Page 278 of Commander’s Mate

I stood.

Zoe caught my sleeve.

“Go. I’ve got this station.”

“You sure?”

“Harper.”

Right.

I went.

The boarding tube between the ships had become a river of personnel, supplies, medics, and family searches. My registry authorization got me through faster than I liked. People saw the slate and moved.

Keeper of names.

I still wasn’t comfortable with that.

Deyan waited outside surgical intake.

Someone had already told her enough to bring her there.

She stood when she saw me.

“Harper Avery.”

“Yes.”

“My daughter?”

“She was found.”

Deyan’s knees nearly folded.

I reached for her and stopped.

She closed the distance herself.

Her hands gripped my forearms.

“Alive?”

“Yes.”

The word broke her.

She made one sound.

Then another.

Then pressed her forehead to my shoulder.

I stood there while she cried.

I did not tell her it would be fine.

I had learned.