by Lili Zander
No, the only reason I’m fighting right now is because Bryce is threatened. This battle isn’t logical. It comes from the deepest place within me. My emotions are primitive and primal; my dragon is close to the surface. I will die before I see my mate in danger.
Korum looks up when I enter. Silu’s death has taken a toll on him as well. He looks like he hasn’t slept in days. His feathers are dull and ungroomed, and his eyes are flat and lifeless. Finding the killer gave us a measure of closure, but it doesn’t diminish the loss.
“Commander,” he greets me. “The ship is just inside the asteroid belt. So far, it’s managed to evade the Zorahn Navy, but it’s only a matter of time before it either hits an asteroid or gets caught by the pursuing fighters.”
“If it’s broadcasting a Rebellion identifier, the Navy won’t let it escape.” I stare into space. “Can you open a comm channel?”
“Of course.” He sounds offended by my question, which makes me grin. “Also, I happened to overhear you asking Babbuq to look for Dariux. Lieutenant-Commander Silu had already ordered that the Draekon be brought into Ashara. He has just arrived.”
That’s Silu. Relentlessly competent, calm and steady in a crisis, always two steps ahead of me. Of course she’d have known I’d want Dariux here.
I know my limitations. Ru’vi is cunning and wily, and I’m no match for her. Right now, I have the upper hand, but I have no doubt that already, the Spymaster is making plans to change that.
Dariux and Hurux, on the other hand, live for this kind of complicated negotiating.
Korum connects to the Rebellion ship. “Hailing the Defiant,” he says. “Identify yourself.”
“Fuck that,” a man replies tersely. “Who the hell are you?”
Korum’s already running tests. “Based on the voice samples we have, I’m ninety-eight percent confident that’s Tarish, leader of the rebellion.”
Ninety-eight percent will have to do. I take the receiver from him, nodding in thanks. “Commander Tarish, this is a secure channel. The Zorahn Navy cannot intercept this conversation.”
Tarish is silent for a second. “You’re the one that sent me the prison planet’s coordinates.”
“Yes. My name is Cax.”
“And who are you, exactly?” Tarish’s voice is suspicious, and rightly so. The bounty on his head will buy a small planet.
“An ally. The rest, you’re going to have to take on faith, Commander Tarish. You’re here because Raiht’vi is ready to change sides. You want the information she has.” I wince as the Defiant just misses an asteroid hurtling toward it. “I’m putting a tow on your ship. You will be navigated safely through the asteroid belt.”
“And if I refuse?”
I roll my eyes. “First, the Defiant will not be able to break my tow. This isn’t a matter of choice. Second, without help, what do you think the chances of you making it through the field alive are?”
Another long pause, and then Tarish grunts in agreement. “Fine.”
It’ll take him an hour to make it to Ashara. Time to go talk to Dariux.
Bryce hugs Dariux tight. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she says. “I had visions of you being chomped up by dwals.”
Dariux gives my mate a dry look. “I’m not the one that charged headlong into a dwals nest,” he says dryly. “Your mates aren’t taking very good care of you.”
I give Dariux a pointed glare. Bryce rolls her eyes. “Stop making trouble, Dariux,” she orders. “They’re doing just fine.” She grins widely. “Besides, I got to watch Hurux and Cax charge into the nest and fight dozens of dwals with their bare hands. Naked. It was very… inspirational.”
“We had guns,” Hurux says. “We didn’t exactly fight them with our bare hands.”
She winks at him. “Not in my fantasies,” she says. “It was a very Me-Tarzan, You-Jane moment.”
Dariux clears his throat. “Duly noted. Yes, Bryce, your mates are taking very good care of you. Fascinating as it is, I assume that Cax’s troops didn’t pluck me from the middle of the jungle so I could hear about your courtship.”
“We need your help,” I tell him. I fill him in on the situation. The scientists and their ability to activate the Draekon gene. Raiht’vi’s knowledge of Brunox’s secret labs. Tarish’s impending arrival. Sarfax’s treachery. And lastly, the upcoming negotiation with Ru’vi.
Dariux listens to everything in silence. When I’m done, he shakes his head decisively. “You don’t need my help. You’re more than capable of handling Ru’vi on your own.”
