Soft lantern light glowed atop tall poles along each side of the avenue. Jàden eyed the visible patches of nearby guildsmen, afraid one of the Enforcers hid themselves in a group.

As the Flame tingled through her veins, she just had to hold on a few more minutes, then she could unleash its power and ease the ache.

“Kale—” She turned to him, but he’d disappeared. Scanning the area, she couldn’t find him anywhere. He’d probably spotted someone following.

She hastened toward the next shadow, steering clear of the light with her head down.

“Almost there,” she muttered to herself, though she’d only taken a dozen steps. She hurried faster, soon jogging until the entrance to the tower was in sight.

A gentle, feminine voice wove through the air, the automation speaking from more than a hundred small speakers attached to trees and brush. “Ten seconds to bionet close.”

“Shit, no.” Jàden glanced toward the stars, her heart pounding faster. If engineers closed the bionet, the theric energy field wrapped around Sandaris to control weather and atmosphere, there’d be no more shadows to hide in.

She scanned for Kale again. “5, 4…”

The stars faded from the real view of space to a holographic sky as the bionet energy field closed. The inky black cosmos shifted to brilliant azure, four hologram suns blazing in the clear, daytime skies. The transition from night into day only took a matter of seconds, something rarely done outside of the timed cycles.

They had no more darkness to hide in. Drones lifted into the sky from the far end of the gardens.

“Fuck, run!” Kale shouted at her from a few spans back. Jàden bolted the final length of the garden plaza toward Ironstar and ducked into the tower’s main archway. Sweat beaded along her forehead, wisps of hair clinging to her skin as she stopped to catch her breath.

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The Flame’s white light crackled in her veins, practically stinging the inside of her arms. A stone pedestal rose in the center of a chamber beneath the tower. Large enough to cover a small scout craft, the arched ceilings domed over the wide-open space, several corridors leading away to other parts of the tower base.

Kale rushed in behind her.

A roiling ball of green flames hovered over the dais’ flat surface. Theric fire, seamlessly binding two points in space as one, linked the Ironstar Tower on the moon’s surface to Hàlon’s Ironstar Arc.

A few guildsmen whispered in the corners, alarm on their features as they side-eyed the gate. Maybe they expected more Enforcers to drop through.

She grabbed Kale’s hand as they bolted toward the pedestal, emerald flames licking up the spherical sides of the Ironstar Gate.

Together, they leapt into the fires and winked out of existence.

Warmth touched Jàden’s skin as she rolled into herself and popped out into a high-ceiling domed room that matched the tower chamber. Her feet touched the starship’s familiar solid floor. Kale’s warm hand gripped hers.

They’d made it.

A panorama of viewers along the left wall displayed the illusion of windows overlooking a sea of stars. Glass screens near the ceiling were illuminated with her Guild photo. The status field next to her name flashed with the bloodflower symbol, a clear sign she was now on their wanted list.

Hundreds of Enforcers stood around Hàlon’s Ironstar pedestal, their guns pointed at her head.

“Kale?” Her hands trembled as she raised her arms.

He didn’t dare lift his gun because it didn’t matter that he was their brother-in-arms. The Enforcers would shoot him down as a threat. He nudged her with his shoulder. “Do it now.”

“Don’t let go of my hand,” she whispered. Kale was a part of her like this, and the Flame wouldn’t harm him. The Flame stung like fire as it burned through her arms, unleashing a brilliant white light.

“Turn off the gate,” one of them shouted. The voice sounded much older. Someone in command.

“Please, I don’t want to hurt you.” She unleashed her power, blasting the Flame outward as an invisible tether clutched her.

The heart of Sandaris. It was trying to pull her back through the gate. The floor ruptured outward, but the tether ripped Jàden off her feet.

“No,” she screamed as her body fell backwards through the Ironstar Gate, green flames consuming her vision once more.

Gunfire roared in her ears, followed by silence.