The men seem stumped for a moment, before Legion finally answered. “I’ve never thought wonder.”
“I believe it was some sort of diplomatic mission to another province,” Adrian mused. “But I’m not sure precisely what he was hoping to accomplish.”
“It just seems that it would take a good amount of effort to program his skycar to crash, they’re designed to autopilot under pretty much all conditions. It would have been easier to stage a less dramatic accident within the confines of the city. There’s a good chance that the Undersecretary, and whoever else was responsible, wanted to ensure that he never accomplished whatever he was on his way to do.”
“There have been tentative trade negotiations in the past with Elysium or Valhalla, but they have always broken down,” Adrian mused, expression pensive.
Ianthe looked from one to the other of them in confusion. “These are other places, other cities like Pandora?”
“Some.” Adrian’s expression was unreadable. “But nowhere that you could escape to, if that’s what you’re asking. And even if you could, you wouldn’t want to.”
“Why not?”
“If you think that Pandora is bad, you have no idea what awaits beyond the Forbidden Zone. Few places are safer than this one.”
But Ianthe wasn’t willing to let it go. “How can you know that if you’ve never been there before?”
Adrian raised a mocking eyebrow. “And who says that I haven’t?”
“Adrian’s history isn’t the topic under discussion,” Legion said lightly, as always leaving more questions asked than he was willing to answer. “Pandora is limited in natural resources but our manufacturing sector is substantial. It’s not out of the question to think that Prince Castor would negotiate a trade deal.”
“But that wouldn’t be enough to get him killed.”
She shouldn’t have expected either of them to take a suggestion from her seriously. “It was just a thought.”
“A good one,” Legion assured her and Ianthe couldn’t stop the expression of surprise that crossed her face. “I can occasionally give a compliment, you know.”
“You seem different,” she said after a moment of silence.
“Am I? Who’s to say? I do wear your mark.”
Ianthe did not care for that reminder. She was eager to return to the subject at hand. “I still don’t understand why the Undersecretary would have anything to do with Prince Castor’s disappearance.”
“I think that I might have some idea, although I can’t absolutely confirm it.” Adrian turned to Legion with an inscrutable expression. “Do you remember me telling you about Project Terminus?”
“I thought you told me that it was a myth.”
“I thought it was, but now I’m not so sure.”
Ianthe looked from one of them to the other. “What is Project Terminus?”
Adrian looked expectantly to Legion, obviously intending for him to provide any explanation. Her mate’s second made it clear by his expression that he preferred keeping her in the dark.
“Rumors have circulated for years that scientists in Vigil, a sector that is just to the east of us on the other side of the Forbidden Zone, have been developing techniques to manipulate dynamics through biological treatments. I had always assumed it was impossible, but there may be reason now to think otherwise.”
“And what exactly is dynamic manipulation?” Ianthe asked as strange feelings grew in her belly. “You mean like what I was doing with the hormone suppressants.”
“Not quite. All you did was take synthetic versions of hormones that your body was already producing in the hopes of preventing estrous and diminishing the chances that you would be identified as Omega. While you had some success, ultimately the suppressants aren’t foolproof. You are still Omega.” Legion explained, voice patient. He said the words gently, obviously aware of the gulf that still existed between them because of her desire to be anything but Omega. “Project Terminus was focused on permanent alterations, down to the cellular level that would change a person’s dynamic in a way that was indistinguishable from being born that way. We’re talking about a gene therapy with catastrophic applications.”
“And they weren’t trying to turn Omegas in Betas. That would be pointless. There have always been more Betas than anything else.” Adrian’s voice was mocking, although it was unclear who was the target of his irritation. “Project Terminus began with the goal of turning Betas, females particularly, into Omegas.”
“You can do that? Turn Betas into Omegas, I mean.”
Ianthe turned to see Circe standing in the doorway of the small front-room, wearing an expression of shock and suspicious interest. She had thought that her sister was still asleep.
“That was the intent,” Adrian answered, voice dry. “I have no idea if they were successful.”
“It’s disgusting that they would even try.” Ianthe did not care for the expression on her sister’s face. There wasn’t a hint of the repulsion that should be there and instead a keen interest. She wanted to steer the conversation back to where it needed to be before Circe got any strange ideas. “What does that have to do with the Undersecretary and Prince Castor?”
“Prince Castor was a reformer, and a socialist.” Legion’s tone was more respectful than Ianthe expected but his expression made it clear what he thought of those ideas. “He never agreed with the stark divisions in our society and always talked about how much greater Pandora could be with more equality and freedom. He always promised to make sweeping changes when he eventually came to power.”
“You respected him,” Ianthe said, surprised laced through her voice.
“I can appreciate a man with ideals who’s willing to fight for them. I am surprised they didn’t get him killed even sooner.”
“I still don’t understand what this has to do with Prince Castor.”
