“What happened to that cleric? Where is he?” Leo asked.
“He’s dead,” I replied. God, everyone was dead! “I found his body the next morning when I followed him out of the main hall. I was questioned and taken to Amandine. That’s how I know she’s one of the good ones. We can trust her.”
Mom nodded, chin resting in her hand. Thinking. “Where is my cousin, Radella? How was it that her father, her mate and her son were all involved and she knew nothing?”
4
Destiny
“She’s not my favorite person, but she was a total wreck when everything went down,” Trinity said. “I don’t know if she’s that good of an actress. She had a total meltdown when we locked up Pawl—her son.” She added the last since Mom probably didn’t know anything about him. “And while I feel bad that her mate is dead, the guy was a jerk.”
“Once an asshole, always an asshole,” Mom clarified. Faith covered a laugh with her hand over her mouth. “The same goes for his father. You might need to be diplomatic, sweetheart, but not only did Lord Wyse try to hurt Faith, but he came to see me while I was being held prisoner. He took great pleasure in gloating. He really was an asshole. He wanted the necklace, he made that abundantly clear.”
“For himself?” Trinity asked, eyes wide. “The necklace would do him no good.”
“Lord Wyse was my cousin, and so was Radella, obviously, as his daughter, therefore of royal descent. It would explain the need for the necklace. Without it, they had no power.”
“But with you gone, he and Radella had already lived in the palace for over two decades,” I considered aloud. “Why bother with kidnapping you now? They were living it up with you gone. It doesn’t make sense.”
Mom shrugged. “Powerful, but not in power. Plus, my spire remained lit. No one would ever accept them as true rulers with me still alive.”
“Wyse wanted the necklace and he wanted you dead. It took him all this time to find you and then he kidnapped you to get the location of the necklace and then planned to kill you.” Captain Turaya stood and paced behind Trinity and Leo. “It makes sense.”
“But he’s dead,” Faith reminded everyone. “If that was his plan, which makes sense and proves he was ridiculously patient and a little insane, it didn’t work. And since he’s dead, he wasn’t the one inviting everyone to the great big, explosive party to wipe them all out. We’re still under attack. It’s not something he can organize from hell.”
Everyone was quiet after that because what she said was true. It was possible Wyse had been searching for Mom for all that time, found her and kidnapped her to get the necklace, only to kill her and take over the throne with Radella. But that couldn’t be the whole story, because we were still under attack. I ran my free hand over my hair and sighed. God, my brain hurt trying to figure all of this out.
“During my captivity, there was mention made of King Mykel,” Mom shared.
Trinity’s head whipped toward Mom, her mouth open. “My father?”
“We heard that, too,” I added, leaning my forearms on the table. I glanced at Nix, who nodded. “Before the bomb went off, I overheard Morson with an older woman who mentioned the king. She implied that he might not be dead.”
Mom tapped her finger on the table. “Yes, that matches what the guards were saying to me right before my escape. They claimed the king had returned and that I was to be sent to our new home where he was waiting for me.”
“What? Holy shit balls, Mom,” Faith said, straightening her spine as if she’d been prodded by an old biddy who didn’t like to see someone slouch. “You mean your mate is still alive? What about Dad?”
“I should have mentioned this earlier, but as soon as Mom showed up, I got in touch with Warden Egara back on Earth,” Trinity said. “I told her to have Dad brought to the IBP building and transported to Alera. She was going to look into it and get back to me. It might take a while. He can be a hard man to find.”
“Wait, the king… your mate might still be alive on Alera? Mom, you’re a… you have two husbands?” Faith seemed to be really bothered by this. “What are you going to do about Dad? Did you really love your mate?” Faith looked at Thor and I understood the tormented expression that crossed her face. It was what I, too, was thinking. I could never imagine giving up Nix. Even if we’d been separated. For years. For twenty-seven years.
And knowing Dad, he was not going to be into sharing. What a mess.
