“And … ” She trails off, shrugging, and I feel the pressure of saying goodbye crash down on my shoulders.

There are only two words I need to say. Four syllables. I can feel them in my throat, and I’m terrified of what could happen if I let them loose. But three months on this ship have robbed me of the connection between my fear and my actions, and last chances have a funny way of shaking up your priorities.

“Equal footing?” I breathe, because here and now is as free as I’m ever going to be.

“Equal footing.”

I don’t know who moves first. We lunge for each other. The feet between us collapse into nothing and my hands wind in that stupid, stupid hair as her arms ensnare my waist and her lips come crashing over mine. I want hours, I want weeks, I want more than these bare seconds to be free like this. She holds me so tightly that my armor warps under her grip, and I kiss her with everything I have left. There’s no time for hesitation, no time for uncertainty.

There’s just me and her, and the rest of it falls away.

Swift groans, the noise vibrating against my chest as she sinks against me, her lips urging mine open with all of the hunger I’ve seen inside her, all of the need and impatience that I’ve watched her battle and been unable to comfort. But now I can. Now I surge up on my tiptoes and grin against the soft curves of her mouth as I let one hand slide down to cradle her jaw, to bring her chasing after me.

When we break apart, she buries her nose in the crook of my neck and I smooth down her unkempt hair, and together we stay like that: giddy, out of breath, and scared to pieces of what comes next.

It’s only when Bao tosses his head impatiently, causing the whole deck to lurch, that we snap out of it. I pull myself out of Swift’s grip and move to his eye, running my fingertips over one of the ridges that crests it, and the touch seems to quiet him. When I glance back at Swift, I catch her swiping her hand over her cheek.

“I should probably … ” I start.

“Captain’ll be looking for me,” she says. “And you need to get in the water, stat.”

I can feel the void widening between us already, the distance that separates us growing with every passing second, and I want nothing more than to run back to her side. But there’s a job to do here, one that both our lives are staked on. I crimp my fingers between Bao’s keratin plates and slot one of my boots on top of the spikes that line his jaw.