“Oh my God, báichī ! Both of you, just . . . is that really what you think I am?” Rune slammed her fist into the wall hard enough to rattle the vent, and Cage and I both jerked upright. My heart pounded as I waited for the telltale skittering that meant the aliens had heard us, but Rune pressed on as if she’d completely forgotten the danger. “I’m not mad at you for shooting Matt, Kenzie. I know what an accident is. You were trying to protect him. I get it. And I even sort of understand why you didn’t tell the others about it, at least right away. But me? After three weeks on that ship from hell, you didn’t trust me enough to tell me the truth! And you, Cage. After everything we’ve been through, you still think I’m a bloody child!” Her voice caught on the edge of tears. “If I can’t trust the two of you, who am I supposed to trust, huh? If my twin brother and my best friend are lying to me, where does that leave me?” She took a moment to gather herself, lowering her voice, as her words washed over me. Best friend. Was that really how she saw me? “Lying about it on Sanctuary, sure, I get that. But we had almost a month on that ship. Weeks of working side by side. Of talking and trading stories and jokes. And in all that time that I thought we were becoming friends, you were hiding something from me. Something that tore you up inside. You didn’t trust me with it, no matter how much I trusted you.”

I pressed my palm to my face to hide the sting of tears as her words washed over me. I’d spent all those nights terrified. What would Rune do, what would she say when she found out? And here she brushed it off with nothing but understanding.

Silence echoed, more deafening than her yells, and her words echoed in my mind. Best. Friend. I realized suddenly that, like me, she hadn’t exactly had a lot of opportunities to form friendships. She’d grown up on the streets of Taipei, committing corporate espionage to stay alive, no one but Cage to rely on.

Before I could think too hard about what I was doing, I fumbled in the darkness until I found her hand. She recoiled, but I squeezed hard and didn’t let go. “You’re my best friend too,” I said quietly. It sounded stupid once the words left my lips, but I pressed on. “And, Rune, I’m so sorry. If I could go back, I would tell you the truth. If there were any way to undo the lies, I would take it. Please believe me.”