Made of Stars - Hardcover

Voris, Jenna

 
9780593525210: Made of Stars
Hardcover
ISBN 10: 0593525213 ISBN 13: 9780593525210
Verlag: Viking Books for Young Readers, 2023

Inhaltsangabe

Inspired by the lawless love story of Bonnie and Clyde, Jenna Voris’s heart-stopping tale of passion and crime will have you seeing stars.

"A thrill ride of the highest caliber. Made of Stars is an explosion of space warfare with beautifully violent criminals you’ll love to accompany." —Chloe Gong, #1 New York Times bestselling author of These Violent Delights

Shane and Ava are a team. He steals the aircraft, she charms their mark, and together they take what they need. Not even their distracting chemistry could get in the way. Until Shane was caught and left to rot on a prison moon. Now, freshly escaped from confinement and simmering with anger, he has his sights set on their biggest job yet.

Cyrus just graduated from the flight academy with a shiny new position lined up reporting to a well-respected general. On his very first assignment, he stops the outlaws in their tracks—or he would have, if his annoyingly handsome copilot, Lark, hadn’t fallen for Ava’s deception.

But when Shane uncovers a top-secret plot that would leave his and Ava’s home world at the mercy of Cyrus’s military leaders, he makes it his mission to thwart them at all costs. It isn’t long before the two of them make interstellar headlines with each new heist. And thanks to a chance run-in with the rebels, Cyrus is caught between two versions of the truth. He must pick a side—and fast. Because Shane and Ava will bring the planet to its knees . . . or die trying.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Jenna Voris writes books about ambitious girls and galaxy traversing adventures. She was born and raised in Indiana—where she learned to love roundabouts and the art of college basketball—and now calls Washington D.C. home. When she’s not writing, she can be found perfecting her road trip playlists and desperately trying to keep her houseplants alive. Made of Stars is her debut. 

Follow her online @JennaVoris and at jennamvoris.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

CHAPTER ONE

The young ones died first.

Blood pooled between the stones and crawled across the floor with delicate phantom hands. Shane felt it sink into his bones the longer he lay in the cell. How long had it been since he tasted pure, unrecycled oxygen? Since he felt the steady weight of a weapon in his hand? His finger twitched as he imagined the shock of a rifle against his shoulder, the silent shot in the open vacuum of space.

You’re not going to die here.

Shane rolled over, wincing as his shoulder twisted painfully. He’d popped it back into place after the fight yesterday, but the skin was still swollen and tender. His hands ached, too. He tried not to think about why, but the memories always overcame him in the end.

A pulse slowing under his fingers. The other man clawing at the floor, broken nails scratching down the dusty walls. Shane had always thought killing would be harder, that it would take a certain kind of person to wrap their hands around another’s throat and squeeze until there was nothing left, but it had been over by the time the warden arrived, before the droids swarmed and the prisoners rioted. Killing was the easiest thing in the world. And Shane wasn’t sorry.

He exhaled, grimacing at the sharp pain in his chest. They kept it cold in solitary. Add that to the list of things these people would pay for. He’d come for them all eventually—­every officer, every warden, every droid. Everyone who funded a place like this. You’re not going to die here.

Shane’s last thoughts before the dark claimed him again were of his hands, pale and trembling without something to hold, and that man’s vacant, lifeless stare.

CHAPTER TWO

Three months of planning and Ava had still managed to underestimate the cold.

She shivered as she followed a masked officer through the twisting corridors of the Opian prison moon. They had made it through the first security checkpoint without so much as a whisper from the alarms, but another officer stopped her before she reached the second. He yanked her into a corner between a damp, icy wall and a security droid, and Ava had to remind herself that this was normal as his hands closed around her waist.

This was Chess. This level of security was expected. Still, she had to force herself not to flinch, to focus on the camera embedded in the droid’s flat, metal face and instead think about all the ways she could take this officer apart while his hands skimmed up her legs. He got as far as her left thigh before finding the protein bar tucked in her stocking. His face twisted into a mocking grin.

“Not allowed.”

Ava tried to snatch it back, but the officer shoved it into his own pocket before giving her a pat on the back that lingered a bit too long between her shoulder blades and pushing her through the second checkpoint.

