It was a short hop from Bulwark to the Hub, a couple hours of flight in which Roman could lose himself in the mundane details of ship diagnostics and the idle chatter of pilots on patrol around the fortress in space.

The Eclipse was over, with some eighteen months of breathing room before them, and the whole Wolf clan had relaxed. Everyone was back on duty. Darkspace was safe again—as safe as it ever got. The shadow had passed once more.

Roman let his ship do most of the flying. In realspace, the AI could manage well enough. He leaned back in his seat and watched the Hub grow ever bigger through the window.

Technically, this was Hub Mark 6—the most recent in the series of space stations that had been guarding the Breach since it opened over a thousand years ago. The first two Hubs had fallen to demon attacks. That had been in the very beginning of the Empire—long before this system had been settled, before the Wolf had truly come into their own. Since then, each Hub had been constructed bigger and better than the last, and had cemented the line of defense keeping demons from coming through the one tear into darkspace that would never close.

The current Hub was less than a hundred years old, and still a marvel of modern technology and design. It was huge—a quarter mile tall at the central pillar, with spokes reaching out to wheels of more than twice that in diameter. In all the Empire, there existed no greater feat of engineering.

Past the Hub, already filling Roman’s view, was the Breach. A rip in space, a pulsing field of nothing through which no stars shone. Roman could feel it, a prickling drag against that extra sense that made him what he was.

Darkspace was never far. It interwove with realspace, an alternate or parallel world—Roman had never understood the physics of it. Hikmaics like Roman could find its ripples anywhere, could sidestep their way in and back out. But this was the one place in the Empire—in the Universe—where anyone or anything, regardless of their gifts, could travel in.

Or out.

Roman let the ship AI line him up with the Hub’s spin, then took over the controls as he turned in towards the scout hangar. He landed, gave his stomach a moment to adjust to the return to gravity, then told his ship to send a message to Lukas that Roman was coming to see him.

Roman aimed himself at Lukas’s office without waiting for his AI to confirm Lukas was working. Lukas was always working. Roman believed that Lukas did things like eat and sleep because Lukas was—in theory—as human as the rest of them. Except that in these last few years, Roman had never caught Lukas anywhere that wasn’t either in his office or sitting at Lord Faust’s side.

Hayashi Lukas wasn’t a lord. He wasn’t a great warrior. His adaptations were only just strong enough for him to pass his pilot clearance. All that said, Lukas was possibly the most important, most indispensable member of the clan. As Lord Faust’s assistant, Lukas managed every little administrative detail that kept the Wolf functioning.

Lukas and Roman had come through training together. They’d earned their Fangs together. They’d dated just long enough to discover they were disastrous in bed, and then had settled into a solid friendship. Which was going to make this meeting all the more difficult.

Lukas looked up as Roman came into his office. He was a small man, a little too thin, with the blinking, sunken eyes of someone who lived most of his life without enough sleep or sunlight. But he possessed a centered calm that always seemed to fill the space around him, forging an island of peace in what was so often chaos.

A peace which Roman was here to disturb.

In fact, Lukas visibly tensed at the sight of him. “What’s gone wrong?” was his greeting.

Roman’s chest got heavy with the knowledge he was about to add to Lukas’s burdens. “Maybe I’m just here to chat.”

Lukas set his pen down, what looked like a careless gesture except that the pen lay on his desk in perfect parallel alignment to the paper it was next to. “It’s the middle of your night-cycle. You never voluntarily miss out on sleep.”

Over two hundred scouts on active duty, and ten times that many soldiers, and Lukas knew Roman’s schedule off the top of his head. Would know the schedule of anyone who walked into this office. It was a little scary.

Roman was stalling. “You’re edgy. Is everything all right?”

Lukas leaned back in his chair, scrubbed his face with his hands. “I’m just…tired. Everyone’s tired. End of the Eclipse, and I know we’ll have some time to relax, except it hasn’t happened yet. It’s like no one told the demons they were supposed to…” He looked up at Roman. “Or maybe it’s always like this and I’m just so tired, I’ve forgotten.”

Roman hadn’t heard anything about problems now the Eclipse was over. Of course, he’d mainly been keeping to himself. Even avoiding Satsu and Dre. “Demon’s still fucking around?”

Lukas gestured for Roman to sit. “The Dark World retreated like it’s supposed to, but it’s like the demons didn’t go with it. In two days, I’ve lost two scouts. And one of the Swan transports returning to Terris from Shadow Court was attacked by a swarm and under siege for hours until we could get to them.”

He waved at a pile of folders on the edge of his desk. “I’ve got all kinds of angry letters from clan and family lords. Like any of this is our fault. But if darkspace isn’t behaving, there’s got to be something the Wolf can do, right? Worse, Lord Faust agrees—she wants us to assign escorts to every ship moving through darkspace until things calm down for real. Which is a logistical nightmare, but I can make it happen.” He paused, squinched his face apologetically. “I’m sorry, Ro. I know you asked for time off, and end of an Eclipse, you deserve it, but I’m going to need you flying again. I can’t afford to have anyone grounded right now. But especially not my best pilot.”

There it was. If Roman spoke up, told the truth, Lukas would have to ground him. At least for a while. Roman would be letting down the whole clan—his family and friends. The Empire. If Roman wasn’t flying, at best that added to the burdens of all his fellow scouts. At worst, people would die.

Really, what had happened? He’d talked to a demon. Sure, he was dreaming about it, but the situation had been strange and scary and his mind was still working through it.

What was he supposed to say? She could have killed me and she didn’t. I’m dreaming about her. I know what she smells like, her touch against my skin, the sound of her laughter.

They’d clip his wings for sure.

“I can fly if you need me.”

“You have no idea how much that helps.” The relief in Lukas’s voice was clear.

“That’s what I’m here for.” Roman stood back up. Turned to go.

“Hey,” Lukas said. “What was it you wanted to talk about?”

If he walked out, if he said nothing, then Roman was officially keeping secrets. This was the threshold that, once he crossed it, he moved into the realm of serious trouble if he was found out.

But his clan needed him. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll catch you later.”