Nero Nights

Nero Nights

last updateLast Updated : 2023-06-14
By:  Kelly ArmstrongOngoing
Language: English
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Synopsis

Nova and Valen barely escaped Isroth with their lives and now they’ve crash-landed on an empty planet—no people, no tools to fix their ship. Nova has spent her life building and creating mechanics, but this is the most advanced vessel in the galaxy, and she can’t figure out what’s wrong with it. But maybe the crash was a blessing in disguise. They’ve seen their entire lives together, but this is the first real time they’ve ever had with one another. This is their chance to see if their future is worth fighting for, and if there is anything between them besides attraction and fate. On this empty planet, there is no fighting, no war, no conflict. Their days and nights are filled with uncertain glances, soft touches, and life-altering vows. What was once never a question is now a serious consideration: do they even want to fix the ship, or is this the beginning of a brand new, perfect life?

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Chapter 1

1

“As far as I can tell, all the major connections to the core are intact,” I say, wiping sweat from my brow. I’ve been crawling around down in the belly of the ship for over an hour, tangled in the mechanical guts of this beast, double and triple checking that every critical connection between the ship and the core is still working. “There are some cracks to the interior of the hull, but so far, all the majorly important parts of this ship are still functioning.” 

“So we can fix whatever is broken?” Valen asks. He’s crouched on the floor of the mechanical room above me at the opening of the hatch, looking down into the tunnels I’m occupying. 

My eyes rise to meet his. I shake my head and shrug. “That’s the problem. I have no idea what’s broken. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what to fix.” 

He extends a hand to me and pulls me up and out of the tunnel, back onto the floor of the room with him. “We will figure it out,” he says, his tone reassuring. “There’s a reason Cyrillius sent half the galaxy on a wild hunt for you. If he thinks you’re the best, you can do this.” 

I look over at him, glaring darkly. I’m annoyed that I can’t immediately tell what’s wrong with the ship. I’m annoyed that this slam ship is so slam complicated and that I wasn’t a good enough pilot to keep us from crashing here in the first place. 

I turn away, facing the door, but I don’t walk out just yet. “I’m sorry,” I say quietly. 

“For what?” he asks. 

I take a deep breath, my eyes searching for answers without really seeing anything. “For being reckless. I guess that’s something you should know about me. I don’t exactly always think before I act. I’m sorry I thought taking this ship was a good idea. I’m sorry I thought I could handle it when obviously I couldn’t. I’m sorry I’m not a good pilot. I’m sorry I got us lost and crashed us wherever the void we are.” 

Warm hands grab me from behind and I feel the heat of Valen warming the back of me. Gently, he turns me in place, making me look up at him. I feel heavy and worn down as I look up into his Neron-blue eyes. 

“Survivors have to act fast,” Valen says. “It’s an evolutionary fact. Sometimes we make the right decisions in those snap moments, and sometimes we don’t.” The look in his eyes deepens. He brings a hand up to my cheek, caressing it. “Your quick thinking got us out of the Compound, Nova,” he says. “Cyrillius has thousands of ships that could have taken us down in an ordinary ship. His soldiers are the best in the galaxy. If you hadn’t stolen this exact ship, and if we hadn’t somehow punched a hole through space, he would have won. We would be on Isroth right now, either locked in a cage, or being mentally twisted by his Kinduri.” 

My throat tightens with his words and it annoys me that my eyes well a little. I turn my face away from him, taking a hard breath, trying to regain control of myself. 

But firm and gentle, Valen makes me look back at him. “Stop being afraid of yourself, Nova,” he says softly. In his eyes I see acceptance. That I’m allowed to feel what I feel. 

He can’t be right, because he’s done so many terrible things in his life. How can someone who’s done so much bad be so right about my emotions? 

Even so, his words reach me. I feel them. I need them. 

So I let the tears come. And I wrap my arms behind his neck and I pull his face to mine. 

We just crash-landed. I have no idea what all of this means for the future. 

And it’s insanity, the fact that I’ve only kissed this man twice before. 

But I kiss Valen, with violence and desperation, even as I let the tears roll down my face and sobs escape my lips. 

I cry and I kiss Valen, and Valen kisses me back and holds me like I’m going to shatter and his arms are the only things that can prevent it from happening. 

He scoops me up into his arms, but he doesn’t break the kiss and I don’t release him. Like I weigh nothing at all, he walks across the mechanical room and maneuvers us through the doorway. 

I don’t know where he’s taking us, but I close my eyes, letting the tears stream down my face in an unceasing river. I cling tighter to Valen. I deepen our kiss. I relish in the feeling of being safe and supported. 

Dim light finds its way through the port window of the sleeping quarters. Gently, Valen climbs onto the bed, carefully lying me back where I’d woken just a few hours earlier. 

I lay back, looking up into Valen’s beautiful face, still keeping a firm grip on his tunic so he can’t leave me. My heart cracks a little when I interpret the expression on his face. 

Devotion. Protection. Acceptance. 

Only one other person has looked at me this way. My father. I never doubted him, that he would take care of me, no matter the cost. 

