Page 50 of Into Orbit
‘Juni, just …’ I took a shuddering breath. ‘Tell Ashton to stay with the Hamadryad, yes?’
Her eyes widened; she took a step forward. ‘Doctor –’
‘Stayback,’ my captor snarled. He fired a warning shot into the hangar floor.
I stared at the mark it left. ‘Oh,fuck,’ I said stupidly.
A perfectly round hole, no burning around the edges. Through it, I could see a mess of wires that made up part of the comms and power systems, but I sent a silent, frenzied prayer of thanks to the green gods that the shot hadn’t gone further. It wasn’t a weapon of Tirian design; it was a weapon that didn’t so much shootthroughthings asconsumethem. And it had been – thankfully – on its least devastating setting.
A Roth weapon.
Every Tirian in the hangar froze. Any notion they might have had ofrescuefroze with it. Another shot from that gun wouldn’t just be dangerous; it could be catastrophic.
Another shot could see the entire peacekeeping vessel destroyed.
‘Willow!’ Juniper cried.
‘Tell Maeve she’s the one we’ll always wait for,’ I said desperately, as the male behind me pushed me into the waiting Pod. ‘Tell her I’m sorry.’
‘I’m sorry, too,’ the male muttered, and raised his hand; everything went black before I had the chance to see it fall.
ElswythwascurledinMaeve’s arms, surrounded by a nest of the heartree’s roots, which seemed to have emerged from the soil purely for the purpose of protecting their Hamadryad.
‘Sorry, Ashton,’ she said softly. ‘I don’t know what’s happening. I can’t seem to calm down. The Forest still thinks something is wrong, and I …’ She trailed off.
The heartree’s roots flexed slightly, cradling me tighter. My arm was slung across Maeve’s shoulders, my hand resting gently on the small thorns decorating Elswyth’s collarbone.
I swallowed. ‘There’s nothing to be sorry for,’ I said gruffly.
She couldn’t possibly know how true those words were. Sitting with them – my back against the heartree, my arm around Maeve, my hand on Elswyth’s skin – felt as if the universe and everything wonderful in it was suddenly in my reach, in my arms. An almost divine sense of rightness settled over me: I wasmeantto do this, meant to be here, meant to gather this strange, fierce human and my Hamadryadclose to me to protect them – with my body, or with my very soul, if needed.
The only thing missing was Willow.
Even as my hearts ached for it, ached for my love and the completion he would bring, I knew I needed to be here. I gazed out at the Forest, taking in the very real consequence of the Forest’s – ofElswyth’s– uneasy fear.
The entire starboard side of the Forest was buzzing; the bees were agitated, aggressive. Three botanists and the Head Apiarist had been stung before they silently bowed out, leaving the bees to the Hamadryad to calm.
The bees weren’t the worst of it, though.
‘All good, beautiful,’ Maeve whispered to Elswyth, for the hundredth time. ‘It’s all good.’
The heartree waswilting. My stomach had twisted as I walked into the Forest to see its drooping boughs and curling leaves; it was so deeplywrongto see the strong, beautiful heartree like that, and a shocking reminder of how important Elswyth was to the Forest and to the ship.
Tous.
I moved my thumb, stroking lightly over her thorns. She sighed. ‘Oh, that’s nice.’
Maeve turned her face to raise an eyebrow at me. Her lips were mere fractions from mine; I could see lovely teal highlights in her eyes. My heartbeats sped up until I was certain they’d be able to hear the thundering inside my chest; my lips tingled with the need to lower my mouth, to capture hers, to kiss her until neither of us could think straight.
‘Where do you want him to touch, beautiful?’ she said. I stifled a groan; Maeve’s lips curled upwards.
She knewexactlywhat she was doing to me.
‘There is perfect,’ Elswyth murmured. I spread my fingers and stroked her more boldly, my fingers tracing patterns on her skin; her head fell back, her lips parting. ‘Mmm.’
Maeve gave a wicked grin. ‘You’re not just a pretty face, elf-boy.’ Her eyes turned back to the curtain of leaves encasing us. ‘Oh.Look.’
The heartree’s leaves were uncurling as we watched, returning slowly to their usual healthy shape. I continued stroking Elswyth’s skin, relief coursing through me as I simultaneously wished this would never end.
