Prologue
The wind, chilled from the high altitude, sliced through her clothing straight to her skin, screaming as rain drummed down with unrelenting rage. She felt gravity take a hold of her airborne body, slamming her into the mud. She cried out when she landed hard on her arm, hearing something crack! and hot pain shot straight from her elbow to between her eyes. Some of the wounds on her back had reopened; she could tell from the warmth seeping down her spine in sharp contrast with the cold rain.
The woman standing on the stairs above her was old and frail, but in this moment as she stood tall and proud, wind whipping through her long silver hair, she was more like the goddess of the storm raging above them. "Filthy bikjha," she snarled, delicate hands pale with age now curled into tight fists at her sides. "I should have ignored my husband and sold you to the capital the moment your feet tainted our land."
The young girl, Lyra, slowly and stiffly pushed herself up in spite of her throbbing arm. The rain had yet to wash the trail of blood away, a crimson path that stained the polished stairs.
There had been so much blood.
Lyra looked into the old woman's eyes, seeing the lightning flash within them that bathed the island in a harsh, silver glow. In this moment, she was truly the Matriarch of House Nightslayer, marching down the bloodied stairs to teach this mere servant a lesson. Lyra felt her throat tighten with panic. Her first instinct was to run for the dock, catch a landspeeder off the island to another chain. Or perhaps even as far as the spaceport. Leave this system. Anything to get away from the dark goddess approaching her, thunder shaking the atmosphere with each regal step. But the power was too much and the girl remained frozen where she lay, falling back on the ground and trying to curl into a small ball.
She had committed a sin. The kind of sin that was too significant for even a goddess to ignore.
Andromeda Nightslayer grasped Lyra's hair and yanked her to her feet. The servant screamed in pain, but the wind drowned her voice to a silent wail. In her immortal wrath, the goddess backhanded the sinner at one side of her face then the other then kicked her back to the ground. Lyra couldn't breathe as a heavy shoe pressed against her skull and pushed her face into the mud.
"Tell me, girl, why shouldn't I grant you the same suffering you forced onto my grandson?"
She knew she deserved this, Lyra would never deny it. "Ketthan..." she whispered, but mud filled her mouth when she tried to speak, cold and gritty. The swift kick delivered to her side rolled her onto her back. Her lungs gasped for air, causing agony to explode from a few cracked ribs. "Ke...Ket...than..."
The goddess took a step back, unsure how to react to this recent sacrilege committed against her. "Don't. You. Dare," she hissed.
There was another flash of light in the darkness, this time not from lightning, but a sharp vibroblade glaring from Andromeda's hand. "I always knew this family would come to regret taking you in," she whispered, and Lyra could hear her clearly as if the rain itself became silent whenever the goddess spoke. "The daughter of a dirty thief, lower than alien scum, a shame to the human race. I tolerated your presence for the sake of my grandson and this is how you repay my kindness!"
The goddess raised the vibroblade high as thunder crashed, and Lyra closed her eyes tight and tried to think of Ketthan, of his sweet smile and green eyes filled with curiosity and the shy way he had kissed her-
"Au'yan, NO!"
Andromeda paused when she saw her teenage granddaughter racing toward them. "Leave, Lahrabelle," she ordered. "This does not concern you."
"It was an accident, Au'yan!" The older girl knelt by Lyra's side, using her body as shield to protect the servant from further torment.
"She knew the rules."
"As did Ketthan."
Please don't, Lahra, Lyra wanted to say, but she was in too much pain to speak. You will be punished, too.
"Your brother is dying."
"And you're about to kill my friend."
For a moment, the two women stared at each other, and then Andromeda lowered the vibroknife, her face twisted in pure disgust. For a moment, she thought she saw her son in those green eyes, that same defiant look not even the Void could keep away. "This is why I had named your brother House Heir instead of you," she spat. "Deal with this then. And return to the Empire when you're through for that is where you belong now."
The goddess whirled around and stormed away, her wrath sedated for now. The wind slowed and the rain became more gentle. "Lean on me," Lahrabelle instructed, carefully putting Lyra's arm around her shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm going to get you out of here."
"I... I'm... s... sor... ry..." Lyra choked out, hot tears leaving white trails down her muddied face.
"Shhh, it wasn't your fault," Lahra replied softly. She tapped her earpiece. "Slayer here. My business is concluded. Prepare a kolto tank... No, I'm alright. But I'll be traveling with one extra body in need of immediate medical attention... Roger that, standing by. Slayer out."
Less than a few minutes later, a sleek black airspeeder and a medshuttle landed next to them. A pair of medical droids lowered Lyra on a med-splint and carried her back to the ambulance, Lahra following closely behind them.
"What's going on, Slayer?" the driver of the airspeeder demanded, a tall man who had taken on the task of being Lahrabelle's mentor. "You said you were just checking in on your brother's accident. And Keeper's going to be pissed enough that a trainee left headquarters for any reason."
"Say anything and you'll be in just as much trouble," Lahrabelle shot back, not caring that she was being snappy with a superior. Saving Lyra would be worth any kind of punishment Keeper would toss at her for breaking the rules.
Watcher Thirty-Five sighed, used to her attitude. "At least he'll be impressed that you've sliced into the security system. Most of the guys who created that code can't even pull that off."
"See? Now you have no choice but to keep me around." The smugness in her tone, however, was not actually felt.
Inside, the droids scanned Lyra to see her most serious wounds were on her back. Slowly , they turned her over and peeled back the bloodied strips of fabric to expose the shredded skin. Lahra gripped her hands tightly, not realizing until now just how close her timing had been. "Au'yan had better be grateful I don't plan on coming back any time soon," she growled to herself.
"Look, Slayer, I have no idea what's happening here," Thirty-Six said, "but standing here isn't going to make your friend heal any faster. Let's start heading back, okay? I'm sure Keeper is about to have an aneurysm and I kinda don't wanna miss that."
Reluctantly, Lahrabelle followed him back to the airspeeder. As it took off with the medshuttle close behind it into the stormy darkness, Lyra slipped into oblivion, medical droids rushing about to ensure her vitals remained steady. She never got a last look of the estate that had been her home since she was three, or say a final goodbye to the boy she loved.
