Page 28 of When the Universe Sings

Strange…I knew that word.

I tried to roll to my side—I had to get up and hide. But a warm hand touched the skin of my arm, right below my second yeska brand, and I groaned. Someone shushed me, another calloused hand pushing back the hair plastered on my forehead, wiping the blood from my eyes.

“We need to move her,” that same voice from before panted, now a little closer than they had been. Standing over me, Crux looked down with dark eyes, his black vein-like marks spiderwebbing across his face. But the longer I looked the more I realized they weren’t markings at all.

They were scars.

The person behind me, the one touching me, shook their head though I couldn’t see it. He didn’t want them to move me yet.

“Get Rhiaon. One of her lungs is punctured and her neck is fractured. We can’t move her.” The hand on my arm squeezed while the other pressed against my forehead like it was grounding me to this body.

Crux swore, turned in a rage and kicked something in the corner that gave a soft groan before storming from the room at a run.

I tried to roll to my knees but the male behind me hummed again at the sound of my whimper and a thumb stroked at my temple. The tingling cold in my toes was now in my fingertips.

“Stay still for me,j’ska mahsi.”

There wasn’t enough air. I needed to tell him something was wrong with the environmental system. But when I raised a hand to my chest, trying to tap against my lungs, calloused fingers wrapped around mine.

“I know, I know. I’m going to fix it, I promise.”

He was going to fix the environmental unit? But then I remembered what he’d said before about a punctured lung. Had that been me? Maker, how could anyone survive that?

Maybe this death would be preferable to all the others. Because as I blinked away the blood in my eyes and the edges of my vision shimmered, I realized it was Captain Ruciyah kneeling beside me in a pool of blood. The top half of his face not covered by his respirator was…confusing. His silver eyes shimmered, a furrow carved deep between his brows, and I could have sworn there was something like grief there, swirling beneath his irises.

I opened my mouth to say something, but he shushed me again. “The first time you actually want to speak to me and it’s when you’re fucking dying.”

There it was. He was furious. And I couldn’t decide who he was angry at: Maxtalen or me. I tried to speak again and tell him we were losing air into space, but my lungs wouldn’t expand and a strange gasping sound filled my ears. Each breath was another strike of electricity through my bones until the cold trickled up my arms and legs, leaving pins and needles in its wake.

“It’s okay, you’re okay. Everything will be fine.” The words were strangled and I tried to understand the expression on his face before he turned to the door and the twins appeared, arms full of medical devices.

The lights flickered overhead and I wondered if maybe the ship was failing. No one else seemed to notice, even as we were plunged into darkness and nothing hurt anymore.

CHAPTER

TWENTY

I stoodin my home tree, on the edge of the platform that would take me up to the canopy where I would one day place my palm on the trunk and leave my mark.

Next moment, I lay in a healing tub in the med bay of theKuxatana, choking on the breathing tube while agony seared through my chest.

Someone stood beside me on the platform, in the med bay, staring at me with heartbreak in his dark eyes. A hand squeezed mine tight as we watched the dawn rise, as someone shined a light into my eyes.

“Did you make it to the top?” I rasped, so quiet I was surprised I could hear it.

A low, bitter chuckle. “No, I waited at the first stop for you.”

And then it was night and I was tucked into my bed, the scent of parchment and binding glue surrounding me. Medical-grade cleanser rasped against my skin; harsh antibacterial scent tickled my nose. Fingers trailed through my hair, too rough to be my mother’s. A heavy sigh rumbled low and sounded artificial.

“She’s out,” the voice said. “She’s dreaming.”

I was home and I knew my mother and father were in the next room with my sister. Above us Kalsyun and his family slept—all except for his newborn brother who wailed into the night. I tried to turn but something caught, pulling against my arm, pain zinging up my shoulder. Blindly, I reached for it, only for a hand to curl around my wrist.

“Ah, ah, it needs to stay in.”

My brows pulled together and I tried to see him in the dark but my lids were so heavy. “Kalsyun, you need to go home.”

“Open your eyes.”