Hurux starts to protest, and Dariux holds up a hand to stop him. “Ru’vi ab Crosu. She was always so recklessly ambitious.” He looks disgusted. “If I were in charge, Arax might have been exiled, but Vulrux would have died in a convenient accident. He was studying to be a healer. They’re around poisons and venoms all the time. A thousand easy ways to arrange for Vulrux to die without tipping your hand.” He shakes his head dismissively. “No doubt Ru’vi thought that since it worked once with Zunix and me, it would work again. No subtlety.”
“It did work,” Hurux points out. “It’s been sixty years. Nobody has found out what happened.”
“How many people did Ru’vi have to kill to keep it that way?” He continues to look unimpressed. “If this is a secret, it’s a terribly guarded one.”
“Are you avoiding her?” Bryce asks bluntly. “Is that why you don’t want to be part of the peace negotiation? Because she took the job you wanted?”
“I don’t care about Ru’vi.” Dariux takes a deep breath. “Ever since I put together the pieces of Ashara’s existence, I’ve been thinking. What do I want to do with my life. I’ve reached some conclusions.”
“Which are?”
“I don’t want to be here,” he says flatly. “The others have found peace here. Not me. I was trained for intrigue, Hurux. I ache to be back in the thick of things. I want to be the Spymaster.”
“You’re Draekon,” I point out. “The High Empire isn’t exactly welcoming you back with open arms.”
“I’m not a fool, Cax.” His voice is dry. “I’m quite aware. No, I plan on joining the rebellion.”
Hurux lifts his head. “You want to destroy the High Empire because it exiled you.”
“No,” Dariux replies. “I’m not in this for vengeance. For generations, the homeworld has stagnated. We cling feverishly to our bloodlines. We grow increasingly insular. We fight petty wars and put down minor uprisings. Each year, we lurch closer to dictatorship. I’m not planning on destroying the High Empire. I’m saving it.”
I take a deep breath. Dariux is right. “I can’t keep you here against your will. Well, I could, but I’m not going to. Among other things, Bryce will take an exceedingly dim view of it.”
I exchange a glance with Bryce and Hurux. “Tarish is landing in less than an hour.”
“You want Raiht’vi gone before the Spymaster gets here, don’t you?” Hurux guesses.
“Yes,” I reply. “There’s a very real part of me that hates giving up an advantage. And Raiht’vi is powerful leverage.” My lips twist wryly. “Which is precisely why I want her gone. Right now, I’m in charge. But if the negotiations start to go badly, I’m not sure the Senate won’t interfere.”
“You think that if it comes down to it, they’ll give up Raiht’vi,” Bryce guesses astutely.
Hurux is right; Bryce would have made an excellent spy. “Pretty much. Are we agreed then?”
Dariux has been silent for much of this conversation. He cuts in now. “Does Raiht’vi want to go with Tarish? Or is she just exchanging one prison for another?”
“She reached out to him of her own free will.”
Bryce gives him a curious look. “What’s with you and Raiht’vi?” she asks. “Were the two of you lovers?”
“No.” Dariux’s tone cuts off further conversation. He turns to me. “I’d like to leave with them.”
There’s definitely some history there, but I don’t have the time to unravel the
mystery. Ru’vi is landing in Ashara in the morning, and before that, I still have to tell Arax the truth about his exile and get him on board with my negotiation strategy.
“Okay. Tarish is landing in the Eastern Outpost, not the city proper. I’ll have Babbuq take Raiht’vi and you there. Good luck, Dariux.”
“This is goodbye then?” Bryce blinks the tears from her eyes as she hugs her friend. “Will I ever see you again?”
“Of course you will,” he says bracingly. “You’re not stuck on the prison planet without tech anymore, Bryce MacFarland. We’ll be seeing each other sooner than you think. I’m absolutely positive of it.”
We leave the tower. “Now what?” Bryce asks when we’re out in the open.
“The moment I’ve been avoiding all day,” I reply. “We tell the Firstborn the truth about his exile.”
