by Lili Zander
“A crisis?” Director Lashi’vi has been in charge of the operation on Noturn for almost fifteen years, and she has never once missed a shuttle departure. “Naomi and I met the Director earlier today, and she seemed in good spirits. It’s nothing serious, I hope?”
“She didn’t say. But it will be okay. Director Lashi’vi is extremely capable. She should be running far more than just the Noturn operation.” He looks around to make sure he hasn’t been overheard. “House politics. Always messy.” He checks his tablet. “Okay, the departure lounge is behind me, through the set of double-doors. As soon as you clear the medical screening, feel free to head there and make yourself comfortable. If you require a private room while you wait, they are available for rent.”
I ignore the bit about the private room to focus on the more important sentence. “Clear the medical screening?” Bast. This is new. Dariux’s primer had made no mention of a medical screen. Such a test means scientists, which is bad for both of us. Naomi reacts very badly when she sees one of them. And of course, if they do a genetic test, everyone is going to learn that my testing tattoos are fake, and that I’m definitely not Zorahn.
“Updated safety protocol,” he explains with a grimace. “There have been some particularly nasty viruses floating around in the Outer Empire. Because of Noturn’s resonance field, we can only send down one healer and one scientist with the shuttle. If something goes badly wrong, evacuation is impossible.”
That’s not exactly true. Evacuation isn’t impossible. What Garlx means is that evacuation isn’t cost-effective for Cindifin. I don’t voice that thought out loud—a safety inspector wouldn’t be talking back to his employers.
I paste a concerned look on my face. “The scientists…” I begin slowly.
Garlx is Zorahn. Even here, far away from the Homeworld, every Zorahn dreads the Testing. He doesn’t need to be particularly perceptive to realize the reason for my hesitation.
“It’s a closed system,” he assures me. “The scientist in charge of the screening is loyal to the House of Cindifin alone, and not to the Crimson Citadel. If you have the virus, you are zapped before you travel. If you don’t have it, your data is deleted immediately.” His face wears an expression of distaste. “The House of Cindifin takes care of its employees. We are required by law to participate in the Testing, but we do not support it.”
Is he lying? I’ll find out soon enough. If the screening flags me, they’re testing for more than viruses.
When we’re out of earshot, Naomi looks at me curiously. “What was that about?” she asks.
“If they examine my genes, they’ll instantly realize I’m Draekon,” I reply. “I can take the guards, of course, but the mission will be over before it begins.”
“Oh. So, Garlx was saying that some houses turn over all their data to the scientists, but House Cindifin does not?”
“That’s right.” She’s in a new environment, and instead of drawing inside her shell, Naomi’s paying attention. Another sign that she’s getting better, thank Caeron.
I shouldn’t allow myself to hope. That emotion is almost always a mistake. And yet, for the first time in forever, I feel hopeful.
Naomi’s footsteps slow down outside the medical screening area. I lace my fingers in hers. “You’re not doing this alone. I’m right here.”
She smiles shakily. “This is ridiculous,” she murmurs. “It’s been two months. I should get over this.”
Even a year after Koval’s death, I couldn’t hear the hiss of an ion gun without being thrown back to the scene of his execution. “You’re doing great.”
“Am I?
“Yes, you are. You’re here, aren’t you?” I smile down at her. “Stop being so hard on yourself.”
She draws in a deep breath. “Okay. Let’s do this.”
I step up to the door. It slides open to reveal a makeshift healer’s hall. A man looks up. His tattoos mark him as a scientist, but he’s not clad in the traditional indigo robes. Instead, he’s dressed in a bright green jumpsuit. Cindifin house colors.
“Come on in,” he says. “I’m Bash. I’ll be doing your screening. Have they filled you in on what I’ll be doing today? We’ve found a few different strains of extremely contagious heliviruses in the Wekat Exchange, and so I’ll be testing for the viruses, zapping them if necessary, and vaccinating you.”
“Heliviruses aren’t contagious.”
His gaze sharpens with interest. “How do you know that?”
