I awoke with a start, my eyes flying open, my body drenched in a cold sweat. I couldn’t remember having a nightmare, but it felt like the aftermath of one. My breath was coming in sharp gasps, my heart racing, my temples thudding. As my pulse slowed, I glanced at the clock, noting that it was still the middle of the night, even if the view outside remained the same.

As my racing brain slowed down, I realized what had happened. It wasn’t a nightmare that had woken me but something far worse—the terrifying reality of what lay ahead of us. We had the nudus tucked safely away in their boxes, nourishing themselves on the mossy vines, but I was still anxious about what we planned to do with them. The barriers were strong and could cover vast distances—we’d already seen that in action from Stone and Glossa itself—but there was no way of knowing what would actually happen, when it came to using them. What if they failed? What if Queen Gianne found a way through? What if we got there too late to be of any use?

Navan, Bashrik, Ronad, Stone, and myself had MacGyvered a working deep-space engine from the endless stash of useful junk that the ambaka had scavenged over the years. Those crates had been a cave of engineering wonders. Thanks to Stone’s thievery, we would get back to Earth way quicker than we would have without it. But even then, there was no telling whether Gianne would get there before us. I just wished building the barriers could be as straightforward as building an engine. Machines were predictable and logical; these barriers we were intending to create were anything but.

Taking a deep breath, I rolled over in bed, seeking out Navan’s arms to comfort me. But his side of the bed was empty, his covers thrown back, and there was no sign of him anywhere. Instead of feeling sad that he’d disappeared in the middle of the night without a word, I felt a bristle of anger rise through me. I was tired of this. I was tired of turning over in bed to find him gone and not knowing why.

Enough was enough.

We were supposed to be in a partnership, but I was feeling more and more alone with every night that passed. I didn’t see the point in him keeping secrets from me, especially when we were about to ride into certain death together.

Powered by pure exasperation, I scrambled out of bed and stormed out of the room, into the darkened silence of the ship. Everyone else was asleep, having gone to bed hours earlier. Something was wrong with Navan, and I was determined to find out what.

Halting outside the room where he’d holed himself up the other night, I lingered on the threshold, pressing my ear to the closed door. I could hear strange noises inside. He wasn’t coughing up his insides this time. Instead, it sounded almost like metal scraping against the ground. I also caught the slam of drawers being closed and the gentle hum of Navan singing to himself.

I tapped the entrance pad, only for it to flash red. It was locked from the inside. I rapped my fist on the closed hatch.

“Open the door, Navan!” I hissed. “I’m not leaving until you do.”

Inside the room, the sounds changed. I heard things being shoved into drawers before they were slammed shut frantically.

A moment later, the hatch went up, and Navan stepped to the side as I strode in.

“Riley—” he began, his eyes wide.

I barely looked at him as I stalked around the room, flipping the lids off boxes and searching inside the cabinets. To my frustration, I still couldn’t find anything amiss, though I knew he was doing something in here.

“What are you hiding from me?” I snapped, whirling around to face him.

“I’m not hiding anything,” he replied, after a tense pause. “I was doing some… meditation, that’s all.”

“Why are you lying to me?” I gasped, feeling as though someone had squeezed the air out of me. Tears beaded in my eyes, and my stomach was churning with nerves.

He stepped forward, but I backed away. “I was just stretching in here. I haven’t been sleeping very well, and I hoped it might help.”

“Bull! A load of lying bull!” I wheezed, clutching my chest. “I know you’re sick, Navan. I know you’re sick and you’re keeping it from me. I heard you the other day, coughing and spluttering. All I want to do is take care of you and be there for you, but how can I do that when you won’t tell me what’s going on?” Tears trickled down my cheeks, hot and fierce, refusing to be forced away.

To my disbelief, Navan laughed. “Well, I suppose I am sick. In a way.”

“I knew it!”

He shook his head. “I am… lovesick.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes, Navan. I just want to know what we’re facing so I can help. I don’t want you to shut me out of anything, no matter how bad it is. Honestly, I can take it. Just tell me what’s wrong with you.”

