Page 338 of Commander’s Mate

That was one reason I loved her. She had stopped demanding comfort from truth and never demanded that I pretend certainty I did not possess.

“I want the formal mating ceremony,” I said.

She turned her head. “Now?”

“Soon. Before our people. Not because the bond requires it. Because I want them to know you are not a dependent attached to my name. You are my mate and a member of this company by your own work.”

Her eyes brightened.

“And because you want everyone to know I’m yours.”

“That too.”

“Good. Because I want everyone to know you’re mine.”

I smiled.

The ceremony was simple because we were no longer people with homes full of heirlooms and clans assembled around a hearth. We stood in the cargo bay among warriors, refugees, medics, pilots, clerks, and people who had been slaves a week earlier.

Degatu witnessed.

Pyrr stood at my side. Scarlet stood at Harper’s, complaining that alien ceremonies should at least come with better alcohol.

Harper and I faced each other.

“As long as I draw breath,” I said.

Her hands tightened around mine.

“As long as I draw breath.”

Nothing in our biology required the ceremony.

That was why I wanted it.

When I kissed her, the cargo bay erupted in cheers loud enough to embarrass us both.

Harper laughed against my mouth.

For the first time since Farseek burned, celebration did not feel like betrayal.

* * *

Harper

My old life did not stop mattering because I had a new one.

That took me longer to understand than I want to admit.

Earth was still out there. Mom and Dad were still out there somewhere under the same sky I had once taken for granted, believing I was dead. My brother probably still sent messages to a phone no one answered. Cherry Street still existed whether or not I ever walked it again.

Sahvin had given us a direction, not a road home.

And I wanted the road.

Not because I had decided to leave Zared.

Because choice mattered even when you thought you knew what you would choose.