Lazar left us to think about his proposal, but I’d already made my mind up—I had to let him remove the chip. If the surgery was successful, we would have taken power away from Orion, and I wouldn’t be in constant fear of dying unexpectedly. I was convinced that I stood more chance of surviving and getting back to my family without that thing in my neck.

Now all we had left to do was wait.

“I’m just not… completely sure this is a good idea,” Navan said, standing by the window as the Vysanthean sun began to set. We had tried to keep busy throughout the day, but all we’d ended up doing was a lot of pacing around our room, the tension crackling. I agreed with him, but I just wanted the chip out of my neck. For the most part, I believed Lazar when he said Orion wouldn’t know, even if a niggling doubt remained.

As darkness fell, we left the chambers, heading down in the elevator to the underground station that rested below the mountain. There were guards everywhere. Knowing we’d have to avoid being seen, we hovered behind a pillar until the bullet train pulled up to the platform. Darting from our hiding place, we jumped onto the emptiest carriage, with me pulling the hood of my coat around my face so nobody would see the pale, human color of my skin.

The bullet train clattered as it shot through the tunnels beneath Vysanthe, before screeching to a halt ten minutes later. The doors slid open, and, stepping cautiously out, I recognized the station where we’d arrived.

Following the route to the ship hangar, we clung to the shadows, wary of being spotted. Even though we had free rein of the place, thanks to Queen Gianne, I was fairly sure this part of Vysanthe was still out of bounds. The queen was likely still paranoid about us making an escape attempt.

Seeing that the corridor ahead was clear, we raced down it, seeking out the cave with the Asterope inside. As I rounded the corner, a couple of steps in front of Navan, I froze. A guard stood right in front of us, mere yards from where I’d come to a halt, my muscles twinging with the strain of pulling myself back. Navan almost barreled into me, stopping himself at the last moment.

The guard had his back to us, polishing the deadly edge of his pike.

I glanced at Navan and gave him a signal to move backward, as silently as possible. He nodded, carefully stepping away, moving back around the corner. I followed, holding my breath. My heart was pounding, the blood rushing in my ears.

Seeking out a recess in the hallway, we drew into the shadows, Navan pulling me close, camouflaging me in the darkness. We waited, listening for the sound of footsteps on the polished stone floor. Before long, the guard turned the corner and passed by without noticing us, whistling as he walked.

That had been too close. Way too close.

As my blood pressure slowly returned to normal, we snuck out of the recess and headed for the cave hangar. Surprisingly, there were no guards here, only a few late-night mechanics toiling away at their appointed vessels. With their focus elsewhere, and most of their heads buried in the metal entrails of a ship, they were easy to skirt past. Our goal was the Asterope, which stood to the far side of the hangar, gleaming elegantly.

Keeping alert, we approached, pausing at the spot where the gangway usually slid out. Tentatively, I knocked, hoping for a response.

Lazar answered a moment later. “You came,” he said softly, his tone not exactly surprised.

I nodded. “If you can get this thing out of me, I’m all for it.”

“Then we should get started,” he replied. “This won’t be easy for you.”

We followed him into the belly of the ship. His words haunted me. Would it hurt? I scolded myself—of course it was going to hurt. Orion wouldn’t have implanted something that was easy to remove.

We moved to the right of the ship’s main space and entered a narrow hallway that I hadn’t seen before. Walking to the very end, Lazar led us through a low doorway, into a tiny, metallic room that smelled of sterile chemicals. I guessed it was the medical bay, though, with no previous reason to use it, I hadn’t had the opportunity to explore this side of the Asterope.

In the center of the room, there was a surgical table, with bright lights shining down upon the cold, chrome bed. Screens flickered to life around it, a monitor beeping in a single flat line. When I was hooked up to it, I hoped it wouldn’t end up showing that same image.

“Get up onto the table,” Lazar instructed, as he began to search through several drawers that were tucked away in the ship’s walls. He drew out a pouch of sharp-looking instruments and laid them flat on a nearby tray, waiting for me to obey.

Removing my coat, I lay down on the table, the metal icy against my back. Anxiety coursed through my veins, reminding me of doctor’s visits and dentist appointments from my childhood. I hated hospitals at the best of times.

