Page 213 of The Space Between Stars

Never mind how he expected to contend against a Ruxian trained in Cul’Mon’s coliseum. Never mind digits that didn’t want to bend. Never mind his exhaustion. The fight was not yet won.

He turned, prepared to join the exchange.

And he hesitated…

The air surrounding the boy was distorted in the same way the space around the activated plate shields had been—like Raimee had created a bubble around him. The boy’s erratic movements were useless against it. They seemed to be hurting him. He stumbled backwards, hands to his cropped hair, but couldn’t pass through the barrier. His moon-like eyes leveled on Calver before he looked to the sea, where Cul’Mon had disappeared. The ships in port were flooded with evacuating Tera’thian troops.

Calver bellowed for Raimee’s attention and holstered the dowaga to free his hands. Her head snapped around to meet his gaze.

Raimee’s eyes went wide. Whether it was at the noise he’d made or the words he signaled, he wasn’t sure.

Chest heaving with short, desperate breaths, she dropped her hands, and the distortion field around the enemy Ruxian disintegrated.

The boy stared at her, face rippling. The air around them smelled of ozone, and Calver nearly expected a flash of lightning to crack between them. Wind swept over the roof, pulling Raimee’s silver ringlets into a nest around her face. Earth and dust swirled into a cyclone about them, but she didn’t raise her hands again. She waited, watching the boy for long moments, until a tear cut through the dust on his cheek.

Calver hardly heard her hoarse whisper: “Go home.”

Never had he witnessed a thing more beautiful than her, in that moment. The wielding of great power had been awe-inspiring, but the choice to wield compassion in its stead was perfection.

The boy’s head swung from Raimee to Calver. The look in his eyes reminded Calver so much of Fankalo, it struck him like a physical blow. So much longing. The child backpedaled two steps and stopped, eyes narrowing as though considering another attack. Then he turned and leapt over the edge. The ocean rose to meet him—water pooling upward to give him a soft bed to land on. It carried him towards the ships in the dock below.

Raimees exhaled in relief before her knees buckled. She hit the rooftop hard, head cracking against the adobe.

Calver scrambled to her side and eased her onto her back. He half expected her to be comatose, but her silver eyes blinked at him.

“Made it.”

He dragged a hand over his face and into his disheveled hairline.

“Just in time. I think that puts our score at three to two? Not that I’m counting.”

Three to two. That she had stuck beside him long enough to save him three times…

“Old friend of yours?” she asked.

He nodded, still panting in recovery.

“You said you’d never met another Ruxian.” The statement wasn’t accusatory.

Although it seemed he’d been introduced to a number of conduits during the time he’d served Cul’Mon. He leaned closer to her, pushing the thought from his mind.

He wanted to signal, ‘You were incredible’. He wanted to signal, ‘I’m glad you’re alright.’ Instead, he didn’t signal anything. He resisted the urge to pull her into his arms.

In spite of his silence, Raimee reached up and cupped his face, thumb trailing across his beard. “It’s growing on me.”

How could she possibly, possibly want him?

Her nose scrunched. “You’re secretly funny, aren’t you?”

Preservation help him, she was magnetic. He put his hand over hers.

A dribble of energy sank into him. He pulled away too late. Raimee’s hand slumped to the roof.

Panic knifed into his stomach. Shit. The only thing he should have done after this fight was run in the opposite direction. Raimee could distort matter to her whim, shield herself against an impossible array of assaults, but she wouldn’t survive five seconds of touching him.