“Well, this sucks,” Alice announces as Jade and Adiron share a quick kiss. She gives me a frustrated look. “What about Helen?”
I open my mouth to speak. To tell them the plans of Helen needing to stay with Sophie and Jerrok as well.
Helen chimes in before I can say anything. “Oh, I’m staying with Mathiras.”
Jade turns her attention away from her mate. “Helen, I’m not sure that’s wise…”
But Helen just shakes her head and gives me a piercing look. “It’s already decided. You said you’d never leave me behind ever again, remember, Mathiras? You swore on your blood.”
I blink.
Ah, kef me. “Yeah, I remember.”
And I feel more cornered than ever. Because I did promise Helen that…and now she’s going to hold me to it.
CHAPTER 7
HELEN
MONTHS AGO
“Well,” Mathiras says as he shines a micro-light out of the escape pod’s window into the docking bay. “This wasn’t what I had planned as our ‘safe’ location.”
I try to peer over Mathiras’s shoulder but I can’t see anything. He’s so big and strong he takes up a lot of space in the pod. Not that I mind, because I like looking at his big-and-strong-ness. But I am curious about the place we’ve landed. “Where are we?”
He shines the light out the other side of the window, but all I see is darkness. “Looks like an old mining station of some sort. Probably abandoned. A lot of them are deserted once the minerals have all been stripped from the nearby planets or asteroids. It’s cheaper to build a new station than to haul the old one across the galaxy, so these kinds of stations are scattered in a lot of mineral-rich areas. At any rate, if the pod led us here, we should have breathable air. We can always send a distress signal and wait here for someone to come along.”
“Are we sure it’s abandoned?” I ask, chewing on my lip.
“No,” Mathiras replies. He turns to me. “Which is why you’re going to stay here while I look around.”
I consider that, and then shake my head. “I don’t like that idea. Let’s come up with a new one.”
His mouth quirks on one side, as if he’s trying not to smile. “Helen. I promise you’ll be safe in here. I’m going to go out and look around. The moment I leave, I want you to close this door behind me and don’t open it for anyone. Even if this place is filled with enemies, they can’t open your pod without special equipment. You have tabs to supplement you nutritionally. If I don’t come back, you’ll still be fine.”
Stay here? Alone? In this bubble?
Without him?
“I don’t like this idea,” I say. “I’m going to go with you.”
Mathiras glares at me. “No, you’re not.”
So angry. He’s always grumpy at me, even though I do my best to be sweet and kind around him. It’s been difficult for him to be stuck in this pod with me. I don’t know how many days have passed, just that we’ve been flying through space for what feels like forever. He worries about his brothers, and the ship, and what all of this could possibly mean. He worries they’re not going to be able to take care of themselves without him around, and that they’re going to get into trouble. So I’ve done my best to be no trouble, but sometimes when Mathiras looks at me, I feel like he’s mad anyhow. Like my very presence annoys him.
Maybe he’s still upset over the fact that I cried for two days straight when we first got into the pod. It was scary and so small, and everything I ever knew was left behind. It’s terrifying. I did my best not to cry, but that didn’t work out so well. Mathiras comforted me, but when I tried to curl up next to him to sleep like I always did with Ruth when I was sad, he got all stiff and blustery and all but shoved me out of the bed.
Which hurt my feelings. I don’t know what I did to make him upset at me, but clearly it was bad. Maybe he doesn’t like tears.
So this time, I’m not going to cry at the thought of him leaving me behind (even though I really, really want to). I’m just not going to accept it. “I’m going with you.”
“Helen,” he begins, a warning tone in his voice. He looks so stern, his expression not brooking any argument. “This is not up for discussion. You’re going to stay safe in here.”
“Nope,” I reply. “The moment you leave, I’m going to follow you. You can’t stop me.” I lift my chin defiantly. “I’m my own person.”
His nostrils flare and for a moment he looks utterly frustrated. “I don’t know that it’s safe. What if there are pirates out there—”