Aurora's End (The Aurora Cycle #3)(114)

I look my sister in the eye.

I’ve known Scarlett Isobel Jones my entire life. I know her better than anyone in the ’Way. I know she coasted her way through the academy, that she never really took this as seriously as she could, that maybe she was never the best recruit in the Legion.

But I can see now how the trials she’s faced and the battles she’s fought have changed my sister. She’s harder than she used to be. Braver. I can see that over the past few months she’s found a well of strength inside herself even she never knew existed. But there’s one thing about Scarlett Isobel Jones that’s remained the same. One thing all this loss and struggle haven’t managed to change.

She still loves more fiercely than anyone I’ve ever met.

“Scarlett,” I say. “If you stay here, you’re going to die.”

“I lost you once, Ty,” she replies, chin raised. “I’m not doing it again.”

Fin steps up beside her, taking her hand. “Looks like you’re stuck with both of us, boss.”

I sigh, looking out the massive viewport to the stars outside. The fleeing ships. The fall of a galaxy.

I know there’s no way out of this. I know we’re looking down the barrel of our own execution. And I remember what it felt like fighting Cat in the reactor. Looking into those glowing eyes. Bleeding out on the floor. That awful moment when I wondered if it wouldn’t be better to just lose myself in the Ra’haam rather than die alone.

I know how stupid that fear was now. Because even in my darkest hours, I’ve never been alone. And so I put my arms around Scar, hold her tight, grabbing Fin and pulling him in, too.

This is what family is, I realize.

To never be alone.

The lighting around us shifts to red. An alarm pitches across the PA, a metallic voice echoing across the promenade.

“Aurora Station, this is Battle Leader de Stoy. Red alert: Unauthorized vessels inbound. All stations Ready one.”

“Oh shit … ,” Scarlett whispers.

“Repeat, this is Battle Leader de Stoy. Multiple unauthorized vessels breaching Aurora FoldGate. All stations Ready one status.”

“It’s here,” Fin breathes.

“No,” I frown, easing them both out of my arms and looking through the viewport at the gate beyond. “The Ra’haam is still nineteen hours fr—”

“Legionnaire Jones, this is de Stoy, do you copy?”

I tap the comm badge at my chest.

“I read you, Commander.”

“You’d best get your tail up to C&C on the double, soldier.”

I look to the FoldGate again, my belly twisting as dark shapes begin pouring through the rift.

I put my hand to the plasteel viewport, heart breaking loose in my chest, not quite believing what I’m seeing.

“I know those ships … ,” I whisper.

“Ty?” Scar asks. “What are—”

But I’m already running, barreling down the promenade through the milling crowd, roaring at the top of my lungs. “Scar, Fin, come on!”

“Where the hells are you g—”

“JUST COME ON!”

Scar and Finian follow me through the fleeing crowd and into the turbolift. We ride up to the bridge of the C&C tower in silence, Fin and Scar looking at me like I’m half-crazy, me wondering if I’m all the way gone.

I didn’t dare hope, didn’t dare even let myself think about it, but as the three of us pile out into the crowded decks of Aurora Command and Control, my suspicion is confirmed, a storm of butterflies breaking loose in my stomach just as a goofy-as-hells smile breaks out all over my face.

“What is that?” Fin asks, looking at the monitor screens.

“She did it,” I grin. “She made it.”

The shapes are clearer now, spilling through the blinding flare of the FoldGate and into the Aurora system. A fleet of battleships, sleek and sharp, black hulls daubed with beautiful glyfs of gleaming white. A people born with the taste of blood in their mouths.

A people born for war.

Battle Leader de Stoy stands among her staff, looking about as certain as a commander running on zero sleep in the middle of a galactic cataclysm can. Her thin, pale face is set in a scowl, black eyes fixed on me.

“They’ve been hailing us for the past five minutes,” she informs us. “They want to speak to you, Jones.”

I nod, standing a little taller. “Roger that, ma’am.”

The image of the incoming fleet on the holoscreen in front of us dissolves, that massive armada replaced by a single face. Her hair is dark as the empty spaces between the stars, her eyes shining like dark jewels, black lips curled into a tiny smile as she lays eyes on me.

She’s beautiful. Fierce. Brilliant. Ruthless.

Like no one I’ve ever known.

“Saedii … ,” Fin whispers.

“Tyler Jones,” Saedii says.

“About time,” I smile, scarred eyebrow rising slightly. “I wondered if you planned to sleep through the entire war.”

Scar and Fin both look at me, gobsmacked. Saedii only scoffs. “Time enough to sleep in the grave, Terran.”

“Did you do what you needed?” I ask. “Get what you wanted?”

Saedii spreads her arms, as if to encompass the Unbroken armada at her command. Her smile is triumphant, and I notice there’s a new chain hanging around her neck, silver, strung with half a dozen severed Syldrathi ears. “I am a Templar of the Unbroken, Tyler Jones. I do what I wish, I go where I please, and I take what I want.”