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An explosion rocked the building, sending a tremor through the floor beneath our feet.

"Save the reunion for later," Vyk growled, already moving toward the exit. "Right now, we run."

Grateful for the interruption, I pushed my conflicted emotions aside and focused on what mattered: getting everyone safely away from the Kronock facility.

We burst through the hidden entrance into the marshy alien world beyond. Night had fallen during our time inside, transforming the already forbidding landscape into something nightmarish. The mist had thickened, hanging low over the swampy terrain and reducing visibility even more.

I glanced back to see Ariana and Sasha running with their arms looped around each other's waists, supporting one another despite their respective injuries and exhaustion. Ariana kept glancing at her sister with a worried expression, no doubt startled by the woman’s appearance. Even so, her relief was palpable. Their heartfelt reunion made my chest ache, and a part of me wished mine with my brother had been even a fraction like theirs.

Deklyn and Vyk took the lead, their silhouettes quickly becoming indistinct in the heavy fog. I deliberately slowed my pace, falling back to be closer to Morgan, who was helping Torq navigate the treacherous ground.

"Where are we running to?" Torq rasped, his voice betraying his lingering disorientation from the Kronock interrogation. "Our ship sank in the swamp."

"Follow me!" Deklyn called over his shoulder. "I've got a ship hidden about two klicks from here."

Of course he did. Even stranded on an alien world and captured by the enemy, my brother had managed to secure an escape route. I tried to feel grateful rather than bitter that he had once again proven himself the more capable brother, at least in the eyes of everyone who didn't know the truth.

We plunged into a dark marsh of twisted vegetation that snagged our suits as we passed. The mist settled around our legs,cold tendrils wrapping around any exposed skin and making it feel as though we were running through a frigid cloud.

The only sounds were our ragged breathing and the splashing of our footsteps through shallow puddles of murky water. Then, from behind us, came the unmistakable sounds of pursuit. The heavy footfalls of Kronock guards were joined by their guttural shouts carrying through the darkness and fog.

I pushed harder, urging Morgan and Torq to increase their pace, but the mist was becoming impenetrable, and the moonless night swallowed the remains of light from the building behind us. I could no longer see Vyk or my brother ahead of us. I craned my neck, trying to spot Ariana and Sasha, but they too had vanished into the night. When I turned back, Torq was moving ahead of us, his bobbing head swallowed by the dark.

Soon, impossibly, I found myself alone with Morgan, the others lost to us. We slowed to a stop, both of us scanning our surroundings for any sign of our companions.

"How did we lose everyone—again?” Morgan whispered, swiveling her head as she strained to see through the fog. She drew breath, clearly about to call out to the others.

I clapped my hand over her mouth, my entire body tensing as I registered the sounds of enemy approaching from our right.

Her eyes widened above my hand, and I felt her pulse jump beneath my fingers where they pressed against her jaw. We stood frozen, barely breathing, as the sounds grew louder. The Kronock were practically on top of us now, their raspy breathing deafening in the eerie quiet of the swamp.

Chapter

Twenty-Two

Zoran

The ship's engines murmured as we glided through Kronock space, low enough to evade detection but still provide propulsion. Volten's hands moved silently over the controls, making minute adjustments that kept us just beyond the range of enemy sensors.

"Approaching the coordinates of the distress signal," Volten announced, his voice tight.

Fiona stood behind us, her usually loose hair pulled back in a severe bun that emphasized the sharpness of her features. "Vyk is fine," she said, as much to herself as to anyone else. "He's too much of a stubborn ass to die."

"Same with Torq," Jess added, her fingers nervously tapping the top of my copilot’s seat. “Too cocky to let something like a crash-landing finish him off."

"Torq is a tough cadet and a skilled Blade," Kann said. "If anyone can survive a situation like this, it's him."

Volten's knuckles whitened as he gripped the control yoke. "And Ariana is an even better pilot than I am, but don't ever tell her I said that. She could bring that ship down safely even if it was badly damaged."

The others continued this litany of reassurance, a verbal shield against the fear we all felt. I remained silent, my thoughts centered on one person.

My adjunct. My advisor. My friend.

Few people knew the truth about Tivek. Few knew that beneath the unassuming exterior of an administrative aide lurked one of Drex's most effective intelligence operatives. The Shadows operated so deeply in secrecy that most Drexians didn't know of their existence. I was one of the privileged few, and even I didn't know the full extent of their operations.

What I did know was that Tivek had saved countless Drexian lives through the intelligence he'd gathered. Missions that appeared to be lucky coincidences, enemy plans thwarted before they could be executed, and allies warned of betrayal before the knife could fall. These all bore the invisible fingerprints of Shadow work, of Tivek's work.

And now he was stranded on an enemy planet, surrounded by Kronock, with companions who had no idea of his true capabilities. The thought made my chest tighten. I'd sent warriors into danger before and had lost friends in battle, but this was different. Tivek had been by my side for so long that his absence felt like missing a limb.