by Carysa Locke
“Me?” He glanced around at all of the adults in the room, clearly uncomfortable at suddenly being the center of attention. “Uh…” He stood up, pulling ineffectually at his synth-cotton shirt as though that would smooth out the wrinkles of sleep.
He’d filled out more in the past few months. He was taller, his shoulders broader. The gangly youth Mercy had first met when she’d come aboard Nemesis was looking more and more like a young man. His resemblance to Cannon was more pronounced than ever, and he reminded her of a younger, less roguish version of the pirate King. His dark, sleep-tousled hair fell nearly to his shoulders, and the suggestion of a stubble grew along the bottom edge of his chin, barely detectable against his bronze skin tone. He blinked at them, his green eyes wide.
“Octavia’s smart,” he said finally. “Like, really smart. She always got top marks on assignments in school, but it’s more than that. She was really good at dodging people more powerful than her. Like, people in positions of authority.” He paused, looking down and shuffling his feet. He was embarrassed, Mercy realized.
“Max.” Cannon’s voice made the youth look up. “Whatever you’re worried about, don’t be. This is important.”
“Yes, sir. It’s just…it involves members of the Core.”
“I think I know what he’s talking about, Cannon,” Mercy said. She nodded to Max. “Shortly before she left us, I became aware that several Core members were pressuring Octavia. Not just into a possible service contract, but inappropriately trying to maneuver her into a more intimate connection.”
Cannon’s eyes brightened with anger. “Are you saying she was being harassed? By members of the Core?”
Mercy nodded. “Wick, Xavier, and Griffin, to be precise. I think each of them was trying to get Octavia to pick them as a consort. They gave her gifts, but also did things like corner her alone in hallways. Her Talent allowed her to escape, or I don’t know how far things might have gone.” She paused. “I doubt they were the only ones giving her trouble. They were probably just at the top of the chain.”
Cannon clenched one hand into a fist. “And I’m just now hearing of this?”
Max blanched as his King’s attention swung back to him.
“It’s my fault.” Mercy touched Cannon’s arm. “I should have brought it to you, but when I found out, you were still missing with Reaper. When you came back, things happened fast and then Octavia was gone.”
Cannon took a deep breath. His arm under Mercy’s hand slowly relaxed. “I don’t care if she’s still with us or not. Women choose their consorts of their own volition. We do not tolerate the kind of thing you’re describing.” When he met her gaze, anger still burned in his. “I told you what happens.”
“They didn’t hurt her.” She felt obligated to clarify. Cannon had once explained that rape was a capital offense, and she didn’t want anyone killed for something they hadn’t done. Not that she would mind seeing Wick in particular thrown out the nearest airlock, just because he was an egotistical ass who made her life difficult at every opportunity.
All you ever have to do is ask, Reaper told her, his mental voice amused.
She flashed a glance his way. Don’t tempt me.
“There are more ways to hurt someone than physically,” Cannon said. “I’ll be investigating this thoroughly on our return. If either Xavier or Wick did anything to hurt Octavia, there will be consequences.”
“Getting back to the here and now,” Feria said. “What I’m understanding from this is that Octavia was crafty enough to evade the efforts of three of your most powerful men for months.” She lifted a brow at Max. “Correct?”
He nodded.
“Then it seems well within her capabilities to take Sebastian for her own reasons. Perhaps she’s done us a favor.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Ghost asked, his voice sullen.
Feria gave him a long suffering look. “It means we may have one of our people aboard their ship as a spy.” Mercy could almost hear the words you idiot tacked on the end of that sentence. She wondered if Feria deliberately thought them loudly enough to be picked up. From the sly smile she wore, probably.
“Our people?” Ghost asked. “You aren’t one of us.”
Feria rolled her eyes, but didn’t respond.
Treon entered the room, his face thunderous. “I can’t find him,” he said. His gaze moved between each of them, settling on Cannon, and then Mercy. “Sebastian. I can’t find his mind.”
