My blood goes cold.
“Ship names. Power signatures. EM wakes. They’re tracking.”
My thoughts snap to Rhea. To Ripley.
To the quiet we bled for.
“Does Rhea know?” I ask.
Tev gives me a look. “She’s not stupid. But I figured you’d want to tell her.”
“She’s what?”Rhea’s voice cracks sharp, louder than she means to in theEmber’stiny galley.
“A bounty,” I say. “Still active. Tev confirmed it.”
Rhea’s pacing now, arms folded, fury vibrating off her in waves. “We earned our peace.”
“Galaxy doesn’t care,” Tev mutters from the corner, sipping some foul-smelling brew. “It just keeps spinning.”
“I swear to Nova—” Rhea rounds on him, eyes blazing. “You show up on our doorstep, drop a grenade, and you’ve got the gall to sound philosophical?”
Tev holds up his hands. “Just the messenger.”
I step between them before Rhea starts throwing things.
“I want to fight,” I say. “Hell, I want to burn the network that greenlit this tag down to atoms.”
Rhea stops pacing. Faces me.
“But Ripley—” I add. “She’s not ready for this life.”
“No,” Rhea agrees. “And she won’t be. Not if we keep running. She’ll learn fear. But if we fight every shadow? She learns rage.”
Her voice softens.
“We need to teach her balance, Valtron. Teach her what peace really is.”
I nod.
Not because I’m calm.
But because I trust her to hold the line when I can’t.
That night, I can’t sleep.
I sit in the cockpit, lights low, watching stars drift like old memories. My knuckles itch. My blood hums like it’s still at war.
But I hear footsteps. Soft. Familiar.
Rhea slips into the seat beside me.
We sit in silence.
Then she says, “We’re not that couple who fights the whole galaxy anymore.”
I smile, wry. “We’re just a couple who might have to fight it one more time.”
She leans her head on my shoulder.
