She lifts her chin in the air, daring me to react to that. I raise an eyebrow. “You think I care? My bondmate isn’t even Zorahn.”
“Valid point,” Afain responds peaceably. “Anyway, as Resi was saying, the extra money is nice.”
“Assuming we don’t get the sickness,” Resi says.
“The sickness?”
“The resonance field,” she replies. “Everyone is affected by it, but for some people, it’s debilitating. They’re completely incapacitated. They lose consciousness. It can last weeks.”
“Cindifin provides medical care if you get the sickness,” Afain clarifies. “But they don’t pay the bonus.” He shrugs. “It’s a risk we take. I’ll still be able to retire. Unless…”
“Unless what?”
He gives me a puzzled look. “Unless I fail the Testing, of course. It’s that time of the year. What else could I be talking about?”
“You’ll be okay,” Resi says reassuringly. “I’ve heard if you pass five years in a row, you’re all set. Either the Draekon gene manifests right away, or it doesn’t manifest at all.”
That’s nonsense, but I keep my mouth shut.
“Anyway,” she adds, looking around the room to make sure nobody is in earshot. “There are always options. You can use the bonus money to buy safe passage.”
“Shh, Resi, do you want someone to hear?” Afain turns to me. “Newly bonded, right?”
Naomi is watching the two of them with a fascinated expression. “How could you tell?” I ask him.
He chuckles. “How could I not? You keep looking at each other, your knees are touching, and you’re playing with her hair every chance you get.”
Wait, what? I am? I had no idea. Naomi looks as startled as I feel.
“New love,” Resi smiles.
“But will it last?” Afain asks, his voice cynical. He turns to Naomi. “Tell me, if he tests positive, what would you do? Would you renounce your family, your House, your friends, and run with him? Or would you fear him because he’s a beast? Would you tell yourself that there’s nothing you can do, and forget him as soon as he’s gone?”
The words are wrenched from a place deep inside Afain. This is more than a thought experiment. This is personal.
“No,” Naomi replies, her voice steady. She squeezes my hand. “I would never be afraid of Danek.”
“I hope you’re right,” Afain says, still gloomy.
As do I.
Naomi loves the shuttle journey. She sits by the window and spends the entire trip with her nose glued to the clear xarcan pane, her eyes shining with delight.
This would be the first time she’s seeing space. She was in stasis on her journey from Earth, in stasis when the scientists took her, and when I’d found her, she’d been in no condition to take in the view.
I don’t look outside; it’s nothing I haven’t seen before. Instead, I watch Naomi. Her pleasure is contagious. I find myself smiling. More than that, I find myself doing what Resi and Afain accused me of. I lean toward her. I breathe in her scent. I have to fight the urge to touch her hair.
It’s not a long trip. In two hours, we land in the Cindifin spaceport on Noturn. The shuttle’s engines die down. The doors swing open, and the ramp extends to the ground. The miners get to their feet, ready to disembark. They have a day to settle in and get their bearings, and then, the work begins.
I corral our belongings. The cage with Pumpkin, Plague, and Pestilence is in the front hold. I retrieve it, along with our packs. I hoist the bag of supplies over my shoulder, and then we make our way down the ramp.
The moment I set foot on Noturn, my head explodes.
I’m used to pain. I deal with the agony of the rathr on a daily basis. But this is something else. This is a weight pressing down on me. Crushing my skull, making it impossible to breathe. I fight the waves of nausea, and let go of the cage, the pack, everything.
Caeron, what is happening? I can’t take this.
I fall to my knees. Dimly, I hear shocked exclamations, and then Naomi’s hand is in mine. As soon as she touches me, the rathr loses its bite, lifting some of the agony. But the crushing pressure remains.
“Danek,” she whispers, her face etched in lines of acute terror. “What’s the matter?”
“I’ve heard about this,” a man’s voice says in the distance. “He has the resonance sickness.”
I lift my head. My vision is bleary. Fuzzy. I will my eyes to focus. A scientist is running toward us, indigo robes flapping around her feet. No, I want to shout. Not a scientist. Naomi is terrified of them. Go away. I’m fine. I will get used to the pain. I always do.
But the words refuse to emerge. My mouth refuses to work. The pressure intensifies. My brain feels like it’s being squeezed by a relentless fist.
And then, it becomes too much to take. For the first time in my life, I black out.
13
Naomi
Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck.
Danek, who is Draekon, who single-handedly took down a squadron of security guards to get to Cassie and me, who destroyed the walls of my prison with his bare hands, who is quite literally the strongest person I’ve met, just fainted.
Deep breath, Naomi. Try not to freak out.
Except that’s impossible. I’m alone on a strange planet, surrounded by people I don’t know. Nobody here knows I’m human. Nobody knows we’re not who we say we are. Until a few short hours ago, nobody could even understand me.
And that’s not the worst of it. The thing that sends terror shooting through my heart? Danek, who I thought was invulnerable, is unconscious.
People are running toward us. Leading the way is a scientist, judging from her deep indigo robes. Fear spikes through me. She’s holding something
