Page 55 of When Eden Falls

I chuckled. I’d always known Oz was a roguish flirt, I’d been on nights out with him enough times, but I’d never seen him act so boyish before. “Not up to me.”

The door opened and we all glanced towards it as Rooke entered. His face was as grey as the storm clouds looming outside. Looking back at Oz, I whispered, “Maybe avoid asking him about kidnapping her today.”

Sweeping his eyes over our commander’s dark presence, Oz said, “Nux, you don’t have to tell me that twice.”

Rooke scratched his head in irritation as he sat down on the opposite side of Oz’s bed.

“You okay?” I asked him.

He glanced over to the two Akquarians. “Yeah.” He clearly wasn’t.

I continued to speak with Oz, trying to ignore the uninvitingaura resonating from Rooke’s presence. Thankfully Oonla interrupted, asking for a moment to redress Oz’s wound. Pulling Rooke over to the corner of the room, furthest away from Dybgo, I asked as quietly as possible, “What is it?”

Rooke swallowed hard, flicking his eyes between Dybgo and Oonla, nervously. “I’ve lost contact with Troy.”

My gut twisted. “Since when?”

“Three days ago. One of the probes he sent out to scan the active satellite was incapacitated. The next thing he knew, he was the one being scanned.”

“By what?”

“A smaller probe. He couldn’t tell where it had come from. He was planning on repositioning himself behind the moon for a few days to lay low, but then the radio connection suddenly dropped.”

I cursed under my breath. “I’ve been trying to contact you for days. The radio seems faulty.”

“They’re not faulty. We’re being jammed, Eden. Deliberately so.”

“By whom?”

Rooke’s scowl landed on Dybgo. “A bit of a coincidence, don’t you think? Troy finds an active satellite days after Golden Boy boards the Parvos.”

“You think he saw something on Kobe’s computer?”

Rooke repositioned his hard gaze onto me. His jaw tightened, his expression cold and pointed. “Like I said, a bit of a coincidence.”

If Rooke was correct, this was my fault. But why would the Akquarians do such a thing? If they had found out about Troy and The Orka, would they really jeopardise any chance of us returning home?

I felt Dybgo’s eyes on me. I couldn’t look at him. I couldn’t trust myself not to ask him out right what he’d done to aid the situation. But deep down it didn’t seem possible he could be so conniving. He was brash, yes, but genuine, sweet even.

Rooke glanced over at Oz, then turned his back on the roomentirely, quieting his voice to barely a whisper. “Promise me you won’t mention this to anyone, especially Cora.”

Nux, what if Troy was… “I won’t.” I sucked in a tight breath. “I hope Troy’s okay.”

“You and me, both.”

An hour later, Dybgo walked me back to the apartment. I could sense him glancing at me. He knew something was amiss. My mood had outwardly changed as soon as Rooke and I finished our conversation.

I was finding it hard to think straight. I couldn’t imagine the Akquarians being capable of conducting such a hostile act. I’d been led to believe Dybgo’s presence was for my protection, to protect me with his life. He’d already proven that. And Havav’s words—the ones he’d spoke not three days past—echoed around my mind,I’ve never been your enemy, Eden. And I never intend to be.

Why would he say that if his intention was to incapacitate our subspace ship? Had all this been said purely to fool me, to fool Rooke?

I barely registered that Dybgo had opened the door to the apartment. It was only when his fingers grazed against mine that I remembered he was there.

“Eden, is something wrong?”

I glanced down at my hand, at his fingers now dangling at his side. He’d touched me. Was he allowed to do that? My brain felt swamped with dense fog, and I fought the urge to look up into his hypnotic eyes. The tone of his voice was different. He genuinely sounded concerned, but why would he do that if his race was deceiving mine? Nux, was Troy dead? Was that the reason why Rooke couldn’t contact him? No, no, it couldn’t be. The radios were being compromised, nothing more…

“Eden?”