by Theresa Kay
Burrowing my face into Lir’s neck, I tentatively open the connection between us. It’s light and warmth and love, flowing around and between us. Not enough to completely wash away the grief and pain, to completely banish the darkness, but a lifeline, an anchor, and exactly what I need. I’m too tired, lost, and scared to do this on my own. There’s too much death and darkness in my head. Everything I thought was steady and sure has been ripped away—except this, except him, except us. I don’t like needing him, but I can’t help it.
“I’m so glad to see you,” I say against his skin as I revel in the feel of being close to him again.
“I am relieved to hear that. After our last conversation, I worried you might… blame me for not being able to stay. I tried. They pulled me out, and by the time I was in a position to attempt returning, there were other dangers.” He pauses. “And I apologize for shutting you off from your brother without asking you. It—”
“Doesn’t matter. Just the fact that you came when I needed you and that you’re here now…”
Lir pulls back and uses one hand to tilt my chin up so I meet his stunning emerald gaze. “I would not want to be anywhere else. I realize things are bleak right now, but we will figure this out together.” His lips round up into a soft smile, and that single eyebrow arches upward. “We definitely won’t be peachy.”
I laugh and blink back tears. Somehow, he always knows what to say. He’s here. We’re together. And everything else can be dealt with later.
A throat clears behind me. The fact that we have an audience completely slipped my mind. I release my hold on Lir’s waist and turn. What I see is not what I expected.
Rym and another E’rikon are surrounded by Gavin’s men, with guns trained on them. Two more guns are pointed at Lir, but those slowly lower when I glare at the men holding them.
“I told you. She knows them,” says Stu, standing between us and the guns. Ethan’s tucked under his arm and slightly behind his body. “Well, him at least.” He jerks his head in Lir’s direction. “Now put the damn things down before someone gets hurt.”
Gavin walks out of the woods, Harrison and Bree right behind him. “What’s going on?”
One of the men steps forward and stammers, “They landed their ship and disembarked over our protests. We were unsure if they were threats, so we thought it better to…” He trails off under Gavin’s disapproving glare and shuffles his feet.
The other men lower their weapons.
Gavin leans over to Harrison and says something in his ear. Harrison nods and leads Bree to the other side of the clearing, where Emily has been propped up with some blankets.
“Sorry about all that,” says Gavin as he walks over to me and Lir. “My men are a little jumpy.”
“Understandable,” says Lir. “I hope you can assure them that we are not the enemy. In fact, we are planning to head to your base, and we have plenty of room for everyone.”
Gavin looks past my shoulder and I turn to follow his gaze. An E’rikon ship sits at the edge of the clearing. Shiny and silver, it’s nearly as tall as the trees, with a sleek, triangular design, nothing at all like the tiny thing I rode in… how many days ago was it? I shake my head. No time to figure it out now. I’ve got to get back to moving forward.
“We get to ride in it? That’s so awesome!” yells Ethan. He pulls away from Stu and runs up to Lir. “Can I help you fly it? I’ve never been in a ship before.”
Lir crouches down in front of the child. “You must be Ethan.”
“Yup.” He nods eagerly.
“I believe I must thank you for looking after Jax for me then.”
Ethan grins. “Well, she saved me from the bad guys, so I wanted to help her.” He looks down and scuffs his shoe against the ground, and his voice grows softer. “’Sides, no one else can talk to me in my head like my mama used to except her.” Lir is quiet for a moment, and then Ethan’s eyes go wide and his smile grows bigger. Lir tilts his head toward Rym, and Ethan goes scampering off in that direction.
Lir straightens and rests a hand on my lower back.
I lean in to his side. “What’d you say to him?”
“I told him Rym is the one to talk to about flying the ship.” He smirks. “I may have also told him Rym really enjoys talking through the link.” His hand slides off my back and moves to his side to intertwine with mine.
“So, about the ship… How did you end up with it?”
He closes his eyes and presses his lips together. Regret and guilt drip through the dhama. A slight shake of his head. “Later.”
I squeeze his hand in an unspoken understanding. There are quite a few things I’ve put off, emotions I’ve shoved away, locked inside and ignored. I’ll have to face those eventually too. “Whenever you’re ready.”
There’s a flurry of movement as Gavin organizes his men and Emily is made ready for transport. The entire time, Lir clenches his hands and glances from side to side. Nervousness leaks from him and into me. What isn’t he telling me?
As everyone boards the ship, he pulls me aside. “Before… there is… uh…”
I take it back. He doesn’t always know what to say. I raise my eyebrows. Would it make it easier if you told me like this?
Always worrying about others’ comfort more than your own. He smiles and runs a hand down my cheek.
