My vision goes dark, a scream ripping free from my throat as I stumble and fall to my knees. The alien blade pulses in my shoulder, vibrating down to my bones and sending fresh waves of agony through my body. I try to drag myself to my feet, but my legs give out as it pulses again, sending me crashing back to the floor with a sob. The most I can manage is turning to face Izra as she advances, her steps unhurried, a triumphant smile on her face.

“There we are.” She crouches in front of me. “Now, let’s talk, hm?” She grabs the blade stuck through my shoulder, not seeming to care as an edge slices into her palm, and twists.

The pain is blinding. I scream, tears pouring down my face.

“Shit,” I whimper. “Shit, shit, shit, wait.”

To my surprise, she does, head cocked to one side and a grin on her lips.

“Going to beg for your life?” she asks. “I’d like to hear it.”

“No.” I take a deep breath, try to think through the pain. My bastardization of the Titan salute offended her more than I expected—which means, deserter or not, Izra still has some attachment to her home-world’s ideals. I could beg, I could lie. I’m sure the latter is what Momma would’ve done in this instance, considering how she went on and on about how we can never trust anyone other than each other. And yet, when I look at Izra, I can’t help but think she might not be so very different than us. She scares the shit out of me, but people look at Corvus like he’s a monster, too, just because of his scarred face and the brand on his wrist. Gun arm aside, maybe she’s no more a mindless killer than he is. So maybe the best thing I can say right now is the truth. “I want to tell you what happened on Titan.”

Izra gives me an unimpressed look and flicks the blade puncturing my shoulder. The tiny motion is enough to tear another scream out of me.

“We saw what happened on Titan. They wiped each other out, like we always knew they would,” she says… but for a moment, her face flickers with something like grief.

I fight through the pain, gasping for air—and force out a hoarse laugh.

“That what Leonis told you?” I ask. “You really believe that shit?” I think of Corvus’s anger, his sorrow, the way he adopted Titan customs and cared for the people he left behind. The loss of the planet nearly broke him. Perhaps I didn’t know Titan as well as I should’ve, but it’s clear the place was far more than its war. “You think so little of your own people?”