Then the ship landed with a gentle thud on the estate grounds, and Dex reached out, grabbing Andi’s hand for a moment.

“I’ll be by your side the whole time,” he said. “I dare them to try and take you.”

“I’d like to see them try myself,” Andi said back. She turned to Arachnid, who lifted a set of magnacuffs. Andi nodded, holding out her hands. The cuffs were fake, the magnets inside rendered useless by Soyina, the woman’s wicked enjoyment of science proving useful yet again, but they looked convincing enough, and the sight of her in them made Dex’s chest ache.

He would do whatever it took, no matter the cost, to see that she remained free after this mission.

“Ready,” Andi said.

Klaren placed a heavy, gloved hand on Andi’s shoulder. Her droid clicked its claws against her armor as she pressed the button to lower the loading ramp. “Let’s go see my children.”

The loading ramp lowered with a hiss, the cooling systems spreading steam across the front, and then they were moving. Dex felt like a ghost as he walked, feeling his own footsteps and Eryn’s and Soyina’s on either side of him, but seeing nothing at all to reveal they were there. They moved quickly, following close behind Andi and Klaren, so as not to allow the steam to reveal that there were five bodies, instead of just the two that Nor had demanded on her return message to the ship.

The steam cleared as Dex’s boots touched Arcardian soil. It was cold, the wind whipping angrily, the very same as it would have been on Tenebris this time of year.

The winter solstice, a time meant for happiness.

Instead, Dex felt like he was walking toward his own grave.

He saw the line of soldiers first, clad in Solis black as they moved like a trail of darkness across the estate grounds. Each of them was polished to perfection, chins angled high, weapons in their fists. Those weapons, Dex knew, were likely loaded with the Zenith virus. But were other bullets mixed in as well—not to transform the target’s mind, but to kill?

He kept his eyes on Andi’s back. To her credit, she walked with the pride of the Baroness, instead of the broken steps of a prisoner. Arachnid was nearly three times her size in that New Vedan armor, but beneath, Klaren was actually smaller than Andi.

What would Nor and Valen think when that helmet came off? When they saw their mother, a woman the entire galaxy had long thought dead?

They passed beneath the shadow of the massive satellite, the wind biting colder now, without the sun to warm them. Nexus rose high above them, perched on its side as if it were ready to fall and crush them. As if it were a living thing, waiting to end the ways of Mirabel for good.