Zenith

by Sasha Alsberg

  Andi had, too. The years she’d spent away from home had stolen many of her good memories of Arcardius.

  “Do you think you’ll ever be the same?” Andi asked.

  Valen toyed with the moss between them. He lifted a brow as he turned to her. “Do you?”

  “No,” she said. “And I don’t know that I want to be.”

  “I learned something, in my time away,” he said, leaning back, arms crossed behind his head.

  Andi leaned back, too.

  The stars stared down at them. The nebula seemed to loose a sigh as it swam far above their heads, sparkling as if it were made of dancing glitter.

  “We’ve been through darkness, Andi,” Valen said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t still live in the light.”

  He closed his eyes, and Andi was left to ponder how much his words echoed her own thoughts from earlier, about the balance between the light and the dark.

  They stayed there for a time, silence threading between them.

  “Hey...Andi?” Valen said as he lifted himself on an arm and turned to her. “This may be overstepping, and I completely understand if you say no...”

  His words trailed off, and she nodded her head in encouragement for him to continue.

  “Tomorrow is the Summit, and after that is the Ucatoria Ball. Even though I just got back, my father expects me to make an appearance. I know it’s safe here, that everything will be fine, but...I think I’d feel better if, perhaps, you and your crew came with me.”

  Andi couldn’t bring herself to tell him about his father’s demand. That she and the girls and Dex would already be there, forced to remain until General Cortas decided he would release them.

  So she nodded, still staring up at the sky.

  “Yes, Valen, we’ll be there.”

  From the corner of her eye, she could see him still watching her. She turned to face him.

  “Was there something else?” Andi asked.

  Valen’s face paled. “I’m required to dance.”

  Andi laughed at that. Every year, the Summit took place on a different planet. The Ucatoria Ball was always opened by that planet’s future successor dancing with a partner, a tradition that had lasted since the first official Summit fifteen years ago.

  “I’m not interested in dancing with a girl,” Valen said. “So...I thought...maybe I could dance with you?”

  Andi let out a single laugh. “I’m a girl, Valen. In case you’d forgotten.”

  He cursed. “That’s not what I meant!” Then he sighed. “I just meant that, at these things, normally, one dances with a romantic interest, and...I’d rather just dance with a friend.”

  A friend.

  He said the word as if he really meant it. As if, somehow, despite what they’d been through, the horrors they’d shared, Valen had begun to think of Andi as a friend.

  Other than her crew, she hadn’t had one in years.

  A smile, tentative at first, grew on her lips.

  “So?” Valen asked. “Do you think...would you want... I’d ask one of your crewmates, but quite frankly, they terrify me.”

  Andi laughed again. “It’s alright, Valen,” she said, sitting up and facing him. “I’ll dance with you.”

  The relief on his face was palpable. He smiled, a real, genuine one this time.

  “My father won’t be pleased,” he said.

  “Good,” Andi said. “Neither will mine.”

  They shared a soft laugh.

  “Let’s go back down,” Valen said. “I want to finish the painting.”

  She nodded and glanced one last time at the view before her as she stood. It was breathtaking, rivaling all the places Andi had seen on other planets far from here.

  Friends, she thought.

  She followed him down the stairs, back into the garden below.

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  * * *

  ANDROMA

  EXHAUSTION SWEPT OVER Andi like a blanket as she made her way through the winding halls of the estate to the guest quarters.

  The hallways at this time of night had more traffic going through them than was normal. The household servants were working hard day and night to make the estate look even more extravagant than it already was. To Andi they seemed to be wasting time by shining already spotless mirrors and windows, and she wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them picking up microscopic lint from the carpet.

  “That horrid horned fellibrag is going to be the death of me,” a woman muttered as she picked up the tattered remains of a shredded rug. Andi smothered a laugh and hurried past.

  Just as she was about to turn into the corridor where the crew’s rooms were located, a commotion stopped her.

  “I don’t know what happened, madam,” one of the servant droids was explaining to the head maid, his antenna wobbling from side to side.

  Andi crept closer, curious, as she watched a group of droids and maids hauling away bits of torn metal and glass, large scraps of computerized bits and wires. They dumped them into a large wheeled bin, sighing as they went about their work.

  “The general won’t be pleased,” the head maid said, tapping something onto a holoscreen in her hands. “He’s grown rather fond of that AI.”

  Andi’s stomach sank.

  Her curiosity was strong enough to draw her around the corner. “What happened?”

  The overseer let out an exasperated breath. “Nothing for you to worry about, miss. Just hurry along now.”

  Andi shrugged and was just turning away when a white, round object caught her eye.

  She gasped. “Alfie.”

  One of the maids dumped his dismembered head into the waste bin with a sickening thump.

  “What happened to him?” Andi asked, surprised to feel a twist in her gut. The AI had been annoying at times, but he’d been loyal to the crew. He’d saved her life on Adhira, and he’d even remembered to bring Havoc for Gilly’s sake.

