Page 48 of Leviathan

"Yes," Lyrien said, a note of hesitation entering his voice. "But Maria... the other Vaurelcar said she is a Calicium, not a human like the others he has on board."

Fury overrode my reason, blocking out the rest of his words.

Fucking Evangelia, the bane of my existence. When I had woken up, covered and goo, she was there all soft and sweet and caring, with an entire script about how she was here to help me, how we were in this together. She kept me compliant. She led me to and from my abuse like a lamb to the slaughter, pretending to comfort me when it hurt, telling me not to fight it. The moment I had started to question, she had dropped the act, and the true knowledge of how alone I really was nearly killed me. I hated her so much because I needed her so much, and the illusion of her support had crumbled the moment it no longer got me to do what she wanted.

This was my chance to confront her, to face her down, to look her in the eye and demand that she see what she did to me.

"Shoot it," I said. "Destroy the shuttle. Don't let her get away."

I didn't need to forgive her. I needed to make sure she would never do that to anyone ever again.

I felt a soft vibration through the filaments.

"Consider it do... oh... hold on," Lyrien said.

A filament shot out from the wall, grabbing me around the waist even as the hallway suddenly lurched to the side.

"He's panicking," Lyrien said, his voice strained. "He thinks I mean to shoot him."

The hallway lurched again and then spun around me, Lyrien's filament around my waist keeping me steady even as everything else went wild around me.

"What happened?" I asked as the movement of the world around me slowed to a stop.

"I had to disengage," Lyrien said. "Activating my weapon made him panic, and he managed to tear free of me before I could release him. He's gone."

The filament set me back down on the moving corridor, which opened up into a familiar hallway. The medical room was right there.

"What about Evangelia?" I asked.

"I lost the shuttle," Lyrien said after a pause. "I can find it."

"But it isn't near you?" I asked, another flutter of panic. "She didn't board, did she?"

"It wasn't anywhere near me. The trajectory was heading deeper into the asteroid field, and she wouldn't have had time to turn around and come back to us in the confusion," Lyrien said. "There are likely possibilities of where we can search, but it will take time to find her. There is a chance she could call for help while we are searching for her."

I wasn't going to risk both of us for a chance at revenge.

To save someone from a horrible fate, yes.

To satiate my need for vengeance and prevent unknown harm to others in the future, not worth it.

My safety and happiness took a higher priority.

"Let's just go," I said. "We don't need to hunt her down. We need to get out of here."

"I agree," Lyrien said. "Plus, we have another problem. When the other Vaurelcar disengaged, he managed to punch a hole into one of my flora farms. We can't head directly for Shek’invitali space. I won't be able to grow enough food for both of us for the long trip. We will have to make a detour to resupply on food and seed stock."

Guilt rose up in me. I had been so focused on Evangelia that I hadn't fully listened to what he was saying about the other humans, and now they were lost to us, too, as a traumatized Vaurelcar fled blindly through space.

"We should get more than we need," I said. "Just in case we are able to find the other Vaurelcar. He'll need supplies to take care of them."

"He should have more than enough, but I agree, stocking up is a good idea," Lyrien said, his voice becoming more serious. "Though we have to be careful with what we get. The closest location has... issues."

"Where are we going to stop?" I asked. "Will it be safe?"

"Not for you," Lyrien said, his voice grim.

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