"So what do you suggest?"
Jullien's brain whirled as he considered how to deal with this. "I have to kill Eriadne."
"Great plan. Little shy on details. As I recall, you've been trying to do that for years now. Hasn't really worked out."
He gave her a peeved glare. "Fine. Take the kids and do what we planned last night before I got Trajen to agree to cooperate with The Alliance. You head on to the Ports for the meeting with Jory and the Danes. I'll get Nyk's wife and kids and meet you there, with them in tow."
"What about your mother?"
"I don't give a minsid shit what happens to her. She's on her own. Like you said, she's got an army. My only concern is protecting my brother--after what I personally did to him, I owe him that much. I've done him enough harm. I will not let that bitch gut him this way. Not when I can stop it."
"You're just getting Kiara and the children?"
"Swear it. In and out. Small strike force. Walk in the park. Then we're headed straight for you, and everyone's happy."
"Okay. But only because there are babies involved. And I want you to take Thraix with you, in case something weird happens."
"Yeah, that's not going to happen. You can't pry him off Mary. He hasn't come up for air since her return."
"He will go with you. Mary will see to it."
He laughed. "In that case, I believe you. She's the only one who could make him. But damn, Shara, he's going to be an irritable, unmanageable ass the whole trip. Why would you do that to me?"
She gave him a gimlet glare. "Because I love you, and you will not get hurt. You hear me?"
"Yes, Mistress Tormentor. I will not get hurt." He spoke in the tone of a mindless android.
"I mean it, Jules."
He winked at her. "So do I. I want all of you safe and protected, too. No chances."
She released a voice that said he was being ridiculous. "You know me better. Besides, I'm not the one who finds trouble in every shadow I cross. I swear I know where the girls get it." She rubbed her stomach. "May the gods have mercy on us all if this poor boy has one tenth of your proclivity for danger."
He kissed her cheek. "He won't."
"Better not. Otherwise, I'm beating you every time he gets into something he should have left alone."
"Me?"
"You, since it's obviously something genetically wrong with your bloodline."
"Oh yeah," Jullien said in a tone saturated with sarcasm, "'cause your brothers never do anything wrong. Your gene pool is so perfect." He choked and scoffed. "As I recall, when you picked me up in jail, I was handcuffed to one of your brothers."
"You're not helping yourself out of the dog house," she called after him.
As usual, he paid her no heed.
Ushara watched as Jullien left her office with a devilish grin that made her a lot hotter than it should, given her level of agitation at him. Anyone else would be grounded for that cocky swagger and the fact they'd pissed her off and ruined her mood.
Why she found his insolence adorable and charming, she had no idea. There was something innately affable about him whenever he chose to let that side of his personality out.
Sadly, he kept it hidden most of the time behind a wall of impenetrable suspicion. It was a shame, really. That kind of charisma was so rare. And with it, he could have been one of the most influential rulers in history.
Instead, he was content to be Trajen's eyes and ears on their fleet. Her heavy hand and enforcer whenever she needed it. While she was grateful that the gods had given him to her to have as her own, his wasted potential bothered her at times. The injustice of it.
But what truly made her ache was the shadow in the back of his eyes that never left. Even at his happiest, it forever lurked there, and nothing banished it completely. Like the real Dagger Ixur of their mythology, it was as if his family had splintered his heart and kept a part of it with them. A part that wouldn't allow him to live in peace.
Over the years, she'd done everything she could to make him forget them. To bring him home to her and their children.
Yet that other missing piece forever called him back to Andaria. Back to the cruelty that had birthed him.
He always denied it. And still she saw it clearly, even when he did his best to hide all traces.
Her greatest hope was that one day he'd wake up and think of them no more. That the light would shine again fully and that the missing piece would return so that his eyes would glow with a soul restored.
You're a dreamer.
That restoration of her own heart, she owed solely to Jullien. Chaz had crushed that part of her soul. He'd made her a pragmatic military commander. Jullien had taught her magic again. He'd returned her sense of whimsy.
