“They flanked the Landauns, allowing us to escape. My greatest wish was to have fought at your side, among your warriors as a sworn ally. That day my wish was fulfilled, if only for a few hours.”
I was speechless. It seemed Griffin was too, as he simply stood glaring at the woman. Her honesty was irrelevant to my captain; he saw only a member of the House of Talis. Our betrayers.
“And where are those who fought with you?”
She gave me a slow smile. “Around. Some settled on other planets. Some are earning their living as I do, as a mercenary. Others have been… strategically placed.”
“You are still a unit?” Griffin sounded somewhat intrigued.
“All my soldiers are on standby.”
“For what?” I asked.
She looked at me steadily. “For the return of the Dayspring. We’ve been waiting for you, King Helios. Your return will not be easy or safe. You are different than you were then, but I watched you the other day. You are different, but still yourself. I offer my services and those of my team.”
I felt I’d been punched in the gut. Even Griffin let out a whoosh of breath.
“How many? And what is your training?” All his attention was on her now.
She answered him, and in that moment, a frisson of understanding settled between those two. She might be the enemy, she might be royalty, but they understood each other. They served a common purpose. They were soldiers, both sworn—to me. Panic rattled in my chest.
“We are down to seventy-five men and women in the field, all fully trained in blade, hand-to-hand, and energy beam weaponry. I don’t have the military background that you do, Captain, but we took a page from the book of this one.” She nodded at me. I just kept my mouth shut.
“We survived largely by adopting guerilla tactics. I can have a private guard of at least seven meet us within a week. The others will take longer to recall. Some I’d prefer to leave in their current positions.”
“Spies?”
Carlotta nodded. “They are observing the Landauns and pursuing a few surviving traitors.” I got the feeling those traitors would never see trial.
“Griffin, shouldn’t we take this conversation elsewhere?” I was feeling a bit itchy standing in the access corridor of the space station, discussing what amounted to state secrets. If I was the missing heir to the kingdom of the Astrum, Carlotta was the heir to the throne of Talis. We were a very dangerous pair.
“Can I give you two a word of advice?”
We looked across the hall at where Carlotta casually leaned against the wall.
“Get your stuff and get out. Tomas will be… incapacitated for a while, but he’s certain you have more candar, or at least information about where he can access it. I’m not sure he believed your story about it being part of your royal treasury.” She crossed her arms, one hand on the handle of a blaster she’d hidden. She’d managed to smuggle an energy weapon onto the station. Very clever.
“You didn’t buy the story either,” I said.
She gave me a small, rather sad smile. “My father made it his business to know as much as possible about your kingdom. I don’t recall him speaking about crystal candar. Your treasury consisted mostly of precious metals. I assume you acquired the gemstones elsewhere. They’re uncut roughs, so you must have gotten them near the source, before they came under the control of the cartels. If you have more, the two of you are in over your heads. You need to get off this station.”
“We need to leave soon anyway. Can you meet us at our cruiser? It seems we have much to discuss.” Griffin paused. “And you’re hired.”
My heart dropped just a bit at Griffin’s words. I knew we’d have to leave eventually but had hoped for more time. Alone.
They exchanged information while I stifled my disappointment. I’d cherished the hours on the station with Griffin, falling asleep with him at my side and waking in his arms. My mind flinched away from the days ahead. Ignorance gave me a certain measure of comfort. Once my memories returned, who would I be? Would my feelings change toward Griffin?
Would I be any more worthy to step up, to offer myself to the people who might wish me to be their king?
These thoughts kept me occupied as we returned to the room and quickly packed our belongings.
We were both uncomfortably aware of the precious stones in our possession. They represented hope but also held the potential for disaster. The case felt much heavier now than it had just one day ago.
Griffin fastened the case he’d been packing. “I’ll be hearing from the council soon. They’ll want to know why I haven’t sold all the material.”
“Tell them there’s been an unexpected development and that you’re returning early.”
