Darai’s laughter filled Valen’s head, and he was pulled out of his mind, back into the pod where he looked out at Nor, who had fallen to her knees, tears running down her cheeks as she watched him. Was this truly the end for him?

Then a commotion from beyond drew Darai’s attention away. The sound of gunfire, growing closer. “Useless soldiers,” he growled.

In that moment, Valen thought he saw Androma flinch. It was almost imperceptible, but he saw it. The shimmer of something silver beneath her magnacuffs, sticking out from beneath the edge of her sleeve.

Her eyes found Valen’s again, and she nodded, only once, before Darai turned back to look at the group. “Faster!” he said. “The battle is nearly done.”

Valen wasn’t sure who was winning, but he knew the end was coming, no matter who came through that satellite door.

“The uploading and cryosis both take time,” Aclisia said, both heads focused on Valen as more blood slowly trickled into his vision. “We need five minutes, my King.”

Darai’s voice was acid. “We may not have five minutes. Make it three.”

“We cannot speed the process up,” Aclisia said. “Though you could begin the transfer of power now, if you’re insistent on saving time.”

Darai glared at her, then signaled to the guards holding Andi hostage. “Bring the general to me. We’ll transfer her power, and then I want her body dumped over the edge of the estate. Let her fall from the sky to the city below.”

It was then that Androma moved.

So fast Valen would have missed it, had he not been watching her, feeling certain that she was about to do something to alter Darai’s plans.

Her wrists were still cuffed, but she’d slid a knife from beneath her sleeve, whirling so that the guard gripping her arm screamed as his wrist popped. Almost instantly, she dug the knife deep into the neck of the guard to her left.

He gasped, reaching up as blood welled through his fingertips.

Then he fell, the other guards turning to level their guns at Andi in retaliation just as the door to the satellite burst open. Smoke filled the entryway, accompanied by the sound of gunfire.

“Don’t shoot her!” Darai commanded the guards as Andi began to fight, turning into the Bloody Baroness that Valen remembered, that he had been waiting to see return. “We need her alive, you fools! Turn your weapons to the others!”

But then the smoke cleared from the doorway, and Valen’s heart surged with a final bit of hope as Arachnid and Andi’s crew stepped inside.

CHAPTER 40

ANDI

It had been some time since Andi had been in a real fight.