Zaya paced back and forth in the short hallway of her ship. It was in the middle of the night. Her insomnia was keeping her up again. Because Hale occupied the bed, she tried to fall asleep on the sofa, but her mind wouldn’t settle down. She drank enough alcohol that she should have been able to sleep easily. Not tonight though. Hale was too deep inside her mind for her to be at peace.

She probably shouldn’t have asked him to come with her. From the beginning, she knew being alone with him was dangerous. Her hatred hadn’t been enough to kill her attraction to him. Memories of their past were too difficult to let go of.

At the end of the hall, she stopped pacing suddenly, standing in front of the door to her bedroom, where Hale currently slept. Everything she had wanted to herself for a long time was behind that door. No longer did he mean everything to her anymore, for he had betrayed her time and time again. But not all those feelings for him had been lost. What did she need to do to completely stop caring for him? She couldn’t be confident her hatred for him was real. What if her hatred was misplaced obsession over what she thought would never be hers again?

Zaya cursed as she pressed the open button on keypad by the bedroom door. Although she should leave him alone, she wanted to take a brief peek at him. A harmless little peek. Hale would never know. The door slid open silently. The light from the planet K’aldi passed through the viewport and illuminated the room enough that she could faintly see his face. He lay under the sheets and faced the door. Only half of his face was visible because he lay on his side as he slept peacefully. She could only wonder how much he drank to sleep that well. Zaya paced closer towards him, until she stood in front of the bed. His breaths were barely noticeable because he had fallen into a deep, deep sleep. Once she had watched him for a while, she noticed that on the other side of him was an empty space.

Years ago, that space would have been hers. Their relationship had, at times, been lonely for her, but nothing was as lonely as being alone. Since she left him, she had no one, only herself. The isolation was killing her slowly. To have someone beside her….

No, I shouldn’t.

She wished to hold onto her hatred for Hale, regardless of if it were real or not. But she couldn’t find the strength to hate him right now. She wanted to relive the past temporarily. She wanted to remember exactly what it felt like to have him beside her.

Zaya stepped around the bed and first sat on the edge of the mattress. She rested her head on the empty pillow and faced Hale’s back. His scent was sweet, in spite of the lingering fragrance of alcohol surrounding him. She would only stay for a minute or two. His presence being so close was all she needed. The brief feeling of having him close like this would have to be enough to get through working with him. He was off limits physically. She couldn’t let herself grow attached to him again.

Before she opened her eyes, she instinctively rubbed them as she would if she were just waking up in the morning. She froze, and her eyes went wide immediately.

She had fallen asleep.

Oh no.

With her racing heart, she sat up and looked beside her, expecting to see an empty space. But to her surprise, he still lay there facing the door. He appeared to be in the exact same position. Maybe he didn’t wake up. She would find out when he woke up though. He would certainly make fun of her if he knew she had slept beside him, considering she told him to keep things professional. She slid off the bed and scurried back to the bridge. She checked the time on the screen embedded in her protective gauntlets, which she rarely took off. It had been three hours.

For three full hours she had slept by his side. She hadn’t felt that warm in ages. Zaya grabbed her favorite drink and sat in the pilot chair to admire the view of K’aldi and try to distract herself from Hale. Was it going to work? Absolutely not. But she was determined to try.

Zaya spent the next two hours admiring K’aldi and the stars. The stars and their endless patterns were her favorite part of the view. When she heard footsteps from down the hall, she tensed up and turned her head. Hale was walking down the hallway slowly.

As soon as the lights from the ceiling hit his eyes, he squinted from the pain and held his hand over his eyes. Hale felt around for the couch and sat down on the cushions.

“Did you sleep okay?” Zaya asked him.

He nodded, still squinting his eyes shut. “Yeah, I eventually was able to get some rest.”

“Bad headache?”

“Yeah, it’s killing me. But I’ll be fine for tonight. I’m used to this.”

It seemed he didn’t know she napped beside him. That was a relief. Zaya reached over and dimmed the lights using the switch on the wall near her. She looked back at him, and Hale had opened his eyes fully and watched her. He smiled when they met eyes. She should have detested his smile.

“Better?” She asked him.