26
Bryce
The room is crowded. Arax, Viola, and Nyx are in attendance, as are Vulrux, Harper, and Dennox. No Kaida though. Maybe it’s nap time.
Zunix is there as well, with Liorax and Olivia on either side of him. And finally, Hurux’s father, Macex is sitting at one end of the table.
This is it. For six decades, Arax has lived on the prison planet, accepting without question that he is Draekon and exile is his just due.
He was the Firstborn of Zoraht. I don’t have to be Zorahn to know what a big deal that is. Even now, even after sixty years, every single Draekon on the prison planet is deferential to Arax.
He would have been High Emperor. Now, we’re going to tell him that his throne was stolen from him. That someone—either Ru’vi, Brunox, or Lenox himself—deliberately activated the Draekon gene and sentenced him to a lifetime of exile.
How is he going to react? I have no clue. I’ve always found him calm and reasonable, but then again, these aren’t ordinary circumstances.
Hurux bends his head to me. “It’s only been a few hours, and I miss you already,” he murmurs. “I don’t know what Cax is planning to do, but I’m definitely going to sneak into your quarters tonight.”
That’s not at all what I thought he was going to say.
My cheeks heat. Our relationship is still so new. The mating bond tends to accelerate things—in six months, Harper found her mates and had a baby—but even so, it’s only been a few days since I met Hurux and Cax. Even though we completed the mating bond last night, I’m still a little uncertain about where I stand with them.
Let’s just say that Hurux’s desire to sneak into my room for sex? It’s pretty damn flattering.
“Sounds like a plan,” I whisper back. “I’ll bring the food. You bring the booze. I’ll show you how to play strip poker.”
I feel Cax shake with laughter on the other side of me. “Ah, Bryce,” he says, his voice affectionate. “I love you. What would I do without you, aida, to remind me of what’s really important?”
I love you. My heart starts to beat faster. I force my voice to lightness. “Strip poker is what’s really important?”
He winks at me, and then clears his throat for silence. The room falls quiet. “You’re probably wondering why you’re here. There’s no way around it. I have some difficult news.”
“What is it?” Arax asks, glaring at both Cax and Hurux. “Don’t get me wrong; I’m grateful for your healers’ help with Felicity Rollins. But if you brought us here under false pretenses, we will fight.”
Under false pretenses? What’s he talking about?
Hurux catches on sooner than I do. “Cax and I have not laid some elaborate plan to steal the humans away from you, if that’s what you mean.” He exchanges a look with Cax, who nods slightly. “Bryce is our mate. I’m in the exact same situation as you are.”
Viola’s mouth falls open. “Bryce, is that true?”
I don’t really know what to say. I settle for the simplest answer. “Yes.”
Cax leans forward. “I’m the administrator of Ashara,” he says. “We were attacked by Navy fighters, and are currently in a state of emergency, one that gives me the right to act unilaterally to preserve Ashara’s safety.” He looks around at everyone. “Needless to say, my ability to do this would be undermined if my motives were to come into question. Until the High Empire is no longer a threat, we’re keeping our mating bond a secret. I would ask that this information not leave the room.”
“Is that what you wanted to tell us?” Zunix frowns.
“No, of course not.” He takes a deep breath. “I’m not a scientist, but Macex here is,” he says, gesturing to Hurux’s father. “A couple of days ago, he said something to Hurux that shook the foundation of my world. Every Zorahn in the High Empire carries the Draekon gene in them. For the vast majority, the gene is dormant, but every generation, there’s a small handful of people in who the gene is active. Those people are exiled.”
“Yes.” Nyx sounds impatient. “The Testing. We know.”
Nyx isn’t a geneticist, so he doesn’t understand the true significance of what Cax said. Viola, who was a botanist back on Earth, does. “Everyone has the Draekon gene in them, but it’s dormant?”
She sees the connections. “Yes,” Cax confirms. “More importantly, Brunox found a way to activate the gene.” He takes a deep breath. “It is my belief that Arax, Vulrux, Zunix, and Dariux were intentionally exiled to the prison planet. In Zunix and Dariux’s cases, Ru’vi was getting rid of two rivals to the spymaster position. In Arax’s case…” He grimaces. “The Crystal Throne itself was at stake.”
