Rhea wandered through the corridors of Zelus. It was their last night on this stolen ship that now felt like home. Their last night before Laguna. She didn’t know what would happen tomorrow, and this uncertainty had plagued her dreams when she had tried to sleep earlier. When she shut her eyes, she saw the face of that Evoli man back on Macella who had been killed by Damocles, the faces of all the dead back on Ismara, the dead men on this very ship.

It all felt like a preview of what was to come if her team failed.

Rhea sought out Clo, not wanting to be alone. Wanting one night of quiet before they risked everything again. Clo was in the observation deck, just as Rhea suspected, suspended against glass in a sphere of stars. Rhea would remember this place when they left Zelus. She’d miss it most.

“Can’t sleep?” Clo asked as Rhea settled into the soft chair beside her.

The dim lights of the stars caressed Clo’s face, softening the harsh lines. Rhea wordlessly reached up and traced the three moles at the corner of Clo’s left eye. A small constellation. Clo shivered beneath her touch.

“Nothing like almost-certain death to ruin a night’s sleep,” Rhea said. She smiled and leaned forward, as if to tell a secret. “It makes a woman think about her place in the universe.”

Clo sighed, wrapping an arm around her. “Don’t joke about that.”

“About what?”

“Dying. You haven’t even seen an ocean up close yet. We’ve still got a universe to explore.”

Rhea smiled and rested her head on Clo’s shoulder, wanting to burrow herself in the other woman’s warmth. She smelled of ardmint gum. After a few moments, Rhea tilted her head up, and Clo bent to meet her.

Their kiss was gentle, barely a brush of lips. Rhea’s tongue flicked along Clo’s lower lip, until Clo opened her mouth. Their kiss deepened. Thoughts fled, and Rhea focused on the taste, the smell, the feel of Clo.

Everything.

She wanted to memorize this moment. She wanted to forget about tomorrow. She wanted to stop time.

Here, now, this was what mattered: Rhea’s fingertips moving along the strong muscles of Clo’s back, exploring the coiled lines of her body; her hands moving down, down, down to the dip of Clo’s waist; the other woman’s movements echoing her in a mirror image.

Tonight. Tonight mattered.

Rhea dipped her head and ran her tongue along the line of Clo’s jaw, flickering at the soft flesh where her neck met the bottom of her ear, feeling the pulse point there quickening. Clo groaned low in her throat. Her fingertips left burning trails along Rhea’s jawline, down the column of her neck, along her collarbone.

More. More, more, more.