So yes, she now believed in dreams once more.
And one day, she was going to exorcize those demons from her husband's heart.
*
Worried, and dreading the thought of what lay ahead, Jullien carried the twins on board their mother's ship, with Vasili trailing behind him. The boy had been complaining every step of the way here, until his voice rang like a cacophonous symphony in his ears.
"I don't understand why I have to fly with Mum. Why can't I come with you? I'm assigned to the Pet Hate. I'm your crew, Paka."
Jullien sighed. "I know, Vas. But I need you to guard your mom and sisters for me. I can't be in two places at once. So I have to depend on you for this."
Vasili rolled his eyes in typical teenage exasperation. Probably because he knew Jullien was lying and this was as much about keeping Vasili out of danger as it was keeping Ushara and the girls safe.
Mira snorted. "Vasi don't like that answer, Paka."
"Yeah, I know." He kissed her cheek. "And I need you two to be on your very best behavior for your matarra and Vasili. No making your brother crazy. Okay?"
"Okay."
He turned to her sister. "Viv?"
"Okies, Paka. No crazy." She stuck her tongue out to roll it around her mouth, then in and out, and her eyes around and around in a way that made him choke on his laughter.
Clearing his throat to conceal it, he forced himself to appear stern. "Good girls. Now, give me a kiss." He squeezed them and savored their embrace for a moment before he reluctantly let go.
He stood to face his irritated teenaged son. "Yes, it sucks. But..."
Vas sighed in resignation. "I'll miss you. Be safe."
"You, too." He hugged him. "Don't kill your sisters."
"I won't."
"And no locking them in a closet."
"That's too many restrictions. Now you're just being mean."
Jullien laughed at Vas's devilish grin. Ruffling his hair, he left him and went to say good-bye to Ushara. She was with Zellen and Unira. "Stay safe. Fly outside their tracking."
"And you."
Jullien took her hand in his and kissed her knuckles before he gently kissed her lips. He placed his hands around her stomach so that he could feel Vidar frolicking. "He feels like he's ready to lend a hand."
"Indeed. He might get out and push."
Shaking his head, he snorted at her humor. "Don't you dare have him without me."
"Trust me, I won't. I live too much to torture you."
Jullien kissed her one more time before he hugged Unira and inclined his head to Zellen. "Take care."
"And you, m'tana." Unira kissed his cheek.
With a heavy heart and his stomach knotted from the pain of being separated from them, Jullien waited until they'd launched before he went to the Pet Hate. As a safeguard against his shitty luck, they were flying this mission in two ships ... just in case they had mechanical trouble of any kind. His and Davel's.
He tapped his link. "Dagger to Krunch. You ready for launch?"
"I'm with you, drey. All the way to Tophet and back."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that. With any luck, we'll be back in a couple of days. No sweat. No drama."
Thraix started the engines while Jullien closed the ram
Trying to shrug it off, he headed for the flight deck to take his seat and head them to Andaria.
*
"I still don't understand why we don't use the pass for us to land in the main hangar bay," Davel groused. "This is a long effing walk."
Letting out an irritated sigh, Jullien passed a droll stare to Thraix. "Whose bright idea was it to bring him?"
Thraix growled low in his throat. As Jullien predicted, he'd been a surly asshole the entire time, due to his involuntary separation from his wife. "His."
"Then why's he bitching?"
"Apparently, he has a death wish."
"Just checking." Jullien glared at his brother-in-law over his shoulder. "But if he doesn't stop, I'm going to put a bark collar on him."
Gallatin covered her laugh with a cough. Axl wasn't so kind--he laughed until Davel shoved him.
Skipping to Jullien's side, Axl grabbed his arm. "Protect me, big brother!"
With a snort, Jullien playfully wrapped a light choke hold around him. "I'll keep you safe, little one. You've always been my favorite, anyway."
"Och," Davel mocked. "That's just rude. Holidays are coming up. I will remember this when it's time for you two jackals to want to hide out from the screaming family horde. No male cave privileges for you. Me and Thraix, we dreys. We going to be laughing our asses off at you two and your communal misery."