“They don’t understand, Lio. They don’t understand that we now live in a world that is so much larger, so much more dangerous than anything we knew at home.”
We took the elevator down and checked out of the hotel. I turned and looked at the subtly luxurious lobby. I wanted to go back upstairs. I wanted to stay there and never leave. We had the stones—
But no. I couldn’t. I couldn’t hide from what waited for me. I didn’t want to be like my uncle.
When… if I became king, I didn’t want to be that sort of ruler. I wanted to know what and who was out there. I didn’t want to look to the sky and believe the universe revolved around our little planet, our tiny sun. That might have been the way of my uncle, but it was not my way.
I’d traveled among the stars. I no longer worshipped the sun.
AFTER BOARDING a lift, we were silent until we entered the docks and boarded the Aida. As the access door swung closed, I released a sigh of relief. Even then, we didn’t speak until Griffin completed a security scan.
I quickly unpacked and then stepped to the doorway of the bridge. “Do you trust her, Griffin?”
He’d started a systems check, moving from screen to screen as he spoke.
“Trust is always a gamble, Lio. How do you feel about her?”
“God, Grif, I have no memory of her. There’s no proof that what she’s saying is true. But we could use her.”
“We could use her mercenaries.” He swiveled his seat to face me. Under the cool light of the bridge, the hard planes of his face were set off in high contrast; the black eye patch looked like a pit in his face. “I do recognize her from the visits between kingdoms. Your wife… Cloris….” He broke off and sighed. “Cloris was from their kingdom. She was accused of leaking information about us to Carlotta’s father.”
“My wife was a spy?” Why didn’t that surprise me? Was that knowledge there in my memory, waiting to be rediscovered? There was a greater surprise to come.
“Helios, Carlotta was Cloris’s younger sister. She was your sister-in-law.”
All right, now I’d officially reached the “too much information” point. My brain simply didn’t want to continue to process that much intrigue. I couldn’t connect the brazen bodyguard with the mother of my son. Predictably, the muscles of my entire body went heavy and weak, and my thoughts grew hazy.
“Helios…. Lio!” A slight shake on my shoulder brought me about. I looked at Griffin. He looked slightly panicked. “She’s on her way. You need to pull it together. We need to make this decision, and now.”
I didn’t think; I simply reacted.
“We need her.”
“That’s your instinct?”
I nodded. “When I think, I get fuzzy. When I ask the question, the answer is yes.”
He looked steadily at me. “I trust your instincts. You need to trust them as well.”
I rose and headed back to the small cabins. “I’ll get Markus’s cabin cleared out. I won’t be needing it anyway.”
The look he gave me was hot, and even as my heart accelerated, my cock expressed its interest in my wayward thoughts. There wouldn’t be time for sex anytime soon. I’d have to hang on to my few memories of my time with Griffin and hope they would carry me through.
Chapter
Eleven
CARLOTTA DIDN’T come.
As Helios watched my every movement, I prepped the ship, checked the systems, and did all the routine tasks I’d done hundreds of times before. The mundane activity was familiar and comforting, and as always, it soothed my nerves. Arrivals and departures forced me to rely on the navigation settings. I’d far rather use my eyesight, but with only one eye, those days were past. If we belonged to the Coalition of Planets, I’d be stripped of my pilot’s license and be demoted to navigation if I was caught relying on visual piloting. As of now, they hadn’t accepted our application because our leadership was in shambles and our future uncertain.
We’d received substantial assistance from the Somian and the Vash, but they were only two of many Coalition members and often outvoted by the others. So for now, my precarious seat in the pilot’s chair was safe. But I was sorely missing a copilot. Even if Markus had been a traitor, he’d never failed to get us smoothly in and out of every port we’d encountered over the years.
I’d train Helios to fly, but once we were home, it was unlikely he’d be traveling much. I’d seen enough there to know we were in trouble. There was far too much to do planetside.
