Ascension Saga, Book 6: Interstellar Brides®: Ascension Saga

by Goodwin, Grace

  “No. Open them, love. Say it again. Look at me and say it again.”

  I couldn’t deny him, the words a joy as they sprang from my lips. I stared into his eyes and hid nothing. Squeezed my pussy and clenched him, held him deep. “I love you, Thordis Jax. I love you and I’m never letting you go.”

  He didn’t move, not an inch, but an orgasm rocked through him when I spoke. I felt the hot spurt of his seed as he came. He held my gaze as he emptied into me, as his body claimed mine. We were one now. No more questions. No more uncertainty.

  “I love you, Faith. I don’t care if you’re a princess or a maid, you’re mine.”

  Amen to that.

  6

  Faith, Transport Center

  The EMV slid to a stop in front of one of the small, public transport stations and Thor’s grip on my hand tightened. Or maybe my hold on him. A few hours ago I’d been in bed with Thor, wrapped in his arms. Warm. Safe. Loved. The queen’s guard reported that Lord Wyse had been captured that evening and I’d been content. Happier than I could remember being since before our mother had been kidnapped and we’d left Earth behind.

  But then the knock on our bedroom door two hours ago ruined everything. Trinity stood on the other side, her eyes dark and tormented. I’d known before she opened her mouth that something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

  Lord Wyse wanted to make a deal, our mother’s location for his life.

  And Trinity, being the analytical hardass I loved, had agreed, placing our mother’s life above the need for vengeance. I admired her strength but wasn’t sure I could have made the same choice. Perhaps that was her Aleran blood.

  No. It was my father’s influence, Trinity’s stepfather, and their shared study of the law. Her discipline. Perhaps she’d been shaped by the knowledge that one day, she would be a queen. That hard choices would be an inescapable part of her future life.

  But then, I’d seen Lord and Lady Jax die before me, witnessed my mate’s agony over that loss. Lord Wyse had tried to kill me, my sisters, and had hurt Thor in a way that would never be fully mended. The fact that Lord Wyse helped kidnap my mother was just the icing on the cake.

  I remembered Lord Wyse well, the interrogation, his readiness to drag me to some secret cell to probably torture answers out of me. And kill me, never to be seen again. Never to be known as a princess.

  I’d felt the intensity of his intentions, the almost… eagerness to destroy the royal line. And take over.

  Trinity had met him as well, but she hadn’t been his prisoner, barely escaping his clutches. She’d seen his lies, his falsehood. And Thor had known him since he was a boy. God, Wyse had been trying to take over the throne for almost thirty years—that we knew of—and wore his evil like a coat. I had to wonder if, after so long, he now believed his own lies and justifications for his actions.

  Of course, he did.

  He was the man behind Lady Jax turning against the queen. The man who had ordered her to send Zel to kill my sister. The man who had made Thor’s mother so insane that rather than see her son happy, she’d been so hungry for power, she’d tried to kill me.

  She’d killed her own mate instead. Lord Jax had been an innocent in all this and was now dead. The devastation she must have felt, the pain so intense that she’d decided to take her own life rather than live with herself and face her son.

  Still, I could forgive her all that. In her own, twisted way, she’d loved Thor beyond what I would consider healthy. But at least I could understand it. What I could not forgive was the pain I saw every time I looked into my mate’s eyes. The torment ran deep, at the very core of him. I’d lied to the people of Alera to protect him the best I could, but some things only time could heal. He had yet to begin to mourn.

  “You ready?” He spoke to me, his thumb stroking the back of my hand almost absently, as if trying to reassure me, but his gaze was moving rapidly, searching the walkways for anyone who shouldn’t be here. He’d lost his parents; he’d vowed he wouldn’t lose me.

  This was queen’s business, with Nix, Leo and his father arriving ahead of us to secure the prisoner and now waiting for us. There were two queen’s guard standing at the entrance and they waved to our driver, signaling it was safe for us to go inside.

  I took a deep breath, let it out. Knew that it came down to this. Caught, Lord Wyse could tell us where Mom was. We could get her back, get her on the throne. Get Dad here. We could be… free. It could all be fucking over. It was like a soap opera on daytime TV gone bad. Really bad.

