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Nero Nights 22
“So instead of letting us know you weren’t dead, you’ve been shacking up with that dirty little puppet?”Nymiah. “I’m sorry,” I say, not even annoyed at having to explain myself. “We crash-landed on this planet across the galaxy and all communications were down. I had no way to get in touch until now.”“Excuses,” Edan teases, but I know I’m not the only one overjoyed to hear the other’s voice. “But I think there’s someone else you’re going to be a little more interested to talk to than the rest of us.”My brows furrow.“Nova.”And every emotion in me explodes. “Dad?”There are two beats and they’re the longest in the world as he gathers his voice. “I knew you’d make it through.”“You’re…you’re…” But even now, when I’m hearing his voice, I still can’t make myself say the words.“You saved me, Nova,” Dad says, his voice full of emotion.“Apparently, it took a bit for your Neron trick to work,” Edan says, “but about twenty minutes after you and that ship suddenly disap
Nero Nights 1
“As far as I can tell, all the major connections to the core are intact,” I say, wiping sweat from my brow. I’ve been crawling around down in the belly of the ship for over an hour, tangled in the mechanical guts of this beast, double and triple checking that every critical connection between the ship and the core is still working. “There are some cracks to the interior of the hull, but so far, all the majorly important parts of this ship are still functioning.” “So we can fix whatever is broken?” Valen asks. He’s crouched on the floor of the mechanical room above me at the opening of the hatch, looking down into the tunnels I’m occupying. My eyes rise to meet his. I shake my head and shrug. “That’s the problem. I have no idea what’s broken. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what to fix.” He extends a hand to me and pulls me up and out of the tunnel, back onto the floor of the room with him. “We will figure it out,” he says, his tone reassuring. “There’s a reason Cyrillius sent half t
Nero Nights 2
I crush the thought of him, trying to push away the image of his cut throat and all the blood pooling around him. I can’t. I just can’t process that right now. So I think about this ship. I think about its mechanisms. I think about the blueprints for every ship I’ve ever seen. I think about how I would design a ship like this if I were going to create my own. This is what you know, I tell myself. This is what you’re good at. Focus on what you know. With pipes and bolts and combustors flashing through my mind, I drift off to sleep. “Nova,” a soft voice says into my ear. Slowly, I blink, seeing the same eyes I was seeing just a moment ago. A little smile pulls on my lips. Valen smiles too, and my heart flutters. There isn’t another smile in the galaxy like Valen’s. “Come eat,” he says, extending a hand to help me up. I blink, slightly confused as my brain wakes and realizes Valen is actually here and isn’t going to fade away with the wind. I look around, re-orienting myself.
Nero Nights 3
My body hasn’t had time to learn this planet’s schedule yet, but somehow I know it’s early in the morning when my eyes slide open. The blankets are pulled up to my chin. My body is relaxed and comfortable. It’s actually…nice. And I realize it’s because I have some degree of peace of mind. Right now, I’m not pretending to be someone or something I’m not. After weeks of hiding everything on Isroth, here, I don’t have to be anything. I’m just Nova. Across the space, just five feet away, I see Valen. He’s still asleep. He’s sprawled on his back but his head is angled toward me, giving me a full view of his face. He looks younger when he sleeps. I’ve done the math and figure he’s roughly five solars older than me. But he looks incredibly young in sleep. He could nearly pass for a teenager. His black eyelashes fan out over his cheeks. His lips are pink and soft. There aren’t any creases in his forehead, furrowed with concern. He just looks peaceful. And I have to wonder, what a dif
Nero Nights 4
“It’s beautiful,” I say in wonder, shaking my head. “I still prefer Kaelea, but this comes in as a close second.” My eyes slide over to look at Valen. He looks straight ahead, holding a serious expression. But a small smile cracks in one corner of his mouth. I laugh, bumping his shoulder with mine, throwing him off balance. “You’re creating some unrealistic expectations, Valen Nero,” I say as I walk across the sand until the tips of my boots are touching the water. “I’m going to be disappointed by the time you actually take me to our planet.” My stomach knots as soon as I realize what I’ve just said. I stand stark still, my eyes freezing on one point on the water. Behind me, Valen is very still and very quiet, too. “I…” I scramble to make this better, to make things less awkward. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” Valen’s hand slips into mine and I look up into his eyes. “No,” he says, shaking his head. “It…it feels right. We have seen our lives there, we’ve seen our family there. It
Nero Nights 5
