The cabin of the bridge felt larger than usual without additional bodies packed inside. The space was cool and dark with a few lights illuminated on the dash, letting her know that they were perilously low on power and that the pumps were active down below. The wrap of windows gave her a full view of the deck, where a reduced dead watch of two patrolled fore and aft beneath moonlit clouds. Even knowing how quickly this situation could go from precarious to desperate, it was peaceful.

A scratching noise fluttered from one of the bridge stations, filling the air with an erratic staccato. Caledonia narrowed her eyes on the radio, still resting on the same channel they’d used to radio Slipmark. She slipped out of her seat, moving closer to investigate. It crackled again, and this time she heard a voice.

“Caledonia.”

She froze halfway between her chair and the radio. The room was suddenly very cold.

“Caledonia.” The voice was silk behind static, a smile beyond a fogged windowpane, and it slipped beneath her skin like a thin sheet of ice.

Again, static punctured the air. It sounded like water rushing into her ears, and for a second she forgot to breathe.

It was Lir.

“Was that you in Slipmark, Bale Blossom? Coming after your crew? You who so deftly evaded Venn today?” He paused, and Caledonia couldn’t help but picture the delighted smile on his lips, curled as artfully as a flower petal. “Caledonia . . .” Her name was a song and a taunt on his tongue, the notes offered in complete faith that she was there to receive them.

He was goading her. Daring her to reveal that she was alive. Until now, all he’d had was the absence of her body and perhaps a tantalizing sliver of hope that they would meet again. If she responded, all of that would change.

She knew this, felt it on every level, and yet some part of her yearned to pick up that receiver and prove that he’d failed to kill her.

“I think it was you. In fact, I hope it was,” he continued. “We left things on such a disappointing note. But look, the moons have gifted us with a new opportunity.”

Walk away, Caledonia. She raised a hand to switch the radio off. One flick of a switch. That’s all it would take. He would be gone and she would be free. So why couldn’t she do it?

“You continue to impress me. You have nothing. Only yourself, and yet you survive.” She heard him exhale before following another dreadful thought. “You took your crew back, of course, but you also took Bullet Ares and Fiveson—well, he was once Fiveson Oran.” The intrigue in his voice was thick and dangerous. “I’m surprised at your interest in my once-brother considering all he’s done. But then, perhaps you’re more complicated than you’ve led me to believe.”