Virginia stiffens.“Sevro, I am sorry for what happened.”
“So fun. Being a bit player in your clone family drama,” he says. “So happy you got rescued and left me behind.”
“I barely escaped myself. I wanted to come back for you—”
“Duty, though. Registers. You’re the Sovereign. No hard feelings, horsey. None at all.”
“Is there anything you want me to tell Victra?”
He looks down. “Naw. She knows.”
Then he leaves. Cassius follows to give me privacy, but Virginia calls for him to wait. I feel schoolboy resentment creep in, that she would spend precious seconds on him.“It’s been too long,Cassius, but it’s good to see you back where you belong.”
He smiles. “And you where you always belonged.” He hesitates. “Have you spoken to Lysander, face-to-face?” Virginia nods. “A word of advice when treating with him. Just because he wants to keep his word does not mean he will.”
“I’ll remember that. And, Cassius, the Republic welcomes you.I wouldlike to offer you a battlefield promotion to Morning Knight of the Republic. Will you accept?”
Cassius blinks, stunned, then bows very formally. “It would be my honor, my Sovereign.”
He leaves with a nod to me. Now that we’re alone, Virginia allows her concern to show.“Sevro. Is he—”
“We’re working through it,” I say. Grief enters her eyes. “What is it?”
“Nothing. Guilt, I suppose. It is good to see you three together,despite everything.”She’s holding something back, but I don’t press.“Darrow, there’s something you should know. The agent who found Quicksilver is named Lyria of Lagalos. She was an unwilling participant in Pax’s kidnapping, and Electra’s. Yet Victra and I owe that girl a debt. Do not let Sevro kill her.”
“Unwilling?”
“She’s just a girl. She didn’t know. But she’s more than made up for it.And don’t you kill her either. Your son sent her out there. Pax believes in her.”
“Virginia, you know Regulus. She may already be dead.”
She shakes her head.“Perhaps, but I think Matteo may be an ally in this.One more thing: Volsung Fá and the Obsidians who sacked Olympia were last seen raiding asteroid cities along your route. I need you to promise me you won’t seek him out.”
She told me about Fá as we waited for Sevro and Cassius to join. My blood boiled to think of Sefi splayed open by an obvious fraud. That my Volk went with him afterwards boggles my mind. It’s not importantnow.
“I know my mission. Trust me.”
I reassure her with a smile. She watches me without speaking, and I feel the tender beat of her heart against my chest.“It’s harder than I thought it’d be. Sending you away. You’re so close. There’s too much to say.”
“It’s not fair, is it?” I ask.
“No.”
It rends me apart that I can’t use these last seconds for us. “Virginia…if Quick won’t come back, if we can’t make him—there may be another option.” I tell her about Aurae and Athena’s offer to Sevro as quickly as I can.
“In Ilium?”she asks when I finish.“That would add months…”
“I know.”
She goes quiet. I know her techs are talking to her.
“Darrow,I know what you had to do in order to secure a peace with Romulus, but I doubt anyone who survived the purges will see it that way. You can’t go to Ilium.”
“Well they didn’t invitemeanyway. How long can you hold Mars?”
I’m stalling now to get more time with her.
“As long as I have to. I’m sending you an intel packet so you can know what I know about our enemies. In it is a set of coordinates. When you return, all Republic vessels not under Mars’s shields will rally to those coordinates to rendezvous with whatever ships you bring back. Do not rush home just to lose. You cannot squander our last chance. I am grounding our ships here on Mars to preserve them for your return. So promise me you will not come back unless you think we can win.”
