“I guess.” Trinity was the analyst, not me. And I was so heartsick over losing Thor that I could barely think straight.
“And when that failed, she tried to poison you? That doesn’t make sense. She didn’t know who you were.”
Trinity was right. Lady Jax had no idea. And it seemed a pretty bold move for someone like her to make.
“What was she going to do after you were dead, Faith? That’s cold-blooded murder. Not to be gross, but there would have been a body. Evidence. How was she planning on getting away with it?” Her pacing increased, and I sat up straighter, adjusting my pillows. So much raw energy and aggression pouring off her that she was making me nervous. My hands balled into fists and I felt the weird urge to go Kung Fu swirling in my gut.
She stopped dead in her tracks, her head snapping up, and I held my breath. Jeez, she was a stress-case.
“Lord Wyse.”
“What about him?”
“You said she told Thor he was behind everything.”
“She said his name. That was about it. She wasn’t in very good shape.” That was an understatement. But I hadn’t been watching her too closely. I’d been focused on Thor, on the lines of pain etched into his cheeks and around his eyes. Of the way his shoulders hunched and his voice cracked as he watched first his father, then his mother, die right in front of him. God. I couldn’t even imagine.
I wrapped my arms around my stomach and rocked gently, fighting down nausea, wishing I could hold Thor close and rock him. Pet him. Touch him. He was hurting and he was out there alone. I should be with him. That stupid asshole. What the fuck was he thinking, leaving me like that? I’d Kung Fu the crap out of him once he was back in my bed, where he belonged.
I was having a meltdown, but Trinity didn’t notice. And her voice was crisp, cool, completely under control. “What’s his reasoning? To what, get us out of the picture? But if that’s all he wanted, he would have left us alone. Mom was gone for almost thirty years. There was no reason to think she’d ever come back. So, why risk everything now?”
“He can’t be king if she’s alive,” I countered. “The citadel knows. Her spire was still lit, so the whole planet knew she was still alive.”
She couldn’t argue with that.
“But why kidnap her? He could have just killed her on Earth. Much easier.”
I shrugged, for I had no answer.
“Didn’t he have you in custody?” she asked.
“Lord Wyse?” I nodded. “He was about to take me to some special place at the Optimus unit, but Thor got me out of there.”
“Oh shit, that was close, wasn’t it?” She paused. “That means Wyse knows you’re a princess.”
I thought back to my time with the Optimus unit, and reviewed every word I could remember. “He did seem very interested in the fact that there was no official record of my existence.”
“Exactly. He’s not stupid. And he could have taken your DNA off of anything to test it. They had full access to the Jax house. I’m sure Lady Jax would give him anything he asked for. A hairbrush. Toothbrush. Clothes. Whatever. He must have figured it out.”
“Probably.” I didn’t have proof to say officially. “Which means he was most likely the one who ransacked Thor’s apartments, hoping we’d be there so he could get me back into custody. He was going to take me to some horrible torture chamber or something. He said as much.”
“So, I’m sure he’s looking for Destiny. God, Faith. You were so close to being—” She stopped, apparently unable to complete the thought. Being a good little sister, I did it for her.
“Dead. One princess down, two to go.”
She scowled. “That’s not funny.”
“No. But we’re both still alive and Destiny is still hiding out as a nun.” I thought of the pain on Thor’s face. The shock and confusion in Lord Jax’s eyes as he’d fallen victim to the poison. About what everything Mom must have gone through all those years ago. “But now we know. Now we go after him. Bring him down and get Mom back.”
She laughed. “Right, arrest the head of the Optimus unit.”
“You are the princess,” I countered. “And if he kills Mom—”
“Don’t even say it.”
“If he kills Mom, you’re the new queen and I’m the runner-up.”
“He’d going to try again to get to you. To kill you. You’re still a princess.”
“But only a few people know about me. Lord Wyse won’t tell anyone. It’ll be easier for him to kill me if I’m an unknown rather than a princess.”
