We meet him at the base of the ramp. For a long moment, he and A'Vanti stare at each other.
"A'Vanti." His voice carries in the hangar, rough with emotion. Just her name. But the way he says it makes my eyes sting.
"Premier." Her voice is steady. Just barely.
"You look…" He pauses. His luxen ripple through a cascade of colors. "You look well."
"I am so much better than'well'. Thanks to you," she says, and then she steps forward and puts her arms around him.
Sator’s composure dissolves. He wraps his arms around her and holds on, and his luxen are blazing gold so bright they cast actual light across his gray skin. His eyes are closed, and his jaw is clenched. He is clearly trying to maintain some semblance of dignity, but his shoulders are shaking.
A’Vanti speaks to him in Ostium, her face pressed to his shoulder, and I don’t need a translation. I can hear the emotion in the tremor of her voice.
I press my hand to the gho’ba carving in my breast pocket and breathe through the ache in my chest.
When they finally separate, Sator holds A’Vanti at arm’s length and studies her face.
"You were always so strong," he says, switching to English. "Just look at you." His voice catches. "I am so proud of you, A’Vanti."
She takes his hand in both of hers. "I am alive because of you. I am standing here because of your courage and strength. You told me to hang on because Ameela would find a way. You were right."
Sator’s gaze shifts past A’Vanti, and I realize he is looking at me. His silver eyes study me with an intensity that makes me stand a little straighter.
He says something to A’Vanti in Ostium, too soft for me to catch.
A'Vanti turns to me, and the look on her face – the love and the pride shining in her eyes – hits me so hard I forget anyone else is in this hangar.
"Cody." She extends her hand toward me. "Come. I would like you to meet someone."
I step forward and take her hand.
Sator is shorter than me, but not by much. Up close, I can see the lines of everything he’s endured etched into his face.
"Premier Sator, this is Cody Johnson," A'Vanti says, pressing herself against my side. "My mate."
"Premier Sator." I wrap my arm around A'Vanti and offer my other hand. "It’s an honor, sir."
He takes it, and his grip is surprisingly firm. His gaze moves to A'Vanti. He stares at the way she leans into me, relaxed and trusting in a way that I know she is not with most people. A smile transforms his weathered features into the most genuine expression of approval I have ever received.
"I think the honor is mine," he says simply. "I'm happy for you both."
I watchQueen Ameela from the periphery as the formal greetings conclude and the diplomatic machinations begin. She moves through the room with a self-possession that’s striking in someone so young, greeting D’Rett and L’Zaen and the Cerastean commanders. I'm not sure what I expected from an alien queen, maybe haughty or full of pomp. But she doesn't seem to need ceremony and preening. She's a ruler who has inherited a catastrophe and is facing it head-on.
When she reaches A’Vanti, the queen stops. The murmur of conversation around them fades.
Ameela studies A’Vanti with those silver eyes, and for a moment, I see something move behind the queen’s careful composure. Something that might be shame, or grief.
She does not apologize. She does not offer excuses or beg forgiveness or try to diminish the enormity of what was done.
Instead, she speaks in English, her accent precise, her voice carrying the authority of a woman who means every syllable.
"My mother took so much from your people. I cannot give it back." She holds A’Vanti’s gaze without flinching. "But I can give you my word that every resource at my disposal will be spent ensuring this never happens again. The mines will be dismantled. The surviving workers will be returned to their families. The velith will remain in your ground, where it belongs."
The hangar is silent. Every eye is on these two women.
"And the other civilizations?" A'Vanti's voice is steady. "The ones your mother was surveilling?"
"We will find them," Ameela says. "Every last one. We need to know who they are, whether they pose a threat, or whetherthey might become allies." She looks at L'Forn, then at D'Rett, then back at A'Vanti. "But not alone. My mother operated in secrecy and shadows. I will not. Cerastean, human, Hisk, Ostium – we make contact together, as one alliance, or not at all." She pauses. "I cannot undo what my mother built. But I can tear it down. And that is what I intend to do, for as long as I hold this crown."
