DEX
IF EVER THERE was a time for Dextro Arez to drink his way into blissful oblivion, it was now.
As he climbed down from the transport wagon, his boots landed on soft desert sand. He felt his face break into a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
The Sands of Bailet.
Dex had been here before, shortly after he’d first met Andi. It was one of the first places they had traveled together. She’d helped him track down a target for Raiseth, his former boss and leader of the Bounty Hunters’ branch. They’d marveled at this planet’s beauty and, later that night, celebrated their victory by drinking and dancing in a small village bar until morning.
Spread across the Sands of Bailet were towering, spiral mounds of red rock, each large enough to house hundreds of citizens.
Tonight, the giamounds had been transformed. Glowing Adhiran spirals were painted on their sides, and some had flags staked to the rock, waving in the wind.
Hundreds of people twirled beneath them on the sand, their loose clothing dancing in the wind as their bodies moved in time with the music. The beat was alive in the firelight, hundreds of hands clapping at once whenever the stringed instruments rose to a sweet, piercing high note.
On the edges of the festival, booths had been set up, and shopkeepers called out their wares to passersby. Colorful garb hung from the booths, fluttering in the wind. A flock of pure white birds soared from a cage, exploding into the sky as the crowd cheered below.
Dex almost tripped over his boots as a pillar of orange flame suddenly spiraled high into the sky before him, then arced back down, where it disappeared into the waiting mouth of a firebreather from the Endless Sea, the green gills on her neck glowing as the fire shot out of the slits.
She must have a hell of a time fire-breathing underwater, Dex thought sarcastically.
Beside her a little round droid rolled around on the sand, collecting Krevs from outstretched hands, depositing them into a waiting seashell the size of Dex’s head.
Dex passed a star-reader, her stand draped in holographic sheets and wind chimes, their music mingling with the sounds of the festival.
As he got closer to the center of the crowd, Dex could smell the mouthwatering scent of freshly cooked meat, likely coming from a booth where orange smoke trailed high into the sky. The shopkeeper, an Uulvecan man with four arms, quickly flipped slabs of meat into the air and slapped them back down onto a fiery table. A long line of patrons stood waiting, some with thick mugs of the sweet Jurum that swept its drinkers up into a warm, bubbling embrace.
That, Dex thought, is exactly what I’m after.
He looked back over his shoulder to where Andi’s crew was making their way down from the top of the hill. Breck looked like a wonder in her gown. Gilly walked beside her in a dress of glittering purple that made her red braids shine bright as moon lava. She was already twirling in time with the music.
Thank the Godstars she’d left her furry horned demon behind in the mountain fortress with Alfie.
Then there was the pilot. Her face was alight with a serene smile as she led the pack, walking as if she hadn’t a care in the world. Lira’s twin brother glided along beside her, his muscular chest bared to the desert.
For a moment, as Dex looked at them, he caught himself thinking, There’s my crew.
Though he hadn’t set out to, he’d bonded with the Marauders. Their personalities were magnetic. They each shone brightly in their own ways, and the thought of leaving them behind once this was all over suddenly saddened him.
He looked back up the hillside just in time to see two figures crest the horizon.
Dex actually stopped walking at the sight of them.
Valen didn’t look quite so off-putting as he had before. He was still atrophied and greasy, Dex noted, but there was a smile on his face. He looked more alive, transformed since Dex had last seen him shattering Andi’s heart back in their living quarters.
He was too moody. Too strange. Dex reminded himself to keep a closer eye on him.
But it was Andi who really caught Dex’s attention.
For one moment he saw her as the girl she used to be, standing on a hillside, staring out at the world below—not as if she wanted to burn it to a pile of ashes, but rather run down into it and celebrate everything life had to offer.
Gone was her scowl, and with it the tight braid that made her look like she didn’t have room to smile even if she’d wanted to. Instead, her hair fluttered in the wind like silvery-purple ribbons, and though she still had on her tight black clothing, it showed off her curves in the moonlight.
Dex couldn’t help it. His body warmed, and suddenly he was imagining all the times they’d danced together in the past, the feel of her smooth skin beneath his hands, the heated words she’d whispered that sent shocks of electricity running through his every nerve. The press of her lips to his...
“Godstars,” Dex said to himself.
These were thoughts that he had to shove deep down until they withered and died, just like his feelings for her. He had no right even thinking such things.
Dex allowed himself one last glance at Andi and Valen, wondering about the moments they might have shared together in the darkness. He’d assumed, as everyone had, that the chasm between them could never close.
But not for the first time since the start of the mission...Dex was surprised to find that he’d been wrong.
He sighed and turned on his heel, his mouth watering for a taste of sweet, liquid freedom that would whisk him away.
Revalia had finally started.
Now it was time for Dex to have a little bit of fun.