Valen’s lips parted. “I...” His words failed him. “He would have killed you, Nor.” He looked to Darai, desperate for help, but the old man was already gone from his seat as the transport door opened, commanding the waiting guards to prepare the way for the queen.

“I didn’t know...” Valen swallowed. “You have to believe me, Nor. I had no idea that the bullet was going to hit Zahn instead.”

But his sister just sat motionless, as if so overcome with shock at Darai’s news that she was unable to move.

Through the open transport doorway, Valen saw a floating gurney soar past, directed by a med droid.

Cold metal.

An empty bed, meant for a body that wasn’t going to rise again.

Nor’s eyes fell upon it. Her lips moved soundlessly, forming Zahn’s name.

“You killed him,” she said suddenly. Her eyes flitted back to Valen, then to the doorway again as the droid and Darai moved past. The gurney wasn’t empty any longer. Zahn’s body lay upon it, covered no longer by Nor’s bloody cloak, but by a white sheet, forming a ghostly outline over him.

Nor stared at them as they faded from view.

“You killed Zahn,” she said again.

“I didn’t,” Valen whispered. “Oh, Godstars, Nor, I was trying to save you. I could feel them, Nor. Each time one of our people was shot, and they died. I could feel it like someone was carving them from my mind, from my soul. I ran back to find you, and I saw the soldier preparing to shoot, and I did what anyone would have done—”

“You killed Zahn,” she repeated.

Valen reached across the space and gripped Nor’s wrist. “Please, Nor.”

She jolted upright, ripping her hand away. “Don’t you dare touch me!”

“Please,” Valen said. “It was an accident... It was war.”

“Then you should have compelled the crowd to protect me. Let them all fall, before Zahn or I were harmed.”

“I saved your life,” Valen begged. He willed her to see reason—that if it hadn’t been Zahn, it would have been her on that gurney.

“No,” Nor said, standing slowly. She walked down the transport ramp, where Darai was waiting, hand held out to help her. She refused it, shouldering past him.

“Nor!” Valen shouted after her. He stood, but his head was swimming, and the transport ramp felt like a rocking sea as Valen stumbled down it.

“Leave her, princeling,” Darai said, but Valen ignored the adviser, nearly tripping over his own feet as he grabbed his sister’s hand.

Nor spun, yanking it out of his grip, the motion so strong that Valen lost his balance and crashed to his knees on the hard ground of the docking bay. She towered over him, tears pouring down her cheeks, her gold eyes as cold as the dead.