by Vi Voxley
In the back of his mind, he remembered training together with the twins, feeling proud of each other when they were given their commands. He didn’t know if they had ever been friends – perhaps that was too much to say about so broken individuals – but he couldn’t deny the regret in his heart that it had come to this. He thought of Isolde’s smile and the way it had sounded when she spoke his name.
Gawen caught his first blow on the edge of his handguard, using his momentum to push Diego back. He knew the outcome of the fight would depend largely on two things: the first was whether he’d manage to kill Gawen before he could reach for his guns, and the second was whose side Faren would take.
All Brions were as one. The twins were always spoken of as nearly the same, but Diego knew better. A lot connected Faren to him as well, the only thing they didn’t share was their blood. And behind his solid, cold façade, Diego hoped Faren would see his reasoning. Fighting two of the twins was suicide even by his standards, not that he would have backed away.
In the searing brightness, he could make out Gawen, poised to accept his next attack, gun aimed at him. He heard the shot so loudly, every sense heightened by the battle hormones in his veins, that he nearly went deaf for a moment. He could hear Isolde screaming his name.
Through the haze of the blinding light, he dashed forward, dodging Gawen’s shots with speed unmatched by any Brion. He had always been told the dark days spoke through him – either a compliment or a curse depending on who said it. One, two, three steps took him to Gawen, and then they were locked in close combat, Diego trying to block Gawen from shooting him point blank, and Gawen attempting not to give Diego room to cut his head clean from his shoulders.
For several long moments stretching like hours they fought each other off, escaping death by inches and heartbeats. One of the shots grazed Diego’s shoulder, and he heard Isolde scream again. The thought of her filled his heart, sharpening his focus instead of distracting him. If he had to kill both twins, he would. Fury surged forward, and he gave it full control.
He pushed Gawen back, slamming the butt of his spear in the other general’s face. The moment of pain that made Gawen wince was all he needed, the spear twisted around in his hands and cut through Gawen’s chest before Isolde’s scream had finished echoing in the great hall. Diego watched the surprise on Gawen’s face as his lifeless body slumped to the ground before his feet. His honor guard retrieved his body.
There would be a choosing, and likely his second-in-command would take his place, rising to be a general without having to defeat the previous one as per usual custom. He would not seek revenge; Gawen had been defeated in an honest fight.
Spear still in hand, Diego turned to Faren.
“I expected you to agree with me,” he said simply, without judgement.
Faren looked at him impassively, so much so as to appear eerie as they took his twin brother’s body. He spared it one equally emotionless look.
“I did,” Faren said, watching his brother’s corpse.
Diego nodded, accepting the very typical offer of help that in Faren’s case often took the form of simply not interfering.
Then Faren spoke the longest sentences Diego had heard from him in ages.
“I always hated the name of his ship. The Fearless. Not to fear anything is foolish enough, displaying it for all to see another.”
“Will you accompany me to Briolina?” Diego asked in response. “The Elders have to set this thing straight.”
Faren nodded, seemingly done with words for a while.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Isolde
Isolde paced in her room, trying to figure out why it hadn’t felt so constrictive before. Every step she took made it feel smaller and smaller.
Deliya and Narath had quickly escorted her back to her room when the bloodshed began, but since it happened so quickly – Brion fights never seemed to last long – Isolde had still seen everything. She scolded herself for actually believing Brion generals might talk it out, but no, Diego had just almost died for her. The shot had passed so close…
The mere thought sent cold spikes running down her spine, making her tear up even if she knew perfectly well that Diego was fine. He would come to her right after he had settled things with the Fearless, no doubt a bit touchy after the death of their commander. The other general, the scary one in Isolde’s mind, was back on his ship, which was silent like him.
She could barely think. On Terra, words were usually just words. But the Brions lived and breathed their beliefs. Diego had just killed a man for her sake and been nearly killed himself in the process. Deliya had said something about that on their hurried way back, about it never being really certain whose side Commander Faren was on, but since Diego trusted him, so would she.
And if Deliya, who seemed to think every word out of Diego’s mouth was pure gold, didn’t know if he was right about that one, then Isolde felt she was entitled to have been afraid for his life.
Funny how it made all the arguments in her mind go away, or suddenly seem petty and irrelevant. Every time Diego had entered her room, she had felt the kind of elevation he was talking about, but put it down more to a familiar face than anything else. In those brief seconds when she thought she’d lost him… it hadn’t even occurred to her to fear for her own life. She’d just kept screaming, unable to do anything else, anything useful at all.
Deliya said she’d screamed his name, but Isolde hardly remembered it. It seemed likely, though. All she had been able to think about was that she didn’t want to be without him, could no longer imagine her day without waiting for him to come and kiss her.
When her door beeped, it was the sweetest sound she had ever heard. Diego’s image flashed for a mere second when Isolde had already opened the door and was in his arms. She thought she could see the knowing smile on Deliya’s face as Diego stepped in with Isolde practically in his lap and the door closed behind him.
