by JC Cassels
“Sovran Overrides! Authorization Daavin Marin! Pull up! Pull up!”
“Sovran Override command recognized.”
Blade’s breath stilled as he braced for impact. Unable to look away, he stared helplessly at the forward screens, fully expecting the hard gray ground to be the last thing he ever saw. The ship’s computer now controlled the helm. He prayed Sundance was as good as Bo had claimed.
“What the hell?” Bhruic lifted his hands off the flight controls.
Braking thrusters engaged and the ship swung into a graceful arc, skimming the surface. Clouds of dust and water rose around them, then dropped behind as Sundance climbed once more for the edge of the atmosphere.
Slowly, Blade blew out a shuddering breath. He lifted a trembling hand to wipe the cold beads of perspiration from his face. He cleared his throat and shifted in his seat. “Take us to the jump coordinates, Sundance.”
“They’re still behind us,” Royce said.
“Yeah, but we’ve got a sustainable lead.” Bhruic turned in his seat. Amber eyes, so very like Bo’s regarded him with a speculative gleam before he exchanged a look with his brother.
No one said anything more until they reached the jump coordinates. Bhruic engaged the hyperdrive. The stars stretched and distorted as they crossed the threshold between realspace and hyperspace. Once the ship settled into hyperspace and the subspace systems powered down, Bhruic popped his g-locks and pushed himself out of his seat. He turned to face Blade. Royce followed suit.
The full import of what he had done slowly sunk in. Blade unfastened his g-locks and rose. He looked from one to the other. He held up his hands in surrender.
Bhruic fairly vibrated with barely contained fury. He jabbed his index finger hard into Blade’s solar plexus. “Don’t ever take control of a ship from me again!” he snarled.
“I’m sorry, but you didn’t leave me much choice,” he said. “You two are insane.”
“You could have killed us all pulling a stunt like that!” Bhruic took hold of his wrist and tapped the center of his palm.
Blade stared helplessly at the tell-tale flashing of the device implanted into him moments after his birth. His gaze slid to Bhruic’s chilly stare.
“Royce, did you know this kid was a Sovran?” Bhruic asked, not looking at his brother.
“No,” Royce said. “But it sure as hell explains a lot. He’s got pretty high clearance for a kid without connections.”
Bhruic’s grip on his wrist eased. Blade jerked out of his grasp. His heart had barely had a chance to stop pounding from the near-miss earlier. This was different. One wrong word…one wrong move…and they could start the next great war. He had never before been so aware of the ramifications of being Andre Marin’s son.
Bhruic’s chest heaved. Shaking off his anger, he reached for the seat behind him and eased into it. He leaned over, bracing his forearms on his knees. He stared at the deck tiles for a long moment before looking up at Blade.
“Tell me, My Lord, what is my daughter to you?”
Blade’s shoulders sagged in relief as he resumed his seat. Of all the questions to ask...
He leaned back, tilting his head to the upper canopy. He watched the stars fly past. “Don’t call me that, Barron.”
“Is that a Sovran order?”
Blade shook his head. “It’s a request.”
Closing his eyes, Blade sighed.
“Tahar said I wouldn’t be able to escape my destiny much longer. I’m gonna miss being Blade Devon.” He opened his eyes again and met Bhruic’s level stare. “My own brother doesn’t know I’m Daavin Marin. I wanted to keep it that way.”
“Your brother? Daavin Marin was…is an only child.”
“They grew up in Fasi together.” Royce braced his hand and leaned on the bulkhead. “His name’s Chase. He’s a good kid.”
“So he’s not really your brother.”
Blade grimaced. “He’s my brother in every way that counts.” Blade held up his hand. “He doesn’t have to share this curse of birth for me to call him my brother.”
“Do you trust him?”
“Completely.”
“Yet you’ve managed to keep a secret like this from him for…how long?”
“My whole life.”
“I take it Bo doesn’t know either?”
Blade shook his head. “I tried telling her but...”
