ldn't have

in their spines - showed Earth as grey. Dead. A cracked, ashen wasteland with dead oceans, killed by humanity's final we

front of the Revenant'

ere no city lights on the dark side. No orbital stations. No defense rings. It looked

ped in a Veil t

t the shimmer was wrong. It had cracks in it - great, jagged fissures of black nothingness, spiderwebbing across the

iewport next to Kael, her white armor reflecting

isually, but our grav sensors say there's nothing. Our mass scanners say it's hollow. And our radiati

had been a dull warm coin since the jump, began to hum again.

had spread now to her shoulders and t

ng me," Lyr

She hadn't noticed when he'd moved so close. The bio-bond circles on their palms wer

de. "That Veil - if we touch it with Imperial tech, it could col

ore. "I remember now. My original designation was MIRA-EARTH-7. Planetary Archive Node. The Silence doesn't travel. It remember

ra. "So if the ga

y father's betrayal didn't just steal your colonies. It kept you safe

KENED to every screen in the galaxy

do it when the Veil reached critical failure. It was a distr

t. So this is all a trap? This plan

p," a new

It came from everywhere and n

ont of their warship, space folded. Not jumped. F

ships. Not

n sh

sharp and aggressive. These ships were curves, white and gold, with lines that

d the Revenant - not in an attack formati

t one, in the

d docked with the Revenant without permission, phasin

s!" Rylan shouted,

ded, his hand shoot

e doors h

walk

le died at forty. In the Empire, Astrals lived for two hundred years and barely aged. This man loo

's eyes. Same dark bro

ans in similar robes, carrying st

gun, at Kael in his black shirt with glowing markings - and then his eyes landed on Lyra, w

ce cru

spered. "You loo

before Kael could sto

ere on the cold floor of an Imperial dreadn

lt. I held you when you were six hours old, Sovereign. I put you in the po

ST

went cold.

Vale. Your older brother. He has been searching for you for fiftee

- a protective gesture so instinctive he didn't notic

gotten Colonies," Kael said. "He has been raiding

lty. "And he is very angry. He believes we hid whi

to the viewp

ng the Veil alive with her mind. She is waking. And the Gate... the Hollow Gate beneath

ked at Lyra. The thread of li

o Kael in Astral, thinking Lyra wouldn't under

. If we stay out here, The Silence will follow the cra

o Standard for Lyr

bond. It worked. Selene said it

ed at his m

ttle took

orbit - too big, too Imperial to pass through without shattering the fr

pers - not The Silence, but human whispers - brushed her mind. Millions

ey were

took her b

sts that covered continents, mountains with snow that glittered. But there were no cities on

eryone?" Lyr

ted down.

ht for the Pacific Ocean

cean

fields, revealing a shaft of pure light that went down for kilometers. Down, down, down, pa

erted

m of the sha

civil

f the Astral Empire, and thought it was the most beautif

was b

d over a glowing core that wasn't magma, but pure Aureli energy. Buildings of white and gold that flo

hadn't go

nderground an

solid light. Thousands of people w

and Seraphine behind her, their Imperia

form, on a dais, was a sta

it was

sed, crown of light dim, but alive.

with his hand on th

ce but harder. Dark hair, dark eyes, wearing armor made from patched-together

an V

s bro

is eyes - her eyes - filled

past her

drew

his voice carrying across the silent city, amplified by the

ly to his own sidearm. S

ars, and the prince who had committed treason to save her, on a planet that wasn't supposed