“What message?” Andi growled, looking up at Klaren and Soyina. “What is she talking about?”

“There was a demand,” Soyina said quietly. “Just before the attack. For you to journey to Arcardius and give yourself up, in exchange for your crew.”

“And you didn’t think to share that with me?” Andi cried.

Before they could respond, Nor continued, her image flickering for a moment. “My people are searching for you, Androma. They will find you, and bring you to me, dead or alive. You cannot run, and you cannot hide.”

“She lies.” Klaren spoke up from her droid. “She knows the truth about the weapons network. She will want you alive.”

Dex couldn’t look away from Andi, as she kept her gaze frozen on her crew.

“But I will allow you three more days to deliver yourself to my estate. If you do not arrive...” Nor held out her hands, gesturing to the girls kneeling in front of her. “Then your crew will not survive.”

A shadowy man, robed in black, appeared on the edge of the image. He placed a golden blade in Nor’s hands.

“What is he doing?” Andi whispered.

It was torture for her, Dex knew, to sit here and watch her crew, unable to help them.

The three of them remained motionless before Nor. Mere statues as she spoke above them. They didn’t move even as she began to circle them, that blade held in her hand.

Gilly, so small, her red hair still braided, as if she hadn’t changed one bit. Beside her, Lira and Breck were dressed in the uniforms of Xen Ptera. Otherwise, they looked the same, Lira like a regal bird, Breck a warrior who could tear down any enemy without so much as breaking a sweat.

And all three of them watched Nor, with that blade held out, as if they were staring at a godstar come down from the heavens.

“Who is your queen?” Nor asked the girls.

“You are,” they said in unison.

Andi pressed a hand to her mouth, covering her gasp. “No,” she said. “They would never bow to her.”

“The compulsion is strong,” Klaren explained.

Dex’s heart thumped against his ribs. A coldness moved through him as he stared at the blade in Nor’s hand.

“This is your first warning, Androma,” Nor said, turning to look at the camera again, rouged lips curved in a feral smile. “Come unarmed to my estate, in three days’ time, or another will fall.”

“Another?” Dex asked, confused.

It happened so quickly.

Nor lifted the blade, turning her back to the camera as she swung toward the girl kneeling on the right.

Lira.

“NO!” Andi shouted.

Dex had only a moment to see Lira fall, her body crumpling to the floor of the office before the holo shut off.

Then only the flames remained, flickering happily as Andi screamed.

CHAPTER 27

ANDI

The slash of that blade...