Days passed, with Navan still downhearted about the arrangement I’d made with Queen Brisha, as well as the prospect of Bashrik being dragged into this mess. Still, with so much time on our hands—between waiting for Bashrik to arrive, and waiting for the blood to be synthesized—we were given some freedom to explore Northern Vysanthe.

Pandora followed us everywhere we went, but she kept her distance, making it feel as though we were two tourists wandering around and seeing the sights. From time to time, we’d spot her in the crowds or at the corner of a street and remember we were being watched. Regardless, I was determined to find some enjoyment in this wretched place, and I was hell-bent on bringing Navan into the bubble of my enthusiasm too. I’d had enough of Mopey Navan.

“Look at these statues!” I cried, grabbing his hand and pulling him across a semi-crowded piazza to gaze at the frieze in the center. Dancing nudes twisted and turned atop a water fountain, raising their arms to the sky, their wings outstretched with such majesty it made my jaw drop.

He shrugged. “I’ve seen better.”

“How about we stop for something to drink?” I suggested, moving toward a series of cafés that were set up around the piazza.

“You won’t be able to drink anything,” he replied morosely.

“Fine, how about we go to the botanical gardens and see some of those twisty fish you like so much?”

“I don’t think they have any,” he said stubbornly.

I rolled my eyes and beckoned to Pandora, who approached us through the throngs of coldbloods. “Pandora, can you please take us to the botanical gardens?”

“Of course, though I don’t think they’re open today,” she replied.

“Is there any way we could still visit them?” I asked sweetly. Normally I wouldn’t have pushed for it, but I needed to thwart Navan’s negativity. I cast a discreet glance in his direction, and she seemed to catch on.

“Umm… All right. I’ll let them know you’re the queen’s guests—it shouldn’t be a problem,” she said, restoring a little bit of my faith in this alien species.

That was something I’d noticed about the coldbloods in Northern Vysanthe in general. They didn’t treat us as pariahs, nor did I have to wear a hood to fit in. I could wander around as I pleased, holding Navan’s hand if I wanted to. Aside from a few odd looks, they let us be, some of them uttering a casual “hello” or a pleasant “good morning”. Indeed, nobody seemed frightened or morose here. It was a million miles away from Southern Vysanthe, where everyone appeared to be frightened of their own shadow and a smile was a definite no-no.

Here, life seemed to be a little slower, a little happier, a little brighter.

At the botanical gardens, they let us in without needing much coercion, leaving us free to walk around the glass-domed structure and marvel at the bright flora and the creatures that fluttered about the place. As a strange butterfly with see-through wings and an albino body passed my shoulder, I jerked back. Navan caught me before I fell into the fishpond behind me.

“It’s just a butterfly,” he said, a flicker of amusement on his face.

“I thought it might have been one of those… hurty butterflies, or whatever they were called,” I said sheepishly, though I was secretly glad to be back in Navan’s arms.

“Horerczy butterflies,” he corrected, his tone warming. “But no, that is just an Arcan butterfly—they come from the hot springs of our moon, Arcan.”

“Is that why it’s so hot in here?” I asked, feeling flushed. There was a humidity in the air that made it difficult to breathe, like sucking syrup through a straw.

He nodded. “Nothing in here could grow without this heat.”

As we strolled around some more, he kept his arm around my shoulder, my body nestled into his. Tenderly, he placed a kiss on top of my head, and I knew he was on his way to recovery. He couldn’t stay depressed forever.

At the edge of a vast pond, we watched the skeletal fish Navan loved so much twist and turn beneath the water’s surface, and his expression grew wistful. Here, he turned and lifted my chin, pressing his lips to mine. He kissed me slowly, his hands trailing through my hair before resting at the sides of my face.

“I’m sorry I’ve been a jerk,” he whispered, parting our lips.

I brushed my fingers against his cheek. “Don’t be. I get it. I know how hard you’ve worked to keep my species a secret, how much you’ve sacrificed…” He’d even taken lives for the sake of keeping my planet safe. To suddenly learn that all of it might have been in vain was a crushing blow, and it only deepened my affection for him to see how much he cared. He might be a coldblood, but there was a humanity to him that was greater than most humans’ I knew back on Earth.

The emotion welled up in me as I leaned into him again, catching his lips in mine and pulling myself flush against his chest. I kissed him softly, tenderly, wanting him to feel how much he’d come to mean to me, until movement to our right distracted me.

We drew apart to see Pandora passing our way. Instantly, an embarrassed expression crossed her features.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” she murmured. “Shall we… um… head back to the palace for lunch?”

I could have stayed in Navan’s arms much longer, but my stomach was growling. Navan and I glanced at each other, and then he nodded, as if he’d read my thoughts. “Yes, let’s head back,” he said, taking my hand.

With a relieved expression on her face, Pandora took the lead, guiding us on the invigorating walk back to the palace.

In the hallway, however, she turned. “Would you mind if I left you to find the dining room on your own? Ask one of the guards if you get lost—there is something urgent I must attend to,” she explained.

“Not a problem,” Navan said.

“Thank you,” she replied solemnly, before disappearing into the belly of the palace, leaving us alone.

