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She laughs. It doesn’t sound as natural as it normally does.
“I’m sure you did a great job,” I say, trying to ease her mind.
She gets a bit serious. “Do you think we’ll have to do it? Escape?”
“I hope not, but I don’t trust these monsters,” I tell her. “They aren’t people, no matter how much they look like them.”
“I know,” Gliss says quietly.
I glance over at her to find her staring steadfastly at the table, her hands clenched around a tin cup. She’s trembling. “Hey,” I say. “Are you okay?”
“They—” She pauses, inhaling sharply, collecting herself. “You know I’m from Eyela, right? It’s the Nyeri’i homeworld.”
“I didn’t,” I say. “In fact, I wasn’t aware anyone lived there.”
“That’s because they don’t—not anymore.” Her eyes slide shut, and she lets out a deep sigh. “Fifty years ago, when I was a kid, there was a terrible tragedy on Eyela. Elixir mining had been happening there for years and, well…the planet justcracked. I don’t even remember my life there, but after that, I was a refugee on Triton, along with everyone I knew.”
“The planet cracked?” I frown. “How does that even happen?”
“Elixir is the lifeblood of planets,” she says. “It messes with gravity and atmosphere and…well, reality itself when it’s depleted. That’s why so many people had a limp or blind eyes or disfigurement on Vehyris, because they’re already feeling the effects. And when the Elixir is all gone, the planet dies.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and shake my head. “I can’t believe Fiona insists on negotiating with these people. They deserve to die just as much as Lamia does.”
“Can I tell you how I feel about it?”
I don’t expect that from her—Gliss is always so affable, so happy. Right now, she’s completely serious, but at least she’s not shaking anymore. “Of course,” I say.
“I would rather see another world saved, even if it means postponing this fight,” Gliss says. “I’ve talked to Aramis about this, and they still have family on Homeworld. And theexactsame thing is going to happen there if we don’t stop it. I know you don’t agree, but I think Fiona is doing the right thing.”
“But they slaughtered your people,” I argue.
“The Nyeri’i believe that there’s a kind of symmetry to the universe—that everything we do comes back to us eventually,” she says. “I have to believe the Hyperborean Empire will get what’s coming to them. And who’s to say Fiona won’t be the one that delivers that justice?”
I fiddle with a loose thread on the sleeve of my shirt, chewing on my lip. My arm is aching again; it’s been doing that every so often since I got my upgrades. “She scares me sometimes,” I say. “She’s changed.”
“I kind of think it’s for the better,” Gliss shrugs. I glare at her, but she just raises her brows, the purple tendrils on her head twitching. “What? She’s a badass.”
“She’s reckless.”
“But you still love her,” she says.
“Well, I did kiss her.”
Gliss cringes—she really hates hearing these details. “Gross.”
“For what it’s worth, it was an accident.”
She snorts at that. “Look, Kye, I don’t know much about kissing, but Idoknow it’s rarely an accident. You wanted to?”
“I…well, I was a little drunk, but yeah, I did,” I say. “Heat of the moment kind of thing.”
“And did you talk about it?”
I shake my head. “No, of course not. That would require me figuring out how the fuck I feel.”
“So how do you feel?” she asks.
I take a deep breath, staring into my empty cup. I’ve just had another glass of booze. I need to quit. And as I put the cup down on the table and look up at Gliss, all I can do is shrug. “I have no fucking idea.”