No words were needed. Terror did what no amount of lust or rationale had been able to – her hands, still shaking, caught the front of his shirt in her fists, kissing him frantically. For a moment, he seemed startled, then only pleasantly surprised. A satisfied hum escaped his lips, Isolde was sure no one else had ever heard that sound from him. He kissed her back, hands in her long hair, both of them not caring about the bothersome need to breathe.
She liked it. No, she loved the feel of being in arms so strong and muscled like the rest of him, smooth to her touch. Only when they ran out of air Isolde pulled back reluctantly. Diego was looking at her with the quiet smirk she’d come to think of as hers. The way he held her gently, as if afraid he’d accidentally cause her pain was so in contrast with what she’d seen in the arena she barely believed it was the same person. But he was, and if all the arguments and logic hadn’t been able to make her say no to this man, surely there was no way now.
Not with how she’d felt at the arena, the mere idea of never seeing him again the most painful thing she’d ever experienced. On Terra, she’d heard of the broken heart syndrome, of people being able to be physically hurt from heartache. Even if doctors treated it as a real disease, Isolde had always found it hard to comprehend. She understood now.
“Don’t take this as an insult, grothan,” she said, trying to make it sound more like a joke and less like a terrified whimper, but she could not stop the tears. Her voice broke, stumbling over the words. “But I was so afraid. You were so… I thought he’d… if he’d only moved the gun a bit, you’d be…”
Diego hugged her closer, seemingly unaware that the gesture made human females cry even harder, which Isolde proved to him right away. She felt a kiss pressed on her hair. “Do no fear,” he said. “Do not cry. Gawen was a great warrior. I am greater. If he had moved the gun a bit, I would have been a bit further from him. He did not stand a chance, Isolde. Not once.”
No one had told Diego that it was also very human to keep focusing on all the things that could have gone wrong. Isolde went on, “But if
Faren… Even Deliya…”
She bit her lip not to get her guard into trouble, but Diego just chuckled.
“Faren is what he is. He chose me, that is all there is to it.”
Isolde didn’t want to argue, to point out she didn’t trust their new ally one bit, but Diego had anticipated that already. “You should meet him, gesha. You would see he means us no harm.”
They said nothing else. Isolde stayed there in his arms, content to just be held by him and out of respect for her, the general didn’t press the matter any further. Even if Isolde felt he would have gladly pressed something against her. The question was not unanswered any more, it just waited for the world to stop beeping and go silent and let them have a moment of peace.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Isolde
Meeting Faren was so not her idea of fun things to do, and to be perfectly honest, Isolde had tried to get out of it with all her might after Diego had suggested it.
He creeps me out was the thought she didn’t exactly phrase to Diego, but her general probably understood anyway.
The understanding meant close to nothing, however, since it was followed by a calm explanation that if Isolde was ever to feel safe among the Brions, she couldn’t hide herself in her room and should start by meeting their now closest ally.
Isolde also decided against saying it had been Diego who had assigned her to her room in the first place – to protect her and for a good reason, but still.
In the end, she still let herself be coaxed into meeting the other general who had expressed interest in seeing her. They’d been on their way to Briolina for a few days, with Diego’s promise that her next stop would be Rhea. That worked fine for Isolde. She could see Diego’s home, settle the whole mess as he’d promised and then get, as much as she was able, back to her old life.
Wearing a long sleeveless tunic-like dress Diego had ordered for her, Isolde resolved to meet the other commander, put on her best face and just walk away from the introduction alive. She told herself that if she could handle Faren, she could handle any Brion.
Diego had assured her she was safe on his ship, and Isolde strongly suspected it was for her comfort that she was to meet the other general aboard the Triumphant. Otherwise, Faren and the Unbroken had flown beside them for days, and he had seemed fine with keeping his own company. Somewhere a little behind them, the Fearless followed under new command – with them, but licking its wounds.
The commander of the Unbroken was, if possible, even more eerie up close than when Isolde had seen him from the balcony. His eyes were so light they could have been white, but for some reason they reminded her of a snow storm. With Diego beside her, she didn’t fear him, but the way his unwavering gaze held her for long moments made her shift uncomfortably.
“Are you prepared?” he asked at last.
Beside her, Diego tensed, but that was natural, it seemed. Her general was protective of her and after the attack, Isolde couldn’t blame him. She was, in fact, very glad he took her safety so seriously.
“Prepared for what, Commander Faren?” she asked.
Diego said something very quickly in natural Brionese, which she didn’t understand. Words she caught and the looks he gave her hinted that it was about her. Had she been impolite, offended Faren in any way? Gods be good, if she’d just made Diego have to fight another duel for her…
Faren said nothing to Diego, still focusing on her. “For your duties on Rhea.”
Oh. Isolde hadn’t expected the first person to really take an interest in her work to be the stone cold general.
“I am, of course,” Isolde hastened to assure him. “I’ve been reading the materials you sent me. It seems you’ve got a solid base there. I believe I can be of great use.”
The curving of Faren’s lips had little to do with smiling. “So do I. Rhea is very important.”
“So everyone keeps saying,” Isolde said, feeling a bit braver, even if the smile had been so fake it hurt. From what she’d heard, the twin generals had ruined their reflexes by carelessly implanting their valor squares. She couldn’t blame him for what his face did.
