“Doesn’t everyone know? They all killed each other. What am I missing here?”

“You lied about her.” Izra swings her gun at me, and I flinch, sending new waves of pain through my shoulder. “How am I supposed to trust you now?”

“Okay, okay.” Trying to ignore the throbbing wound, I push myself up to my feet and stand between the two pirates. “Seems like you both got played here. Same as me and my family.” I look at Izra long enough to reassure myself she isn’t about to shoot anyone, and swivel to Orion. “Those vials? The ones you got from President Leonis?” Surprise flickers across his face. “Yeah, she gave us some, too. They’re what really happened to Titan.” I take a deep breath; I haven’t told this next bit to Izra yet, so I turn to her, trying not to cringe. “We’re the ones who brought them there. Just like you, we didn’t know what we were transporting. President Leonis lied to us. It was a horrible mistake I’m going to regret for the rest of my life, and I’m trying to prevent you from doing the same.”

Izra looks over my shoulder at Orion.

“Stars,” he says, his voice rough. “I would never want to be a part of something like that. I had no idea. I swear, Izra, I didn’t. My dad told me nothing about this. Maybe he doesn’t even know.”

I highly doubt that, but I keep my mouth shut. I remember being desperate to believe the same about my own mother, though now I suspect she knew exactly what she was getting into. Maybe, when Momma went with the general alone to test the weapon, she was trying to do one last good thing for the rest of us. Or maybe that’s just what I want to believe. I’ll never know for sure.

“I told your father when I joined,” Izra says. “No more wars, no more bombs. No more murdering innocents. This isn’t what I signed up for.”

“Okay, good, we’re all on the same page then,” I say, pushing away thoughts of my mother. “Now can someone get this stars-damned thing out of my shoulder so we can do something about it?”

CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

Redemption

Corvus