“You want to talk about morality?” Despite my anger, when Corvus takes a step toward me, my feet automatically propel me back. He stops, and follows my gaze to the knife in his hand. Something dark flashes across his face as he slides the weapon back into the sheath at his waist. “You’re the ones who brought that abomination to Titan and killed my home-world. And you’re the one who was trying to do the same to Nibiru.” Pain and anger pierce his tone. “Nibiru. We used to live there. How could you even think about doing this?”

“I’m doing what I have to do,” I say again, more firmly this time. “I’m taking care of the family, like Momma always did. So don’t you dare judge me.”

“This isn’t just some job!” Corvus smashes a fist into the nearby wall, and the bang of metal makes me jump. “You’re going to get millions of people killed.”

For a moment I’m frozen in shock, half-worried that the noise will bring someone running, half-hoping that it will so I won’t have to be alone with him anymore. I take a deep breath and lower my voice.

“The war’s already started. Those people are going to die, with or without our involvement.” Just like on Titan. Backing out of the deal with Ives didn’t save anybody, it only screwed me. “You think we’re the only ones on Leonis’s payroll? There’s always gonna be someone with less scruples. At least this way, we get to choose the winning side.”

“Winning side?” Corvus repeats incredulously. “You saw the weapon Leonis used on Titan. It’s a world-ender. There will be no winning side to this war. It won’t be over until everyone’s dead.” He shakes his head. “We don’t have to be like her, you know. Just because Momma ran this ship one way doesn’t mean you have to be the same. You can be better than her. Better than this.”

For a moment it grates on me that my thought process is so transparent to him—but that’s followed by fresh annoyance over his words. All this, from Momma’s precious little golden boy? Even after she abandoned him on Titan, he still followed every order she gave, without a moment’s hesitation. I’ll never forget him standing outside of Altair’s office and telling me to leave. He never would have spoken like this when Momma was alive, and he shouldn’t be saying it now.

“Momma kept us alive through some of the worst shit imaginable,” I say. “She was rich. Successful. She protected us all.”