At the end of the row were four doors, two on either side. Cepheus stopped in front of one, then pulled a key from the ring at her waist that Caledonia hadn’t noticed and unlocked the hatch before spinning it and pulling it open.

“He’s all yours,” she said. “What’s left of him.”

Beyond the door, Caledonia could see nothing. She hesitated, suddenly unsure what she would say, unsure what she would find. Their last encounter had torn a hole in her heart. She didn’t know if she could survive another.

Then Pisces’s hand was in hers. Their fingers wove together, and the warmth of Pisces’s skin was soothing. “I’ll wait out here.”

Caledonia drew a deep breath and stepped inside the room. The door shut behind her.

The smell hit her first. Sweat and vomit and blood. All of it stale. The room itself was larger than she’d expected. On one side there was a crude toilet bolted to the floor and a chair stuck in one corner. On the other was a cot upon which a body rested with his back turned on her.

Though he looked small with his knees tucked to his stomach, his figure was thin and muscled. His dark curls flopped over the pillow and his shirt was stained unevenly in splotches of dark brown. Beneath his bed, his boots were lined up, side by side as if creating a sense of order was important even under the worst conditions.

Caledonia tried to recall if he’d always been that way. She remembered his insistence that his overlarge jacket fit, and the way their father had threatened him with a comb every so often. She even remembered sharing a bunk with him until he kicked so much that she’d been given her own. But she couldn’t remember if he’d been tidy or a disaster. It shouldn’t have mattered so much, but staring at those perfectly aligned boots was like a straight punch to the gut. Was this her Donnally? Was it possible any part of him had survived and was trapped?

She didn’t know. But she did have to find out.

“Donnally.”

At the sound of her voice, he stiffened. From where she stood, she could see the surprised flutter of lashes as he opened his eyes.

Caledonia’s heart skipped to a run. Even now, there was a part of her desperate for him to turn around and dive into her arms.

“Donnally.” She took a small step forward and barely restrained herself from reaching out to touch his shoulder.