“So you don’t think there is anything wrong with lying to the people you’re closest to?”
“It’s for their protection,” Blade said. “I don’t want to lie to them.”
“Right…”
“Look, someone has been trying to kill me since the day I was born. My own mother was killed in an attempt to get to me, and I wasn’t even old enough to hold my head up on my own. The fewer people who know the Sovran Heir is still alive, the better. I’m not close to a lot of people. I can’t afford to be. The two people I love the most don’t need to know. I was competing in The Catarrh. My bike was sabotaged. Andre sent me a security detail. Kendall, the agent in charge, had orders…”
“What kind of orders?” Royce growled.
Blade met his narrow glare. “You know what kind of orders,” he said. He shook his head. “He interrogated her while I was recovering from surgery. Thank the Maker she didn’t know anything.”
“But she’s the Ostra Child,” Bhruic said. “Lord Marin wouldn’t order a sanction…”
Blade nodded. “Yes, he would,” he said. “If he thought…” Breaking off, he bent his head forward and rubbed his neck, trying to ease the sudden tension there. He lifted his head. “I think he knows I love her. I’m supposed to be cultivating her as an asset.”
“Is that why you were sniffing after her on the Tennova Job?”
Blade shook his head. “No. I didn’t know who she was then. I didn’t care. She was…” he looked from Bhruic to Royce, “…irresistible.”
He smiled, lost for a moment in the memory of Bo as he’d first seen her, standing against the window, her dress made transparent by the slanting light of the Cormoran sun and blushing like a virgin when he’d pointed it out to her.
“She was the first woman I’d ever met who didn’t want something from me,” he said. “She loves me for me…not for who my father is, or how many credits I pull down.” His lips quirked. “She’s not a big fan of the fame, either. She’s strong…independent…completely unspoiled. Not much impresses her.” He met Bhruic’s stare. “She’s the most amazing woman I’ve ever known. I hope to be worthy of her some day.”
“That. Will never. Happen.”
Blade chuckled in relief. “No. You’re probably right.”
Bhruic’s serious expression didn’t waver. “I know I’m right,” he said. “You’ll never be worthy of her as long as you’re lying to her.”
Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Blade looked away and cleared his throat. “I know.”
“You never tried to tell her the truth?”
“I tried at our wedding reception…”
“Wait… Wedding what?” Royce shook his head in disbelief. “You married her?”
Blade glanced from one to the other. Perspiration dotted his upper lip. Both men looked to be on a hair trigger. He coughed and straightened in his seat. “Yes…”
“With everything she’s got unresolved in her life?” Royce said. “You talked her into marrying you, despite the fact she’s in exile, a wanted traitor, and her father was…”
“Gone,” Bhruic supplied.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“You talked her into it, just like that?”
“Well…no…not exactly.”
“How exactly?” Royce pressed.
That’s it. I’m dead.
“There’s an archaic law on Kah Lahtrec…”
“You took her to Kah Lahtrec?” Royce exploded.
“Yes.”
Bhruic rubbed his forehead with his hand. “Cohabitation law?”
; “I’ll say,” Royce snarled. “The most binding cohabitation law in the Commonwealth.”
Bhruic looked up with a pleasant smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Did Kah Lahtrec join the Commonwealth while I was away?”
“No!” Royce shouted. Then with a little more calm, “You know what I mean.”
He looked to his brother, who winked at him and nodded his reassurance.
“I know,” Bhruic said. He looked to Blade. “And you knew about this law before you took Bo there.” He waited for Blade’s nod before he went on. “I take it you didn’t tell Bo about all this beforehand.”
Blade shook his head.
“No, of course not.” Bhruic’s lips tightened in disapproval. “You made quite a mess, son.”
“It gets better,” Blade said.
Bhruic’s lips twitched. “Does it?”
“I invoked the Chrede Rhei, too.”
“Oh, you know about that, do you?”
“He speaks Gallic like a native, too,” Royce interjected.
“He’s quite the paragon.”
Mockery was infinitely preferable to menace.
