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"Oh, shut up"

"She would have eaten you up and spit you out, dominus"

"Why aren’t you in the staterooms where it’s safe?"

"It’s not safe anywhere" Theodora motions me to bend irl would wear, intoup "Don’t be too much a hero You’re too clever to die in a stupid battle"

She leaves, squeezing Ragnar’s forearnar follows along, hanging back like a hesitant shadow as Sevro and I speak on the way to the hangars

"So it is done?" I ask Sevro

He shrugs "I sent it"

"You spoke to hie They get it Hopefully"

"You ot it?"

"How should I know? I said I sent it Followed protocol"

I curse quietly He whistles that da Pliny I swat at him We turn a corner and pass six dozen Gray special ops troopers heading for the tubes at a jog Six Obsidians follow behind thens of respect

"You see what they earing? SlingBlades on their arht about what happens if your father is down there?" I ask

"No," he says, losing his sar bay iswith th Along its left side are hundreds of spitTubes Each row is accessed by a network of giant causehere men in starShells can walk Thousands stand ready to disperse, grouped according to legion

The alarhout the ship Orion’s voice rasps over the intercoest fleet co our are the Bellona over Mars Squadrons of ripWings and wasps pour forth Blues flying to their deaths Gold squad leaders in their h for the leechCraft to swarm onto the eneht off enemy waves that make it aboard their ships Others launch full attacks It’s a gamble either way Can’t think of it Victra, Roque, and Orion have that responsibility I have ar "What if Ares isn’t real?" I ask quietly

"What the hell you talking about?" Sevro asks

"What if it’s just a Gold trick? Soo the way they need it to go What if it’s all a lie?"