We quickly found ourselves trailing Aurelius, and, fortunately for us, he didn’t feel the need to turn around to check whether anyone was following.

We slipped through the compound entrance, sticking to the shadows. Ducking down behind a stack of crates, I peered around the corner in time to see Aurelius come to a halt in front of a group of fearsome-looking coldblood soldiers. He looked them up and down, a disgusted expression crossing his face.

“What do you think you’re doing?” he barked. “Do you think this is some sort of recreation? I don’t expect to come to the training ground and see the queen’s soldiers lounging about, doing nothing! Look at you—you’re the most pathetic excuses for soldiers I’ve ever seen!”

Suddenly, Navan got up and wandered over to where Aurelius and the soldiers stood, leaving Lazar and me gawking at him from behind the crates, wondering what the hell he was playing at. I’d thought we were supposed to be stealthy.

“Aurelius!” he called confidently.

The wizened, half-winged coldblood turned. “Navan… what a pleasant surprise,” he remarked, frustration still written across his wrinkled face.

“I was just wondering if you’d seen Seraphina today,” Navan said. “I wanted to make sure she was okay after last night.”

Aurelius frowned, and a flicker of emotion that I could’ve sworn looked like jealousy crossed his face. “No, I haven’t seen her today,” he replied bitterly, making me wonder what his gripe was, exactly. It was quite clear to me that Aurelius disliked Navan, but… Aurelius was too old to be with Seraphina, and yet… Was that it? Did the old man have a thing for Seraphina? I shuddered, thinking of the beautiful woman, and what she would look like on Aurelius’s arm. I would almost rather have seen her marry Navan than this old coot.

Almost.

“These guys giving you problems?” Navan asked, turning his gaze to the nervous recruits. “Seems like we’ve been having a few issues with new blood in the army, of late. Not even close to the caliber of our regular squadrons, eh?”

Aurelius grimaced. “These new recruits are all incompetent,” he muttered. “They have no basic training, they’ll never match up to the rest of the army, and the queen won’t put any more time or money into the resources these idiots so clearly need. It’s that bloody immortality elixir—if she could just forget about it for one second, and think about something other than stockpiling resources, we might actually be able to replenish our army with viable soldiers,” he ranted, more to himself than anyone else. I listened, rapt at the information he was giving away. However, realizing he may have said too much, Aurelius immediately paused and glanced suspiciously at Navan. “What makes you an expert on it, all of a sudden?” he asked, his tone wary.

“It’s this new job my father has roped me into,” Navan explained, keeping his eyes on the recruits. “I want to make sure I know as much as I can, so I can offer educated advice to the queen. I’d hate her to think I was an idiot.”

Aurelius frowned, studying Navan’s face. “You won’t last long at the palace, Navan,” he muttered after a moment. “You’re not made for it, the way I am… You’re better off as far from Vysanthe as possible.”

“Ah. That’s a shame. Well, I guess I’d better stop chatting with you, and keep searching for Seraphina—I could have sworn she said she’d be here today,” Navan mused. “If you do see her, let her know I was looking for her!”

Aurelius looked like he was about to burst a blood vessel, but only Lazar and I could see the look of sheer hatred that the wizened old coldblood was sending toward Navan’s back. Navan, meanwhile, walked straight past us, evidently not wanting to draw attention to our hiding spot. He didn’t stop until he was out of the compound.

Crouched behind the stack of crates, we waited until Aurelius and the new recruits had gone inside the compound before hurrying after Navan. He was waiting for us at the edge of the lake, a perplexed expression on his face.

“Do you think that’s enough to satisfy Orion?” he asked as we neared.

Lazar frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we know the new recruits are terrible. They have little training, and, with the queen sending the best troops out into the universe to steal and plunder, that means her half of Vysanthe will be left exposed,” he said. “Orion would only need to wait until the main corps were otherwise engaged, the squadrons dispersed to every quarter of the universe.”

“And, we have what is left on that disc, as well as the map you’ve made,” I added, the idea of home drawing closer.

Lazar shook his head. “The Vysanthean army is the most fearsome in the universe. Even if the new recruits are terrible, the rebels wouldn’t be able to fight the true army off if they answered the queen’s call for help.”

“That’s Orion’s problem, not ours,” Navan said irritably. “We’ve found the intel he asked for, and now it’s time for us to leave.”

Lazar sighed. “Well, we can certainly send it and see what he says… which brings me to what I wanted to say before,” he said, returning his focus to me.

“About me?” I asked, frowning.

He nodded. “That message I received… it was from Seraphina.”

“Seraphina?” Navan said, his eyebrows rising in surprise.

“She sent a letter regarding the marks on Riley’s neck,” Lazar explained. “I presume she saw them when the pair of you were introduced last night. Anyway, she is concerned that you might be in danger, Riley, and she has asked me to ensure that the offending item is removed.”

Navan and I exchanged a look, my brow furrowed with panic. Nobody was supposed to know about the chip. How could Seraphina know what was under my skin? Curiosity bubbled away inside me, but I knew I couldn’t ask how Seraphina knew about the chip without revealing the presence of the one in my neck.

