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  “I’ve already got a massive list of messages to answer and calls to return,” Roan said, finally looking at me. “Every reporter in the known universe wants an official word on the incident. Something doesn’t get that hot that quick if it’s not even a hint of a scandal. Add in the baby thing.” He gave me a smile that told me exactly how funny he thought the last part was. Which was pretty damned funny.

  Great. Just when I thought I was cool with the reporters—that everything was chill—now I was going to have to do damage control?

  Screw that. I didn’t have time to give official statements. I’d been poisoned. Nothing else mattered but finding the antidote and taking SpaceTech down. I didn’t really care which came first, but both needed to happen. Talking to the media was so far away from anything close to a priority right now.

  Lorne turned to Fynea. “Find us alternate housing or ready the ships. I don’t care which, but we’re not coming back here when we’re done at the market. Please stay here and coordinate the transfer of everything we have here to the ships.”

  Fynea sputtered for a second, but Lorne didn’t listen to any of her objections. “Everything, Nea.”

  He meant the SpaceTech officers that were still alive.

  That had her pausing. “Right. Of course, your majesty.”

  He said something in Aunare to the guards, and then started out of the house.

  He paused before he got to the door, and then turned to me. “Are you coming?”

  Yes. Yes, I was definitely coming, but I thought he was going to put up a fight about it. I had active lucole poisoning my blood. Two more hits, and I’d detonate.

  I caught up with him in a few long strides, and then I heard Roan curse.

  “You’re not having all the fun without me, that’s for damn sure.”

  As we walked to the on-planet vehicles, two more pulled up.

  We all froze, but then the guards started signaling. All clear.

  We waited, and then Audrey stepped from one of the vehicles, with Tyler right behind her.

  All the breath in my lungs ripped free with relief.

  Thank God. I started walking toward her, so thankful to see her face.

  She looked at us and then the house. “Is the door missing? And the windows? What the hell happened here?”

  Man, it was good to see her. Her red hair was piled in a bun and she was wearing the traditional Aunare medical jumpsuit. She had a bag slung over one shoulder, and I hoped she had a miracle inside it.

  “Can I just say that it’s been a really long night?”

  Tyler tugged me to his chest, thumping my back with his massive hand before letting me go. “You look like you’ve been rode hard and put away wet.” Tyler said as if that was a perfect description of me.

  And you know what? He was kind of right. Possibly, although maybe not. It’d been a hard night, and I wasn’t sure what the hell he was talking about.

  Audrey stared at the vehicles. “Wait. No. You can’t leave. I just got here, and I have tests to run.” She patted the bag at her hip. “And you’ve got active lucole poison in your blood.” She pointed a finger at the house. “Get back in the—”

  “We were attacked in the house, so going back in there is a hard pass for me. But Ashino has one of the detonation devices, and we might have a lead on getting some of the lucole poison and—”

  “That’s amazing.” She lowered her hand. “A clean sample is everything and having that device… Okay. I can work with this.” She glanced at Tyler and then quickly back at me. “We’re coming with.”

  A couple of Aunare—two women in jumpsuits that matched Audrey’s—came from the second vehicle, and Audrey waved them over. “I’m going to take a few samples from her now, and then you can go run some tests on that in the lab while I go with her. The lucole is active and one of the guards will bring you the detonation device for you to work with.” She let out a breath. “I’ll do some tests while we travel with them and send you the results, but they have a lead on a clean sample and I want to make sure we properly transport it. So, I’ll go with them.”

  The other lab techs’ skins lit.

  One stepped forward, fist to her chest. She turned to Lorne and bowed, speaking something in quick Aunare.

  He said something back, and I was too tired to mess with finding my translator. “What?” I asked.

  “She doesn’t speak Earther English, but she’s wearing a translator. She says she’s honored to be helping us right now. That the team on the ship are working around the clock to find answers for us.”

  I turned to her. “Peshameho ah.” Thank you. I wasn’t sure I’d said it right, but I’d been working on it.

