Men in black armor entered the room, moving swiftly, precisely. One of them flung the door from Araris’s prostrate body. Two more held weapons on the downed swordsman. Two pointed gleaming blades at Isana, who froze, staring wide-eyed.

The men weren’t dressed in black armor.

They were covered in vord chitin. The gleaming steel bands of discipline collars shone upon their throats.

There was a light tread in the hall, and a slender figure covered in a great, dark cloak entered the room. A slender, feminine, snow-white hand rose to point a single, green-black fingernail at Isana. “Yes,” hissed an alien, buzzing voice. “Yes. I recognize the scent. That is she.”

“Lady,” urged a quiet voice from the hall. “We cannot circumvent the sentry furies much longer.”

The vord Queen—for she could be no one else—prowled across the room to Isana and seized her wrist in a crushing grip. Isana bit down on a cry of pain as something broke with a quiet crack.

“Bring them both,” the Queen all but purred. “Oh, yes. Now it is my turn.”

CHAPTER 10

CHAPTER 9

“Tribune Antillar,” Tavi said. “I need you.”

Max looked up from his lunch, blinking in confusion at the tone of Tavi’s voice. But though Max was Tavi’s friend, he was also Legion. He rose at once, banged a fist to his chest in salute, and fell into step beside Tavi before he’d finished chewing his last bite of food. As Tavi stalked out of the mess hall, he spotted Crassus pacing across the camp, speaking earnestly to one of the Legion’s centurions.

“Tribune Antillus!” Tavi barked. “Centurion Schultz! With me.”

Crassus and Schultz reacted in almost precisely the same way Max had. Tavi never slowed his steps, and they hurried to fall into pace behind him and Maximus. Tavi headed for the Canim encampment without speaking further, but they hadn’t gone a hundred yards before hooves thundered over the ground, and Kitai swung herself down from her horse, her expression dour. She stared intently at Tavi for a moment, then started walking next to him.

A surge of relief and pleasure at seeing her face briefly suppressed the anger and calculation that drove his current steps. “When did you get back?” he asked.

“Just now, Aleran. Obviously.” She looked at him again, as though to reassure herself that he was still there. “I felt something.”

“Two Canim just tried to kill me.”

Kitai’s lips peeled back from her teeth. “Varg?”

“No way to know for certain. But it isn’t like him.”

Kitai growled. “His people. His responsibility.”

Tavi grunted, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with her. “Were you successful?”

She eyed him, and said, not without a measure of scorn, “Aleran.”

Tavi bared his teeth in a fierce grin. “Of course. I apologize.”

“As well you should,” Kitai said. “What do you hope to accomplish?”

“I will get answers from Varg,” Tavi said.