“They want to be there, Andi,” Dex added, taking one of her hands in his. “Or at least they think they do. They’ll likely fight us if we try to take them away from Nor.”

She didn’t want to believe their stories of that night. But their faces were haunted, as if, even though they wished it weren’t true, they could not escape the reality of it.

The thought of leaving the girls in Nor’s clutches broke her heart. Valen and the Xen Pterran queen could be torturing them right now, or forcing them to do the most horrific things. But Dex and Lon were right—they’d never be able to rescue her crew if they got themselves killed in the process.

Andi squeezed Dex’s hand and nodded decisively. “So we find a way to free their minds and come up with a plan to get them out.”

“And then?” Lon asked.

Andi allowed an icy smile to spread across her face. “And then the Bloody Baroness will go hunting.”

CHAPTER 3

VALEN —THREE WEEKS LATER

Valen’s fingers twitched as he paced the floating garden that had once been the favorite haunt of his younger sister, Kalee.

Half sister, he reminded himself. Now that he was back on Arcardius, Valen found it all too easy to get lost in the memories of his past. A past in which Kalee had been the only bright spot; the only person he’d truly cared about. Merella, the woman he’d once believed to be his mother, had always been distant with him, never quite embracing him with the same warmth she’d given Kalee in abundance. And his father...

Well, now he knew the truth. Now he knew why Merella had never loved him, and why his father had always hated him.

The air was crisp today, a reminder that the cold season was approaching. With the first frost, the verdant plants and jewellike flowers of this garden would turn a frothy blue, a sign of hibernation. They would spend the five months of the cold season frozen between life and death—held in limbo, just like Valen had felt for his entire existence.

Until Nor.

The only reason Valen stayed on Averia was because he loved his other half sister. The floating mountain that was home to the Cortas estate had always felt like a prison to him, and even now, with the Cortas family gone, his memories of them continued to hold him captive. But Nor had rescued him from his false life. She had saved him by giving him a name.

Not Cortas, but Solis.