“I know.” He reached out, brushing a strand of hair from her face. “How are you feeling? About all of this?”
“Overwhelmed. Terrified.” She met his eyes. “Determined.”
“Determined to do what?”
“Whatever it takes to keep her safe.” Her arms tightened around Ari. “I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t choose to be abducted and I didn’t choose to find her, but she needs me. And I’m not going to let her down.”
His expression shifted, something raw and vulnerable flickering beneath his usual charm. “What if keeping her safe means leaving Sherae? Going back out there, where the Grorn are hunting?”
“Is that what you think?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Part of me thinks that the more information we have, the safer she will be. But I’ve been searching for so long that I can’t be sure if my own desires are impacting my decision.”
He studied her for a long moment, his blue eyes searching her face for something she couldn’t name. “Even if I go, you could stay here. Athtar would protect you, give you a home. You don’t have to?—”
“Yes, I do.” She cut him off, surprising herself with the certainty in her voice. “I spent the last eight years playing it safe. Staying in my comfort zone. Telling myself that stability was the same thing as happiness.” She shifted Ari to one arm and reached up to cup Doren’s face with her free hand. “But it’s not. I want to stop hiding. I want to actually live, not just exist. And I want to do it with you.”
His breath caught. “Emma...”
“I know you’re going after the other Keys. I know finding it has been your dream for years, and I’m not asking you to give that up.” She stroked her thumb across his cheekbone, feeling the fine grain of his golden fur beneath her skin. “But wherever you go, I want to go with you. Both of us do.”
As if in agreement, Ari released her braid and reached for Doren instead, her tiny fingers grasping at the air until he offered her his hand. She wrapped her fist around his finger with a satisfied coo.
He stared at the baby for a long moment, his defenses crumbling. When he looked back at Emma, his eyes were suspiciously bright.
“You realize you’re both going to be a tremendous amount of trouble.”
“Probably.” She smiled. “Is that a yes?”
“That’s a ‘you’re completely insane and I should say no for your own good.’“ He pulled her closer, careful not to squish Ari between them. “It’s also a yes.”
He kissed her, soft and sweet and full of promise, and she melted into it, feeling something click into place inside her chest. This was where she belonged.
When they finally pulled apart, his usual smirk was back in place, though it couldn’t quite hide the warmth in his eyes. “Well then. If we’re doing this, there’s something you need to see.”
“What?”
“My ship.” He grinned, looking for a moment like an excited child with a new toy. “If you’re going to be living on her, you should probably meet her properly.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TheVagabondsat in a docking bay carved into the cliffside, only accessible via a series of winding tunnels that seemed to burrow through the rock like the passages of some vast hive. Doren led Emma confidently through them, Ari babbling contentedly in his arms while she tried not to trip over the uneven floor.
“Athtar built these docks himself,” he explained as they walked. “There’s a public landing field, but he wanted somewhere more secure for visiting ships. Took him three years.”
“He seems like someone who commits fully to things.”
“That’s one way to put it.” His tail swished with amusement. “He’s the most stubborn male I’ve ever met. Once he decides something, nothing in the galaxy can change his mind.”
“Sounds like someone else I know.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
They emerged from the tunnel onto a wide platform overlooking the bay, and she came to an abrupt halt. TheVagabondwas... not what she’d expected.
The ship was large, easily three times the size of the small flyer they’d escaped the Ithyians on, with a bulbous main body and stubby wings that looked like they’d been added as an afterthought. Its hull was a patchwork of different metals and materials, some gleaming silver, others tarnished bronze or flat grey, interspersed with a threatening array of weapons. Scorch marks decorated one side, and what looked like a large dent marred the undercarriage.
It was, objectively, the ugliest spacecraft she had ever seen.
