Breck and Gilly lifted their rifles and started firing shots. Lira lifted her rifle, too, but it felt heavy and out of place in her hands. She positioned her finger over the trigger and sent out a whoosh of breath, for it was time for battle. Protect the queen.

“Shoot them, Lira!” Breck shouted, bumping into her with a broad shoulder.

She shot at the crimson figures closing in, too many of them still standing. Her unit reloaded, but there were too many enemies, and they were still too far from the transport. The queen was in the center of the soldiers, but the circle thinned out as a soldier was shot. The woman fell, hitting the ground with a wet smack. Her silver veins faded to a dim, dull gray in an instant.

Another fell to her left, nearly taking Gilly down with him.

“I’m sick of these stunners!” Gilly screamed. “We need real guns!” She fired, taking out two enemies, one after the other. Breck spun and hit three more. They closed the circle tighter, but they’d moved too quickly. They hadn’t seen the one enemy soldier slip into their ranks.

Lira whirled, realizing with horror that it was already too late as the enemy lifted his weapon to fire. But at the last second, Valen appeared, shoving the enemy with all his might.

The enemy’s gun angled right as the bullet left the chamber with an earsplitting crack.

Blood sprayed her face, painting her vision in red as Zahn fell, pulling her down with him. Lira screamed in agony and fear, trying to rise, trying to see, trying to fight. But the crowd closed in around her, pinning her in place, and a single thought thundered through her mind, drowning out everything else.

She had failed her queen.

CHAPTER 18

ANDI

Klaren Solis, a woman the galaxy had long thought dead, was somehow standing before her, fully alive and well.

Scars covered half of Klaren’s face, and her tongue was missing—hence the droid that spoke for her—but the other side, Andi noticed, looked like an older version of Nor. That same smooth brown skin, eyes burnished in gold, hair dark and slightly curled. And that pride in her gaze; the way she kept her chin tilted ever so slightly toward the stars, always.

“You deserve to die for bringing the Solis siblings into this world,” Andi ground out. She had yet to unleash her vengeance on Nor and Valen, so their mother was the next best thing.

Andi reached for her swords, but they weren’t there—she’d forgotten that the damned things were outside in Soyina’s care. She cursed and stepped forward to use her fists instead, but Dex held her back.

“No, Andi. She has compulsion. There’s no telling what she might force you to do.”

But the woman only stood motionless, watching them with sad eyes.