Hero's End (The Black Wing Chronicles Book 2)

by JC Cassels

  Despite the Delian herbs of the cigarette dampening his senses, he felt apprehension and fear radiating off the other occupants of the lift capsule. His gaze flicked over the scrawny little humanoid male, whose throat spasmed convulsively as he swallowed. The plump Joy Babe at his side eyed him with a mixture of trepidation and contempt.

  He’d been getting that reaction ever since he left the apartment.

  Unshaven, tousled hair, dark sun shades and a well-worn hovercycle jacket, he looked like a street tough.

  After having screaming strangers throwing themselves at him for the past few years, open fear and avoidance were a welcome change of pace.

  “Y-you’re not supposed to smoke in the lift,” the Joy Babe stammered.

  Gaining some sort of twisted amusement from the situation, Blade drew deeply on the cigarette and plucked it from his mouth. He slowly blew out the smoke, watching their reaction.

  The male swallowed again and leaned over to hiss an anxious warning in her ear.

  It wasn’t just another role. He was tired of people fawning all over him, strangers assuming intimacy because he was a public figure.

  A thin ribbon of smoke curled from the glowing end of the cigarette as Blade scratched his stubbled jaw.

  He hadn’t set out to make people nervous. It was just the first time in as long as he could remember that he’d walked out the door without bothering to don any kind of persona.

  “Are you visiting someone in the building?” The male lisped with forced friendliness. His stare nervously darted towards the bags in Blade’s hand and then back up to his face. “Or making a delivery?”

  Blade shifted slightly, parting his jacket and revealing the blaster in its shoulder holster.

  The Joy Babe paled. Her knuckles whitened as she tightened her grip on her client’s arm. The male’s eyes widened and he looked quickly away.

  They rode the rest of the way in silence. When the lift stopped at their floor, they scrambled for the door as if pursued by rabid animals. When the lift resumed its course, amusement tugged at the corners of Blade’s mouth.

  He was being an ass.

  He figured he was due.

  After everything he’d been through lately – with someone trying to kill him, his brother shot, having to torpedo the career he loved, letting Kendall dictate his movements, having responsibility he didn’t want foisted on him, not to mention losing a friend he loved like a father and dealing with a wife driven half-mad by grief – being sociable took a little more effort than he felt like expending.

  The lift doors parted on his floor. He stepped out onto the plush carpeting and took another drag on his cigarette.

  Bo was such a bundle of emotions, he needed to deaden some of his senses before he faced her again. He was still suffering from the last round.

  His com-set signaled and he pulled it out of his pocket. Blade stared at the message from Adin. True to her word, Tese had managed to get the lads into the Imperial Baths. They urged him to join them.

  Hell, he’d gotten himself into a mess, dragging three wannabes along in his wake. What the hell was he thinking? What the hell was he going to do with them?

  Juggling the com-set and the bags, he fished out his keycard and opened the door. He carried the bags straight to the round white dining table and set them carefully down.

  “Chow’s here,” he called out, pulling the cigarette from his mouth.

  Bo descended the staircase like a female coey stalking prey.

  He pulled off his sunshades and tucked them into his jacket. His gaze flicked over her, taking in her choice of attire. His mouth went dry. Maker, they didn’t come sexier than Bo Barron. He didn’t know whether to be turned on or worried.

  His lips twitched.

  What the hell? Why couldn’t he be both?

  “Going somewhere?”

  Her amber eyes flicked over him. “I haven’t decided yet.”

  He nodded towards the pile of food on the table. “Why don’t you come eat first? No sense going out on an empty stomach.”

  “That’s new.” She nodded towards the cigarette in his hand. “When did you take up smoking?”

  “It’s Delian.” He turned and started pulling food containers from the bags and setting them on the table. “It’s a special blend of herbs that help suppress telepathic activity.”

  Bo rounded the table, watching him like she expected him to pounce at any moment.

  “You’re a telepath now?”