“Who cares if she’s married to two men at once? That’s soooo not the point,” I reminded her. “If the king is still alive, then where the fuck has he been? I mean, it’s been twenty-seven years!”
Nix spoke so everyone could hear, but looked directly at me. “I would have searched the universe for you.”
“As I would you,” Thor said to Faith, but I wouldn’t have torn my gaze from Nix if I was given a million dollars.
Leo murmured something, but I was already leaning in, kissing Nix.
We all looked to Mom when she cleared her throat.
Grinning at Nix, I focused back on the reason we were all sitting here, not the way Nix squeezed my thigh, and then slid it higher.
“It is possible he wanted me dead,” she said plainly, although she didn’t answer my question about where he’d been all this time. She looked at Leo’s dad. “Is it possible, truly possible, that he survived the attack that night?”
Now it was Captain Turaya’s turn to freak out. “No.” He slashed his hand through the air. “I don‘t believe it. I saw him take a dagger to his heart. Watched him bleed as we struggled to free you. I find it difficult to believe he faked his own death… to what end? He was your mate. Your king. He had nothing to gain.”
Mom shook her head. “I don’t know. Perhaps I wasn’t supposed to flee. Perhaps my escape to Earth ruined his plans.”
“If that were the case, what were his plans?” Leo asked, rubbing a hand over his face. “This is insane. All of it.”
No one said a word because who could argue with that?
“All right,” Thor began. “We talked about who is dead. My parents. Wyse. Radella’s mate. Zel. The king, until we discover otherwise.”
Trinity added to his list. “Everyone who died in the blast.”
“Scarface,” Mom said. I didn’t know the man’s name, but is seemed irrelevant and the nickname the perfect description.
“Right,” I added. “Then who’s still alive? Dead people don’t kidnap someone from Earth. Dead people don’t orchestrate mass homicide or plant bombs or call meetings.” I said. “I’ve been out of the loop since I was with the clerics for most of the time everything went down. Who’s not dead?”
“Lord Wyse was alive at the time of the queen’s kidnapping. He was also still alive when Zel attempted to murder Trinity and when Lord Jax’s parents were killed.” Leo’s fingers were playing a steady beat on the top of the table.
Thor spoke up. “The only person who we know committed treason, who was involved in all of this, that we know for absolute certain was involved, is Pawl, Lord Wyse’s grandson.”
Leo nodded. “Right. We have his recorded confession, the confession that you pulled from him. He’s in jail right now.”
“I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t kill him,” Thor offered, but he still didn’t seem pleased with the choice.
“You did the right thing, love.” Faith leaned up and kissed him and when she pulled back, the haunted look was gone from his eyes.
Did I have that effect on Nix? Did I have that much power?
I remembered his tears in the shower… and what came after.
Yes. Yes, I did. But he had the same power over me. That was love.
So be it.
“Then we start with Pawl,” Captain Turaya said, moving to stand behind the queen, ever the guard. “We talk with him again. We know more now, the rumor that the king is still alive, the information we gathered from Morson and from those who survived the explosion.”
“Which isn’t much,” Leo
complained.
His father ignored him. “And now, the queen has been found. Perhaps he will share more. I will have guards bring him here.”
Captain Turaya moved to the door, then stopped. Nix stood. “No, we will collect him.”
Pawl would come. I looked to Nix and saw skepticism, yet fierce determination, in his eyes. Would Pawl talk? And if he did, would he have the answers we needed?
* * *
Nix
The trip to retrieve Pawl from his detention cell was uneventful, but every moment I thought of the female I’d left behind at the palace. Leo’s father and I barely spoke, only because we were both lost in our own thoughts.
When they pulled the traitor free from the depths of the prison and he saw me standing next to Captain Turaya, his face paled, but he straightened his shoulders and walked stoically to an unknown end. He probably expected us to kill him. Perhaps I would. Depending on his answers.
