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Chapters (54)
  1. Title Page
  2. Also by Aileen Erin
  3. Dedication
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Chapter Forty-Three
  47. Chapter Forty-Four
  48. Chapter Forty-Five
  49. Chapter Forty-Six
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven
  51. Off Balance
  52. To My Readers
  53. Acknowledgments
  54. About the Author

My hands shook, and I clasped them together to hide my fear, but Lorne glanced down at them.

Damn it. Lorne knew. How could he read me like that?

It didn’t matter. I realized what I needed to do. “I have a plan, but it means that the war isn’t just starting soon. If this goes badly, I might start it right now.”

There was a bell. Two sharp tolls. Lorne pressed his hand on the desk behind him, and the screen split. Another man appeared. One I recognized.

I didn’t know what to do or say, so I stood there, rigidly holding my breath as I tried to figure out what to say to him.

Every thought I had slipped through my fingers as I stared at my father. A man I was supposed to know but didn’t. He was looking at me with all of his expectations racing across his face, and I was left with nothing but empty space in my mind for a moment. I hadn’t expected this to be the first time I’d talk to him, and I was pretty sure that he wasn’t going to like my plan.

Chapter Forty

“Rysden,” Lorne said, but my father didn’t acknowledge him. Lorne said something else in Aunare, but my father shook his head.

“Amihanna.” My father stood tall, but his eyes glittered with the shine of unshed tears. “It is so…” His throat bobbed as he swallowed. “It is so good to finally see you.”

I’d seen clips of him on the news before, talking to different leaders in the galaxy and meeting with SpaceTech officials. But seeing him in front of me…

I wasn’t sure what to feel. I was supposed to call him Dad or Father, but those names didn’t feel right. He was a stranger, and seeing him only made me miss my mother that much more. She’d know what to do. What I should say. She would help me through this.

My mother was supposed to be here when I met my father. I never thought I’d be doing this alone.

After a moment, “Hi,” was all I managed to say.

Lorne cleared his throat. “I’m sorry for leaving so quickly, but—”

“Declan sent me the videos.” My father’s eyes were on me. “I don’t know—”

I let out a hiss and turned to Declan. “I told you to delete the ones you’d already found when we talked in the IAF meeting room, and instead you go looking for more, and then shared them with more people!”

“Yes. I ignored what you wanted and sent them to your father. You don’t have anything to be ashamed about. We might need to use them to—”