  Sarcasm shadowed her tone. Something was wrong.

  “I’m not a telepath. One of the men I brought with me is a Delian.”

  “Your IC security detail?”

  He shook his head. “I ditched them on Cormoran,” he said. “I picked up these three green kids in that shootout. They’re the ones everyone thinks kidnapped me.”

  “Kids?”

  “Well, they’re about your age, I guess,” he said, rubbing his ear. “They just seem a lot younger.” He shrugged. “Civilians.”

  “One of them is a Delian who peddles narcotic cigarettes?”

  He laughed. “They’re not narcotic.” Blade shrugged out of his jacket and tossed it over the back of a chair. “And yes, one of them is a Delian.”

  “Are you planning on keeping them?”

  “The cigarettes?”

  “Your new friends.”

  He shook his head. “Hell, Bo, I don’t know.” He crushed out his cigarette in Adin’s ash plate on the bar.

  Her eyes narrowed. “You’ve been smoking a lot since you got here.”

  He pulled out a chair for her. She hesitated before sliding into the seat.

  “That would be Adin,” he said. “He’s a noble of all things, the son of one of the Delos Oligarchy.”

  “What was he doing in my lounge?”

  Blade studied her face for a long moment. This wasn’t a conversation, it was an interrogation and it was all wrong. He sat down across from her and leaned forward, bracing his forearms on the table.

  “My accounts are frozen, Bo. I didn’t have any way off Cormoran and I didn’t have any way to get to you when I heard about your father. I didn’t have anything to trade but myself. These kids, Adin, Kayne and Phinny, want to be mercs. They have a ship. I said I’d train them if they took me with them. We’d stopped to refuel and take on supplies when I heard about your father. I promised them a trip to the Imperial Baths and a couple of Joy Babes if they brought me here. That’s where they are now. Tese took them.”

  He shook his head. “What’s wrong? You act like you don’t trust me.”

  “I don’t.”

  Honest communication. This is good.

  “Okay,” he said. “Why not?”

  “I need some answers,” she said.

  He pushed a container to her and pulled another from the pile for himself. He dug through one of the bags for the bread. He opened it and broke the soft, round loaf in half, handing one to her.

  “Ask away,” he said. “But I’m going to eat before it gets cold.”

  She opened the container and set the bread beside it. Leaning over, she breathed deeply of the rich aromas from the brown sauce covering the roasted meat and vegetables. Closing her eyes, she savored the moment. With a small sigh, she picked up her utensils and poked at the food.

  “What happened after you left me at the port?”

  He didn’t need to open up to the Sentaro to know that was a sore spot with her.

  “Nearly a season without a word,” she said. “Do you know the hell you put me through?”

  He reached across the table for her hand, but she pulled away.

  “If I wanted to find out where you were or how you were doing, I had to keep up with entertainment reporters.”

  “Chase and I went to Trisdos for a meeting with Andre Marin,” he said.

  She glared at him. “I know that. I was there.”

  Taking a deep breath, he bit back his sharp retort. She was obviously upset about something. Taking the bait and
fighting with her would only cause more problems. He poked at his food.

  “Lord Marin blackmailed me into leaving my acting career.”

  “Blackmailed?”

  He nodded his head. “Yeah. Blackmailed.”

  “What did he use for leverage?”

  “Does it matter?”

  She met his stare, but said nothing.

  “He was going to kill my career one way or another,” Blade said. “He gave me a month to see to my affairs then he said I had to report to Trisdos for permanent reassignment. My security detail had orders to bring me in by force if I didn’t go voluntarily.”

  “And me? What did Lord Marin say about me?”

  “That’s not important.”

  “It is to me.” She pushed away from the table and strode into the lounge.

  He debated following her. He felt like he’d come into the last half of a holofeature and had missed all the vital set-up.

  “A friend of yours stopped by while you were out,” she said. Bo set something down on the table in front of him. “She dropped this off.”