"Yeah, yeah," Jullien said with a laugh. "If being surrounded by family who loves me during a holiday week is torture, then chain me to the wall." He sobered as they neared the palace grounds.
This was going to be interesting....
Pulling his Tavali mask and helmet over his face, he let Thraix take the lead. The last thing they could afford was for anyone here to recognize him in any way. If they did, they'd automatically assume he was working for his grandmother, and they'd all be arrested.
Rather, the game plan was that they'd tell Kiara they had orders from The Sentella to evacuate her and her children to Nyk's Arcadian base, which was on the outer reaches of this galaxy. Once they had her off the planet, they'd take her to the Porturnum StarStation and turn her and the kids over to his brother.
Simple.
She couldn't check with Nyk, as he was en route and flying through League-controlled space at the moment, with his high command. No one else would have knowledge of Nyk's orders to move his family--paranoid bastard would never leave something like that as public record.
If she wanted to talk to Tavali, they had that covered with their people, who would back their story.
Just a few more minutes, they'd be out of here. Kiara would never know Jullien was Jullien, and they would all sleep in peace tonight.
Thraix approached the guard station and exposed his face. Like Jullien, he held the bearing of nobility and military command. It bled from every gesture and pore, and the guards knew it. They snapped to attention immediately.
"Commander?" The head guard moved forward to address them. "What's this about?"
Thraix pulled out his orders. "Sorry to bother you so late, Dryht. As you can see, we have orders from His Highness to secure his family. We have reason to believe that a threat is imminent."
"Why didn't he send Sentella?"
Thraix arched a condemning brow. "I'm a commander. My place isn't to question direct orders when they're given to me. It's to carry them out. I guess the Andarion military ranks follow a different protocol."
"Forgive me." He stepped back and buzzed them in, then motioned for a unit of guards to escort them to the palace entrance.
As they walked into his former home, through the front door and down the elegant main marble hallway, Jullien let them take lead and pulled point. He scanned every shadow they passed for any signs of his grandmother's attack. So far, it appeared their luck was holding and they'd beaten her forces here.
But as they turned down the family wing and he passed the door to his old room, he wasn't quite prepared for the unexpected blow it gave him, especially since that the door was slightly ajar, allowing him to see that it'd been completely redecorated for Nykyrian's oldest daughter. Not that he begrudged Thia having his room. He couldn't care less about that.
What stung was the memory of how his mother had treated Nyk's room for all the years his brother had been gone. No one had ever been allowed to enter it. To touch a single item that had belonged to Nyk. Not even to clean it. It had been sealed off as a holy shrine. If anyone so much as touched the doorknob, his mother would demand they be beaten for it.
He still had scars from the one and only time he'd made the mistake of venturing into it--one night a month after the funeral, when he'd gone in there seeking solace. All he'd done was lie on the bed and hold his brother's stuffed animal because he missed Nykyrian and wanted to feel his presence again.
His mother had reacted as if he'd devoured a living infant.
Obviously his room and personal effects weren't so important to her. She'd probably had a bonfire after Tylie drove him out at blasterpoint.
Don't think about it.
The guardsmen knocked on Kiara's door.
Her secretary answered a few seconds later with a stern frown.
"Sorry to disturb you, but we need to speak to Her Highness. We have an urgent message from the tahrs."
"I shall get her." She opened the door to admit them to the receiving room that was reserved for special dignitaries and visiting friends and family. This had been Tylie's room back in the day....
His breathing ragged, Jullien hovered in the doorway while the others stood, waiting.
With her dark auburn hair braided, Kiara came out in a thick blue robe. A former dancer, she had perfect posture and the most delicate of features. Damn, he'd forgotten how tiny and frail she was. A gust of wind could snap her in two.
Confused, she glanced around their small group. "Is something wrong?"
