Stargazers

by Bella Forrest

  “So, humans and coldbloods aren’t as different as we thought?” I mused.

  “Our physical makeup remains different in many ways, but the similarities are likely why you were able to conceive Nova,” he agreed. “Indeed, I have been meaning to ask you—did you experience any difficulties when it came to ejecting the winged fetus from the birth canal? I have been doing some reading and discovered that coldblood females are able to stretch the birthing canal to great lengths, to accommodate the cocooning wings. As you are not a coldblood, I do not imagine you have evolved such specified adaptations.”

  I stared at him. “No, Kaido. No birth talk… ever.”

  “Might I suppose from your tone that my suspicions are correct? Did you suffer a trauma of the womb or cervix, or perhaps some unexpected tearing—is that why you do not wish to disclose the information? My interest is purely scientific.”

  I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Still no, Kaido. Not ever. You’ll have to have your suspicions and be satisfied with them.”

  “I might be able to write a journal on the topic, to assist the birthing process of future hybrids.”

  “There won’t be any,” I shot back, Ezra’s cruel face flickering into my head. “We’re not talking about this anymore, okay?”

  He dropped his gaze. “I have offended you, haven’t I? Sarrask has been teaching me about social cues… I thought I was improving. It would appear I am not.”

  His words broke my heart. “I’m sorry, Kaido. You haven’t offended me. It’s just a sensitive subject. You’ve been doing really well with social cues. Honestly, I’ve noticed a difference.”

  “You have?” He brightened instantly.

  “I have.” A sudden thought exploded in my mind. “Wait… that’s it!”

  He frowned. “What is it? Expanding birthing canals?”

  “No, no—the connection between coldbloods and humans. It’s the solution we’ve been looking for,” I explained hurriedly. “The Stargazer we met told me about a permanent solution against the problem of coldbloods pursuing immortality. This connection between us has to be the thing Orfaio was talking about.”

  “Orfaio is the Stargazer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. I wanted to make sure I had my facts straight.”

  I smiled nervously. “Kaido, I’m going to need you to make me a serum that will induce more of those visions I had.”

  See Him and He will see you. That’s what Orfaio had said. I still had no clue who “He” might be, but I had a feeling it was all connected somehow. The stardust, the visions, Him—it all led toward something big. I could sense it, deep down in my bones.

  “When it comes to neurobotanical serums, Riley, I am always one step ahead,” Kaido said proudly. “I already have one prepared.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  “Can I have a minute?” I hesitated, thinking of Navan and Nova. If Kaido put me in a trance and it went wrong, I wanted them to understand why I was doing this. Navan would never have forgiven me if I’d done something risky without telling him first.

  “I cannot give time, Riley.”

  I smiled. “I mean, can I come back here in a minute. There’s something I have to do first.”

  “Of course. I shall prepare everything in your absence, so we may continue when you return. Don’t be too long, though. The timings are very precise.”

  “Five minutes, maximum.”

  “You said one.”

  I’d forgotten how tricky figures of speech could be for him. “I promise, no more than five.”

  “Very well.”

  Darting out of the hut, I ran around the side of the house and slipped back through the front door. Jareth and Navan had disappeared from the kitchen, and the others seemed to have followed suit, busying themselves with their own personal tasks. Through the ceiling, I could hear the faint sound of arguing. The voices were hard to make out.

  Seraphina was the only one left in the kitchen, sitting on the bench with Nova. My daughter was fussing despite Seraphina’s attempt to quiet her, the baby’s cheeks red with frustration. A wail shivered from her throat, the sound of a hungry, fed-up little girl.

  “This little one was just wondering where her mama had gotten to,” Seraphina said. “I would have handed her to Navan, so as not to disturb you, but he and his father are in the middle of a… dispute.”

  I looked up at the ceiling. “That’s them?”

  “They’ve been at it since you left with Kaido. They can’t seem to agree on anything. I cannot say I’m surprised—that has always been their way. Jareth has always wished Navan were more like him, and Navan has always wished he were less so.”

