Page 276 of Commander’s Mate

I pulled back. “Med bay.”

“It is nothing.”

“Zared.”

He looked at me and, because he was learning, said, “Yes, Harper.”

Around us, the future was already starting. Scarlet was yelling at Pyrr for bleeding on the floor while he smiled at her like an idiot. Zoe was helping an exhausted Farseek survivor sit upright, steadying her carefully while a med-tech checked her injured leg. Nora was arguing with a blue-haired man whose yellow-green eyes kept returning to her.

I noticed him because he said one word in English.

“Earth.”

Every part of me stopped.

The man looked at me. “You are from Earth?”

“Yes.” I stepped toward him. “How do you know Earth?”

“I was stationed there once. My name is Sahvin Kazza. I am Narovian.”

Nora moved closer automatically because he was injured.

Sahvin inhaled.

His expression changed so completely that I recognized it before he spoke.

“Meomee,” he whispered.

Nora froze. “What?”

“My fated mate.”

Scarlet, despite everything, muttered, “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”

I almost laughed.

Almost.

Instead I caught Sahvin’s arm. “You know where Earth is?”

“Not exact coordinates from here. But I know its region and the reference stars from Narova. With your maps, I may be able to help your navigator narrow it.”

The words struck harder than any alarm.

Earth was no longer only a missing word.

It might be a direction.

Zared stood beside me, bruised and bleeding and utterly still.

He did not look afraid of the answer.

He looked at me.

“We will find out what he knows,” he said.

Not I will decide what you need to know.