  She grinned, and I hadn’t thought her pretty before but she was. She glanced back at Audrey, and then at me. “You are wel-come.” Her accent made it hard to understand even with her sounding out each syllable separately, but she’d tried, and I loved it.

  Audrey moved in front of me. “Sit.”

  I was too tired to do anything other than obey her. So I plopped down on the grass. She sat in front of me and opened her bag. A few minutes later, she’d run a few scans, spoken to the other two women, asked me some rapid-fire questions that I wasn’t sure I’d fully answered, and then handed them two vials of my blood.

  Audrey packed up her supplies, and then rose. She reached a hand down to me. “How do you feel?” she asked as she pulled me up.

  “Honestly?”

  “Always, especially right now since I’m the one that’s supposed to make you feel better if you’re not doing well.”

  I took a breath and glanced at Lorne, who was watching me very carefully. He probably knew already. He always knew how I was doing, sometimes even before I did.

  I turned back to Audrey. “I’ve been better.”

  “I’m sure you feel like garbage. Drained. Exhausted. Low energy, and you’ve dropped more weight. Your body is fighting all that poison and it needs fuel. When did you eat last?”

  I started to answer, but came up empty. I wasn’t sure when. I was supposed to eat at the house, but I hadn’t gotten that far before the attack. I hadn’t eaten at the dinner. Or at the meeting with Vyic. Which meant it’d been hours ago. Eight? Ten? I wasn’t sure. “I guess before we landed.”

  Lorne groaned. “It’s my fault. We were supposed to have time, but a meeting ran late and then it’s just been—”

  “Let’s get in the on-planet vehicle, and then I’ll give her something for the energy and some nutrients. But she needs a meal. She runs thin. She can’t afford to skip.”

  “I know. I’ll do better.” Lorne shouldn’t have to. I should be able to keep track, but I just forgot.

  Audrey sighed. “All right. Get in.” She motioned to the vehicle.

  “Okay.” I didn’t want her coming to the black market with us—it was too dangerous and she’d had enough of that—but I didn’t have time to argue with her.

  I wanted to get what we needed, and then I wanted to go back to the warship where I could relax and sleep. Hopefully on our way back to Sel’Ani.

  I had this anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I was pretty sure I was homesick. It was a bittersweet feeling for me because I didn’t like it, but it was also amazing. I’d never had a home before. I’d thought I’d felt homesick for Earth in this sick, messed up way before, but it wasn’t like this. This was different. Because Sel’Ani had become my home, and I wanted to go back.

  I wanted to sleep in my own bed, in the place I felt safe, with the gym and Plarsha’s smoothies and walks through the garden to that fountain when I needed a second to breathe.

  If I could have anything in that moment, it was to go home, curl up with a blanket on the bench by the fountain, and fall asleep to the soothing sound of the water flowing through it.

  I wanted to go home right now, but I had more to do before we could leave. So, I’d do it, and then I’d go back.

  We filed back into the vehicles—Lorne, Roan, and I, on the
forward-facing bench, with Audrey sandwiched between Tyler and Vyic on the bench facing us. Eshrin and Ashino got in the front seats of the vehicle. More guards were in the vehicles in front and behind ours. Once we were settled, we started back to the city.

  The sun had set hours and hours ago, and I knew there wasn’t a lot of night left before it would turn to day again.

  I wasn’t ready for that. I needed sleep. My body was aching for it.

  My skin started to dim, but Lorne brushed a hand on my arm. “You can’t let your guard down here. If enough of the Telnon drug gets into your system, then you’ll get slower, weaker, and I’m not sure what that will do to you when your body’s already fighting so hard.”

  Fine. He had a point, even if it was exhausting.

  “I don’t think that it’s intentional. I think she’s running out of energy. I’m going to help.” Audrey moved to sit at my feet on the floor of the vehicle between the two benches that faced each other. She placed something on my wrist, and I closed my eyes.

