Chapter 19 · Untitled Chapter

"Cyrus Vale." A woman's voice cut through the dark. "Don't make me say it twice."

He knew that voice.

Headlamps swung around the convoy. Six military transports rolled into a loose half-circle, sealing every exit. Doors slammed. Boots struck dirt. Armed soldiers spread across the road and aimed straight at him.

Cyrus's chest still burned from the fragment pull. Blood had dried beneath his nose, and his legs barely held him up.

A lean, dark-skinned woman stepped into the light. Her hair was buzzed close at the sides. A rifle hung across her back, untouched.

"Sergeant Orin," Cyrus said.

"Captain Orin now." Her eyes dragged over his bloodstained shirt. "And you look like hell, Vale."

"Good to see you, too."

Her mouth tightened. "That wasn't an invitation."

Two soldiers moved up behind her. Tomas came first, broad shoulders hunched around a shotgun. Yara followed, smaller and quick-eyed, twin blades strapped to her thighs.

Cyrus knew every one of them.

His old squad. The people he'd abandoned when he'd cut his own deserter mark and disappeared.

Kael shifted beside him.