The officer in front of her now wore a thick padded jacket and boots in addition to a mask across the bottom half of his face. Ava had to clench her jaw to keep her teeth from chattering as they walked. What do the prisoners wear? How many freeze to death alone in these cells? She tried not to think about what three months in a place like this might have done to Shane. The frigid climate on their home planet, Nakara, meant she wasn’t usually cold, but Ava didn’t think this chill was entirely due to temperature.

The officers tried to block her view of the cells as they walked, one after the other in a shifting wall of black fabric and polished weapons, but it wasn’t necessary. Ava had stopped looking after she saw a girl slumped against the rough stones, eyes half-­open as her fingers twitched in time to their footsteps.

“Are you a friend of his?”

The officer’s question was too loud. Ava tensed as he looked over his shoulder, lowering her gaze to the floor. “Yes.”

What she could see of the man’s face relaxed, and satisfaction heated her bones. This was why Shane had hired her, after all. This was why she wore pretty dresses and wove moonflowers into her long, dark hair and blushed at every question. Because she was a good actress, good enough to make it if she’d been born on any part of Nakara other than barren, wasted West Rama. Because she was harmless.

When the officer spoke again, his voice was almost kind. “Can I give you a piece of advice?”
Ava nodded as they stopped in front of a thick, steel-­plated door. He could give her all the advice he wanted if he looked the other way in that room. “Of course.”

The officer removed his glove and pressed one finger to the scanner laid into the wall. “That boy is nothing but trouble. Everyone on this moon is trouble.”

Ava did smile then, and she was glad his back was turned. She ran a hand down the front of her dress, tracing the sharp edge of the pistol still tucked beneath the fabric, cold against her skin.
He didn’t know the first thing about trouble.

When the door clicked open, she used the time it took for the officer to put his glove back on to find the cameras—­one in every corner. That was fine. Jared said he’d deal with those. He should be in the system by now; she just had to buy him time. Then the officer stepped aside and Ava’s next breath caught as she locked eyes with Shane.

Three months.

Had it really only been three months? Ava could see his ribs against the thin fabric of his prison shirt, see the way he stood with one arm pressed against his side. Too thin. They had shaved his hair too, so only a thin buzz remained across his pale scalp, but Shane still straightened when he saw her, eyes widening in surprise before his face split into a painful-­looking grin.

“Hey, baby, how’s it floating?”

Same voice, same confidence, same wry smile. Ava grimaced. “You look like junkmatter.”
She reached out a hand, but the officer caught her wrist before she could touch him. “That’s close enough.”

It took every ounce of Ava’s self-­control not to snap his fingers. She pretended to shrink away, hands shaking as they fell back to her sides. He didn’t need to know it was from fury, not fear. Harmless.

Then she heard it—­a faint click.

The cameras. Jared said anyone watching from the prison’s control towers would see the room exactly as it had been seconds before, their images frozen in time. She had two minutes, but the only person Ava had to fool was the officer himself.

And Shane, who hadn’t been expecting her, who had no idea what she was planning, who could barely stand.

Ava pushed the thought away. It didn’t matter; they would make this work. She took a tentative step forward and silently begged Shane to play along. “I’ve missed you. How are you doing?” It was a stupid question. Purple bruises masked most of Shane’s face and now that she was closer, Ava could tell he was keeping the weight off his left ankle, too. She swallowed her unease and added, “I tried to bring food, but they found it.”

She said that part loud enough for the officer to hear, to let him think the game was over.
Shane’s confusion only lasted a second longer. His face smoothed into an easy grin, eyes flicking toward each camera as Ava took another step. “That’s fine. You were all I wanted anyway, baby.”
Ava resisted the urge to roll her eyes. That was a bit much, even for him, but it worked for what she had to do next. Slowly, she lifted her hands to the front of her dress and...

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Verlag
Viking Books for Young Readers
Erscheinungsdatum
2023
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593525213
ISBN 13 
9780593525210
Einband
Gebundene Ausgabe
Anzahl der Seiten
368
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
VTech Electronics Europe B.V
https://www.vtech-jouets.com/

Fahrenheitstraat 22
DC Weert
6003
Niederlande

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