“A little.” He winced. “My head—if I move, it hurts and makes me wonder why I like drinking so much.”

Zaya got up from her chair and went to him. “Do you have any medicine for your headache?”

“I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I already finished the last bottle I had.”

She scoffed and went to check her medicine compartment. She found a small bottle of the medicine he needed. Normally Zaya would have tossed him the bottle, but she had sympathy for him because of his pain. She brought him a bottle of water along with the medicine. He stared at her in amazement as he accepted it. Was it so surprising that she was helping him?

“Don’t over think it,” Zaya stated, rolling her eyes as she dropped down on the couch. “I need you to be presentable for tonight’s meeting.”

He swallowed the pills and set the glass on the table. Slowly, a wide smile overcame his face. She witnessed it from her peripheral vision.

“What?” Zaya asked aggressively. “Why are you smiling like that?”

Hale turned to her. “Like this?”

“Yes.”

“Because of you. Neither of us is being honest about our feelings.”

Zaya felt her expression turn sour as he finished his sentence. Had he woken up after all? Her hands twitched over her lap in fear. “I have no feelings for you, if that’s what you mean by ‘feelings.’”

“I thought you didn’t. But clearly you’re lying.”

“Why do you even care? You’re in love with a princess, right? I’m sure you think she’s leagues ahead of me.”

Bringing Pandora up was cruel. Zaya could see that now. He laughed it off, but she could see through him into the heartbreak he experienced from thinking about Pandora. He missed her. His drinking until he passed out was probably because of Pandora. She understood the pain that came along with wanting someone that was impossible to have.

She hung her head. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have brought her up.”

He pretended to be unbothered. “She shouldn’t matter to me anymore. I can’t ever be with her. I want to move on somehow.”

“How do you want to move on?”

He leaned in closer. “By any means necessary. You’re lucky I was alive to accept the job.”

Without stopping to think, she placed a hand on his leg. “I’m thankful that you’re here.”

He placed his hand over hers, staring at her with his perfect cerulean eyes. Her hand pulsed from his affectionate touch, which was all that was necessary to reawaken her heart to him. Passion spent years being disguised as rage now burned in its true form. Did he know how inconsiderate it was for him to bring back their past or how despicable it was to make her want him again? She used to criticize Hale for being easy, but how hypocritical that was for her to say. After everything that he had done to her, she was easy for him.

With her other hand, she grasped the back of his neck and drew him close to her face. “You’ve always been so cruel to me,” she whispered.

“I think you like it.”

Before he could even think about kissing her, she closed the gap between their lips with her own. Her passion burned as a low flame, one that would not be easily extinguished and took time to reach its fullest potential. His were the lips she knew through and through. And wanting him was a feeling she lived with for many years that had been left unsatisfied. She grasped his shirt and could have torn it away from his skin. Everything she wanted from him was in her reach. Where this kiss would lead if it continued was where they always ended up. Hale would likely do anything to get his mind off Pandora. Zaya would have taken complete advantage of that, but she didn’t want to go back to the past, where she found herself at his mercy, promising anything for his touch. He could convince her that what he needed from her was what she wanted.

She pushed him away, nearly throwing his body against the couch, and ran. She would never go back to that place with him.

But never was truly a dangerous promise.

* * * *

Once night fell on K’aldi, Zaya landed her ship on the planet’s surface. Hale followed her a short distance across a small town to tavern called “The Lilac.” As they approached the tavern, he noticed the baskets of real lilac flowers growing in front of the windows. The tavern walls were built of sturdy grey stone and wooden posts. The three moons shone red on the shingle roof faded from the sun. Hale stepped over the porch and pushed open the wooden door, entering the tavern.

Waiting for them inside this establishment was warmth from the fire pit in the center of the room. People of different species were sitting at the round wooden tables equally spaced out from each other. The patrons drank from metal or glass cups and were either talking with one another or watching the news from the holoprojectors set on each table. Hale and Zaya walked across the room to the back wall where the bar was. They sat down on stools, and the bartender came up to them. Her face and body structure resembled a human’s. But her eyes were larger than what was common for the human population, and from her scalp grew both hair and feathers.

The bartender smiled at each of them. “How are you tonight?”

