"Then I hope you make it back to her and that she appreciates what an incredibly rare male you are."
"Incoming!"
Talyn sucked his breath in at Rhys's shout as he moved for a weapon. It was either scavengers or another drone. Not that it mattered. Both groups would be after their blood. And they would kill them if they could.
*
Felicia bit her lip as she called her brother. She'd been debating for days whether or not to do so, but as each one passed with no word from Talyn, she became more worried.
"Commander ezul Terronova."
"Lorens, it's Felicia."
"Hey. What's wrong? You sound really stressed."
"I ... um. I'm sorry to disturb you. I haven't heard from Talyn since he reported for duty at the palace over three weeks ago, and I didn't want to scare his mother needlessly. He hasn't called or e-mailed or texted. And that's not like him. He doesn't do this. I haven't seen hide nor hair of him, and his inboxes are full. He hasn't even called his trainer about missing practice. When I go to the palace, they won't admit me past the gate. They say he's off-world and for me to go home. No one's heard anything, and Erix and I are extremely worried. But when I call his DO, they keep saying it's normal. That he's off on assignment and can't be contacted for security reasons. They promise they'll tell him I called and came by, and yet I never hear back. I wanted to check with you and see if this really is normal."
"Maybe. I know the tahrs has been off-world, and it is SOP to keep the exact details of his whereabouts classified, at all times. But hold on and let me check Talyn's reports and assignments. As you know, he has check-ins he has to make, regardless of his post or AD."
Biting her lip, Felicia waited impatiently while he checked on it. "How are the kids?"
"They're fine. Gavarian and Brach have gone on and on about how much fun they had with you. We're all excited about Talyn's ... son of a bitch!"
"What?"
"You need to call his mother. Fast."
Her heart stopped. "What's going on?"
"They arrested Talyn for treason. He's not off on assignment. He's been exiled and deported."
*
Felicia paced the small palace office with her heart in her throat as she waited for Galene to arrive. The soldier kept eyeing Lorens, who'd driven her over. For something this traumatic, the last thing she'd wanted to do was call Talyn's mother and dump it on her.
She still couldn't believe what Lorens had told her. There was no way Talyn had committed treason. It wasn't possible. He was too much in control of himself at all times.
Galene drew up short as she saw Lorens.
"Commander ezul Terronova." Galene saluted him sharply.
He returned the salute. "Commander Batur."
Looking from him to Felicia, Galene scowled. "What's going on?"
"Have you heard from Talyn?" Felicia asked.
"No. I was told he was off-world and under secure assignment protocols. Why?"
Unsure of how to break the news to her, Felicia glanced to Lorens.
He sighed heavily. "You need to check his duty roster with my pass code."
Galene's frown deepened at Loren's serious tone. "Okay." She moved to the soldier's desk and bumped her off her computer before she allowed Lorens to log in.
Felicia knew the moment Galene saw the report. All the blood faded from her face. Eyes wide, she met their gazes.
"Is this for real?"
Lorens folded his arms over his chest. "It appears to be. I tried to get more information, but I was told--by my own CO, in no uncertain terms--that it wasn't a military matter. It's civil and criminal, and that I should keep my nose out of it if I wanted to maintain my rank."
"When did this happen?" Galene breathed. "Why wasn't I notified?"
"I have no idea."
Tears stung Felicia's eyes. "Because I'm not family, they wouldn't tell me anything. I was hoping you could learn more."
Galene blinked back her own tears as she stared in horror at the report. "Who did you call?" she asked Felicia.
"Talyn's CO. I didn't know who else to try, except you and my brother. Commander ezul Nykyrian refused to discuss it with me."
Her hand shaking, Galene picked up the intercom. "I'm calling the tahrs." She dialed, and waited until his secretary answered. "This is Commander Batur. I would like to talk to Tahrs Jullien about Major Batur. Immediately."
Waiting with bated breath, Felicia toyed with her necklace Talyn had given her.
Galene's face turned bright red. "I see. Is that his last word on the matter?" Her grip tightened on the link. "Thank you." She set the link down and, without a word to them, headed out.
Glancing to Lorens, Felicia followed after her. "What did he say?"
"That it doesn't concern me." She walked with a hurried purpose.
Tears started falling as hopeless despair ripped through her heart. "What do we do, Commander?"
"We go to someone the royal prick can't brush aside so easily."
Felicia sucked her breath in sharply at Galene's brazen words. That, too, could be construed as treason, should the wrong ears hear it.
Galene stopped outside a door and knocked. A moment later, a young servant opened it. "I need to speak with Tizirah Tylie immediately."
"Please come in, Commander." She opened the door and showed them into an elegant sitting room. "I'll notify Her Highness." She vanished through another door.