“You are what is wrong with me, Riley, in the most incredible way possible.”

He sank down on one knee, lifting his gaze to meet mine. From his pocket, he took out a small silver box, intricately carved with what looked like a river scene, with trees surrounding a winding brook and pretty birds with their wings outstretched, swooping low over delicate flowers. I stared at him in shock. Nothing was registering properly. Half of my brain was still asleep. None of this made sense.

“What… What’s going on?” I mumbled.

He smiled shyly. “I had this whole romantic idea planned out,” he explained, laughing softly. “If we got back to Earth and Gianne hadn’t arrived yet, bringing her harbingers of doom and gloom with her, I was going to take you on a little trip… to the fields of Texas, where we first met. I was hoping to take you to the creek and propose there. I guess I never factored in your inquisitiveness.”

I felt like I was going to crumble, my knees shaking. “I don’t understand…”

“I’m trying to be romantic… and failing miserably,” he said, still grinning. “Honestly, I should have done this ages ago. It took me way too long to realize that I couldn’t bear to be without you. When Kaido took you away, and we got separated on Vysanthe, I started to think about it more. Then, when all that stuff happened with Seraphina… I knew I never wanted to be separated from you, ever again.”

I staggered across the floor and sank to my knees in front of him, unable to stand a moment longer without keeling over. Tears were coursing down my face, and my chest was heaving, though not out of sadness anymore.

I shook my head. “I’m dreaming…”

With a nervous smile, he opened the intricate box and turned it toward me, revealing a beautiful ring cushioned in dark red velvet. In the center of a silver band, a sea-green stone glittered, surrounded by smaller green stones of a slightly paler shade. It suited me perfectly, reminding me somehow of Earth. Plucking out the ring and turning it over, Navan gently squeezed the sides together. A hologram shot up out of the stone. Moving inside the flickering golden light was an image of Navan and me standing together in a field of swaying corn, a billion stars glittering overhead. Written in the constellations was a message: May the light of our love never go out.

“My love, my only love… will you marry me?” he asked, his voice thick with emotion.

I lunged toward him, wrapping my arms around his neck and pulling him tight to me, kissing him on the lips with every ounce of love and passion I felt. It was overflowing from me, my heart and soul too overwhelmed to respond to his question with mere words. His mouth moved against mine, his free hand trailing up the length of my spine, making my nerves tingle.

A few moments later, I pulled away, gazing into his eyes.

“So… is that a yes?” He looked so adorably nervous that I wanted to smother him in kisses all over again. It was clear he wasn’t sure what the correct human response was, in a scenario like this.

“Of course it’s a yes!” I cried, though Navan lifted a finger to his lips, conscious that the others on the ship might still be asleep. After all, the hatch was still open. I wanted to yell it to the universe, but I could understand his hesitancy. With a war approaching, this felt like it should be oddly private—a moment between the two of us.

As Navan lifted my hand and pushed the ring onto my finger, a little excited squeak rose from his throat. I shared his excitement as I stared down at the beautiful piece of jewelry, my cheeks aching from the relentless smile that had appeared on my face. I marveled at the ring and the way it glinted in the light, the sea-green gemstone shifting color with every subtle turn. Without warning, Navan scooped me back into a passionate embrace, catching my lips in his, placing the box on the floor so he could hold me properly.

I pulled back and peered up into his glittering eyes. “Wait, what have you actually been doing in here all this time? Did you make this ring?”

The pieces of the puzzle were slowly coming together in my mind. There was something so unique about the stone and the setting, not to mention the hologram, that it had to be handmade.

He kissed me on the lips. “Yeah, I’ve been in here making it. I didn’t want to pick a room too close to ours in case the hammering disturbed you and you came snooping. I should’ve realized constantly disappearing in the middle of the night was a bad way to go about things, but I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn’t want you to accidentally find it before it was finished.”

“I thought you were dying!”

He chuckled against my neck, tracing kisses across my collarbone. “Why would you think that?”

“I came sneaking up here one night and heard someone coughing. I thought it was you, choking up your lungs or something.”

