Nexus

by Sasha Alsberg

  Andi whirled to face Klaren, so many thoughts racing in her mind at once, her heart threatening to leap from her chest. “You attacked Veronus? But there are innocent people there! Thousands of them, trapped beneath Nor’s control!”

  “Sometimes we must sacrifice the few to save the many,” Klaren said.

  “Like hell we do!” Dex shouted. “Andi makes those choices now. Arcardius is her planet, and if you want us to work with you—”

  “You don’t speak for me!” Andi snarled at him. “And it isn’t my damned planet. I want nothing to do with Cyprian’s twisted legacy. Nothing.”

  Soyina chuckled from the shadows. “I take it our general isn’t pleased about her new title?”

  Andi’s vision turned red as she glared at all three of them. “You all knew. Everyone knew, this entire time.”

  “Andi...” Dex started.

  “Enough!” she hissed. She looked at Klaren next, pointing with a steady finger. “I may not have asked for this, but as long as I’m in charge, you will not attack that planet, or any other planet in Mirabel, without my consent if you wish to have me join you.”

  To Soyina, Andi said, “And you...”

  The woman blinked slowly back at her, a smile on her lips.

  “You will give me back my Godstars-damned swords, so I can run you through with both of them.”

  “There she is,” Soyina cooed. “The Bloody Baroness, turned General of Arcardius. I take it you’re ready to play games now, Androma Racella? We are very pleased to have you on our side.”

  “I’m not on anyone’s side,” Andi snapped, her hands curled into fists. She turned back to Dex, making him swallow nervously. “You have some explaining to do, Dextro Arez. And you will explain it all over a drink, or else I’ll use my swords on you, too.”

  His answering look was one of pure terror.

  Slowly, as if she was trudging through quicksand, Andi left the cave. The weight of Klaren’s words, her truths, clung to her back, each step heavier than the last.

  She had always been good at outrunning her problems.

  But this?

  This was something Andi couldn’t escape from.

  CHAPTER 19

  DEX

  Dex knew that Andi was furious with him. She’d looked at him like she had daggers for eyes, and he was more than a little terrified by the idea of being alone with her right now.

  He’d known this moment was coming; had hoped to find a way to tell her what Cyprian had done in a way that was slightly less...shocking. But after what they’d just heard, her new status—and her anger at him—was the least of their worries.

  So he followed her from the cave, leaving Klaren behind.

  First, because he couldn’t stand being with Klaren and Soyina a moment longer. And second, because he knew Andi was heading toward exactly what they both needed right now.

  A stiff drink.

  The whole situation was made worse by the cheers of the people out in the undercity, as news of the attack on Arcardius spread through the space like a wildfire. Dex knew that such a strike, a true show of the power the free-minded still had, was a viable option to scare Nor into submission.

  But how many innocents had died on the Academy grounds?

  And how many more would fall, before this war was over?

  After retrieving her swords from Klaren’s guards and strapping them safely upon her back, Andi began walking through the undercity, toward the heavy door that would lead them back to the surface.

  “We’re leaving,” she said over her shoulder.

  “Andi, we can’t,” Dex said, a ripple of alarm coursing through him. “This is the only place we’re actually safe.”

  She looked back at him with a look of fury written across her face. “Are we?” she asked darkly.

  “Well, we can’t leave Havoc,” Dex said, trying a different sort of argument, even though he knew Soyina was more than happy to spend time watching the demon cat. “You said so yourself earlier. Gilly will kill us both.”

  She didn’t buy it, resuming her brisk pace until they finally reached the exit. She turned the crank, the old metal squealing as the door yawned wide.

  “I know you’re there,” Andi growled to the empty tunnel. “If you try to stop us, I swear to the Godstars, I will gut you.”

  Eryn appeared out of thin air, leaning against the doorway as if she’d just stepped forward from another dimension. She smiled broadly, sweeping the metallic strands of her hair behind her ear. “It would be an honor to die by the Bloody Baroness’s blades,” Eryn replied, “but Soyina has requested my presence in the bathhouse after my shift, and I’ve never been one to miss out on a healthy prank with high odds of death, dismemberment or drowning.”

