THE NIGHTMARE HAD NOT CEASED.
The system leaders of Mirabel were dead. The queen of a system once thought defeated stood above their bodies, smiling as if she’d conquered the galaxy. Dex had watched her arrive, watched her speak to Valen as if they were kin. He’d seen, with perfect clarity, the way she’d slid her knife across the leaders’ throats. Lira and Gilly and Breck, the crew who had accepted him as one of their own, turned to face the queen as if they belonged to her now.
And all Dex could do was hide like a coward behind the bar.
He’d managed to sneak back onto the stage and retrieve the general while Valen was distracted. Now he and Andi were on the ground beside him, both bleeding, both dying. A bartending droid, its humanoid torso sprouting from a single wheel, sat silently to Dex’s left, awaiting his command.
But what command could he give? The droid couldn’t save them from their fate, and Dex surely couldn’t, either.
The blood trail outside the bar led straight to them. They’d be discovered soon.
Gone was the bravery Dex had always felt as a Guardian. Gone was the confidence he’d found as a bounty hunter.
Fear had seized Dex in its icy grip, and no matter how hard he tried to break away, the terror surrounding him would not release him.
There was nowhere to go. No escape. The madness continued as Nor addressed the crowd, and her soldiers shot the few who still seemed to have control of their minds.
Then they began to fan out across the ballroom.
The terror intensified with every footstep the soldiers took, every second drawing them closer to discovering Dex’s hiding place.
Run, his mind whispered. He could scarcely hear the word over the terror that had dulled his senses and kept him rooted to the spot.
Andi lay motionless on the floor beside him, her hand growing colder as Dex gripped it like an anchor. She would not die. She could not die, because if she did, Dex would lose his heart with her.
Beside her, the general’s eyes were open as he lay on his side, slowly bleeding out. He stared at the wall, lips fluttering with words that Dex couldn’t hear.
The soldiers were getting closer. Soon they would discover him. Dex gripped Andi’s hand tighter, and through his fear, through his hopelessness, a sudden realization emerged.
He would stay with her until the end.
If it was the last thing he ever did in his life, Dex would die defending Androma Racella. He wouldn’t go down until he knew he’d done everything in his power to save her.
The general’s mutterings became more insistent.
Dex crawled forward, had nearly placed a hand over the general’s mouth to silence him, when the words drifted into his ears.
“The tunnel.”
Dex shook his head. He wanted to scream. He wanted to claw his way out of here, get them to safety...but there was no good ending to this nightmare.
“The tunnel,” General Cortas rasped again. Blood dribbled from his lips, shockingly dark. He lifted a trembling hand and pointed past Dex to the dark shadows beneath the bar top.
Dex squinted into the darkness. At first he saw nothing, but as his eyes locked onto a small seam in the wall, something Andi had said drifted into his mind.
I remember every little bit. Even the hidden escape tunnels that the general installed. He loved to put them in closets, bathrooms, under the bars...
Hope blossomed in his chest as he reached forward and ran his fingers along the seam. It was a small door, just large enough for someone to crawl through. Dex leaned his shoulder up against it. Pushed with all of his might.
When the door popped open to reveal a dark tunnel beyond, Dex almost wept.
Run, his mind said again.
He set to work at once, feeling coming back to his limbs, clarity warming his mind.
“Help me,” he whispered to the droid. The blessed thing grabbed the general by the collar and hauled him away like a tray of heavy drinks.
By the time the Xen Pterran soldiers discovered the blood trail behind the bar, Dex, Andi and the general were already gone.
In the docking bay of Averia, inside the Marauder, Dex ignited the engines and angled the ship toward freedom.
He’d never been more grateful for the darkness of the night as he left Arcardius behind.
Chapter Ninety-Two
* * *
ANDROMA
SMOKE EVERYWHERE.
It was in her eyes, curling into her lungs.
The transport ship was in flames. The crash had happened so fast. One moment, they were soaring through the skies. The next, fire.
Pain.
A scream tore itself from her throat.
Now her ears rang. Her heart slammed against her ribs, and fear ripped through her. She had to get out. She couldn’t breathe.
“Help...me.”
Andi turned in her seat. Through the haze, she saw Kalee’s outstretched hand. Her body, turned at an awkward angle in the flickering firelight. Her friend was covered in blood. A piece of metal protruded from her stomach like a sword. With each breath Kalee took, it wobbled.
“Oh, Godstars,” Andi gasped. She reached out, tried to pull the metal from Kalee’s stomach. But the girl screamed, and Andi shrank away, hands trembling, her own vision growing dim. “Hang on, Kalee. Just hang on.”
Panic seized Andi as she tried to kick open the transport door. But it was stuck, dented in so far that it trapped her leg against the seat.
She couldn’t move.
“Help,” Kalee murmured again.
There were tears in her eyes, and a trickle of crimson slipped from her pale lips.
“I’ll get help,” Andi said. “Just hang on.” Shards of glass were embedded into her arms. Her skin was blistering in the heat before her eyes. She began to sob as she slammed the emergency button on the dash, but no light flickered on.
“Come on!” Andi screamed.
She slammed the button again, and again, but the ship was lifeless around them.
And no one was coming to save them.
Beside her, Kalee had fallen silent.
She wasn’t breathing. Her eyes closed. Her head lolled to the side.
“No,” Andi said. “Kalee, wake up!” Pain tore her chest open. She coughed again, the smoke and the heat unbearable. “You have to wake up!”
She tried to wriggle herself away, but pain exploded from her leg, from her wrists. She was trapped.
She knew, suddenly, that she was going to die.
The front of the crumpled ship was nearly an inferno now. In seconds, the flames would reach them.
“Kalee!” Andi said. “Please don’t do this. Please don’t leave me.”
The girl had stopped moving. Blood trickled from her stomach like a crimson river, slowing now. As if she’d run out.
“No! You’ll be okay, you’ll be okay,” Andi sobbed, trying again to pull herself from the seat. Her leg wouldn’t move; the door wouldn’t free her.
Please, she begged. Please, no.
Andi had done this to her. Oh, Godstars, she’d done this. The crash was her fault.
She was Kalee’s Spectre, sworn to protect her with her life.
And now Kalee was...
Andi’s head swam as she looked at her charge, the friend who was as close as a sister.