadn’t used the device a thousand times. “I think that can be arranged.”

  “Am I forgiven?”

  He pulled her into a loose, one-armed hug. “I guess so. Until next time, anyway.”

  She returned the hug and then wiped her dampening palms on her pants. Now for the h
ard part. “I want to tell you something else.”

  “Careful,” he warned in a teasing voice. “Insult me again and you’ll have to bribe me with something better than a laser blade.”

  “It’s about what happened in Marius’s palace.”

  All teasing ceased.

  “On my wedding day,” she went on. “There’s a reason I never talked to you about that, and it’s not what you think.”

  “You don’t have to,” he assured her.

  She knew that, but she wanted to. So she paused to steel herself and then told him about the morning she’d awoken to find a bridal gown in her suite. “I was terrified. The wedding bought me some time, but I knew it wouldn’t take long before Marius got bored with punishing me and ordered my execution.”

  Kane took her hand in both of his. “Cassy, I’m sorry you had to—”

  “No, let me finish. This isn’t easy.”

  He nodded, stroking her hand with his thumb.

  “I didn’t have a plan,” she said, “and for a while I didn’t have any hope. When I was at my lowest, the only person I wanted was you.” Her pulse thumped, but she forced herself to keep going. “I had so many regrets for how I treated you. I kept putting distance between us because I knew my parents would promise me to someone else. I guess it was safer not to get too attached.” She flicked a glance at him. “But it didn’t work. All I did was hurt us both.”

  He didn’t move, not even to breathe.

  “I swore if I ever had a second chance, I would tell you all this. But then I took the throne, and there was so much to do. I told myself I was too busy with the colony to focus on anything else, but deep down I was afraid, just like before.” She added softly, “So I gave you whiplash.”

  His hands tightened around hers and then abruptly loosened, as if he’d caught himself hoping too hard and then remembered to guard his feelings. She gripped his fingers and held on tight. She wouldn’t let him down this time.

  “Today I felt the same regret when I took my last breath inside that dome, only it was a hundred times stronger because I already had a second chance with you, and I wasted it. I never thought we’d survive, but we did, and I’m done being a coward.” To prove it, she looked him right in the eyes. “You said I could have your next twenty years if I wanted them. Did you mean that?”

  His mouth worked in silence for a while, until he said, “Yes.”

  “Then I want them.”

  Hope lifted the edges of his mouth. “So you’re ready to amend the charter?”

  “The colony has to be stable first,” she reminded him. “That could take years, maybe decades.”

  “Then we’re right back where we started.”

  “No, we’re not. I’m in charge now, not my parents.”

  “So we’ll…what?” he asked. “Live in the palace together?”

  “Why not? Half of Eturia thinks we’re together anyway.”

  “I hate to mention this as we discuss shacking up, but you’re married.”

  “In name only. It’s temporary.”

  “But then you’ll have to make another match. To unite the kingdoms and form a republic, you’ll need money and alliances, right?”

  “Yes.” She couldn’t argue with that. “But it won’t change anything between us. Political marriages are different. The usual rules don’t apply. My father had someone else, and so did my mother. Neither one cared.”

  “You want me to share you?”

  “No, I would be yours in every way that counts. All I’d have to give my husband is a child, and that can be done in a lab. I’d make sure he was agreeable to the arrangement. No one would get hurt.”

  “So you’d be okay if I married someone, too?” He arched a blond brow. “Shanna, maybe? She and I get along pretty well. I could make children with her in a lab…cute little babies with my eyes and her chin.”

  The idea of Kane and Shanna linked in any way made Cassia want to punch a hole through the wall. And clearly he knew it or he wouldn’t have asked.

  “Would you be all right with that?” he pressed.

  After huffing a breath and stewing in silence for a moment, she admitted, “Of course not.”

  “Then why is it fair to ask that of me?”

  She took his face firmly between both hands to refocus his attention before the conversation derailed any further. “Listen to me. None of that matters. We can figure out the details later. All that matters is we finally want the same thing. Can’t we just appreciate that and be happy for five minutes? Don’t we deserve five minutes of happiness?”

  With his face an inch from hers, she could feel his breath on her lips. Soon came the familiar stirring of awareness that always spread like honey through her veins when they were close like this. She knew the nearness had affected him, too, because she watched his resolve begin to falter. All of his unspoken arguments seemed to evaporate until he finally glanced at her mouth and murmured, “Let’s make it ten. We’re long overdue.”

  “How about twenty?”