  “I’m ready.” I looked from him to my sister, who sat on my opposite side in the back of the large vehicle. Trinity’s normally fair skin was flushed pink with what I had to assume was anger. Eagerness to have this finished, too. I recognized that look. Destiny and I had made her angry on more than one occasion growing up, relentless in our teasing and pranks we liked to play. “Trin?”

  “I want to gut the asshole, not let him go. He killed Thor’s parents in a roundabout way. Zel, too. He put an entire planet in turmoil and killed a king. God, if he hadn’t gone after her all those years ago, my dad might still be alive.” The display of rage was rare. She was the lawyer. Due process and all that legal jargon she and my dad liked to debate for hours when we’d been back on Earth.

  “And I wouldn’t be born. Destiny, either. Trin, you can’t play the ‘what if’ game. Let’s get him, get Mom back. He’s our only link to her.”

  I think I heard her growl. “I know. But I still hate it.”

  “We do not need to honor the bargain,” Thor said, his voice cold. Resolute. “He does not have to be transported off Alera and given his freedom. Once we have the information on your mother’s location, we can detain him. Just in case. Fuck, I say we just kill him. Slowly.” Thor turned away from the window and glanced from me to Trinity with a grave look. Outside the vehicle, a group of guards surrounded the EMV. Any moment, they would open our doors and escort us inside. I felt safe, if a bit smothered, but we were seeking out a traitor and murderer. This wasn’t a visit to an ice cream shop. I guess we’d all get used to it now that we were royal.

  “No. I gave my word. I will not break it.” Trinity’s voice cracked as she spoke, but it was not sadness I saw in her eyes, but more of that barely suppressed rage. “He tells us where Mom is and then he goes into Prime Nial’s custody. Once we have Mom back, he’ll be free to go.”

  I forgot to breathe for a second as her words sank in. “What? When did you contact Prime Nial?”

  The lines around her lips and eyes relaxed as she showed the first signs of anything but the intense worry and anger I’d seen since the moment Thor and I walked out of my suite at the palace. “While you two lovebirds were in the shower. Taking your damn time, by the way.”

  I blushed. I couldn’t help it. Thor chuckled, the sound wholly masculine and very satisfied. I glanced at him, saw him relaxed for the first time since we left the palace. It reassured me to know I was his comfort—and I didn’t just mean because of the really hot sex.

  “I could not allow my mate to go unattended,” he replied. “My new—how do you call it—sister-in-law—was well attended by Leo as well?”

  “Uh-huh. That would be a nun-ya.” Trinity was laughing as the guard opened her door. She stepped out onto the sidewalk and was immediately surrounded by five guards.

  Thor tugged on my hand and I looked at him as he spoke. “What is a nun-ya?”

  I grinned. “It’s Earth slang for ‘none of your business’.”

  Trinity took two steps and looked back into the vehicle at me. “Come on, you two. I think you’ve had enough orgasms to last at least a week. And my mate is inside. I’m eager to see him.”

  “As if he hasn’t been inside you since you got up this morning,” I murmured.

  She turned to me, grinned and winked.

  The guards around her remained stoic and stone-faced, as if they hadn’t just heard every word she said.

  I slid off the seat and joined her on the sidew
alk, Thor right behind me, his hand settling protectively on my hip. I couldn’t look any of the guards in the eye. Good god, did my sister have to be such a pain in the ass? “You sound like Destiny this morning, talking smack.”

  “I never understood her before, all the sarcastic jabs. Now I do.”

  “Yeah, she’s not that tough to figure out. She was born pissed off and eager to torture everyone else.”

  “Exactly.”

  Trinity and I stood toe to toe and I took my opportunity to look at her. Really look. There were lines of worry around her eyes, a thinness to her lips that hadn’t existed back on Earth. But then, I knew I didn’t look the same either. We’d been wide-eyed and innocent when all this started. Blissfully ignorant of anything beyond our little bubble of life. Not outside of our town, our state. Hell, we were on a different planet. Now, I didn’t know what we were. Human. Aleran. Ordinary. Royal.

