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MALIX
I should be focused on nothing but my duty, yet I am transfixed by not one, buttwoof Jaya’s crew.
I watch as the big Skoropi male stalks around the table, leaning forward to take the shard into his claws. He has not even had permission to do so, and our scientists jolt forward to stop him, but it’s already happened by the time they act. Even his companion with the golden hair looks surprised, her eyes widening as he turns it in his hands.
They confer in their soft, rolling language, and it frustrates me that I cannot understand. I want to act—to do something, when it feels like I am entirely powerless.
A shiver crawls up my arm and across my neck, my fringe flaring as I roll my shoulder in discomfort. When I look to the side, I realize that the female with rich brown eyes has come to stand beside me, looking curt and professional in her human uniform. She looks up at me, a curl falling out of her topknot and brushing against her jaw.
She is lovely.
I have never thought another being, male or female, to be lovely.
So how is it that I have suddenly met two of these creatures?
“I’m Frayn-kee,” she says in Lyran, her name tripping me up slightly. It’s unusual; I’ve never heard such a name. “I think we’ll be working closely together.”
I stand stiff and straight, unsure of how to respond when I feel so strange. It’s as if I’m suddenly feverish, my heart pounding. My scales are hot, overheated. I need to dip into a cool bath and settle my body temperature.
“You speak excellent Lyran,” I mutter. I trip over my tongue like a fool, an old stutter making itself known. “I did not know so many of you would have fluency.”
She smiles, red-brown lips parting to reveal straight white teeth. I even catch sight of a pink tongue in the cavern of her mouth, and I chastise myself for imagining what it would be like to capture that tongue between my teeth.
This is inappropriate. Wrong.Especiallyfor this moment. Perhaps some anti-human Lyra are correct when they call humans dangerous.
“All humans are required to take ten years of Lyran in school, so I’d better be good at it,” she says.
“And your friends?” I ask. “The Skoropi—how do they know our language?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. I guess they’re just good at it. Apparently our captain speaks something like ten languages.”
“What are they discussing?” I ask. “Have your scientists discerned anything?”
She listens, her lips parting slightly. I look at her as she focuses, noticing the fine curls at the nape of her neck. I can almost feel the heat rolling off her skin, like I’m standing beside a fire.
“They’re saying they think it’s permanently deactivated,” she says. “Only usable once, I guess.”
“So it’s safe to bring aboard your ship,” I infer.
“Bekah—the blonde female—doesn’t want to,” Frayn-kee says. “But Taraven doesn’t have a problem with it.”
“Taraven,” I repeat, rolling his name on my tongue. He glances up at me at the sound of his name, a half-smile quirking the corner of his mouth. “He’s reckless?”
“You could say that,” Frayn-kee says. “But he’s also the nicest person you’ll find on Jaya. In fact, we already set up a room for you.”
I frown as I consider leaving Logos now, when things are so dire. If there’s truly a new threat in Saga, I should stay here…shouldn’t I?
I wish I could, but I don’t believe my aunt will allow me to stay.
“I’ve never traveled beyond our lunar network,” I murmur. “What is it like?”
Frayn-kee shrugs. “It’s hard to describe. Especially now that I’ve been traveling on Jaya, I realize there are a thousand worlds to explore—a few populated, but most wild and uncharted.”
“And you find this appealing?” I ask.
She smiles. “Of course I do,” she says. “Don’t you?”