  I took Nova from Seraphina, wandering over to the box of sweetblood bottles we’d brought in from the ship when we first landed. There were several smaller, decanted vials clattering together. I picked one up and carried it back over to the kitchen bench, where I sat down beside Seraphina. This was going to take longer than five minutes. Kaido was going to be mad at me when I returned to the hut, but Nova was more important than any scary excursion into my imaginative subconscious.

  “Sorry for leaving her with you for so long,” I said, dripping the golden liquid into my daughter’s eager mouth. In between sips, I took three drops for myself, feeling the perpetual dull ache of my addiction fade away. With each day that passed, it bothered me less.

  “I do not mind, dear Riley. I know all of you are under a great deal of strain.”

  “Still, it makes me feel so guilty, leaving her all the time.”

  “You mustn’t. There is a much bigger picture here. She would understand if she could, I am certain of it.”

  I glanced at my friend, wondering again if I should tell her the truth about Orfaio’s glimpse into Vysanthe’s possible future. Once more, fear of ruining the whole thing held me back. I wanted, so badly, for her to become the leader of this nation. If I destroyed that chance, I’d never be able to forgive myself.

  “I’m going to take her up to Navan, see if I can break up their spat,” I said, knowing that if I stayed a moment longer, I’d blurt everything out.

  She nodded. “I will be waiting here if you need me for anything. I thought I might attempt to prepare something for you, your friends, and Stone. There is plenty of blood for us Vysantheans, but I felt an urge to see what I could make with the rations from the ship. Perhaps I am nesting—giving in to my maternal instincts.”

  “I think that sounds delicious.” Still dripping the sweetblood into Nova’s mouth, I got up from the bench and headed upstairs, following the sound of raised voices to Kaido’s room. Jareth had commandeered it for himself, but, to my surprise, he hadn’t touched any of his son’s beloved plants. They crowded the room, same as before.

  “You have a willing team at your disposal, Navan. I do not, and cannot, see the problem!” Jareth snapped. “Do not be weak. How many times have I taught you that?”

  “It isn’t weakness to care, Father.”

  He snorted. “Of course it is. That is the very root of weakness. Do you think I would have wound up in a prison, had I not chosen to care? My love for my family resulted in me making catastrophic errors in judgment, Navan. Do not forget that. Weakness is weakness, no matter the intention behind it.”

  “That’s typical of you, Father—blaming us for your mistakes.”

  “Oh, don’t be so juvenile, Navan,” Jareth fired back.

  “How about you both stop being juvenile?” My voice cut through their argument, silencing them in an instant. From the looks on their faces, they hadn’t even realized I’d entered the room. “You can’t keep doing this, getting into petty squabbles that don’t matter. I know you don’t always see eye-to-eye, but what family does? If we’re going to get this job done quickly and efficiently, we need you to collaborate. No more fighting.”

  Jareth folded his arms across his chest. “I was merely trying to highlight my son’s resources to him, as he seems unwilling to utilize them.”


  “My friends aren’t ‘resources,’ Father.”

  “Stop it, before you end up in another slinging match,” I warned. “What’s the matter here?”

  “We’ve hit a snag,” Navan replied.

  Jareth nodded. “We require a live specimen in order to create the anti-elixir. We must capture an immortal coldblood and take a sample from them, which we can then reverse engineer.”

  “Can’t you take a small sample from Nova?” I hated saying it, but if it saved millions then I’d allow it. The very smallest of samples, no more.

  “Having Nova’s blood is not enough to create a formula that will eradicate the immortality. I need to see how the elixir works within the genetic makeup, and how it mutates the cells. I need to see the synergy and symbiosis between elixir and host,” Jareth replied. “However, my son does not wish to send anyone to retrieve said live specimen, so we are at something of an impasse.”

  Navan glowered at his father. “Sending our people over to the North would be a suicide mission. I’m not having anyone’s death on my conscience.”

  “Weakness, Navan—you cannot show weakness!” Jareth snapped.

  “What if we didn’t have to go to the North to fetch a specimen?” I asked. “What if we could find one right here, in the South?”