“If these scientists had managed to create this treatment, Castor may have approached the leadership in Vigil to discourage them from using it and prevent it from being brought here. He believed that the dynamics are part of what is destroying society, he envisioned world of Betas without the extremes, where everyone could be treated based on individual accomplishments. He would have been entirely against creating more Omegas. You must know that he’s the only member of the royal family who’s never taken one as a mate.”
Ianthe didn’t know that. And she couldn’t help but wonder what the world would look like if more people thought the way that Prince Castor had. “How does the Undersecretary play into this?”
Both men opened their mouths to speak, but Legion managed to answer first.
“We already know that he is planning a coup. Imagine for a moment how much support he would be able to muster within Central Command if he promised his followers an endless supply of Omega females. King Rolan is doddering and his younger sons care more about spending down the treasury than governance. Prince Castor was the only one among his brothers fit to succeed his father. With him gone, it’s the perfect breeding ground for an overthrow of the Crown.”
“Prince Castor was on his way back to the city. So if this theory is correct then his meeting with the leaders of Vigil already happened,” Adrian added, crossing his arms over his chest. “The Undersecretary would not want information about Project Terminus to get out. Could you imagine how the public would turn on him if it were discovered that he hoped to create a new generation of Omegas. The domination of Alphas in politics and business is already unpopular. Betas outnumber the other dynamics nearly ten-to-one. He would have a rebellion on his hands.”
“Some people might be accepting,” Circe said, voice almost too quiet to hear. “Particularly if the treatment was voluntary.”
Adrian quirked his lips, but his voice when he spoke was level. “Not enough. It would be too much of a question to risk. The Undersecretary, and whoever else is working with him, would have had to ensure that Prince Castor was out of the way. They had likely been planning to assassinate him at some
point, regardless, but they were forced to act when they did.”
“But none of that information helps us, does it?” Ianthe asked, voice wavering only slightly.
Legion was quick to reassure her. “It does if we can prove that Undersecretary has been plotting against the Crown and is responsible for the disappearance of Prince Castor. Even the most corrupt judges in the Tribunal would have to pay attention to that, no matter what Barnard has promised them. If we’re lucky, the charges against us will be dropped and the Undersecretary will be imprisoned, or better yet executed.”
Ianthe still wasn’t convinced. “Except that we don’t have any proof.”
“Leave that to me,” Legion replied, deep voice soothing. “I’ve suspected for some time that the Undersecretary might try to move against me. That man has always been corrupt. I should know since I’ve been bribing him for years. The seeds of this plan were planted a long time ago.”
The small bit of hope that burst in her chest was an unfamiliar sensation. She almost didn’t want to believe that there was a viable way out of this. Her hopes had been dashed too many times before. “What plan?”
“It’s safer if you don’t know all of the details. But the the long and short of it is that only one person can testify to the breadth of Undersecretary Barnard’s machinations.”
“You mean Prince Castor, except for the fact that he’s dead.”
“He’s not.” A small smiled played at the corner of Legion’s mouth as he contemplated her shocked expression. “Prince Castor is alive and I think we know how to find him.”
Only an Alpha could survive for long in the Forbidden Zone. The terrain was harsh, with limited access to water or other resources. And feral Alphas roamed the sector, mostly criminals who had been exiled or escaped into the wastes to avoid death sentences for their crimes. And if the radiation sickness didn’t kill you first then something else certainly would. Or at least those were the story that Ianthe had always heard.
“How is that possible?” Circe asked, voice incredulous.”
“Because anything is possible if you can throw enough credits at the problem,” Legion replied easily. “I always suspected foul play when Prince Castor disappeared and those suspicions were only confirmed when Central Command did not authorize an official search. So I funded one myself. Castor often hunted animals in the Forbidden Zone and he know how to survive out there.”
Circe’s eyes widened. “And you found him?”
“Close enough. A close-range distress signal went up a few days ago in the southern quadrant. It wasn’t strong enough to reach the city but one of my patrols picked up on it and I’ve authorized them to follow it. They report back infrequently to avoid detection but who else could it be besides Castor. That quadrant is where his skycar went down.”
“So now we just wait.”
“Now we wait.”
Eaon entered the room then, hair tousled and chest bare. Ianthe realized with a pang that he would be completely grown in a few short years. Her brother surveyed the room with bleary eyes, oblivious to the tension.
“What did I miss?”
Circe answered before anyone else could. “Undersecretary Barnard is plotting to overthrow the Crown with the help of corrupt officials in Central Command. He bought them off with the promise of Omegas that he’s going to create with classified technology that some government scientists cooked up. To stop him, we have to find Prince Castor, who apparently survived his skycar exploding over the Forbidden Zone and bring him back to the city to testify against Undersecretary Barnard.”
Eaon’s face didn’t change. “Good. Does that mean we can leave soon? This place is starting to feel pretty cramped.”
“You can go outside,” Legion replied, seeming unsurprised by Eaon’s glib response. “Just stay close to the buildings in case there are surveillance drones nearby.”
“Awesome.” Eaon turned on his heel and headed for the door, pulling his shirt on as he went “I’m gonna find something to throw rocks at.”
