I didn't make it back to the greenhouse. I made it as far as the observation deck, the one that faced the cold, indifferent starfield. The silence of space was a comfort. It asked for nothing. It judged nothing. I pressed my forehead against the cold transparisteel, the vibrations of the ship a distant, alien hum. The blood on my flight suit was beginning to dry, stiffening the fabric. I was a monument to a war he refused to see.
Heavy, measured footsteps echoed down the corridor behind me. I didn’t need the bond to know who it was. The universe had a cruel sense of timing.
"There you are." Kaelen’s voice was devoid of the warmth it once held. It was the voice of a commander addressing a subordinate who had stepped out of line. "You will explain yourself. Now. Pulling a stunt like that,