He looked thoughtful for a second. “Ah, I know what that was,” he said, at last. “I was putting the hologram together, but it requires piecing together these miniscule holographic fibers, which create the picture when the ring is turned. I’d accidentally inhaled a bunch of them and was trying to cough them all up. They’re not dangerous or anything, just itchy.”

“And that’s what you were doing in the Junkyard, when you disappeared that morning! You were buying the materials for the ring!” Everything was starting to make sense now, making me realize how foolish I’d been. Navan trusted me; he’d already told me he didn’t want secrets between us. He’d proven that when he’d opened up about killing all those test subjects in Jareth’s lab. Of course there was nothing he was keeping from me.

“I was so worried you might follow me and figure out what I was up to, or that you might really think I was up to no good at the brothels,” he admitted shyly.

“Well, I’m glad you were doing this and not one of those alien broads,” I teased, grinning with utter happiness. “Did you tell any of the others what you were doing?”

“Just Ronad. He’s the only one who can keep a secret. Plus, I needed someone to cover for me, in case you started to suspect something,” he said. “I’d have roped Bash in, but he is terrible at keeping things to himself. He’d have tripped up and said something to Angie, then she’d have told you, and my whole plan would’ve gone up in smoke. I mean, it hasn’t exactly gone as planned, but it was still a surprise, right?”

I nodded. “A very lovely one.”

“I’m sorry about leaving you on your own every night. I felt so bad about lying to you when you found me in the kitchen. Part of me wanted to just tell you there and then…but the ring wasn’t ready and I didn’t want to ruin it.”

“What were you doing in there that night?”

“I was taking a break to make a batch of energizing blood, to get me through the night.”

I smiled at him, realizing what it had taken for him to make this ring for me. “I guess the kitchen wouldn’t have been a very romantic place to propose.”

“I don’t suppose an old bedroom full of storage is much better, but such is life.” He flashed me a mischievous grin, before sitting up and pulling me onto his lap. I wrapped my legs around his waist, holding his face in my hands as I gazed into his eyes.

“Well, I think this is perfect. To be honest, you could’ve asked me in a garbage chute and I’d still have said yes.”

He looked uncertain for a moment. “Really?”

“What, did you think I was going to say no?” I was stunned that he could even imagine that was a possibility after everything we’d been through. Although I was still only nineteen, I couldn’t picture myself ever being with anyone else.

“I was a bit nervous that you might, especially considering how weird and distant I’ve been with you lately. I was just trying to stay away so I didn’t blurt everything out, but I know how it must have looked,” he replied solemnly. “Besides, I know we’ve talked about marriage before, but I was worried you might think it was too soon in our relationship or too soon in your life. On Vysanthe, it’s normal to marry young, but I know it’s not the same everywhere on Earth.”

I smiled at how adorably nervous he was being. “Hey, Jean and Roger only dated for five months at the end of high school before Roger proposed to her, and they were married a couple months after. So, getting engaged so soon or so young isn’t that crazy to me. It doesn’t make a difference, as long as two people really do love each other.”

“That’s a relief to hear, believe me.” He exhaled deeply, the tension in his shoulders easing.

“Anyway, if you think about the things you and I have been through, it probably adds about a decade to the amount of time we’ve been together,” I joked, brushing my hands through his tufty hair. It was getting longer, the dark spikes starting to turn into soft curls.

He laughed brightly. “That’s very true. I hope you’re not getting sick of me.”

“I could never get sick of you.” I leaned forward and kissed him hard on the mouth.

“And you won’t change your mind?” he murmured against my lips.

“Not a chance. Not even if we have to postpone the wedding until after this stupid war is over.”

The thought that we wouldn’t have time for a wedding put a bit of a damper on my spirits, but the prospect of one day being his wife was enough to tide me over for now. I could already picture Jean and Roger standing awkwardly on some alien planet while we said our vows, both of them wondering what the hell their daughter had gotten herself into. It would be worth the wait… provided we made it through the fight, that is.

Navan flashed me a mischievous look. “Who says we have to postpone the wedding?”