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Not that secrets were something new to me. I’d grown up in a family where secrets were the norm. No one could ever know how close we were to eviction or to the lights being switched off or the pantry being empty. I’d learned from my mom how to put on a brave face and smile as my stomach growled from hunger. I’d learned how to pretend everything was fine when it wasn’t, and somehow that made it easier to fly headlong into danger and tell myself that everything would be all right.

Outside the viewport, a planet loomed, its swirling storms dark and turbulent. Ariana guided the ship into its shadow, using the atmospheric interference to further mask our approach.

"We'll stay in this orbit for the next six hours," she said, leaning back slightly once the course was set. "You should get some rest."

"I'm fine," I lied, ignoring the heaviness in my limbs. Sleep meant dreams, and my dreams had been full of darkness lately.

The comforting hum of the engines filled the space between us as we both stared at the foreign planet.

"Morgan," Ariana's voice was soft but firm. "Whatever's bothering you, you can tell me. I won’t tell anyone.”

Her words made my heart twist. I'd spent my life building walls and perfecting the art of letting people see only what I wanted them to see. Even my closest friends knew only parts of me.

"Nothing's bothering me except the thought of the Kronock. I’ve never liked things with scales.”

“Then you’ll really hate them,” Ariana said with a laugh before she let the subject drop, turning back to the controls. I resumed staring out at the planet we were orbiting, my brain calculating and recalculating our odds of survival.

Because that's what Assassins do. We plan and we strategize.

But as I sat there in the cockpit, a terrifying thought slipped through my defenses. Maybe my life hadn’t been building up to being an Assassin, like I’d thought. Maybe I’d always been meant to be a Shadow.

Chapter

Two

Tivek

The weapons room hummed with the sound of photon packs charging, a sound that vibrated through my bones as I studied the holographic tactical display hovering above Commander Vyk’s device.

“We don’t know if they’ll have sentries," I observed as Vyk, Torq, and I eyed the sketchy schematics we’d been able to put together of our target. “I doubt they’ll be expecting an incursion this far into their territory.”

Commander Vyk grunted, his massive arms folded across his chest. “When have the Kronock ever left their guard down?”

I kept my expression neutral despite the dismissal in his voice. The security chief had never fully trusted me, viewing me as little more than the Academy Master's errand runner. If he knew what I really was and the intelligence I’d gathered, perhaps he'd treat me differently.

But Shadows didn’t crave accolades. Or even acknowledgment. At least, we weren’t supposed to.

"The commander's right," Torq said, inspecting a photon rifle with practiced hands. "We have to assume the place is well-defended.”

The young Blade cadet reminded me of my brother in that he was confident to the point of arrogance. He also looked at me as if wondering why the admiral's adjunct was part of the rescue mission.

I brushed an invisible speck from my sleeve. “I don’t doubt it’s defended, but if we’re right that my brother has already made an attempt at getting in, then the Kronock might be tempted to fortify the place—especially if he was successful.”

Vyk scraped a hand through his silvered hair. “But how could we know?—?”

“My brother always preferred to go straight through the front door, blasters firing." I said before he could finish. “Which is why we should try one of the side entrances. It's exactly where Deklyn wouldn't go."

Vyk paused, his fingers stilling on the display controls. "You think he'd pick obvious entry points?"

"I know he would." I met the commander's gaze evenly. "My brother and I might walk different paths, but I know how he thinks. He'd assume that they would be expecting stealth, so he’d do the opposite.”

“Sounds like Inferno Force," Vyk conceded, studying me with new interest.

So rarely did anyone recognize my insights or abilities, that the acknowledgment sent an unexpected burst of satisfaction through me. I'd lived so long in Deklyn's shadow that even these small victories felt significant.

Torq rocked back on the heels of his boots. “But if we’re flying in to rescue both him and Sasha, his way wasn’t successful.”

“Only if you assume he didn’t want to be captured, which I don’t.”