Page 39 of Bound by Stars

“I’m going to let you two have a minute.” Asha touches my arm, widening her eyes. She looks Reve over before leaving. “Galaxies, I wish I had your problems.”

“What are you doing later?” he asks.

I cross my arms. “Sitting around eating cake and thinking of how above everyone I am. You know, general snobbery and superiority.”

“Meet me in the…” His eyes focus past me. He drops his gaze and presses his lips together.

I follow his eyes.

Jupiter is rubbing the back of his neck and staring at his shoes. Across from him, Curran turns his head away. Between the two, Tar grins and waves.

Reve takes a deep breath. “Can you meet me in the escape pod bay?” His voice is hollow. The usual self-assuredness is gone. The noncommittal tone almost sounds like he hopes I’ll turn him down.

“When?” I uncross my arms.

“Like…” He looks past me again to where Jupiter and his friends are still standing.

Did Jupiter threaten him? He might have lied about being engaged, but I can’t imagine him exerting his power over anyone like that.

“Three.” He forces the word out and immediately walks away.

“Okay…”

Reve pivots and marches back, stopping inches from my face and snatching up my hands a little too hard.

I frown at his thumbs pressing into my palms.

“I’m really sorry, Wes.” The bright hall lights shimmer in his dark eyes, and he turns and rushes down the hall.

On the opposite end of the hall, Jupiter and his friends are rounding a corner.

Asha’s waiting for me. “What was that about?”

“I literally have no idea.” I watch as Reve disappears around a bend, rubbing my hand where the pressure of his fingers is still fading. I haven’t seen him look that serious since we were kids and my mom was sewing up my bleeding hand.

In the next hall, Asha stops at the elevator midway between the stairways to the upper levels.

I eye the silver doors, mentally calculating the amount of oxygen in a space that small. “I’m not hungry. I’m going to my room until I have to meet Reve.”

“How sad. I know I’m biased, but I was Team Jupe.”

I furrow my eyebrows. “There are teams?”

“Classic love triangle. Now you’re going to meet Reve instead of forgiving Jupiter.” She sighs heavily as the elevator doors part. “I’m still holding out hope that this isn’t your final choice.”

“There’s no triangle. My friend asked me to meet him. That’s all.”

“Your friend who kissed you the last time you two were in the escape pod bay.” She shrugs and steps into the metal box.

I back down the hall, calling through the closing doors. “Why did I tell you that?”

“I’m a fabulous listener. You should try it sometime!” she sings right before the doors seal like punctuation on her sentence.

Someone behind me clears their throat.

I whip around, hitting the brakes in the middle of the hall. Nearly running into Sabine Dalloway, I jump aside to let her pass.

She presses the button for the elevator, watching the numbers climb. Back straight. Hands folded together in front of her. Like I’m not here. Invisible. Below even seeing. Pulling back her gauzy white sleeve, she checks the time.

I squeeze my hands into fists. What is Jupiter’s mother doing on the sublevels?

Probably checking on her illicit inventory, rubbing her hands together, and laughing maniacally at the thought of ripping me off.

I glare as if daring her to notice me, challenge me, give me a reason to let her know how I really feel about her and her horrible company.

“Do you have something to say, or did you never learn that staring is considered rude among civilized humans?” Her dark eyes stay glued to the numbers above the elevator, lighting in a descending order now.

“Where do you get off?” The words slip between my clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry?” There’s a laugh in her voice. A spark that ignites a fire in me.

I step toward her. “How do you live with yourself? Making the people around you miserable. Looking down on everyone. Stea—”

“I see you’re as adept at greetings as you are exits. You know, one is generally expected to thank their hosts before leaving a dining table.”

“The ambush was a little distracting.”

“It’s an honor to witness such an announcement. Mergers of this magnitude within the Alliance are historic.”

“Wow. You talk about your son’s future with less feeling than my bot reporting the weather.” The one whose design you stole.

Her expression stays blank. The doors part.

“Figures. If you’ll use your own son as collateral to expand your company, you’d steal a bot design from a teenager without thinking twice.”

Sabine steps into the elevator, spins to face me, and takes in a long, exasperated breath. “My dear, I know you must be accustomed to theft and deceit back on Earth among your kind, but I run an honest company.”

“Honest enough to have produced my bot behind my back.” The elevator doors start to close, and I grab the edge. “You sent your son to get the specs and get my hopes up, just so you could, what? Tank my presentation and send me back to Earth with my kind ?”

“Do you not read?” She stares back at me with tight lips and pinched eyebrows.

This woman knows I can program. But she thinks I can’t read? Her prejudice transcends logic.

She exhales again, uncrossing her delicately bony arms and pulling the paper-thin glass tablet from her pocket.

“It was all in your letter, Ms. Fleet. Your design was chosen, which means per the contest agreement that you signed, the ILSA project is to be produced by Dalloway Technologies and finished by you and a Dalloway-appointed team on Mars. You failed to provide plans on Earth like you were required to. Thankfully, we were able to finish production on the ship with the plans Jupiter drew on his computer, which is connected to the company network. The presentation is a formality, publicity. Your compensation has already been processed. I owe you nothing.”

“You’re lying.”

She taps the screen one final time and slides her finger over the surface, turning it toward me. It’s a financial record. Paid to Weslie Fleet. So many zeroes. My hand slips from the elevator door.

Sabine catches it before it slides shut.

“You want the truth? You created an excellent product. You deserved to win the contest. You might even deserve the life-changing benefits being awarded to you. But you will never deserve my son. Jupiter is too softhearted to see it, but you could not possibly fathom the life he’s destined for, and I will not allow a minor dalliance to hold him back. ”

My body feels heavier. My mouth wired shut. The silver doors clamp together between us.

Without thinking, I move my feet. One trudging step at a time.

I didn’t read the letter before it burned.

I have a whole life set up on Mars that I didn’t know about.

And that means…maybe Jupiter wasn’t playing me.

Maybe it was all real. Maybe Asha was right.

I’m wasting time. If I got off this ship right now, would I regret the time we could have had?

My feet move faster and faster until I’m running.