The "Great Vanishing" had left a silence in the Cradle that felt heavier than any physical weight. As the Vane-Thorne re-solidified in the lunar plaza of Primus, the transition from the vacuum back into reality felt like being plunged into ice water. My knuckles were white where I gripped the edge of the ocularquartz console, watching the blurred streaks of the galaxy settle back into fixed, cold points of light. We were still here. Earth was still there, hanging like a sapphire in the dark.I looked at Damian. He stood at the center of the bridge, the harsh, ultraviolet light of the seven moons catching the sharp, unforgiving angles of his face. For a year, those features had been a map of hostility the face of the "Vulture" who had swooped in to pick apart the carcass of my family’s history. But the "ice" in his eyes, usually so impenetrable, was flickering with something that looked suspiciously like a weary relief."The year is almost up, Aara," he said, his voice cutting throu
Ler mais