Page 15 of When the Universe Sings

No, not from the sky itself. In the break in the canopy, I could just make out silver ships. That was what had been reflectingthrough the trees—not the sun. My scream was lost in the sound of the bodies falling from the sky, arms and legs flailing wildly before they landed within the branches with sickening cracks.

I tried not to look at their faces as I rolled to my side. My breaths came in heavy painful pants. I groaned, white-hot agony zinging down my left leg.

Footfalls crashed through the underbrush and I froze. A dozen figures or so stood only paces away, clad in all black. But they wore no helmets, no armor, only various weapons strapped to their fatigues.

The two at the front were locked in a discussion, though I couldn’t understand the words—whatever argument they held wasn’t in Universal. But a male with deep purple skin and spines that split his skull in two pointed at the male with long black hair and then at the home tree before storming up to the trunk and shooting a gun into the branches.

In another moment the superior and half the crew had disappeared into the canopy, where the cries of my people echoed through my skulls.

“What do we do?” one of the figures asked, hoisting the weapon in his arms higher.

The male turned to face him and my breath caught. His blue cheekbones were sharp, a contrast to his soft full lips and thick eyelashes. Linear silver markings danced down the right side of his face, across his throat and into the collar of his shirt. Danger rippled from him with each breath he took and I was frozen to the spot.

But his eyes were hard as he stared at the figure, throat bobbing with a swallow before he turned back to the home tree. “Burn it to the ground.”

I screamed as the base of my home tree went up in flames, bodies falling like rain around us, the scent of scorched flesh and wood thick in my nose. And for a moment I could have swornI’d heard the scream of a child and known, somehow, it was my sister.

With a start I sat straight up in bed. The cry burned through my throat, echoing through my room. Sweat poured down my back and I wiped at my face, taking heaving gasps as I pushed the covers from my shaking legs and placed my feet flat on the cold metal floor.

I squeezed my eyes shut against the memory, so much more vivid than usual. Over the cycles I’d repressed the memory of my sister, of the life she’d had laid out before her. And I could not forget now, matter how much I tried, the fear as ash had snowed around me before one faction of his group found me in the brush, dragged me out by my hair and tied me up. I’d screamed through my gag until vomit had rushed up my throat and I’d almost choked. That had been when they’d knocked me out and I’d woken up on Ebyd III.

I’d woken up a prisoner. An orphan. The sole survivor of my village.

And it was all because of Captain Ruciyah.

CHAPTER

ELEVEN

My throat clickedwith a dry swallow as I slipped my boots on with trembling hands.

I touched the control panel beside the door, made my way out into the hall and down the corridor toward the communal living quarters. Ash lingered on my tongue and I couldn’t get the scent of burning flesh out of my mind. It was what pushed me from the room for something cool to drink, running from the screams echoing in my head.

The ship was quiet, save for the humming of the engines. Somewhere, I knew, Maxtalen was awake navigating the ship through the next quadrant jump—he’d said as much at our mealtime before we’d left for Keva Um’plem, and told me I could visit if I got restless. But I wouldn’t, not with the sweat clinging to my temples and the tremors wracking through me.

A cry slipped through my lips as a hand closed over the back of my neck, spinning me until my shoulders slammed against one of the walls with acrack. The image swam for a moment. Silver eyes pierced mine. A lock of black hair fell into a face I had seen so often in my nightmares.

“You sneak around my ship,” Captain Ruciyah growled through the bottom half of his helmet. “You spy on me and my crew. What is it Lunastra really wants?”

My skin crawled at the scent of him, something heavy like a storm cloud on my home planet mixed with metal. I attempted to wrench myself from his hold but his forearm pressed againstmy throat, the rough fabric of his arm guard rasping against my skin.

“I don’t trust you.”

Despite the disgust crawling through my stomach, the corner of my lip twitched. It was nice to know the feeling was mutual, even as my head swam from the pressure, the sickening feeling of my esophagus folding against itself forcing me to buck against him. After another second, he released me and I coughed, not even bothering to cover my face.

“Why are you here?” he demanded, crowding me as I wheezed.

Specks of translucent blood dotted his skin and the half of his helmet—probably a respirator—he still wore. They shone pearlescent in the strip lighting overhead. For the first time I thought I understood what the village elders had meant abouttruly looking upon eviland how one mustshow it strength to survive.So I tilted my chin up, noting the furrow forming between his dark brows, the subtle silvery scar running through his left one.

Burn it to the ground.

A fist slammed beside my head and I bit the inside of my cheek, but the only indication I gave of my surprise was my eyes closing. As I opened them, his were intent on my face, a growl slipping through his respirator. “Fucking speak!”

My lips twitched when a vein pulsed in his temple. I tilted my head to the side, mimicking his very own movement of assessment. My hair slipped in front of my face but I didn’t move it, didn’t dare twitch even as he crouched until we were eye to eye.

“You’re not just a hired body, are you?” He shook his head. “No, no, you’re more than that. There’s something else at play here and I don’t trust you or your mistress, do you hear me?”

One of his hands shot out, gloved fingers wrapping around my throat and pulling me up until I balanced on the tips of my toes. Instinctually I grappled at his wrist, gasping for air.