Trinity sat back down, some of her frustration falling away. “It is a pain being the center of attention.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Pretty gowns, a gorgeous hunk at your side. Total pain.”
She smiled then. “Total.”
It hadn’t even been a day since Thor and I left the palace for the Jax mansion, but still, I missed Trinity, so I said as much, then added, “I miss Earth. Well, not Earth exactly, but our life there. Mom. Dad. Even Destiny.”
Trinity squeezed my hand again and smiled wistfully.
“Me, too. But I’ve got Leo now and Mom will be found. Maybe Dad will come here… after we get things sorted out.”
I thought of Dad on Alera, as Mom’s king. It was hard to picture, but so was everything else that had happened since Mom had been kidnapped.
“Destiny’s a freaking nun. Talk about weird,” I said.
Trinity laughed. “There’s a story there. And you’ve got Thor, a mate. Hot sex all the time.”
Her sly smile fell away when I didn’t say anything, didn’t return the devilish look.
“So, the real question is, where is Thor?” She looked around, as if he were hiding behind the drapes. “He knows what we know, Faith. So where would he go?”
“I have no freaking clue. He left me and that was that. I haven’t seen him or heard from him at all.”
Until I said the words, it hadn’t been really true. He’d walked out, needed space. His parents had just died in the most awful of ways. He discovered his mother was a traitor to not only their family, but to the throne. To all of Alera.
I could see that. God, I thought moving to Alera was a life change. But he’d had his whole life turned upside down within minutes. Over dinner. He’d lost everything. At least, he thought he had. I had news for him in the mating department. “Men. I swear to God, Trin. I want to kill him.”
“Um… what?” she laughed after she realized I wasn’t going to say more.
For some reason, the tears were gone. Completely gone. I couldn’t cry about this any longer. I had no idea why. It was ripping me in two, this heartache, but there were no tears. “He’s a Jax and now that Lady Jax is a traitor, he doesn’t want to… to taint me with that. Even if I find him, he’s not going to want to be with me.”
“That’s bullshit. He couldn’t keep his hands off you.” She frowned. “And he wasn’t the traitor in the family.”
“No, but the Jax name will be in ruins as soon as word gets out, and it wouldn’t be good for Princess Faith to shack up with someone so dishonorable.” I played with the lace edging of the blanket. Mindlessly.
“Whatever. Go get him. Tell him he’s wrong.”
“This is like déjà vu, Trin. I mean, we were having a similar conversation just the other day. I went to the dungeon and rescued him. His name was in ruins then. Not as bad as it will be after this, obviously, but I’d believed him innocent when even you thought otherwise. I wanted to be with him anyway.”
“And now?”
“Now I want to be with him, but it isn’t for me to decide. I can’t sway him with BDSM makeup sex again.”
Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.
“I have no idea what that means… exactly.” She held up her hand. “I don’t want to know. Yes, I do, but that’s a rabbit hole we can’t go down right now.”
I sighed. “I’m not going after him again. He’s my mate. He knew it the second he saw me and had to coax m
e into the idea.”
“Using BDSM makeup sex,” she countered.
The corner of my mouth turned up. “And other persuasive ways, yes. He’s changed his mind.”
“So change it back.”
I shook my head. “He has to want me more than family honor. He has to want me more than idle gossip. He has to want me and to make a family with me more than anything. Besides, I need to get to Lord Wyse and take him down.” I wanted to do my newfound Kung Fu shit on Lord Wyse. Big time. He had Mom. He’d hurt Thor. He’d tried to kill Trinity and me. He was going down.
“What? You’re just going to march into Lord Wyse’s office and wrestle him to the ground?” she wondered. “I don’t think that’s much of a plan, little sister.”
I shrugged, then shook my head. “No. But there is one thing you can do, one thing I need your help with.”
“Anything. Tell me what I can do.”
I considered for a moment, but there was no other way. “Send Nix and your boys to bring Thor here before he can do anything stupid. Don’t let him talk to the police or the reporters—or whatever they’re called here. Keep him safe, even if you have to lock him up in the dungeon.”
