Declan moved off camera. I heard something shatter and I hoped it wasn’t anything important.

Ahiga looked down at me and raised a brow.

I shrugged. I knew a freak-out from Declan was coming. I patted the back of his chair, and Ahiga sat beside me to wait for the sounds of Declan smashing his room to settle down.

There were a few more crashes, and I knew I had to say something, but I wasn’t sure how to make this better.

“Declan.” His being outraged by all of this made it somewhat easier to bear. “I’ll be okay. I can do this.”

His hair was sticking out in all directions when he came back to stand in front of the screen. “You still don’t get it. You don’t understand what it means if something happens to you.”

“I understand completely. I also understand that SpaceTech is building some sort of weapon here that—”

“What?” Declan’s face grew red again, and I hoped he wasn’t going to have a heart attack with all of this.

“I was wondering if you knew about it.” Ahiga crossed his arms. “Because I can’t find dick all about any new weapon, but the experimental lab is cooking overtime.”

“Goddamned-fucking-shit-stain-of-a-brother…” Declan was muttering a string of curses as he bent down to pick up the chair he’d thrown. He placed it back in front of his desk and sat down, his fingers swiping through the air again. “I don’t… I can’t find anything either.” He sighed and closed his eyes as devastation wracked his face. “We have to get you away from there before your father steps into SpaceTech territory. He can’t make the first move.”

“I know. It’ll give SpaceTech the justification that they need to do every terrible thing they want.” I let out a breath, but my nerves weren’t calming. I needed a plan. “What do we do?”

“I don’t know. I just…” He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, he was staring straight at me. “I don’t know why I’m even trying anymore. It’s inevitable at this point. The Aunare are going to cream us, but I thought that if I could just convince my father that this was a bad course, that maybe we could make amends and reinstate some sort of peaceful relationship, then we could stop this war before it started.”

“It was never in your control,” Ahiga said.

“No. I guess it wasn’t.” Declan looked up and shook his head before meeting my gaze again. “My father has to know what Jason’s doing to you. I bet they’re getting a goddamned laugh out of it.” Now it was Declan’s turn to feel bitter, and I felt terrible for him.