Feeling a sudden sense of gratitude that he didn’t seem to hate her – well, he wouldn’t, would he, if he agreed to help them – Isolde added, “I’m sorry about your brother, Commander. I didn’t mean to get anyone killed.”
Faren raised his brows just slightly. “How so, human? How did you get my brother killed?”
Isolde looked to Diego in confusion, but her general simply shrugged. “He means it was not your doing. Gawen made his choices.”
Perhaps Isolde would have believed him, if Faren hadn’t given Diego a look of compliance for his sake and left.
There had been something there, but until she could guess at what that had been, Isolde decided to focus on other things, like reading up on Rhea. The days she’d spent with Diego on their way had mostly been in his company, growing used to his presence and being close to him, sometimes very close. Her lips were on his more often than not.
She longed for him, and he knew that, but seeing two dead guys in such a short span of time had sort of killed her sex drive in a way not even Diego was fully able to counter. She would calm down first, let her senses agree to it all. She knew how important the binding was to the Brions. Isolde had no intention of messing this up.
Faren had now reminded her that she was something other than Diego’s gesha-to-be and she shouldn’t forget that.
The materials were so many it actually took her a while to sort through them and find the ones that concerned her fields. It was impressive, really. Usually the Brions weren’t so dutiful with the worlds they discovered, passing the bureaucratic stuff quickly over to the Palians or some other species that enjoyed that kind of work.
They tended to look for fights, to be honest. The Brions were often called to hold peace on more volatile worlds or bring order with the edges of their spears if there was no other way. This attention to detail in Rhea’s case was honestly astonishing. Putting together a completely satisfying guide in such a short time, that was impressive, it was like…
Isolde kept reading. Then she read more. Lunchtime passed, dinner. Then she finished and called for Diego.
As her general entered, Isolde stepped back when he came closer for a kiss.
“Don’t touch me,” she said.
A look of confusion flashed by before Diego took a look at the maps, guides and protocols arranged on her bed. His eyes became cold and hard.
Isolde thought she could hear her heart break. Even faced with all the evidence suggesting what she’d discovered, she’d hoped to the last possible second that she’d misunderstood. She would have sacrificed her professional pride gladly if it hadn’t brought her to this.
“You knew,” she stated simply. “You bastards knew about Rhea. It wasn’t just recently discovered. You’ve been there for a while. How else could it have such detailed accounts of flora, weather patterns dictating years, overview of minerals found in the planet’s core only possible to discover when digging deep, undetectable by orbital sweeps?”
Diego said nothing. The pieces of her heart broke in two again.
“Then there’s the thing of everyone saying how important Rhea is, because you’ve had to admit what kind of a world it is. Pretty, rich. If the Galactic Union even suspected you’d kept this to yourselves while others so badly needed what you had… It would be terrible for you.”
Still no protest.
“So it makes sense you don’t want anyone to know. Only if I could gather that from these files, so could have my team, right?”
Nor any denial.
“I don’t even know why I have these. I’m guessing someone messed up very badly and didn’t think how the amount of work you sent reflected on the time you had to have been there. I’m assuming they’re all kinds of dead. You’re the Brions after all.”
The first reaction from Diego – cold eyes, just a touch of pain. Good. Isolde had no pity for him, consi
dering what was to come.
“All this time I’ve thought Ensha tried to kill me because I’m a human gesha. I thought I was the problem, they wanted to kill me because of who I was to you, they didn’t accept this because it hasn’t ever happened before.
“But they’re fine with me, I realize now. Neither Deliya nor Narath or even Faren looked weirdly at me. They have no problem with me being whatever I am. This was about my files. Being your gesha was what saved me, wasn’t it?”
A nod, nothing more.
And then the final conclusion Isolde had come to. The one that had made her sit quietly for long minutes, thinking about how to handle the new mess she found herself in, which had made her weep quietly into her sheets, crying of despair and betrayal and hopeless, furious anger.
“It was you who attacked my research ship. It was you who killed all those people and those who went before. Simple, honest people who just wanted to go and do their job and help the galaxy. You shot them and their flotilla to pieces. I feel so stupid. When they told me, I should have guessed at once that the only ones with the firepower and the only ones heartless enough would be you.”
“I did not,” Diego said the first words in her room, but they only edged on her fury.
“So it wasn’t you personally who pulled the trigger!” she snapped, distantly aware of her tone. “You, someone else, what’s the difference? Don’t you keep saying all Brions are one? It might as well have been you. It could have been you. You would have shot me to pieces too if I wasn’t so fucking special! Now I live because you believe I was meant for you, and everyone else is dead because they had the misfortune of being ordinary people!”
No denial once again, but it didn’t matter much. Isolde was almost done.
“Ensha tried to kill me because the Brions wanted to finish the job, but you stopped them. Gawen and Faren came to kill me, so you killed one of them. All of this so you could keep up your lie to the galaxy. And I don’t know why you’re now taking me to Briolina where everyone is bound to want me dead for no reason, but I at least know why someone is trying to kill me. And I know why we have ambassadors to deal with other species. And I know why the Brions aren’t trusted. You don’t deserve to be.”