Chapter
Fifty-One
Skye
“Start from the beginning,” Brielle said.
“The very beginning,” Kaya added.
I pulled my knees to my chest and leaned back against the headboard of the bed in my quarters. “You want to hear about a Zagrath prison cell?”
“We want to hear about everything,” Jasmine said, her voice knowing.
My best friend and her sisters had joined me in my quarters after I’d begged off meeting them for breakfast in the Raas’ quarters. I was still numb from ending things with Kolt, and the thought of having to pretend everything was fine over a fancy breakfast—or even running into the Raas—was too much. But I hadn’t been able to complain when they’d shown up at my door with a basket of delicious bread.
So, I told them. I started with the prison, and I watched their faces shift through the full range from horrified to surprised to horrified again as I recounted our failed escape, our spoon experiment, and finally our successful escape. I told them about running through the city, about stumbling into the theatre and the way the stage manager had shoved us both into the middle of a live performance. I told them about Athena, with her dark, sultry beauty and the rest of the cast who’d helped us. I told them about dressing up and making our way to the shipyard and stowing away on an enemy transport.
But I didn’t tell them everything. I didn’t tell them what happened with Kolt, even though I suspected Jasmine knew something. Even without me saying a word, my best friend knew. But I wasn’t ready to talk about it.
“What about the Vandar?” Kaya asked. Because of course she did.
“What about him?” I kept my voice light.
“He was with you the whole time,” Kaya said. “And he couldn’t remember who he was.”
“Which means he was—what, different from the jerk who fought us on Lexxona?” Brielle leaned forward. “Was he?”
I thought about the version of Kolt I’d known. “He was less cocky.”
Three faces watched me with varying degrees of skepticism.
“That’s it?” Brielle said.
“That’s it.”
Jasmine held my gaze for a beat too long. I looked away first and asked about their time on the warbird and life with the Vandar.
That bought me time as Kaya regaled me with her assessment of the various raiders. Brielle rolled her eyes but admitted that she didn’t miss the frigid weather on Lexxona. Jasmine opened up about Wrexxon, confirming everything Kolt had told me about them as a couple, and I realized my best friend had landed somewhere she hadn’t expected and found out it was home.
“You’re happy,” I said, when she ran out of words. It wasn’t a question.
She sighed, her cheeks flushed. “I never imagined I could be blissfully happy with a Vandar who took me as a war bride, but I am.”
“Good.” I meant it. All the way down, I meant it. I could never begrudge Jasmine happiness or true love.
Then I took a deep breath and said what I’d been working up to since they’d arrived. “I want to go back to Lexxona.”
All three women gaped at me, although Jasmine didn’t look as startled.
“Skye—” Jasmine started.
“I know what you’re going to say. I know it might not be the safest place for me, but someone has to go back. Our friends are still there. The Vandar clearly don’t need me, but our friends do.”
Kaya and Brielle exchanged a look. Jasmine did not.
“You don’t want to give it time?” My best friend asked. “You just arrived. It takes time to?—”
I cut her off. I didn’t need more time to see that Kolt had assimilated seamlessly back into his world while I still carried around a hole in my heart I feared might never heal. “I won’t change my mind. I don’t belong here.”