He was not completely spineless. I had no idea of the possible extent of his crimes other than that he’d admitted to being one of a few who went to Earth and kidnapped the queen. I’d assisted in his capture, when Thor left him tied up and helpless for us in the Jax family mountain home. But I’d left the art of investigation to the experts.
I did not enjoy interrogations. I didn’t have the required patience.
I preferred quick and clean. Killing the enemy had always been easier than talking to him. And Pawl was no exception. Just looking at him made me ache to take his scrawny neck in my hands and twist.
He was a threat to my mate, to my queen, and to everything I’d come to value in this life. When I’d served with the Coalition Fleet fighting the Hive, I fought to protect my people. But mostly, I fought against evil.
And this plot against my mate and her family was an evil of the worst kind.
Vile. Murderous. Patient. A master strategist waiting to take Destiny away from me.
If killing Pawl wouldn’t have made Destiny angry with me, I’d have done it anyway, and damn the consequences. As far as I was concerned, and from the crimes he’d admitted to, he’d more than earned a quick death.
“Stop scowling like that or he’ll have a heart attack on the way to the palace.” Captain Turaya stood next to me as Pawl was escorted to the back of a prisoner transport EV. Two additional guards would accompany us back to the palace.
We didn’t need them.
Pawl did.
“He should be dead already,” I murmured, watching him walk to the vehicle and take a seat in the back. He didn’t look remorseful.
I could fix that.
“Goddess damn it, Vennix,” Turaya swore. “Get your head back in the game. You aren’t doing Destiny any good like this.”
“I know.” I did. This was not normal for me. Normally, I was calm. Cold. Emotions did not rule my decisions or my life. But then Destiny had ripped my soul wide open and exposed all the rough edges. I was raw and it seemed, irrational.
When I was with her, my lips on hers, my cock in her sweet pussy, her skin touching mine, this rawness was bliss.
The rest of the time? Fuck. I was a wreck.
Captain Turaya slapped me on the back. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Get used to what?”
I glanced at the other male and he grinned. “Loving your female.”
I didn’t deny his words. There was no point. Every cell in my body belonged to my mate. Every part of me.
“Come on.” He stepped toward the EV. “Let’s get Pawl back to our queen and end this.”
I didn’t argue and the ride to the palace was over in just a few minutes. We ordered the guards from the prison to wait at the palace while we questioned the prisoner and they hurried toward the kitchens, no doubt eager to put their feet up and enjoy the food in the palace.
Pawl walked between us, his wrists connected by a pair of large cuffs. We didn’t bother with his feet. Were he to get free, I could kill him with my bare hands in seconds. He was a spoiled young lord. Never properly trained.
As we approached the queen’s solar, High Cleric Amandine approached the doors from the opposite direction. The captain and I stopped. All three of us bowed to the elder, and I was pleased I did not need to cuff Pawl on the back of the head to force him to show the proper respect.
“High Cleric. It is an honor to see you here,” Captain Turaya spoke.
“The queen summoned me,” she replied, her voice soft but filled with awe. “Is it true? Has she returned at last?” The elderly woman had tears in her eyes and a sadness that shocked me. But then I remembered the queen calling her Aunt Ama, saying they had been close.
“It is true,” the captain confirmed. “She is eager to see you.”
“Then let’s hurry, shall we?” Amandine’s step was much lighter as she closed the distance to the double doors. Two guards, good men I knew and trusted, flanked them. They nodded to the elder, then the Captain, then me as they pulled the doors open on silent hinges.
Pawl they ignored completely.
“Aunt Ama!” The queen’s cry was clear and the elder had not walked more than two steps into the room when Destiny’s mother embraced her. “I missed you so much.”
The elder didn’t even try to hide the tears streaking down her face. “Me, too, child. Me, too.”
5
Nix
No one corrected the old woman, referring to our queen as a child. None of us dared say a word to ruin this reunion. It was quite obvious the queen loved her and that they had been close once. It was hard to imagine being separated from those one cared about for so long. The queen quickly made the introductions. Leo and Trinity. Faith and Thor. And when she got to my mate, the elder walked to her and hugged her as well. “It is good to see you again, young lady.”
