“Eris?” The other woman paused at the door. “How was Rhea able to control everyone but you back on Ismara?”

Eris didn’t look at her, but Nyx saw the tension in her shoulders. In the end, the other woman only released a soft breath. “Get some rest, Nyx. You’ll need it.”

—

They all gathered in the command center.

Eris stood in the middle of the room, with the others congregated in a rough semicircle around her. Clo stood the farthest away, her scowl fixed firmly on Eris. Eris’s expression was carefully composed as she gazed back, but Nyx noticed her fingernails dig into her palms.

What are you both hiding? Nyx thought.

The secret floated over those two like a specter, and Nyx sensed her unspoken question wouldn’t be answered. That chafed. Their lives were in each other’s godsdamn hands, and the tension made these walls unbearably claustrophobic. What if the group ran into danger again? Secrets like this could be fatal.

And Clo clearly didn’t trust Eris—not entirely.

“After what we saw on Ismara, I’ve come to a difficult decision,” Eris said, her voice ringing clearly across the command center. “We’re going to continue this mission without the resources at Nova. That shipment we just received from Sher will be our last. Starting now, we go dark.”

“That’s salted.” Clo took a step forward. “We only have eleven days until the truce ceremony on Laguna, Eris. The Tholosians are going to slaughter thousands of people, and we still have no way in. We don’t even know how Damocles is planning to smuggle ichor into the ceremony.” She shook her head sharply. “No, we need to get Nova on this. We need backup. We need help.”

Eris grimaced. “I think Nova might be compromised.”

Clo froze. “What?”

“Think about it.” Eris spread her arms wide. “All our undercover operatives have been exposed, a lot of them caught and executed before they managed to escape. The last spy ceased communication just after she sent information that Zelus had left Tholos with the shipment of the ichor. So, either the Oracle has somehow gotten into our systems or someone at Nova is feeding the Tholosians our intelligence. But I’d bet my life on it not being safe.” She let out a long breath. “Right now, Sher and Kyla are the only ones who know about our mission and that we’re getting close to a plan involving a coup. It has to stay that way. The second we involve the rest of Nova, we risk losing the element of surprise. We need to keep this to ourselves. The co-commanders agree with me.”

Clo glanced around, her teeth worrying her lip. “Unless we’ve accidentally indicated we know already. We accessed the Oracle’s files on Ismara.”

Ariadne’s eyes went wide and her hands flapped. “You think I messed up?”