Harbin Low held his head high and his shoulders back, even though he expected he was marching to his death. Always look death in the eye, his mother had said. In fact, she said it right before she left to fly a suicide mission into rebel territory when he was only eleven. His jaw clenched, but he kept moving.
His ship had just docked. As he'd left it, Delphi Liet had held his gaze, her expression unreadable. Perhaps calculating how she'd take control of the ship when he didn't come back. They had a berth in the belly of Halcyon Koning's station orbiting Metropolis — the mother planet of the Dominion. Despite being so close to the absolute centre of ultimate power, despite technically being a soldier of the empire, he knew he belonged to her. She'd been his Archon since she'd plucked him out of the orphanage he'd been sent to following his mother's death. At the time, Halcyon had been its patron, only a Consul then, and came to survey its wards. Always on the lookout for talent. Perhaps she'd seen his potential after he'd stabbed that other boy in the hand for stealing his bread.
And now his potential would come to naught, all because of that pissant ship and her derelict crew. Harbin huffed out a breath of air, his nostrils flaring. Something prodded the tight muscles of his back, and he realized he'd come to a stop.
He refocused his gaze on the present. Before him, doors the height of five men rose. Made of real wood gilt with real gold, they each must have weighed as much as ten men. But they opened smoothly to admit him, with no indication of how. His minders stayed outside as the doors swiftly but silently closed behind him. The breath of the massive doors closing whispered at his heels and propelled him forward. His boots clicked as he crossed the tile floor, towards the woman who stood beside a fireplace filled with pyroplasmic flames, her back to him. On either side of the fireplace, large windows set in delicate, upside-down wishbone frames looked out onto the stars. The top panels of each held a snake-like creature rendered in tinted plex and gemstones. In the hearth, the purple hue of the flames contrasted with the green and gold tile that framed the fireplace.
But that was nothing compared to the shimmer of silver and gold that was Halcyon Koning. She wasn't a young woman, and she was one of the few who was happy to let the world see that. A headdress topped her silver hair, the delicate gold shivering even though she stood marble still. A gold and diamond tunic hung from her narrow shoulders, skimming over a slight figure. She wore loose pants with sandals seemingly made of filaments of light on her feet. Even as a child, he'd been dumbstruck by the casual way she carried opulence and power. On her unmodded face, lines crinkled at the corner of the sharp eyes she flicked his way.
Harbin dropped to his knee before her, and his eyes focused on her feet. For a long few minutes, they didn't move. Then the shimmer shifted slightly, and he felt the woman's hand fall lightly on the top of his head.
"You've disappointed me, Harbin." Her tone was even, a whisper almost, soon lost in the vast space. The pressure in her grip increased, the fingernails biting into his scalp, and he was again surprised that such a slight frame could hold so much power. She forced his head around, though he didn't resist, until he was looking into the flames. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a flick of movement, then the fire changed to an image.
The Lyra.
"I gave you a simple task." Her voice grew louder, an edge to the words. "Find this ship and retrieve my property." Harbin felt blood trickle through his hair, almost tickling, as her grip grew tighter. Quiet again, she continued. "I had faith in you, but you failed me." There was silence, and Harbin's face flushed as the fire shifted again to a series of faces.
"Do you see the faces, Harbin?" Harbin didn't answer. "Not rhetorical." Her voice was hard and glacial. "Do you see them?"
Harbin tried to nod despite the grip on his scalp. "Yes." The word came out as a hoarse whisper.
"Can you remember them?"
"Yes," he hissed, his tone injected with venom as he forced it through his dry mouth.
She leaned down so her words whispered over his ear. "That is the crew of the Lyra." Grasping his head tighter, she turned it again so he faced her. Bringing her hand, slick with his own blood, to his chin, she lifted his head up, almost gently, until he was looking in her black eyes. Lined with age at the corners, they reflected the hues of the fire. Her face was serene except for the sharpness of her gaze and the hard line of her mouth. "Do you know what you need to do?"
"Yes," he said, his voice stronger. Apparently, he wasn't going to die today.
"Tell me."
"Find the Lyra. Kill her crew. Painfully, if possible."
"Yes." A smile crept into her lips, and Harbin's heart tightened. The Archon Halcyon Koning was most beautiful when she was contemplating death.