“No. I’m just checking on you.” He gave a nod to Roan. “Hi, I’m Declan. A very good friend of her family.”

“You turn her in, and I’ll kill you.” I’d never heard Roan’s voice so deep and dark. He meant every word.

Roan was the best.

“You don’t have to worry about me. I promise,” Declan said to Roan before turning his attention to me. “You okay? You’ve been here for a long time, and I got worried.”

Roan laughed. “You don’t need to worry about Maité. She can more than take care of herself.”

“Just because she can take care of herself doesn’t mean that she should have to.”

Roan’s smile disappeared. “You think you know her better than I do?”

They stepped closer together, and I could feel the fight brewing under my skin.

No. This wasn’t the time or the place. I put myself between them again. “Roan, this is Declan. He’s an old family friend.” I turned to Declan. “This is my best friend, Roan. Please be nice to him. He’s family to me.”

“Who is this guy? He looks familiar.”

“I get that sometimes. I’m SpaceTech and have been for a long time, but I work to help ease the tension between Human and Aunare.”

Roan crossed his arms. “Ease tension? Is that a joke? After what we did to the Aunare—what we’re still doing to them—it’s a wonder they don’t slaughter us all. Must be a fun job.”

Declan let out a long sigh. “It’s not easy, that’s for sure. We’re in the middle of a very deadly chess game, and Amihan—”

I cleared my throat. Roan knew my name, but I didn’t like hearing it. The name gave me hope, and even with Declan right there, I wasn’t sure I could believe that he was going to whisk me away and everything was going to be fine and dandy in a day.

“Maité is the mother of all pawns,” Declan said.

“I don’t know if I like the comparison. I don’t want to be some piece that could be moved around and played.” That turned me into an object, and I was a person.

“I wouldn’t either if I were you, but it doesn’t change the truth.” He gave me a solid once-over that had me squirming. “You’re glowing.”

“I’m aware.” It wasn’t something anyone could miss.

“Why?”

My cheeks heated. I didn’t like to show weakness, but this was one I couldn’t hide. “I don’t know. I can’t get it to stop.”

His eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“What do you mean what do I mean?”

“Okay. Why won’t it stop?” He said the words slowly.