His face softened and he followed my gaze. “Those two are always fighting,” he chuckled. “I understand why you would want to stay in the lifedome. Much entertainment to be seen.”
“Exactly.”
“I know the perfect spot with a good view and some privacy.”
“Sounds good to me,” I muttered, perfectly happy to let him believe I had asked because I enjoyed watching sparring matches. Anything to avoid being alone in a room with him. I needed to make it a rule to never be alone with anyone I didn’t already trust. There were only so many weird confessions and rejections I could take.
I followed closely behind Ryzen, trying to keep one eye on Zyxel. He was still battling Luwyn. A crowd was beginning to form around them, cheering and placing bets on the spectacle.
We stopped on top of an incline, underneath a violet tree with leaves the size of my body blocking the lifedome’s UV light. It was a public place but secluded from the crowd, whom we could watch without much difficulty.
He sat down onto the shimmering, rainbow-leaf-covered grass and patted a spot next to him. “Sit down. The ground makes a perfect seat from which to observe the action.”
“Is this what you do in your free time?” I asked, following his directions. I rubbed my hands along the multicolored blades, amazed at the grass’s texture. “You’re right! The ground is so soft.”
“I come here often between missions to think about future plans and how to execute them,” he muttered, surveying the lifedome. “The matches are a bonus.”
“I often thought about similar concerns before…” I closed my eyes, forcing back the memories and the emotions they were packaged with. “Before I came here.”
“Listen, Selena,” he murmured, grabbing my hand. The same calming warmth from the previous night coursed through my veins, making me open my eyes to face his blazing emerald gaze. “I want to formally apologize for my brother’s actions. What he did was wrong and uncalled for. I want you to know that I don’t agree with his methods, no matter the reason, and I have dealt with him.”
“What did you do to him?”
“Don’t worry about it, just know he isn’t my favorite person at the moment.” He winced as if it pained him to speak those words. “We may be twins, cut from the same cloth, but he has always been the more hotheaded one out of the two of us. Sometimes he acts before he thinks, then refuses to admit defeat. That is where I come in to tell him how wrong he is. If I tell him, he is more likely to agree and change. You should know that I am livid about the damage he’s caused and how he treated you.”
“If my mates… die”—my voice broke—“they take a part of me with them. I hope he understands that.”
“I will make sure he does,” he soothed. “I don’t know the level of sacrifices you’ve made—willingly and unwillingly—but I want to thank you for saving me.”
“It was the least I could do after hearing what a heroic deed you performed.” I licked my lips nervously, hoping he hadn’t caught word about Kaede. I had heard both twin brothers had a long telepathic range. What if they had already picked up on his mental signature? “Besides, your brother wouldn’t have allowed me off this asteroid if I hadn’t.”
“While that may be true, I don’t believe he knows what you are.”
Dread filled me. How had he discovered my genetic makeup? Was he planning to prevent me from leaving after all?
“And what am I?” I hedged, reluctant to reveal anything he may not yet know. There were too many secrets revolving around me, and many ways the people of this asteroid could exploit me for profit or repopulation.
“You have been my star, guiding me back to reality.” He beamed. “When I purposely burned myself out, before I blacked out, I prayed to the Fates and Stars to give me a sign—a reason to come back.” He shook my hand, his runes still glowing brightly as the tingling sensation continued to traverse my body. “You were there the entire time I spent in the between plane—where lost souls stay while the shells of their bodies heal from great trauma.”
“I don’t understand what you’re talking about,” I mumbled, shaking my head. “This is the same madness that occupied your brother when I first met him.”
“What did he say?”
“He claimed that I had stolen you, that I somehow was keeping you. I had never met you in all my life, so how could I have kidnapped you? Your body was here the whole time.”
“Are you—”
A huge explosion rocked the asteroid, deafening me. Debris showered from the ceiling.
Crawling on my knees, I stood and searched for the source. My face paled.
A hole had been ripped into the lifedome’s ceiling and thousands of sphere drones swarmed the area. Screams filled the air as the base’s citizens rushed to their homes and nearby exits, leaving only Zyxel, Ryzen, and me on the ground.
Ryzen pushed me behind him. “Stay back, Selena! I will protect you!”
He opened his arms wide and his emerald runes flashed brightly, blinding me. In an instant, his nine green, orb-hilted daggers appeared and started slicing and dicing the drones around us. His body moved with the grace of a dancer as he controlled his daggers. The emerald runes on his body seemed to come alive, like plasma trapped beneath his skin.
I wondered if the runes allowed him to direct the daggers. If he became a null, would he lose his ability to fight?
Something caught my eye—a blur of color lowering from the hole in the ceiling.
Dressed in a new sleek black suit that hugged his skin and a cape, Kaede looked like a man on a
