CHAPTER ELEVEN

VESPER

K yrion and I unpacked our clothes and weapons, then checked in with Daichi and Tivona.

Daichi hadn't found out where Zane was, and he hadn't learned anything new about Esmina and Pollux, although he promised to keep digging. Tivona updated me on a few things at Quill Corp, then our friends signed off.

Once that was done, I headed into the bathroom and closed the door. Somehow I resisted the urge to bang my head against the sturdy wood to release some of my frustration. That would be pointless, just like us running away to another planet would be pointless.

Sooner or later, Kyrion and I would have to make a stand against our enemies. If the Colliers couldn't help us with our bond, maybe Asterin and I could fix the Techwave cannon or at least figure out why the Techies had gone to such great lengths to steal Jorge Rojillo's temperature-shielding technology—and especially how they planned to use it against the Imperium.

Either way, the lovely, private, romantic bubble Kyrion and I had been in for the last few weeks on the Dream World was gone, and we both needed to deal with the ugly realities we were facing.

I moved away from the door, stripped off my clothes, and stepped into the shower. Like everything else in the suite, the shower was the epitome of luxury, with heated tiles, a steam-bath feature, and a plethora of nozzles that sprayed water in all directions. I stayed in the shower a long, long time, listening to the steady hiss of the water and letting the hot spray beat down on my body.

By the time I turned off the water and put on some silk sleep clothes I found in the bathroom closet, I felt a smidge better. My steps and mood lighter, I went into the bedroom.

Kyrion had taken off his jacket and shirt, revealing his bare, muscled chest. He was standing in front of a full-length mirror, studying the mottled black-and-blue bruise that covered his upper right arm like a macabre tattoo.

My steps faltered. "Is that from where Siya hit you with her war hammer?"

I'd felt his injury through the bond when it had happened in the antiques emporium, but his pain had quickly vanished. Kyrion must have used a psionic shield to keep me from realizing just how badly he'd been hurt.

"It's fine," he said in a low voice. "I just gave myself a skinbond. That should take care of it."

Even as he said the words, the bruise faded away. Kyrion flexed his fingers and rotated his arm, and the sticky cobweb in my mind twinged with pain and soreness. Guilt churned in my stomach. He'd been hurt because he'd been trying to protect me, and I'd been annoyed and upset at him for it.

I moved forward, held out my hand, and opened my mouth to apologize, but Kyrion stepped back and tossed the used skinbond injector into a recycler in the corner. I stopped, my hand plummeting to my side.

He smiled, as though everything was fine, but his eyes were dull and tired, and his shoulders sagged with exhaustion. "I'm going to take a shower. Try to get some sleep, okay?"

Before I could respond, Kyrion went into the bathroom. The soft click of the door closing made me flinch, and more guilt churned in my stomach.

Even though Kyrion was only on the other side of the wood, and I could still sense him through the bond, right now he felt a million miles away. Even worse, I had no idea how to fix the awkward distance that had suddenly sprung up between us.

I crawled into bed and pulled a cozy, weighted blanket up to my chin. I wanted to stay awake until Kyrion got out of the shower so we could talk, but the stress of the day caught up with me, and I fell asleep. I didn't wake up until the next morning, when a sharp knock sounded on the main suite door.

I rolled over and stretched my hand out, but my fingers only met cool sheets. My eyes popped open. Kyrion was gone.

I sat up, my gaze darting around the bedroom. His stormsword was also gone, along with his bandolier of supplies.

Kyrion? I called out through the bond.

He didn't answer me, but the sticky cobweb of him was calm and still, and I could sense he was on the estate . . . somewhere. Kyrion normally got up before I did, but he was always quick to come find me when he realized I was awake.

I waited a minute, but I didn't sense him moving any closer. Why wasn't he returning to the suite? Did he want to avoid me because of our conversation last night? Hurt spiked through me at the thought.

Another knock sounded, a little louder and sharper. I groaned, wanting nothing more than to dive back under the blankets, but I got out of bed, threw on some clothes, and slid my stormsword into its slot on my belt.