Helios returned to pacing the ship. He’d moved his few belongings into my room, which made me grin at my own reflection in the display. We were still weeks from home and in AD space, we’d have time to—
Damn. He wasn’t mine. And the more we flirted and made love and tightened the bonds between us, the harder it would hurt to lose him, because one way or another, I would lose him.
I’d lose him to the people who needed him so desperately. His family. The council. They’d be having collective hysterical fits if they realized the two of us were lovers.
Again.
Our society didn’t look down on most relationships, whether same sex or multipartnered, but it wasn’t the same for the Daysprings. The royals had different rules. One of those rules was to procreate and now that the family was decimated, they’d look to Helios to marry and fill the royal nursery. Besides, Helios adored children. He’d been a loving father to Alex, a fond uncle, and delighted at the birth of my daughters. He’d want more children. He deserved the things that gave him joy.
I turned in my chair just as he stepped in the door. I rose and took the three steps it took to reach his side and stood before him, seeing the hint of worry on this face.
“Lio?”
“Carlotta’s not here.” He looked past me, his gaze full of worry. “I have a feeling she’s not the sort to be late.”
“You’re right,” I said. She wasn’t the sort to be late. There’d been no trap, though I’d been ready for one. We could depart as planned, assume she’d changed her mind. Or that she’d rejoined Tomas. In spite of her father’s treachery, she’d been born royal, with a rigid set of ethics regarding personal behavior. She’d said she’d join us. If she hadn’t lied, she was in trouble.
“I’ll go up-station and look for her.”
“Hang on, I’ll get my—”
I grabbed his arm. “You’ll stay here.” It was an order and I hated myself. His eyes went oddly flat, and then full of resentment. He lifted his chin pugnaciously, but I could see the slightly vague expression that fell over his face when the chip triggered his compliance. And then I saw anger.
“No.” The word came between gritted teeth. “No. I will not remain here.”
“You will,” I growled. “It is my wish.”
He stepped back, staggering slightly, and I felt sick. Sick enough to vomit. He was battling the compulsion, and fuck! I couldn’t have him going into some sort of crisis state when I might have to fight. But he wasn’t ready. He could easily get killed if there was trouble.
“You’ll go to our cabin, Lio. Lay down. Rest. I’ll be back soon.”
The sclera around his eyes began to redden, the veins shivering red over white. My heart stuttered to a halt, and I waited to see if he would bleed. He didn’t. In a moment, his eyes cleared and he turned, returning to our cabin. He didn’t speak. He didn’t look back.
I clenched my fist. Pressed it against the leather of my eye patch and ground down, gritting my teeth against the pain.
It was pain I deserved.
“I’m sorry, Helios. I can’t put you in danger.”
I waited for him to reply, but he didn’t. So I left the cockpit, walking steadily down the corridor, down the ramp to the aft exit, where a powerful magnetic pulse secured the ship to the narrow dock. I put one foot in front of the other, retracing the path we’d taken earlier.
Where to look? I didn’t know where her quarters were. But I could find out where Tomas was housed, and I was betting that for better or worse, that’s where I needed to look.
The docks were oddly silent. Most of the ships were locked down for the night cycle. I heard little more than the sound of my own footsteps, and—
And something. Maybe someone, silent and stealthy, hiding out of my sight. I heard nothing and saw nothing, but I tasted their presence on my tongue—along my skin.
I looked behind me, and all was clear. With my back to the wall, I called the lift, but it was far, far at the top of the station. Impatiently, I pushed away from the wall and circled around to the large freight elevator. It was coming down, express.
And then that something that makes me turn my head just as an attacker comes at my blind side kicked in. Instinct. I threw myself backward, hitting the curved wall as the door of the passenger elevator burst open and a mass of bodies spilled out the door. Metal clanged on metal, curses echoed through the open corridor, and I saw a flash of red in the midst of a tangle of bodies.
The red was not blood.