Before we could enjoy the solitude, something moved out of the corner of my eye, causing me to whirl around sharply. A masked figure had slipped out from behind a pillar and was making a beeline for us. Navan immediately stepped in front of me, his eyes narrowed.

“Bashrik?” he whispered in disbelief, as the figure came to a halt in front of us.

It shook its head, gesturing to a room three doors along on our right. We glanced uncertainly at each other, but curiosity got the better of us both. We hurried through the door he’d pointed to, into an annex on the other side. The figure locked the door behind itself before turning to us. A moment later, it removed the mask.

It was a lycan. And not just any lycan…

“Galo?!” I gasped, in utter disbelief. How could he be here? The last time I’d seen him he’d been deep in rebel territory, with little hope of escape.

The elderly lycan smiled tightly, an oddly sullen expression in his lime-green eyes. Whereas before his lined face had been bright and relaxed, his gaze twinkling with some untold joke, now it sagged, as if it bore a heavy weight.

“Indeed,” he muttered.

I frowned. This wasn’t the Galo I remembered.

“What are you doing here? How did you find us?” Navan asked, his eyes narrowed and glinting with suspicion.

“It wasn’t difficult,” Galo replied. “I found a way to sneak into Vysanthe’s orbit and simply followed the trail of chaos. As fortune would have it, I picked up Queen Brisha’s transmission to you and improvised from there,” he added, with a shrug.

Navan frowned. “That makes no sense, but even if that were true, what are you doing here? The Fed have no purpose here.”

Galo smiled, a hint of sadness creeping into his eyes. “I bring a message from Orion.” There was a note of remorse in his voice, a flicker of the old Galo shimmering beneath the cold, strange surface.

I felt a chill run down my spine. “Orion?” I gasped, utterly confused.

Galo nodded. “Now that the situation has changed, Orion’s demands have duly adapted. Since you have failed to deliver on the previous information he asked for, he has decided that he would like something else instead—you must steal any and all of the immortality elixir research from Queen Brisha, and send what you find straight back to him.” He paused, dragging in a heavy breath. “He says that if you don’t comply with his wishes, he will kill off humans one by one, on Earth… starting with your parents. You have one month to complete this task, before he begins his executions.”

I felt as though he’d just punched me in the stomach. “My parents? H-How would he even find them? How did he find us?” I asked, breathless.

“I don’t know exactly how he’d find your parents, but I have a feeling you don’t want to test his skills when it comes to tracking people down,” Galo said. “As for you… Orion didn’t just implant a chip so that he could control you, Riley. He planted a tracking device in you, too, so he could follow your progression from the moment you both left for Vysanthe. He has been tracing your every move.”

Realization dawned on me. Lazar had removed the chip that could end me, but he had willingly left the tracking device in there. I wasn’t foolish enough to believe he knew nothing about it. Even if he hadn’t known initially, after cutting me open he would have seen it. Anger bristled through my veins—I had known there was something amiss after the surgery. I had seen it on Lazar’s face. I just hadn’t known what it was, at the time. Guilt.

Furious at his actions, I felt stupid for not pressing the matter when I’d had the chance. True, Lazar didn’t agree with Orion’s violent methods of getting what he wanted, but Lazar still wanted the mission to succeed. Of course—it all made sense now. He didn’t want me to be hurt by the chip for Navan’s sake, but he still wanted Orion to be able to keep tabs on us. That was why he’d left the tracker in me.

“After all the trust I put in him,” Navan hissed, his hands balling into fists. “If I ever see that traitorous lizard again… He won’t get away with this!”

Galo glanced down at a watch on his wrist, and his face morphed into a mask of panic. “Drat,” he breathed, the emotion in his voice returning him to a semblance of his former self. “Listen, Orion has me on a timer, and I have less time—much less time—left than I thought. You need to find one of the Fed outposts in deep space and warn them about Vysanthe’s quest for immortality. Seek out allies, build a viable force that can take on the might of the coldbloods. Do this, or we are all destined for destruction!” He spoke rapidly, his eyes wide with alarm. “The star—” he began to add, but he was cut off mid-sentence. His body convulsed in violent spasms, his limbs flying out at all angles, his head snapping back as his eyes rolled into his head.

Blood filled his mouth, a sickening gurgle rising up his throat, before his knees buckled and his body crumpled to the floor. He stilled, his limbs splayed out unnaturally, his eyes suddenly glassy and blank.

“No,” I gasped, hurrying to his side and kneeling by his head. I clutched him in my arms, shaking him hard. But as much as I willed it, he didn’t come back to life.

I choked back a sob as Navan dropped down next to me. I hadn’t known Galo very long, or very well, but I felt his loss more intensely than words could explain. He had been kind to me when no one else was. He had guided me through what were possibly the darkest hours of my life, when I’d been all alone, without even Navan to help me. Galo’s voice had been there, steady and soothing. If it weren’t for that old lycan, I wouldn’t even be here today.

As I pulled his head up to hold him closer to me, I noticed the scars of three triangular dots on the side of his neck. I felt a hollow in the pit of my stomach. I knew those scars. I had the same ones. They couldn’t be anything else.

“Oh, Galo,” I whispered, tears pricking my eyes.

Orion had implanted a chip in him too. Even so, Galo had tried to give us a final warning, and it was up to us to make sure that it wasn’t in vain.