“Where is Nor?” Eryn whispered from beside him as Andi and Arachnid stopped in the shadow of the satellite.

The line of enemy soldiers also came to a halt, a mere twenty paces away. Dex could feel the tension radiating from Andi as the soldiers parted, pointing their rifles to the sky in one sleek motion, like a salute.

Queen Nor walked out from behind her guards and into view, a night-black cloak of velvet billowing behind her as the wind caught it, making it look as if she were emerging from a cloud of darkness. A golden crown perched atop her ringlet curls. Valen strode beside her, wearing a cloak of bloodred. It hung from his body, which was so emaciated that he now looked even worse than he had when Dex and Andi first pulled him from the depths of Lunamere.

Dex clenched his jaw. What in the hell had gone on here, in the weeks they’d been away?

The adviser came next, an elderly man covered in thick, angry scars. He, too, wore a cloak, and as the wind died down for a moment, and it cascaded to the ground behind him, Dex saw three more figures trailing in the queen’s wake.

Gilly, Breck...and Lira, following just behind, her beautiful blue eyes proud, her chin angled high as it had ever been.

All three girls.

Andi let out an almost imperceptible gasp. Dex didn’t think she would have been able to hide it even if she’d tried. For he’d seen Lira die, too, saw the flash of the blade and heard her body thumping to the floor.

Yet here she was, alive and well, standing beside the queen with Breck and Gilly, their faces expressionless as they stared ahead.

Andi’s body was taut, her fists clenched, tension palpable in every part of her body. Dex could practically feel her fury as she looked at Nor and Valen.

“So you lied,” Klaren said. The words from her droid carried across the space between the two groups like a gunshot. She slowly shook her helmeted head from side to side. “I suppose I would have done the same. And it was what brought the Bloody Baroness to me, after all, whom I now give to you as a peace offering.”

Nor was terrifyingly beautiful as she stood before them, one gloved hand clasped over her golden prosthetic. She inclined her head slightly in a mocking salute. “Arachnid. Strange, how you spoke so boldly about stopping me, only to appear before me now, defenseless, and handing over my adversary.” She smiled, those rouged lips the very same Dex had seen in his nightmares ever since Ucatoria. “One would have to assume you’re here either to attack me or to surrender.”