Thraix smiled warmly. "No, Your Highness. We're Tavali, and we've been sent to take you and your children to a secured Sentella base for Commander Quiakides. Just a precaution. But we need to hurry. Time is critical."
"What about the others?"
Thraix scowled. "What others?"
"Shahara, Zarya, Ture, Desideria, and their kids. And Darling and Aros. Not to mention Kasen. They're all here, too."
Jullien let out a fetid curse. "That's why they're hitting it. Minsid hell! They're taking out the whole high command in one blow tonight."
Thraix nodded in agreement. "We've got to get them out of here. Now!"
The guards turned on them.
Thraix and Jullien used their powers to disarm them.
"Don't," Jullien snarled as he started to slap the guard nearest him. "We're not your enemies." He stepped closer to Kiara. "Highness, I know you don't know us, and that you can't get ahold of your husband to verify what we're saying, but you have to trust us. We are here to protect you. No deceit. No lies. Your safety and that of your children is all that matters to us. We need you to gather up every member of The Sentella's family under this roof so that we can evacuate all of you to a Sentella-held safe zone immediately. The League is en route, and they're coming for all of you."
"I believe you." She turned to her secretary. "Gather my children to the hall outside the tadara's room. Hurry! Don't dress them. Just grab a coat and go." She took Jullien's arm and pulled him after her. "Follow me, and we'll wake the others."
Something that wasn't too difficult until they got to Darling Cruel. First, they interrupted him in the middle of a very private moment with his wife, which pissed him off to no end, and almost blinded their entire group, as none of them, with the possible exception of Gallatin, wanted to see that much of the man's bare arse.
Or other naked body parts.
Second, the Sentella high commander and Caronese emperor wasn't used to taking orders from anyone except Jullien's brother.
Maybe Ryn.
Neither of whom was currently here. So, holding a sheet around his waist, Darling glared angrily at them and refused to cooperate. "I haven't heard any of this. What attack? Who's your source?"
Even more irritable by nature than Darling, Thraix barked orders that said, Hey, I'm in charge. Fuck off! "We have the intel. It's legit. We need to go. Now. I'm not getting caught in this shit because you're an idiot." He gestured at Darling's groin. "Cover that and join us, or we're leaving you to fend for yourself. We came to secure the princess and her children for Commander Quiakides. Those are my orders that I'm standing on. Rest of you ... collateral damage, as far as I'm concerned. Come or go. I don't give a flying shit."
Jullien released a tired sigh. "Yeah, you never worked in an embassy."
He turned that exasperated glare to Jullien. "No scytel, drey. Son of the vice-praetor. Draconarion decurion. Our unofficial motto was, Behave. Begone. Or be killed. I don't like my authority challenged. Even by you."
Jullien held his hands up. "I know better, frater meus. Pax tecum. No shooting the Dagger. Lower your hostility." He turned toward Darling. "Majesty ... worst case, you lost some sleep for nothing. You wake up in your Sentella base. Everyone's grumpy but healthy. But if our intel is right, you, your son, and wife are about to be in the middle of a war zone and air strike. Is this really where you want them when it starts?"
He pulled his blaster out and offered it to Darling, grip first, showing him that it had a full charge. "We're on your side, Majesty. My Tavali father is Trajen Dane Thaumarturgus. I'm not about to let any son of Hermione's be harmed. And Trajen would cut my throat himself if I spilled one drop of Dane blood."
Darling inclined his head and pushed the blaster back toward Jullien. "That I believe. Especially since you said his name correctly and without stumbling over it. Only someone who knows him intimately can do that. Where are we meeting?"
"Hallway."
"Be there in two minutes."
As they headed out the door, Thraix paused and listened.
Jullien knew that look. One heartbeat later, he felt it, too. "They're here."
Thraix met his gaze. "We don't have time to clear the palace. They'll hit us before he can make it to the gate. We'll be in the open if we run for it."
"Get everyone to the queen's bedroom. Now! In her closet there's a doorway to an underground prison. It's reinforced enough, it should withstand the impact." He sent a mental image of its location to Thraix. "Go!"
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