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She tensed She’d not seen that particular ie for a while, she’d avoided it, but the cube was on a rando

He was s He always smiled

“Pause,” she instructed the cube The picture glued itself to the bare wall and stayed there

Tears trickled down her face It was so unfair that he was gone, never to return She sat on the edge of the bed and wept

Mason appeared as if by ic He crouched by her side and held her hands “Jade, what’s wrong? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

She shook her head This wasn’t about Curtis or what happened in the bar Her attempt at distraction had led her to another place, perhaps a worse one She hiccoughed “It’s not that”

“So what is it?” He joined her on the bed and hooked his ar her closer “Who’s the man?”

“To he would never hear her say it

“If you don’t want to talk about it—”

“He’s my cousin” She stared into the brown eyes of To to make him more real Alive

“I’ently probed, squeezing her arm

“Yes He was conscripted into the Federal ar into space “You knohat it’s like for a young o on an adventure”

“Yes, I do Where did they send him?”

Jade didn’t want hiers far better than him, but ideals didn’t matter when it was your dream to leave home and see the world, the distant suns “Dra”