“We have to go,” Dragon said, grabbing Jade to help her off the table.

She stopped him. Jade didn’t know what would happen next, but of one thing she was certain.

“I love you,” she said. The revelation hit her hard, filling her with wonder.

The emotion was foreign to Jade, and yet, also familiar, making her feel that, for once in her life, everything made sense. Even in the midst of complete chaos, it only took one look at Dragon, and calm possessed her.

Dragon leaned away. His eyes sparked with a brilliance that would have put a star to shame. “Jade—”

“You needed to know.” She sought his lips, not ready to face reality.

“I never thought I’d hear those words from you,” he said, his voice a hoarse whisper.

“I never thought I’d ever say those words to anyone.” She burrowed into his warmth.

Dragon trailed small kisses on her nose and cheeks. “I love you, my fearsome assassin.”

His strong hands caressed and soothed her, vanishing her dark thoughts of imprisonment and death. Everything was possible in his arms. They had the most lethal forces in the Fifth Moon’s System hunting them, but Jade was ready to mow down everyone in their path. Now that she had found a reason to believe in the future, her own family, she wanted her happily ever after and would do anything in her power to achieve it.

“We must rescue Valerian,” she said, breaking their kiss.

Dragon groaned. “Valerian’s a big boy,” he said with a small chuckle. “But I need to make sure he’s alive for what comes next—”

A loud bang on the external door interrupted him. A hissing noise followed.

“They are melting the metal with a torch,” Jade supplied, leaning away from him and jumping off the table.

“Break’s over.” Dragon grabbed her elbow and turned Jade for a kiss that took her breath away. “Do you trust me?”

Drowning in the depth of his aquamarine eyes, she answered, “Yes, I do.” She clutched his hand and placed it against her bump. “With our lives.”

His intake of breath resonated loud in the room. He brushed her lips one more time before turning to the stoves. “Help me turn all the burners on.”

Jade hurried to fire up the four industrial stoves as Dragon threw every scrap of cloth he could find onto the burners. Red welts contorted the metal surface of the external door as the banging continued. Angry voices filtered inside, one of them familiar.

“Come out, Dragon,” Lauren called. “I know you are there.” The metal walls softened the words, and she must have been screaming for Jade to understand her.

The fumes from the burning cloths became thick as the fires spread from one burner to the next, engulfing the stoves, and reaching the back of the walls. Tongues of red and orange flames licked the ceiling, propagating fast. The fire activated the water hoses, and the floors were flooded next. The level of the water rose higher than Jade’s chest in a matter of seconds. A moment later, she found herself submerged.

Orange light from the metal door being torched colored the liquid darkness surrounding Jade. As soon as Lauren’s gang breached the entrance, water would pour out, but it wouldn’t stop them for long.

Before Jade could kick her feet and swim, Dragon pulled her to him and kissed her, pumping air into her lungs as he propelled both of them toward the hatch door that was still above the water. With his free arm, he opened the hatch, pushed her inside the shaft and hurried to close the door behind them just in the nick of time.

“Are you okay?” he asked Jade, his hand reaching for her shoulder.

Panting, Jade nodded. “To the command room?” she asked, looking ahead and seeing little in the darkness surrounding the maintenance shaft.

“Yes. I’ll lead the way.” He passed her, his body sliding between hers and the wall.

She followed him, keeping close enough to touch his leg if she wanted. His movements were as soft as hers, and they walked on all fours for several minutes before Dragon stopped.

“I see the infirmary hatch,” he said.

They listened for any sign of unrest, and when they didn’t hear anything suspicious resumed their trek.

More than fifteen minutes later, a cramp seized Jade’s stomach, and she slowed her pace. Her knees and palms hurt more than the cramp, but she wouldn’t have stopped for them. She was used to physical pain and exertion. What she wasn’t used to was constantly worrying for her unborn child.

“Are you okay?” Dragon asked.

“A cramp,” she said, trying to keep the panic out of her voice. “Now it’s gone.” She blindly reached out for him and found herself wrapped in his arms. “We’re going to be fine,” she said, leaning her head against his chest.

“I’ll make sure of it, my love.” He kissed her crown and rested his chin on top of her head.

Rejoicing in his embrace, Jade inhaled his scent to anchor her tumultuous thoughts to him. “I’m ready,” she said, pushing at the solid wall of his chest. She appreciated that Dragon didn’t try to dissuade her from continuing on. He squeezed her hand instead, conveying with that simple gesture more than words could ever say.

She resumed her crawl, trying to relax her stiff back and focusing on his soft voice.

“This reminds me of something. When Lars, Valerian, and I were kids, we played this game of hide and seek in the maze inside the caves underneath Sol Palace,” Dragon said.

She knew he was trying to distract her and found his attempt sweet.

He continued, “Since the three of us could see easily in the dark, we used to enter the cave blindfolded to make it more challenging and spent hours in complete darkness looking for the maze’s exit—”

Jade listened to his tales of a childhood she could only dream of as his constant stream of words lulled her into a calmer state. Much later, he announced they had reached the command room.

From the shaft, she could hear no sound, but Dragon stopped for a moment before saying, “Valerian is in there.”

Jade moved to Dragon’s side and kissed him soundly. “What are we waiting for? Let’s rescue him.”