  I needed sleep, but depending on how long this took, I wasn’t sure if I’d have time before tomorrow’s alliance meeting. If we were even going.

  To be fair, I was rooting for it to be cancelled. Judging from the dinner, I wasn’t sure anything would be gained by us staying. But I wasn’t the High Queen. Not yet. And if Lorne thought it was important to stay, then I would stay with him.

  But this was starting to feel like a massive set-up and I wanted to leave.

  Now.

  I wanted to go home.

  I wanted my fountain and my bench and my blanket.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  LORNE

  Vyic led us deep into Yhonie-atala. A part that had no lights, no hope, and too many people lying on the ground. It was completely at odds with anything I’d seen on Telnon before.

  The Yhona built their planet for relaxation and comfort. They didn’t have tall, cloud-scraping buildings. They had lots of regulations about the footprint of anything built and the green space that had to be nurtured to offset the damage of the building. Everything had a certain homey, welcoming look similar to their Garden Shops. Amihanna was spot on with her comparison to a child’s fairy book. That’s the Telnon I knew.

  But that wasn’t the Telnon I was seeing now.

  This part of Yhonie-atala was hidden behind a dense forest with trees so tall and thick that it blocked the view of a sea of cloud-scraping buildings—all made out of the cold materials, like cement and metal, that weren’t allowed in the rest of the city. If someone had asked me an hour ago if something like this existed on Telnon, I’d have said they were crazy, but I would’ve been wrong.

  It wasn’t that I hadn’t seen homelessness or desperation on the streets before. I explored the outer reaches. I’d been to colonies where people had been left to rot. I’d been to places torn by centuries of civil or interstellar war. But it was the contrast between the Telnon everywhere else and this hidden part that made it worse. It didn’t fit with the Yhona, and yet, it did.

  The lies it took to hide something this bad were large and numerous, but it was something I could see Beta Omo defending. I bet he thought this was a reasonable cost to their lifestyle.

  The vehicle stopped, and all I could see out of the window was despair. Pitiful, especially when it didn’t have to be this way. The Yhona had enough money to help them. The particular place we stopped didn’t look any different than any other stretch of this area. I assumed the black market would be here.

  Some of my guards left their ships to take a look around. Once it was cleared, we’d be able to leave the vehicle. While we waited for them to come back, I had questions for Vyic. “Where are we?”

  “This is where the Yhona bring people that cannot handle the level of drug in the air.” Vyic didn’t show a sign of feeling in his voice, but I sensed a little disapproval. I wasn’t sure if that was coming from him or if I was feeling it so strongly that I wanted to hear it.

  “These people will waste away in their lack of motivation and ambition. They revel in the natural drug in the air. They breathe it deep.” There was something in Vyic’s voice that I couldn’t identify.

  I hoped he hated this place as much as I did, but I didn’t know for sure. I never knew what to think of him. He could change so quickly—not just his physical form, but his demeanor, too.

  “Why don’t the Yhona help them?” Amihanna asked as she stared out the window.

  “Because they believe that those who are most susceptible to being overcome by the drug are those who would’ve been the most violent members of society.”

  “But they don’t know that.” Amihanna turned to me. “They can’t know that for sure.”

  Amihanna was getting angry, which fueled her glow. Whatever Audrey had given her on the trip here had helped, but the anger would give her more energy to fight. It would help us get through tonight, but I didn’t like that she was getting so angry. I didn’t have a good answer for her.

  Amihanna went back to watching the people wandering the streets outside our vehicle. As a leader, she’d want to help. As a High Queen, she’d have to learn to be diplomatic about how she offered her help.

  “Of course they don’t know it for sure.” Vyic lifted a shoulder. “But nothing takes away your free will like a government-dosed drug. They could fix this, but just because they can doesn’t mean they will. This life is a test for mortals. Everyone who breathes must learn to deal with their demons, and hope that their reward is on the other side.” Vyic looked at Amihanna. “For some, it will be.” He turned his head to look out the window. “For others, this will be as good as it gets.”

