I opened and closed my mouth a couple of times before I found the words. “I don’t know why you’d care.” His glow brightened again with my words, and I knew I was messing this up. I just wasn’t understanding why.

He smiled at me, but it was filled with pain and heartache. “Please finish. I show up to find you dead and…”

I swallowed. “And you blow up the base. Which, as far as anyone in the universe would know, was SpaceTech’s only source of supplies. No one would know it was decommissioned and that anything of value had already been moved to the colonies. The Aunare would look bad when you blew it up because no one would know that the base would actually be empty.”

Lorne let out a breath. “It would be the rallying cry for all of our enemies to join forces to act against us, and then they could use whatever weapon they’ve built with full support of every known civilization.”

“Exactly, except you showed up early. The bays aren’t totally empty yet.”

“I’m not sure how that changes things. All of this tells me that I should take you and run before anyone sees us.”

I was pretty sure he was going to hate this, but I couldn’t stop myself. “I don’t want to leave the people who helped me, but going back is dangerous. I’d feel better if Declan could check in with Ahiga and make sure everyone is okay before we leave.”

“And if they’re not?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know that I can leave my friends behind if they’re in trouble. And if we’re sticking around, we should also try to get information about the new weapon they’ve been developing. And you might consider blowing up the base.”

“Even if I could do that—which I can’t—why would I do that?”

“Because I have a feeling that when I’m gone, SpaceTech will quickly empty all the remaining storage bays, blow it up, and blame you. Why not beat them to it? Why not make a dent in their resources?”

“Gods above.” He leaned back in his chair. “I can’t believe I’m actually considering any of this.”

Lorne stared off at nothing, but that gave me time to study his face. The way his long dark hair tucked behind his slightly pointed ears. The strong jaw line and full lips. His bright blue-green eyes.

I was staring at the poor guy. Mooning over him. It was so dumb.

And then he turned his eyes on me. The color… Why did they have to be that color? The one that made me feel so calm and at peace that I’d painted my room the same shade.

He raised a brow at me and my cheeks heated. He couldn’t know what I was thinking, but it felt like he might.