by May Sage
“I will tell father about each and every one of the males that crosses your room's threshold if you do not call mother right this instant and convince her that you were joking.”
Star was right, their parents did worry about them, and with good cause. They were at the very center of a conflict. The twins had too much sense to let their parents know everything that had occurred outsystem; Hart's handful of imprisonments, the many times when they'd ended up fighting their way through a tricky situation with their fists and their magic. But the senior Alvars were politicians; they'd witnessed plenty of conflicts between countries and states. They had a realistic notion of what a cross-system war looked like.
Somehow, their worries had translated into making their mother wish to see Hart and Star settled down with a handful of kids. Perhaps she wanted to secure grandchildren before it was too late, or she might believe that having a partner might make them take a step back in the war.
She didn't need to be concerned for much longer. The most perilous days were behind them. Their side was winning. Soon, they would take Vratis itself. It was only a matter of time.
In their efforts to ensure their parents didn't worry any more than they needed to, Hart and Star did their best to stick to some form of normalcy. They visited at the end of each summer, when the planet's inhabitants returned to the surface of Ithel, and also for their birthday when they could.
They were celebrating their thirty-first birthday today. Thirty-one. Most Evris lived for sixty to a hundred years. It might be the reason why their parents were becoming insistent. At thirty-one, they'd been wedded for three years; they'd already given birth to the twins.
Hart frowned. The thought of settling down that way had never entered his mind. It wasn't him. It wasn't them. Star liked to get involved in his life, but she was hardly any better. Her bedroom was a revolving door, but he didn't think she'd remained with the same male or female for more than a season. He would have been shocked if she ever announced that she'd found someone she wished to wed.
“Just because our lives aren't following the usual pattern doesn't make them empty, Star. We're building something real. Something as tangible as a litter of children. A legacy that'll last longer.”
Star shrugged. “We're almost done with that. And then what? What's next for you? I know where I'm headed when this is all over. Do you?”
Wherever Kai wants me to go.
He didn't say as much, but she must have heard it loud and clear, because she chuckled.
“You truly are Kai's bitch. Would you even have come to see the parents if he hadn't encouraged it?”
Probably not, although they weren't of much use to Kai right now. The insurgents and Warlord Enlil were way past negotiations. Kai’s ships surrounded Vratis’ systems, there was an embargo limiting the warlord’s resources. When the situation changed, the twins would be notified; they could leave at a moment's notice.
“Maybe I should give up matchmaking you with anyone else; I just need to push you on Kai's lap.”
Hart shuddered at the thought. “I think not.”
Kai was the most dominant male he'd come across in his life. He liked his partners with an edge, but their leader was at another level altogether.
“You have no cause to worry about me, Star. Truly. Now, stop deflecting and just call mother.”
Surprisingly, she complied. Hart paid little attention to Star's conversation through her communicator; his mind had drifted elsewhere, to the subject of all this agitation.
Dara Rexis. Rex.
When he'd inquired about their family over the last three years, hoping to catch a word or two about her, he'd heard somewhere that the old king and his daughters lived in Vratis, in opulence.
The uncle had stayed on Zeru, where he was still holding his position of general and keeping the peace. Whenever factions had risen, attempting to bring back slavery or oppose the mages, Lonar Rexis had been the force to squash it first. Probably not out of sympathy for their cause; he simply didn't want Kai’s people to have cause to pay attention to their insignificant planet again.
But there wasn't so much as a rumor, a word, about the third daughter, or the son, for that matter.
Finding her on his home planet—selling converters, of all things—had been a bit of a shock. Not an entirely pleasant one.
Converters, like many parts, could only legally be traded by authorized distributors, affiliated with the original manufacturers. That she was trading here, in the black-market street, was telling. She was part of the merchant guild, he would have bet on it. The fancy name hid a pack of thieves, mercenaries, and bounty hunters who were only left alone because together, they formed one of the largest forces in the entire galaxy. There were hundreds of thousands of ships in the guild, and millions of members; not even the imperial army could go up against them.
Hart hadn't failed to notice her worn, dry hands, and the fact that she looked pale. From princess to space pirate. Had they reduced her to that? Was it their fault?
It felt like his failure, for surely, if he'd managed to convince her that she would be in no danger three years ago, she wouldn't have fled. He'd been too concerned with lecturing her to think of reassuring her valid concerns.
Dammit.
Part of him wished she'd stayed with her family, idly spending her time lounging on chaises in the Farisles of Vratis with small cocktails in hand.
But something told him that this wasn't her, the female who'd made her way to the dungeons at the eve of war.
She was good people, and they had affected her life, spinning it off its course. Hart was glad to see her alive and relatively well, but all attraction aside, he wanted to—needed to—do more.
He was lord regent of Zeru for now. In two years, the people would vote for their new leader, but they'd kept the planet under a firm grip because of the way the conflict had escalated. He'd volunteered for the post, at the time, to Kai's surprise. “Zeru is too inconsequential to concern yourself with it,” he'd said.
