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Valdir is Sefi’s varKjr. Her warlord. He’s used blunt-force trauma to pound a legacy from Mars to Mercury—surviving a decade that sent more than seventy percent of Sefi’s commanders to Valhalla. He wants a frontal assault. So a frontal assault it’ll be. No niggling brief from a mercenary will dissuade him. It’ll work, I’m sure. With the hard-boiled legions the Heart is packing, even the Citadel of the Republic might fall. But it will turn so many civilians and backline Republic troops into meat confetti that Mars will loathe them for centuries. The faceless future dead make me think of the sounds my boys made as they were skinned on Luna. It makes my hand shake for Z. That won’t be the end of the killing. It’ll be the beginning. Only famine is uglier than occupation.

What would Volga say if I told her this was the price of her life?

I rub my temple, trying to ease the vibrations of the hot drill digging into my brain.

I’m just destined to be a footman to devils, I guess.

I light another burner.

It goes down before I know it.

Below, Obsidians study Quicksilver’s robots—machines meant to kill blood and bone. I wouldn’t face them for anything in the world.

“You’ve been avoiding me.” I look over to see Pax coming from a gravLift.

“Consolation isn’t my thing,” I reply.

He peers over the railing without expression. He’s grown harder since I took him from that Lionguard shuttle. How could he not? Braga and his other bodyguard amble behind him. They watch me without much appreciation. I’m emblematic of their Queen’s New Way.

“I guess even a warrior race has to concoct new ways to die,” I mutter. “Death by axe has to get tedious after a while.” I twirl a new burner.

“You think it’s going to be a massacre.”

“Either in the taking or the keeping. Don’t you?”

He doesn’t respond immediately. “I don’t know everything. What I do know is that the Obsidians will defend Cimmeria better than Quicksilver ever did, maybe even rebuild it. Might be better for the Reds this way. Sefi knows the danger of letting them boil over. They’ll outnumber her people a hundred to one. When Atalantia comes…maybe they’ll stand together. Even if they don’t…I don’t know. Maybe the Obsidians have earned this day more than anyone.”

“Cimmeria is just one continent.” I reply. “The richest in helium, sure, but Apollonia is the heart of Mars. Agea will go into a frenzy. This is civil war within a civil war. The death of the Republic. Without helium—”

“No, Obsidian is a land power. They’ll have to trade the helium for it to be worth anything. If the Obsidians get Cimmeria and dig in, Agea will negotiate. And even if the Vox have my mother, my tribe is resilient. Victra’s still out there. Telemanuses…maybe.” He goes quiet. “They’ll ally with Obsidian to face Atalantia.”

“If the Vox don’t eat the Republic.”

“Yes.”

He’s written off his father on Mercury then. Without the Sovereign to lead a rescue fleet, they’re as good as dead.

“Do you think your mother knew about this?” I ask.

He sighs. “I don’t know. Judging by the scale of the operation, I assume she had to. Subtlety isn’t Sefi’s strength, and she doesn’t know all my mother’s tools. So the fact that it’s reached this point means either Victra clued my mother in, Sevro did, or she just found out because she’s her. Was her.” He rolls his jaw, looking ten times his age. He’s been different since he discovered his mother’s demise. While Electra has squawked on and on about revenge, he’s just gone quiet. Of course Hatchetface thinks life is just a substance to be pushed through. With a brain like Pax’s, he’s already guessed there’s nowhere to push. It’s just a hard road to a cliff, with all the good ones falling over it far too quick.

“You want to talk about it?” I ask.

“No.” We stand in silence for a while. “Don’t,” he says when he hears my intake of breath. I lean forward and light another burner and offer him one.

“I’m eleven.”

“So, we beat cancer, remember?”

He shrugs and takes the burner, holding it like it’s straight black smack. I light it for him. “Mother would kill me.”

“Thought your da was the killer.”

“He wouldn’t notice.”

“Come on. Petty doesn’t look good on you. Least your da is slick. Mine was just a horny grunt who passed his seed for a ten-K bonus. Keep the legions strong.” I snort.

I don’t like seeing Pax like this. It depresses me. I should say something interesting, but I can’t think of something he wouldn’t just shoot down. All right. Let’s get real.