They turned at the sound of her voice. Vessa thought perhaps she was imagining it all. Like she’d stepped from her ship and into a different reality altogether. The suns shone on her mother’s face as if it was made for that purpose alone. She’d always drawn the light toward her like this—some power Vessa had not inherited.
But then it all rushed back to her. She wasbanishedfrom the faction. Her family would have been forced to cut ties with her orbe deemed traitors themselves. Never again should their gazes land upon her face. It was forbidden.
She rushed forward, fell to her knees, and placed her raze sword at their feet. Bowing before them, she stretched her arms out and hid her face. “I have dishonored your name, you should not look upon this linnra.”
Her heart raced. Her mouth was dry. Sweat trailed from her brow into her hairline as the silence settled on her back with a heavy weight. Her father should kill her. To save them the dishonor of seeing her.
Fabric rustled. And then the scent of her mother was there. Sunlight and the rich, life-sustaining soil of their home. “Rise,” her mother commanded gently.
Vessa hesitated. “But the law—”
“You would disobey me so soon?”
She lifted her head slowly to find her mother kneeling before her. The years had barely touched her. She was the striking image of the woman Vessa had left behind. Her bright hazel eyes were full of unshed tears.
“I see no linnra here. Only our daughter.”
Vessa looked from her mother to her father—a hard man of few words, but his usual stoic and stern demeanor was gone. “Our daughter,” he said, and offered her his hand.
Her father pulled her up into a bone-crushing hug. Shame overtook her that she ever thought her parents would disown her. If she had known, kept hope, she could have found them sooner.
“Don’t break her ribs, Dennan,” her mother said with mild concern. “We just got her back.”
It was so ordinary.So them. Something that was a mix between a sob and a laugh escaped her. “How?” she asked when he finally released her. “How did you find me? What about the faction? If they find out, you’ll be deemed traitors.”
Her mother flicked her hand out in a gesture Vessa had witnessed dozens of times before. “To the Pits with the faction. We’ve been looking for you all this time beneath their noses. We’d have left long ago, but we kept hope you may find a way back somehow. I can’t believe they banished you, sent you away without—” She cut herself off, cleared her throat. “As for how…” She inclined her head.
Vessa turned to find Kedar standing in the hatchway. She looked between them—her parents who’d defied the law of faction to find her and Kedar who had hunted her down. Her two worlds. “You communicated?” she blurted. “And without murdering him?” This question was directed solely at her father.
He smoothed down his rich green tunic, picked a piece of invisible lint off it. The dark features of his face were unreadable. “He was very determined, even with my blade two inches deep in his chest.”
“Papa,” she groaned.
“I knew the risk,” Kedar said, stepping up beside her and pressing his hand against the small of her back.
Something gleamed in her mother’s eyes as she took them in, while her father looked on the verge of testing Kedar’s reaction time. “Yes, well,” her mother said, a little too loudly, “I would’ve listened to just about anyone if they told me they knew where you were. It just so happened to be a familiar mask to do it.”
“Is this really happening?” Vessa whispered. “You’re both really here on Lovo?”
Her mother beamed at her and squeezed her arm. “We’re here, and it'slovely. A good place for faction. For home. I can smell it in the soil.”
Her father nodded in agreement. “Good soil.”
“You’re staying?” Her heart was close to bursting.
“Of course we are,” her mother said. “We already have accommodations thanks to this Xaal of yours. Speaking of, wemust get back, Dennan. I need to prepare dinner”—she looked Vessa and Kedar over—“which you both will be attending tonight. Don’t be late.” This last part she directed to Kedar in some secret understanding they shared.
“We will not be late,” Kedar assured her.
Accommodations? Dinner? Vessa’s mouth worked silently as her parents turned and walked westward. To their home?
She slowly turned to Kedar. “You… I can’t believe…” There were no words for the gift he’d given her. She never thought she would see them again. By every faction law, she shouldn’t have, but he’d risked his life to bring them to her. All this time, and this is what he’d been working on.
“I cannot fix everything about that night,” he said, “but this, I could do.”
Vessa threw herself at him. He lifted her off her feet. The only words that she could find between the sobs were, “Thank you, thank you,thank you.”
When even that failed her, she pulled off his helmet and kissed him senseless. She would have gone on kissing him if he didn’t stop her when their lips were swollen.