Bast. I forgot my cover identity. Danek ab Usora, safety inspector, wouldn’t know anything about viruses. “I was infected six years ago,” I reply. “I was on Erilia, conducting a dome check.” These are part of my fake credentials. Erilia is on my resume, in case the scientist thinks to double-check. “There was a minor outbreak.”
“Oh, okay.” Bash looks bored again. “Well, they shouldn’t be contagious, but these new strains are. We’re still studying them.” He looks disgusted. “It’s probably the work of the Rebellion, to try and destabilize the High Empire.”
Ah, it looks like the High Empire’s propaganda arm is in full swing. I’ve never heard of a more ridiculous idea in my life. Even if the Rebellion did intend to sow chaos through the introduction of biological weapons—unlikely—they’re hardly going to target the exchanges they rely on for trade.
The scientist holds up the syringe. “This formulation will react with the heliviruses, if you are a carrier.” His gaze moves past me and rest on Naomi. He frowns. “Wait, you’re not Zorahn.”
A rather belated realization. I revise my estimate of Bash’s intelligence downward.
Naomi grips my hand, her face pale. “No, I’m from Tor Karah.” Bash looks blank, and she elaborates. “It’s on the rim of the Uncharted Reaches.”
She’s terrified, and despite her fear, she’s here. She’s playing her role. I feel a burst of admiration for her. She might look fragile. She might be fragile. But she’s a fighter. She doesn't give up. There’s no surrender in Naomi.
He pulls out his tablet. “I need to verify dosages. What species are you?”
We can’t answer that truthfully. The scientist cannot know that Naomi is human. It would lead to too many questions. Too many alarms. I interject before Naomi is put on the spot. “My bondmate is Vilri.” I lower my voice. “She’s terrified of needles. Is there some other way?”
Bash glances at Naomi’s face, and his brow furrows with concern. He sets the syringe back down on the table. His tone gentles. “We don’t have to use the formulation,” he says reassuringly. “You’re not Zorahn; you are unlikely to be infected. A scanner will be sufficient.”
Naomi still has a death-grip on my hand. “Yes,” I reply in her stead. “She’d prefer that. Thank you for your understanding.”
Alarms don’t go off when Bash injects me with the formulation, which means Garlx was right; they weren’t testing for the Draekon gene. Naomi’s scan goes without incident as well. When we’re done, we settle in a corner of the departure area.
“He was nice,” Naomi says. “The scientist, I mean. I didn’t expect that.”
“You have every reason to be suspicious of them.” I lean back in the chair and stretch out my legs. We’re almost on our way to Noturn. The sooner we get there, the sooner I can complete this mission and get back to the search for First. Nobody has heard from him, and that fills me with unease. “It's unfortunate that you have met the worst among them, but not all scientists are evil. Most of them are good people.”
“Taman said the same thing.” She sounds skeptical. “Good people don’t turn a blind eye to the torture of Draekons and humans.”
“They don’t know,” I reply. “Brunox’s labs are secret, staffed by his most loyal and fanatical followers. There are millions of scientists in the High Empire. Most of them have no idea what’s going on.”
“I hope you’re right.” She chews her lip. “I don’t know why I react so viscerally to them.”
“You don’t know why?” I
give her an astonished glance. “You were tortured by scientists. How else are you supposed to react?”
“Cassie was tortured too, but it hasn’t stopped her from being friends with Taman.”
“You bore the brunt of it. She sustained less damage than you. She credits you with protecting her from the worst of it.”
Naomi looks discomfited. “I don’t know if she’s right,” she murmurs. “I can’t remember. That place distorted my memories. My sense of time.”
I’m about to respond when a pair of miners walk up and sit down across from us. “Hello,” the grey-haired woman says. “I’m Resi, and this is Afain.”
“Danek,” I reply. “And this is my bondmate, Naomi.”
Resi and Afain are chatty. I find out in the first few minutes that they aren’t a couple, that they’ve been working together for more than thirty years, and they’re both hoping that the generous bonus Cindifin offers miners who travel to Noturn will fund their retirement. “They’re one of the best Houses to work for,” Resi confides. “They treat their workers well, and they don’t look down on Lowborn like us.”