“Seraphina was involved in a kidnapping several years back,” Lazar went on, apparently reading my mind. “The people who took her implanted a chip in her neck that could control and immobilize her if she didn’t do as she was asked—or if her parents didn’t answer the ransom. I found her when she fled her kidnappers, and it was me who removed the chip before they had the chance to set it off,” he added, eyeing me curiously.

“Poor Seraphina,” I murmured lamely.

“Seraphina is worried you have a chip in your neck, Riley,” Lazar said pointedly. “Is she right?”

I shook my head defiantly. “No, I have no idea what she’s talking about,” I lied, lifting my coat collar to cover my neck, making a show of shivering violently.

“Well, I could… remove it, Riley,” Lazar said. “I just need to see exactly where it is. If you tell me, I can get rid of it before anyone suspects a thing.”

“She said she doesn’t know anything,” Navan growled, coming to my defense, and I was grateful. I had always been a terrible liar.

“You would let her keep that thing inside her, Navan?” Lazar reprimanded, turning on his nephew. “Do you know what those things can do?”

Navan grimaced.

Lazar sighed heavily. “I am guessing you’ve already experienced a taste of its power, but if Riley is still standing, it means you haven’t seen the worst of it. You need to tell me where it is, so I can remove it.”

All I could think about was the threat Orion had made before we left Earth. It had not seemed like an empty one. But he would kill me if Navan or I so much as uttered a word about the chip to Lazar, I just knew it. Glancing at Navan’s face, I could see that he was apprehensive too.

“There is no chip, Uncle,” Navan maintained, but Lazar still wasn’t letting it go. Why, I wasn’t even sure—what difference did my wellbeing make to him?

“You don’t have anything to fear, Navan,” he explained. “The only thing you have to fear is what will happen if you leave that thing in Riley. Now, I’m guessing Orion put it there, but I was assigned to watch the pair of you closely. Orion won’t hear about the missing chip unless I tell him, which I’m not going to. He can activate the chip from afar, but he can’t see what’s happening through it—it’s not a camera. He has to be told when and where to activate it, and I won’t be breathing a word of its absence.”

I stared at him. “Why… Why would you defy him? Aren’t you supposed to be one of his best men?”

A sad smile crossed Lazar’s lips. “While I agree with the vision that Orion has, I don’t always agree with his methods,” he admitted quietly. “There are times when I find myself wondering how the two of us ever came to work together—we are so different, and yet so similar, at the same time. Regardless, I refuse to put my nephew’s soulmate in danger because of Orion’s need to control, using whatever terrible means he sees fit to use.”

I flushed at the term “soulmate”, but it was especially confusing coming from Lazar. Not so long ago, he had flat-out refused to help us, and now he was offering to remove a chip that had been placed in my neck by his leader. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. The only thing I could assume was that, without sons of his own, Lazar’s protective instincts of his nephew were taking over. I wasn’t arrogant enough to believe that Lazar gave a damn about me, but he cared for Navan—it was clear in everything he did. And, if Navan cared about me, then maybe, just this once, Lazar’s bubble of protection would extend to me.

“There is no chip, Uncle,” Navan replied faintly, the conviction gone from his words. I could see he was mulling over what his uncle had said, and the potential power the chip held over me. We couldn’t trust Orion not to push the proverbial red button, and what we really needed was to make sure we got the chip out before he had a chance to activate it again.

“Keep up the pretense all you like, but if you want that chip removed, meet me tonight, at the Asterope,” Lazar said finally. “I have instruments there that will ensure the safe removal of the implant. I did the same thing for Seraphina, all those years ago—I have not forgotten how.”

“Why would you help us?” I asked.

Lazar sighed. “I meant what I said before about not always agreeing with Orion’s methods, and Navan is my nephew. But I suppose you could also call it morbid curiosity, if you like. I’m a medical man by profession, though I haven’t been able to do much since the war ended. I dabble here and there, but I’m excited to get my hands dirty with something innovative again—you know, to keep the mind fresh. Removing that chip will be just the booster I need to feed that little whisper of excitement.”

I swallowed. I wasn’t sure how I felt about being an object he could “dabble” with, but if this bit of surgery could potentially save my life, then maybe it was worth the risk.

“Now, I must return to the others,” Lazar said softly. “I’ll leave you to make your decision in peace, while I go and tell them the good news.”

“Good news?” Navan asked.

Lazar nodded. “Assuming our data satisfies Orion, we return to Earth in a few days.”

I blew out, relief washing over me. Never had sweeter words been spoken. And yet… we were in a bind regarding this whole chip issue. Who was to say that, as soon as I set foot on home soil, Orion wouldn’t just pull the trigger anyway? Then again, what if Lazar was wrong—what if Orion could sense the removal of the implant and activated it while it was being removed? Or worse, what if this was all just a twisted ploy by Orion to see if we would betray him? What if Lazar was in on it? It would certainly explain his sudden change of heart.

Navan glanced at me but remained silent, clearly believing I had to be the one to make this decision, without pressure from him either way. It was my life on the line, after all, not his.

So many thoughts raced through my mind at once as we watched Lazar walk away, but after several minutes, there was one voice in the back of my head that broke out louder than the rest.

It was a veritable cacophony, ringing in my ears. It was the voice of Roger, and Jean, and Angie, and Lauren, and everyone who might be missing me. It was a beacon, calling me back to Earth. Silently, I thought of home, and Navan, and I knew what my answer had to be.