Or . . . did she? Cage knew his sister better than I did, and he thought she’d take it as a betrayal. There had been something between her and Matt, too, something more than friendship. I examined her out of the corner of my eye and made a decision. I would tell Rune the truth. She deserved it. But I would wait until we could afford her anger, until a fight wouldn’t tear us apart. And that meant getting out of here and stopping the aliens.

Still, I could at least try to patch things up between her and Cage. “I don’t claim to know much about how Cage thinks, but I can say for sure that he does not think you’re incompetent.” I sighed. “He loves you, Rune. He wants to make things better, but he doesn’t know how.”

“I know.” She forced a smile. “I do know that. But Cage, he . . . he’s good, Kenz. He really is. But we grew up hard, and it took a toll on him. Sometimes he forgets how to be human. He gets so busy scheming and calculating, he forgets that he’s dealing with people, not strategies.”

I swallowed hard. That tallied perfectly with my worst fears about Cage. “That’s probably true, and I’m not going to defend it. But he is your brother. Are you going to ignore him for the rest of your life?”

Resolve settled into her brow, and she nodded. “You’re right. I’ll talk to him. If, you know, I ever see him again.”

At that moment, footsteps echoed in the corridor. Rune and I shot to our feet, me a bit unsteadily, and retreated to the rear of the cell. I clenched each of my muscles individually, loosening them, working feeling into my numbed extremities. My arms threaded into bands of steel, the strength of my posture belying the anxiety thudding through my heart. I had never experienced this kind of helplessness before: trapped in a cell, at the guards’ mercy, knowing about the oncoming alien threat but powerless to stop it.

Two guards approached, weapons drawn. “Kenzie Cord,” said one of them, holding the heavy metal cuffs they’d used to transport us here. “Come with us.”

Rune’s eyes narrowed. “Where are you taking her?” she demanded.

“None of your business, that’s where.” The guard slid the cell door open and nodded at me. “You going to cooperate, or do we have to stun you and drag you?”

Yeah, I wasn’t eager to experience that again. Resistance wouldn’t get me anywhere. Besides, maybe Yang had come to her senses and wanted to discuss destroying the damn ship. I swallowed the hope before it could spark too brightly. “I’ll cooperate,” I said. I forced a smile for Rune’s benefit. “It’s okay. I’ll be back.” I glanced at the guard. “Right?”

He sighed impatiently. Someone wants to talk to you. Drop the paranoia and come on.”