Felicia wiped at her tears. "Do you think the tizirah will help?"
"I don't know. I can only ask."
Eternity seemed to have passed before Tylie came through the door with the bearing of the royal tadara herself. Her long black hair was braided and coiled elaborately around her head. She wore a sheer red dress that showed her exquisite body off to perfection.
She frowned at the sight of all three of them in her receiving room. "Galene? Is there a problem?"
This time, it was the commander who teared up. "They've arrested my baby, Highness."
Gasping, Tylie reached for Galene's hand. "What? Who?"
"Tahrs Jullien." She sniffed back her tears. "They won't tell me anything. They say he committed treason. But I know my baby and so do you. You know Talyn would never do such a thing. He's always been fiercely loyal to the crown."
Tylie cupped Galene's cheek in her hand. "Breathe, sweetie. Just breathe. We'll get this taken care of immediately. I promise you." The tizirah rubbed Galene's back. "Kelsei!" she called. "I need you to locate Major Batur. Now!"
A secretary appeared instantly from the same room Tylie had been in on their arrival. "Yes, Highness." She quickly typed into the pad she was carrying. "There's nothing anywhere about a Major Batur."
"He was arrested."
The secretary shook her head. "Nothing's showing, Highness. I'm searching everything ... with your codes, even. We have no records for him."
Tylie scowled. "Are you sure about this, Lena?"
She nodded. "I even talked to His Highness's secretary and was told that I should stay out of it."
"Highness," Lorens said, stepping forward. "I've spoken with the tahrs's staff and Commander ezul Nykyrian myself. I know they took Major Batur into custody. But they wouldn't tell me anything more."
Tylie broke off into a list of profanity under her breath. "Come with me." She walked with the same determined stride Galene had used as she crossed the palace and entered another wing.
Without preamble, she threw open a set of doors.
Indignant over her entrance, Tahrs Jullien, who was supposed to be off-world, rose to his feet. The moment he saw the commander, rage darkened his gaze. "What is the meaning of this?"
"You tell me," Tylie demanded. "Where's Major Batur?"
"He's of no concern to you."
"And there you would be wrong, Julie. Where is he?"
"He's part of my staff."
"Really?" Tylie's voice dripped with sarcasm. "You employ felons now? So much for those mandatory background checks, eh?"
"Enough!" Tylie growled. "You will produce him for me, right now, or I'll go to my mother, and you won't like that, I promise you. While you think she loves you, I am her daughter she nurtured at her breast. And if that doesn't scare you as much as it should, I'll put a bug up your mother's ass. Cairie will get him or take it out on you."
Jullien lifted his chin defiantly. "He attacked me."
"Show me the evidence."
"You would defend a felon?"
"You have a history of lying, Jules. Let's not go there. Now I'm sure if the Iron Hammer hit you, you'd have one hell of a bruise. In fact, knowing you, you'd have a medical record for it. So show me the bruise or the write-up from your doctor. Now!"
"Why do you hate me so?"
Tylie glared at him. "I am not playing this with you. You have three seconds to produce the major, or I will rain down a hell-wrath so fierce that the gods themselves will weep for your remains."
His expression sullen, he crossed his arms over his chest. "I can't do that. He was banished by Commander Anatole for assaulting him and Chrisen. And for your information, he was leading a revolt against our family. I have a vid of him threatening us all."
Felicia gasped.
Tylie cursed again under her breath. "What did you do, Jullien?"
"I merely allowed my cousin to punish a traitor. That is my right as tahrs!"
Tylie ignored his outburst. "Where is Talyn?"
"He's on Onoria."
Felicia had never heard of the place, but the look on her brother's, Galene's, and the princess's faces said that it was deplorable.
Tylie winced as she turned back toward Galene. "I'm so sorry, Lena."
Galene appeared to be one wrong word away from assaulting Jullien herself. She faced Tylie. "Highness? If I get him back, will you pardon him?"
"Lena--"
"Please. I know someone who can track him, even there."
"They'll die trying to find him. You know that. It's impossible to retrieve someone from that hellhole. If he's even still alive."
Galene shook her head. "He's alive ... I know it. Will you allow me to send them in?"
Finally, Tylie nodded. "Get him back, and I'll make sure he has a full pardon waiting."
"You can't do that!"
Galene spun on Jullien. "You really need to visit your father for a while, Highness."
Jullien started to speak until Tylie cut him off. "She's right, Jules. Run. Run to Aros."
*
Terrified and frantic, Felicia sat in Galene's elegant palace office while the commander spoke to her friends in The Sentella. Felicia had wanted to go after Talyn herself, but the planet they'd sent him to was so dangerous, and she lacked the training needed to navigate it. Unlike Talyn, climbing wasn't her hobby. And the last thing Felicia wanted was for her inexperience to get in the way of Talyn's rescue or to delay it in any way.