  Jareth sneered. “Heading into the perimeter of the warzone would be far more dangerous than sneaking into the North. If Navan didn’t appreciate my plan, he is not going to agree with yours.”

  “I can speak for myself, Father.”

  “I don’t mean the perimeter,” I explained.

  Jareth frowned. “One of the sleepers, then? They are out in the tundra—there are guard ships and mist ships everywhere. You would be unconscious before you could capture anyone.”

  “If you’ll let me finish,” I said tersely. “We overheard the queens mentioning a plan to capture Lazar, so they could get him to make an elixir for them. He’s taken the elixir himself—he’s one of the immortals.”

  Navan nodded. “Yeah, I remember hearing snippets of that over Ronad’s transmission frequency.”

  “So, we intercept Lazar and steal him from the queens.” I smiled, feeling pleased. It would still be a dangerous mission, but nowhere near as risky as heading into the immediate battlefield or trying to evade the mist ships to snatch a sleeping immortal.

  “Didn’t I say this one was remarkable?” Jareth enthused. “I’m not one for interspecies relations, as you know, but you could not have picked a better example of alien intellect. Remarkable… simply remarkable.” His gaze flitted to Nova.

  Navan ignored him. “If we can somehow cut off the ship carrying Lazar, and make it seem like the rebels’ doing, we’ll have our live specimen… and a family reunion we can all enjoy.” He cast an amused glance at his father, whose expression darkened for a moment.

  “If it worked at the palace, it might just work again,” I replied. Now, how to broach the subject of me sinking into a trance, in the hopes of enticing visions into my brain?

  I was about to start explaining my plans with Kaido, when unfamiliar voices drifted up the stairs toward the bedroom. A chill of terror bristled through my body, rooting me to the spot. The voices were low and masculine, and it sounded like there were a lot of them. Without waiting for Navan or his father, I crept out onto the landing and peered over the banister. There was no other way out of the house from the upper floor. If we were being attacked, we’d have to fight our way out. Clutching Nova tighter, I turned over my shoulder to look at Navan. He seemed more puzzled than scared as he joined me.

  Harko was standing by the open front door, beckoning in a gang of imposing coldbloods. They all stood well over six feet, with broad shoulders and muscular arms. There was a uniformity to them that was almost comical, though each had a small flair of individuality.

  A growl of displeasure rumbled in Navan’s throat. “That idiot,” he muttered.

  “What? Who are they?”

  “My brothers.” He pointed at each one as they entered the main space of Sarrask’s cottage. “That’s Rethela, the eldest. He works in universal diplomacy, which means he sits on his ass all day, doing nothing.”

  The brother in question was even taller than Navan, with biceps the size of my head. On the left side of his face, above a partially shaven eyebrow, he had a tattoo inked in deep purple. It looked like a spiky wolf, which I was willing to bet was supposed to be a frostfang. His dark hair was long and curly, swept back in a casual fashion. I had a feeling this was the heartbreaker of the bunch, his eyes a paler, more piercing blue than Navan’s.

  “That’s Garrik.” Navan gestured to the next one, who was shorter than Rethela, and stockier in build. He was still over six foot, with a barrel chest and a severe haircut. Beneath the fuzzy hair of his shaven scalp, black tribal tattoos swirled in a pattern that made it look like the inking was his hair. His eyes were much darker than the others’, his expression perpetually stern.

  “The intelligence officer, right? The one who worked with Ronad when he was in special ops?”

  Navan smiled. “That’s the one.”

  “And who’s he?” I pointed to the third Idrax brother who’d walked through the door. He looked almost identical to Harko, the two of them sharing a mischievous demeanor and a questionable mohawk. “Is he Harko’s twin?”

  Navan shrugged. “In a way, I suppose.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, due to the way coldblood females can postpone pregnancies, sometimes two eggs get fertilized at the same time. But the woman doesn’t always have to have them at the same time, if you know what I mean. Our mother postponed Lojak for a while, so she wouldn’t be overwhelmed.”

  “So, that’s Lojak?”