That’s what I see in Valen’s eyes. Which makes mine well even more. 

He brushes a strand of hair behind my ear, his touch so gentle. “When was the last time you ate?” 

I actually huff a laugh. It’s so bizarre, this legendary Nero, taking such gentle care of me, asking when I last ate. “I…I have no idea, honestly. Not since before you got back to Isroth, probably.” 

“Stay here,” he says. “Rest. I’m going to go find us something to eat.” 

My first instinct is to fight him, to tell him that I will help him, that he doesn’t have to take care of me. 

But I see it in his expression. He wants to do this. 

And I think I want to let him. 

“Okay,” I agree softly. 

He dips, pressing one soft kiss to my lips before he stands and heads to the door, to go see what there is to eat. 

I pull the blanket up to my chest, curling up on my side, burrowing down in the surprisingly comfortable bed. My eyes fix on a place on the wall, but I’m not seeing its dull gray surface. 

My mind is spinning, reeling, thinking of all the ramifications of the past twelve hours. 

Cyrillius knows I’m a Nero. He knows Nymiah is a Nero. 

Did she and Zayne and Edan get away? Are they somewhere safe? 

What do they all think happened to me? 

And…Dad…

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Courtney Hall
Is there a book before this one?
2024-09-15 21:08:32
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22 Chapters
1
“As far as I can tell, all the major connections to the core are intact,” I say, wiping sweat from my brow. I’ve been crawling around down in the belly of the ship for over an hour, tangled in the mechanical guts of this beast, double and triple checking that every critical connection between the ship and the core is still working. “There are some cracks to the interior of the hull, but so far, all the majorly important parts of this ship are still functioning.” “So we can fix whatever is broken?” Valen asks. He’s crouched on the floor of the mechanical room above me at the opening of the hatch, looking down into the tunnels I’m occupying. My eyes rise to meet his. I shake my head and shrug. “That’s the problem. I have no idea what’s broken. I can’t fix it if I don’t know what to fix.” He extends a hand to me and pulls me up and out of the tunnel, back onto the floor of the room with him. “We will figure it out,” he says, his tone reassuring. “There’s a reason Cyrillius sent half t
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2
I crush the thought of him, trying to push away the image of his cut throat and all the blood pooling around him. I can’t. I just can’t process that right now. So I think about this ship. I think about its mechanisms. I think about the blueprints for every ship I’ve ever seen. I think about how I would design a ship like this if I were going to create my own. This is what you know, I tell myself. This is what you’re good at. Focus on what you know. With pipes and bolts and combustors flashing through my mind, I drift off to sleep. “Nova,” a soft voice says into my ear. Slowly, I blink, seeing the same eyes I was seeing just a moment ago. A little smile pulls on my lips. Valen smiles too, and my heart flutters. There isn’t another smile in the galaxy like Valen’s. “Come eat,” he says, extending a hand to help me up. I blink, slightly confused as my brain wakes and realizes Valen is actually here and isn’t going to fade away with the wind. I look around, re-orienting myself.
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3
My body hasn’t had time to learn this planet’s schedule yet, but somehow I know it’s early in the morning when my eyes slide open. The blankets are pulled up to my chin. My body is relaxed and comfortable. It’s actually…nice. And I realize it’s because I have some degree of peace of mind. Right now, I’m not pretending to be someone or something I’m not. After weeks of hiding everything on Isroth, here, I don’t have to be anything. I’m just Nova. Across the space, just five feet away, I see Valen. He’s still asleep. He’s sprawled on his back but his head is angled toward me, giving me a full view of his face. He looks younger when he sleeps. I’ve done the math and figure he’s roughly five solars older than me. But he looks incredibly young in sleep. He could nearly pass for a teenager. His black eyelashes fan out over his cheeks. His lips are pink and soft. There aren’t any creases in his forehead, furrowed with concern. He just looks peaceful. And I have to wonder, what a dif
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4
“It’s beautiful,” I say in wonder, shaking my head. “I still prefer Kaelea, but this comes in as a close second.” My eyes slide over to look at Valen. He looks straight ahead, holding a serious expression. But a small smile cracks in one corner of his mouth. I laugh, bumping his shoulder with mine, throwing him off balance. “You’re creating some unrealistic expectations, Valen Nero,” I say as I walk across the sand until the tips of my boots are touching the water. “I’m going to be disappointed by the time you actually take me to our planet.” My stomach knots as soon as I realize what I’ve just said. I stand stark still, my eyes freezing on one point on the water. Behind me, Valen is very still and very quiet, too. “I…” I scramble to make this better, to make things less awkward. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” Valen’s hand slips into mine and I look up into his eyes. “No,” he says, shaking his head. “It…it feels right. We have seen our lives there, we’ve seen our family there. It
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5
