“They have no leader now,” Dex said, but there was no pity in his eyes as he looked at Valen.

“He asked me to kill him,” Andi said. “He wanted it, Dex. Almost like he thought it could right his wrongs.”

Dex shrugged. “Does that really erase what he did, though?”

“He may have been under Darai’s compulsion the entire time,” Andi said. “We’ll never know for sure, but maybe he never had a choice. Maybe he never wanted any of this.”

Andi wondered if the last true Valen she’d known was the one who’d hated her after Kalee had died. She didn’t know if the forgiveness he’d given her, back on Adhira, was truly real or not.

But now wasn’t the time to focus on that.

“It doesn’t matter,” Lira said. “He’s gone now. And we have to start anew. These soldiers will be calling for blood soon, when they realize Nor is still alive.”

“If you’re going to punish her properly,” Breck said, her face twisted in anger, “you’ll need to keep her alive. It won’t be long before they turn on her.”

They were right, of course.

But Andi was tired. So tired.

Dex wrapped his arm around Andi’s shoulder, pulling her close. “You’re the general, love. It’s your decision here, what we do next.”

“What if I don’t want to decide?” Andi asked.

But there were no other leaders left in Mirabel...except one.

Klaren Solis knelt beside Nor, helping her wrap Valen in Nor’s cloak. Andi got a final glimpse of his face as they pulled the fabric over his head to cover his eyes. He’d saved the world, but he’d also broken it. So Andi wasn’t sure what awaited him on the other side.

“Well?” Gilly asked. “What are we supposed to do now?”

“We destroy the satellite,” Andi said, for that decision was obvious.

“And then?”

She sighed. She’d never wanted this. The title of general, the mission to save the galaxy. Mirabel had never loved her. It had seen her, in all of her faults, and called her unworthy.

But when she turned to look at her crew, watching her with such trusting eyes...

There was good in Mirabel. If Klaren, an Exonian, had learned to love it, then perhaps Andi could, too. Or at least she could until she found someone else to whom she could pass along the title.

She kept her gaze on Klaren’s back, knowing that it would be so easy to give the responsibility over to her. Klaren would make a fine general, and she could take all the weight of it from Andi’s hands. Klaren would gladly take it, for she’d been a queen of Xen Ptera, once, and she’d led the Underground. She was used to ruling, but Andi could see that, deep down, Klaren still loved power.