  Dex blinked. “You may be just as wicked as Soyina.”

  Eryn grinned even wider. “More wicked,” she said with a wink. She turned to Andi then, her expression turning stoic. “Arachnid is a good leader. I’m not one to persuade anyone, but...” She lifted a hand, turning it this way and that as it flickered in and out of view, visible and invisible from one shifting motion to the next. “I bend light. I know it well, like an old friend. And even though Arachnid’s actions reveal mostly darkness...” Her hand reappeared again. “There is also a great deal of light inside.”

  She flipped a golden Krev toward Dex. He caught it on reflex, then sent her a quizzical look. “What’s this for?”

  “I’ll have to track you, by order of Arachnid,” Eryn said apologetically. “But I’ll stay just out of earshot, I swear it. And if you want to leave, and never come back... I won’t stop you. But please, enjoy some drinks on me before you make your choice.”

  “Thanks,” Dex said gratefully, inclining his head to her. He and Andi weren’t exactly swimming in Krevs these days.

  Then he followed Andi back up the tunnel, walking behind her in silence until it spit them out into the frigid atmosphere of the ice pub high above.

  It was busier than it had been before, the tables and couches now packed with patrons eager to down a mug or two or three. The purple flames still flickered merrily in the ice-block fireplace, a droid rekindling the flames with some sort of purple liquid that turned to flame the moment it touched the rest. Two miniature fighting droids battled on a nearby table, surrounded by a laughing group of young men and women placing bets on which would win. A few feet away, a couple of Solerans sat at the bar, icicles on their lashes and brows, a peculiar sight as they played a game of Fleet. Dex felt a pang of sadness at the sight as he remembered the last time he’d played—with Gilly and Breck, aboard the Marauder.

  It was too normal here, too happy.

  Then Dex remembered there was an invisible girl following in their tracks, an underground city determined to fight Nor beneath their feet...and the General of Arcardius at his side. Couple that with the fact that Mirabel was neighbor to a world that had been watching them for countless years, waiting for their chance to invade...

  Dex suddenly found himself grateful as hell for the golden Krev sitting in his pocket.

  Andi slumped down at the bar, placing her elbows on the solid chunk of ice. She let out a deep sigh. “Why are we still here, Dex?”

  “Because the world’s gone to hell,” Dex said with a shrug. “And because I’m afraid if we don’t get some normalcy, our heads will explode.”

  “Normalcy?” Andi asked wearily. “I don’t even know what that is anymore.”

  “You being pissed at me is normal,” Dex said. “And you are pissed, aren’t you?”

  “Apparently you’ve known I was the General of Arcardius for weeks, and you chose not to tell me. So, yeah. I’m a little pissed, Dextro.”

  “Well,” Dex said, as several fur-covered patrons filed past them, hoping for a chance at grabbing a fresh drink, “then I am encouraged that some things, at least, never change.”


  She blinked at him like he’d just told her he was the new king of Adhira.

  “Why did you hide it from me?” she asked quietly.

  “We were a little busy,” Dex said. “You know, crash-landing on Solera, nearly being eaten by an ice dragon...”

  “Losing Lon,” Andi whispered, her face a mask of anguish.

  He nodded. “He was a brave Sentinel. And...he knew, Andi. His last words to me...” Dex ran a hand through his hair, that memory heavy upon him. “He told me to tell you the truth. Do you remember?”

  “Of course I do,” she snapped. “I asked you about it afterward. So why didn’t you?”

  Dex was slightly afraid now. There were a lot of places in Craatia where he could hide. Once, he’d gotten lost inside a Soleran bathhouse for days—though that had sort of been on purpose. He could try that again, or better yet, take his chances out in the tundra. He’d never been a fan of the cold, but maybe this time, he’d be better off.

  “I’m waiting,” Andi said impatiently.

  Dex sighed. There was no way out of this conversation. Even if he tried to run, Andi would find him. Hell, with all the rage she was carrying, she might dismember him, limb from limb, if he even dared to display such cowardice.

