Page 169 of Star Bringer
Its supposedly pivotal importance is nothing new—it’s the same story she was selling when we were aboard theCaelestis. I give her my most unimpressed look.
“But so far,” Dr. Veragelen continues, “we have been unable to…activate it.”
“I’m not sure what that has to do with me,” I tell her.
“That day in the laboratory. You woke it up.”
“Me? I didn’t have anything to do with those whirling lights.”
“Perhaps not on purpose. But you were close to it after the explosion, and I saw it come alive with my own eyes. You, Princess Kalinda, are exactly what we’ve been searching for for so long. You are the one person who can save the system.”
For a second, shock flashes through me, but then I realize she’s laying it on a bit thick. “I’m sure there are a lot of people who—”
“There aren’t,” she interrupts. “We’ve been trying for years to find the one person it responds to. You are definitely that person.” She must realize how strident she sounds, because her voice softens immediately. “Together, we can solve all the issues caused by the dying sun. Make the system a place of peace and prosperity once more.”
My thoughts are whirling. Normally I wouldn’t believe something like this, but her eyes are filled with the fervor of a zealot, and I have trouble believing she doesn’t mean every word she’s saying.
What if I really am the only person who can save the system?
What if I can finally make good on my promise to save those who need me most—and more, to save everyone?
Chapter 70
Ian
“What the hell happened to you?” I growl as Gage walks onto the bridge. He’s got a black eye and a cut on his left temple.
His eyes widen at my tone, and he takes a few steps back. Not surprising—everyone’s been giving me a wide berth since we found out Kali snuck out in the middle of the night like a damn thief. I haven’t seen Merrick at all this morning, and this is the first time Gage has had the nerve to poke his head in here to see what’s going on.
“I fell,” he says after a minute. “Lost my balance during theStarlight’s last acceleration and took a header into the galley sink.Lovingthe head-injury pattern I’ve got going on.”
“Ouch,” Beckett says, not unsympathetically. “It looks bad. You should wrap it.”
“Already have, but I’ll do it again in a while.” He flops down in the chair farthest away from me. Probably afraid I’ll blacken his other eye.
Which isn’t an unfounded fear. I’ve torn into Beckett half a dozen times in the last several hours over stupid shit—and that’s after I ripped her a new one over dropping Kali on some fucking moon in the middle of fucking nowhere late last night.
I get that Kali made her own decision and—as Beckett reminded me—she wasn’t a prisoner. But a little heads-up would have been fucking nice. A chance for me to change her mind. Instead, I slept through the whole thing like a fucking asshole.
I don’t know if I’m madder that she left or that she played me for a fool. If she wanted to leave so fucking bad, why didn’t she just tell me? Yeah, I would have had a fucking fit, but I wouldn’t have stopped her. I’m not in the habit of holding anyone against their will—usually.
“She did what she had to do.” Max’s calm voice barely infiltrates the haze of betrayed fury that is currently my brain.
“Drokaray shit. She didn’t have to leave. Shechoseto leave.”
“To protect us,” he reminds me.
“Or because she couldn’t handle us,” I mutter, and there it is. The root of my anger—and the hurt buried just below it. “She found out about the gestalt and checked the fuck out, Max. That’s what she did.”
“You don’t really believe that.”
“Damn straight I believe it. What the fuck else would make her go running like that?”
He sighs. “Exactly what she said. She didn’t want to be responsible for getting us killed.”
“I wouldn’t have let that happen.” I run a hand down my face, telling myself that I’ve got to calm down. That I can’t go into the asteroid belt like this—not if I’m going to have any chance of getting Milla out alive.
I can’t believe she left. I cannot fucking believe she left. She left me. I thought— I don’t know what I thought. Whatever it was, it was ridiculous, though. I didn’t really think a princess would actually fall for me, did I? A poor kid from Kridacus with more red flags than one of the Corporation’s secret labs?