Lazar sat down on a stool close to my head, scooting the wheeled tray with the instruments closer. I took a deep breath, my nerves calming slightly at the sensation of Navan’s hand holding mine. Looking up, I saw his comforting face, and allowed myself to relax slightly. I was never going to be totally at ease, but his presence helped.

“I’m just going to make an incision,” Lazar said, cutting down the fabric of my t-shirt to expose the bare flesh he needed. I could hear the scissors cutting the material, the sound a chilling one, so close to my ear.

“Wait, what about painkillers?!” I asked, looking at him in alarm.

“I don’t have any painkillers suitable for humans on hand, I’m afraid,” Lazar replied in a low tone. “If I gave you the stuff we give coldbloods, it’d probably wipe you out for seventy-two hours… if not permanently.”

Remembering the effect that silver root stimulant had on me, I didn’t find that hard to believe. “Oh God,” I groaned, glancing again at Navan.

He swallowed, his brow creased in concern. “You don’t have to go through with this, Riley,” he whispered.

I shook my head, steeling myself. “No. I have to.”

“Will you be all right?” Lazar asked.

I nodded, biting my lip. “Let’s just get this over with.”

I braced myself, expecting a sharp pain. At first, that was all there was—the nasty, uncomfortable feeling of something cutting my fragile skin. That was enough to make me moan and break out into a heavy sweat, but then the scalpel blade hit a foreign object, and the agony that followed was not what I’d signed up for. A jolt of pure torture shot down my entire body, my muscles going into spasms. I bucked against the table, every cell ablaze with the force of the electric shock. Something was wrong.

“Is this supposed to happen?” Navan hissed, his hold on my hand tightening.

Lazar nodded. “The chip sends out miniature tentacles that embed into the nerves surrounding it. It gives a direct line to the brain’s pain center.”

I couldn’t bear it, a cry erupting from my throat. My body felt like it was on fire, my brain searing hot, my eyes fogging over, speckled with black dots. I gripped Navan’s hand as hard as I could, but nothing helped. He was just an anchor, grounding me in this sea of agony.

“Maybe we should stop,” Navan urged.

I shook my head violently. “No! Get it out!” I gasped, biting down on my lip, a trickle of blood meandering down my chin. Above me, I saw Lazar’s eyes home in on the scarlet rivulet, but I didn’t care. Right now, if he wanted to devour the very life from me, I wouldn’t stop him. I just wanted the pain to be over.

Lazar returned his attention to the task at hand, snatching up a pair of sharp-edged pliers. I whimpered as I felt something cut inside me, the sensation unbearably weird. Tears were rolling down my face, my lungs burning with the strain of trying to draw in breath.

“Only eight more,” Lazar said, his tone soothing.

“Can you speed up?” I hissed through gritted teeth, another jolt of electricity tearing through my veins.

Lazar nodded, and I felt another cut. Everything felt strange and messy, the world around me bending and swirling. Delirium was setting in, and the pain grew so fierce I was sure I was about to pass out.

Drifting in and out of consciousness, I felt cut after cut after cut, the snipping sound grating against my senses. My brain pulsed against the confines of my skull, feeling as though it were about to explode from its bone prison. My eyes bulged and my tongue swelled, my body breaking with every moment that passed. I couldn’t take it anymore, but I knew I couldn’t ask him to stop either—if I gave up now, there was no telling when another opportunity would present itself. Orion was under no obligation to remove it.

“One more,” Lazar promised.

The snip of the chip’s last tentacle rattled through me, making my teeth chatter. And then, the agony was gone, disappearing as quickly as it had arrived. I lay back, panting, still gripping Navan’s hand… It was over.

With a clink of metal on metal, Lazar deposited the chip into a basin beside him, before taking up a strange-looking gun. As he pressed the muzzle to my neck, a cold sensation trickled through the wound on my skin, soothing it.

“What’s that?” I wheezed.

“It will clean and seal the wound to prevent infection,” Lazar explained, lifting the gun away.

I waited, expecting more. When it didn’t come, I sat up on the table and turned to Lazar. “Is it out?”

He nodded, lifting the basin so I could see the offending article. A small, square object lay at the bottom of the metal dish, covered in blood and scraps of flesh. But it was there… It was no longer inside me, looming over everything we did.

