Page 101 of Commander’s Mate

“You looked smug.”

“I felt grateful.”

That knocked the irritation right out of me.

“For what?”

“That you want me too.”

I stood suddenly. He rose at once but did not move toward me.

Good man, I thought, and that made everything worse.

I walked to the side of the room, putting distance between us because distance was the only tool I had. There were objects on a shelf: a small dark blade in a case, a strip of woven cloth, a cracked piece of something that might have been ceramic. The last looked out of place in this metal room.

“What is this?” I asked.

He was silent long enough that I knew I had touched something tender.

“A piece of my family home.”

I turned back.

“I found it in the ruins,” he said. “It was part of my mother’s baking dish.”

“Oh.”

“I do not know why I kept it.”

“Yes, you do.”

His gaze shifted to me.

I looked at the shard again. “Because it proves the home was real.”

For a moment, I forgot my own fear.

I moved before I thought better of it. Not to him. To the shelf. I lifted one finger but did not touch the shard. “I don’t have anything.”

The words came out small.

“From Earth,” I said. “I don’t have anything. Not my clothes. Not my phone. Not a picture. Not a stupid receipt in my pocket. Nothing.”

His voice was rough. “Harper.”

“I know this is not your fault.”

“No. But I am relieved you cannot leave.”

Slowly, I turned.

Zared stood beside the chair, shoulders rigid, face stark.

“What?”

He forced himself to hold my gaze. “A selfish part of me is relieved we cannot find Earth. I hate that part. I will not obey it. If we find a way to search, I will tell you. If we find coordinates, I will tell you. If there is a path home, I will not hide it from you. But I will not lie and say I do not fear losing you.”

There was the truth Degatu must have told him to give me.