“Didn’t you? Clarion told me how you reamed him for taking the royal prick prisoner. You were siding with them from the very beginning. First chance you had, you went running right back to your inheritance, didn’t you, Princess? Once an aristo, always an aristo. None of you care about anyone but yourselves.” He gestured at his face. “Look what the bastard did to me!”

Zarya had to struggle to keep herself calm, but it wasn’t easy. Not when she really wanted to gut him where he stood. Lowering her hands very slowly, she took a second to turn on the tricom… just in case Pip was as insane as she thought him to be. “What happened to you is awful. I admit that. But what was done to Darling—”

“Look at the way you use his name,” he sneered at the others who were still hidden by their cover. “You sicken me, you sorry fag whore!”

Oh that was it! How dare an animal like him judge her. “Then we’re even, Pip. The sight of you makes my skin crawl and it has nothing to do with your scars or your classification. You make a mockery of the uniform you wear. You’re the one who doesn’t believe in our cause. Instead, you use our colors so that you can practice your depravity under the guise of being normal when you’re not. No human being could do to another what you did to Darling.”

With a cry of outrage, he leveled his blaster at her. “That’s it, bitch. You’re dead.” He pulled the trigger.

The blast headed straight for her. Out of reflex, she jerked her hands up and cringed in expectation of being blasted. But just as it would have struck her, it hit the tricom’s force field. The shot broke apart and rebounded through the hallway, seeking out all the men in hiding.

It caught Pip straight in the chest and sent him flying into the wall behind him.

Whoa…

No wonder Darling had been so pissed off about his attack. It looked extremely painful to be hit by whatever it was the tricom generated.

Yet none of her soldiers moved or cried out. They were absolutely frozen.

“What did you do to them?” Ture asked in an awed tone.

“I didn’t. It’s a device that was made for me.” How fitting that it would be used against the ones who’d trapped Darling with it.

Ture let out a low whistle. “Well color me impressed, and please, don’t ever use that device against me. I’ll be a good boy, I promise.”

Not even Ture’s attempt at humor could quell her anger. Rather it mounted with every step she took closer to Pip and the others. They lay on the ground, eyes open. The only clue she had that they were still alive was the faint rise and fall of their chests as they breathed.

That made her think of Darling lying like that on the ground and what Pip and the others had done to him while he’d been helpless against them…