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“Not a little family. There’ll be fifty of us when I’m done with you,” he states, and I groan, not sure if he’s joking or not. It’s hard to tell with him. Queen Jasmine herself has at least a dozen sons in her hundreds of years of rule, and Tar’ank wants that too. I imagine all my sons in the station, building this place into something safe and beautiful.

I take a look at the new construction of our weapons augment station, one of our most profitable. There’s a blend of industrial and residential that only works with greenery. It’s gotten nicer, with trees planted next to it. I didn’t want there to be an eyesore past the park.

The two Orb-Beam turrets aim at the hazy airfield as another ship approaches. We have layers of protection, and I know I’m in the safest place in the universe with my triad.

The boom that rings out deafens me. The glass of the apartment building coming up on my left shatters, raining shards to the ground from the shockwave. There’s stunned silence, then screams from all around. The hazy airfield flickers, blinking in and out.

Garrick is already running towards the airfield generators, his Orb-Blade up and humming to life.“Get her back.”His command flows straight through our minds, and Markrin lifts me, picking me up like I’m weightless and sprinting with me against the cobblestones.

A second explosion rings out. I don’t know where it comes from, but Tar’ank splits off, his Orb-Blade drawn and humming, going to the source of the threat before it can hurt us more.

I bounce up and down as Markrin sprints towards the stairwell. “Wait! The kid!” I yell, pointing at the couple with the little boy. The three of them are petrified. They stand, shaking like leaves. Markrin growls and puts me down, ushering the three of them under an alcove.

“Stay here. Put your hands over your heads and wait,” he orders, taking control of the situation. My eyes dart left and right, waiting for the next blast. The three of them shelter in a nook that will protect them from debris if another blast hits.

“Come on, come on!” Markrin grabs my hand, and we run towards the stairwell leading up to the balcony.

The balcony warps. A huge chunk of stone blasts out, landing right where the family was standing twenty seconds ago. The stairwell wavers, about to collapse.

“In here!” a voice I recognize yells from behind me. I look to my right at the open door of the weapons station, and Markrin pulls me in.

I blink, trying to clear my head, looking for Nate and Patrick. That was one of their voices. The weapons upgrade station is empty, the tools scattered on the ground, rocked from the blasts. Markrin scans the room, drawing his Orb-Blade and activating it.

The malicious hum fills the room.

Then it falls from his hand, deactivating and clunking against the floor. Markrin’s eyes narrow in confusion and he reaches up to his neck.

There’s a dart sticking out from it. He pulls it out, and collapses.

“Don’t move.”

I turn to face the twins. They have humble, plain faces, faces I’ve seen for the last ten months as they worked cheerfully on the station. They’re dressed in their work clothes.

Only now Nate has a pistol aimed right at my stomach. I tremble, petrified, as my future flashes before my eyes.

If he pulls the trigger, he snuffs that future out. All my dreams can be gone with a little squeeze of a single finger.

Patrick tosses his dart gun aside. Markrin’s aura is faint in my mind. He tries to stand, and falls, his legs crumpling under him.

“Ninety seconds,” states Patrick dispassionately.

The explosions were on opposite ends of the station.

They were designed to pull my triad as far from me as possible.

“Sawoot! What’s happening?”Garrick’s voice comes through my mind, and I can feel his fear pulsing through his aura. He’s sprinting towards me.

Patrick steps forward, grabs my hand, and forces something onto my finger as I stare at the barrel of the gun.

“Patrick and Nate. They’re—”

My triad’s auras blink out from my mind. The ring is cold on my finger. I can’t take my eyes away from the pistol, but if I did, I know I’d see an Orb-Disruptor ring like the one in our safe.

I have no fight in me. Nate’s hand never wavers. He keeps the pistol trained on my unborn son. There’s no emotion in his eyes.

I try to pull the ring off, but it’s stuck, warped to wrap around my finger and keep me cut off from my triad.

“Move.” Nate motions with the gun, and Patrick grabs my arm, pulling me towards the back door. I’m strong enough I could rip free of his grip and run—but I can’t outrun a bullet.