“I don’t know why I just said that, Nova,” Valen says, his eyes still wide and confused. “I…. I didn’t even mean to get out of the water. Suddenly, all I could think about was getting back on the ship and getting back in space. I…” His hand goes to his chest and I realize just how hard he’s breathing. “I have to get back to Isroth.” My stomach sinks and suddenly I’m so cold. I walk up the shore and out of the lake, my eyes fixed on Valen’s. When I reach him, I place my hands on either side of his head, keeping his gaze locked on me. “You do not have to go back. You are free. You’re here with me.” His eyes widen just a little more. “I can’t, Nova,” he says, his voice nearly a whisper. “I can’t stay here.” “This is what he did to you, Valen,” I say, staring into his eyes as if I can see down into his soul. “This isn’t you. This is his Kinduri. This is what he’s used against you, for solars.” Valen drops his boots in the sand and brings his hands up to cover mine. He squeezes his eye
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“Valen,” I say in a breath. I step into the room and he watches me as I approach. I reach a hand forward, gently touching the big scar that runs up his front. He grabs my wrist, bringing my hand up to his chest, laying it flat against his skin, over his heart. He holds his hand over my own. “One by one, these scars made me who I am.” There’s a dark tone to his voice that I don’t like, don’t want to be there. “Whether Cyrillius made me this way or not, these parts of me are who I am. The past doesn’t disappear. This…everything in front of us is going to be hard. Maybe impossible. Are you sure I’m worth it, Nova?” My eyes rise up to his and I let his words sink into me. I let them fill my heart, my stomach, my eyes. “That’s what we’re here for, Valen,” I answer him. “That’s why we crashed on this planet. To discover the answer to that question. But you’re a human being. No one deserves what he’s put you through all this time. I would do this for anyone.” I see the expression in Vale
Nero Nights 7
There’s a bitter taste on my tongue when I wake. Like copper and silt and vinegar. I blink my eyes open, searching the space. There are no signs of Valen. As I sit up, my stomach is in knots. My heart is heavy. I don’t know what I was expecting. I always think I’m more capable than I am. Maybe I thought I’d go into Valen’s mind and it would be easy to undo what Cyrillius did. Which was so slam stupid. The Kinduri have been manipulating him for solars. They’ve built up layers and layers of darkness. But I’m still crushed. I’m still shaking with the weight of what I saw in Valen’s mind. Get over it, I try to tell myself. I retrieve my uniform from the washroom and pull it on. There are no signs of Valen in the ship and when I get to the Command Deck, I find the hatch open. Looking for a few more moments of solitude, I step out of the ship and scale it. I climb the slick surface until I settle on top of the core, letting its warm, swirling mass warm me from beneath. It’s cool o
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Nero Nights 22
“So instead of letting us know you weren’t dead, you’ve been shacking up with that dirty little puppet?”Nymiah. “I’m sorry,” I say, not even annoyed at having to explain myself. “We crash-landed on this planet across the galaxy and all communications were down. I had no way to get in touch until now.”“Excuses,” Edan teases, but I know I’m not the only one overjoyed to hear the other’s voice. “But I think there’s someone else you’re going to be a little more interested to talk to than the rest of us.”My brows furrow.“Nova.”And every emotion in me explodes. “Dad?”There are two beats and they’re the longest in the world as he gathers his voice. “I knew you’d make it through.”“You’re…you’re…” But even now, when I’m hearing his voice, I still can’t make myself say the words.“You saved me, Nova,” Dad says, his voice full of emotion.“Apparently, it took a bit for your Neron trick to work,” Edan says, “but about twenty minutes after you and that ship suddenly disap
Nero Nights 21
My throat tightens and my heart is pounding in my chest.We have to get this just right, be so careful about what we say. We will only get one shot at this.“Where would the two of you like to start?” Arden asks. “I have a feeling there is a lot of ground to cover.”Valen and I look at each other. We talked about this. We planned. We strategized.“I’ll begin by saying that in some things I had my own free will,” Valen starts, looking right at Arden. “I’ve never known what it was to do good, or that influence and power could be used for anything other than domination. But even someone like me can change under the right circumstances.”He goes into his history. He talks about his childhood on Starvis. He talks about the tribes and how they worked, how savage life there was. He talks about finding his tribe slaughtered, and how he and the other children nearly starved to death.And then comes Dominion and Cyrillius. He talks about being rescued by the company and the man and being given
Nero Nights 20
Valen punches in the command. And white-hot fire floods from the Neron, through my entire body, exploding my awareness with power. The ship launches forward, but as I harness the power, as I concentrate on the Core, we don’t shake and quake like the first time we punched through space. We sing forward. Expecting the force, we’re able to stabilize ourselves. Faster and faster until I can hardly breathe, we fire through space. My heart is racing. I think the skin has burned off of my hands and they’re nothing but bone anymore as the Neron grows hotter. My entire body is glowing Neron blue and my hair floats up, suspended. “Nova!” Valen yells, his voice strained. “I’ve got this!” I call back, even as my heart threatens to explode. “I’ve got this!” Faster, faster, faster. I keep expecting the ship to rattle to pieces, to tear itself apart, or obliterate into dust. But it’s smooth and quiet. And then there’s a pop. We slide forward, losing speed until at last, we come to a halt.
