A Sacrifice of Blood and Stars : Podium Publishing : 9781039453654 : 1039453651 : 17 Sep 2024 : On a distant dwarf planet, a young soldier discovers her mortal enemy is her only tie to the world she left behind, in a high-stakes sci-fi romance. Two months after her eighteenth birthday, scrappy Hikari Skye is ready to leave her ramshackle mobile home on Earth for icy dwarf planet Ceres and the underground bases that house Space Force. She's trading her dingy trailer park; her baby sister, Bea; and her best friend, Rho, for the excitement of the Proxy Wars and the freedom of the galactic front lines-where her father once deserted his own platoon. And the most appealing part? She's leaving behind Draeden Rache, the cocky, privileged bully who tried to kiss her last year. Appealing, that is, until Drae and Kari are tied together by the Pairing Ceremony as Sympathetics. Each week, she'll share everything with him and him alone: emotions, fears . . . and the sneaking suspicion that somethi