Page 20 of When the Universe Sings

A male with many faces hiding behind a mask.

The idea that I was helping to lead him to his destruction was the only reason I didn’t snatch my hand away. The only reason that, after a moment, I forced my shoulders to relax. But Lyrace wasn’t looking at me at all. Instead, he tried to hide his own disappointment with a nod.

“Of course. I’d be happy to ensure Master Beiste puts your name on his list, with Juniper attending as your pleasure yeska.”

Captain Ruciyah’s hand tensed around my wrist almost to the point of pain before it relaxed again. But he nodded,releasing me to lean forward and touch a knuckle beneath Lyrace’s chin. “Thank you, lovely.”

At this, all the disappointment faded from Lyrace’s expression, replaced by a hunger dancing in his lavender irises. I fought my scowl, choking on the words I wanted to say. I wanted to tell him the male Lyrace desired was a murderer, that he had destroyed an entire village—perhaps even an entireplanet—for his own gain. He would do it again or sell the power to the highest bidder.

Asher Ruciyah knelt at the altar of violence and greed. To want him would be to resign yourself to the same sickening fate. And as he rose from his chair, the voices around me were merely a hum in my ears. Suddenly it felt as if my skin didn’t fit right.

I would leave this ship with the male who had killed my people, who had burned my home tree until it was ashes. And no one would ever know it ate at me deep within my bones. The scream I could not unleash tore at my throat until I was sure if I opened my mouth, blood would dribble down my chin.

Air whistled past my teeth and the edges of my vision blurred. A hand on my back guided me from the room but I was trapped within my skull, banging at the bone and screaming for release. I blinked and we were back on the cruiser, a pair of silver eyes stooping to my level, strands of dark hair waving past silver markings and a shiny black respirator.

I stumbled back, head hitting the wall, and slapped away the hand offered to steady me. The bare hand, dusky blue as his face was and yet mottled with scars.

“Juniper, everything’s okay.” It was Greabes who spoke, stepping in front of Captain Ruciyah with his hands raised.

With a shake of my head, I stumbled away from them both, threw myself into one of the seats and strapped myself in.

Because he was wrong. Nothing was okay. Everything was ruined and had been for endless cycles. I’d lost the meaningofokaythat day when I’d lain on my back, staring up at the burning canopy, bodies raining down around me.

And as the male responsible for such destruction slid deftly into the seat in front of me, tugged his gloves back on and reached for the controls, I imagined what it would feel like to watch the life bleed from his eyes. How it would feel to avenge their deaths.

It would be the only peace I could ever find.

CHAPTER

FOURTEEN

“Are you from Selhveina?”

The cup slipped from my hands, scalding liquid spilling over my palms as I tried to right it on the counter. I bit the inside of my cheek and shook out my fingers.

“Fuck, sorry,” Zoleka murmured behind me.

I wiped my tingling hands on the sides of my pants before I turned with my now half-empty cup. Zoleka sat at the small communal table, a few parchment texts spread out before her. Her silver hair was piled onto the top of her head and fastened into place with an ornate black comb, but her usual finery was gone, replaced by a comfortable-looking dark red dress that covered her wrists and fell to the floor beneath her chair.

She gestured to the back of her neck. “I saw your mark.”

With a frown, I took a sip. I’d tied my hair back into a braid and hadn’t realized that when I’d pulled it over my shoulders to refasten the tie it had exposed the top of my brand.

When I didn’t say anything, Zoleka turned back to the table, pulled forward one of the heavy texts and spread her hand out across its front. “I think this was made on your home planet. They’re…they’re really rare now and…”

Carefully I set the cup down on the counter, making sure to wipe my fingers before I approached her. She pushed the text closer to the edge and, with hands I wished weren’t trembling, I flipped the text over. Drawing the back cover open, I scoured the bottom left-hand corner of the page.

It was there, the small mark of my people—mypeople. The ones who were now dead and gone, given over to the forest and the animals around our home tree. I traced the three overlapping swirls engraved into the parchment and hated that I could no longer see clearly in my mind the face of the one who had made it.

A hand covered mine and I jumped, but Zoleka didn’t seem to mind. She only smiled sadly at me, closed the back cover and weighed it in her hands. “Here.”

Blinking, I stared at one of the only remnants of my people. She stood slowly, tugged one of my arms out from where I’d wrapped them around myself, and pressed the text into my palms. “You’re welcome to look through it.” I shook my head and tried to push it toward her, but she only smiled and tapped her fingertips on the cover, moving it back in my direction. “I’ve finished with this one. It’s an old text on Akahzyrian mates.”

I searched her face, looking for any hint there was some ulterior motive. No one merelygave, not without wanting something in return. My hand flexed around the book and the scent of parchment drifted across my face, stinging the corners of my eyes.

“How long has it been?” she murmured, lowering herself back into a chair.

Maybe this was what she wanted in exchange. And I wondered if I could do it, if I could rip open this small piece of myself so I could replace it with this piece of my people instead. I took the chair beside her and placed the book on my lap, fingers spread wide across the cover.