I didn’t have it easy the last thirteen years, but at least I had my mom—a parent I could love and I knew would protect me. I wasn’t sure Declan ever had that.

“You’ve been naive to think war could be avoided,” Ahiga said. “We both knew it was coming.”

“I know. I just thought if I found her in time, then I could somehow make this right. But I’ve made it worse. Your father will never forgive me for not running with you when I had the chance. I played it safe, and this—your suffering—that’s on me.”

No. He couldn’t think that way. “This isn’t your fault. It’s Jason’s.”

“It’s also mine.” He sighed. “Okay. I’m going to come get you, and I had this plan, but now… Fuck it. We’re going to make a run for it to Sel’Ani.”

“We?” My voice sounded like it was far away and my heart started pounding in my chest. I was such an idiot. It never occurred to me that I’d be fleeing from one of the most heavily fortified SpaceTech bases with the son of its CEO.

This really might be more stupid than anything that had happened so far. This was the most nonplan plan I’d ever considered. “So we just try to outfly SpaceTech’s fleet and hope for the best? That’s it?”

“Yes.” Declan wasn’t quite looking at me as his fingers moved through the air. When he finally looked at me, his face had apologies written all over it. “Day and a half is the soonest I can get there. I can’t physically be there any faster. Unless…”

“Yes.” Ahiga stood up from his chair. “You have to make that call. I already sent a message to him, but I don’t know if it made it, and I wasn’t able to include very much information. Just the basics.”

“What am I missing?” I said.

A pained look crossed Declan’s face, and he pinched the bridge of his nose. “He’ll never forgive me for keeping this from him.”

“We can’t change what’s already happened,” Ahiga said. “You’re like brothers. Brothers fight and they make up. You will, too.”

There was some drama here that I didn’t understand, but maybe there was an alternative. “Can you move me to kitchen duty? And then we’ll figure out something else when you get here. Something less dangerous than running from SpaceTech in a stolen ship.”

Declan sighed. “Since Jason had you doing such a dangerous job, he’s been watching closely. He’s probably not on the base himself, but he’s aware of your every move. He could be overseeing the weapon, too. Jason is one of the few people in SpaceTech that outranks me.”