Confused, Mercy glanced around, taking in the disappointment from Ghost and the grim reactions from Cannon and Reaper. “That’s not surprising, though,” she said. “Whatever ship they’re on has long since jumped away. No one can mentally follow someone through a space jump.”
Behind Treon, Declan rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded like “Here we go.”
Treon ignored him, though surely he’d heard.
“I can,” he said, without a trace of his normal arrogance. He said it flatly, just stating a fact.
Mercy glanced at Reaper, who nodded. He can. His range is unmatched, especially if he’s familiar with the mind he’s trying to reach.
“So what does it mean that you can’t reach him? They’ve jumped outside your range?”
Treon considered her words. “Possible, but unlikely, unless they’re using a ship with a very large drive. Something the size of Nemesis or a little smaller. Which would not be a very subtle way for their forces to be jumping around the Commonwealth. A capital ship of that size would be the vanguard of an entire fleet, not built for stealth.” He shook his head. “They should still be in range. I should at least feel a faint impression of Sebastian’s mind. I don’t.”
A horrible thought occurred to Mercy. Time seemed to slow. “Wait. Does that mean — is Sebastian—” She trailed off, unwilling to say the word dead. The moment stretched, every detail crystallized, frozen as Treon’s mouth moved, shaping words she wasn’t prepared to hear.
“It’s possible,” he said. His fury drained away, leaving his expression dark and bleak.
Cannon’s hand closed over her shoulder, squeezing gently. Reaper took her hand, holding it in his own.
“I’m sorry,” Treon said. “Unfortunately, it is the most likely scenario.”
A stark silence settled over the room. Shock held Mercy immobile. She refused to believe it. It was impossible to go to sleep on a ship in the middle of empty space, and wake up to find Sebastian gone and dead.
“No,” she said. “What else?” She tugged free of Reaper and Cannon. She didn’t need comfort. Sebastian wasn’t dead. “We just discussed the possible motivations Octavia could have had for taking him. She wouldn’t do that if he was just going to end up dead.”
“She might not have known,” Reaper said. “If she deliberately took him and he was someone they didn’t want, they could kill him just for that.”
She swung away from him to look at Treon. “What else could it be?”
“Mercy—” Cannon began.
“No. You said it’s possible, as in one possibility. That implies others. What are they?”
Even Treon seemed taken aback at the fierceness of her question. “It’s difficult to guess. He could be in stasis. That, combined with the distance—”
“Great. See?” Mercy glared around at everyone. “Sebastian’s not dead. He’s in stasis. Now how do we figure out where they’ve gone? Ghost? Feria? What are the most likely jump points from here?”
Neither of them answered immediately, her question catching them off guard.
“There are several,” Feria said finally. “At least half a dozen.”
“More,” Ghost added.
“So? Calculate them.”
“Mercy,” Cannon said, his voice gentle. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does. We need to go after them and get Sebastian back.”
Mercy, Reaper said in her mind. Cannon is correct.
Cannon spread his hands in a placating gesture.
“This mission takes priority over all of us, over everything, and everyone—”
“Yes, I’ve heard the speech,” Mercy snapped. “I remember. We’re not abandoning him.”
She felt something, Cannon’s Talent brushing against her, and a gentling of the raw mixture of fear and determination roiling in her gut. Unexpected fury swept her, Lilith’s voice a roar in her mind.
How dare he!
Something broke within Mercy, an internal wall cracked. Power, a huge wellspring from a place deep within, burst through the fissure, filling her up and spilling over her shields.
“You will not influence me.” She didn’t recognize her own voice, the timbre deeper, the words ringing with something otherworldly.
The room froze. She felt Reaper behind her, his presence abruptly a cold wall at her back. No one moved.
Into the silence, Cannon spoke carefully. “Everyone out. Now.” He met Reaper’s gaze over Mercy’s shoulder. Not you.
Only Treon hesitated. Everyone else left in a mad rush for the door, practically tripping over one another to be out of the room, until only Cannon, Mercy, and Reaper remained.
