“Wait,” Lyra says. “You’re brothers though, right?”
“Brothers from another mother.” Valor laughs. Then he looks at me, raising one eyebrow. “Does she not know how this works?”
“How what works?” Lyra asks.
“You know,” Luck says. “How little Akeelian babies are made?” He bobs his eyebrows at her.
“OK, that’s enough,” I say. “Let’s talk about Jimmy’s stupid name.”
“I like my name,” Jimmy says, taking a drink off a bot tray as it passes. “It’s unique. No one else in the whole galaxy is called Jimmy.”
“Probably true,” Luck says, reaching to help himself to a drink before the bot tray can leave. “Because it’s stupid.”
Jimmy rolls his eyes just as the station begins playing soft music, and says, “Would you like to dance, Lyra? I seem to be short a partner at the moment.”
“Um…” She looks at me.
I shrug. “Go ahead. I’ve got to talk to Crux and ALCOR anyway. You know, about our little problem.”
“Oh,” she says. “Right.”
“What problem?” Jimmy asks, taking her hand and leading her to the center of the platform. “Tell Jimmy all about it. I’m sure I can help.”
Lyra shoots me a panicked look over her shoulder, but I find it cute that Jimmy has taken an interest. He hates everyone so this is a good sign.
“Yeah, what problem?” Valor asks.
“Never mind,” I say, pushing him in the chest as I make my way past him. “ALCOR and Crux will know what to do.”
But I only get a few steps away before I’m the one looking over my shoulder. My eyes immediately track to Lyra and I have sudden heart palpitations the further apart she and I get.
“Stop it, Serpint,” I chastise myself under my breath. “You do not love this girl. You do not even know this girl.”
And she has secrets.
Secrets I’ve conveniently forgotten about after last night, but which have now resurfaced.
“Crux,” I say, making my way towards him and the cyborg master. “I need to talk to you.”
Crux leans in to the cyborg master, whispers something—which earns him a nod—and then the master walks off.
“What problem is that?” Crux asks.
“You know what problem. I’m pretty sure the master has filled you in on what happened last night in the doctor’s office with Lyra.”
He raises one eyebrow at me. “No. He didn’t. But why was she in the doctor’s office?”
“Never mind that. The problem is…” I lean in closer and whisper. “The problem is that… we seem to… well…”
“Spit it out,” Crux says.
“We seem to have some kind of connection.”
Crux smiles big and says, “Good. I’m glad.”
“No,” I say. “You don’t understand. By connection, I mean… connection.” I point down to my groin.
He laughs.
“It’s not funny, asshole. Last night my second cock popped out before his time. And then both of them got stuck inside her. And now she’s talking about soulmates or fated mates, or some bullshit like that, and I can’t stop thinking about her.”
“So… what’s the problem again?”
“Did you even hear the words coming out of my mouth? I said—”
“I heard you,” he says, holding up a hand. “I just don’t understand the question.”
“That’s not supposed to happen. None of it.”
He gives me a sideways glance. “Yeah, it is.”
“No, it isn’t. And she lights up like the fucking sun, Crux. Her flux capacitor is on overdrive, man. I’m not kidding. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“I’m still not understanding why you’re confused.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, you said all the right things. So… what’s the question again?”
“Why is this happening?”
He just looks at me. “You’re serious?”
“Yeah, I’m dead fucking serious. That’s why I’m here. Talking to your dumb ass.”
“But you just said soulmates. So…”
“Yeah, but that’s bullshit.”
“Oh, is it?” He laughs.
My heart begins to race. “Isn’t it?”
“No, you shithead. That’s the whole draw to a Cygnian princess. If you find the right one, they glow like the sun. That’s how you know you’re perfect for each other.”
I swallow hard. And I’m not sure if it’s because I’m nervous, excited, or afraid. Maybe all of the above. “I’ve never heard of this.”
“Well, it almost never happens. They genetically engineer their soulmates before birth. So yeah, it is very strange that hers turns out to be you. But other than that, nah. This is all normal, everyday shit.”
“You’ve had it before then? You’ve experienced it?”
He looks away from me very quickly. But catches himself and looks back almost as fast. “Maybe. Once. A long time ago.”
And that’s when I put two and two together. “No,” I say. “No.”
He smiles weakly, then shrugs. “Yup.”
“You and Queen Corla?” I ask.
He sucks a bit of air through his teeth. “Guilty.”
“When?” I ask.
“Right before we left Akeela System.”
I am speechless. I thought I knew everything there was to know about my brother, but apparently I don’t. “But you were like—”
“Sixteen.” He laughs. “So was she.”
“How did you even meet her?”
He chews on his lip and shakes his head. “She was on a delegation—”