Nor sighed and lifted a hand for him to help her from the couch. “I can’t rest, Zahn. Not until we uncover the fool who has control of this galaxy. Nothing is relaxing when you feel as if your chest is wound so tight, it might burst.” All she could think of, all she could see, was the hellish red armor of Arachnid, coupled with the faceless, ghostly form of whoever had stolen her command of Mirabel’s weapons.

Who was behind that mask?

Worse still...who was the General of Arcardius, now that Cyprian Cortas was gone?

The last place Nor had seen the awful man was on the stage of the ballroom, during the Ucatoria Ball. He’d been bleeding out, at the end of his lifeline, thanks to Valen’s blade. Had it been in his final moments that he’d passed the power on to someone else? Or had he set it in motion long before? Had all the leaders known upon their deaths, as they let Nor slide a blade across their own throats, that the galaxy would not fully belong to her once they were gone?

Was she truly a queen, when she felt as if someone else was wearing her crown?

“Nhatilya,” Zahn said, effortlessly lifting her from the couch and guiding her closer to the flames. Her arms, bare without her cloak, were covered in gooseflesh. She hadn’t realized how cold she was. Zahn ran his fingertips across her skin, smooth and strong as he pulled her close, trying to chase the chill away. “You’re shaking.”

He held her tighter, and she leaned into him, wishing she could forget, just for a moment, the weight she carried upon her back.

It had been there for so many years, growing heavier day by day.

“What if we don’t find the new general, Zahn?” she asked, looking up at his face. “What if all of this has been for nothing, and Exonia fades from existence? My true home... I’ll never be able to call it mine.”

“It’s already yours, Nor,” Zahn said. “And you will succeed.”

He had the kindest eyes. He’d always looked at her with dedication and loyalty, since the moment he’d pulled her from the rubble as a child. As if she truly had always been his queen, even when she didn’t yet wear a crown.

“Nexus is nearly complete, and even if we manage to amplify Valen’s compulsion forever, long after he and I are gone... What’s the point, if we can’t access those weapons?”

What if I become just like my mother? she wanted to ask. What if I’m a failure far worse than she ever was?

If I fail, Exonia will be lost to the mists of time and space.