“The clock’s ticking,” I said, trying to push thoughts of Navan and Seraphina to the back of my mind. “We need to get these people out of here before it’s too late. How can we evacuate without causing a panic?”

A grin spread across Seraphina’s face. “I’ve got the perfect idea,” she whispered. “Don’t worry. You should head back before anyone misses you. Leave the evacuation to me,” she insisted. Ordinarily, I would have been wary about trusting a coldblood I barely knew, but there was an honest quality to everything Seraphina did that was hard to ignore.

“Thank you,” I whispered, eager to return to Commander Korbin and the others. Peering through the crystal exterior of the Observatory, I could pick out one or two of our comrades, but the rest seemed to have dispersed, their job done. The fact that nobody else had come up this way made me think they had finished up with the outer surfaces too, leaving this side to Navan and me.

Leaving Seraphina, I crept around the tree trunk, readying myself to dart back to the clifftop where Navan was hiding.

Then Seraphina called out to me again. “Could you do one favor for me, Riley?” she asked.

I stalled, turning to look at her. “What… What would you like me to do?” I asked, frowning.

A sheepish expression passed across her stunning features. “I hate to ask, but… would you be able to persuade Navan to return to the South, if he finds a way to come back?” she wondered, not meeting my gaze.

The underlying meaning of her words pierced my very soul. I couldn’t believe she’d actually asked it out loud, considering what it would mean for Navan and me. More to the point, she knew what it would mean for us. I pitied her for how she had been forced into an engagement with Aurelius, but to be so blunt about getting Navan to return—I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. It left a sour taste in my mouth, and a tangled web of confusion in my mind.

“If we make it back, I’ll see what I can do,” I promised. Right now, it was all I could give her.

“That means a lot, Riley. Believe me, it does,” she said, lifting her gaze to mine, a sad smile on her lips.

Why does she have to make it so difficult to hate her? I wondered silently. It would have been easier if I could look at her and despise every part of her being. But I couldn’t. She was kind and gentle, with a sharp intellect. Plus, right now, my gratitude toward her was immense. She was going to get the civilians out, without putting Navan’s or my life at risk. It was a task I couldn’t do alone, and I trusted Seraphina’s ability.

“I’d better get going,” I said, creeping back across the gardens. I was almost at the other side, when she called out again.

“One last thing,” she ventured, her hand on the door handle that led inside, and I turned back, anxious at what she might ask of me next. “I heard news that Queen Gianne is building a new weapon in the underground hangar. I believe you know the one? If the mood struck you, perhaps you might take a look?” she suggested, before pulling her coat tighter around her and stepping back into the warmth of the Observatory, disappearing from sight.

I let out a breath, relieved that it hadn’t been another request involving Navan, then turned around, expecting to find him on the other side of the row of bushes. But he was nowhere to be found. Puzzled, I lay flat on my stomach and crawled over to the edge of the cliff, my mind racing with thoughts of what Seraphina had just said. A weapon? What kind of weapon? Part of me wished she hadn’t said a word about it, knowing we would have to check it out before we left. There was no way we could ignore something that big. I was certain Navan would agree with me, once I found him.

Before I could lower myself over the cliff edge, I heard a commotion coming from the building. I lifted my head sharply and peered through the crystal surface of the Observatory, watching as the crowds streamed out in an orderly fashion. Nobody was running, nobody was screaming, though they were all covering their heads with whatever fabric they could find. I smiled, noting that the high-tech sprinklers were spraying water across the inside space, the droplets cascading down in a vigorous downpour. Lights were flashing a warning on the walls as the enormous screens that displayed the goings-on of Southern Vysanthe blinked sporadically against the damp intrusion.

A few officers sprinted around, frantically tapping several panels that were fitted into the walls in a vain attempt to get the water to stop, but nothing they did seemed to make a difference. Whatever Seraphina had done, she had made it impossible to stop. In fact, their actions seemed to make it worse. The officers shielded their eyes as the water increased in its volume, pouring down from the ceiling like a monsoon, a significant pool rising upward with each moment that passed. A few crackles and glittering sparks jetted out of one of the biggest screens, prompting the officers to give up, their eyes fearful of further explosions while they headed for the exits. With the screens out of order and the water lashing down, there was no point in them staying to try to fix it, until the water ran out.

It was simple, but perfect.

Thankful for Seraphina’s quick, skillful work, I flattened myself back down on the ground and shimmied off the edge, opening out my wings to catch myself. Navan was waiting below, his wings beating impatiently, his face looking deeply worried.

“Why did you run off like that?” he hissed, pulling me down toward him.

“There’s no time for that now,” I replied quickly.

