“If you can’t...then yes, you’re a prisoner.” He turned to Kat without sparing her another glance. “Start her training immediately. We have less than a month.”
Kat frowned. “You’re certain?”
“They always consolidate their problems first,” Ryker said. “That’s how empires behave.”
Then he stripped off his ruined shirt. Blisters blemished his torso. Tattooed lines seemed to move across his skin, like the art was alive. Audrey’s gaze caught and held, despite herself. She hated that it did.
“Telekinesis is the last thing we train,” Ryker said, still not looking at her. “You learn control first. Otherwise, you’ll kill someone.” He pulled on a clean shirt and headed for the door. Just before he disappeared, he barked, “Get out of my space. You’re all unbearably boring.”
The door slid closed behind him.
A calm settled, full of expectation. Audrey touched the burning sigil.
Less than a month, he’d said.
Ryker thought she was a weapon.
Audrey wondered if he was right.
The problem was that she had no idea how to control it.
That truth surrounded her, suffocating, and her fear returned in a rush. If she couldn’t master whatever Ryker had roused, who would pay the price? No. She couldn’t let thathappen. With enough time, maybe she could seize hold of this power and use it for herself, not just for Ryker or the war he waged—but for herself. She didn’t know what control would look like or how to reach it, but right then she promised herself she would fight to find out. She hoped this wasn’t giving up. This was honing herself for the future.
The steady throb of uncertainty remained, but Audrey put her hand against the burning sigil and drew in a slow breath. Maybe all she could do tonight was refuse to surrender her mind to anyone else. But that refusal was enough. She chose it, and amid that brief act, felt the first trace of resolve rise through the cloud.
She would become something more than a weapon Ryker wielded. And when the moment came, she would use her power to reclaim Cary and decide her own fate, not just survive the designs of others.
Kat watched her for a while.
“Congratulations,” she said eventually. “You just became the most important person on this moon.”
30
Two weeks after Ryker carved his mark into her skin, Audrey was still failing, and every day she failed, her sister’s life became more endangered.
If Audrey didn’t master her power soon, she’d never escape to live with her sister again. The rare triad ability Ryker wanted made her distinct. It was the only reason he hadn’t disposed of her yet. As long as Audrey showed potential, Cary stayed alive as insurance. Fail, and they’d both be lost.
The morning after her encounter with Ryker, Kat dragged Audrey to the training ground. Dozens of women waited. They radiated strength and ignored her rank as a Simas or gold triad. Before Audrey regained her bearings, half tried to incinerate her.
“This is bullshit,” Audrey had uttered between dodges of cobalt flame. “Where do the mind readers train?”
“Nowhere,” Kat had answered. “And you need to keep that shit to your fucking self.”
Today, five unlit torches stood around them. Wind whipped across the field until Audrey ached for any heat to steady her trembling body. Nepra seemed like a void, as if training took place in the bones of something old and dead.
Audrey tried to remember why she was here.
To protect Cary. To survive long enough to learn how. Her sister was the only family she’d left—the one person who saw her, accepted every broken piece, and gave her a reason to endure. The idea of losing her twin moored her will.
The training grounds spread along the edge of Home Field in cornered-out sections. First came thefotiáyard—Voírían for fire—and then thekínisiyard—Voírían for movement. Kat was right that no one trained with telepathy—ornous. It had taken Audrey a long time to learn the Voírían word for mind.
Whistles and bells moved everyone from one station to the next with strict precision. Some days, she wondered if she had died in the night and woken in one of hell’s colder rings.
Every day was the same. In the mornings, Kat led fire pit drills among torches, braziers, and blackened stones. Then, Maren commanded thekínisiyard—its hardened earth scattered with metal scraps. Afterward, there were more drills with guards or older women who corrected with their fists. Evenings ended in silence as Audrey’s exhausted body was dragged inside and locked in a room.
The routine stayed relentless by design. Nepra women who served the Separatists were meant to become weapons over the course of their training.
But for Audrey, failure had a timetable.