Slowly, still doubting my pain receptors, I swung my legs over the edge of the surgical table and stayed there a moment. Navan moved toward me, enveloping me in his firm embrace. I nestled against his chest, feeling tears of relief trickle down my cheeks. I couldn’t speak, but I didn’t need to—Navan was here, his arms were around me, and we were safe from Orion’s threat.

I turned to Lazar, who was cleaning the soiled instruments in a small basin at the side of the room. “Thank you,” I gasped, finding my voice. The words were croaky, my throat tight, but the sentiment was clear. I had never been more grateful.

“It was nothing,” he muttered, avoiding eye contact and turning quickly back around. I frowned, finding his reaction odd. But knowing I wasn’t in my right mind, I brushed it off. I had more important things to focus on right now.

“Will there be any side effects from the chip?” I asked anxiously, needing to quell my fears.

Lazar shook his head, his back still to us. “No, the chip is out. There should not be any further repercussions,” he replied, his tone strangely flat. Was I imagining things, or was Lazar acting weird? At the very least, he looked uneasy. Perhaps he was having doubts about crossing Orion? I imagined that had to be it. The two of them had been in cahoots for so long, it couldn’t be easy to go against his wishes, even if Lazar didn’t agree with his chosen methods.

“Are you sure?” Navan pressed.

Lazar turned, a forced smile on his face. “I am certain. Seraphina has never felt any aftereffects. Now, we ought to get going before someone discovers us, and you ought to get Riley to bed—she has been through an awful lot this evening,” he said, putting the tools away.

It appeared the conversation was over. This was all the comfort I was going to get. Still, with that thing out of my neck, it felt good enough for now.

We left the Asterope, and Lazar accompanied Navan and me as we hurried back through the hangar toward the underground station. My legs still felt weak, but I had Navan to hold on to as we ran. A bullet train was waiting at the platform, the carriages empty, nobody else around. Quickly, we boarded, just as the doors were about to close.

Reaching the station at the other side of the tracks, we moved stealthily through to the elevator before heading up to the chambers Queen Gianne had given us. I was surprised to see that Lazar was coming with us this far—I’d expected him to turn off in a different direction.

As we reached the door to the chambers, he pulled Navan aside. “Might I have a word with you, before I retire?” he asked, his gaze intense.

Navan frowned. “Sure.”

I hovered on the threshold, not knowing whether to go into the chamber without Navan. “Do you need me?” I asked.

Lazar shook his head. “It’s just Navan I need to speak to,” he insisted, a note of apology in his voice.

I went into the room, wanting to pause by the door and eavesdrop, but knowing I shouldn’t. Frustrated, I walked over to the window and gazed out into the Vysanthean night, my eyes drawn to the pale crimson moon gleaming above. What were they talking about out there? I had the unsettling feeling that it wasn’t anything good.

Navan strode back into the room ten minutes later, a perplexed expression on his face. He walked straight over to me, taking my face in his hands and leaning his forehead against mine. He was breathing heavily, his manner strange.

“I need you to promise me something,” he whispered, planting a delicate kiss on my face.

“Huh, what?”

“I need you to promise that, when the time comes, you will do what is best for your survival and trust me. As much as I love how headstrong you are, I need you to not be stubborn about this—I need you to just do what I say, when I say it, okay?” he explained rapidly, kissing me over and over, in between words.

“What? Wait, wait,” I spluttered, pushing him back so I could look him in the eyes. “Navan, what is this? What’s going on?” I asked, feeling a prickle of alarm. Navan’s façade of calm had fallen, and it scared me.

“I’ve got a plan to get us all out of Vysanthe safely,” he went on, his words hardly any less cryptic, “but it requires complete trust in what I say. When things begin to snowball, I need you to go along with it.”

“What do you mean? What did Lazar say to you?”

Navan sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Orion has given us permission to leave Vysanthe soon,” he said. “Lazar wanted to discuss our departure, and while I was with him, I came up with a plan. I don’t want you to worry about it now—you’ve got enough on your plate.” His eyes dropped worriedly to my neck. “Honestly, I don’t know when the moment will come for you to leave, or the exact circumstances, but I’m going to be on the lookout for it. When the moment arrives, it should be obvious, and I need you to promise me that you’ll take the chance."

Worry and confusion still gripped me—I had no idea what he meant by “take the chance”—but after the strain of the day, I found I didn’t have it in me to argue or push him further. I just nodded, and hoped whatever Navan had planned wouldn’t end up putting my safety before his.