Page 145 of Star Bringer
“So, is that what you’d be doing now if Milla hadn’t been captured?” Rain asks as she puts another serving of casserole on her plate. “Smuggling things from planet to planet?”
“Maybe.” Max shrugs. “Or maybe we’d be fighting in someone else’s skirmish. Merc work usually pays the best.”
“And doesn’t leave us with a rogue plant taking over the cargo hold,” Ian says, tossing back the last of his gerjgin in a quick swallow.
“Did you ever work for the rebels?” Beckett asks. It sounds like a casual question, until I see the way she’s watching them.
“Not since early days, when we escaped from the work camps.”
“Work camps?” I ask, because I’ve never heard of them.
An awkward silence descends over the table, and I realize I’ve said something wrong—or, more likely, done something wrong in not knowing about the camps. Even Rain looks uncomfortable, and usually she’s as clueless as I am when it comes to these types of things.
I turn to Ian. “Tell me.” If it’s one more horrible thing my mother and the Council have done, I want to know about it. How can I ever hope to fix things if I don’t know what’s broken?
“The Corporation raids all seven of the functioning planets for resources several times a year,” Beckett says matter-of-factly. “It’s supposedly a sweep for illegal activity, but people die in the raids, defending their homes and their families, and the Corporation scoops up whatever they had—including any kids they left behind. They take them to the camps under the auspice of caring for the orphans and teaching them a trade so they can have successful lives, but there’s not a lot of success that comes out of those camps.”
My stomach clenches at just the thought of what she’s suggesting.
“How old were you when your parents died?” Gage asks. He’s got a bag of ice on his head, but he’s not slurring his words or nauseous, so I think he’s okay.
Max doesn’t answer, just pours himself another drink. So Ian finally says, “We were eleven when we got to the camps. Still just kids ourselves.”
“You were eleven?” I ask, bile rising in my throat. I don’t know what happens at these camps, but based on Beckett’s description, I’m guessing nothing good.
“Milla, Max, and I met in the camps,” Ian says. “And we escaped together when we were twelve.”
There’s a wealth of things he’s not saying in that statement. A wealth of things I don’t know, though my imagination is running wild with all kinds of scenarios, none of which are good. And if my imagination isn’t enough to convince me, the expressions on everyone else’s faces certainly do.
“And you’ve been on your own ever since?” I ask, appalled at the idea of three twelve-year-olds negotiating life on the seven planets entirely on their own. I’m almost twenty, and this is the first time in my life I’ve been on my own. And while I acknowledge that my situation isn’t exactly normal, either, it’s a lot more normal than what Ian and Max are saying.
My heart breaks for them. No wonder they’re so intent on finding Milla. The three of them were forged in the fires together.
“You make it sound so bad, Princess.” Ian gives me the rakish grin that never quite reaches his eyes. “Twelve-year-olds in charge of their own destiny is the stuff child fantasies are made out of.”
Yeah, until they’re actually on their own.
Instead of saying that, I reach under the table and squeeze Ian’s knee in sympathy. He jumps a little, and when I look across the table it’s to find Max watching me with wide eyes.
I smile at him, and he shakes his head, but not before I see his lips curve in a tiny grin.
“What about you?” I ask Gage, determined to shift the focus off Ian and Max and onto someone else. “What would you be doing if you weren’t here?”
“I’d probably have gone down with theCaelestis, so—concussion or not—this is looking pretty good to me right now.” He shrugs.
“We’d be getting ready for the festival of the Light,” Rain volunteers, and I shoot her a grateful look. “It’s my favorite festival.”
Merrick smiles briefly. “Mine too.”
“What about you, Kali?” Gage asks as he eats the last of his casserole. “What would you be doing right now back at the palace?”
“Trying to convince my mother to let meleavethe palace, probably.”
Beckett looks confused. “What does that mean? You didn’t want to live there anymore?”
I laugh. “Oh, that definitely wasn’t a choice I could make. I just meant getting off the palace grounds. My mom’s not exactly big on letting me roam free.”
“Yeah, but you were on theCaelestis,” Gage says. “That’s pretty far afield from the royal palace.”
