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PROLOGUE
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MALIX
It’s amazing how fast a planet can die.
A burst of light flares like a falling star one cool night on the garden moon of Rath. A whole city watches as it streaks across the sky, flaming bright and beautiful. It circles in a wide arc around the entirety of the garden moon, falling into an orbital dance. Reports come swiftly from all over Rath, our farthest outpost from our homeworld of Logos.
The farthest—and the most vulnerable.
The object circles our farthest moon for a full three solar cycles, so small that it is barely detectable on radar. Astronomers describe it as a curiosity: something to be watched, but nothing to be concerned about. Our lunar defense department moves to action regardless, as an asteroid so close should be destroyed outright. Missiles are sent from Logos, speeding toward the unidentified object with deadly ferocity. This is routine, our superiors say.
The pulse comes just moments later.
All communications in the planetary network are taken offline. Our capital city, Saga, goes dark. Panic grips my people as we wonder if this is the onset of a new civil war, if we will fall once again into conflict.
What is happening is so, so much worse.
Because when the lights come back on and communications are reestablished, Logos has not eight moons, but seven. Where Rath—a garden moon with a population of one billion people—hung like a distant diamond in the sky, only shattered remnants remain. There is no time to grieve, however, because a message comes to us as soon as communications are restored.
Surrender to the Skoropi or face extinction.
And thus, a new war begins.
CHAPTER ONE
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TARAVEN
Francesca Morales is not myekirah.
I know this.
But I also know that her eyes sparkle like their ringed with sunlight, and that gold dusts her cheeks as if she’s walked through a curtain of pollen. When she smiles, it makes my heart soar, my cheeks heat, my cocks spring to attention. I long to hold her and kiss her full red lips, to swallow the sunlight bubbling up from her lungs.
All of this makes it very hard to fight her.
“That all you got?” she asks as she circles toward the edge of the ring. She picks up a flask of water and tips her head back to drink. I watch as the water moves down her throat, dew drops sparkling on her tan skin. “I thought a big scaly monster would be tougher.”
I crouch down on the floor and balance backwards on my tail, heaving a breath. She’s kept me on my toes this whole time; and perhaps, despite my size, I’m letting her win.
Perhaps.
“At this point in our friendship, you should know that I am far from tough,” I say, grinning up at her. “Bekah describes me as the ‘sweet’ one of our crew.”
“There’s no room for sweetness when a Second House warrior is rushing straight toward you,” Frankie says with a smirk. She reaches out her hand and smiles. “Come on, soldier boy. Let’s go another round.”
I let her haul me to my feet, boosting myself with my tail. I’m nearly two feet taller than her, but Frankie doesn’t seem daunted by it; in fact, she sees my superior size as a challenge.
It scares me how small she is in a world of terrors,especiallywith her can-do attitude.
Frankie rushes me while I’m still thinking about how vulnerable she must be, catching me off-guard. I jerk to the side just as she comes at me in a blur of copper-gold skin and brown curls, her elbow catching me in the gut just where my scales taper away to soft flesh. I huff out a breath, but Frankie doesn’t let up. Her foot sweeps toward my ankles, hitting me right where it hurts.
I go down again in what feels like a matter of seconds, failing to catch myself with my tail this time and hitting the floor.
I stretch out in a show of surrender, showing Frankie my belly. She laughs and turns to grab her water flask again, then empties it into her mouth as I look over from the floor. When she returns, she takes a step over me to frame my hips, looking down with a triumphant smile.
