The dakini had come from the space station. They’d murdered three funders, killed or injured dozens more during combat, and destroyed billions of coin in property. Those crimes couldn’t go unanswered. What would she find up there? She hadn’t planned on making her first visit to space a dangerous mission, but any confrontation with the Machinehood had the potential to get violent. How many on the station were involved? With barely four hundred residents, keeping secrets couldn’t be easy, even in a place without constant swarms.

The water had cooled to body temperature. Welga toweled off and emerged to find Connor awake. He raised his brows appreciatively at her form and beckoned her to bed.

“You sure you aren’t too tired?” she said.

He shook his head and traced a finger along her neck and shoulder. “Chinese food and sex. It’s our tradition. It would be bad luck to break it.”

They tried to be quiet, and Connor let her do most of the work, but he definitely wasn’t too tired. No cameras. No audience. No tips. She had always thought it would feel less exciting that way. In a way, it did, but their quiet intimacy put her in a state similar to flow—complete concentration on this moment, no distractions, fully engaged with the heat of Connor’s flushed skin, the sound of his hitched breath, the pressure of his fingers digging into her hips.

Afterward, they held each other for ten minutes in complete silence. With her ear to his chest, Welga could hear the crackling of fluid as Connor breathed.

“Remember to take your antibiotics while I’m gone,” she said. “You won’t have your agent to help.”

Connor’s chuckle turned into a cough. When it subsided, he said, “Worry less about me and more about yourself. We know what’s wrong with my body.” His arm tightened around her. “This feels like Marrakech all over again, going into a bad situation without reliable intel, only this time, you’ll be alone.”

“But this time there’s no one to tell me what to do, or what not to.”

“Welga—”

“Don’t say it. You can think it all you want, but don’t say it out loud.”

What if you die up there? Only an idiot wouldn’t acknowledge that truth, but she couldn’t allow them to speak it. Fear has to take a back seat to confidence. Captain Travis had taught her that. Doesn’t matter if the confidence is unfounded. Without it, you have no chance of making it real. Box up all that doubt and shove it into the furthest reaches of your mind.