eat lunch in her pod...their friendship would never have begun.
General Cortas never would have seen the bond they shared. The fierceness with which Andi defended Kalee from the teasing of their classmates. The way she could so skillfully break a nose and slip back into the shadows without another word. How she excelled in every military class and received top marks in physical combat classes.
It was a series of small choices that led to one large mistake, and because of it, because of Andi...Kalee had died.
The painful truth still clung to Andi after all this time.
This ship and these girls were her only solace. And now they were heading into the mouth of hell.
Gilly was right. This job was bigger than anything they’d ever done before. It was rare moments like these when Andi wished she had a simpler, easier life.
If only she could believe that a pardon from General Cortas would take the pain of the past away. But she knew, as well as the general did, that her future was destroyed when Kalee took her last breath.
“Hello, Androma Racella.”
Andi whirled in her chair, lifting her swords and finding herself face-to-face with someone unexpected.
Something, more like.
Confusion riddled her brain before she put the pieces together. She hadn’t met many AIs in her life, though she’d seen them on the feeds years ago attending to the deep-pocketed aristocrats across Mirabel.
The AI’s face was white like the snowcapped mountains on Solera. It had two eyes and a mouth, legs and arms, but besides that, it was absent any other humanoid traits. The AI’s body was see-through, like the Marauder’s walls, and Andi could see all the gears and wires inside, clicking and whirring silently like an old-era clock.
AIs had been exceedingly rare since The Cataclysm ended fifteen years ago, when they were outlawed across Mirabel. The Olen System had weaponized AIs during the war against the Unified Systems, and if not for the advanced military tech developed by New Veda and Tenebris to combat the AI army, the Unified Systems would’ve fallen. It wasn’t until six years ago that the artificially intelligent beings had been integrated into society again, primarily as servants and errand-goers and mechanics—and sometimes chefs, which Breck had so often begged Andi to obtain for the Marauder.
After staring at the AI for a few more seconds, a whistling from down the hallway pulled Andi’s attention away. Dex strolled into the bridge with a smug grin on his face.
“Oh, I see you’ve met Alfie,” he said, looking between the two of them.
“Alfie?” Andi asked, confused by the name.
“It stands for Artificial Lifeform Intelligence Emissary,” the AI said, staring at Andi with those strange eyes. “But you may call me Alfie.” He bowed slightly.
Dex patted Alfie on the shoulder. “He’s the general’s. His job is to babysit us on this trip and report back to the big guy on Arcardius.”
“Wonderful,” Andi said. “I’ve always wanted a babysitter on my ship.”
Dex crouched down next to her, lips level with her ear. “You know, you were a lot more fun three years ago.”
It was like he wanted her to kill him.
She turned and immediately felt flustered when she realized they were separated by mere centimeters. He was so close she could see the pores in his soft brown skin, the deep brown of his eyes and the raised scar on his temple, a souvenir from a fight he got into with an ex-convict just after he and Andi met.
That scar was nothing compared to the one she must have given him on his chest the day she stole this ship from him. Tenebran Guardians were known for taking pride in their battle marks, but the scar she gave him—whether it still existed or not—was not one he should be proud of.
It was a sign of his weakness. A disgusting reminder of how he’d chosen money over love.
Her heart, the traitorous thing, fluttered for a moment like it used to when he looked at her. She used to love his eyes, the unspoken words in their depths. The feel of his skin against hers during their passionate nights.
Now those thoughts made her cringe. She guarded herself against those memories, which were no longer part of a blissful present, but a hurtful past.
“A lot has changed in three years, Dextro,” Andi said calmly. “Now, if you don’t move, I’ll give you a new scar, and this time, it will be across your neck.”
He put his arms up in defense before rising, distancing himself from her.
“Alfie, grab my bags, please. Let’s get settled in.” He glanced back at Andi with a faraway look in his eyes. The thoughtful gaze unnerved her momentarily, but then he smirked and said, “It’s great to be back on my ship.”
“My records tell me,” Alfie said, trailing after Dex, “that the Marauder belongs to Androma Racella.”
Andi laughed in satisfaction as they disappeared.
Dex.
Even his name was poison in her mind.
At another time in her life, Andi would’ve felt guilty for her coldness toward him. But that time was long gone. Now she was made of ice, too full of anger and regret to get close to him again.
He’d betrayed her, and so she’d betrayed him.
One shredded heart for another.
She remembered the way Dex’s eyes had burned, how the hilt of her dagger stuck out from his chest as he lay there on that scalding, barren moon. It was the day she’d claimed the Marauder as her own. The day she’d claimed her heart back, too.
Hearts were pathetic things, too easily broken. The Bloody Baroness couldn’t afford such weakness. Especially not now that Dex was back at her side.
It’s one job, Andi told herself. You can shoot him out the airlock the second you recover Valen Cortas.
She smiled at that thought, then settled back down into her seat, where she resumed her tallying.
There would be another tally added soon, accompanying the others on her blades.
It had Dex’s name written all over it.
DEX
Four years ago
DEX HATED COMING to Uulveca during their annual harvest.
It was a minor planet in the Stuna System, a place where the pungent smell of the dung of feathered uhven filled the air. Dex covered his nose and mouth with a cloth to suppress the odor, but it failed to block the nauseating stench entirely.
He wouldn’t be here long—all Dex had to do was check in on a suspected bounty who was rumored to be making some under-the-counter deals and
