Her communication with them logs on a dash screen even though I can’t hear anything over my suit. She scans ahead of us, adjusts our flight path, and descends toward the EMP field where seventeen Titans have fallen.
Before we can pick up the first, a pitch-black, vicious-looking ship darts in front of us.
“Poison Arrow!” Poppy swears. “She has been a thorn in our side for weeks! I knew they were sending in extra ships! I just didn’t expect a Poison Arrow, a fourth mothership, Scythe,andVenom all at once!”
“She?”
Poppy pulls up an image on the dash. “Thruster relayed this. She collected him with her ship’s magnetic belly and took him to a mothership in the sky for interrogation. She also, oddly, let them get away.”
My stomach knots as I study the picture. “What’s her name?”
“They call her KillStar.”
The Poison Arrow dips low along the ground and picks up the remaining Titans, the last few we were going to collect. She flies up from the sandy dirt, Titans lying flat under her ship.
Poppy’s furious. “I can’t fucking shoot her down because my Brothers are there!”
Poppy banks hard afterKillstaras I strain to figure out what to do about my new situation.
“What?” Poppy practically screams at me.
I get on coms. There has to be a way to get through to my sister. “Maybe you don’t remember, but I do. Soiridium is ferrous. We had to use special tools to chip it out of the mountain. The drills were diamond tipped but had to be made of hydramidium, because it was hard enough to punch through the rock, strong enough to take the heat, but also not ferrous.
“Dad ran the drill and trained me at eight. Mom worked in the dreg piles because of her eye for Creshnius, the fuel cell material Solcrue prefer.”
Come on, Myria. You have to remember. Please remember.
“We were born to work the mines, not to save the universe from itself. We just knew that loyalty was the only way to survive, and we did something about it.”
Poppy cocks her head. “What the fuck are you doing?”
The Poison Arrow straightens out and hums in front of us like it’s on autopilot.
I ignore Poppy’s complaints. “I was nine when they put me in training. Cybernetics. Ship design. Engines. Weapons. Shadow soldier tactics for staying hidden, infiltration, recon, and manipulation.”
Poppy shuts off the coms. “Esthi! You’re broadcasting that!”
I look over at her. “I know. There’s no one left from my camp. If the Solcrue hear, it won’t matter. There’s little left they can take from me.”
Her brows knit for a barely visible moment. She slowly sits back.
I switch the coms back on. “No matter who I pretend to be, who I have to kill, I remember why I wasmadeinto who I am.Because without that anchor, I am lost to the stars. I have always been with you, with our family, our camp, our species, andour Creations.”
Poison Arrow hits the brakes and slides back alongside us.
“Shit,” Poppy mutters.
I look over at my sister.Her eyes are a radiant blue now—inhuman, like most of her body.
“I have always loved you,” I add. “I never forgot you. I never will, no matter what you do today or tomorrow. I know this life hasn’t been easy. But it can still be just, right, and filled with purpose even if it is short and painful.”
Poppy gasps quietly beside me.
“Lenarro told me,” I say to my sister. “He’s still here, somewhere. I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner. I tried.” Tears form in my eyes. “Stars, I tried.”
“Is Joey still with him?”
I choke up, hearing Myria’s voice even if it is flat and apathetic. “Yes.”