Hale looked over to Zaya, who was staring at the screen on her gauntlet. He looked back at the bartender. “We’re doing well.” That was anything but true. Zaya hadn’t looked him in the eyes since this morning.

“What would you like to drink? I can tell you aren’t from K’aldi. So, I can recommend some things.”

“Do you have a specialty?” Hale asked.

“We do. It’s a bit of an acquired taste, but I’ll let you each sample it.” She filled up two small glasses of bubbling light purple drink.

Hale sipped half of it and closed his eyes as he tasted the drink. It was sour then bitter at first, but as the flavor remained on his tongue, the taste became sweet. He smelled the remaining liquid in his cup and noted the strength of the alcohol present.

“What do you think?” The bartender asked.

Hale handed the glass to her. “It’s good. I’ll have some more.”

She gave him a larger glass. Zaya still ignored the bartender and focused on what was happening around them. She was looking for their client. Hale hadn’t found anyone that stood out yet.

“Do you know when he’s coming?” Hale asked.

She looked up and glared at him. “Soon.”

He nodded to confirm he heard her but refused her short answer a voiced response. She was being ridiculous. It was just a kiss. Both of them were single. He should have known not to kiss her back. While Zaya kissed him— she kissed him— he shouldn’t have let her. Their past was something she might never let go. Their relationship had been a disaster, but the passion they shared, he would never forget. She acted as though there were no good times, but to him, that was a devastating lie.

Their personalities were too similar. They both were aggressive and always needed to be in control to be satisfied in every area of life. Sure, they would clash day and night because of their similarities, but there were gems found in between. Zaya had been undeniably loyal to him alone. He should have treasured that because of how rare it was. She would take care of him when he got injured from work, and because of how similar they were, she could seemingly read his mind to know exactly what he needed.

They met when he was young and just making a name for himself. She had been a part of the underworld longer than he, and he knew he could learn a lot from her. She was five years older, and he idolized her. And when he realized that she was attracted to him, he didn’t know how to refuse her. She was everything he wanted to be. However, even then he knew he didn’t love her. But if he had told her that, he would have lost her then and missed out on the good. She was the first real friend he made in the criminal world. But friends should have been the only option for them. In the past, she would convince him he should love her. She had done so much for him after all. Why hadn’t it been enough to make him love her?

“He’s here,” Zaya whispered. “Don’t look around. Just follow me.”

Hale stood from the barstool and walked behind Zaya across the tavern to a table in a shadowy corner. There was a person covered in a thick black cloak who sat at the table and faced the wall. Zaya sat across from the man. Hale joined her on that side. Only the man’s lower half of his face was visible. He was human and had a white-grey beard.

“Thank you for meeting me here. I hope your travel to K’aldi went well,” the man said.

For the first time since their kiss, Zaya smiled. “It did. I’m glad to see you picked this small place on the edge of the city. That was good thinking.”

“I can’t afford to be recognized right now.”

“Why?” Hale asked. “Who are you?”

Zaya glared at Hale, as though he had overstepped an obvious boundary. “It’s not necessary,” Zaya cut in. “We’ve already accepted the job.”

“All you need to know is that I am an enemy of the powers at be.”

Hale was only curious. He was always surprised at the information people would reveal when asked, them thinking that it was nothing more than casual conversation.

“What do you need us to do for you?” Zaya clearly wanted to cut the small talk.

Their client pulled out a personal tablet and set it down on the table in front of them. He ran his hand above the screen, which emitted a white three-dimensional projection of the castle in the center of this city.

“Tomorrow night, this is where you will be going,” their client announced. “You can take this tablet with you. It has the floor plans of the castle. Every minute detail.” He pushed it towards Zaya. “The current royal family is having a reception, during which you will break in. I have disguises for you and ID’s. However, your main objective is to kill every member of the royal family there and rescue my wife. She is being held somewhere within the castle. I’m afraid I don’t have the expertise to kill like you two, which is why I hired you.”

“Anything else?” Zaya asked.

“Don’t let anyone see you kill the royal family.”

Zaya nodded. “That won’t be a problem.”

Their client spoke. “I have typed out a possible plan for you both and provided a list of people that you need to be able to recognize.”