  With a hasty nod, he tilted back her head and kissed her, soft and slow. The contact drew a whimper from her throat. He smelled so good, like sea and sand, and when she licked his upper lip, something within him seemed to break. He crushed her close and deepened the kiss. Before long, they were both panting for breath.

  “On second thought,” he gasped, “thirty.”

  “Thirty? Is that the best you can do?”

  He chuckled and gave her a look that sent a southbound jolt of heat all the way from her navel to her toes. “How about you clear your schedule and we find out?”

  She considered it done. All her days belonged to him now. Gazing into the eyes of her best friend, she saw so much joy that it strained the boundaries of her heart. She would never lose this feeling, never let him go again. As she reclined against her pillow, she trailed an index finger down the length of his chest and told him, “Go bolt the door.”

  Sometime later, they lay entwined beneath the covers, their heartbeats slow and their breathing steady, and closed their eyes to let the drone of the ship’s engine lull them to sleep. The cot wasn’t designed for two. Cassia’s shoulder was pressed to the wall while Kane’s elbow hung off the opposite side of the mattress, but neither cared. She liked the closeness and she knew he did, too. If this were a double bed, half of it would go to waste.

  As she drifted into dreams, she felt a niggling at the back of her mind, a reminder of something she was supposed to do, but she couldn’t make sense of it until a loud beep sounded from her wrist and made her jump. Beside her, Kane flinched so hard he rolled off the cot and landed on the floor.

  “Jordan!” she said, clutching the sheet over her bare chest. “I forgot to call him!”

  Kane started grabbing her clothes from the floor and handing them to her as the com-bracelet continued to beep. She turned them right side out and frantically pulled on her shirt and pants, then finger-combed her hair while Kane gathered his own clothes.

  “Hurry,” she urged.

  He stood up, holding a ball of fabric between his hips as he thumbed at the door. “I can’t exactly wait in the hall like this.”

  “Over there,” she said with a wave toward the corner. “He won’t see you.” As soon as Kane had moved out of sight, she accepted the transmission.

  In true form, Jordan leaned forward in his desk chair and inspected her image. “Are you all right? You look…frazzled.”

  “It’s been a long day,” she said, which wasn’t a lie. “I meant to call you, but I nodded off as soon as I sat down.” To change the subject, she launched into a story of the day’s events, downplaying her near-death experience so he wouldn’t panic and ask her to come home. She wanted to be the one who brought back the cure…and if she was being honest with herself, she wasn’t ready to go home. “My captain’s using his contacts to look for another outbreak. Now that we know Fleece is making people sick and using the cure as blackmail, maybe we can get ahead of him somehow.”

&n
bsp; Jordan nodded. “I’ll tell the hackers to focus on Adel Vice.”

  “Any news on the bill that failed?” she asked. “If we can figure out what Zhang tried to legalize on Earth, it might tell us what he’s up to on Adel Vice.”

  “The team is still looking, but nothing so far.”

  “How are things on your end?”

  “As well as can be expected,” he said. “None of our sick have disappeared, and the refugees in the tent camp are holding steady. I found out that a few of the refugees never contracted the illness, so I sent them to the lab to see if we can find a reason for their immunity.”

  “Great thinking.”

  “I also talked to Councilor Markham. He’s stalling the noble houses like you asked. So far they don’t seem to know about the breakout.” Jordan checked over both shoulders and lowered his voice. “And the rebel sting happens tonight.”

  On reflex, her breath caught and her eyes darted to Kane, who was now dressed and standing in the corner with his face concealed by shadows. She’d kept the raid a secret from him for so long that discussing it felt unnatural. She reminded herself that she trusted him and returned her attention to Jordan. “What’s the bait?”

  “Ammunition and imported fuel, like we discussed. I leaked the location to enough sources that the rebels are bound to find out. We’ll have them in custody by morning and begin interrogations right away. One of them is sure to give up the commander. Once we cut the head off the beast and take out the secondary leadership, the rest will scatter.”

  “Good. Keep me posted.”

  From the galley stove, Kane absently stirred a pot of chili while checking the clock display on the wall behind him. The rebel sting would take place soon, and he hadn’t been able to send a warning transmission to his mother because Renny hadn’t left the pilothouse a single time, not even to use the bathroom.

  The man must have the bladder of a whale.

  Kane couldn’t stop hearing the words take out the secondary leadership. He didn’t know his mother’s role within the rebellion, but he did know that take out meant execute, and he couldn’t risk that happening to her. If he had to physically drag the captain out of the bridge to make that call, he would do it.