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“I need you to let the Evelian go as well.”

Whart laughed—dry and disbelieving. “Defective.”

The tension in the air could be sliced with a knife. Neir exchanged a glance with the woman then somewhere behind Lily.

In the blink of an eye, Neir produced a small sword and hurled it with blinding speed. Whart’s guards sprang into action, intercepting the blade mid-flight. It struck their armor with a sharp ping before clattering to the ground.

Gunfire erupted. Lily was thrown backward, and Xavier stepped in front of her.

Nausea twisted through her, and the world shifted. She wasn’t where she’d been a moment ago. She and one of the men holding her now stood beside Neir, next to the wreckage—without Luka or the other woman, but with Xavier’s handler.

Someone yanked hard on the chains of her shackles, forcing her to her knees, her arms wrenched straight behind her. Lily growled, whipping around to see Neir’s boot pinning the chain to the ground.

She fought against it, metal biting into her wrists, the Wraith burning hot in her hands. “Where’s Luka!”

Neir didn’t so much as glance at her. His attention was fixed ahead—on Whart’s men struggling against Xavier. Not protecting them.

But fighting them.

Neir had turned him on the Swarm.

Xavier relented his assault, dripping with blood and smoking from plasma burns. The remainder of Whart’s staff all turned toward Neir, ignoring her, raising their focus and weapons to him.

Whart was fuming. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you anywhere near this mission. You’ve been unpredictable ever since you left Reave, but Alister—”

“Therein lies the problem,” Neir interrupted. “You trusted a machine over the man. If you’d open your eyes, you’d see I’m trying to save you all, but you’re too stupid to know you’re drowning.”

“We don’t need saving,” Whart said. “You’re turning on your empire. Your god—your creator. The very force that is responsible for your—”

Light emitted from Neir’s sleeve, and before Lily could register what happened, General Whart swayed in place—a cauterized hole pierced through his forehead. His mouth went slack, and he fell backward.

Everyone stilled.

Purple wafted from the old man’s body. Lily’s mouth fell open.

He killed him.

The shackles were ripped up from the ground, bringing Lily painfully to her feet. Neir came up just behind her.

“What do you think?” he whispered. “Is he good and dead?”

Lily tensed and flung her head backwards. Neir cried out, dropping her enough to tear away but was quickly jerked backward by the chain.

“Excellent job,” Neir said, pinching and pulling his nose.

The man, Xavier’s handler, didn’t relinquish her immediately. “I take it you’ll be giving me a strong report for Kael?”

Kael? The name of the smuggler caught her attention as she was hauled back to Neir by his telekinesis.

“Glowing,” Neir told him, pulling the chain taut. “Keep who’s left in line.”

The pain in Lily’s wrists seared, but in the next instant, it lifted, and she stumbled forward.

She was free. Free and filled with fire anew.

Lily spun around, swiping her hand at Neir who caught her wrist. She brought her other hand to his arm and pressed hard. She bore her soul into Neir’s, calling the Wraith’s venom to kill him, to turn him to dust—

But nothing happened. The Wraith’s presence was still there, though it was barely more than an insatiable tickle that didn’t reach her hands. The heat from it earlier was completely gone. Lily’s confusion dropped to her slackening hand, now seeing something clinging to her wrist.