Mercy could feel the power settling around her like a warm cloak. Her bruises and sore muscles from training vanished. The fatigue from only getting a few hours of sleep disappeared. Mercy felt strong, at the top of her game. It felt good.
Like this, she was untouchable.
Finally, Lilith said. You are a queen. None can challenge you.
It was a heady feeling.
Cannon spoke slowly, choosing his words with care. “We all want Sebastian back and safe. He has been my second-in-command, my friend, for many years. Don’t let emotion blind you. Sebastian would be the first to say that this mission comes first. Before any one of us.”
“So we just let them pick us off, one by one?” Mercy demanded. “What kind of message does that send? This isn’t just about Sebastian.”
“No,” Cannon said. “It’s not. Mercy, you know what we are doing could be the key to defeating the Alpha Queen, to stopping Vashti’s vision from coming true. This was your idea.”
She wanted to crush his words, to stop him from speaking, but she hesitated. It was only the truth. It had been her plan to come to the Commonwealth, to go to the roots of where the Talented began, and find something, anything, that could be a weakness to exploit in their enemy.
Sensing he had her attention, Cannon continued. “Sebastian would want us to continue forward.”
That, too, was true. Mercy felt a pressure from within, an urging to use the power she’d called up, to teach Cannon never to try and use his Talent on her again.
Lilith’s voice whispered to her. He is yours. Never let them challenge you. You rule. They follow.
Part of Mercy wanted to do exactly as her grandmother directed. But another part struggled against it.
Mercy. Reaper’s voice in her mind. Cool and composed. You are not Lilith.
His hand touched her back. It anchored her, quieting the storm of power which threatened to overwhelm her and everything she was.
She took a shuddering breath, and let her grip on her Talent fade. She swayed as the tide receded, leaving her feeling empty and bereft. Reaper’s hand caught her elbow and she leaned into him.
Lilith had gone completely quiet. That was good, because now that her head was clearing, Mercy wanted to throw up. Hurt Cannon? Why? It wouldn’t bring Sebastian back. It wouldn’t do anything except start her down the same path Lilith had once walked, becoming a tyrant instead of a Queen.
“I’m fine,” she said, her voice only a little shaky. “That was…I’m sorry, Cannon. I don’t know what the hell that was.” Her gaze dropped to her own wrist, where she knew the bracelet rested against her skin, looking like nothing more than a slightly raised pattern or tattoo. She touched it, envisioned ripping it off and throwing it away.
Only one thing stopped her. She still needed Lilith. There was still so much Mercy didn’t know about her own Talent, and she was supposed to keep everyone safe from a queen older than any of them, the first queen. She needed Lilith’s help for that.
“Damn it,” she whispered. “Don’t ever, ever do that again.”
Lilith didn’t answer.
Cannon, ever perceptive, stepped closer and ducked his head to meet her eyes. “Lilith?” he asked.
Mercy nodded. “I’m sorry. I think…I think when you tried to influence me with your Talent it triggered something in her.” In me. But she kept that thought buried deep where no one else would hear it.
“No, I’m the one who should apologize.” Cannon ran a hand over his face. Fatigue and worry were dark circles around his eyes. “I shouldn’t have done that. It was instinct more than anything else. I’ve spent years trying to keep everyone calm. When I felt your emotions, I acted without thinking.”
“You were trying to help,” Mercy said, even though part of her still resented it.
“Cannon is correct,” Reaper said. “He shouldn’t have done it. You are our Queen. We can discuss it. We may even think you’re wrong. But if you dictate we go after Sebastian, then that is what we will do.”
“No, absolutely not.” Mercy shook her head firmly. “I am not a dictator. Cannon is still King. We discuss things and decide together what’s best, and ultimately, it’s Cannon who gets to make the call.”
“Are you certain?” Reaper’s face was serious.