Nodding, Blade went on. “I’d intended to tell Bo everything at the reception, that I’m Marin’s son – all of it. But when I broached the subject, she made it clear that she was glad I was Dev Fossey and not some noble or a Sovran.” He rubbed his face with his hands. “She said that if I were a member of any Sovran House but Scull, our marriage would start a war and she wouldn’t let that happen. She was so adamant about it, I lost my nerve.” He shrugged and shook his head. “I couldn’t tell her.”
Bhruic thoughtfully rubbed his ear. “So she has no clue who she’s married to.”
“None.”
“Why’d you do it, son? Why’d you marry her?”
“Because if I lost her, it would kill me.” He studied the deck plates for a long moment. “When Kendall told me what my father’s orders were – I guess it woke me up.” He shook his head. “You see, it’s one thing to order an inappropriate lover terminated. It’s something else entirely to order a Sovran-by-marriage terminated. That’s how civil wars start.”
“You do realize that when Lord Scull learns that the House of Marin has allied with Barron Clan, there’s going to be a war anyway. Lord Scull would never allow command of The Black Wing to pass to the House of Marin.”
“I don’t give a damn about the politics. I don’t care about your Black Wing. Deny her. I don’t care. Isn’t being your successor what got Bo framed for Frostfire in the first place? Do me and Bo a favor and name Royce as your successor. Maybe then, the attempts on her life will stop.”
The color drained from the faces of both men.
Blade turned to Royce. “Tell me, Royce, did you know someone has been poisoning Bo, too?”
“Is she alright?” Bhruic asked.
“Who?” Royce demanded. “How?”
Blade shook his head. “It was the same poison they used on you,” he said to Bhruic. “I don’t know for certain how long they’d been slipping it to her. My guess is that it came in the home made treats Royce has been bringing her.”
“Those came straight from the kitchen at the Caer…”
Royce sank into the copilot’s seat as the implications sunk in. All the fight melted out of him. He deflated, his chin dropped to his chest. Closing his eyes, he buried his face in his hands. He muttered a curse in Gallic. “Holy Maker. I was feeding her poison. I was killing her.”
“You didn’t know,” Bhruic said. He rested a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder.
Shaking his head, Royce finally looked up, his eyes shone with unshed tears. “They were using me to kill her,” he said. He jabbed his thumb into his chest. “Me!!” His voice cracked. He looked to Blade. “How is she? Is that really why she didn’t come?”
Any doubts Blade may have had about Royce’s innocence faded. No one could fake that kind of gut-wrenching pain.
Blade shook his head. “We caught it early. It’s already out of her system,” he said. Then he looked at Bhruic. “Bo didn’t come because she tore up her shoulder recovering the data recorder from your stasis pod.”
Bhruic leaned back in his seat and stared up at the canopy. “What a tangle you two have gotten me into,” he said. “I wonder if they’d take me back at the asylum.”
Royce took a deep breath and blew it out. “Probably not, after the way we shot up the place on our way out.”
The three men looked at one another then chuckled, breaking the tension.
Bhruic rubbed his bearded jaw. “I’m going to be walking right back into a no-win situation,” he said. Bracing his elbows on the armrests, he clasped his hands together and pressed them against his lips while he considered his options.
“It’s Galen,” Royce said. “Galen tried to kill you, and he set Bo up.”
Bhruic nodded. “Setting up Frostfire was beyond Galen,” he said. “He had help.”
“Lord Scull?” Blade ventured.
“Possibly,” Bhruic said. He rubbed his hands together. “No way to know for sure at this point.”
Bracing his hands on the armrests, he pushed himself to his feet. He let go of the seat and tried to take a step. His eyes rolled back in his head and he swayed. Bhruic reached out for help and Blade caught his arm, steadying him.
“I do believe I was running on adrenaline,” he said. He tried another step and fell heavily against Blade. “I don’t think I should have stood up quite so quickly.”
“Let’s get you back to sick bay,” Blade said.