“Perhaps. But I am concerned, nonetheless.”
He'd had an excuse at the ready; the Matlarian guild was his primary focus, and they did use to have a presence on the planet. Ensuring that they didn't return was quintessential, and besides, he could learn a few things about them if he stayed. Hart needn’t justify himself.
Kai had watched him pointedly and shrugged. “Take it if you will.”
Perhaps he could somehow restore her position there; crown her queen, as Kai had suggested so long ago.
“Here we are.”
His attention pulled back to the present, Hart stared wordlessly at the object his sister was pointing to.
One word then crossed his lips. “No.”
Star pouted. “Come on. I want it; it's adorable.”
“I’m not touching that thing. Get someone else to drag it for you.”
“Hart, come on! Look at that little face.”
He looked very hard, giving it all of his attention and attempting to understand the reason why his sister wanted to own the four-balled monkey sitting on its back, legs spread to show off its endowments.
“It's not its face I have a problem with.”
“That's a tereanian monkey, Hart, it’s not his fault if he was born with more balls than you. The artist just represented it realistically.”
He shook his head. “You have the worst taste. Where would you even put it?”
She shrugged. “In our lounge? I know just the spot, under the window.”
Hart repeated himself, more vehemently this time. “No. No way, no how.”
Hart and Star spent the bulk of their time in the insurgent command ship; their respective cabins shared one living room. When she said "the lounge" she meant their lounge, presumably. Star had her own place on Itri but there was no window that Hart could think of in her lounge, so he presumed that she meant to display the monstrosity on the ship.
“I’ll tell you what. You can have it, or you can give me datin
g pointers for the end of the day. I'll listen and take notes.”
The hideous statue remained where it was and Hart only regretted his bargain twice.
But he might have learned a thing or two, reluctantly. He certainly intended to use some of it that evening. Complimenting Dara might potentially work better than scowling at her.
Of course, none of the preparation proved useful, given the fact that, somehow predictably, the female didn’t turn up.
Dammit.
“Cheer up,” his sister said when he came back, brooding, according to her. “You found one female who caught your eye three years ago, and another one now. You may be picky, but I’m sure there’ll be a third eventually.”
Hart knew better than to correct her. If she knew that it had been the same person in 1222, she would have sent bounty hunters to track the poor female throughout the galaxy.
Which didn’t sound like such a terrible idea, come to think of it.
They’d met twice, although there were so many planets, so many systems. The probability of coming across one person without planning on it was so minimal. There wouldn’t be a third time.
Fuck.
Why was he so damn pissed about that?
Eleven
Cold and Focused
The Matlarian guild dated back to the old days, when the Evris had left Tejen, their original world.
Aliens came to invade Tejen in the year 7 before this era. They found more than what they’d bargained for because, although the Evris had no technology to speak of, they had something more powerful: magic. The ability to control energy. After destroying their enemy, they studied the ships left behind.
The first to leave wasn't spoken of. Hart was well schooled; he'd gotten the best education one could get on Ithel and his family had enough funds to own an extensive library. Even then, he didn't know much of her. They called her Darkness, and it was told that after single-handedly killing every alien invader in one devastating blow, she simply hopped on one of their ships and figured out how to take it off planet.
Hart guessed that there was more to the story. He'd been fascinated by Darkness the very first time he read about her as a teenager, but after his power had awoken inside him, she became a real obsession. Not only because she was a mage, but because she was the mage that started it all. The reason their kind was now feared and hunted.
Still, he never found many facts; there were myths, legends, and songs, however.
Darkness settled in their sector, the Ratna Belt. By the year 29 of this era, they were ready to explore the unknown universe and many mages opted to follow the trail of the all-powerful female, calling her their leader.
Most among the leaders of the mage order, the Wise, remained on Tejen, although some decided to explore the universe with the Tejenian contingent. Those built the foundations of the Empire.
At the time, both sides included quite a few mages. Some regular Evris opted to build their own government in a system far removed from the imperial reach, and away from the Ratnarian. At the very core, they'd been moved by a desire to be free of all influence, all constraints. Soon, it became clear that the Matlarians were greedy, cruel, self-important. As they had no one to fear, no one to keep them in line, they terrorized everyone within their reach, enslaving the life forms in their system.
They should have been of no consequence, had they remained far away, but while Matlar was far, their influence had grown over the last twelve hundred years, reaching every part of the galaxy.
Hart wanted them gone from the Ratna Belt. Even if the likes of Enlil disappeared, there would be no peace, no safety for anyone while the slavers, kidnappers, rapists, and scum of Matlar roamed their worlds.
He'd always been passionate about finding them, drawing them into the light, and chasing them from their worlds, but over the next few months, Hart focused on his quest almost obsessively. He desperately needed the distraction.
