Not by force, but of her own sheer will to prove her worth to the galaxy.

When she was only a girl, her aunt Alara had not allowed her to join the Adhiran Sentinels in their daily training. Lira had begged Alara to let her go, longed to fall into step alongside them on their endless runs around the mountain, their days-long treks through the jungle and desert from one terraformed section of the planet to the next.

Alara had refused, but Lira had decided she’d do so anyway, for was life truly worth living when you were only walking in the footsteps someone else had laid out for you?

Her aunt had been furious when she’d discovered Lira spent most of her time fantasizing about flying ships or fighting with her fists, instead of learning how to rule Adhira. And when Lira had finally run, desperate to escape the future her aunt had chosen for her, each life decision like a perfectly stitched portion of a quilt that had been designed just for her...

Lira had taken up fighting in the pits of Zerpro7. Both to hone her skills and to remind herself that sometimes the greatest strength came from a place of pain. Each hit she’d taken, every bruised jaw and bloodied knuckle and swollen limb, had brought her to where she was now.

And so when the explosion went off, knocking her off the stage, Lira recovered quickly and fell into action, her body responding out of memory—and a drive to protect her queen, who’d taken away all the pain of her past life. Who’d given her a new life, and would give countless others new lives, as well.

Smoke filled the streets as she rolled to her feet, Gilly close by. Citizens screamed, tripping over each other to escape the chaos. Commands crackled through the soldiers’ earpieces.

A familiar voice rang out in Lira’s ear now, through her com. Breck. She and Gilly were the only two people who had access to this com since she’d had it fixed—altered to block out any possibility of communication from Androma after that traitor chose the other side.

Traitor.

The word felt strange in her thoughts.

Was Androma a traitor?

The doubt didn’t last long. A fog from the outer stretches of her mind came rushing forward, shutting all uncertainty out.

Traitor.

Androma was a traitor.

“Create a perimeter around the queen! Protect her at all costs!” Breck shouted, her voice booming in Lira’s ear.

But it couldn’t block out the sounds of the gunshots.

At her side, Lira glimpsed a flash of red as Gilly closed in on the stage where Nor had just been, the other soldiers in their unit following suit. Rifles were raised and bodies locked in close, ready to give their own lives to save their queen.