“We’re not going to draw attention to ourselves—the longer Mellifare’s kept in the dark, the better,” Robb had said earlier as they sat around the galley’s table. Talle had cooked everyone a breakfast of sausage and eggs and ham—she said she was nervous, but Ana got the feeling that she was cooking everything perishable. “Wynn will arrive with Viera—do you know where you’re meeting?”

Viera nodded. “Yes.”

“Good. Lenda, you’ll stay with the captain and Talle.”

Lenda nodded. “Right.”

“Jax, you’ll be our getaway driver”—to that his partner gave a half bow—“Ana, you’ll make your grand entrance like we proposed, and Di, you’ll watch her from the shadows.”

“I can’t go into the garden?” Di argued. He’d borrowed one of Jax’s ties to pull half of his hair back in a desperate attempt to get it out of his face.

“You might not be HIVE’d now, but it might take you again,” the captain said in Robb’s stead. She tapped her finger against the table. “We can’t let you.”

For a moment, Di looked like he was about to fight her, but then his fingers curled around the fork loosened. “Very well. I understand.”

“Good,” the captain agreed, spearing an egg.

“Meanwhile, Elara and Xu, you two keep a lookout for any sign of the HIVE. We know Mellifare’s bound to make her appearance, and if things don’t turn out the way we want, we need someone who can throw some communication to Siege’s debtors waiting in Nevaeh.”

To that, Elara saluted. “Xu and I’ll be happy to camp out far away from the masses. Although I hate that I’m going to miss the party, Smolder.”

“We can throw our own party,” Xu resolved.

“Party for two, please!” Elara threw up two fingers, as if ordering from a waiter, and grinned. “I don’t mind. And what’ll you do, Smolder?”

“I will take those Resonance files and find that heart,” Robb concluded.

Siege ate a piece of egg and reached for the hot sauce. “To be fair, Robb, you probably shouldn’t be going at all.”

The Ironblood choked on his coffee. “What?”

“You were disowned, then dead—you’ll be the talk of the party.”

Viera said dryly, “Oh, Goddess forbid that.”

Jax agreed, “He does like attention,” at which Robb turned a bright red.

“I do not!”

Everyone laughed—even Di. Ana tried to, but it felt like her stomach was full of live worms. She anxiously picked at her sausage and eggs, knowing she had to eat, but she wasn’t hungry. At least she wasn’t the only one not eating—Viera wasn’t, either, and she seemed oddly stoic. They still hadn’t found the spy, and that made her almost sick with worry. What if we fail? What if I fail? she thought. What if—

Di noticed her frown and asked in a quiet voice, only to her, “Is everything okay?”

“Yes—yeah, fine,” she replied automatically, but when he gave her a long blink, she wilted. “What if we can’t find the heart? What if we don’t get to it first? Or what if we do, and it doesn’t matter? What if . . .”