Nyx’s lips pressed into a thin line while Rhea gripped her cuffed hand. The soldier never moved, never hissed in pain. If Nyx twitched at all, Rhea smoothed a thumb across her wrist in a single, comforting stroke. Eris noticed Nyx grimace, and she couldn’t tell if it was the pain or Rhea’s touch.

“Does it hurt?” Clo asked as Kyla lasered the intricate design on Nyx’s cheek.

Nyx’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t flinch as Kyla ran the wand across her cheekbone. “What the fuck do you think?” she asked when Kyla paused.

“Nyx,” Rhea chastised.

Kyla slowly slid the tip of the laser across the jagged lines that branched beneath Nyx’s eyes.

“Most people pass out by now; that’s all,” Clo said.

“I’m not most people,” Nyx said tightly, moving her mouth as little as possible.

“I suppose that’s true.” Eris craned her neck for a better view. At Clo’s questioning look, Eris explained, “Members of the royal guard have training so strict and brutal, they consider war a respite. That laser is like trying to beat her unconscious with a spoon.”

Even so, Nyx held the pain in better than most.

Stop it, Eris, she told herself. It’s not admirable. That training wasn’t admirable. It was messed-up. Xander told you that, remember? He used to have nightmares. He used to—

“How do you know that?” Nyx asked.

Eris kept her expression even. A soldier like Nyx would have been taught to recognize the slightest shift in features, anything that would give away emotion.

Kyla supplied the answer for Eris. “Intel,” the commander said casually. “The Novantae know about the training for Tholosian soldiers. We have a few defectors, myself included.”

Nyx turned her stony gaze on Kyla. “I’ve heard nothing about defectors from the royal guard.”

Kyla continued her strokes down Nyx’s cheek to her chin. The hum of the laser wand filled the silence. “Of course you haven’t. Sher and I gave them new identities and staged their deaths. Made it look like they perished in skirmishes with the Evoli.”

Nyx closed her eyes as Kyla ran the laser over where the tattoos dipped below her chin. After another minute, Kyla turned off the laser and leaned back. “That should do it for the first treatment.” She undid the straps around Nyx’s wrists and handed her a serum. It contained a pale echo of the nanites in Eris’s blood. Not cheap, and not something the resistance could afford to give away. “Put this on to speed up the healing, and I’ll start another treatment in a few hours.”