Jira was as wicked as they came, a man who lusted for power, would do anything to secure more of it.
“Your job is to lie in waiting until they uncover it. The Wanderers have blessings from their world, blessings that will allow them a far better chance than we could ever have at finding the Antheon.”
“So your father is double-crossing them,” Sonara said. “The King is allowing the Wanderers to do the heavy lifting for him. Then he intends to take the Antheon. And you… will triple-cross him?”
Azariah nodded. “He is unaware that I overheard his conversations and plans. And unaware that I intend to stop him.”
“Why stop him?” Jaxon asked.
“Because he is a monster,” Azariah said. “And I fear what amount of power my father might rise to, should he get his hands on it.”
The collar scar on her throat confirmed the former part of her words. Still… Sonara couldn’t help but think back on Markam’s words.She is to be queen.
What if Azariah was just as wicked as her father?
Blood doesn’t always copy blood,she told herself, thinking of her mother, and the fate she’d endured at the Queen of Soreia’s hands. She wasn’t like her mother. She never would be.
Perhaps the same would be true for Azariah.
“How many Wanderers?” Sonara asked.
“A single starship,” Azariah said. “With our abilities combined, we shouldn’t have trouble securing the Antheon. We simply have to be clever, and not get caught by either party.”
She made it sound simple enough. And yet Sonara knew no job was ever as it seemed, once the tide got moving. She looked at Jaxon and Markam, then stood. “When do we leave?”
“Sunrise,” Azariah said. She reached into her jacket, and revealed an overflowing coin pouch, which she gently slid across the table. “Take the night to enjoy yourselves, to rest and replenish your supplies. We leave at first light.”
Sonara snatched up the coin pouch before Markam could.
“Shall we, gentlemen?” Sonara crossed the room, the men trailing behind her. But she paused, glancing back over her shoulder to smile at Azariah. “If I find out you’re lying, and you’re workingforyour father… I’ll cut your scar wide open.”
Chapter 9
Karr
Curiosity was a traitor.
For no matter his hesitation about a job, landing day would always tug at Karr’s mind. Today was no different.
He’d sat there in the bridge, in his normal seat towards the back, buckles snapped and straps taut, as they’d broken through the atmosphere into Dohrsar.
It was a dwarf planet, with only a single large continent, surrounded by sea. The continent itself struck him as strangely beautiful, enough that he found himself pulling at his straps to see better as theStarfallpassed through the clouds.
He could draw this planet, as he’d drawn countless others. But to dip it all in blue would steal its glory.
The continent was split into three distinct shades: the top, an expanse of white and ice blue, a tundra that dipped into a frozen sea at the north, pocked by icebergs so large they could have been continents themselves.
Beneath it, spanning miles and miles wide, was a red-brown desert. It looked like a sea of its own, rippling sands with red and purple mountains zigzagging across its northern half like freshly sewn stitches.
Beneath the desert, in the south, the sands were separated by a jungle of lush green that bled into pale sand. Almost white, but not as stark as the north. It was white in a softer sense. The kind Karr wanted to sink into, as the ocean sand dipped into the southern sea.
The closer they drew towards the Dohrsaran ground, the more the continent began to take shape. The north and the south faded as they zeroed in on the center. Small townships were interspersed throughout the desert, multiplying towards a large circular central fortress surrounded by golden walls. Red-topped buildings and a few towering structures paled in comparison to the golden castle. It stood proudly atop a towering hill in the middle of the city, the castle itself topped with a domed ceiling that sparkled like it was made of diamonds.
They soared above it, still so small from such heights, as they barreled towards the center of the desert. Towards a sight that Karr knew hewoulddraw, this time without his signature blue.
“Landing zone, boys.” Cade tapped the viewport, the glass rippling as it zoomed in on a specific area of the desert. “The Garden of the Goddess.”
The flight crew set the gears for landing, and theStarfallsoared over one of the most alien sights Karr had seen in ages.