  The maid shook her head sadly as she said, “We’re looking into it. The AI served the general well all these years. It’s likely he got in the way of a cleaning machine, or ran into some of the kitchen droids who didn’t appreciate his cooking tips. Now, if you would excuse us, please,” she said, ushering Andi along.

  Andi wasn’t sure if she believed the woman, but the cleanup was nearly done, and she couldn’t do anything to help Alfie now.

  As she turned to leave, a small, shiny object on the floor caught her eye. Quickly, Andi reached down and palmed it while the maid wasn’t looking. She didn’t know much about AIs, but the object in her grasp looked like a memory chip.

  “What are you going to do with him?” Andi asked casually.

  The woman shrugged. “We’ll replace him with another. They’ve developed newer models since he was created.”

  The maid turned, clearly done with the conversation.

  Like it or not, Alfie had become a part of her crew after what he’d done on Adhira. As she stood to leave, Andi slipped the smooth metal chip into a compartment inside her cuffs.

  It could be nothing, a useless memento, but her gut told her something different. She’d look into it later.

  She passed several other workers as she walked, all of them averting their gazes as if she were a ghost haunting the halls. One they would rather not bother, for fear that she’d soon come to haunt them personally, too.

  She came upon the fork in the hallway that marked the halfway point of Averia.

  Left would lead her to the guest wing.

  Right would lead her toward the residential quarters.

  Her old room was in that direction. She knew the path, could already see it in her mind, the hand-painted portraits from Valen that she’d pass, the smell of Kalee’s perfume wafting from her always-open door.

  Something changed in Andi as she stood there.
>
  Go right, her mind whispered. Go and face your own ghosts.

  Before she could decide otherwise, Andi turned right and headed down the hall.

  Chapter Seventy-Five

  * * *

  DEX

  DEX PRIDED HIMSELF on the fact that he hadn’t lost his ability to become one with the shadows.

  He’d been following Andi from afar ever since he’d seen her walking back from the gardens with Valen, both of them silent and looking content.

  Dex had to talk to her before it was too late.

  He’d almost approached her in the hall, but he’d been distracted by the mess the workers were cleaning up. When he’d discovered it was Alfie, he’d stayed behind to ask his own questions after Andi moved along.

  A few minutes later, as he caught back up, he’d just barely seen her turn the corner into the residential wing of the estate, walking confidently as if she knew the route.

  This place had once been her home. Of course she knew where she was going. He’d followed her, curious about what she was doing, until she’d stopped before an unlocked wooden door at the end of the hall. Glancing quickly over her shoulder, she’d slipped inside and shut the door behind her.

  Dex had spent half the day imagining how this conversation with Andi would go.

  There were plenty of potential outcomes, few of them good.

  Whether he liked it or not, their time together was coming to an end. He had to talk to her, put his feelings on the line before she soared away from here when the job was done, never to be seen or heard from again.

  With a deep breath, Dex opened the door and slipped inside.

  The room was massive.

  Moonlight danced through two towering windows on the opposite end, casting the rows of shelves in strange shadows. Books filled each shelf, the ancient kind with pages that could be flipped through, containing entire worlds that one could fall into if they weren’t careful enough.

  Dex had never been a reader, and he knew Andi wasn’t much of one, either.

  But he remembered her saying that Kalee was.

  “The general scoured the galaxy for this collection,” Andi said suddenly.

  Dex turned. She stood near him in the dark room, softly lit by a beam of moonlight. The sadness in her eyes could almost be felt, like a tangible thing.

  “You said Kalee was a reader,” Dex said. He laughed softly. “I didn’t know she was this much of a reader.”

  “She loved exploring,” Andi said. “The general loved keeping her close. And so she turned to books for her adventures.”

  She turned and walked past the first row of shelves, running her fingertips across the old spines.

  Dust swirled into the air at her touch.

  “I guess no one’s used this room since...” Andi said.

  She stopped talking then and continued to gaze at the books. Dex gazed at her, his mind telling him to talk, his lips choosing silence instead.

  “What is it about memories,” Andi said suddenly, walking back toward him, “that gives them the ability to hurt us so badly?”

  Dex shook his head. “The past is powerful. I think you and I both know that.”

  She finally looked into his eyes. “I’m tired of letting the past control me, Dextro,” she whispered. “Aren’t you?”

  “It’s easier said than done,” he said back.

  She was standing close to him. Close enough that he could see the scar on her neck from an old sparring accident between the two of them. Close enough that, if he closed his eyes, he could almost imagine her heart was beating as quickly as his was now.

  There was a deep, brutal scar on his chest, stretching toward his neck, and it had come from her.

  She reached up, slowly, and placed her hand over it.

  “I never thought I’d see you again,” she said. “That night, on the moon... And yet somehow, you survived.”

  His body felt like melted wax. Useless beneath her touch.

  “Andi,” Dex started, but she shook her head.