  Blade looked at the data reader beside his plate. “My data reader,” he said. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands. “I’d wondered what happened to this. I haven’t seen this since the flight to Trisdos.”

  Bo stiffened. The energy around her changed, thrumming with a dangerous intensity.

  He looked up at her. “Who did you say brought it?”

  “She said her name is Larianne.”

  Blade’s fist tightened around the data reader. His pulse pounded in his ears. A muscle twitched in his jaw. A warning chill danced down his spine. “Larianne? Are you sure?”

  Bo folded her arms across her chest. An angry spark lit her amber eyes.

  “She said you’d have an interesting reaction to her name.”

  Muttering a curse, he rose and gripped her arms, the data reader still in his hand. “Tell me everything she said to you – every word.”

  With a growl, she knocked his hands away. “That’s not important!” She said, throwing his words back at him.

  “This is not a game, Bo!” He shook the data reader at her. “You don’t know her. You don’t know what she’s capable of.”

  “She seemed to know you pretty well,” she snapped. “Have you slept with her?”

  “Yes.”

  Bo absorbed the blow, but her face grew dangerously pale. Her pupils dilated.

  “It was a long time ago…”

  “So was the trip to Trisdos!”

  He blinked at her. What did one have to do with the other?

  Her gaze dipped to the device clenched in his hand.

  “That’s how she said she got my data reader?” He shook his head. “Bo, that’s a lie.”

  “Is it? Were you ordered to cut me loose or kill me?”

  “I was ordered to cut you loose, but I’m here!”

  “Only because my father is dead and you promised Marin the Black Wing!”

  “How did…?”

  Fury flashed in her eyes. She snatched the data reader from his hand. A holo flickered to life. Blade’s stomach lurched as the damning conversation unfolded. His brow furrowed. There was more to that meeting, wasn’t there? That didn’t sound right.

  “Bo, it’s not what it looks like…”

  “Oh no?” She glared up at him, her amber eyes flashed with fire. “Because it looks like you’ve been playing me! Do you expect me to believe that this was something you came up with on a soundstage on Cormoran?”

  She threw the data reader at him and it hit him in the chest. He juggled it until he finally caught it. Glancing down at it, he absently tucked it into his pocket. He didn’t know what else to do with it.

  “Bo…”

  “You’ve said it yourself time and again: you lie to everyone. Why should I be any different?”

  He searched her face. He’d seen her angry and upset plenty of times, but never like this. This was something new…something dangerous. The glib reply he’d been about to offer withered on his tongue. He cleared his throat and shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He hadn’t felt this out of his depth since he was ten years old and trying to explain to the authorities how he’d obtained a stolen hovercycle.

  “I’ve never lied to you about what really matters,” he said softly.

  “No, you just neglected to tell me that you were ordered to cultivate me as an asset,” she snapped.

  “I did tell you…didn’t I?” He couldn’t remember any more.

  “Was there ever any part of it that was real, Blade? Is there any part of you that’s real? I thought I knew, but…”

  “You know me, Bo,” he said. “I would never…”

  “Apparently I don’t know you. Every time I turn around, you’re going by another alias. It’s not normal for anyone to have that many names… Blade…Dev…Darien…whoever the hell you are. Do you even know who you are?”

  He flinched.

  Did he?

  It was a low blow. Never, in all their time together, had she thrown that in his face…until now. His brow gathered.

  “I’m getting there,” he said.

  The hurt and fear in her eyes tore at his soul. He reached to comfort her, but Bo held up her hands to ward him off and stepped back out of his reach.

  “Don’t touch me!”

  Blade slowly lowered his hands to his sides. His jaw tightened. Every scene he’d ever played ran through his head. None of his training, none of his experience had covered this. His shoulders ached with the effort it took to hold his arms at his sides. An icy kernel of fear formed in the core of his being. He stepped into the breach.