She lifts her chin in the air, daring me to react to that. I raise an eyebrow. “You think I care? My bondmate isn’t even Zorahn.”
“Valid point,” Afain responds peaceably. “Anyway, as Resi was saying, the extra money is nice.”
“Assuming we don’t get the sickness,” Resi says.
“The sickness?”
“The resonance field,” she replies. “Everyone is affected by it, but for some people, it’s debilitating. They’re completely incapacitated. They lose consciousness. It can last weeks.”
“Cindifin provides medical care if you get the sickness,” Afain clarifies. “But they don’t pay the bonus.” He shrugs. “It’s a risk we take. I’ll still be able to retire. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
He gives me a puzzled look. “Unless I fail the Testing, of course. It’s that time of the year. What else could I be talking about?”
“You’ll be okay,” Resi says reassuringly. “I’ve heard if you pass five years in a row, you’re all set. Either the Draekon gene manifests right away, or it doesn’t manifest at all.”
That’s nonsense, but I keep my mouth shut.
“Anyway,” she adds, looking around the room to make sure nobody is in earshot. “There are always options. You can use the bonus money to buy safe passage.”
“Shh, Resi, do you want someone to hear?” Afain turns to me. “Newly bonded, right?”
Naomi is watching the two of them with a fascinated expression. “How could you tell?” I ask him.
He chuckles. “How could I not? You keep looking at each other, your knees are touching, and you’re playing with her hair every chance you get.”
Wait, what? I am? I had no idea. Naomi looks as startled as I feel.
“New love,” Resi smiles.
“But will it last?” Afain asks, his voice cynical. He turns to Naomi. “Tell me, if he tests positive, what would you do? Would you renounce your family, your House, your friends, and run with him? Or would you fear him because he’s a beast? Would you tell yourself that there’s nothing you can do, and forget him as soon as he’s gone?”
The words are wrenched from a place deep inside Afain. This is more than a thought experiment. This is personal.
“No,” Naomi replies, her voice steady. She squeezes my hand. “I would never be afraid of Danek.”
“I hope you’re right,” Afain says, still gloomy.
As do I.
Naomi loves the shuttle journey. She sits by the window and spends the entire trip with her nose glued to the clear xarcan pane, her eyes shining with delight.
This would be the first time she’s seeing space. She was in stasis on her journey from Earth, in stasis when the scientists took her, and when I’d found her, she’d been in no condition to take in the view.
I don’t look outside; it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Instead, I watch Naomi. Her pleasure is contagious. I find myself smiling. More than that, I find myself doing what Resi and Afain accused me of. I lean toward her. I breathe in her scent. I have to fight the urge to touch her hair.
It’s not a long trip. In two hours, we land in the Cindifin spaceport on Noturn. The shuttle’s engines die down. The doors swing open, and the ramp extends to the ground. The miners get to their feet, ready to disembark. They have a day to settle in and get their bearings, and then, the work begins.
I corral our belongings. The cage with Pumpkin, Plague, and Pestilence is in the front hold. I retrieve it, along with our packs. I hoist the bag of supplies over my shoulder, and then we make our way down the ramp.
The moment I set foot on Noturn, my head explodes.
I’m used to pain. I deal with the agony of the rathr on a daily basis. But this is something else. This is a weight pressing down on me. Crushing my skull, making it impossible to breathe. I fight the waves of nausea, and let go of the cage, the pack, everything.
Caeron, what is happening? I can’t take this.
I fall to my knees. Dimly, I hear shocked exclamations, and then Naomi’s hand is in mine. As soon as she touches me, the rathr loses its bite, lifting some of the agony. But the crushing pressure remains.
“Danek,” she whispers, her face etched in lines of acute terror. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve heard about this,” a man’s voice says in the distance. “He has the resonance sickness.”