A third knock sounded, and I opened the door to find Asterin in the corridor, dressed in a clean pair of gray coveralls. She was holding a large paper bag in one hand and a travel mug in the other.

"Where's Kyrion?" I asked.

"I ran into him a few minutes ago when he was leaving your suite. I offered to have a servant make him breakfast, but he muttered something about exploring the estate and reviewing the security."

I snorted. "I'm sure Siya will love that."

Asterin let out an agreeing chuckle, although her laughter quickly faded away. "You and Kyrion are safe here, Vesper. You don't have to wear disguises and hide who you are anymore. The estate and the rest of the mountain are all House Collier territory. Holloway can't touch you here, and even a bounty hunter would think twice about attacking. Plus, my mother and stepfather would never go back on their word to shelter you, and neither would Siya. The honor of House Collier means everything to her, and she would never disobey a direct order from Aldrich."

I thought about all the guards Kyrion had pointed out last night. "Is something going on with House Collier? Some dispute or trouble with another House?"

"Not that I'm aware of, but I haven't been here much over the last few months. I've been too busy husband hunting on Corios." Asterin's mouth puckered with disgust, but after a few seconds, her eyes narrowed. "Wait. Why would you ask that?"

"No reason," I lied. "I guess I'm just looking for trouble everywhere these days."

Asterin's face softened with sympathy. "Do you still want to visit my workshop? I understand if you would rather stay here and rest."

For a moment, I considered doing just that. Closing the door, getting back into bed, and pretending the rest of the galaxy didn't exist. But that wouldn't help me, and I was tired of running and hiding like I had done something wrong when Callus Holloway's lust for truebonds was to blame for this whole messy situation.

"I would love to see your workshop. Just give me a few minutes to get ready."

Asterin followed me into the suite and handed me the bag and mug. "You can eat while you finish."

I took a cautious sip. A delicious apple cider with subtle notes of orange and a warm touch of cinnamon exploded on my tongue. I hummed with pleasure, then opened the bag, which contained several chocolate-apple scones.

My stomach rumbled, and I crammed a scone into my mouth. Buttery, flaky crust. Big chunks of sweet apple. Bigger chunks of chocolate. All of it drizzled with a vanilla-bean sugar glaze. Mmm-mmm-mmm.

"You're a good friend." I shoved another scone into my mouth.

Asterin grinned. "I know."

I quickly scarfed down all the scones, along with the cider. Then I brushed my teeth and pulled my dark brown hair back into a ponytail. I also grabbed the Techwave cannon, along with some of the solar magazines Kyrion had packed.

Asterin and I left the guest wing and went to the courtyard in front of the main castle. Instead of the open-air carriage-slash-sleigh we'd used yesterday, a mechanized transport was waiting. The door hissed open, and Asterin ducked inside.

A tingling awareness swept over me, and I glanced up and spotted Kyrion on one of the guest-wing balconies. I considered trying to talk to him through the bond, but I had no idea what to say, especially given how tense and awkward things had been between us last night. So I just waved instead.

Kyrion's expression was blank and unreadable, and I didn't sense any emotions rippling off him. After a few seconds, he lifted his hand and waved back.

"Vesper? You ready?" Asterin called out.

I looked at Kyrion a moment longer, then stepped into the transport. As much as I wanted to figure out what was going on between Kyrion and me, maybe spending the day apart would give us both some perspective.

The transport lifted off the ground, crossed the courtyard, and sailed over the drawbridge, heading down the mountain toward the city streets.

I peered through the window. People riding in transports and carriages, other folks strolling along the sidewalks, carts selling food and drinks. Everything was normal. I didn't doubt Kyrion's instincts when it came to sensing danger, but maybe we would be safe here, at least for a little while.

Several minutes later, the transport stopped in front of the emerald permaglass dome that housed the antiques emporium. I followed Asterin down a long street, which ran by an enormous area filled with cranes, forklifts, and other heavy machinery.