My brow furrows and I cross my arms over my chest. I don’t think I like the sound of that. What exactly is it that you have to tell me that will make me so uncomfortable?
He clears his throat, opens his mouth, then closes it. He thinks for a moment and then rapidly says, “Your father is on board.”
“What?” I take a step back. “How is that possible? He’s dead.”
Lir rubs the back of his neck. “It is a long story and I am sure he would tell it better than I. He was shot in our escape from the city and is unconscious. I just wanted you to know before you saw him. Karo believes he will heal with some quality medical care, but…”
“You don’t know for sure, and the longer we stay here the worse his chances get?”
“Yes.”
“Well, let’s get going then.”
I hop into the ship and Lir follows. Like most E’rikon things, it’s mostly devoid of color and decoration. The interior walls are flat white and the seats are pale gray. There’s a narrow aisle splitting the eight rows of seats into two sections. I go straight to the back, ignoring the tall form with dark hair lying across the seat closest to the front and the surprising sight of Matt leaning over him. The idea of my father being alive, being here, leaves me strangely numb. He was there for my childhood, he taught me and Jace how to survive—but he’s been gone so long and so much has happened since then that I don’t know how to feel about his sudden reappearance.
I take the farthest possible seat from the front and direct my attention out the small round window in the side of the ship. Lir settles in beside me, wraps an arm around my waist, and presses his lips to my temple.
“Do you…?”
“Later,” I say. “Right now there’s too much else to think about.”
I understand. He really does. I’ve opened myself up to our connection enough that I simply know it. And the feeling is… amazing.
I lean my forehead against the wall of the ship and watch through the window as the ground falls away. For only the second time in my life, I’m flying. And that’s all I’m willing to think about for now. Tomorrow, the next day, or the one after that… sometime soon I’ll worry about what comes next.
Most don’t know it yet, but the war has started. Jastren has made sure of that. Not human versus E’rikon like I expected, but something in between. Like me. Like Jace. Like Ethan. And who knows how many others. Members of both species will have to make a choice about what they want the future to be—or if they want one at all.
Jax's story will continue in Shattered Stars, coming soon.
To Stay Updated on My Newest Releases, Sign Up for My Newsletter
A Note
About Reviews
If you enjoyed this book, please consider leaving a review. Every single review helps, even if it’s only a sentence or two.
Thank you!
Also By Theresa Kay
BRIGHT BEYOND
(a novella serial)
Start with the FREE prequel short story, Dark Expanse
In a world of military space stations, planetary jumps and alien offensives, Eva Braebel's life has never been easy. She's small. She's female. And she earned the ire of a powerful General at a young age. With hard work and the support of her friends, she achieves more than she ever dreamed possible: A position as flight squadron leader and the man she loves by her side.
Eva just got everything she's ever wanted, but how long can she keep it?
ANTHOLOGIES
“Stability,” a short story included in The Telepath Chronicles
Cora has spent most of her life in a clandestine medical facility, isolated from the world and content to submit to tests and experiments at the request of her keepers. Content, that is, until the day she discovers their end goal: breeding her to create a more stable telepath. So when an attack on the facility gives Cora her chance at escape, she seizes it. But as she gets closer to freedom and learns more about the world outside, Cora finds she doesn’t know whether she’d rather be outside or in—or whom she can trust.
"Six Days," a short story included in The Z Chronicles
The longest anyone has survived a zombie bite before succumbing to the madness is six days. That means, if she’s lucky, Sarah has four more days before she goes full-on flesh eater and she needs every single one of them. The life of her infant son depends on her finding an uninfected person willing to take him before she loses her mind. Her husband is dead, her son is depending on her, and the countdown is on.
"Protocol A235," a short story included in Dark Beyond the Stars
Beth is a maintenance tech on the Genesis, the spaceship that will carry her, along with fifty thousand other passengers, to a new home in deep space. But when she comes out of cryosleep to serve her thirty-day solo shift, she finds the ship in disarray, its systems malfunctioning. Worse yet, a previously undisclosed protocol has been put into effect. Protocol A235. And now Beth finds herself facing much more responsibility than she signed up for.
The only person she knows who had a subscription to Writer’s Digest at eleven and was always excited to write research papers, Theresa has been putting words to paper since a young age. She writes predominantly in the sci-fi and urban fantasy genres. Residing in central Virginia, she juggles two kids, a husband and a full-time job in addition to her writing and in her free time she reads almost anything she can get her hands on.