“Is this for the good of the planet, or your sex life?”
That made me laugh, and it felt good. “Both.”
Trinity tilted her head, her thinking eyes staring at me, glassy, bright. It was like I could literally see the analytical wheels spinning in her head. “I’m with you, but what exactly are you going to do?”
I smiled. “I’m going to introduce myself to the entire planet, and then I’m going to lie to them to protect my mate.”
Her grin was contagious, even though this situation was anything but funny. “You’re turning into a regular politician, Faith. Who knew you could be so sly?”
She was right. I was the bluntly honest one of the three of us. I said whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It drove Destiny crazy and had made Trinity sigh and shake her head on more than one occasion. But for once, I was going to be a bit more like my sisters than I’d ever thought I could be.
Because Thor was mine. Sadly, nothing was going to bring back his parents. Nothing. But I could protect him, whether he wanted me to or not.
“Where’s the closest S-Gen machine? I need to get to work.”
“On what?”
“If I’m going to meet the people, I need to look like a princess.”
Trinity squeezed my hand and moved as if she intended to get up and leave me, so I held tight and made sure she saw the determination in my eyes. “Thor’s mine. Bring him here before he does something stupid, okay?”
“I’ll send Leo and Nix.”
“Send a whole battalion. Thor’s stubborn.”
That made my sister laugh, the sound the happiest I’d ever heard her. “My dear sister, you really haven’t spent much time with my mate. No problem. Trust me.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t know Thor. Tell Leo to take set his ion blaster to stun. Hell, take tranquilizer darts or something. He’s going to need them.”
Trinity was still laughing when she left me alone with the S-gen machine. I had two hours to get ready. After that, Trinity said she’d send in the hair stylist and makeup guru to help me look like a royal, like a woman who knew her place and power on this world.
In other words, like a complete stranger.
And by then, Thor should be in royal custody as well. Trinity assured me that Leo would make sure he looked his part.
I had a gown to make. And not just any gown, but a fucking badass, do-not-mess-with-me, princess gown.
Thor hadn’t seen me in full battle mode. Not yet. I didn’t need a uniform and body armor. No, I would fight in a killer dress with heels.
He might be a dumbass and leave me because of honor, but Thor was mine, and I would do whatever it took to protect him.
3
Thordis Jax, Jax Mountain Lodge
I made it three steps out the front door of the lodge when Leo stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” he asked.
“Get out of my way, Leo.” He might be bigger than me, but I had anger on my side.
“Not happening. Let’s go.” He thumbed over his shoulder.
“How did you find me?” I’d just sent the message with Pawl’s confession to Leo’s father a couple of minutes earlier. This lodge was remote, over an hour’s drive from the city. How had Leo arrived so quickly? It was impossible.
“You sent us directions along with Pawl’s confession. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“My pleasure.” And it was. Every threat to Faith would be dealt with one by one. “But I should have had an hour or more.”
Leo tapped a small item on his chest and I squinted, confused. “A transport beacon? How the hell did you get that?” The small buttons were very valuable, hard to come by, and monitored by the Interstellar Fleet. Finding one on Alera was damn near impossible.
Leo held up another button, clearly meant for me. “Trinity is personal friends with Prime Nial.”
Fuck. Of course, she was. Wasn’t that just fucking perfect. “I have business to attend to, Leo. Get out of my way.”
“Faith’s at the palace. She’s upset. Which means Trinity is upset. And that, Lord Jax, means you aren’t going anywhere.”
A new argument was on my lips when both Nix and Leo’s father came into view, flanking me on both sides, each wearing a transport button as well. Shit. They had me surrounded, the only option for escape was to head back into the lodge. And that wasn’t happening. I had things to do. “Listen, Leo. I’m doing everything now to protect Faith, not hurt her.”
“I know,” he said calmly, as if being a mated male himself he understood.
“My family is a disgrace. My mother was a traitor. She tried to have Trinity killed and tried to poison my—” I stopped myself before I used that word. I couldn’t say that word ever again. “She tried to poison Princess Faith on Lord Wyse’s orders. He has to be stopped.”
