Lira could see Androma’s face now—those metal cheekbones, the bloodlust in her eyes. What waste Lira had once laid to Queen Nor’s precious planets at the Baroness’s command.

Sometimes, when she thought of her past life, Lira still felt the ghostly heat of her scales warming on the surface of her skin. A lifelong struggle she’d tried to harness, her emotions getting the better of her far more often than they should. Those out-of-control emotions had hurt people, ruined her relationships, left her feeling like a weapon always on the brink of a misfire. But now, with a deep breath, a mere thought of Queen Nor...

Lira felt nothing. As if she were a hollow shell, blessedly free of the stresses she’d spent so many years trapped beneath.

A soldier groaned suddenly as the butt of his rifle smacked him in the eye. Horrific form.

“Not good enough, Krisson!” their commanding officer shouted, stomping closer to the line of soldiers clad in black, the Solis crest stamped on their backs and chests. Lira wore it on her own chest now, and it was displayed all across the city, waving from flags, brightly flickering on holoscreens across the glass towers that made up much of Arcardius. “Tighten up your grip. Deep in the shoulder. Fix your form, or I’ll tell the entire barracks that bruise on your eye is from Gilly!”

A small redheaded girl turned around from the line, a wicked grin on her youthful face. “Who’s to say I didn’t beat the shit out of him already?”

“Language, Gil,” Breck huffed under her breath, but she smiled as all the soldiers laughed, men and women alike, when Gilly turned back around and fired three consecutive shots dead-center in the target, three hundred yards away.

Lira smiled. Gilly knew her way around a weapon, and it was with the greatest joy that she got to watch the youngest member of her old crew serving the queen in such a spectacular fashion.

Together, the three girls were finally fighting for a cause that mattered.

Hoots and hollers sounded down the firing line as their commander signaled the end of their training session.

It’s about time, Lira thought. They’d been at it for hours. She slung her weapon over her shoulder and stepped away from the larger group, joining Breck and Gilly at the edge of the warehouse. The girls took seats together by the watercooler, where the next formation of soldiers waited for their turn at target practice.

Gilly’s red braids bounced as she slumped into the bleachers, craning her neck to look the other two girls in the eye. “Go ahead and try to tell me that shot wasn’t sexy as hell.”

Lira gave her an indulgent smile. “You’re talented, Gilly. A true asset to our queen.”