“Would you truly strike me down for the crimes of the children I bore?” Klaren asked through the droid, sending her a look full of disappointment. Andi felt her face flush, though whether it was from embarrassment or anger, she couldn’t quite tell. “That is the least of the crimes I have committed over the course of my life. And I have long since paid for them, if such a thing is even possible.”

Klaren touched the scarred side of her face gently, her eyes distant for a moment before she turned her gaze back to Andi. “In any case, I mean you no harm. My gift was stolen from me the day Cyprian cut out my tongue.”

This was a trap. It had to be a trap. They’d come all this way, wrecking the Marauder and losing Lon in the process, only to fall into the hands of Nor and Valen’s mother.

“What do you want from us?” Dex demanded. “Whose side are you truly on?”

“Mirabel’s,” Klaren said.

Andi’s head spun as she tried to make sense of that declaration. “Nor’s Mirabel, or...the free Mirabel?”

This was Arachnid, after all. Klaren was Arachnid. They were one and the same. And Arachnid had threatened Nor on the feed. Andi and Dex had seen it for themselves, when they were back in the nebula. Still...

“And why should we believe anything you say?” Andi asked. “For all we know, you compelled your way in here, killed the true Arachnid and now you’re planning to destroy the rest of the Underground, too. Perhaps Nor’s soldiers are already on their way.”

The droid’s red eyes blinked from where it perched upon Klaren’s shoulder. “How little you know, Androma Racella. If I wanted to destroy these people, I would have done so ages ago. And as I said before, my compulsion has long been silenced, thanks to your predecessor.”

Andi was about to ask what the woman meant, but Klaren continued on too quickly.

“If your hope is to kill me, then do it. I’ve longed for the grave all these years, though my mission is still not complete. But know you will never save your crew if you harm me. Of course, that hardly matters now, for they are only a small, insignificant portion of the galaxy that will soon fall to a fate far worse than death, should my children succeed in their plan.”

“What plan?” Dex asked.

Andi looked back and forth between Klaren and him, unsure if she should allow them to continue talking. What if Klaren was lying to them even now? They had no way of knowing whether they were being compelled or not.