Chapter Eighteen
The acceleration stopped, leaving them weightless again. Lorn stared at the viewscreen as, over the next few minutes, the burning heart of Mayflower II fell below the limb of the planet. Shadow had just killed hundreds of people, with no warning, with no opportunity to escape. She’d killed herself. She’d killed her father. She’d killed Art Stoddard’s parents, and who knew how many others who had only stayed aboard Mayflower II because they thought they were too old to start a new life on a new world.
More killing, all in a good cause. Always in a good cause.
His eyes burning from more than the light of the explosion, he looked at Kiri. Her face was pale. “I never thought—” she whispered.
“I should have,” Lorn said. He heard his voice shaking, but he couldn’t seem to st
