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"It's just me," came Tivek's quiet voice as he stepped into the faint light. "I didn't expect anyone else to come in here.”

My hand relaxed away from my weapon, but my pulse didn't slow. Tivek looked different in the blue-tinged shadows, less like the formal adjunct everyone knew and more like the spy he was.

"Couldn't sleep," I admitted, leaning against a storage crate. "Too much running through my head."

He nodded, his expression softer than usual. "You should try to rest before we reach the target.”

"Says the Drexian also wide awake and hiding in the storage compartment."

A ghost of a smile crossed his lips. "Fair point."

I found myself studying the planes of his face, the angles and shadows that made him both familiar and mysterious.

"Are you nervous?" he asked suddenly. "About the mission?"

I almost lied, but something in his expression stopped me. "Yes," I admitted. "I've never faced Kronock up close. I’ve only read about them in tactical briefings."

“You don’t have to face them. You can stay with Ariana on the ship and watch for enemy patrols."

That had been the original plan, but now that we were down to only a handful on the away team, we couldn’t spare two people staying behind. “It’s okay. I’ve been trained for combat.”

“And I’m sure you're excellent at it," he said without hesitation. "But don’t you think your strategic mind is more valuable to us than another blaster on the ground."

His logic was sound, but the thought of them walking into that fortress while I remained safe on the ship made my stomach twist. “I wouldn’t be able to sit still if I stayed behind. I’d be too worried.”

Tivek's eyebrows rose slightly. ”For me?"

Heat rushed to my face. "For all of you, but none of the others know who you really are and the risk of losing a Drexian spy.”

He glanced around the compartment as if someone might be hiding in the shadows, listening to our conversation. "I shouldn’t have burdened you with my secret. It wasn't fair to make you complicit."

"I'm not complaining. I can keep a secret. You can trust me."

His eyes met mine, intense and searching. "I know. I've always known I could trust you, from the first moment I saw you analyzing battle formations in the Stacks when everyone else had gone to sleep."

My breath caught. "You’ve watched me in the Stacks?”

"Shadows observe everyone," he said, with the faintest hint of a smile. “It’s my job. But you were particularly interesting."

"Is that spy intuition talking?" I teased, trying to ignore the flutter in my chest.

"Something like that," he murmured, taking a step closer.

The air between us seemed to charge with electricity, making the fine hairs on my arms stand on end. We were standing too closefor colleagues and too close for friends. His eyes dropped to my lips for the briefest moment, and my heart hammered against my ribs.

Was he going to kiss me? Did I want him to?

But I knew the answer to both without hesitation. I did, and I had since I’d first met him.

As l leaned into him, the ship lurched violently, throwing me forward. Tivek caught me against his chest, his arms wrapping around me as the floor pitched beneath our feet. Alarms blared to life, the sudden wail piercing the hush of darkness.

I clung to him as the vessel swayed. “What thegrek?”

"We've been hit!" Ariana's voice boomed through the ship, only faintly muffled through the door. "We're under attack!"

The floor tilted sharply, and crates slid across the compartment, crashing against the far wall. Tivek held me tighter, one hand braced against a support beam to keep us both upright.

"Morgan, we need to get out of here.”