Valen Cortas was silent and strange—a mystery Andi really had no interest in cracking. And yet, despite his oddities, the older students at the Arcardian Academy always talked about him, whispered his name in the halls in between classes when he shuffled past, his shoelaces undone, splatters of paint on his rumpled uniform.
General Cortas hadn’t even assigned a full-time Spectre for Valen. Kalee said it was because he wasn’t the heir, but Andi had always wondered. The tension between father and son was palpable. It made for awkward meetings when the whole family and their Spectres were present.
“I asked you a question,” Valen said now from the bottom of the stairs.
“And I don’t have to answer.” Kalee tossed her pale hair over her shoulder, the polar opposite to Valen’s dark brown.
Valen frowned. “I was asking Androma.”
Andi’s mouth opened. Valen never tried to speak to her directly. And now...he was angry, looking at her like she was trying to steal his best friend.
“We’re going to have some fun, Valen,” Andi said. “Maybe you should join us. Put down the paintbrushes for a little while and see the real world.”
She hadn’t meant it rudely, but his mouth twisted at her words. And then his eyes fell on the silver ignition card clutched in Kalee’s hand. “You’re not going anywhere. Not with that.”
He started up the stairs, his bare feet soundless with each step.
“That’s enough, Valen.” Kalee whined like a caged dog as she nudged Andi farther up the staircase. “Come on, Andi. He’s not going to stop us.”
“I’ll wake up Father,” Valen threatened.
Kalee laughed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
Andi stared down at Valen, who, before tonight, had always seemed so quiet, so focused on things inside of himself rather than the world around him.
“There isn’t room for three in the ship,” Kalee said.
He continued upward anyway.
“You can’t come.”
“Kalls.” Valen said her nickname with a heavy sigh. He looked to Andi, frowning again. “You aren’t going to stop this?”
“Of course she’s not,” Kalee said. “Come on, Valen. It’s my birthday.”
Valen frowned. “You’re not yourself when you’re with her, Kalls. Don’t do this. It’s not a good idea. Just...come down. I’ll walk you back to your room.”
Kalee circled her arm through Andi’s. “I’m better when I’m with Andi, Valen. You’re just jealous because no one is interested in getting on a ship alone with you.”
Andi blinked in surprise as Valen froze. He stared up at Kalee like she’d just shattered his heart.
And maybe she had.
“Don’t come crying to me when Father catches you,” he whispered. Then his face warped with a sad smile. “Happy Birthday, Kalee. I hope it’s everything you want it to be.”
He turned, slinking back down the stairs.
For a moment, Andi wondered if maybe he was right. Maybe they shouldn’t go. Again, that little voice whispered, This is a mistake. This isn’t in your orders. Your orders are to keep her safe, Androma, not keep her happy.
But as Andi stared down at the card in her charge’s hand, the thrill of the night swept over her. A promise that adventure was waiting, and a ship with engines larger than any she’d ever had in her control at the Academy.
“Let’s go, Kalee.”
She tugged her friend along with her, up the stairs and out the door to the docking pad. The transport sat waiting for them, a silver beast crouching in the moonlight. Andi screeched with laughter as Kalee chased her across the platform, the wind in their hair, the kiss of the night on their skin.
Tonight, they would be more than just a Spectre and her charge. They’d be partners in crime. Girls on a mission, out to tear apart the silent skies.
Chapter Thirty-Two
* * *
LIRA
IT HAD BEEN 86,400 seconds since the timer started on their mission, and not for a moment had Lira allowed herself to stop moving.
She paced back and forth on the Marauder, her steps whisper silent as she worried her way past Andi’s empty captain’s chair.
So many nights she’d found her captain here, scratching tallies into her swords, neck bent as if pressed down by the weight of her sins.
The first part of the mission had gone as planned. Andi and Dex had gone in, the latter assuming they’d stick to his plan. Little did Dextro Arez know that the Marauders weren’t up for following his lead.
They’d executed Plan B with the ultimate amount of finesse. Lira would never forget the moment Breck sent Dex flying across the pub with a single kick to his gut. The snarl on the Lunamere guards’ faces as Dex destroyed their card game, Krevs scattered across the pub for anyone to claim.
After the Sparks had gone off and the Lunamere warden had arrived, Lira and the crew had hightailed their way out of that putrid pub as fast as their legs would allow.
The last she saw of Andi was when she turned to face the warden, and her inevitable transport to Lunamere.
They’d locked eyes across the pub, and as Xen Pterran guards surrounded Andi, she’d sent one desperate message to Lira.
Run.
It wasn’t a suggestion born out of fear. It was an order.
Despite everything in her, Lira had obeyed.
But with every step, she’d felt like a traitor.
Your captain is in chains, a voice whispered in the back of her mind. You should be by her side. Instead, you’re running.
All you ever do is run.
Run from your duties.
Run from your family.
The voice, as always, had sounded like Lon’s. Chest deep, full of knowing and love all at once.
Lira had shoved it away. Forced herself onto the Marauder, her hands clutching the throttle as she reversed away from the old, crumbling satellite’s docking bay.
This was all part of the plan. And yet, Lira couldn’t help but feel as if she’d just repeated an act she’d done four years ago.
Running from what you love most, Lon’s voice ghosted into her mind again.
As she’d flown the Marauder away from Dark Matter, Lira could only hope, and pray to the Godstars, that Andi and Dex would make it back out alive and with Valen Cortas in tow. Hopefully Andi and Valen would be uninjured. Dextro, she didn’t care a single star about.
She knew enough about the damage he’d once caused Andi to wish the worst upon him. It took a lot to break a woman like Andi, and yet somehow, he had managed to do it.
“I’m bored,” Gilly said, interrupting Lira’s thoughts. “I wish Dex was here.”
The pilot looked up from the dark dash before her. “What?”
Gilly shrugged. “He’s funny. I like him.”
“He’s not funny,” Lira said. “He’s Andi’s enemy, and therefore, he is our enemy. And he’s late.”
A full twenty-four hours after leaving Dark Matter, the Marauder, powered down into survival mode to avoid detection, sat like a dark shadow in the Junkyard. The irony of pretending to be dead in the air when only days ago, Dex’s men had literally killed the ship in order to board it and start this entire mission process in the first place, was not lost on Lira.
Lira’s scales sizzled as another wave of newly formed hatred swept into her.
“You’re going to melt the dash,” Breck said.
Lira sighed and shook out her palms.