  So he ordered drinks for both of them, steaming mugs of blue Marnv that probably would have knocked him on his ass, were it not for his champion drinking habits.

  He watched Andi down hers in three sips, then did the same himself and ordered two more, desperate for something to lighten the tension of the day. They’d learned so much. Too much.

  The bartender droid refilled their mugs. Dex nodded in thanks, took another sip, then turned to look at Andi.

  “I was going to tell you,” he told her. “But I knew it would upset you, and I just couldn’t seem to find the right moment.”

  “You’ve always loved your secrets,” Andi said, slowly spinning her mug around on the bar top. Godstars, she knew how to make a man feel fear. There were a million different ways she could kill him with that mug—perhaps even more ways than his rampant imagination could dream up. The metal on her cheekbones glimmered with a flash of gold as the bartender droid whizzed past, filling mugs for thirsty patrons.

  But Dex saw a shift happen then. He still saw the fury in her, but beneath that, there was a sadness in her stormy eyes. And something else Dex couldn’t quite place.

  “When did it happen?” she asked. “Tell me the details—now that Klaren Solis isn’t listening in.”

  It was so strange it was almost laughable, that statement.

  “It happened on the Marauder,” Dex began. “The night Cyprian died.”

  She turned suddenly, giving him a suspicious glance. “Valen stabbed him, just like he did me. How is it that he had the ability to somehow make me General of Arcardius while he was bleeding out on my ship?”

  Dex cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Well, uh...” He gave her a sheepish look and prayed she didn’t run him through with her swords. “I might have helped him with that, a bit.”

  “You what?” Andi snarled. She reached behind her for the hilts of her swords, just as he’d feared. Dex scrambled to seize her wrists and scanned the pub around them frantically, making sure no one was looking in their direction.

  “I know you’re monumentally pissed at me right now, Andi,” he murmured, his heart hammering, “but we can’t make a scene in here. If Klaren was able to find out what Cyprian did, then Nor probably has, too. She may already have people hunting for us.”

  Andi glared at him a moment longer, then yanked herself out of his grasp and grabbed her mug of Marnv. She took a sip, swirling the strong liquid around her tongue. “You don’t get to make choices like that for me, Dex. For anyone.”

  “I know, and I’m sorry,” Dex said earnestly. “But I honestly didn’t know what he had planned when he asked for my help. He was dying, right before my eyes, and he didn’t tell me what he was doing until it was too late for me to stop him.”

  Andi took another healthy swig of her drink, still looking unconvinced.

  Dex shook his head, trying to figure out a way to fix things between them. “He chose you, Andi. It was his dying command.”

  Andi slammed her mug down on the bar, sloshing some of the blue liquid onto the icy surface. “Cyprian Cortas was among the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people in this galaxy who wish me dead,” she hissed at him. “I’d even be so bold to place him as the one person who wanted it most. And yet you expect me to believe that his dying act was to hand over control of his precious planet to me?”

  “I hardly believed it myself when he told me,” Dex admitted. “But the system leaders are free to choose whoever they wish to be their successor. And his wish was to have you.”

  He ran his knuckles over a carving on the edge of the frozen bar top. Initials, likely those of lovers who weren’t quarreling in this way. It was the kind of hopelessly romantic thing Dex and Andi would never do. Their lives had never been normal enough, and likely never would be. But he wished for it, sometimes. A chance to be together, away from the chaos of their real lives.

  “Why me?” Andi wondered.

  The anger was gone from her voice, replaced by disbelief. As if she’d been told a loved one had died, and didn’t want it to be true.

  Dex shrugged. “The short answer? Because you were the only Arcardian-born citizen on that ship.”

  Andi huffed a laugh into her mug.

  “But I think it was more than that,” he said, daring to reach for her hand, now that she didn’t look as if she would gut him for it. “Yes, Cyprian may have had very dark feelings toward you. But I also think he believed you had the strength to handle the responsibility. He told me his entire story, Andi. About Valen, and Nor, and their mother. He talked about the things Klaren could do—the things that all of them can do. The compulsion was strong in Klaren, and weaker in Nor, but somehow it was too strong in Valen, just like Klaren said.”

