Ashava nods, solemn. ‘Aye, Canoness, of course.’

‘The purgation squads do not touch my team,’ Ravara says, still looking at Elivia. ‘Not a single one of them.’

Elivia shakes her head. ‘If they pose a danger to the ship–’

‘Then I will deal with them myself,’ Ravara says. ‘You have my word.’

Elivia holds her gaze for a moment, but then she nods. ‘Very well. See to your own, inquisitor. I am certain that you understand the consequences if you do not.’

Ravara stares at her. Her eyes have taken on that strange, flat quality again.

‘I do,’ she says, and then she calls for Zoric and Yumia. The two of them heave themselves away from the wall and follow her out of the Chamber Awaiting.

Elivia reaches out and puts her hand on my shoulder. There are flecks of green in her eyes amid the blue.

‘I must go to the bridge to watch over the shipmaster and the crew. Find your Sisters, Evangeline. We must regain control of what is left to us.’

I cannot help but feel she is speaking of more than merely the Vow.

‘Aye, Canoness,’ I say, and I bow my head.

Elivia lets me go and turns away, Beatris and Radah following in her wake.

‘Be watchful, my Sisters,’ she says. ‘We are not out of the darkness yet.’

Ravara

RAVARA

The lowdeck corridors are choked with the dead.

I step over and around them, my boots slipping and sticking on blood and bullet casings and bits of bone. Everything is washed in emergency lumen red, and the smell of death is overwhelming. My whole right side is alight with pain that radiates out from the deep cut the daemon gave me. The makeshift bandage I tied around my waist is soaked through and cold against my skin. My hands are shaking. I am sweating and freezing all at once. Struggling to breathe. The corridor tilts around me, and I have to put my hand out to keep myself upright.

‘Whoa,’ Zoric says. He tries to help me, as does Yumia, but I shrug them both away.

‘Efrayl,’ I say, into my vox-link. ‘Do you read me?’

There’s no answer but static.

‘Efrayl,’ I say, again. ‘Do you read me?’

I wait for what feels like an age, but he doesn’t answer. All I hear is that white noise rush, like the sound of a mountain storm. I let my hand fall away from my ear and start moving again. Zoric calls after me to wait. To stop. But I don’t. I can’t. Not with Sofika’s whispered words growing louder and louder in my ears.

Where are you, Ahri?