But the people are dead. Millions of bodies lying in the snow with black goo frozen on their stiff faces. In the cities, in the forts, in the tunneled-cave villages and all the open space in between. Some ran, and some hid, and all of them died. There’s no sign of a single human being left alive on Titan.

I shut my eyes, thinking of Magda, Daniil, Sverre, Altair. Momma. Pol, frozen and still. All the people I’ve lost. Now Scorpia wants to make a deal with the woman who did it. I’ve stayed quiet, let her believe I’m willing to go along with it. But there’s still time for another option. Scorpia was right—going forward with our information will implicate us. I won’t force my siblings to do that. But if I can drag Leonis down with me, I’ll gladly turn myself in. All I need is some suspicion to fall on Leonis. Once it does, my information will have more weight.

“So whatever this was, it targeted humans specifically,” Misha muses, sipping a glass of shimmering fireberry wine as he listens to descriptions of genocide. “Perhaps intentionally. A weapon of some sort.”

“Are we really meant to believe the Titans had the technology to create something like this?” Leonis’s voice floods my chest with hot anger—and shock that she would be the first one to imply blame rests on one of the other planets. But I see her intent as Misha and the Nibirans immediately cast glances in the direction of the Paxian representative. Anyway, given Leonis’s history of distrust toward the other planets, I suppose it would be stranger if she didn’t make accusations.

Eri makes a disgruntled noise beside me, folding his arms over his chest. His home-world, Pax, is well-known for manufacturing the majority of the system’s laser weapons and playing a bit too hard with genetic engineering—an easy scapegoat.

“If we had a weapon of such power, I assure you we would not place it in the hands of the Titans,” Azenari says coolly. “Nor would they have the means to pay for it.”

“A very fair point,” Halon says with a nod. I grit my teeth. But as much as the arms dealers rub me the wrong way, it’s important for me to listen to their comments. Public opinion is the best way for me to gauge whether or not the council will believe my story. I’m surprised Scorpia isn’t here listening in as well—but maybe she’s already so set on her plan that she doesn’t care. She must be at the bar getting herself a drink.