In the distance, a crane operator lowered a massive magnet onto a stack of metal rods that was almost as large as the Dream World . The magnet clamped onto the rods, then the crane operator hoisted them onto a hoverpallet with a wide, flat bed. The pallet lifted off the ground and zoomed away.

"This is the House Collier shipping yard," Asterin called out, raising her voice to be heard above the cranking, clanking machines. "Metals, ores, and other materials are brought up from the House Collier mines, then refined, processed, loaded into containers, and sent to their buyers."

Asterin steered clear of the machinery and headed to the right, where a short, blocky building of silver chrome and green permaglass faced both the street and the shipping yard. "This is the main mineral exchange where House Collier goods are displayed for people to bid on."

We stepped through an archway and entered the first floor of the mineral exchange, which featured row after row of clear glass counters. The workers standing behind the counters were wearing House Collier uniforms, along with green velvet gloves, and they carefully pulled out one bit of metal and chunk of ore after another, showing off the items to customers as though they were baubles in a high-end jewelry store.

Asterin exited out the far side of the mineral exchange. She skirted around the edge of the shipping yard and ended up in front of a small building made of dull gray stone at the end of a street that circled back around to the antiques emporium.

Given its cracked bricks and grimy windows, this building had seen better days, and it had a quiet, still, abandoned air, as if few people bothered to come here anymore. Two interlocking A s were carved into the battered door, and the words House Armas stretched across the weathered wood in chipped, faded silver paint.

Asterin punched in a code on a keypad. A lock clicked, the door opened, and we stepped through to the other side.

"And this is my workshop," Asterin said, flipping on the lights. "I spend most of my time here whenever I'm on Sygnustern."

Dark wooden shelves filled with polished stones, jagged chunks of ore, and a variety of tools ran across the back of the workshop, while blasters, shock batons, and other weapons hung on metal racks on the side walls. Each item had its own little space and was clearly, neatly labeled.

Tables featuring terminals and holoscreens clustered in the center of the room. Larger pieces of machinery squatted in the corners, although thin patches of dust coated some of them, as though they hadn't been used in ages. The small workshop was a far cry from the acres of sterile white tile at Quill Corp, but a pang of longing shot through my heart all the same.

The harsh stench of melted plastic and scorched metal filled the air, but the scent comforted me, and I breathed it in like a sweet perfume. It smelled like home , given how much time I had spent in R&D labs over the years.

Asterin went over to the tables. I followed her and set the Techwave cannon down on an open space, along with the extra solar magazines. Thick gray tarps covered some of the tables, hiding the objects underneath, but a splash of white caught my eye.

I drew a tarp aside, revealing something that looked like an air purifier. "What's this?"

Asterin's fingers twitched like she wanted to shove the device back underneath the tarp. "Something for a different project."

Her fingers twitched again. I didn't like it when people studied my unfinished projects in the Quill Corp lab, so I slid the tarp back into place.

Asterin turned toward a table and waved her hand over the embedded holoscreen, and the schematics for Jorge Rojillo's temperature-shielding device popped into the air. Asterin enlarged the hologram, then we both studied the schematics.

"They don't even look that impressive, but these schematics almost cost me my life," she said in a wry voice. "If I'd known the Techwave was targeting Lord Jorge, I would have steered clear of his R&D lab during the summer solstice ball."

"Sometimes the smallest things can be the most dangerous."

Asterin arched an eyebrow. "Like a navigation sensor that overheats and crashes a ship?"

I grimaced at the reminder of the design flaw I'd found in Rowena Kent's spaceships. Only it hadn't been a design flaw but, rather, a calculated effort on Rowena's part to destroy Imperium ships on command for the Techwave.

"Exactly like that. Sometimes I can't believe my figuring out the sensor was faulty caused all of these events to happen."

Asterin's gaze strayed back to the air purifier, which was still peeking out from beneath the tarp. "Sometimes all it takes is one small spark to ignite a raging fire."

We both fell silent, lost in our thoughts.

