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I take a deep breath through ain She turns back, crouching in front of the panel I watch her covertly out of the corner of my eye, as ht of the LaRoux heiress absently ht to her mouth so she can hold it in her teeth as she works

It’s another gliirl I saw in the salon, the one who stood up for aher lackeys deal with hiirl the rest of the time? With a wrench of my stomach I realize that the man in the salon, the reason I talked to Lilac LaRoux in the first place, is probably dead now Did anyone else survive? Did any of the escape pods break away before the Icarus hit the atmosphere?

At some point, between one blink and the next, I fall asleep

"What did Miss LaRoux think of the situation?"

"I didn’t ask her"

"What was your i?"

"Better than expected"

EIGHT

LILAC

I WAKE CURLED UP AGAINST A WALL, a blanket aroundto re the return of over will be the least of my concerns Then the unmistakable smell of half-overa spaceship hit lance at the broken coht The wires are fused and melted beyond repair The wholean entire teae, h alone and gotten so is quiet, which terrifies me There has always been noise around me, even in our country house The sounds of air filters and the garden shifting from roses to daffodils with the deft, raphic projectors Servants bustling here and there, Siht My father on the holowire at the breakfast table, delivering orders to his deputies back on Corinth while pulling faces to h

Here, the only sounds are the faint noises of birds, and leaves whispering against each other high above