She sat back in her seat, but her body didn’t relax. Her hands curled across her thighs as the pod slowed, arching down toward the ground. The city changed as they approached their destination. The buildings took on a darker sheen, as if they hadn’t been cleaned or taken care of. They looked more like warehouses, or pleasure palaces packed tightly together. Music filtered out from bars with androids dancing in the windows, and fights broke out in the street. Weapons were sold in shopfronts, and smoke curled from open windows, where inside, Dex could see the shadowed outlines of people doing what black marketeers did best.

Making dangerous—and often deadly—deals.

“Now, this,” Andi said, as a headless droid wheeled past outside, a man stumbling after it, hefting a bag twice his size behind him, “is much, much better.”

Dex saw her reflection in the glass then. The way her eyes had darkened. The way her jaw was hardening, her head tilting slightly to the side as if she were an animal about to choose her prey.

“Let’s find the Underground,” Andi said. “Even if it means tearing apart every pub we see.”

Her voice was rough, her body lithe as she opened the pod door and stepped out into the street. Dex knew what it meant, and he found himself filled with an equal amount of joy and fear as Andi crossed her arms and watched the passersby, each one a possible victim.

The Bloody Baroness was here.

And she was ready to play.

Andi and Dex made their way through the congested streets toward the Sharp Spire, the first stop on their pub crawl. Alfie had gathered a list of all the ice pubs in the sector, seven in total, his voice spouting useless facts about them from Dex’s wrist. Four of the pubs were located in the southern portion, so they’d decided to begin their search with those. Dex just hoped one of them would lead to the Underground.

The rich smells of roasted meats and spices drifted around them, making his stomach rumble. It had been some time since their last meal, and he was starting to feel the debilitating effects of hunger. The feeling only heightened as they entered the Sharp Spire.

The pub was scattered with patrons sprawled across ice couches and lounge chairs, droids rolling about and offering drinks on ice trays. Andi and Dex split up, moving about the place, prodding with simple questions about Nor and the Unaffected, but no one offered any information worth their time. The entire pub had the feel of Nor’s hands on it, with patrons bearing her crest on their clothing and the queen’s face displayed on holoscreens around the room, playing the same video they’d seen in the pod earlier on a loop.

Dex and Andi regrouped next to a dented droid offering fur blankets for rent.