The first time Dara Rexis had disappeared, he'd been younger, and he hadn't yet understood how rare their instant chemistry was. He'd dismissed her as one pretty girl who'd run from him. Yet in the following years, he'd thought of her more often than he cared to admit. Sometime between age twenty-eight and thirty-one, progressively, he'd grown tired of mindless, faceless sex, too. And then, she'd appeared again. This time, he had a name. An idea of who she was. This time, he recognized the connection for something special, if not unique. Something he wanted to explore. She also saw it, he guessed. It was no doubt what had made her run.
Fuck. How he wanted her. He hadn't lied when he'd told Star that he used to get laid when he felt like it. Their kind were generally not prudes; sex replenished their energy, their very minds. But after seeing her on Ithel, he couldn't even think about fucking anyone. He tried and failed. First, he picked a gorgeous brunette with brown eyes who should have been a perfect substitute, only to discover that he didn't want a substitute. Then, he went for the opposite; a dark skinned, silver haired beauty. She was short and had the most sinful curves, but damn if his body and mind let him do anything about it.
“Fuck,” he swore, frustrated, before going back to work.
Hart usually did his best to be charming, pleasant, but even he recognized that he'd been a nightmare to his crew for a week. He needed to apologize. Perhaps give them some time off, a bonus, or food.
“We're approaching Aremeta, boss,” Alara informed him.
“I know, I'm watching the damn control screen, aren't I?” he barked irritably.
Dammit. It had just come out of his mouth. Maybe he needed to give them time off, a bonus, and food.
“Sorry. I've had a long week. And this trip is important.”
He'd had Aremeta in his line of sight for a long time, but Hart had waited until Kai took Vratis to turn his attention to the planet.
It was time. Their blockade had come to a sudden halt when Enlil's son killed him to put an end to the madness. The son was a bit of an idiot, and a coward at that, but he'd been reasonable enough to see that letting their people starve while they lived in comfort in the warlord's holding wasn't going to end well. Eventually, the people would have stormed the castle and killed them all in their sleep.
Kai was now established on the capital planet. He was warlord. They'd won.
Why didn't it feel that way?
Hart often thought of what his sister had said on Ithel. That he was a robot, a machine without feelings, who only cared about work. Was that what he was? It didn't feel that way. He cared. He cared that Dara Rexis had escaped him. He cared that none of his discreet enquiries had led anywhere. He cared that he didn't even know if she was dead or alive.
Fuck. What was it about her? She was just a regular human who should have had no consequence. A stranger. A blip on his radar. And the one individual who'd most affected him in his entire existence.
He needed his head in the game on Aremeta. He'd jumped in the jaws of the enemy. Now wasn't the time to let his dick—or his heart, if he asked his sister—get the better of him.
After he was done. After he was done with his mission, when the Matlarians were history, he'd just give up on keeping his cards hidden and go to the one person who could help him. He'd fucking just ask Kai to find the female. If anyone could, it was their leader.
“I'm sorry,” he said out loud, to no one in particular. The four members of his crew were all assembled on the command platform of the Stellar. “I've had a lot on my mind recently. That's no excuse for being uncivil. I'll see that I'm in better humor in the future.”
Alara chuckled. “Don't sweat it, boss. You pay us well enough for us to handle you.”
He smiled, grateful for his ever-cheerful captain.
“Do you need us to come with you?” Ora asked. “I can get changed.”
She was wearing the tight, shiny, colorful clothes she liked, but when her presence was requested in her official capacity, she wore a demure black and green uniform that matched Hart's long robes.
Hart shook h
is head. “No need. I'd rather you defend the ship.”
He could take care of his own ass, but experience had taught him that if things went sour, the most important thing was to have a getaway vehicle at the ready.
Alara pulled them out of warp as smoothly as possible; coming off of light speed was always a little bumpy, but she was a great pilot. Above the control screen, a planet appeared in the distance out the windowed opening. It was a large planet, relatively far from the sun, with four asteroid and gas rings surrounding it. No one would have established a colony in such a place if it hadn't been worth its weight in fuel. There were mines all around the globe. Mines worked by slaves and controlled by members of the Matlarian guild, if Hart's research had been accurate.
He needed to confirm his suspicions, check it out for himself, before bringing a report for Kai's attention. That meant using as much subtlety, charm, and cunning as he could muster.
Good thing that Hart Alvar just so happened to be the best politician in the sector, when he wanted to be.
Twelve
Unveiled
The courthouse was practically empty; one judge, a jury composed of a dozen bored males and absolutely no one in the witness stands. Something about the picture didn't sit well with Dara, although she had a hard time putting her fingers on it. It looked...staged, perhaps?
Now wasn't the time to worry about their set-up, though.
“Would you like to submit further evidence, ma'am?” asked the judge.
Dara carried on glaring, remaining silent. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of spelling out what she had to say for the seventh time. There was no point in claiming her innocence; she’d already done so, to no avail. They’d decided that she was guilty and she’d be punished as such if they had their way.
They wouldn’t. Today wasn't about proving her innocence, it was about breaking out of this joint.
