Page 14 of Tethered

“I want to see Vee.”

“So you decided to set the ship on fire with him on it?”

I hope she can’t see me flinch again.

“Well, you’ll take me seriously now, won’t you?”

There’s a pause. Then, under her breath, “Surya-ki laash.”An expression that loosely translates tosun’s corpseand means something like a dozen different things depending on context. I don’t know them all, but based on the fury bleeding through her tone, I’m getting under her skin. Hopefully enough for her to accept my demands.

“Bring Vee to me or I’ll start setting more fires,” I say with more conviction than I feel. I wouldnever, but the captain doesn’t know that. Despite the tentative joke we shared earlier, I’m a stranger to Tanisira. I’ll do anything for my son, and when this is over, Dominik will have learned that out too.

“Fine,” Tanisira bites out.

I might collapse. I’m equal parts incredulous and relieved, with a vicious intensity that washes over me. My heart rate kicks into high-octane mode, and my clammy hands shake. But I’ve made it this far, so I lean against the wall, tuck my hands into my pockets and cross my feet at the ankles—never mind that every move sends pain streaking along my nerves. If I exude calmness, I’ll become calmness. Or something like that.

“I’ll be waiting,” I say.

It might look cool, but I can only hold that position for a few more seconds before my body’s protests become screams. I start to pace, but that puts too much pressure on my bum knee, so I start cleaning up the mess I made. It’s not exactly badass, but I figure the captain has agreed to fetch Vee, so I might as well. Plus, what I did was all kinds of stupid and I can start making up for it.

There’s a small fan set into the wall beside the AllPrep that has been scrubbing the air. I start wiping down the surfaces and activate a vacbot I find docked inside a cupboard. By the time I’m finished, the fan has done a decent job of clearing the odours out of the small galley.

Then the door slides open. My heart catapults into my throat, and it’s all I can do not to burst into tears, even when Tanisira glares across the threshold, wearing her anger like armour. I almost shrink back from her sharp edges, but a lanky boy peers over her arm, and I suddenly can’t move.

“Vee,” I cry.

Tanisira, having decided it’s safe for Vee to enter, steps aside. My kid lights up as he barrels towards me. “Mum! How did you get here?”

Burying my face into his hair, I tighten my arms around him. The world is suddenly right again. I ache in several places, but I don’t care. Somehow—somehow,I manage not to sob into his soft curls. The knot in my chest unravels. I inhale deeply.

Vee laughs, and his pre-teen voice is so sweet that it hurts. “Did you just sniff me?”

“Shh.” I smile against his temple. “I missed you.”

I don’t know how much he knows, if anything at all, and the last thing I want to do is scare him. For now, I’m content to just hold him. He’s safe. He’s well. I’m reluctant to let him go when he starts to wiggle, but each jostle scalds my nerve endings.

Vee looks up at me with sparkling green eyes that widen when he takes in the state of me. “Your face! Were you here for the micrometeorites?”

“Yes, baby.” I shudder. “Not fun. Don’t worry about my face, it looks worse than it is. Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

I inspect him for injuries, but he seems completely fine and wriggles away again. “I’m fine. Captain Sekmith came to get me just before it hit us and took me to this really cool panic room.” He sighs. “I could barely hearanything.”

Only then do I look up and meet Tanisira’s eyes. Captain Tanisira Sekmith. She doesn’t seem to like the full designation, which is interesting from someone of her station. She stands just inside the galley, observing as unobtrusively as possible.Her expression has become carefully blank, but her jaw is clenched. I know just as well as she does that my earlier stunt was stupid. But it got us here.

“Is that true?” I ask, even though Vee doesn’t need to lie.

She inclines her head a little. “I came to take you to him, but—”

“I was already gone.”

Vee tugs on my arm. “It’s Dad’s panic room! It haseverythingin there. He even has vintage games that you can’t get anymore. I was playing Mario Kart!”

My heart could honestly burst right now. I grin in response, that infectious joy of his soothing my frayed edges. He looks an awful lot like Dominik and not so much like me; he’s got my dark hair and some hints of my bone structure, but that’s it. He’s going to be taller than me soon, too, a truth I’m not looking forward to. I’m a cliché in every way when it comes to Vee… but I don’t want him to grow up. It’s always been me and him against the world.

Dominik tried to destroy that. My smile melts into a frown. “How was your week at your dad’s?”

“It was okay. He worked a lot, but Opal took me to get more games. Hey, have you seen the arcade yet?”

“Yes. I didn’t thinkyouhad; it’s not a total mess yet.”