“Elara!” the Metal—Xu, Ana had heard Starbright call them—cried.

In response, she pressed tighter against Starbright’s neck. “One more step and I won’t be nice.” The Metal stepped back again, hands rising into the air. Ana turned her gaze back down to the girl pinned beneath her. “Xu—that Metal—said they escaped the HIVE. How? How did you do it?”

“Lost a lover?” Starbright—Elara—asked sarcastically. “It’ll cost you. A million coppers a Metal—”

Ana tightened her grip on the handle of her dagger. “No, not just one. All of them. Every Metal in the HIVE. If we can save them, we save the kingdom.”

The young woman studied her face with a furrowed brow. “Why do you care about Metals so much?”

Her grip on the hilt of her blade tightened. “Because Metals were once human.”

“. . . What?”

“Like us. Alive,” she added. “That’s how Rasovant created them. He uploaded people’s—their subconsciousness or whatever—into memory cores. The HIVE erases everything they are, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. I want to save them. I have to.”

Elara turned her head to the side, and Ana realized that the collision with the floor had broken her nose. Blood smeared her face. She and her Metal exchanged a look as if they knew something but didn’t want to say what.

Ana pursed her lips. “Look, if you didn’t want me here, then why did you ask me to come?”

“Well, that’s a very good question—”

“Elara, they are here,” said her Metal, flicking their gaze to the storefront window.

From across the street came a patrol of half a dozen Messiers. Ana heard them outside—a dozen more surrounding the store in a synchronized march. Her blood ran cold.

How had they found her?

It doesn’t matter—they won’t catch me, she thought, and grabbed Elara by the back of her coat and hauled her to her feet.

“Is there a rooftop exit?” she asked.

“In the back, up the ladder—”

She took her by the arm, dragging her toward the back of the store. The Metal shoved something into a dark bag before they followed. Behind them, the Messiers broke the storefront window and leaped inside.

The storage room was filled with old coat boxes and empty hangers. There was a ladder that led up to the rooftop.

“Jump to the next one!” Ana commanded, slamming the rooftop hatch down and driving her lightblade into the lock to slow down the Messiers.

“Jump?” Elara squawked. “And why in the Goddess’s tits should we do that?”

“Just trust me, okay? You’re right about me disappearing—I did. I disappeared from the kingdom, but it’s not because I gave up on it. I won’t give up on it, and I need your help to save it.”

The rooftop latch rattled as a Messier pounded on it to open. The lightblade held fast. For now.

Elara visibly gulped, glancing at her Metal friend for guidance, and when the Metal nodded, so did she. “Okay—yeah, okay. Lead the way, Princess.”