Reclaiming Mystique (SpaceStalker Saga Book 2) by Bevan Greer Page B

crew. Just tell her that I had some trouble with the Meklens but that I’m okay. And take care of that boy of yours. Jace Jr. has my smile.”
    “You wish.” Garen shook his head. “I’ll go. Now. But if I don’t hear from you within a moon’s rising, I’ll come get you myself. Be sure to let me know if Mikhel takes a turn for the worse. The queen will want to know.”
    The Fenby Queen, Thela Vinopol—Mikhel’s sister. Though once on opposite sides with the Vinopol monarchy, Mikhel had made his peace with the royals. Now under the leadership of a wise and noble king bent on patching the Bylaran and Fenturi people together, Fenby had been flourishing under its new leader. It helped that the king truly loved Queen Thela, and that he wanted peace as much if not more than Thela did.
    “I’ll let you know about Mikhel.” Jace said good-bye and cut the connection, knowing he should be angry at Garen’s interference. Though he’d been alone for most of his life, his relationship with Dare had filled a part of him devoid of family. Having lost her to Garen a cycle past, he’d been ignoring the small void her absence left.
    His crew felt more like friends than crewmen, his relationship with Castor closer than the others. Yet none of them knew the truth of who he was. Fear of the legendary Psi ran rampant through the System. Tolerance, though practiced in abundance on certain planets on the System, was saved for its inhabitants. Mystique did not exist as far as the System was concerned, nor for that matter, did its people.
    And if he was smart, he’d stick to what mattered in the now. Like getting the ship fixed on Rovi and figuring out what to do with Naria. So much about her didn’t make sense, like why he was so in tune with her, so attracted to her. And that sense that something about her story didn’t ring true. “ You’re not from Seven, eh? My guess is neither is she, ” Koneru had said.
    If not from Seven, then where did Naria come from? And more importantly, what had she been doing on Dark World?
     
    ***
     
    Naria sat in Jace’s study and poured through his texts about the Motherworlds, reading them like a thirsting woman downing water.
    These books gave an entirely different perspective on life in the System than the one she’d learned. Though the research collected on Dark World had been impressive, these texts looked to be hundreds of cycles old. And they came from different planets, offering varied interpretations of history and culture.
    On Dark World, Naria had learned of the Ragil Horde and the Cazeth leading the path to true chaos throughout the System. From what she’d been told, the Horde were both heroes and unfortunate sacrifices. They’d tried but failed to conquer the System a millennium past.
    In the book Naria currently perused, a supposed battle had occurred only this last cycle between the Horde and planet Bylar, now planet Fenby. Entranced, Naria devoured the passages describing how the Horde was an evil bent on death and destruction.
    Closing the book after some time, Naria adjusted her thinking. To an offworlder the Horde was evil. They sought to control everyone and everything. Absolute control—a trait revered on Dark World but frowned upon in the rest of the System.
    Naria knew if she was going to fit in outside of her world, she would have to start thinking and acting like an offworlder, a citizen of Seven.
    She took another volume off the shelves of Jace’s vast library and began reading, intent on learning what the System thought of Seven, and the information matched what she’d learned from her studies on Fer.
    Seven was named such for its seven cycles of darkness followed by its seven cycles of light. So close to Dark World and Pith, the planet served as a kind of barrier protecting the System from its darkest planet. Though Dark Worlders did not venture from their world, they knew much about the System from Seven’s dark cycles.
    When the planet entered its dark