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502 pages, ebook
First published May 5, 2020
In a flash almost too quick to track, Kal seizes the man’s wrist, bends it backward with a bright snapping sound. The man screams and Kal twists; I hear another crunch as the guy’s elbow bends in entirely the wrong direction. The other Unbroken step forward, but with a hiss, the young woman called Saidii holds them still. And as I watch, horrified, Kal sweeps the warrior’s feet out from under him and starts slamming his fist into his face. Lips peeled back from his teeth. Eyes burning.
**
Kal catches her as she sags, pulling her up in his arms. Impossibly gentle, where a moment ago he was anything but.
I need to let go of my past, and focus on my present.
I need to abandon who I was, and embrace who I am.
I just need to burn it all away.
I learn that Auri starts snorting when she giggles too hard. I learn that Kal has a deep, booming laugh you can feel in your chest. I learn that Scarlett cannot be bluffed, no matter how hard you try. And I learn that maybe I don’t suck at Peopling as much as I suspected
"It's called a mustache," Tyler says.
"It's called disgusting, Goldenboy."
"It appears as if a skenk crawled onto his lip and expired," Kal says.
"Right?" Fin agrees. "Human body hair, ugh""
"Wait," I hear Aurora say. "You mean Syldrathi don't grow facial hair?"
"No, be'shmai."
"... Do you grow it anywhere else?"
"Could we PLEASE," Tyler says slowly. "Keep our minds. On this job?"
I see a courage in Finian that other Warbreed would envy. He asks for nothing, this boy. No favor. No quarter. He lives every moment of his life in pain, but still, he lives it. And he stands, where others would have long ago fallen.
”We have the whole galaxy arrayed against us,” I tell him. “But this is where we are meant to be. We are part of something greater now; I feel it in my bones. You will lead us through this. And I will follow you, Brother.”
Syldrathi do not touch, save in moments of intimacy or ritual. But Tyler Jones and I have brawled in the belly of Terran destroyers, butted heads across the Fold, looked into the eyes of death side by side. Human he might be. Weary and bruised and flawed as the rest of them. But in battle, everyone bleeds the same.
I offer him my hand.
“I know my friends, and they are few. But those few I have, I would die for.”
#1 Aurora Rising ★★★★★
#2 Aurora Burning ???
#3 untitled ???
The only way out is thorough.