Circe hurried after him, wrapping the scarf tighter around her face. “I should go keep an eye on him.”
Adrian abruptly stood and cast Legion a meaningful glance. “I need to ready the skycar, you have less than an hour.”
Then he abruptly left without another word.
Anxiety rose within her the moment that she was left alone in the room with Legion. She did not know how to face him now that so much has happened. His edges seemed fuzzier to her, the lines more blurry than they had ever been before. He was no longer the terrifying Alpha who had taken over her mind when she first met him at Eros House or the man who had carried her away into the night when he discovered her secret.
Now he was something more insidious than that. She felt her gaze shift to his face without realizing it until she found herself staring. Echoes of his touch curled along her skin unless she put great thought into ignoring it. She was only in this terrible situation because of him, but he also remained her only way out of it. And he was now the father of her child.
Everything between them had changed.
“Come here,” Legion said, breaking the long silence as he held his hand out in front of him.
Ianthe hesitated, fighting the desire to be near him that always remained the undercurrent to her thoughts. To her surprise, he didn’t insist or try to force her, simply waiting with a bland expression on his face while she made the decision whether to comply or not.
But his hand did not waver and she eventually moved to stand between his open legs, telling herself that it was her own decision, even as some irresistible forced pulled them together like opposing magnets.
His hands moved to her hips, cradling them gently but not forcing her closer. She winced in pain as he brushed against her bruises. He lightened his touch in response, but did not remove his hands completely. The chair was short enough that their eyes were nearly level. He stared down at her as if every thought she had could be seen there.
“You seem troubled, little bird.”
“Shouldn’t I be?” She wanted to shove his hands away but couldn’t deny that his touch soothed her no matter how little she wanted it to. “I’m a pregnant fugitive of the law.”
“Not for much longer.” Legion shifted his palms so they cupped the still flat planes of her belly. “Have you been feeling ill?”
“No.”
“Very good,” he murmured. “It may have seemed unfair to you and it likely was, but I’d hoped that pregnancy would afford you a measure of protection from the Undersecretary and his ilk.”
She narrowed her eyes at him, trying to ignore the tendrils of desire curling through her belly with each stroke of his fingers. “You could have explained that instead of just forcing it on me.”
“I was not prepared for you to hide it. Although given your history, I shouldn’t be surprised.” His dark chuckle washed down her spine like a warm bath. “I’ve found myself questioning my ideals more frequently in the weeks since I met you than I have in the entirety of my life combined.”
“Is that an apology?”
“If you like.” He surveyed her with focused intent, as if she was the only thing in the universe worth paying any attention. “But I don’t regret any of this, not for a moment. I will do anything to have you.”
His arms circled her, pulling her closer to his chest. Ianthe didn’t fight him. Her head shifted without her conscious awareness so that her cheek rested on his shoulder. She could inhale his scent, earthy and rich like spices on her tongue. The steady beat of his heart and gentle rise and fall of his chest as he breathed were nearly enough to lull her to sleep.
“Are you sorry?” he asked, startling her fully awake.
She sighed. “Do you really want the answer to that?”
“I will always want the truth from you, whether you think it’s what I want to hear or not.”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only answer
that I have.” And that was the truth. No matter how good it felt during the moments she spent in his arms, it was impossible for Ianthe to forget that everything that brought her here had occurred against her will. Her whole life had been out of her control and she wanted to rebel against it, even if she had no idea what the alternative might have been. “I didn’t choose this.”
“What would you have chosen given the opportunity? Continuing to toil in the slums, barely able to feed your family? Did you dream of meeting some gentle Beta who would never challenge you and settle down for a boring life in the mid-levels? What is it that you truly want?”
She couldn’t answer that either. “This bond you forced on me has hijacked my mind. It makes me want things that I’ve never wanted before.”
“It’s all you. The bond doesn’t control your thoughts and it never would have formed if you hadn’t wanted it, at least on some level. And no one forced you to mark me. You did that completely of your own volition.”
She just shook her head. “That’s not how it feels.”
“Complete free will is a lie. Even as an Alpha, I fall prey to urges that are outside of my control. It takes an effort not to give into the animal. Look at your brother, you can see how difficult it can be for him to control his emotions.”
Ianthe pulled back to stare at him. “Eaon is not an Alpha.”
Legion’s laugh rumbled in his chest, vibrating through where her belly pressed against him. “Why do you think it’s been so difficult for you to control him?”
She shook her back and forth in a harsh negative. “I would see it.”
“He’s on the small side, likely due to poor nutrition. But mark my words, that boy will grow to be a true Alpha.”
“You’re wrong.”
“Would you like to bet on it?” His hands lowered to stroke her flanks, touch burning her skin even through the fabric of the jumpsuit she wore. “I’m sure I can think of a mutually satisfying wager.”
“I’ll just take your word for it,” she replied, pushing his hands away. “Eventually time will tell that you’re wrong.”
Someone loudly banged on the window, rattling the thin walls of their temporary abode. Legion sighed and leaned back. “I have to go.”
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