“I know,” he repeated. “And you’re still coming with me to the palace.”
“I can’t take down Wyse from the fucking palace.” My voice was calm, but inside I was roiling with rage. Aggression. I had to get out of here and protect my mate. The need was critical, primal, more important than breathing. “Don’t get in my way.”
“Too late,” he countered. “And it’s not me standing in your way. Fuck that. If it were up to me, we’d be blasters firing, straight in the front door of the Optimus unit. We’d kill him and be done with it.”
Both Nix and Leo’s father nodded.
“Then let’s go.”
Nix stepped closer, but it was Leo’s father who spoke. “It’s not up to us, Thor. Trinity and Faith are in charge, and they have other plans.”
No fucking way. Run. I had to run. They didn’t want to kill me, that was clear. If they had, I’d already be dead. Which meant they wouldn’t be willing to use lethal force to stop my escape.
I’d go back inside. Head for the roof. From there, I could track their locations and—
“Don’t even think about it, Thor,” Leo warned. “Faith needs you. She’s your mate. You are not going to fuck this up.”
“I’ve already fucked it up by being a Jax. I’m ruined. She’s not mine. She must choose another.”
He sighed. “Well, she disagrees. So let’s go.”
I moved faster than I ever had before. Pivot. Turn. Door open.
A sharp pain struck my ass cheek, followed by a burning sensation in my muscles.
Before I could process that, my feet refused to move like I wanted them to and I fell, smashing into the door on my way down. Twisting, I felt an odd projectile sticking out of my flesh. I pulled it free to see a needle on the end of an odd dart. I had never seen anything like it. “What… the… fuck?”
My voice sounded far away, down the end of a tunnel, and the sky was spinning.
“One going to
be enough?” Nix asked as all three of them loomed over me.
One what? And why was that bastard laughing?
Leo’s father squatted beside me, no menace in him, just curiosity. “Looks like it.”
“I like this weapon.” That was Nix and I turned my head just far enough to see the fuzzy outline of some kind of short rifle resting over his shoulder.
My lips went numb and I blinked several times, trying to keep my eyes open. It wasn’t fucking working. “Leo? What the fuck have you—”
My tongue was too thick to finish the sentence.
“Tranquilizer gun.” Leo grinned and stared at the weapon I had to assume Nix had fired at my ass. “Better than the stun setting on an ion pistol.”
“Impressive,” Leo’s father commented.
“Let’s transport him out of here. Trinity said to strip him naked and tie him down on Faith’s bed.” That was Leo.
“Shooting him in the ass was fun, but stripping him naked?” Leo replied. “Not the best part of the job.”
The last thing I heard was Leo’s laughter and then everything went black.
* * *
Faith, The Citadel
Trinity nodded to me and said two words, “Got him.”
Just like that, I could breathe again. Thor was safe. The news reporters, or whatever they were called here, were practically piled on top of each other around the perimeter of the citadel’s deadly border. A nice feature to ensure they didn’t get too close. Eagerness was one thing, hounding another.
Trinity had been busy while I’d been getting ready. They’d been broadcasting my imminent appearance for the better part of an hour. Everyone on Alera who didn’t live in a cave knew the next princess was about to be introduced to the people. Live. At any moment.
Time for part two of my plan.
The gown I wore was blood red, a deep, dark color that I hoped would convey my message to Lord Wyse or anyone else who threatened my family. I was royal. Strong. And no longer a scared little girl, but a woman full of her own power. The material did not shimmer like satin as I’d remembered seeing Trinity’s do, but absorbed light like velvet. The top half of the gown was sheer, a network of blood-red Aleran flowers covering the juicy bits, trailing over my bare shoulders and back, down my arms like living, breathing fire. And the skirt did not balloon into a mess three or four times wider than my body, but hung like a dagger, straight and strong and fearless.
Ascension Saga, Book 6: Interstellar Brides®: Ascension Saga Page 3