“I don’t know why I just said that, Nova,” Valen says, his eyes still wide and confused. “I…. I didn’t even mean to get out of the water. Suddenly, all I could think about was getting back on the ship and getting back in space. I…” His hand goes to his chest and I realize just how hard he’s breathing. “I have to get back to Isroth.” My stomach sinks and suddenly I’m so cold. I walk up the shore and out of the lake, my eyes fixed on Valen’s. When I reach him, I place my hands on either side of his head, keeping his gaze locked on me. “You do not have to go back. You are free. You’re here with me.” His eyes widen just a little more. “I can’t, Nova,” he says, his voice nearly a whisper. “I can’t stay here.” “This is what he did to you, Valen,” I say, staring into his eyes as if I can see down into his soul. “This isn’t you. This is his Kinduri. This is what he’s used against you, for solars.” Valen drops his boots in the sand and brings his hands up to cover mine. He squeezes his eye
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6
“Valen,” I say in a breath. I step into the room and he watches me as I approach. I reach a hand forward, gently touching the big scar that runs up his front. He grabs my wrist, bringing my hand up to his chest, laying it flat against his skin, over his heart. He holds his hand over my own. “One by one, these scars made me who I am.” There’s a dark tone to his voice that I don’t like, don’t want to be there. “Whether Cyrillius made me this way or not, these parts of me are who I am. The past doesn’t disappear. This…everything in front of us is going to be hard. Maybe impossible. Are you sure I’m worth it, Nova?” My eyes rise up to his and I let his words sink into me. I let them fill my heart, my stomach, my eyes. “That’s what we’re here for, Valen,” I answer him. “That’s why we crashed on this planet. To discover the answer to that question. But you’re a human being. No one deserves what he’s put you through all this time. I would do this for anyone.” I see the expression in Vale
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7
There’s a bitter taste on my tongue when I wake. Like copper and silt and vinegar. I blink my eyes open, searching the space. There are no signs of Valen. As I sit up, my stomach is in knots. My heart is heavy. I don’t know what I was expecting. I always think I’m more capable than I am. Maybe I thought I’d go into Valen’s mind and it would be easy to undo what Cyrillius did. Which was so slam stupid. The Kinduri have been manipulating him for solars. They’ve built up layers and layers of darkness. But I’m still crushed. I’m still shaking with the weight of what I saw in Valen’s mind. Get over it, I try to tell myself. I retrieve my uniform from the washroom and pull it on. There are no signs of Valen in the ship and when I get to the Command Deck, I find the hatch open. Looking for a few more moments of solitude, I step out of the ship and scale it. I climb the slick surface until I settle on top of the core, letting its warm, swirling mass warm me from beneath. It’s cool o
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8
But he doesn’t say anything. He just lies down beside me, pulls me into his chest, and holds me as I cry over all the things that feel too big in this moment. I spend the rest of the day buried in the belly of the ship, because that’s what I know how to do. Ships and mechanics are simple. They’re straightforward. A, B, and C. One, two, and three. Copper. Steel. Titanium. I find a crack along the main hull, down at the very bottom of the ship. We’re slam lucky they were still working on this ship when we stole it. The ship is full of tools and supplies and everything they were using to finish it. I find a welding machine and I spend the rest of the day repairing the crack. By the time I finish it, it looks better than it did before we took off from Isroth. In total, the entire day, Valen and I say less than ten words to each other. We’re both lost in our own heads. We need to not constantly run through it all. So that night, we both climb into bed. We don’t say anything. And I go
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9
I’m like a bullet. I dive in deep and fast. I fly past the swirling images around me. I ignore the storms. I’m a focused laser. I know what I’m looking for. I know where it is. I sail straight for it. And there, right in front of me, I find it. The pulsing darkness. I hear the screams. I see the lightning. I feel the dark pull. I am stronger than this. I am better than the Kinduri. Without fear, I march straight up to that darkness. I gather Neron around me. I let it fill me, fill me right to the brim. It’s coursing through me, beating with the steadiness of a drum. I hold my hands up. They’re alight with Neron. And I plunge my hands into the heart of the darkness. Screams. Mine. Valen’s. Screams of a thousand Kinduri. Screams of Cyrillius. I’m overcome with noise and madness. Like sound is pummeling me and will leave me a bloodied, broken mess on the ground. But then the darkness shatters. Pieces of it fly everywhere and instantly dissolve into the air. And a smile pull
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10
I reach forward, lacing my fingers through Valen’s, looking into his endless eyes. “You know about Zayne,” I say. “We were together for a long time. We worked together. He was one of the few people I could stand. On paper, we should have had a future together.” Valen’s brows furrow, and I can tell he doesn’t like hearing about my past relationship. But this is real. This is our beginning, and we’re supposed to talk about these kinds of things. “But he wasn’t enough for me.” I hate the words. I hate myself for confessing them and feeling their truth, because I have to be a terrible person to think that about someone who is wonderful. “In the end, we weren’t balanced.” Valen’s fingers tighten around me, and I just have this feeling in my gut. That even though Valen and I are so opposite, even though everything in the galaxy is against the likelihood of us being…us, we are perfectly balanced. “Zayne was the only person I let in,” I say, looking at Valen, opening the truth in my hear
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