  Whatever we were, we were in this together. That was all that mattered.

  “Ready?” I asked.

  “You might have to hold me back,” Trinity said, her fists clenching at her sides. “Once I see him. God, I hate him. I already want to scratch his eyes out, rip his balls off and shove them down his throat.”

  “But you made the deal,” I reminded her. “He’s going to get away with murder. Literally murder.” I took her hand. “He had your dad killed.”

  She frowned, glanced away, but then lifted her chin. So resolute. “Yes, he did. And yes, I made a deal. I did it for Mom. She’s still alive and I want her to stay that way.”

  She was so brave, so much stronger than I would ever be. I couldn’t argue with her. She’d lost more than me and yet she was willing to do what she had to in order to get Mom back. I gave her a decisive nod of agreement, for arguing with her would get us nowhere. “For Mom.”

  I laced my arm through hers and looked over my shoulder to make sure Thor was with us. Of course, he was. His hand might have fallen away, but he was there, right next to me, whenever I needed him. “I love you, Thor.”

  I didn’t wait for him to answer me. The words didn’t require a response. I loved him, knew he suffered so much because of Lord Wyse as well. That was all. I pulled Trinity along and we entered the transport center with Thor guarding my back, as I knew he always would.

  Inside, the mood went from fresh air and teasing to a dark quiet that almost tasted bitter on my tongue. The hum of the transport pad could be felt through the soles of my shoes, but I could hear it as well, the faint buzzing making the hair on the back of my neck and arms stand up and pay attention. It was like being in a static-charged clothes dryer.

  Trinity pulled her arm from mine seconds before we entered the main transport area where Leo, Nix and the rest of the guards waited with Lord Wyse.

  I remembered him vividly from when we were in front of the police station. Things were different, for I was no longer in handcuffs and he was the one in custody. It was obvious now; I knew why he had been so reluctant to release me to Thor’s custody that day. He’d said there was no record of me on Alera and probably assumed I was one of the princesses. He’d been so close. Too close.

  Then, he’d worn the uniform of the Inspector Optimi, the formal lines had made him appear stronger, taller, a force to be reckoned with. Now, he wore dull gray pants and a dark green tunic. Simple. Average. His boots were black and well worn. In just a few days, his shoulders had thinned with age, the tunic hanging from his frame outlining the sharp angles and bony bits sticking up on his back and shoulders. His face was overly thin, as if he’d been malnourished or was sick. He looked like hell. Old. Weak.

  Had he been using a ReGen pod or something to hold off some kind of sickness? Or had the stress of the last few days taken a toll on his body?

  How the hell had this old man caused so many problems? Or was this another ruse of his to gain our sympathy, to make us forget what he’d done?

  He bowed low and kept his head lowered as Trinity approached him. He was standing alone and I had no doubt he’d been frisked for weapons, but both Leo and Nix were close enough to take him down before he could lay a finger on my sister, if that was his intention.

  Based on the no nonsense glare coming from Leo, if Wyse tried anything, he was an idiot and would be dead before his body hit the floor. I don’t know how Trinity convinced her mate not to kill Wyse, and I wasn’t sure I agreed with the decision, but if there was a chance we could get Mom back, I would let Trinity make the call.

  Stepping backward, I reached behind me for my mate. Instantly, Thor’s hand closed around mine and he pulled me against him. His heat pressed to my back, the warm strength of him pouring into me. We walked together to the edge of the transport control table where we could hear and see everything, but not be directly involved. I was here to support my sister and find out the truth about our mother.

  After everything he’d done, not just to me and my family, but to Thor as well, Lord Wyse didn’t exist as far as I was concerned. He was dead to me.

  The young Aleran working the transport controls looked up at us, nodding silently before turning back to whatever he was doing. Even though I’d used it to travel from Earth, I had no idea how transport worked. Some super complicated science using wormholes and bending molecules or something. Star Trek writers knew what they were talking about. I assumed he was entering coordinates to send Wyse to Prime Nial as his hands flew over the control panel. No one was paying him any attention, so I didn’t either, watching as my sister stood before Coburt Wyse with a look on her face I’d seen many times.