Well… some of it was blood. But mostly it was Carlotta in her red suit, with the side seam ripped open to her hip, the jacket gaping, a jet-black knife tucked into a sheath under a bra strap. She had a blade in one hand, a wicked-looking baton in the other. I leapt into the fray, turning my blind side to the wall and working at the edge of the human knot, throwing swings, clasping my large knife in my left hand, striking upward with the blunt end of the pommel. A crack to the jaw made a scraggly ruffian hit the floor hard, up into the diaphragm sent another to the floor, curled up and gasping for breath.
I took care not to kill because I didn’t know their intentions.
Carlotta was a fury of movement, kicking, spinning, and slamming unfortunates into the metal walls of the freight docks. She caught my eye and nodded, and I spun to the right, taking down another attacker with a single blow from my fist.
None were professionals. None stood a chance against us, even in a large group. When they were all down, we watched cautiously, catching our breath and letting the adrenaline settle. Other than her torn clothing, Carlotta seemed barely ruffled.
I frowned.
She frowned back.
“Were these Tomas’s people?” I watched one crawl to his knees. With a booted foot, Carlotta pushed him back to the ground.
“Maybe.” She stepped toward me and I bent down, grabbing one unconscious form and tossing him into the open elevator. The door slid closed, then bounced back open as it caught his leg. She grabbed one by the strap of his cover-all and dragged him onto the lift.
She straightened as I pulled in another. “I can’t believe he’d hire such incompetent fools.” With one foot, she pushed in a protruding foot and programmed the lift to express to the penthouse level. By the time they reached that level, the men would be recovering consciousness. “Not one got in a serious blow. They came onto the lift at different floors. I wasn’t suspicious until the third came on. Then they jumped me.”
She brushed at her suit. “Damn. I left my travel case in the lift.” She sighed, and I knew the feeling. I unloaded more and more property with every journey, every hunt. Though this time, I was bringing home riches.
“Is there anything you can’t do without?” I started walking, and she smoothly moved to my right. She was covering my blind side.
&nb
sp; “No, I actually sent my larger case down earlier. It’ll be at the freight drop near the Aida.” Our steps were muffled on the dock, and then rang out as we stepped off the heavy, rubberized carpeting onto the metal walkways.
Behind us, I heard the freight elevator arrive. We looked at each other, then spun back toward the lifts.
They came through the doors smoothly, quietly.
“I guess maybe the others were a diversion,” she said.
The walkway was a bad place to make a stand. A smooth, curved wall rose to one side, rails to the other. There was barely space to stand shoulder to shoulder. I heard the smooth sound of steel on steel and glanced down to see Carlotta palming a slender, wicked blade in her right hand. She held a small energy blaster in her left hand.
I drew the short broadsword I’d worn snugly sheathed at my side.
“To the ship or forward?” she asked.
We might be able to outrun them. I counted six well-armed men in similar uniforms. Black bodysuits, slender blades, protection at chest and belly, throat and joints. That would slow them down. We could run.
One tall male stepped up, a long blaster cradled in his arms.
“Fuck,” Carlotta gasped as the rail to her left sparked and melted.
No running. Well, not backward, anyway. We moved as one. I plowed into the front line of the formation, slamming the weapon from the fighter’s hand while Carlotta swung her blade, taking someone’s arm, blasting into the tightly formed group.
We fought silently, grimly, with bodies and blades, kicking, striking, and slicing. I swung to my right, always to my right, blindly striking at unseen foes, grunting with satisfaction as metal bit flesh. Three were down, then four. Five. I’d lost number six, and turned right again in time to see Carlotta bring her blade up under the belly armor of the tall man, dragging him down, kicking him to jerk the knife free.
Again, we stood surrounded by bodies, but this time we were in the company of the dead. Carlotta’s neat braid was tattered; the red of blood darkened the red of her suit. I saw a clean slash on her shoulder, a bruise on her jaw. I felt the burn of a deep cut just above my hip. An energy burn seared my thigh.
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