One twin would’ve sufficed, and with the two of them, I have no chance. Drom’s injury barely hinders her. I spit curses as they haul me away from Momma and up the stairs. They pull me out to the middle of the deck and drop me there, letting me stumble and fall to my knees. By the time I manage to collect myself, Drom is already halfway down the stairs again, grumbling about her leg. Pol is still standing beside me. His arms are wrapped around himself, his eyes wet and red-rimmed.

“Wipe your damn eyes, you big baby,” I say. I know he’s not crying for me, or for Corvus. Hot anger boils inside me, making it hard to feel anything else. “We all knew she’d leave us eventually.” I clench my hands on my knees, remembering him blubbering on Nibiru every time Momma walked out the door. “Like always.”

My little brother wipes his eyes, looks down at me for a long moment, and walks away.

Once I’m alone, I sit back on my heels and shut my eyes. It’s been a hell of a day. And it’s shaping up to be a hell of a life, if my mother is really leaving Corvus in charge.

It’s been three years since I’ve seen him, my older brother with his easy grin. Momma always loved him most, and not without reason. He was always the best of us. He was better than me at everything, aside from maybe lying and drinking, and never once boasted about it. He was the golden child, and I loved him too much to resent him for it.

He would’ve made a perfect captain if he hadn’t left.

I can still feel that gut-punch of disbelief that hit when my mother told me he was gone. Corvus didn’t warn me, didn’t hint to any of us that he was considering staying behind on Titan. We all knew about the warrant on him and the trouble it caused our business trips there. But I never considered he might give in. I was nursing one hell of a hangover and didn’t even think to check if he was on board before we launched the ship. It wasn’t until we were a half day out from Titan that I noticed he wasn’t in the kitchen preparing dinner like he usually did.

“He decided to enlist,” my mother said when I asked her. “I tried to talk him out of it, but you know how he is. Never could talk him out of that ‘honor and glory’ horseshit.”