Page 60 of Bonds of Starfall

"You’re quiet, Blackfall. Cat got your tongue?" Plin didn’t look at her as he spoke. She opened her mouth, but found nothing escaped, speechless. At least the pilot didn’t think her silence was from fear… "The button on the side. Press it."

Rin fumbled with the thin wire of the headset, finding a small button. She pressed it, a slight static echoing in her ear. "How long until we arrive?"

"Damn. You’re a cold one."

The tension in her limbs unfurled as the dark purples and blues of space flashed by. She swallowed, thinking of Kit. Was this the last thing he had seen? She hoped it was. Space was a pretty thing to die in.

"I don’t have anything to say." Her quiet voice warbled with static.

There was a long stretch of silence, only the whizzing Stars and distant specks of planets to keep her company. Her fingers brushed the delicate blue petals of the forget-me-nots in her lap, a faint smile tugging at her lips.

"I heard about your brother." Plin’s words broke her from her sad daze. She looked up at the pilot’s back, finding her neck stiff. How long had she been staring at the flowers? "I think it’s noble for you to do this. To honor him like this."

She nodded, quiet. Was it honor, or reckless grief that drove her to follow in her dead, adoptive brother’s footsteps?

8

SINGULARITY

The burner phone in the hidden compartment of Lucien’s office desk beeped.

"Fuck," the doctor spat, yanking open the drawer as he grabbed the burner phone, unlocking it and pressing it to his ear. "Yes," he said, voice clipped.

"Why didn’t you stop her?" Sabine’s cold voice carried through the phone’s speaker.

Lucien had known this was coming. He had known, as soon as Vesperin came to him, wanting to leave for Sibeth, that he would doeverythingin his power to ensure she was able to go. The ultimate freedom. On another planet, Sabine and Talor couldn’t touch her. But neither could Lucien.

Carefully, he spoke:

"What did you expect me to do?"

"Not clear her for travel," she replied coolly.

His free hand drummed restlessly on his office desk. The blinds were drawn, leaving his space in dim light. The beginnings of a migraine pulsed behind his right eye. From lack of sleep, from stress.

It had been only hours since he had left the Fleet warehouse after seeing Vesperin off. Hours in the cold, dead silence of hisapartment. The familiar coldness had wrapped around him like choking smoke as he entered. He knew that he couldn’t stay there anymore. Not without her, after she made the space where he rested his head feel like home for the first time. So, he had packed a bag and left for Solar City General. At least in his office, the memory of her didn’t linger in the shadows. He felt her in his examination room, could barely stomach walking inside, but here, it was him. Alone. Always, alone.

"You did not instruct me on that. I assumed honesty was best suited for the situation," Lucien said. He was walking a precarious line, and they both knew it. One word from her or Talor, and Lucien would be drugged in the middle of the night, taken to an undisclosed location in Lunar City, and dumped into the Azure River, where the sparkling blues of the bioluminescence would obscure the red of his blood.

"You push your luck, Dr. Quenlan," Sabine warned. "Do not forget who is in charge. Shall I remind you?"

Lucien stilled, his finger hovering over his desk.Vesperin was safe,he reminded himself.For now.

How long could he keep her safe? He was working alone, now, without Kiton’s help. And Lucien himself was at the mercy of the Blackfalls.

He swallowed. "No," he said, "I do not. Forgive me. Next time, I will consult you first before making a decision." The words hurt, tugged from within him with acid dripping from the ends.

"Be sure you do." Sabine’s voice was a purr—a rare show of emotion. She was like a machine. Utterly unfeeling. "I will be sending over new documents on a fresh batch of subjects we received from a contact in Lunar City." Lucien knew what that meant. Trafficking, most likely. Picking up prostitutes off the street and luring them in with promises of money, only to shove a drug-laced cloth over their lips to stifle their screams as theywere forced into some nondescript van. Or scouring the areas populated by the homeless.

"Look over the information and compare the data to Vesperin’s. While she is away, we will further our efforts in Nova implementation on this new batch. The experimental group is small, but should prove beneficial. Not many Aetherborns to be found as of late," Sabine continued.

Lucien’s hand tightened on the cheap plastic of the burner phone. "I’ve seen the dosage of Somnocept in Vesperin’s bloodwork. Her blood pressure has been steadily dipping, and her immunological markers are collapsing. The decrease in white blood cells could prove fatal. The experiments…" he hedged, "how often are they conducted?"

Her breathing filtered through the speaker. "That is none of your concern, Dr. Quenlan. Is there a reason for your specific interest in her? Attachments are… temporary. They can be easily cut away."

Her words were pointed, and Lucien felt the blood drain from his face.

He had questioned it. Buthearingit—confirmation in her veiled words—made his stomach churn.