My mind turned to the cascading water in the building above. With the crackles and sparks exploding from the screens, perhaps it would cover the cause of the imminent explosion as some sort of electrical fault. I clung to that hope as I grasped Navan’s hand and pulled him in the opposite direction to the ledge, where Commander Korbin and the others would be expecting us.

“What’s going on?” Navan demanded, as I struggled to drag him along.

I paused, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Seraphina pulled it off. She managed to get the civilians out without raising any kind of alarm. A stroke of genius!” I said, taking his hand again. “But, right now, we need to make a little side trip. Seraphina heard about something important that Queen Gianne is building in the underground hangar, and I figured we should take a good look before we head for the North. It might be just the thing to get us back in Brisha’s good books,” I explained with a wink, leaving out the part about him returning to the South fulltime. That conversation could wait.

He frowned. “What is she building, exactly?”

“That’s what we need to find out,” I said, pulling him along. This time, he didn’t resist me, allowing me to drag him along in the shadow of the slippery rockface. I paused in the darkness for a moment, casting a glance back at the ledge where the commander had dropped us. From here, I could see him yelling into the face of one of our comrades, who was trying to attach a bomb that refused to stick.

It was now or never. We needed to move before he realized we’d gone. Clinging to the shadows, allowing them to swallow us up like camouflage, we headed for the underground hangar.

* * *

My memory was a little hazy where the city layout was concerned, but Navan took the lead when I began to flounder. I took another small sip of the wing serum on the way, to keep them from fading, while we kept to the outskirts for as long as possible, sticking to the shadows. On the way, I encouraged Navan to unbuckle his explosives belt, and we dropped mine and his into a deep pool of melted ice that glinted on the mountainside. I didn’t want anything to do with them now that the evacuation was underway, and it seemed Navan didn’t either.

“Was it really this far out?” I asked dubiously, following Navan past the perimeter of Regium.

“They keep it outside the city on purpose,” he said, leading us downward toward an inconspicuous-looking patch of frozen grass, the earth hard-packed beneath my feet as we touched down.

I looked around, partially recognizing the wall of stone that rose up ahead of us. Then again, I was pretty sure most mountain ranges looked the same. Turning my head this way and that, as if inspiration would suddenly come, I noticed Navan giving me a strange look.

“What are you doing?” he asked, half amused.

“Figuring out where the hangar is,” I retorted.

He chuckled. “It’s this way,” he said, gesturing toward a section of the mountainside.

“You’re in good shape, Navan, but I doubt you can tear through solid rock,” I muttered, hurrying after him. Wherever he was headed, he seemed determined.

As we neared the spot he was gesturing to, I swallowed my words. There, in the mountainside, was a crack about the size of two people standing side by side, though nature had camouflaged it with a tangled mass of vines and brambles that crisscrossed over the opening, hiding it from plain sight.

“This isn’t the way we came in when we first arrived on Vysanthe,” I said, utterly confused. Part of me wondered if Navan had hit his head while I wasn’t looking.

He smiled, a knowing look on his face. “It’s not, but I know this place well from my younger days. Me and my brothers used to sneak around these parts all the time, watching the engineers and making notes on each exploration ship that left the hangar. It’s what made me want to be an Explorer, watching those ships leave. Well, that and wanting to get the hell out of Vysanthe.” A curious smile pulled at the corners of his lips. “Over the years, I’ve discovered a few hidden treasures, where the guards don’t go. This is an old air vent, though it doesn’t look like it’s been doing much lately,” he said, chuckling to himself. He began to tear away the tangled roots and crumbled rocks that kept the opening so well hidden.

“Wait, we’re going through a sketchy gap in the wall of a massive mountain?” I raised an eyebrow in disbelief, fearing it would all tumble down around us the moment we set foot inside.

“There’s a ventilation shaft inside. It’s not just rock,” he said as he pulled away the last of the twisting vines and stamped them down on the floor of the fissure, covering his tracks. This place wouldn’t stay secret for long if someone came by and discovered a pile of torn-away weeds.

Still dubious about the structural safety of the crevice, I let Navan lead the way, holding on to his hand as he led me through the darkness beyond. Using my free hand to cling to the walls, I shuddered each time something fell around me, stone clattering to the ground. However, after a moment or two, the ground became more solid, the shadows lightening to a barely discernible dimness. Just as he’d said, the rock gave way to a secure, square tunnel of sheet metal. Our footsteps echoed as we walked along. It was tall enough to walk through in a standing position with my shoulders a little bit hunched, but Navan was bent over.

“Did Seraphina say anything else?” he asked as we moved on through the ventilation shaft.

