The suit no longer fit the way it was supposed to.
And so he glanced quickly backwards to distract himself, to where his younger brother stood. Karr’s face was practically lit up from inside, his smile so broad that it was clear as day beyond the tinted S2 visor as he watched the Gathering unfold.
Cade couldn’t tell him the truth.
He didn’t have the heart to.
I’ll give you the world, Karr. No matter the cost.
Soon, the attack would begin.
Chapter 13
Karr
Karr Kingston did not mind this planet, one bit.
Most jobs, the crew of theStarfallhad simply come and gone in a flash, leaving enough chaos behind to last a lifetime. The guilt of that past, those planets, weighed heavily on him.
A few of the planets were advanced, with glimmering cities made of glass, and technology the likes of which most non-travelers would never see. On Appona, theStarfall’s crew had had to dance with a cave full of naked, shapeless beings as Karr and Cade snuck away and stole from their private gem stores.
On Zeprin, Karr and Cade made the mistake of thinking interplanetary relations were peaceful, as per the last time they’d set foot on the planet, only to arrive years later and be chased away by ironclad warriors shooting red bullets that could obliterate an enemy in one shot.
But here, on Dohrsar?
It was the first planet where they were treated like equals, even sitting alongside the two Dohrsaran queens. They welcomed them with warriors, then directed them through the crowd.
The people parted like a river, split down the center. And together, the crew followed the queens and the monstrous king to the center of the valley; in between the towering rocks wrapped with vines, the flowers shifting before his gaze from dark as black silk to a softly glowing moon blue.
A small table had been placed at the base of the pillars. Warriors in leathers dyed white and blue draped fabric over it, bowing as they backed away.
And on its center, a dark stone tablet. Etchings were carved into the stone, alien markings Karr could not decipher with his own eyes. But his S2 visor translated the inscriptions.
It was a treaty of sorts; the kind meant to bind three kingdoms together. And at the bottom, they’d left room for a fourth.
Karr watched as the two queens spoke with Cade, seated on small stools.
The King, a man who could have picked up Karr and snapped his body in half with his bare hands, stuffed himself with food and drink, only speaking when he commanded one of his soldiers to bring him more. Always,more.
“Earth,” Cade was saying, his helmet com relaying the message in the lyrical Dohrsaran language. “Our homeland is… a dying place. But we’ve secured relations with many across the stars. We’ve found other places to survive until we can fix what’s been broken.”
The blue-haired queen, beautiful and fierce, inclined her head. “What is death, but a passing from one place to another?” She smiled at him, but the light did not reach her eyes. “On Dohrsar we believe nothing ever truly staysdead.”
The other queen was a willowy woman, with skin and hair so pale she could have been made of snow and ice.She did not smile as she said, “We are pleased to re-sign the treaty, to secure once more our peace with the Wanderers. You are… most welcome here.”
She was not aware that her planet, her kingdom, belonged to a man stars away; that her freedom and her rule were all an illusion in the end.
The Dohrsaran king only grunted as he took another bite of animal leg, ripping through skin and vein in a way that made Karr’s stomach twist.
He remained standing behind Cade as he was instructed, but his mind strayed, bored by the conversation. He yawned, breathing in the recycled oxygen pumping through his S2.
Cade’s smile had been a ghost of itself behind his visor all day. Even now, his gloved hands clenched and unclenched into fists, and though Cade kept a casual, diplomatic conversation with the royals, he was not himself.
Karr wanted to move. Todosomething.
He’d been trained, as he always had done on jobs, to be extra eyes and ears for Cade. But today they had Rohtt for that, who stood a few paces away like a loyal dog, a few of the other gunners beside him.
The other crew members were lounging not far off, on the other side of the rocks.