  That was a depressing thought. He wasn’t wrong, but it was still darker than I needed right now.

  I saw the guards making their way back and was grateful. We’d be out of the confines of this vehicle soon. Vyic was hard to be around some days. He could talk about deep, dark things and debate endlessly on the nature that plagued man’s soul—I was okay to indulge him in that debate from time to time, but not when I had a real problem at hand.

  Like finding a clean sample of the poison that was swimming through Amihanna’s blood.

  “What do I need to know?” I asked Vyic.

  He gave me a slow look and then glanced out the window. “You must move fast. They’re already noticing us, and once they do, word will spread. The Yhona will come for you. They’ve worked very hard to make sure no one sees this side of them, especially not other leaders. They won’t like that you are here.”

  “Are you—” Amihanna stopped talking when Vyic turned to smoke again, disappearing into the night.

  Audrey let out a little screech and pressed her hand to her chest. “What the hell was that?”

  Tyler hugged Audrey close to his side. “My mama always said it’s never a good idea to make friends with a go-devil, but I thought she was crazy. Go-devils don’t exist,” Tyler let out a long sigh. “I guess I owe my mama an apology because that man there was a go-devil if I ever saw one.”

  I blinked at the man. I thought I could figure out what he was saying, but what in the Goddess’s name was a go-devil?

  “Is he coming back?” Roan said, and I wasn’t sure if he wanted Vyic to come back or not.

  I definitely did not want Vyic with me today. He was in one of his moods. “Vyic goes where he’s called, so I don’t know if he will come back. But I don’t actually think he’s a devil of any sort.” At least I hoped he wasn’t.

  “We should assume he’s not coming back.” Amihanna glanced at her wrist unit. “Eshrin is waiting outside. He said now is the time if we’re going to do this.”

  “Agreed.” I sighed. “If I’d been thinking ahead, then I would’ve had us change our clothes, but I got caught up.” Amihanna could fight in anything, but she had preferences. Like wearing only dark clothing. Tonight, in this darkened alley, her trademark color would’ve been helpful.

  It was too late to go back now. We were in our clothes from
the dinner, and the dark, forest green of her clothes would have to do. Amihanna’s were noticeably more wrinkled than mine—and she’d ripped off the train of her vest, making it look a little odd—but at least she was wearing shoes.

  It didn’t matter. Nothing was more important than finding out about this poison.

  If Amihanna died, everything would fall apart. SpaceTech was right to believe that. Without me, Amihanna, or her father leading, the Aunare would crumble despite our tech and power.

  We’d go in as one, knowing the dangers and that our time here would have to be targeted and brief. I gave the orders for the guards, and then it was time to move.

  Ashino and Eshrin flanked us as we exited the vehicle. Three guards walked in front of us. Three behind. Three stayed in the drivers’ seats of the vehicles. They would track our movements and status from our wrist units, and move in if we needed help or a quick extraction.

  The rest of our guards spread out—some in front, some behind, more to the sides. We had three units. I hoped that was enough to keep Amihanna safe.

  The alley was lined with people. There were some chairs and decrepit sofas. A few had made makeshift tents. Most were just lying or sitting on the ground. None of this was okay. I watched as they wandered around, shuffling their feet, shoulders hunched, as if the air alone made it hard for them to breathe and move. And that was fair. It likely did.

  We kept moving down the narrow street at a steady pace—not so fast that our guards couldn’t keep up, but not so slow that people would take notice of us. If there was a black market here, that meant people would be there. So, we followed wherever the largest group of people were going. None of us had weapons out. For now. We were drawing a little attention, but so far, not much.

  The farther down we went, the more densely packed the streets were, and the worse the smell became.

  Little rodents scuttled on their distended bellies darting between slow-walking Yhona. They made little chirping sounds as they moved, and the way their skin glistened and their nails scraped the ground to propel them forward made my skin crawl.