Adiron (Corsair Brothers 1)

She crosses her arms over her chest, hugging herself, and I notice that her clothing is a modified jumper like my own, except the stitches have been pulled out and awkwardly re-done up the sides. It reminds me that everything she has, everything she wears, she's had to fight for and reclaim. Jade is so keffing strong. I'm in awe of her. The human female stares at the spots where the escape pods left just a short time ago, and she seems to be lost in her thoughts. "I've always had them, you know? No matter how scary or wild things got, we had each other. And now we're all separated. I guess I'm scared for me as much as I am for them."

I gesture at one of the remaining pods. "We can go, too, if you want. You know I'll follow you anywhere."

Her smile is faint as she looks back at me. "I can't do that. Those people sleeping in those pods, I have an obligation to them. I'm going to keep them safe and watch over them, because it's what I'd want someone to do for me."

Even though no one did it for her.

"Well, luckily you have me to entertain you in the next month," I tell her with a grand sweep of my arm. "And I am quite the entertaining male, or so I have been told." I grin at her, determined to keep my spirits light in the hopes that I can buoy hers. "I never did get a proper tour of this place. You want to show me the ship?"

She bites her lip, then shakes her head. "If it's all the same to you, I think…I want to be alone for a little bit. I need to process. I'll be fine, I just need to work through a few things."

"Sure. Right. I'll go hang out in my room. Maybe take a nap…maybe rearrange the furniture. Dunno. I'll figure something out." I give her a brash smile. "I can amuse myself. Don't you worry." With what, I don't know, but if Jade needs time to sort through her feelings, I'll give her as much as she needs.

Jade smiles sweetly at me, moving forward to touch my chest. "Thank you, Adiron."

33

JADE

I can't sleep.

I'm tired—exhausted, really—but as time crawls past, my brain won't turn off. I keep thinking about Ruth, and if she's all right or in danger. I think about Alice, her eyes filled with tears as she left in the pod with Kaspar. I think about Helen, who's even now probably trying to get a reluctant Mathiras to kiss her, just so she can experience it. I should probably be the most worried about Helen, because she's innocent, but strangely, I'm not. She'll have so many new experiences she won't have time to be sad or worried. This is all a new adventure to her; it's the others that I stress over.

And I think about the people in the stasis pods, of course. What if no one comes back for us? What if we drift into that ice field? What if it's a mistake to leave them sleeping? Would I want to drift into death in my sleep or would I want to be awake to try to do something about it? I can't wake them up of course—there's not enough food for so many people—but I can still have guilt about it.

In the end, I toss and turn, and when I can't stand it any longer, I get up. I shrug on my robe—some larger creature's modified tunic—and tuck it around me before I go to pace the empty halls of the ship. I head toward the kitchen, past the rec room, and wander toward the bridge. It all feels so empty now. Even before, when it was just the four of us on here, it didn't have that abandoned feeling like it does now. Like I'm the only one left on this end of the universe, all by choice.

Depressing. I know I've done the right thing, but it's still hard.

The bridge is empty, of course, the large windows full of nothing but open space. There's a distant, colorful nebula in one corner, and I know that even though it looks large in the view, it's probably bajillions of miles away from here. No sign of an ice field, though, which makes me wonder if that really was all a lie. It's conveniently “behind” the ship, which means we can't see it, but they swear it's there. I curl my bare toes on the metal floors, wondering if they seem cooler than usual or if it's just my imagination. I stare out the window, sigh, and then turn to leave.

As I do, I see a pair of legs sticking out from under one of the stations. Legs, and a blue tail that twitches ever so slightly.