When I finished university, my parents expected me to settle in Datter and maybe even marry Beka, but instead I took a postgrad degree for interplanetary certification. When I signed up to work in Building Safety, I checked ‘no preference’ for destination requests. My parents were increasingly concerned. But why, Ash, when there’s plenty of work here? and then But they could send you anywhere, and finally We might not see you for months, maybe years.
I didn’t care.
The Building Compliance Department sent me to Gobi, a dusty world of relentless sun, where the coolest days approached forty degrees and the hottest ones passed fifty, and told me to inspect buildings. I was still awkward and uncomfortable when I arrived, but within twenty-four hours, I was alone with a musician named Cade Daka, who had beautiful hands, dark eyes, and darker secrets. He changed my life.
I haven’t been bored since.
