“There are a ton of things you did that I never would have, for anyone. But I think if you hadn’t, I would have seen her, and four years is a long time.”

“A very long time.”

“Yeah.” I grimace and take a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is that I’ve hated myself for a long time, but I don’t anymore. I can’t even remember the last time I smiled before you made me. Glace—”

My voice gets caught in my throat. I suck in my lips and look up, to breathe easier. It’s dumb, tripping over my words like this. Just say it.

“I know I don’t deserve you, but you make me happy.”

Glacia doesn’t take her eyes off me the entire time. A lump slides down her throat, and then she looks sideways. I stare at the top of her head and wait. I’ve opened a door that cannot be closed. The longer she hesitates, the more anxious I become, and I suddenly doubt whether I should have gone that far. It was so stupid to say all that. We should’ve just hugged and let that—

A set of fingers slips into my hand. Glacia looks up at me again, and I look down into those bright hazel eyes.

“It doesn’t matter what we think we deserve,” she says. She squeezes my hand tighter. “All that matters is what we choose.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

On Saturday evening, I’m sitting in my hotel room reading about Ellaciss City, where the husband and wife I met on the flight to Subari are from. According to this, the desert overran Ellaciss a little under two years ago. That means Father was here. He might have been part of the evacuation. I’ve heard Orcher and Victoria mention it over dinner before.

I need to know what it’s like to watch a planet die, see what Father was dragged away from home to help fix. That’s what this expedition is for: to help Belvun…secure its future. That’s what I need to focus on, and seeing Ellaciss City will get me started.

A round of rapid knocks barrages my door, and Glacia shoves through before I can open it all the way. She bounds over to the bed and holds out an envelope. The Undil Embassy crest is printed on the front, along with the marks of Threshold and Shield Towers.

“Your license?”

She nods feverishly and flips up the top of the envelope, then slips out a document that has her new ID attached to the bottom. Her full name and title—Glacia Aliyah Haverns, Station Pilot—is printed below a fresh picture of her face, and the Undil Embassy crest glitters on the reverse side.