“Then you may have your war,” he said calmly. “But you will find I speak truth. Your people are exactly where they need to be.”
The journey back to Vikkat’s fortress was silent. I sat in the crawler staring at nothing, my mind spinning with rage and worry and helplessness. The crew members we had recovered sat quietly, clearly unsettled by what they’d witnessed.
When we finally stopped for the night, making camp in the shelter of some ancient ruins, Torven pulled me away from the others. The sky above was clear and full of stars, and the air smelled clean for the first time since we’d arrived.
“Come here,” he said gently, pulling me into his arms.
I went, because I was too tired to fight anymore. Too exhausted from saving a planet only to lose my best friend in the aftermath.
“We’ll get them back,” Torven murmured into my hair. “I promise you, Rivers. We’ll figure it out.”
“You can’t promise that this time.” My voice was muffled against his chest.
“Yes, I can. Because I know you. You don’t give up. You don’t abandon people you love. And Cleo is your family.” He pulled back to look at me. “We’ll go back to the Destran city. We’ll meet with the lords and the human authorities. We’ll organize a proper diplomatic mission. And we’ll get answers.”
“What if they reallydowant to stay?” I asked. “What if Rezor isn’t lying?”
He ran a hand down my hair. “Then we respect theirchoices. But we’ll make sure those choices are really theirs, and not coercion or isolation or whatever else might be happening.”
I nodded, even though doubt still gnawed at me. “I should feel victorious. We saved a planet, Torven. We shut down a system that’s been killing this world for millennia. We helped two species start to heal ancient wounds. Thatshouldfeel like enough.”
“But it doesn’t.”
“No. Because three members of our crew are still here, and I’m going to have to leave without them.” Tears leaked from my eyes. “Cleo and Maya are my best friends. We’ve worked side by side for years. We’ve survived impossible situations. And now I have to just trust that she’s okay with some warlord I don’t know?”
“For now, yes.” He kissed my forehead, then my cheeks, wiping away tears with his thumbs. “But not forever. This isn’t over.”
I looked up at him, at this male who’d taken an energy blast for me, who’d scarred his precious mating marks to save a world he didn’t call home, who’d become the center of my universe in such a short time. “How did you get so wise?”
“By making a lot of mistakes and surviving them.” He smiled, and I saw the scars on his neck catch the starlight. “And by having a brilliant mate who won’t let me get away with being anything but.”
Despite everything, I felt my lips twitch. “Iampretty brilliant.”
“Exceptionally so.”
“And bossy.”
He cocked his head. “Refreshingly direct.”
“And I talk too much.”
“You communicate thoroughly.” He kissed me, slow and sweet and full of promise. “And I love every part of you, Rivers. Even the parts that are currently planning seven different ways to invade Rezor’s territory.”
“It’s up to eleven, actually.”
He laughed, and the sound was warm in the cool night air. “We’ll get them back. Or we’ll confirm they’re safe and happy. But either way, we do it as partners.”
“Partners,” I agreed.
We stood there for a long time, holding each other under stars that shone clear and bright through an atmosphere that was finally healing. Around us, a broken planet was beginning to recover. Species that had been enemies were learning to work as allies. Ancient systems that had nearly destroyed a world were finally shut down.
We’d accomplished impossible things, but we’d also learned that victory was rarely complete. That sometimes you had to accept incomplete answers and trust that things would work out even when you couldn’t see how.
“Tomorrow we head back to the fortress,” Torven said. “We’ll use their communications systems to contact the Destran city. Arrange for a rescue ship to pick us up.”
“And then?”
“Then we go home. We report what happened here. We make sure the Destra system gets the support it needs for recovery.” He paused. “And we start planning how to deal with Rezor.”
