Bonds of Brass (The Bloodright Trilogy #1) - Emily Skrutskie Page 0,15

Umber imperials did to the Nusi System in the War of Expansion.

Gal, as usual, has tried to dismantle it. He’s ignoring civilian centers entirely in favor of running his fleet headlong at the enemy’s, refusing to throw up the blockades and sieges necessary to cut off the supply lines. His quarrel is with the opposing fleet alone, and he’s doing everything in his power to keep the common people—the enemy’s people—out of the fight.

I mean, it’s nice of him, but it’s not actually going to work. And if you asked me to pick the next ruler of the galaxy out of my academy class, it definitely wouldn’t be the dipshit trying to jam ethics into the middle of Umber warfare.

I dig my datapad out of my bag and flop backward onto the bottom bunk. But when I see the message waiting, every molecule of exhaustion evaporates from my body at once.

It’s not from Rin.

Ettian,

I don’t know if you’re going to get this or if you’re going to respond—I don’t even know if it’ll make it to you without getting caught in some firewall, but I have to try. The system governor will arrive by morning, and the guards are supposed to keep me safe until then. But these aren’t my guards. Something’s wrong. There are sleepers who were supposed to take over my protection the moment something happened.

But none of them were on the tarmac yesterday, and I haven’t seen any of them since then. The only person I’ve been allowed to talk to is the academy head, and he’s not telling me something. I don’t think I’m safe here. I need to get out before the governor arrives, and you’re the only one I trust. They’re keeping me in the head’s private quarters.

Please, try.

—Gal

A disbelieving snort escapes me before anything else. The only one he trusts? He shouldn’t trust anyone at this point—not after twenty of us turned on him out of nowhere. But I did go right after him yesterday, and that speaks to something I can’t dispute.

I stare out the slit of our window as the cool gray of dusk settles over the prairie. The word “sleepers” lances through me like a needle. How could Gal have been monitored at the academy without anyone discovering his identity? How could he be protected so thoroughly that Seely’s mutineers had to make their attempt during a flight drill? I’ve spent two and a half years sleeping beneath Gal. I thought I was clever for noticing Seely’s teeth. So how could I have missed—

The realization hits me like a static shock. I scramble out of bed and barrel out the door, breezing past a pair of grayed-out first years who flatten themselves against the wall as I rocket by.

If Gal hasn’t seen the sleepers—

If they aren’t protecting him—

If no one’s protecting them—

I leap up the stairs three at a time until I’ve reached the top level of the dorms, where the young officers sleep. This hall’s much more quiet and orderly than the cadet bunks below, but there’s an eerie layer to the silence that settles over me as I stagger out of the stairwell and up to Jana’s door.

With Gal’s magnetic personality, it made sense that he befriended even the upperclassmen. No one questioned it. No one could blame them for continuing to check in on him, even after they’d graduated. I think of all the times they stopped by our room, all the times I caught him waving to one of them across the mess, the way they were such a constant, comfortable presence in our lives.

Always keeping an eye on him. Just the way they were supposed to.

“Jana?” I call out, rapping twice on the door. The quiet around me is stifling. I feel like I’m the only one breathing on this floor. Calm down, Ettian, I scold myself. You saw her yesterday. But I saw Gal yesterday, and now I might never see him again. I saw Seely yesterday and now he’s nothing but scattered pieces across several miles of Rana’s surface.

I try the door. Unlocked. Jana never leaves her room unlocked—hasn’t since she found