  “Don’t say anything. Not yet.” She swallowed and pulled her hand away. “I’ve never felt so wounded, Dex, as the night you betrayed me.”

  He closed his eyes. He felt the pain in her voice as if it were his own.

  “I deserved what you did to me. Many times after that night, I wished I had died by your blade.” She wasn’t looking at him anymore. He stepped closer. “Andi.”

  She glanced up.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. And though he’d already told her back on the Marauder, it felt like he was apologizing for the very first time. “I’m so sorry for betraying you. I’m so sorry for choosing...”

  “Dex.”

  She touched his chest with both hands now. His heart threatened to burst from within.

  “I’m sorry, too,” she said.

  Each word was like a gift he hadn’t known he’d been so desperate to receive.

  “All these years,” Andi said, “I’ve held on to my hatred of you. And when you showed back up and you told me the truth...I don’t know what I feel for you anymore.”

  He loosed a breath. “I don’t know what I feel for you, either.”

  Andi laughed softly. “We’re terrible together, you and I.”

  “Are we?” Dex asked. “There was a time when we were great together.”

  He realized that her hands had dropped to find his. That their fingers were suddenly intertwining, and she was pulling him closer to her, until their bodies were almost touching.

  “Andi,” he whispered. But his words were lost.

  She angled her head up to meet his, and when their lips touched, Dex felt a spark so intense it made him feel as if he were electricity itself. Her full lips slid against his, enticing him with such wanting, he couldn’t resist the lure.

  Then she was tugging at his shirt, yanking him closer. Their limbs tangled together as their chests breathed as one. He lifted her up and spun her so that her back was up against the bookshelves.

  Their kisses became insistent. Hungry. The world around them ceased to exist. All that mattered was this moment and nothing more. His tongue teased at her breathless lips as she ran her hands through his hair.

  This moment was familiar as much as it was foreign. They weren’t the same people they used to be, but somehow, with her in his arms, his lips against hers, Dex felt as if he was coming home.

  They kissed until they couldn’t breathe. Until Dex’s body ached with wanting, but he knew they had to stop. When they parted, he kept his eyes closed as he rested his forehead against hers.

  They stayed like that for a while, in shared silence.

  “Dex?” Andi asked.

  He pulled away from her so he could look into her eyes.

  “We can’t... This won’t ever...”

  “I know,” he said.

  And in his heart, he knew that it was true. Their two worlds were never meant to become one. That even through the forgiveness, even with the unavoidable feelings that echoed between them, they could never share a future. They had already had their chance, long ago. They’d both ruined it in their own ways.

  “What will you do, after this?” Andi asked.

  He shrugged. “I’ll become a Guardian again. I’ll do whatever is asked of me, go wherever my orders tell me to go.”

  “And the Marauder?” Andi asked.

  This part Dex had already thought of, and it was what had surprised him the most. “She’s yours,” he said. “You earned her through sweat and blood.”

  She laughed softly. He’d miss that laugh. Someday she’d share it with another man, someone who would give her the love she deserved.

  “If you ever need a crew,” Andi said, “you can call on us.”

  He knew it was her way of thanking him. He nodded, sighing as exhaustion swept
over him. But he didn’t want to go.

  “It’s late,” Andi said. “We should probably try to sleep before tomorrow.”

  The ball, Dex remembered suddenly.

  As they stood, straightening their clothes, he took her hand in his.

  “I’ve never done this before,” he said. He felt foolish. Like a boy again, hoping for the attention of a beautiful girl. “And I know that we don’t have a future together, after this is over. But I think...I’d like it if...if you...”

  “Oh,” Andi glanced at the ground between them. She shook her head, a sad smile on her lips. “I’m already going with Valen.”

  Dex laughed bitterly. “I never was good with timing, was I?”

  She sighed. They turned to leave, walking in silence to the library doors. Before they parted, Andi placed a hand on his arm.

  “It was good, Dex,” she said. “The time we spent together, before. I wouldn’t take any of it back.”

  She leaned forward and placed a kiss on his cheek.

  When they parted ways, Dex couldn’t help but feel as if he were seeing Androma Racella for the very last time.

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  * * *

  ANDROMA

  HER DREAMS WERE WILD, full of ships spiraling out of control. A tattooed man made out of stars with a handsome, devilish smile took the throttle as they spun endlessly into the black.

  It wasn’t his ship, and somewhere in the darkness, she heard the screams of her crew. Lives she’d sworn to protect, to keep safe no matter the cost.

  “Give me the throttle before you kill us all!” Andi tried to stop him, but when she reached out, his tattoos turned to tallies.

  Hundreds of them.

  Always, the tallies, countless numbers of those she’d struck down in years past, and the ones she would in years to come.

  There was one that stood out the most, a dark mark on his forehead, right between his eyes.

  “The first kill is always the hardest, Baroness,” he whispered.

  He turned into Valen, and his eyes, once hazel, turned to gold and began to drip red with hot, steaming blood.