Ax doubled over and waited until he stopped feeling nauseous from the matter transfer beam, then straightened. Kayana was watching him with concern that he hadn’t earned, and the guilt of it tasted sour at the back of his throat. “Look, I appreciate what you did, but—”

“Stop.” She held out a hand and helped him down from the platform, and even that brief contact made electricity trace up along his nerves with longing and anticipation. “You’ve had a rough few hours.”

“Which makes it all the more important to talk about this now.” He let go of her, snagged a bag of cricket chips out of the cabinet by the door. After crunching down a handful of chips, he started again. “I’m lousy at people.” She started to say something and he waved her off. “No, that’s a lie. I’m not lousy. I don’t bother to understand people. I’ve spent a lot of my life thinking of them as interchangeable. When I had money, they essentially were. So what if someone got pissed off. There was always someone to take their place.”

She followed him up the spiral stairs into the ship’s mess, and watched as he grabbed two pouches of food out of the heater unit. “I wasn’t trying to obligate you just because I came after you.”

“Of course not,” he said, and set one of the pouches in front of her. “That’s not who you are. But it is who I am. Or was. Or am trying not to be. Something. I’m tired of being that person. I was tired of it when I struck out on my own. Then I fell in with Gobnait, and I kept right on being that asshole because I didn’t know how to be anything else.” Ax tore open the pouch, stirred the contents, and ate a bite without reading the label. He couldn’t place the flavor—either spiced meat substitute, or a creamed leafy green. Or maybe both. It was just a stalling tactic to buy him time to think—he wasn’t sure how he wanted to continue, only knowing that whatever he said wouldn’t be enough. “I guess what I’m trying to say is, thank you for coming to get me. And I’m sorry I hurt you.”

“You also suck at apologies, if you’re making a list.” She grinned at him and looked at the pouch he’d given her before opening it. “Also, you sometimes act without thinking, or considering who might get hurt.” She took a bite of the food and made a face. “Though you did at least offer me a meal. However questionable it may be.”

“Then let me try harder. Yes, I’m selfish. And I’ve never actually viewed anyone I’ve been around as an equal, let alone a partner. Until you.”

She ate another spoonful of her dinner and grimaced. “Good start, go on.”

“You’re the first person to make me admit I liked working with someone else. It’s not just the sex...” he held up his finger when she opened her mouth to interject, “...though that is amazing. But when you walked away on Altaira, my first regret wasn’t that we wouldn’t have sex again. It was that I wouldn’t get the chance to joke with you again. That I wouldn’t be able to work through whatever impossible challenge we faced at your side. I regretted that I didn’t recognize how badly I’d hurt you, and once I did, I regretted that I wouldn’t be able to apologize for that. You have every right to maroon me. Or drag us back to Primaera for the closing gala, and take whatever winnings we’re due. But what I really want you to have is my apology. I’m sorry I considered winning more important than your feelings, and I’m sorry my selfishness got you hurt.”

Kayana nodded. “Finished? Good. When we first met, I found you to be craven, selfish, and callow. More importantly, you are exactly the sort of person my family would accuse of bringing dishonor and ruin to our House.”

“Thanks?” That was a fairly damning assessment. And when a woman who looked like the devil gave a damning assessment, it carried some weight.

“That said, I’ve also seen you be gentle, caring, clever, and brave. And it’s taken me a while to learn that what my family thinks stopped mattering on the day they disowned me.”

He put the food down and reached across the table to grab her hands. He needed to touch her like he needed air. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness, so I won’t ask for it. And I know that I won’t become a better person overnight. I’m not going to be stupid and promise that I will. But I do promise to try. I want to be better for you.”

“If that’s the case, then I shall monitor when you slip up and punish you accordingly.” She grinned, and the warmth transitioned into a different kind of heat. One that pooled low in his hips and made his exo-suit feel too tight.

“If that’s the case, I might not be too good.”

“I hope not.” She set her food packet on the table and crossed around to his side, and he couldn’t look anywhere but her mouth as the tip of her tongue moistened her charcoal-gray lips. She pressed two fingers under his chin, nails biting slightly and forcing him to lean up to her. “Now, since there’s a chance the translator unit scrambled your apology, I want you to kiss me until I believe it.”

Her mouth claimed his, and even when the holovid drone floated through the galley, he didn’t stop kissing her until lack of air demanded it.

Her smile, predatory and beautiful, made him want to start all over again, cameras be damned, but she stilled him with a finger across his lips. “Later. We’ve got a race to win.”

“But Altaira. The Forest’s Soul. We need to complete the challenge together.”

Berniss’s voice came over the intercom. “Then you might be interested in knowing that, after hearing an argument from the camera crew about the quality of footage, the Octiron Corporation is willing to accept you little adventure on Bellerophon’s factory ship to be a suitable completion of the Altaira challenge.”

Ax looked up toward the camera in the galley. “Why would you...”

“Because if they didn’t count it, then there’d be no reason to use it. And that footage is awesome.”

“So we’re done?” Kayana sounded surprised and disappointed all at once. “We can head to Primaera?”

“Yes, but you’d best hurry, Team Galaxy Riders is already on their way in to finish the race.”

Ax held his breath. Part of him wanted to question how the Galaxy Riders had squeezed past whatever their enemies had arranged for them. The rest was just relieved to have evidence that he hadn’t been responsible for their undoing. He looked at Kayana and saw her thinking much the same thing. His fingers traced the edge of her earlobe, and she let out a shaky breath, black eyes glittering. “We could fight them for the win if you want.”

She dragged her fingernail down his chest, leaving a trail of heat in her wake that set his nerves ablaze. “I’m fine with second if you are. I’ve found a better prize already.”

Her grin made his knees weak, just from the promises it insinuated. “Me too.” He tugged her close, mouth tentative as he brushed against her lips before losing himself in the kiss again.

Over the intercom, he heard Berniss’s smug voice. “Algol, take us back to Primaera, but take your time.”