“I was,” he answered with a nod. “Until we were placed on Electra. Conscription falls under Decker’s purview. I suspect it was a means to an end, though. Lir always wanted bigger things for Donnally. Giving us to Decker was the best way to move him into command. Putting me on his crew ensured he had some support. The rest he had to fight for. They expect all their Fivesons to demonstrate some kind of unique aptitude for that kind of thing.”

“What?” Caledonia’s voice stretched thin over the word.

“I—I thought you knew.” Ares stood up straight, his shoulders even for once. “Lir was sponsoring Donnally to compete as a Fiveson. To replace Oran.”

A quiet storm started in Caledonia’s ears, like the distant promise of thunder. Questions formed faster than she could properly consider them. “My brother is a Fiveson?”

“No. At least, not when I left. There were only four: Decker, Tassos, Venn, and Lir. Each of them was allowed to sponsor a candidate. That’s when Donnally was pulled from Electra. To undergo the trials. And before you ask, I don’t know what they entail.”

“Oran does.” She felt numb even as the idea occurred to her.

Ares only nodded, but once again, Caledonia had the impression that it was with a sense of futility. Whatever Oran had done to become a Fiveson, he knew exactly what it was. Whatever he’d done to lose that same status? That was the question that gave her hope. It carved just enough room around Oran in her mind to make him worthy of the trust she’d already given him.

“But every Fiveson must prove he is more ruthless than the others competing for that power. If that had happened, we’d have heard of it in Slipmark.” He exhaled slowly, calmly, as if none of this disturbed him on any level.

It wasn’t much of a comfort, but in light of all she’d learned in the course of this unexpected conversation, it was enough. Donnally was not yet a Fiveson. She would believe it until she no longer could.

“Lir became a Fiveson the night he killed our families. He was the youngest boy to claim the destruction of an entire ship as his own. And Aric had been after us for much longer than our parents let on. I guess we had some important people on that ship, some people Aric wanted dead.” Ares shrugged. “Lir’s victory made him famous and invaluable in the eyes of the Father.”

“Ares,” she began, thinking she would ask him to stop. It was too much to think about, and too much to fold into her already painful understanding of the past. But instead, she asked, “How do I get to Donnally? Before he becomes a Fiveson?”

Ares only shook his head slowly back and forth. “I’m sorry.”