Nero Nights 19
When I wake up the next morning, I roll over to see Valen staring up at the ceiling. There’s a deep furrow between his brows. His hands are tucked behind his head. He’d deep in thought.“What are you thinking about?” I ask, resting a hand on his bare chest.He doesn’t answer me right away, and I can almost feel his tangled thoughts like they’re a tangible thing in the air. He breathes slow, hard. His vivid blue eyes don’t break their accusation of the ceiling.“The only way this ends is if we kill Cyrillius,” Valen eventually says. “But it’s nearly impossible to get to him with his armies, and then there are the Kinduri.”It’s the Kinduri that really worry me. I could have killed Cyrillius lunars ago if it hadn’t been for them getting in my mind. “The numbers aren’t in our favor, Nova,” he says. He places one of his hands over mine, holding it firmly to his chest. “A group of Nero tried to take Dominion out solars ago, and they failed. If just you and I go in there, I don’t know if w
Nero Nights 18
I’m looking at the insides of the ship once more, trying to figure out how the void we jumped through space so quickly. Yes, this ship is the most advanced in the galaxy. Yes, it’s complicated and I don’t fully understand how it works yet.But Cyrillius once told me that it could travel from the N Sector to the A Sector in eight days. Which is wicked fast. But we traveled from the N Sector to the V Sector in a matter of minutes.My eyes scan the insides of the ship.“How was that possible?” I breathe out.Maybe I haven’t fully adjusted to life here on this empty planet, because it takes me a few minutes before my brain tells me that I shouldn’t be hearing another female voice.My heart jumps into my throat and I dart out of the mechanical room, looking both ways down the hall.The voice is quiet, coming from the Command Deck.I summon Neron, letting it flow freely around my hands as I creep down the hall, my knees slightly bent as I walk.“Just as it seems we’re free of the one and on
Nero Nights 17
Wires and electrical currents. Connections to internal satellites. Amplifying relays and long-range signals.The communications system is the most complicated part about this ship. I think the surge of Neron when we punched through space nearly melted everything through. I feel like I’m rebuilding everything from scratch. Having to reform every connection and wire.Valen doesn’t say a word to me as I work throughout the day. He walks by once an hour or so, pacing. I feel the uncertainty, the questioning in him.He doesn’t know how he feels about this, either.All throughout the day, I’ve felt this rising sense of…more, building inside of me. This isn’t all you were meant for, a little voice in my head whispers, and it sounds a little like Evander Nero.I shove the voice out and concentrate on what I do know. I know I can fix this communications transmitter. It’s just going to take me some time.Around mid-day, Valen brings me a plate of food and I offer a small little smile as thank
Nero Nights 16
It isn’t comforting that the ship’s power will only turn on for a few minutes at a time, here and there. Unless we’re fully going to build a shelter outside the ship with a fireplace and a chimney, we can’t build a fire inside this ship. We run the possibility that we’ll freeze to death inside here.Every morning when we wake up, there is frost coating the windows in the sleeping quarters. My nose is frozen, and it’s torture having to get out from beneath the covers and each other’s warm bodies.So I go back into the mechanical room. I slip into the mind of a mechanic and engineer. The electrical board is complicated, the most advanced I’ve ever seen. I have to go through it, one wire at a time, tracing where it goes, what it does. One by one, I check them, fixing the damage I find; replacing what was fried in our punch through space.I find core connections that were melted in our jump. And if I were anyone else in the galaxy, we would be in trouble. There aren’t spares on the ship
Nero Nights 15
I roll out of the bed, being careful not to jostle it. I don’t want to wake Valen. I don’t want him to see me like this. As I walk across the room to the washroom, I try to reason with myself.It isn’t logical that Valen and I will be in each other’s physical presence every minute of every day. It probably means nothing, the fact that I didn’t see him there with me. We still have to lead our lives, we’re still individual people.I pull my uniform on and brush through my hair, telling myself to forget about it.Valen still sleeps when I walk back out so I decide to leave him to rest, and head into the Command Deck.The sky is still dark outside and when I look out, I only see the peak of the mountain beginning to have a silhouette as the sun makes its way around the globe. I can’t hear anything through the thickness of the ship, but I can see the vague form of a bird as it soars through the air. I see a beast dart through the clearing, heading back into the trees.Alone in the Command
Nero Nights 14
And I smile when I see that he’s pushed three of the beds together, making one huge bed. He’s piled all the blankets and pillows on it. He wears only his under things and opens the blanket for me to climb in with him.I drop my towel on the floor just to the side of the bed and climb into the nest with him.His skin is warm and I don’t know why, but I blush slightly as I think about my bare legs against his bare legs, and my bare arms brushing his bare arms.“You’re like ice,” Valen says, his brows furrowing as he rubs his hand up and down my arm, trying to warm me up.“Think you could stitch all those pelts together and make me a coat?” I say with a little shivering laugh.“Of course,” he says, and his tone makes me think he’s wondering why he hadn’t thought of it before.I laugh but I turn my face and bury it into the base of his neck. I breathe his natural scent in, and I’m washed in comfort.“I’m not the kind who likes being taken care of,” I say softly, my words scratchy and tire