Thankfully, the elder hadn’t seen us when I’d been balls deep in my mate in her office.
Destiny hugged her back, briefly, then scowled. “You had me kicked out of the fortress. I know it had to be you.”
Amandine chuckled. “You were the one caught fornicating on sacred ground.”
Or maybe we had. No, that was a different encounter, later, in Destiny’s rooms. After she abandoned me in that tower and thought she’d escaped. So much fucking to keep straight.
“But…”
Amandine’s laugh filled the entire room. “Not that I blame you.” The old woman looked over her shoulder at me, her eyebrows raised. “He is a very fine choice for your mate.”
Destiny’s cheeks turned pink. “But why did you have to get me kicked out? Sure, fornicating wasn’t part of the rules, but he is my mate. It’s a given we’d be doing that.” Destiny waved her hand in the air. “I was onto something. I was really, really close to finding Mom.”
She nodded. “Yes, you were. And had you remained, they would have killed you as they did my best guardian. The walls had eyes and ears, I’m afraid. The moment you climbed the vines and sneaked into my office, you became a target.”
“The vines? What? You?” Destiny was at a loss for words. “You knew we were there?”
My mind went back to that moment when Destiny and I had first met, when my body had awakened for her, a stranger in the dark. Me, buried balls deep in her wet core, Destiny’s back pressed to the wall in the cleric’s office. My hand over her mouth as she came all over my cock, holding in her cries of pleasure so the elder would not know of our presence.
It was my turn to blush. All this time, we’d thought she hadn’t known of our presence. It would appear we had not been nearly as stealthy as we had thought. I rubbed the back of my neck and looked away. It was one thing for everyone to know we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, another to be doing it just out of someone’s view.
“I shall not answer that,” she replied. “You managed to escape, did you not?”
“I—” My tough female looked to me for an answer. I had none.
A corner of the older woman’s mouth tipped up and I decided it was time to change the subject.
>
“Shall we get on with questioning our prisoner, My Queen?” I shoved Pawl forward toward Captain Turaya, drawing the attention of everyone in the room. Pawl had been behind me, hidden by my taller frame until I knew he would pose no threat.
As Pawl moved, I met my mate’s gaze across the room. The sweet smile she gave me was my reward. For now. Later I’d have that soft mouth around my…
“Pawl? You’re Pawl?” The queen paled and swayed on her feet. Captain Turaya shouted in alarm, but he was not about to release the prisoner to go to her.
Trinity caught her mother and helped her into the nearest seat, the queen’s gaze never leaving the prisoner.
“This is impossible,” she murmured. “I don’t understand.”
And neither did we understand her reaction. She’d never seen Pawl before from what we knew.
Pawl shifted from foot to foot, waiting, as we all were, for some kind of explanation for the queen’s reaction.
“What is it, Mom?” Trinity straightened to her full height and looked at Pawl. Eyes narrowed, as if assessing how she could kill him herself depending on what her mother said.
Queen Celene had her head in her hands. “This can’t be happening. I don’t believe it. I can’t.”
“What?” Faith moved too quickly, nearly too fast for me to see, and I determined to ask Destiny about it later. These females all seemed to have odd—abilities. Faith had her fist raised in a fighter’s stance. “What is it?”
“Jesus, Mom. Stop being a drama queen and tell us what the hell is going on.” Destiny’s fist slammed down on the table to accentuate her words and I held back a laugh.
Oh yes, she was mine. All. Fucking. Mine. And she was magnificent. Only my mate would dare insult the queen of our planet and make demands of her at the same time.
For whatever reason, it worked. The queen recovered instantly, standing and walking toward Pawl, her face an expressionless mask. “Where is he?”
Pawl frowned. “Where is who?” He tried to take a step back, but Captain Turaya’s grip was too strong.
Ascension Saga, Book 9: Interstellar Brides®: Ascension Saga Page 5