I contemplated telling him about her request, but I couldn’t get the words to come out. It was like my heart was reaching up and grabbing at them, pulling them back down into my voice box, leaving them unspoken. I had to tell him, but now didn’t feel like the right time. I was still processing what she’d said myself.

“She told me she’d trigger the evacuation, and that Gianne was building a weapon of some kind,” I replied, even as I felt bad for delaying Seraphina’s request. The more I thought about it, the more I understood her perspective. She wasn’t asking to be cruel to me. She was asking because she feared for her own happiness. And, if I were being forced to marry a man like Aurelius, I’d probably be desperate for any other option, too.

Navan’s head snapped back to look at me. “You didn’t say it was a weapon!” he whispered sharply.

“Didn’t I?” I murmured, realizing I should have mentioned it. “I guess I thought it would have been obvious. I mean, what else is a queen going to build after she’s obliterated her sister’s prized possession? She’s got to expect payback of some sort. I presume she’s preparing for it.”

“You really have to tell me these things, Riley.” He sighed.

“Miscommunicator Riley,” I mumbled, shrugging. “I’m sorry.”

He gave me a wry look before continuing ahead. Ten minutes later, with my brow dripping with sweat from being smothered in the surprisingly stuffy vent, we reached the end of the tunnel. A grate faced us, looking out on the underground hangar where we’d arrived on that fateful first day. A twinge of sadness rippled through me as my mind drifted toward Kalvin and the rest of his team, whose fates were still unknown. Kalvin had been loyal to the end, giving us a chance to survive by offering up his own life. Yet, here we were, back in the lion’s den, putting ourselves in danger. If he could see us now, I was fairly sure he’d be rolling his eyes or making a cutting comment about Navan’s “ineptitude.”

I squashed in beside Navan, and we knelt on the floor, peering out at the hangar. What we saw chilled me to the very core.

Scattered across the vast, cavernous space was a fleet of brand-new ships gleaming like smooth pebbles at the bottom of a riverbed. One of them had its hood popped open, revealing the inner mechanics of the shiny new ship. An engineer tinkered with the interior, making notes as he worked.

A harsh breath surged from the back of Navan’s throat. “No… it can’t be,” he whispered.

“What?” I asked, my mouth dry. Mechanical engineering was my forte, but my experience didn’t exactly extend to alien technology. I had no idea what I was looking at, and the panic in Navan’s eyes alarmed me.

“She’s figured it out,” he breathed, his voice catching. “There—that’s the engine required for deep-space travel. I’d recognize it anywhere.” He gaped at the open ship, its metal innards gleaming ominously.

I gasped in horror as my eyes settled on something else, tucked away in the farthest corner of the hangar. It was a pile of scrap metal that looked out of place among the sleek new ships. There, on the side of one of the discarded panels, was the word Asterope.

I realized with a crushing feeling what had happened. Gianne had used the Asterope to figure out how to conquer deep-space travel.

If what Navan said was true, the engine was noticeably different. An engineer must have been working on the Asterope and spotted the discrepancy, reporting it back to their queen. Through trial and error, they would have figured out what the difference entailed, by dissecting the technology used in their own ships and adding this extra element. In opening up that gateway in technological advancement, they had evidently realized the untapped potential in their own fleet, prompting Gianne to build a new one entirely.

If that were the case, then it was only a matter of time before Gianne found Earth. It would be mapped on the Asterope somewhere. If she didn’t understand the significance of my small, seemingly weak little planet now, she soon would, and the thought of that filled me with gut-wrenching dread. Why did human blood have to be the stuff that worked? Was it because of our position in the universe, on practically the exact opposite side from the Vysantheans? I had no idea, but it angered me regardless.

“We need to get this back to Brisha, pronto,” I muttered bitterly, my eyes narrowing with rage.

Navan nodded. “We need to stop this before the fleet is fully functional.”

I glanced at him. “It’s not yet?”

“Not by the looks of it. They have some kinks to work out, but it will be finished soon enough. We need to get Brisha to step in or we’re all doomed. With that number of ships, there’s no telling what Gianne could do. That sort of armada could take over the universe,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Then there’s no time to waste,” I whispered, taking his hand. We rushed back through the ventilation shaft, bursting back out into the bitter Vysanthean landscape.

I pictured the explosives we’d abandoned, their electrics frazzling in the icy water, and sighed. Maybe we could have damaged these ships. Then again, the hangar was crawling with coldbloods. We’d never have managed to pull it off without being spotted.

No, we needed to get back to the North as soon as possible. We couldn’t risk a moment longer here. Seraphina and her wedding would have to wait, too. There were more important things at stake… like the entire universe.