  “Yeah, he’s a ship mechanic. He was always smashing things up and putting them back together again. Used to drive Father crazy. Isn’t that right?” He glanced at Jareth, who looked less than impressed by the onslaught of his progeny.

  “Indeed, most perplexing when one is looking for a particular machine, only to find it in pieces on the floor of Lojak’s bedroom. There were countless promises of ‘It will be good as new when I’m done, I swear.’ As you can imagine, he was not so skilled back then—there were many items I had to throw in the garbage.”

  I chuckled, gesturing to the last brother. “So, by a process of careful deduction, that must be Szayan?”

  “The medic,” Navan added. Szayan had sharp features where everyone else’s were broad, and though he was almost as tall as Rethela, he didn’t have the muscle mass of the others. His hair was short and dark, cut in a military style, with bands of silver at his temples. He didn’t look old enough to be going gray, making me wonder if he’d dyed his hair silver on purpose. I had no idea what was fashionable on this planet.

  “It appears to be a full-fledged family reunion,” Jareth said dryly. “All we are missing is my brother, and the picture will be complete.” I noticed he didn’t mention the absence of Naya or Lorela. Perhaps his wife’s newfound hatred of him and the loss of his daughter were still too raw to talk about.

  “Yeah, but what the hell are they doing here?” Navan muttered, any cheer dissipating. He stormed down the staircase, stopping in front of Harko. Somehow, I had a feeling this was going to get ugly.

  “Sorry, did we interrupt your secret meeting?” Harko asked sourly.

  Their brothers fell silent. Clearly, this discord between the two of them was well-known in the family.

  Navan narrowed his eyes. “What in Rask’s name do you think you’re doing?”

  “What does it look like? I’ve invited our brothers here to join the cause.”

  “Without saying a word to any of us? No offense, guys, but we have no idea where everyone’s loyalty lies. You always do this, Harko. You never think things through. You’re always running off, doing what you want, not giving a crap about anyone but yourself.”

  Harko looked stung. “At least I don’t think I’m above everyone else.”
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  “You know that isn’t true,” Navan hissed. He gestured to the rest of his brothers. “This was incredibly stupid, Harko, even for you.”

  “Wait a minute, Navan. Maybe this is for the best.” Bashrik intervened, rushing out of the lounge to stand in the way. Angie followed him out, looking red-cheeked and sheepish.

  “How?”

  “Right now, we need all the help we can get, especially when it comes to brute strength,” he explained. “We need people who can fight, and who are strong. That’s one thing the Idrax boys have always had in spades—a fighting spirit and a mean left hook.”

  “Although, we’re going to need a lot more pillows if everyone is sleeping on the floor,” Ronad chimed in, appearing in the main doorway. His face was streaked with oil, his hands filthy. I guessed he’d been outside looking at Sarrask’s and Kaido’s ships, giving them a onceover to make sure they were airworthy.

  Lauren appeared from the blind spot beneath the banister, giving me a fright as she stepped up to meet the Idrax clan. “One of you works in medicine, don’t you?” she said hopefully.

  Szayan broke away from his brothers. “I am a field surgeon and former royal physician.” He was soft-spoken, his voice drifting up to me like a poetic whisper.

  “Any chance yer good at fixin’ gammy eyes?” Stone stepped out from the same place as Lauren. “Yer man Kaido’s done a grand ol’ job o’ easin’ the burn, but if yer proper qualified then that’d be close to a miracle.”

  “If the damage has not reached too deeply into the tissues, I might be able to repair your eye,” Szayan confirmed. “I will have to take a closer look, whenever you are ready.”

  “Ah, Doc, give it a squint now. Sooner the better if there’s rottin’ to be done.”

  Szayan gave an amusing little bow. “Very well. Perhaps we may look over it in my ship. It is parked just outside and has all my equipment inside.”

  Stone put his arm around Lauren’s shoulders and gave a genuine grin. “Lead the way, me good man!”

  “Kaido is here?” Rethela said gruffly, once Stone, Szayan, and Lauren had exited the cottage.