I go limp. Part of me is overwhelmed with relief that she’s still alive… but part of me is also horribly, crushingly disappointed that she stopped me. The promise of redemption was so close I could nearly taste it. I just want it to be over. I’m tired of fighting. But someone has to end this.

“Get out of here,” I say, reaching for the grenade again. “Go back to Fortuna while you still can, Scorpia. Let me do this.”

Scorpia grabs the back of my head with her free hand and slams it into the floor, hard. I gasp at the unexpected violence, stars blossoming across my vision.

“No, you idiot. You absolute idiot. I can’t believe you almost…” My sister’s grip on the back of my skull loosens as her sentence trembles and fades. She presses her face into my back, but I shove her off with as much strength as I can muster. As she crashes to the floor, I raise myself up, pressing one arm across her neck to hold her down. Her face is streaked with tears, her combat gear stained with gore. One of her shoulders is wrapped in sloppy bandages already soaked through with blood.

“Leave and let me finish it,” I say, my voice coming out a plea. “You know we’re outmatched. And we can’t let those vials get into anyone else’s hands. Just let me do this one last thing. Let me prove that I’m more than the terrible things I’ve done.”

Scorpia struggles, gasps for air. I release some of the pressure on her neck, but not enough to let her up.

“Corvus.” She coughs, her voice strained. “You already are more than that. You don’t need to prove anything. And… and you…”

She stops as her shoulders start to tremble—and bursts into laughter. Gasping, half-choked, hopeless laughter. I’m so stunned that I recoil from her and sit back. She sits up as well, still laughing, hard enough that fresh tears well up in her eyes.

“You tragic, heroic moron,” she says, gasping for air between chuckles. I tense up, anger flickering through me—how can she make a joke even of this?—but cold shock douses it at her next words. “We’ve already won.”

I blink, uncomprehending, while she continues to laugh, pressing one hand to her mouth as if trying to hold it in.

“What?”

“The battle is over, you dumbass! Izra and Orion and a bunch of other crew members turned to our side, Lyre’s ploy worked, it looks like you took out the captain, so…” She holds her hands out, still giggling helplessly. “We won! We fucking did it!”