Page 21

Chapter

Twenty-One

Tivek

I stared at my brother, momentarily frozen by the shock of seeing him alive after so many months of uncertainty.

Deklyn looked different. His face was smudged with soot and what appeared to be Kronock blood, his Inferno Force uniform was torn and patched in places, and his long hair was dirty.

Yet his eyes held the same reckless confidence they always had.

Memories flooded through me: Deklyn teaching me to swim in Lake Vestra by throwing me in the deep end; Deklyn standing between me and our father's disappointment when I had to pretend to wash out of the academy; Deklyn leaving for Inferno Force while I remained behind, already being groomed for a different path but unable to tell anyone.

Relief washed over me, so powerful it nearly buckled my knees. He was alive. He was well. He was still the same cocky prick he'd always been.

That relief evaporated as Deklyn punched me hard in the arm and pulled me into a rough hug.

"The academy pencil-pusher finally grew a pair," he laughed, buffing his knuckles across the top of my head like I was still a child. "Wait until I tell everyone my little brother actually saw combat."

I flinched, not from the physical contact but from the words.

To maintain my cover, I had to accept this teasing, had to play the role of the failed cadet turned administrative aide.

But the cost of that deception had never stung quite so much as it did now, with Morgan watching, hearing my brother dismiss everything I was.

She would never know how many lives I'd saved with stolen intelligence, how many Drexian ships I'd kept from ambush with dangerously procured secrets.

My brother would never know that while he was charging into battle, I was slipping into places no Drexian had ever infiltrated, retrieving information that had changed the course of the war multiple times.

I hated the flash of pity I saw in Morgan's eyes, hated even more that she was already angry with me for my lie about the kiss. Now I was compounding it with more lies to my brother.

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.