“Leonis will be there instead of on Gaia.” I sit up completely now, taking another long drink of water. “And we can land on Deva safely…” As a thought occurs to me, I pause. “What did Corvus say?”

“I haven’t told him yet,” she says. “I came to you first.”

“Why?”

She hesitates for a long moment.

“Because I think you’re the one who will do what’s necessary.”

“Me?” I nearly laugh. Me more than Corvus, the leader, the former soldier? Then I remember what he told me about his enlistment on Titan, and my amusement dries up. Maybe he’s not the person I’ve been imagining him as.

“Corvus has barely left the medical bay since Titan,” Lyre says. “He’s crumbling. He has no plan. If you come up with one before he does…”

She trails off, letting me fill in the rest. She’s telling me there’s still a chance to seize control. To be the leader, just like I wanted for these last three years. I never imagined anyone else might want that for me, too—and yet here Lyre is, helping me. She chose me. Still, self-doubt creeps up.

“Momma wanted Corvus to be in charge,” I say.

“Well…” Lyre pauses, biting her lip. “It doesn’t matter what Momma wanted. She’s not here. You are. And we’re counting on you.” Her face reddens, and she abruptly rises to her feet, turning away from me. “Try not to forget that,” she says without looking back, and leaves me with my thoughts.

As badly as I wanted to lead this family for the last three years, the thought frightens me now. I failed my siblings on Gaia when I got us all arrested, and again on Titan when I walked away from that deal with Ives. We can’t afford another screwup or crisis of conscience. Right now, we need someone as calculating and hard-willed as Momma. She always protected us. It was probably for her own selfish reasons, but she still managed to get us out of trouble, and stars know we’re good at finding it. Maybe her iron grip on the family was the only way to keep us safe and together, especially when it comes to hard situations like this.

But since she’s not here anymore, maybe I can be the next best thing after all.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Cracks

Corvus

I startle awake as I hear footsteps, fumbling for the knife at my hip. As Scorpia enters the doorway, both of us freeze.

I remove my hand from the knife’s hilt. Our last conversation still seems to echo in the space between us. All that shouting and all those tears, followed by days of silence. I’ve been sinking into my grief here, sleeping in a metal chair beside the cryosleep chamber, checking Pol’s vitals even though they never change.