  “What do you want me to say, Bo? Yes. Marin ordered me to cultivate you as an asset. He arranged the Joy Babe contract with your aunt. Going along with it was the only way I could find for us to be together. Being with you is all I want. You’re my wife. I love you.”

  Bo’s eyes narrowed and she glared at him. “Oh, you’re good,” she said. “I’ve been saying that from the moment we met. You are the most accomplished liar I’ve ever had the misfortune to meet. Chase was right. You’re nothing but a sociopath. You wouldn’t know love if it bit you on the ass!”

  Blade clenched his teeth so tightly he felt a muscle twitch in his jaw. “You don’t mean that…” he ground out.

  She laughed. It was a wild, shrill sound, bordering on hysteria. “Don’t I?”

  “After everything I’ve done for you…everything we’ve been through…you’d rather believe that I’ve been playing you? Hell, woman! I defied a direct order from my Sovran, ditched a squad of IC agents with orders to drag me back to Trisdos, and became a fugitive…for you! I could have gone anywhere, but when I found out about your father, I came here because I knew you needed me!”

  “You came here because I’m the commander of the Black Wing!”

  “I don’t give a damn about the Black Wing! I begged your father to take you out of succession!”

  “Well, my father’s dead and he can’t exactly corroborate that for you right now!”

  Blade ran his hands through his hair. “Dammit, woman! How can I get through to you? I have told you every way I know how that I love you! I have done everything I can think of to show you how much and you can’t even say the words back to me! Do you think I haven’t noticed that?”

  “How can I possibly love you? I don’t know who you are! Every word that comes out of your mouth is a lie! Everything you do is designed to manipulate!”

  “I have always been as honest with you as it was in my power to be!”

  “Gain her loyalty, make her trust you, but don’t fall in love with her because she’s expendable! That’s what he said! And you went along with it. You bargained with him. It wasn’t bad enough to be using me as an asset? You had to use me as a bargaining tool, too? Being ordered to seduce me wasn’t enough for you? You didn’t even want me enough to go along with it for that alone. You had to dicker with him for something mor
e?”

  “What are you angry about? That I was ordered to use you as an asset or that I haggled over it?”

  The tears she’d been fighting broke free and rolled down her cheeks. Her lips trembled as she struggled to recover the tattered shreds of her dignity.

  “You are a cold…heartless…ruthless bastard,” she said, her voice hoarse with emotion. “I am through listening to your lies and half-truths. I am not an asset you can play. I am The Barron!”

  “And there it is!” He shook his head. “I wondered how long it would be before you dragged out your title and wrapped yourself in it like some damn martyr’s cloak. Whenever things get too real and you have to come down from your holy tower and mingle with the rest of us, you hide behind your title.”

  “I have a responsibility to my people and I will not allow my emotions to be exploited by a man like you.”

  “A man like me?” he echoed. “What do you mean? A nobody from nowhere? A holofeature actor? Please, Barron, tell me. I’d really like to know what makes you think you’re somehow better than everyone else.”

  “Get out,” she growled.

  Her words hit him like a sonic blast to the solar plexus. Blade blinked at her. She didn’t just order him out. She couldn’t have. He hadn’t had a chance to make her understand.

  “What?”

  Not the best retort, but it was all he could conjure under the circumstances.

  “I said get out!”

  “Bo…”

  “Get out! Get out! Get out!” Her voice rose in a shrill shout. “I never want to see you again!”

  “Bo, this isn’t over,” he said reasonably.

  “Yes, it is!”

  “No, it isn’t. You are my wife, dammit! We’re going to work this out! Whether you like it or not, you are going to have to deal with me.”

  He started for her again, but Bo drew her Capre and leveled it at him.

  He stopped and spread his hands in surrender.

  The energy around them changed and crackled, sending an answering spark shimmering down his spine.

  “No!”

  Her voice was husky with emotion and shook ever so slightly, but the hand on her blaster was steady as fuseform.

  “You take one more step, and I swear by all that’s holy I will end you.”