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I cover my mouth with a hand, so Jovie and the others won’t see my disgust. All for showing my Storm and standing up to my father?

None of your crew regret leaving to follow you.

How do you know?

Just because I have not always spoken to them does not mean I have not listened or continue to do so.

So we’re stuck here? Amphir Fleet won’t let us in? And I just have to pretend I’m helpless?

Until Abr security determines the situation is stable and patrol ships are allowed back inside, yes.

The com feed quiets.

“Telepath Linx?” Jovie eyes the side of my head with interest. “Cool. Who were you talking to?”

“My ship. She has a Storm like us.”

“Your ship is electric ?”

“Alive.” Blaize moves aside for Sa’Tai, who pats my shoulder and returns to the party. “Allele is sassy and zappy, just in a different shell.”

“Do I get to meet her?” Jovie looks so excited that I hate to hinder it.

“She’s on patrol with the other ships. They’ll return soon. Always a lot of commotion after the initial race.”

Blaize elbows me in the side and gives me a look that says I need to tell her the truth. But I don’t want to ruin the night.

“Would you like to find a quiet place to talk?” I ask Jovie.

Jovie smiles and offers me a hand. The flash of light between our palms makes my heart race.

Eluni makes a strangled noise of surprise until Fieri swats at her.

“I hear the garden is nice.” Jovie leads me out of the mingle celebration and down the hall.

She takes me through a side door and out among a short maze of hedges where blue flowers drip from arbors and pergolas covered in multicolored blossoms shelter private seating areas.

There are a few other couples sitting by the central fountain, one making out in the hedges, and another getting down and dirty on a cushioned bench in a private shelter.

Jovie’s face darkens when she steals a glance at me. Part of me wonders if she wants to move that fast. The thought throws me back to my academy days and feeling like an awkward teenager not yet used to my larger body and the powerful urges within.

She guides me to an open bench at the far end among rows of tall, fluffy grasses.

Jovie sits and admires the flower I picked for her.

Then she shortens the stem with a fingernail and tucks it atop her right ear.

She is so beautiful that it breaks me to think of admitting the truth.

I fear she will run and no longer want me.

But if she is the one, she will understand.

If she isn’t, I must let her go.

I just don’t want to.

She turns toward me on the bench. “I see that look on your face. What is it you need to tell me?”

I put a little space between our palms and watch the familial orb light up again just so I can memorize it in case it’s the last time. “I don’t want to lose another bond like this.”

“Have you lost a mate before?”

I wiggle my fingers and watch my arcs delicately dance into her fingers and back again. “No, but family, yes.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Jovie’s mouth quirks to one side. Then she rubs her plump mauve lips and returns to the half-smile that seems to linger on her face like she’s trying to be strong while, inside, she’s anything but.

“I have lost family too,” she continues.

“We struggled on the farm for years. Mom and Verity left first. Dad was dying from the pesticides and soil amendments we had to spray on the fields. So he sold the farm, paid for me to go to engineering school, and saved the rest so I wouldn’t have to take care of his medical bills.

The only family I have left now is Talros.

And he’s family by choice just because we’ve worked together since we were kids. ”

I take Jovie’s hand and pray to Viestra that her life experiences will help her understand. “I know you said you want to come with us, but you need to understand the situation completely. I can’t in good conscience lead you on without being sure you are aware of our people’s trouble.”

“Alright.” Jovie crosses her legs. The movement of her hips steals my attention. My chest thunders with a surge of need to taste her, and my Storm begs me to pull her close and give in to the craving I have to feel her flesh against mine. But I force myself to take a breath and be civil.

I am not a senseless animal and won’t take Jovie until I know for certain she wants me and knows what she’s getting herself into. Besides, I must behave for my people’s sake.

“Fleet Amphir was recently attacked by Denarso. My people are on edge, but I am being told I can’t help them. Nevertheless, if they need me, I will risk what I must to protect them.”

“Hold up.” Jovie blinks long and hard. “Why are you saying it like that? You’re just a soldier, right?”

“I am a Rogue, yes.” I sigh under the weight of reality. “But some might disagree.”

Jovie shakes her head. “I think those two dudes out there today, the ones with dirt in their teeth, would agree.”

“I am more than that, Jovie. I was, up until a few days ago, Prince Aurelius of Mothership Tiatith .”

She leans back and slips her fingers from mine. “A prince of a mothership?”

Her rejection fractures my Storm with painful force. “Yes.”

“Royalty,” she clarifies like she hasn’t heard me right.

I nod but can’t muster another word as my insides shudder. I rest my elbows on my knees, trying to stretch my tense back. She clearly doesn’t like the idea, which comforts me. But I told her I’m not anymore, and she still pulled away.

She must really hate them. Finding my voice again, I add, “I’m not a prince or anything else anyone might call me.”

I’ll say anything to keep her. But it’s also the truth. And in my experience, the truth is as fast as a bullet and equally ruthless. It’s better to know it’s coming than pretend it won’t hurt.

“My father disowned me for wanting to follow the old ways of listening to my Storm, my heart, and what matters to me. So now I am just a guard, a soldier, a Rogue. I have no kingdom to offer you, no status, no home. I am not even allowed to orbit our fleet. I have my ship, my crew, and my skills. I am starting over.”

I had thought being Rogue would be a bad thing. But Jovie doesn’t seem to want royalty. Yet as I look at her now, still shying away from me like I am a monster, I don’t know what to think.

I hang my head, ashamed and broken that I cannot give her more and fearing the consequences of my admission.

“I’m so sorry.”