Jàden crashed to the tower’s stone floor, fire ripping outward and rupturing the ground. Pain lanced through her shoulders.

Someone gasped at the fringe of her hearing, but she ignored it and rolled to her knees. She was in a crater of shattered stone, several small abrasions on her cheek.

Senior members of the Engineering Guild stood with their eyes wide. A shared look of horror reflected in each of their gazes.

A shuffle of boots alerted Jàden to more people behind her. She turned. A line of Enforcers stood on the far side of the fiery gate, raised guns pointed straight at her head.

Kale was nowhere to be found.

He must still be on Hàlon. Jàden glanced at the fiery gate, desperate to try again and break free of the moon’s tether which clenched her heart like a vice.

“Jàden Ravenscraft,” one of them shouted. “You’re under arrest.”

Well, that was better than a body bag, though slightly confusing. Her heart pounded against her ribs. She lifted her hands, itching to unholster her gun.

“Please, just turn away and you’ll never see me again.” Jàden inched toward the gate as a piece of the ceiling fell, kicking up a cloud of dust.

“Afraid we can’t do that, Darlin’.” A lone figure sauntered into view, snapping his brushed steel lighter closed. Rounded features with wrinkles around the eyes were obscured by smoke from a cigarette that dangled from his mouth.

Frank—Kale’s malicious father—rubbed his close-cropped mohawk, scratching down to his thick beard.

Where had he come from? The only thing that unnerved her more than Guild Command General Frank Kale was the rifle strapped to his back. Frank had the deadly aim of a sniper. She’d rather have a single hole in her head than a body full of buckshot.

He stepped between her and the Enforcers, cutting her off from the emerald flames of the gate. Frank’s hand slid to the pistol on his hip. His lip curled into a malicious grin. “Better run, Girl.”

“What do you think I’m doing?” She snapped much harsher than she meant to, but she and Frank had a history, and she didn’t trust him. Frank worked with Adina Blàke; both of them wanted her dead. But this… telling her to run? Jàden would gladly take that gift. Even if it confused the hell out of her.

She needed to find Kale. He’d been at her side but hadn’t returned through the gate. He had to be waiting for her, or in serious trouble. Jàden inched closer to the pedestal.

“Move aside, sir. We’ve got her.” One of the gray-fatigued soldiers ticked his gun to the side, motioning for Frank to move.

“Not today, Boys.” Frank grinned, then turned his back to her. He released his grip on the pistol.

Was Frank protecting her? No, something wasn’t right. Uneasiness clenched her gut.

Jàden sensed her opening. She hastened toward the gate, desperate to find Kale and get off the moon.

The Enforcers swept their thumbs over the firemarks embedded in their guns. Glass orbs glowed. Thin lines of red light bled through steel seams from the hilts to the barrels, powering their weapons.

Frank squeezed something in his hand. Rock exploded in the air.

The shockwave threw Jàden to the ground. Gunfire burst across the walls. She curled into a ball, certain a bullet would hit her any second.

An arm slapped the ground next to her, no longer attached to its body. Jàden covered her ears and scurried toward the gate.

Something heavy knocked her to the ground, pinning her against cracked stone as the Flame’s power surged inside her. She kicked and squirmed. “Get off me!”

“It’s me,” Kale breathed in her ear.

Relief flooded through her, and she hugged him tight. If she trusted anyone to get them out of this mess, it was him.

Kale threw something toward the middle of the chamber. Metal clinked against stone followed by a faint hiss. “We have to run. The gate’s sealed on the other side.”

“Fuck!” They’d have to go back into hiding or make a run for those Raiths.

Smoke poured out of a small canister, the strong chemical burning her nose and eyes. They scrambled to their feet and raced toward a hallway on the far side of the gate room. “What is that stuff?”

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Kale kept pace along beside her. “Knockout gas. That’ll buy us a few minutes to get underground. Use the tunnels this time and run for those Raiths.”

If they could get their hands on a fighter craft, they might stand a chance. She’d likely vomit through every barrel roll, but Kale was a cock jock to the core and one of the best pilots in the fleet.

White decorative lanterns hung along the ceiling, bright light chasing all the shadows from the pale stone. Steel doors lined the hallway on both sides, frosted glass spheres above the inset frames overlaid with Ironstar’s six-pointed navigational star.

“Don’t touch any of the light pads.” Kale palmed the lit square beside every entry lining the corridor. Steel doors slid open into the wall.

“That ought to confuse them for about ten seconds.” He rubbed his shaved head.

Jàden followed him through one of the doorways into an interior greenhouse with high stone walls, small glass windows at the top. Arched pathways spiraled downward through foliage stuffed into every corner of the domed room. Palms and hydrangeas, ferns and bluebells—all the scents blended together into an exotic, comforting aroma.

As soon as he palmed the door closed, he pulled her tight against his chest. His smooth jaw pressed on her cheek, bleeding warmth and comfort into her senses. “I thought I’d lost you.”