Arax goes very still. “You’re saying that my brother did this.”
Cax shakes his head. “I don’t know that. Lenox might not know. Before you were exiled, you wanted to place greater restrictions on the scientists. Maybe Brunox activated the gene as a way to get rid of you. Or, it could have been Ru’vi. She already had an unsavory reputation. She might have suspected that you wouldn’t have appointed her to the Spymaster post.” He pauses for a long second. “We don’t know who is responsible.”
Zunix looks shocked by the news, but not shattered. Vulrux is clearly shaken.
But Arax’s reaction is the most extreme of them all. He looks like his world has been turned upside down.
“This forms the basis of our leverage with Ru’vi,” Cax continues. “We keep the High Empire’s dirty little secret, and in turn, they cease their hostilities, and stop trying to return your human mates to Earth.”
“And Raiht’vi?” Nyx snaps. “What happens to the scientist? Lenox wants her back.”
Cax’s voice turns steely. “Raiht’vi is not part of the negotiation. I will not barter for Ashara’s freedom while sending her into captivity. She’s gone. She’s joined the rebellion. She is in Tarish’s custody now.”
“If she knew what was done, she’s complicit,” Nyx retorts. “I’m not as ready to forgive her as you seem to be.”
Viola’s not watching Nyx argue with Cax. Her eyes, wide and worried, rest on a too-silent Arax. “Hey, baby?” she says softly. “Are you okay?”
“No.” Arax rises to his feet so abruptly that the chair falls behind him, his hands clenched into fists. “No, I’m not okay.” His voice vibrates with anger. “I was the Firstborn of Zoraht. I would have been High Emperor. You’re not asking me to keep a secret. You’re asking me to renounce my claim on the throne. Forever.”
Cax doesn’t try to deny it. “Yes. I don’t see a path to peace that doesn’t involve your abdication.”
“Because you let Raiht’vi leave,” Arax flings back. “She would have been leverage, but instead, you gave her to Tarish. You just assumed I’d cooperate.”
Fuck. This situation is rapidly deteriorating into chaos. I was certain that Arax was happy on the prison planet. Where the hell did we go wrong?
Cax’s voice is steady. “I did, yes. If this news comes out, people will riot. Millions will die. I thought that would matter to you.”
“You thought wrong.” Arax places his hand on Viola’s stomach. “You’re asking me to pick a life of hardship
for my mate and my youngling.” He stares at Cax, his gaze cold. “No, it’s worse than that. You didn’t ask. You made my decision for me. Big mistake, Cax. Because I’m not cooperating.”
He stalks out of the room, his shoulders stiff. Viola gazes after him, her face unhappy. “This is a lot for Arax to deal with,” she says softly. “Give us a chance to talk this through.”
The room slowly clears out. Finally, it’s just the three of us left. “What now?” Hurux asks, his voice bleak.
Bile rises in my throat. “I fucked up. I was so sure Arax would do the right thing. I had no idea he wanted the throne that much. In six months, it never came up.”
“It’s not your fault,” Hurux says heavily. “It’s the youngling. Arax’s mate is pregnant, and suddenly, Arax is thinking about the future differently. Every father wants the best for his child.”
“What does this mean?” I force out through dry lips. “If Lenox realizes that Arax means to challenge him for the throne…”
Cax hasn’t said a word so far. He speaks now, his voice like death. “Lenox can’t let Arax live. The instant Ru’vi finds out, the Imperial Navy will fire its weapons. And we will all be dead.”
He gets to his feet, his face pale and set. “I thought I could control the situation, and I was wrong. I’ve failed.”
He walks to the door. “Where are you going?” I ask after his retreating back.
“To mobilize the colony ships. I need to order an evacuation of the city.”
27
Bryce
Korum tries to get me to evacuate along with the others. It’s not very nice of me, but I tell him to go to hell.
Cax might blame himself for this, but this is just as much my fault. I’ll be damned if I’m letting him face this on his own.
In the mad scramble that follows the decision to evacuate Ashara, I steal a skimmer. Sue me. I weave it in and out of the crowds and open the throttle once I get out of the city.