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“Freeze!” A booming voice came from behind us. “IDs. Now.”
I froze as ordered and closed my eyes. The words echoed in my ears. IDs. Now. IDs. Now.
I couldn’t show him my ID. It would never pass an official inspection, but running now would be worse.
This so wasn’t happening. It was a bad dream. A nightmare.
I opened my eyes to find a SpaceTech police officer standing in front of us in his navy and gray uniform. He didn’t have any medals over his right pocket, so I knew he was a newbie, but that was almost worse. Newbies liked to find ways to prove themselves. The traffic and commotion around us had stopped as lookie Louies all stared, waiting to see what the officer was going to do to us.
“What’s the problem, officer?” I asked in what I hoped would be a calm voice, but the sound came out way too high-pitched.
Roan grabbed my hand, and I wove my fingers with his.
“After your buddy here climbed that light pole—which as you know is official SpaceTech property—you crossed the intersection on a yellow.”
“I’m sorry, officer. We didn’t notice it had turned yellow until we were already in the intersection. It won’t happen again,” I said a little too quickly.
The cop’s eyes narrowed as he spotted something behind me. “Halt! Right now!” He lunged past me.
Across the street, some kid took off running. People started yelling as the kid pushed into the crowd, holding a bag in his arms. The cop dashed across the street, missing a speeder by a fraction of an inch.
Roan dragged me to the curb so that traffic could start again, but I could barely move. I stood there frozen as people moved around us on their merry way. Meanwhile, my world had been seconds away from ending.
I tried to calm down, but all I could hear was my heartbeat thundering in my ears, as if it was urging me to run-run, run-run, run-run, yet my feet stayed firmly in place.
“Maité?”
I swallowed, but I couldn’t speak. Not yet. I wasn’t even sure how to process the fear that still coursed through my veins. I felt Roan’s arms wrap around me and I crumpled against him, my forehead resting on his sternum.
“Just breathe.”
Roan was quiet for a second and a moment later, the sound of a pod stopping to hover in front of us made me jerk away from him.
I blinked a few times at the bright yellow, double-capacity pod. I almost didn’t believe it was there. “You called a cab?” They traveled on tracks above the human-driven vehicles and had a sharp fee.
“I think we’ve had enough excitement for one night. My treat.”
As we sat down in the cab that smelled way too much of body odor and cheap booze, I wondered how long I could actually keep hiding. My heart-shaped face made me look all too much like a female Aunare. I wasn’t as tall as their women—they were six feet at a minimum and I was five feet, seven inches. But if the shape of my face didn’t give me away, the size of my eyes might. They were a little too big. Thankfully, I had my mother’s light brown eye color instead of the brighter shades of Aunare blues and greens. Still, if anyone looked too closely, they’d know I was a halfer.
Roan took out a small case from his pocket. He carefully opened it, pulled out the fingernail-sized device inside, and flipped it on. The tiny piece of tech would disrupt all video and sound recording that SpaceTech mandated for every public transportation vehicle. Which meant that now we could safely talk. “Are you okay?” Roan said, breaking the silence.
My breath shook as I released the air I’d been holding in. “That was too close.”
Roan pulled me into his chest, squeezing me tight. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have rushed through the light. And I really shouldn’t have climbed the light pole. My flirting almost got us killed and I’m so fucking sorry. I just… That was so iced. Seriously, Maité. STPF never does that. They never stop people on the street. They have bigger problems and they—”
“I know.” That wasn’t the point. That wasn’t why I was freaking out. “How much longer do you think I can keep hiding? Really. I mean, let’s be honest here. It’s only a matter of time before I do something wrong or someone notices. I can’t change what I am. I’m terrified that—”
Roan pulled away and grabbed my face. “You won’t get caught.”
“You don’t know that.” There was every chance that sooner or later, someone would catch me. Every couple of months SpaceTech would remind the world who my mother and I were. My mother had altered her appearance some and the aging they’d done on my toddler picture wasn’t totally accurate. It was the only reason no one had turned us in yet. But someday someone would look at me and they wouldn’t see Maité Martinez. No. They’d see Amihanna di Aetes. Daughter of Rysden di Aetes, head of the Aunare military and second to the King.
And when that happened, there would be no more running from my fate.
* * *
Chapter Three