Okay, enough talking about myself in the third person… I love interacting with readers, so if you want to shoot me a line, you can connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Goodreads. Even if it’s not about my books, I like chatting about my (many) fandoms, books and reading in general, or just about anything really.
www.theresakay.com
www.therebelwriters.com
Join the Rebel Writers Fan Group
On a personal level, the past year has been one of the hardest of my entire life. So, first off, I'd like to thank the people who kept me together and helped me through it in one way or another. Whether through support, encouragement, legal representation, helping the kids, conversation, or simply telling me I'm not crazy, these are the people who kept me writing and got Fractured Suns to the finish line: Ann, Bonnie, Sam, Elizabeth, Thistle, Shawn, Paul, Alex, Caylie, Stormy, Regan, Kat, Rysa, my dad, and my mom.
Okay, now that I've gotten the semi-mushy personal stuff out of the way...
I had a wonderful and dedicated group of beta readers who helped make this story what it is, so thanks to Lenore, Kirsten, Amanda, Leigh, Kathryn, Aret, Carla aka Curly, Kelly, and Brianna.
Another person I couldn't have done without is my outstanding editor, David Gatewood. I first worked with him when he edited my short story included in the Telepath Chronicles and from there I knew I had to have him for Fractured Suns.
I still have no visual creativity to speak of, so I have to thank Nicole Spence for my lovely cover, CookieLynn Publishing Services for the interior formatting, and Caylie Marcoe for some of my graphics.
A special thanks goes out to all the bloggers, vloggers, Instagramers, and reviewers who supported Broken Skies and who (I hope) will love Fractured Suns just as much. Thank you to Sasha, Ben, Paula, Angela, Leah, Jen, Morgan, Kaysia, Jenna, Sarah, Emma, Sabrina, Chin, Cee, Claudia, Ryley, Maria, Brittany, Kelly, Jenaire, Maribel, Joood, Inah, Jessica, Arinana, Elesia, Tonyalee, Kristen, Natasha, Rachel, Christina, Morgan, Fallon, Sara, Kelly, Shannon, and Autumn. I know I'm missing people and I'm sorry if I've left you out, but know that I'm thankful for each and every one of you.
I also want to give a special shout out to some special fans who made the trip to UtopYA, Penned Con and/or Chicago this year just to meet up with me and some of the other Rebel Writers: Lenore, Leigh, Carla, Kelly, and Bobbi Jo. You ladies are awesomesauce!
My publishing journey has changed a bit since the publication of Broken Skies. I'm now a hybrid author and my author friends, be they indie, trad, or hybrid, have been invaluable along the way. Not only do they understand exactly what this business takes, they are some of the most positive and encouraging people I know.
Thank you to the members of S3G. I'm not always talkative, but I've learned a lot from you guys and I love how we all support each other.
Sam Peralta, thank you for taking a chance on me and letting me be a part of the Future Chronicles series, not just once, but twice.
Patrice Fitzgerald, Jen Wells, Ann Christy, Rysa Walker, Annie Bellet, Blair Babylon, Sara Reine, Susan Kaye Quinn, Autumn Kalquist, Elle Casey, and Mimi Tpaulin-- I adore you ladies. Our conversations tend to get off topic and we're often more silly than serious, but we're always there for each other as women and as friends. JUG hugs all around!
And then there are the Rebel Writers. I have no idea how I ever got so lucky as to find this random group of people who have become like family to me. In no particular order they are: Regan Claire, Stormy Smith, Alex Tuttle, Caylie Marcoe, and Kat Nichols. I really want to write each of you personal note here, but I can't think of what to say... or actually I just can't condense everything I want to say enough to not increase the word count of this book by five thousand words or so. I'll just go with I love you guys and I couldn't have done any of this without you.
Through the publication of Broken Skies by Skyscape I've come to know many Skyscape authors who've been happy to answer questions, offer support, and sometimes just joke around: Alys Arden, Jacqueline Garlick, Rysa Walker, Michelle Muto, Ellisa Barr, Kat Ross, Christina Farley, Megan Crewe, Karen McQuestion, Rachel Marks, Maureen McGowan, Gwenda Bond, Lisa Manchev, Carrie Noble, Meredith Mccardle, Lori Lee, Elliot Kay, and Shari Becker.
Extra special thanks to these other authors who have given me a hand up in one way or another: Rachel Higginson (RW honorary member and the sole reason we found each other), Jason Brant (you douche ;), Jennifer Eaton (aliens rule!), Karen Lynch (I'm really serious about that trade), Krystal Wade (seriously, how do we live so close and haven't gotten together again, yet?), Tracy Banghart (I wish you could have made it to UtopYA again this year, but I think being in Hawaii was probably just as fun :), Jolene Buchheit and Angie McGrew-Skaggs (Bitches forever!!), Denise Grover Swank, Cassie Mae, Pavarti Tyler, Laura Howard, Liz Long, and EB Brown.
Lastly, thank you to my husband, Chris. Never give up. Never surrender.
yscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share