  It was her no bullshit look. The glare must have been universal because Wyse took a small step away from her, but Nix shoved him forward a bit too hard and the old man fell to his knees before my sister.

  No one offered to help him up.

  “Lord Wyse, I had to work very hard to convince my mate not to kill you,” Trinity told him. “Obviously, I have agreed to your bargain. Tell me where my mother is being held, and by whom, and you will be transported to the Battleship Karter, into the custody of Commander Karter. Once there, they have orders from Prime Nial himself to hold you until my mother has been recovered. Once we confirm the information you give us is truthful, you will be free to go. My one condition is that you never return to Alera. If you do so, you will be executed for treason.”

  The transport floor vibrated beneath my feet, validation of my sister’s words. His transport was imminent, if he just told us what we needed to know. The hair on the back of my neck rose further.

  Coburt Wyse lifted his face to Trinity’s and opened his mouth to speak, but his glaze flicked in my direction, but to my right. His eyes going round with shock. “No!”

  His shout was followed by Wyse raising his arms as if to stop something.

  I turned in time to see the transport officer slapping one hand down on a brightly lit area of the panel in front of him, the other held a space blaster aimed at Lord Wyse.

  The officer raised the weapon and fired.

  Lord Wyse toppled to the floor.

  My body took over. Pure instinct drove me. He may have taken out Wyse, but he wouldn’t hurt anyone else. I’d been completely useless when we’d been attacked in the suite that first night, but not now. Not after I’d been in the citadel and given some… power. I shoved Thor back to give myself room to move even as I kicked the weapon out of the technician’s hand. My leg swung in a wild arc straight out of a Chuck Norris movie. I didn’t even know I was that flexible, but the blaster went flying across the room.

  Whatever button he’d pushed, the entire room crackled with that pre-transport energy. The floor vibrated even more as three men with black masks and black clothing appeared out of thin air on the raised pad.

  They didn’t linger, but immediately moved to attack. It was just like in the apartment suite when we’d first arrived on Alera: bad guys coming out of nowhere to attack, although no one came through the windows. This time.

  Thor jumped on the nearest one to us. I heard
Leo and Nix yelling. Shots being fired with that Buck Rogers ping, ping sound. I couldn’t pay them any attention. I had my own problems, because while the traitor—definitely not a transport technician—in front of me didn’t have his gun any longer, he was twice my size and really, really mad.

  It seemed I’d fucked things up. I wasn’t sure how. Lord Wyse had been shot and a bunch of ninjas appeared with the obvious intent to kill us all. It had been a trap. I had to assume, since Wyse was most likely dead, that he hadn’t been the mastermind of this little clusterfuck. Someone knew of Wyse’s plan to leave the planet, to give us answers.

  The technician had the nerve to grin. He thought he’d won. Yeah, well, it was time to punch that right off his face.

  He took a step toward me and I kicked him again, this time to the inside of his left knee. His stance widened, buckled a bit and I turned my kick into a football style punt right into his crotch.

  He shifted at the last second and I only got the inside of his thigh, which only pissed him off. His right arm came out to punch me, but I feinted to the left, parried the hand and punched him in the side of his ribs. I heard one crack. The action had him leaning in and I took the opportunity to punch him in the face. Once, then again, like Ali or Mike Tyson.

  Jab, cross.

  He stepped back, shook his head as if I’d cleaned his clock. Yeah, fucker. I’m not just a princess; I have serious ninja skills.

  We faced off, and I grinned with a strange satisfaction at his bloodied eye and split lip. I knew I’d blown out his knee and wrecked his ribs, too.

  Frankly, I was surprised he was still standing, ready for more. Maybe he just didn’t like losing to a woman.

  But I wasn’t just any woman, I was royal, and the citadel had given me some kind of magical fighting abilities that I was very, very grateful for at the moment.

  As we paused, gauging each other, I noticed the room was deadly quiet. The floor didn’t vibrate and the electric crackle in the air was gone. I didn’t turn to look, but realized everyone was watching the two of us.