No sooner had the words left her lips than a shout rang out, followed by a red-tinged blast that narrowly missed her face.

“Stop!”

She froze instantly and held her hands out so that the man could see she wasn’t a threat. Ture followed suit.

“Put your weapons down!”

Zarya smiled as she finally recognized the angry voice snarling orders at her. “Ferin? Is that you?”

He hesitated before he answered. “Zarya?”

“Yeah. It’s me.”

Still he didn’t come out from his cover. “What are you doing here? And who is that with you?”

“It’s Ture. A friend of mine. And I thought you guys wanted me back. Was I wrong?”

“You can’t trust her. She’s been brainwashed by our enemies.”

She didn’t recognize the second man’s voice. It was a deep, guttural tone—the accent native to the western part of the empire. Was he the mysterious Hector?

“No one’s brainwashed me.” She took a step forward.

Another blast came within inches of her face.

She stopped moving instantly, but what her attacker didn’t know was that his shots weren’t scaring her. They were pissing her off.

“You shoot to kill. Not to warn.” Her father’s voice was loud and clear in her head. But today, she couldn’t listen to him. Instead, she had a psycho to disarm.

“Are you Hector?”

“I’m the Resistance leader now,” he said without answering her question directly. “You abandoned us.” The venom in that tone had to come from personal betrayal. Nothing else made sense. A stranger shouldn’t be so hostile toward her.

And yet, she still couldn’t place his voice.

“Who are you?” she tried again, holding her arms up over her head to let them know that she posed them no threat.

At first she didn’t think she’d get an answer.

Then, out of the darkness emerged the last person she’d ever expected to see again.

Pip.

For a full minute, her emotions paralyzed her. Shock. Anger. And a hatred so bitter, she could taste it. She wanted to claw his eyes out over what he’d put Darling through.

But all that being said, he looked like someone had already tried to kill him.

No. Rather he looked like they’d succeeded.

A vicious scar ran over his left cheekbone and the jagged, horrific one across his throat must be why his voice sounded the way it did. It appeared Darling had stabbed him right below the Adam’s apple, then ripped the knife across his entire neck. How Pip had survived such a savage attack, she couldn’t imagine.

Had she not seen what he’d done to Darling, she’d feel sorry for him. But there was nothing inside her except contempt. “Why are you calling yourself Hector?”

He narrowed his eyes on her. “It’s my real name. But you never bothered to learn that, did you? No. I was too far beneath you for you to notice me.”

Now that really made her mad. While she lacked Darling’s impressive recall with people’s names and background, it didn’t mean she didn’t care. “That’s not true. I never treated you that way. Ever.”