“It has some weapons, but mostly defensive. The ship is small and was built for speed and stealth, which is why I chose it.” He reached a hand to me, and I let him pull me to my feet before quickly stepping away.

“Is that medicated?” I leaned against the wall to keep from falling over as I motioned to the fountain. “Is that why it makes me feel calm?”

“It’s not medicated, but it makes you feel calm?” He tilted his head to the side as he stared at me.

I wasn’t answering that. No matter how pretty Lorne was, I wasn’t about to give him that much insight into myself. Not when I felt laid bare with every look he gave me and every word he spoke.

So I stayed silent, staring into his dark blue-green eyes. The more I stared, the more I realized the depth of the color. They were hypnotizing.

“To say that this particular vessel is the norm for Aunare would be a lie,” he continued when I stayed silent. “It’s quite nice, but there’s not a single Aunare craft that doesn’t have natural elements in them. A recovery room without flowing water would be…” He paused. “Healing is two-fold. Body and spirit. We don’t like to ignore the spirit, especially when hurt.”

“Okay.” So it was medicated?

“How are you feeling?”

Better than I had been in a while, which wasn’t saying much. “Fine.” Admitting more than that made me feel exposed. “How long was I out?”

“About four hours.”

That was longer than I’d thought. “So where are we?”

“Hiding on the far side of Apollyon.”

I wanted to be much farther away than that. I never wanted to be in SpaceTech’s grasp ever again. Now that I was away, I didn’t think I could survive it. “Are we safe?”

“For now. SpaceTech is, as of yet, unaware that I showed up to take you home. But testing the crystals with their methods caused some bleeds on your brain, and I couldn’t risk making a jump through space before healing you at least a little bit.”

“Am I okay?” A bleed on my brain sounded really, really bad.

“You need more healing, but you’re stable for now.”

“You’re sure?” The woozy feeling hadn’t passed like I wanted.

He pressed his lips together as he thought about it, and my throat went dry. There was something wrong with me.

“I can’t lie. It was severe, and I think the pod only took the edge off.”

I swallowed.