Reaching behind Emily, he punched something into the cuff mechanism, releasing her from the rail.Before she could get her feet under her, he hauled her upright by her arm.She winced, hissing through her teeth as his fingers dug in hard.
"This one comes with us."He jerked his chin toward Lucy."Leave that one, she's worthless."
"Wait."Lucy scrambled to her feet."No!What about Sarah?I did what you asked.I brought her.We had a deal!Korrait promised?—"
Her voice rose higher and broke, words tumbling over each other while the guards ignored her.Emily dug her heels in and made herself a dead weight as they dragged her toward the door.
They didn't slow down.
Twisting against their grip, she threw herself back with everything she had.
The warrior on her left grunted and grabbed her hair in a fist.She gasped, her scalp burning as he yanked her head back, forcing her to look up.
"Walk," he snarled."Or be dragged.Makes no difference to me.We only need you breathing for the ritual."
She froze.Ritual.What ritual?
Her mind went white with panic for half a second before she shoved it down hard.Whatever they were planning, she couldn't stop it right now, and falling apart wouldn't help.
Emily shot one last glance back through the shrinking gap in the doorway.
Lucy stood in the center of the hold, arms at her sides, ugly-crying.
Emily looked away and quit struggling.
Getting her feet under her, she let them march her forward.Whatever came next, she'd need everything she had left.
The door sealed shut behind her, chopping Lucy's sobs off mid-sound.
The corridor stretched ahead—dim, industrial, reeking of fuel and old metal.Emily walked between the two warriors, wrists raw, head pounding, and her shoulders screaming.
Raaevik wasn't coming.
She'd made damn sure of that.
* * *
The corridor was cold.
No—cold wasn't the right word.It washostile.The kind of temperature that bit through clothes and settled into bone, like the station's environmental systems had given up trying to be hospitable.Each breath Emily took burned on the way down and fogged on the way out.
The walls weren't smooth metal like Devan Station.They were rough, dark rock visible where the ceiling panels met the walls in uneven seams.Gouges and drill marks scarred the surface.This place had been carved out, hacked from something bigger.
They passed a narrow viewport set into the corridor wall, and her eyes widened as she caught a glimpse of scattered stars and the edge of rock falling away into space.
Shit.They were on an asteroid.Not a building she could walk out of and not a ship she could hijack, not that she knew how.But a bloodyrock, floating in the middle of nowhere.
That quiet little ember of "I'll find a way out" died.
The guards' grips tightened on her arms, fingers digging deep enough to bruise.She'd have marks later.
"I can pay you."Her voice came out steadier than she'd expected."Whatever they're offering, I can double it.Triple it.My mother would?—"
The guard on her right didn't even glance at her.
"Quadruple it," she pressed, because talking was the only weapon she had left."No questions asked.Clean funds.You could disappear.Both of you.Start over somewhere the Empire would never find you."
There was no response.Nothing.Not even a flicker.