I lift my head. My vision is bleary. Fuzzy. I will my eyes to focus. A scientist is running toward us, indigo robes flapping around her feet. No, I want to shout. Not a scientist. Naomi is terrified of them. Go away. I’m fine. I will get used to the pain. I always do.
But the words refuse to emerge. My mouth refuses to work. The pressure intensifies. My brain feels like it’s being squeezed by a relentless fist.
And then, it becomes too much to take. For the first time in my life, I black out.
13
Naomi
Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.
Danek, who is Draekon, who single-handedly took down a squadron of security guards to get to Cassie and me, who destroyed the walls of my prison with his bare hands, who is quite literally the strongest person I’ve met, just fainted.
Deep breath, Naomi. Try not to freak out.
Except that’s impossible. I’m alone on a strange planet, surrounded by people I don’t know. Nobody here knows I’m human. Nobody knows we’re not who we say we are. Until a few short hours ago, nobody could even understand me.
And that’s not the worst of it. The thing that sends terror shooting through my heart? Danek, who I thought was invulnerable, is unconscious.
People are running toward us. Leading the way is a scientist, judging from her deep indigo robes. Fear spikes through me. She’s holding something in her hand. Some kind of instrument of torture, no doubt. My heart starts to race. They hurt me. They strapped me down and slashed my skin, and then they injected things into me. Chemicals, hormones, and enzymes. Their drugs set my insides on fire. She runs toward me, this Cindifin scientist, and my conscious mind starts to shut down, and deep, primal fear takes over. Blood pounds in my ears. The world starts to go hazy…
Danek inhales a deep, shuddering breath. His face contorts in agony, and his hand grasps mine.
Hold it together. He needs you.
“Move aside,” the scientist instructs, her tone brusque. I get out of her way, but I refuse to let go of Danek’s hand.
She examines him quickly. “Resonance sickness,” she murmurs. She slants a look at the man next to her. “A severe case.”
The man nods soberly. “I’ve never heard of someone reacting so quickly. It bodes—”
“Not now,” the scientist snaps. “Not here.” She turns to me. “You’re his bondmate?” she asks gently.
I can barely hear her over the roaring in my ears. “Yes,” I whisper, my heart in my mouth. “What’s happened to Danek? Is he going to be o
kay?”
“Let’s take him to the med facilities,” she replies obliquely, avoiding a direct answer. “Sidrx and I have a duty of care, but not without consent. Do we have your permission to treat him?”
“What?” I give her a blank look.
She sucks in an impatient breath. “Your bondmate is affected by the resonance sickness,” she says. “He cannot consent to treatment. You are his bondmate, and you have to make this decision on his behalf.”
She cares about ethics? This is a first. The scientists that tortured Cassie and me sure as hell didn’t ask for permission before they hurt us.
What should I do? If the scientist treats Danek, she’ll find out he’s a Draekon. Then what? Will they arrest him? Will our mission fail?
Then again, I have to let her intervene. I don’t give a damn about the mission, not when the big Draekon’s life might be at stake. He’s unconscious. He could be dying. Even the thought of that sends panic flooding my senses. The world starts to darken around me, and my breath comes in short gasps. The scientist and the healer are staring at me impatiently, waiting for me to make a decision, and I don’t know what to do. I can’t possibly be in charge. This is inconceivable. Simply inconceivable. We hadn’t planned this. None of us could imagine a situation in which Danek would be incapacitated.
“Naomi.” A woman pushes her way next to me, her expression concerned. “It’s me, Resi. We talked in the departure lounge, remember?”
She looks familiar. I manage a nod.
“Your bondmate is sick. You have to allow the healer to treat him, okay? Just say yes.”
The words penetrate my terror-soaked fog, giving me the direction I’m so desperately searching for. “Yes,” I whisper.
“I don’t know,” the scientist begins. “This is all very—”
“Just treat him,” Resi snaps. “His bondmate consented. You have witnesses.” She turns back to me and pats my shoulder awkwardly. “Go with them, dear. I’ll find out where your residence is located, and I’ll make sure your luggage and your pets get there.”
