Ariadne seemed uncertain as she wrapped a supporting arm around Rhea’s waist. “Okay, but I don’t know if Cato can walk yet. Deprogramming—”

“Then tell him to crawl,” Eris snapped.

The girl hurried away as quickly as she could with Rhea.

Eris returned her attention to the commander and crouched near the glass. “We’re getting someone who can go in there to see you, all right?”

Commander Talley only drew in a shaky breath and took in their protective suits. He spent a moment studying Eris; she fought to remain expressionless. She doubted she succeeded.

“You’re not . . . with them?” he whispered.

“Who?” Eris asked.

“The . . . Empire.”

Eris managed to keep from showing surprise, but only just. “No. We’re not.”

The commander gave a shaky sigh of relief. That was proof enough of how close to death he was, that the Oracle was no longer in control of his thoughts or feelings. One had simply gone into background processing, One’s tendrils loosening as the brain began to die.

Eris pressed her gloved hands to the glass. “What did they do to you?”

Talley’s head lolled to the side. The blackness near his eyes cracked, sending a new tear of red-black down the grayed skin of his withered cheek. Eris hadn’t wanted to admit it to anyone, but sending for Cato had not been to examine this man alive—there was no saving the commander. No, they needed to examine his corpse.

And another part of her had wanted Ariadne and Rhea out of this room. Away from the bodies, the death, and the dying. Some people shouldn’t have to see such things. Eris wished she hadn’t.

“Check . . . the logs,” he said. “In my office . . . the barracks.”

“I will,” she told him. “I’ll make the Empire pay for this, commander. I promise.”

His nod was so slight she might have missed it had she not been watching. “They’ll be back,” he murmured, shutting his eyes. His voice was so faint, Eris could barely hear it. “For . . . rest of the ichor. You should . . . leave. Don’t let them . . . find you.”

“We’ll do that,” Eris said. “Thank you, Commander.”

They all remained silent, waiting for Ariadne and Cato to come. Eris didn’t want to voice her concerns to Nyx or Clo aloud—that they had come mere moments before the commander was to give his last breath. Eris slipped a hand into the pocket of her suit and grasped her scythe pendant.

Talley began to cough, red blood trickling from his mouth. He tilted his head to the side, sucking in a rattling breath.

The other hand went into her pocket where she kept Xander’s carved firewolf. She felt the grooves of the firewolf’s muzzle.

Xander, she thought, watching the commander’s chest go still. I’m failing.

“Eris?” Ariadne’s voice was hesitant at the doorway. “I’ve brought—”