Mercy folded her arms, feeling small and a little frightened of herself. “Yes.” Intellectually, she was never more certain. If what had just happened was a sample of being Queen, she didn’t want anything to do with it. But emotionally, she wondered how much of that had been Lilith, and how much had been pushed by her own Talent. Someday, would she have the choice taken from her? Would her Talent force her to take a position of control?
Watching her, Cannon nodded cautiously. “All right then. We continue on. Besides, I find it highly unlikely that Sebastian was their true goal. I think ultimately, our enemy will follow. If he’s still alive, Sebastian will be with them.”
Mercy considered this. “You think they’re after me.”
“From everything we know of the Alpha Queen, from everything you’ve told us from Lilith, and what Vashti has shared, you are the greatest threat against her. If she targets anyone else it will be with the goal to weaken you.”
“If that’s true, they’ll keep coming at us. If not for me, then Reaper makes the most sense.” Losing her consort would be a terrible blow. One she didn’t want to think about. “Or you. You’re King. Losing you wouldn’t just hurt me; it would be a blow to the entire pirate population.”
Cannon smiled. “I’m touched, but you’re wrong. I’m expendable. So is Reaper.” He left unsaid that so was Sebastian, but the words hung in the air between them anyway. “You are necessary for our people’s continued existence.”
Mercy sighed. “No one is expendable.”
“You know what I mean.” Cannon wasn’t about to be deterred.
“Fine. Whatever. The point is you think they’ll go where we go.” She met his gaze with determination in her own. “When they do, we use the opportunity to get Sebastian back.”
“Of course.” Cannon’s smile had a dark, cruel edge unlike anything she’d ever seen from him. “We will either retrieve him, or avenge him.”
Mercy looked up at Reaper. He nodded once. Give me a target, he said, just for her. I will not rest until they are dead.
Chapter Five
A sense of wrongness woke Sebastian. His thoughts were sluggish, his mind slow to focus. At first, it felt like a bad dream. The kind where you couldn’t move no matter how hard you tried, or you couldn’t see, even though your eyes were open. It was a suffocating feeling of missing some essential connection vital to interacting with the world.
It hit him all at once. He couldn’t feel the ship. He reached out with his mind, only to find a vast sense of nothing. No ship, no minds, not even his own shields. He was headblind.
Adrenaline flooded him. It took all of his will not to move and react physically to the realization. Intuition warned him to stay calm, stay still, and feign sleep. It was a bone deep certainty prickling along the back of his neck, down his spine and through his gut. A survivor’s instinct he hadn’t felt in years, but one that never truly faded.
It had kept him alive throughout his childhood, and he listened to it now.
He focused on his breathing, keeping it regular and slow, and trying to empty his thoughts in case anyone was listening. He waited, forcing muscles that had tensed to slowly relax. He heard the low thrum of a ship drive, felt the vibration beneath where he lay.
It wasn’t Declan’s ship, Heresy. The pitch was too high, the vibration too pronounced. This ship, whatever it was, would be smaller, the drive less powerful.
Somehow, Sebastian had gone to sleep aboard Heresy, and awakened on a different ship. Were the others here as well? Had they been boarded and captured? It was something he could hardly fathom happening while they all slept.
Voices reached him then, low but growing louder.
“…you were told to get her.” Female, not a voice he immediately recognized.
“I tried, but— I—I couldn’t. She was sleeping with him.” Also female, but with a softer pitch, and vaguely familiar this time.
Both voices sounded young to him, though age could be difficult to judge.
“So?” They had to be standing near him now, their words clear and close. “How hard can it be to pop in, grab her, and pop back out? A simple task, one we entrusted you to do.”
“I—I tried. I—if he woke—” The more she spoke, the more familiar that second voice became. Her name was right there, just out of reach. The urge to risk a quick look was overwhelming. “I thought, at least if we had one of them, it would be—”
The sharp sound of flesh striking flesh and a pained cry had him tensing, jaw clenched. Sebastian forced himself not to move, hoping he hadn’t already given himself away.
“No one cares what you think. You’re not a member of this unit, you’re here for one reason only, and you fucked it up.”