He felt something warm and sticky against his fingers. He didn’t have to look.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” he said. “That compression bandage didn’t hold.”
“You needed me here,” Bhruic said.
Royce steadied his other side while Blade eased him down the steps from the flight deck. “Well, now we need you in sick bay.” Royce shook his head. “I swear you’re a stubborn bastard.”
“If I weren’t so damn stubborn, I’d be dead by now.”
Getting down the steps took all of their concentration. As they passed the lounge, Bhruic peered in.
“Is that a holo imaging platform?”
Royce grunted. “It is,” he said. “I’m sure she’s got some of the kid’s holofeatures in her library if you’re interested.”
“Later,” Bhruic grinned. “I just got a brilliant idea how to keep Bo safe from Galen.” He patted Royce’s shoulder. “You’re gonna love it.” He looked to Blade. “Unfortunately, you’re gonna hate it.”
“Oh?” Blade arched an eyebrow at him. “What is it?”
“I’ll tell you later,” he said. “Hey, Sundance?”
“Yes, Barron?”
“Can you sample my voice print and use it for yours?
“Affirmative.”
“As soon as you get an adequate sample, switch your vocal patterns over to mine,” Bhruic said.
Royce shook his head. “Princess is gonna be so mad at you.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
“You know, Bhruic, he needs the practice.”
Blade grinned to himself and unclipped the headset from the com-station. “I don’t mind, Royce, really.”
“See?” Bhruic said. “He’s fine with letting me bring the ship in.” He buckled himself into the pilot’s seat.
Royce snorted dubiously. “More likely he’s sucking up because he wants you to like him.”
With a small shake of his head, Blade wisely chose to stay out of it. He knew from experience that two brothers didn’t need anyone else jumping into the fray when they bickered with each other.
The nav-comp flashed on the console, indicating arrival in the Kah Lahtrec system. Bhruic smoothly transitioned from hyperdrive to sublight engines with barely a hiccough in the inertial dampers. As Sundance glided from hyperspace back into realspace, the familiar stars and constellations settled into place.
Some of Blade’s tension eased. A small surge of anticipation
accelerated his heartbeat. His lips quirked as he tried to imagine the look on Bo’s face at the first sight of her father. Giving up, he keyed in the communication relay in stationary orbit around the Lahtrecki sun. When he had a solid connection, his hand hovered over the keypad.
“What’s our ETA?” Blade asked.
Bhruic glanced down at the controls. “A little under an hour,” he said.
Nodding, Blade tapped in the access code for his villa and waited for the connection. Static crackled over his headset, followed by a loud click.
“Blade? Is that you?” Thinned and synthesized by the relay, Bo’s throaty voice still made his eardrums hard.
“It’s me, love,” he said. “How are you feeling? Everything all right? Any problems?”
“Other than being so bored I’m ready to pull my fingernails out, everything is fine. I miss you. When are you coming home?”
“Your father says we’ll make planetfall in less than an hour.”
Only the dull hiss of an open com came over his headset.
“Still there, love?”
Bo cleared her throat. “I’m still here.” Her hoarse response was tight and thick with tears. “Is my father really with you?”
Blade glanced over at Bhruic and Royce, still good-naturedly jibing each other. “He says he’s your father, and Royce won’t stop arguing with him, so I can only assume that he is indeed who he claims to be.”
Her watery chuckle came over the com, drawing a smile from him.
“There’s a ground cruiser in the garage,” he said. “The access card is in the case hanging on the wall. Would you mind picking us up at the landing field?”
She laughed again. “No, I don’t mind.”
“Good,” he said. “I’ll see you then.”
“I’ll see you then,” she echoed. “Blade?”
His heart gave a little twist in his chest. “Yes, my love?”
“Thank you.”
Blade’s shoulders sagged. He blew out a breath. Not what he’d hoped to hear. Was she ever going to tell him she loved him?
Shaking his head, he stared at the connect codes on the console, trying to quell his disappointment. “For what?”
“For finding my father and bringing him here.”