“Sandaris pulled me back,” she whispered, rubbing the ache in her chest. “Even now, the bond is stronger.”

“We’ll find a way out. Just stay strong.” Kale’s features softened briefly before he grabbed her hand and led her through a maze of tables filled with seedlings, equipment and bags of soil. “There’s an access tunnel somewhere in here.”

“Your father protected me.” And it still nagged at Jàden. She tightened her grip, the bloodflower emblem on Kale’s Enforcer fatigues fixed in her line of sight.

“Never trust that bastard with anything.” He slowed near a clutch of heavy brush covering a mud wall. Bruised skin circled his eye, his shoulders rigid as he pressed his gun into her hand. “Anyone comes through that door, shoot first, questions later. Even my father.”

The hardness in his eyes sent a shiver down her spine.

She unholstered the other gun from her hip, clenching both tight as she slid her thumbs across the orbs buried in the handles until they glowed. Red light traced from the firemarks into the steel seams from handle to barrel. She faced the door, then glanced over her shoulder at Kale. “What are you doing?”

“Access tunnel.” He dropped to his knees and pulled out a pocket-sized toolkit. Kale pressed around the soil, his jaw tight. Scraping away the dirt, he uncovered a steel grate. “This is why you make friends with the engineers.”

Frank stepped out from behind a large bush and cocked his rifle, the barrel pointed at Kale. “How many times I told you, Boy. Never let go of your weapon.”

Jàden whipped around, a rock sinking into her stomach. She pointed the guns at Frank, trying to hide the tremble in her hands.

Father and son. Two men as different in their looks as their personalities. Frank’s dark-haired mohawk and beard stood out against weathered features and a wide, muscular build.

“Don’t you touch him.” Jàden’s sweaty palms gripped the guns. She should pull the trigger, but Frank had saved her life less than ten minutes ago. Something wasn’t adding up.

“Fuck off, Dad.” Kale, hardened and lean by years of combat training, stepped toward his father and pushed his chest against the rifle’s barrel. “We’re leaving, and you’re not gonna stop us.”

Frank fired.

Kale’s body crashed into the brush.

“No!” Jàden fired toward Frank as he disappeared into the foliage. “You fucking bastard!”

She fired until her fingers ached, then hastened toward Kale and dropped to her knees. “Come on, Kale. Get up.”

Shouts erupted from the outer corridor, then the door to the room slid open.

Kale lay motionless, eyes barely cracked open. His uniform had dozens of holes scattered around one large tear.

“Fuck.” She didn’t want to leave him here. But if she stayed, she’d end up dead, too. Maybe this was the way they were meant to leave this world. Dead, but together.

She pressed her forehead against his, her heart numb with shock. If she was going to die, it would be here, beside him. “Please, don’t leave me.”

Kale grabbed her wrist and his eyes popped open. He gasped for breath and shot upright, pain etched across his features.

“You’re alive.” She pressed her mouth against his, soft warmth bleeding into her skin. “But how?”

“Shot-proof vest.” He groaned and stumbled to his feet. “That trick will only work once.”

He grabbed a gun from her hand and ticked his head toward the open grate. “Go.”

Something pricked the side of her neck. Jàden grasped at her skin and yanked out a small dart.

“Guardians,” she swore as her vision blurred.

“I always warned you to stay away from that woman. You should have listened, Boy.” Frank’s voice cut through the brush.

Kale fired.

Her muscles grew heavy. She slumped onto her knees. Sharpened greens and browns bled together in a silhouette of color.

Someone grabbed her ponytail and yanked her up. “Sorry, Darlin’. Had to be done.”

Frank.

She elbowed him in the gut.

“Old man, I will space you out the back of a fighter jet if you harm her.” Kale’s voice became sluggish as he crawled to one knee. A dart stuck in the side of his neck. His hand bled and the gun lay further down the path. He yanked open a pocket on his uniform and pulled out a med patch.

It had to be the adrenaline cocktail he and the other Enforcers used during combat simulations. All Jàden knew about the stuff was it kept them alert and functioning in dire situations.

Frank aimed a handgun at Kale. “You’re just like your bitch mother.”

“No!” Jàden shoved Frank’s arm aside as the gun fired.

The shot burned a hole in Kale’s arm.

Branches rustled behind them, the Enforcers by the door stalking them silently as they closed in. Jàden could easily imagine them bent low over their weapons, uncertain whether to shoot her through Frank or let their Guild Command General dispose of her.

“They’re coming.” The words slurred out the side of her mouth. “I hope you die.”

Frank glanced over his shoulder, then snarled a deep growl. “Good luck, Kid.”

She stumbled toward Kale, but a thick, beefy arm grabbed her waist.

Kale clawed along the ground as blood soaked his arm and hand. “Jàden!”

She fought, but her body grew more sluggish from whatever Frank put in the dart. “I love you.” She tried to shout the words, but they barely came out a whisper. Tears streamed down her cheeks as Kale’s face slipped away, replaced by branch and leaf and a sea of gray Enforcer uniforms.