Asterin reached underneath another tarp, grabbed a glass box, plucked out the device inside, and placed it on the table. The device resembled an old-fashioned wristwatch—a wide silver band that wrapped around a small holoscreen that featured tiny bits of lunarium and sapphsidian.

I let out a low whistle of appreciation. "You built one of the temperature-shielding watches? When?"

"Turns out husband hunting takes up an inordinate amount of time. Once my mother and stepfather asked me to return to Sygnustern, I had plenty of time to work on the watch."

"Well, I certainly had the time to build one, since Kyrion and I have basically been trapped on board the Dream World for the last few weeks, but I didn't have all the materials," I groused.

Asterin smirked. "Oh, I'm sure you and Kyrion were working on other things."

A hot blush scalded my cheeks. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Please. I was at the midnight ball, remember? I saw how hard you and Kyrion fought to reach each other, and now the two of you have been traveling together on a blitzer for the last few weeks. It's like an episode of a romance serial." Asterin let out a loud, dramatic sigh and clutched her hands to her heart, as though she was about to swoon.

My blush burned a little hotter. "What about you?" I asked, desperate to change the subject. "Do you admire any of the Erzton lords?"

Asterin's smirk vanished, replaced by a sour expression. "Nope. Most of them are as puffed-up, pompous, and self-important as all the Regals on Corios. All the Erzton lords are interested in is forging a connection with House Collier or exploring the mineral rights I own. None of them cares about me as a person."

She shrugged as though the knowledge didn't bother her, but a sad, wistful note rasped through her voice. I had a sneaking suspicion Asterin Armas's tough exterior was hiding a dreamy, romantic heart.

"But focusing on alliances and resources is pretty common when it comes to Erzton marriages, just like it is in Regal society," Asterin continued. "That was certainly my experience with House Zimmer, and especially with Zane. That pompous jackass only cares about himself."

Her lips curled back in revulsion, but after a few seconds, she winced. "Sorry. I keep forgetting Zane is your brother."

I mimicked her earlier shrug, trying to slough off all the uncomfortable emotions that scraped my insides raw whenever someone mentioned Zane. "He's my brother in DNA only. If Zane catches me, he'll shock me into submission, slap some plasticuffs on my wrists, and drag me back to Corios."

Even as I said the words, a bit of hope flared in my heart like a match trying to sputter to life in a rainstorm. Despite everything Zane had done, a teeny-tiny part of me still wanted to believe my being his sister actually meant something to Zane, even though he was the very epitome of an arrogant Regal lord.

"I'm sorry," Asterin said. "I didn't mean to stir up bad memories."

"It's not your fault. Unfortunately, bad memories are all I have when it comes to my family."

Asterin's gaze strayed back over to the air purifier. "I have a lot of bad memories too," she confessed in a low, strained voice. "But sometimes I think the good memories are the hardest ones to bear because they just remind you of everything you lost, everything that was taken away in an instant."

My seer magic stirred to life, and another image of Asterin appeared, shimmering in the air like a hologram. The second Asterin was also wearing gray coveralls, but she was a teenager, with long black braids trailing down over her shoulders. She was slumped against one of the workshop tables, clutching a cracked, grimy miner's helmet.

Tears streamed down young Asterin's face, and her choked sobs rang in my ears, even though I hadn't even been here when she had been crying in real life. Her grief and heartbreak were so strong they made my head spin and my chest tighten, and I had to clutch the table for support.

"Vesper?" Asterin asked in a concerned voice. "Are you okay?"

I blinked. The younger, sobbing version of Asterin vanished, and the dizziness and tightness also faded from my body.

I straightened up. "I'm fine. Let's get to work."

Asterin hesitated, then waved her hand, activating the holoscreen, which scanned the temperature-shielding wristwatch. She fell silent, but her long-ago sobs continued to ring in my ears like a bell chiming out a mournful song.

I knew that kind of pain all too well, and I couldn't help but wonder what had really happened to Asterin's father—and why my seer magic kept whispering a warning that my friend was headed for even more heartbreak in the future.