Page 101 of Colossal

She’d tried to confess three times over the past week, but it was like Orion didn’t want to give her the time of day. It was way too easy to let it be, tell herself she’d do it soon. Soon. Once she could prepare herself for the worst possible outcome: losing this forever.

But even if Orion rejected her, threw her in the brig, or out the airlock, she wasn’t prepared to help Loran ruin this anymore. Not when New Earth was finally within reach. Even if it didn’t turn out to be hers.

Because he’d promised, and she believed him.

He was avoiding her. At first she thought he was just too preoccupied with his conflict with Mare Halena. She was apparently not receptive to his findings, and Orion was now convinced that she had already known all of this and was covering it up.

And Kaia was pretty sure he was right, but she tried to put the matter into perspective now that she’d gotten some herself. His mother would be Uploaded eventually, and then Orion would do whatever he wanted. He could reroute them to his target sector. Who would stop them?

Orion seemed to hear her, yet still each time she worked up the guts to come clean, he brushed her off as if his goal were to make this difficult.

Luckily, she hadn’t heard from Loran after that last flurry of messages. She could tell him after the wedding, or maybe… Kaia looked at herself in the mirror, her hair back in that nice-smelling shiny updo. Maybe she could just forget it and not say anything at all.

No, that wouldn’t fucking work. It was still months until the expedition, and she wouldn’t put it past Loran to try something before then. In theory, onColossalshe should be unreachable. But she’d sent Loran so much data… He could use it to find another way of ruining this.

Her dress, hair, and makeup took four hours—a stupidly long time, after which Kaia wanted to just call it quits and get the damn wedding over with. There she stood in her repaired crimson gown. She flushed at the memory of her last time wearing it. She wondered how long this version would last.

There were to be fifty people in attendance, though the ceremony itself was to be broadcast across the colony feeds. Kaia’s stomach had been oscillating between cramps and flutters all day until she could no longer discern them. She thought she might be sick as the planner prepared to usher her onto the main floor.

Kaia steeled herself at the doors to the main hall. She was ready. Ready as she could be, anyway.

When the doors finally hissed open, her heart plummeted and her blood turned to ice.

Her nightmare stood in the doorway.

“Hello, little sister,” Loran stepped forward to wrap her in a tight hug. Kaia looked over his shoulder at Orion, beaming behind him.

This couldn’t be happening. How could this be happening?

“Loran… how did you get here?” Kaia’s voice shook as Loran held her at arm’s length, looking her up and down. From behind him, Orion didn’t see the venom in the warlord’s glare.

“I invited him,” Orion said. “I saw the chimes between you on your tablet. Realized you were afraid to ask… You should have some family here.”

“We’re not family.”

“I know. But it’s the closest to it, right?”

“Right…” That’s how they made it sound in their messages.

A small frown creased Orion’s features. “Are you happy?”

“What? Yeah, of course. I just… I’m surprised,” Kaia laughed nervously.

Fuck.

What now? Loran snaked his way onto the ship after all. Got his hooks in exactly as she’d feared. And now that he was here, he would have some plan in motion. He was like a pincher on a mech rig. Once he got his hold, he was digging in for the long haul.

“I’ll give you a few minutes to catch up. And Kaia, you look amazing.” The blue fire in his eyes drank her in before he left her with her nightmare. Loran’s greedy smile didn’t fade when they were alone.

“I shouldn’t have doubted you, Scav. Playing the long game, making him think it was his idea,” he said, crossing his arms on his chest.

He thinks I planned this…

“Don’t worry about it.” Kaia played along.

“Well, you pulled it off. For a while there, I thought you were blowing me off, but ya came through, kid.” She flinched when he reached up to stroke her arm affectionately.

“What are you gonna do now?”

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