I take in a shaky breath as Pol’s familiar gap-toothed smile fills the screen. Drom lets out a strangled noise. My heart surges at the sight of him alive and awake, a sight I wasn’t sure I’d ever see again—and swiftly plummets once more. The message only shows his face, but even so it’s easy to see the toll the disease has taken on him. He’s paler than I remember, his cheeks hollowed out in a way that makes me almost grateful I can’t see the rest of him right now. His usually shaggy hair is shaved down to fuzz, and his eyes wander somewhere behind the camera rather than looking directly into it.

“Hi, everyone,” he says, his voice quiet and croaky. “I wanted to send a message, let you all know I’m feeling…” He pauses, swallows. “I’m feeling, uh, all right, I guess? They say I’m making good progress, but it’s…” He trails off into silence, as if he’s lost the train of thought. “I miss you all. Come get me soon, please?” His eyes focus on something offscreen, and the message ends.

My siblings are silent. I don’t trust myself to speak, either.

“Man, he looks like shit.” Drom’s voice trembles.

“He’s alive,” Lyre says gently. “That’s what matters.” She pauses, biting her lip. “And there’s one more message.”

Corvus’s face is cloudy.

“Play it,” he says.

I nod my agreement. We need to know if that message was as much of a threat as I’m thinking it was. Lyre meets my eyes briefly before hitting the button.

This time, Leonis’s face appears on the screen, as smooth and composed as always.

“This is a message for Captain Scorpia Kaiser,” she says, her eyes boring into me through the screen. “As you can see, Captain, I’ve fulfilled my end of the deal, though at this point it’s clear you have not done the same.” She pauses to smooth down her dress. In the long moments of silence, my heartbeat becomes an increasingly erratic drum in my ears. “I will give you one more chance. Bring me my daughter, unharmed and without delay, and we will welcome you back to collect your brother. I’ll be expecting you soon.”

The screen goes dark.

“Shit,” I say.

“What do you mean shit?” Drom asks. “This is easy enough. Get the prissy Gaian over here, and let’s drag her home to her mommy, get Pol, and be done with this.”

Despite her words, it’s easy to see she’s been shaken by the messages—and I’m about to make it worse. But I can’t hold my tongue on this. No more lying or omissions or making decisions by myself. It’s time to lay everything on the table.

“Unfortunately,” I begin, “it’s not that simple.”

CHAPTER FORTY

All or Nothing

Corvus