“Your Highness,” Jainan said, with a grave nod. They passed out of the fug of light and noise into the stark, clear darkness outside.

The stars spiraled around them in countless points of light. Thea’s dark and glittering bulk rotated below, limned in sunlight at the end of its night as the station rose around it like a moon. But neither of them really noticed, because the corner of the balcony was the ideal place to lean against.

It was a while later that Kiem took a breath and leaned his head back. Jainan was warm and solid in his arms. “You know,” Kiem said, “we’ve had a shared bedroom for weeks, and instead we’ve decided to go around sneaking kisses on balconies.”

“Your mother was wrong,” Jainan said. He detached himself from Kiem and took his hand instead, leaning next to him against the glass so their bodies were pressed side by side. “I appear to be a very bad influence.”

“I didn’t want you to stop, ” Kiem said. Jainan smiled in the starlight, and Kiem leaned over to kiss the corner of his jaw. He was stopped only by the doors bursting open.

“Oh, sweet God,” a Thean voice said, dismayed. “I only came out to grab Jainan. I really didn’t want to catch you necking.”

Kiem groaned theatrically and raised a hand to his forehead. “Jainan,” he

said, “tell me Thean law says you’re allowed to space members of your clan in moments like this. I can find an airlock.”

Jainan laughed. It took a moment for Kiem to realize he hadn’t heard that before—Jainan had smiled, joked, suppressed a chuckle, but he’d never given in to it freely like this. Jainan’s laugh was joyful and infectious, and Kiem discovered he loved every nuance of it. “No,” Jainan said, rubbing a hand across his jaw to bring himself under control. “It unfortunately does not. Gairad, try making your entrances more discreet.”

“A bunch of aides from Rtul and Kaan just set up a game of darts in the overflow hall,” Gairad said. “I won my round. Go in and fight for Thea.”

“Gairad,” Jainan said reprovingly, but his heart wasn’t in it. Kiem could feel the way he half turned his head—not in a request for permission, or to check what Kiem was doing, but as an invitation.

Kiem grinned. “All right,” he said. “Let’s go in there, and I’ll watch you win.”

“I’m not going to win, ” Jainan said. “I have done it on Thea, and I just think I could outperform some of the more inebriated guests—”

Kiem turned to sneak in one last kiss, extraneous clan members be damned.

“You’ll be the best,” he said.

“You don’t know that,” Jainan said.