  Dex swallowed hard. “And once he saw them together in that ballroom, once he realized that Nor and Valen were planning to use their powers to rule... I think Cyprian knew that the terrors soon to come would be so great, that maybe you were the only person strong enough to give Arcardius—and apparently, now all of Mirabel—a fighting chance.”

  “The Bloody Baroness,” Andi said darkly. “The most wanted space pirate in Mirabel, now General of Arcardius. Keeper of the keys to some great arsenal of nuclear weapons.”

  “No,” Dex said, gripping her hand more tightly. She flinched, almost imperceptibly, but didn’t pull away. “Not the Baroness. Cyprian chose you. Androma Racella. The girl who used to love Arcardius with every fiber of her being. Enough to give her life to its cause.”

  “That girl is dead, and it’s not like Cyprian had much of a choice in his successor,” Andi said sadly, pulling her hand away from his. Her cuffs clinked against each other as she slid her hands into her lap. “I don’t want the title. It’s worthless, anyway. Mirabel is destined to fall, and all of us with it.”

  “This isn’t like you, Andi,” Dex told her. “Where’s your fighting spirit?”

  Andi glared at him. “Gone, for the time being.” Then her expression morphed into one of dread. “What if the girls are dead, Dex?” she asked, her voice full of pain. “What if they died in that attack on the Academy?”

  “They’re not,” he said swiftly. “They’re too damned stubborn to die. And you’re too stubborn to give up searching for them.” He gave her a grim smile. “Besides, now you know that you have a real bargaining chip, far better than the one we pulled from Alfie. This is our chance to get what we need to rescue the girls.”

  “What am I supposed to do? Fly to Arcardius, march into Nor’s estate and demand she hand them over?” Andi shook her head. “Their bodies would be free, yes, but their minds won’t be. Not until Valen gives up control.
”

  Dex thought of what Klaren had told them—that even if they killed Valen, he would have had to relinquish his control on their minds in order to actually release them from his power. “I hate that sorry bastard,” Dex said with a sigh.

  Andi nodded. “I should have killed him long ago.”

  She played with the handle of her mug, her breath forming small puffs of white in the chilly air of the ice pub. “You’re right,” she said suddenly. “This is my chance—to use my title as a way to get information. Klaren said she has sources. Eyes all over the place. If she wants me to join her, then she owes me at least that.”

  “And a ship,” Dex said, thinking of the Marauder, half-buried out on the tundra. Andi had always cared so much about that damned ship. But now he realized it was the crew within it that she’d cared for more. Without them, the ship was simply an empty, lifeless thing.

  “And a ship,” Andi echoed. She sighed again. “I didn’t ask for this.”

  “I know,” Dex said gently. “I really am sorry, Andi. So very sorry.”

  “I know you are. And I get why you didn’t tell me,” she acknowledged, staring at her empty cup. “But now that I know... I’m going to find a way to take out Nor.”

  “And until you do?” Dex asked, lifting a hand for the bartender droid to return. It was busy with patrons lining up, leaning over as they spoke in hushed tones about the Arcardian attack. A holoscreen in the corner of the pub showed Nor’s earlier propaganda message, still playing on a loop. Dex wanted to throw the screen into the fire.

  Andi met his eyes. “The way I see it, we have two choices.”

  “We could stay,” Dex suggested hopefully. “Just for a while. Until we figure out what to do, figure out if we truly trust Klaren enough to see what help she requires from your...” He looked around, lowering his voice. “...new esteemed status in Mirabel.”

  “Or we could leave. Go out on our own. And likely die trying to save the girls from an enemy we know little about.” She glanced around as well, dropping her tone to a murmur. “Klaren is the best chance we have to learn how to defeat Valen and Nor. And how to free the girls’ minds, if sneaking onto Arcardius and killing them both isn’t an option.”