They had to get him home as quickly as possible.
Lorens had been recalled to his post shortly after their arrival here, but had promised to return as soon as he could.
Galene finally rejoined her in the posh sitting area. "They're already en route to his location. We should know something by midday tomorrow."
"Do you think they'll find him?"
Galene bent over to whisper in Felicia's ear, making sure to keep her lips covered so that no one would be able to read them through a monitor. "One of my best friends is a member of The Sentella High Command. She's like a mother to Talyn. Trust me, she'll find him."
No wonder Galene was so cautious with that nugget. While The Sentella was technically a legal military organization, they skimmed the laws of The League and had a lot of enemies in high places.
Including the tadara of Andaria.
Eriadne had issued a death warrant for any member of their High Command. It said a lot for Talyn that he'd never betrayed them. With one word about The Sentella to his CO or Lorens, he could have had any command position he wanted.
Galene patted her arm. "I have full faith that if anyone can find him, Hadrian can."
"Hadrian?" she whispered between clenched teeth.
She lowered her tone again to the faintest of whispers and spoke behind her hand. "He views Talyn as a son. He won't rest until he finds him and returns him to us."
Felicia nodded. She prayed Galene was right. But then Galene loved her son enough that if Hadrian and the others weren't more than competent, she'd never trust them with Talyn's safety.
"What can we do, Commander?"
Galene wrapped her arms around her chest. "Wait for them to do their job." Tears glistened in her eyes. "If Talyn's still alive, they'll find him for us." A single tear slid down her cheek. "Either way, they'll bring him home."
As she whispered a prayer for them all, Felicia's biggest fear was what condition he'd be in when they did.
CHAPTER 15
Jayne Erixour paused as they neared one of the most inhospitable places she'd ever seen--and given some of the shitholes she'd been forced to live in growing up while her father hid from various authorities, criminals, and governments, that said a lot. The more she skimmed from their readings, the more she wanted Jullien eton Anatole's testicles in her fist. This was ridiculous.
What kind of sentient creature would place a boy on a planet like this, alone? Yes, Talyn was a soldier and he was a fierce fighter, but he was barely old enough to shave.
No one should be relegated to this.
Over and over, she saw Talyn as the painfully shy boy he'd been when she first met him. And that did nothing to settle the bloodlust in her heart. Payback for Anatole was coming, and she planned to be the brutal harbinger who shoved it up his arrogant ass.
"Hon?"
She glanced over to her husband. At six foot nine, Hadrian was one of the few men she looked up to, and was the only one she'd ever dated she could actually wear heels with. A warrior of fierce skills, he kept his brown hair cut short around his gorgeous face. And those silvery-blue eyes betrayed his birth race that had been hunted to the brink of extinction. It was why he was more than happy to stay home and voraciously protect their babies from the assholes of the universe, while she risked her life fighting against the very tyrants who'd slaughtered most of Hadrian's family and left him an orphan in hiding. "What is it?"
"Nero wants us to buckle in. We're about to break atmosphere."
Nodding, she pulled at the straps and secured herself. Her thoughts wandered as she glanced between her husband and his older brother, Nero. At first glance, they bore little resemblance to each other--something that had served them both well while Hadrian, unlike Nero, had grown up alone and in relative safety.
With blond hair, Nero was supposedly the spitting image of their father. Hadrian with his darker hair color took after their mother. Because they were two of the last of their hunted species and the sole survivors of their royal house, they were rarely seen together. The risk to each of them was too great.
No one outside of this ship knew Hadrian had lived through the massacre of his family. He'd been barely eighteen months old when they'd been executed. Narrowly escaping that so-called cleansing himself, Nero had hidden Hadrian among loyalists and surrendered himself to his enemies to make sure that his baby brother lived and grew to manhood in total safety.
For that alone, Jayne would have loved and adored Nero. But he was a decent male, with a loyal heart and humorous, dry wit. When Hadrian had called his brother about Talyn, Nero had instantly appeared to help them find him. No questions asked.
But that was how Nero was.
And as a professional tracker, Nero was the best in the Nine Worlds. Not to mention, he and her husband were full-blooded Trisani--some of the last of the full-bloods. A psychic race with skills of unfathomable psionic abilities. It was why their race had been extinguished. Fear and greed. People either wanted to control the Trisani and use their powers for their own petty purposes, or they were too terrified of them to let them live in peace.
Hadrian took her hand into his. "We'll find him, Jaynie. Have no fear."
"I know, baby. I just hope he's still alive."
Hadrian and Nero exchanged a quick glance. "He's alive," Hadrian assured her. "I can feel his life force. But he's ... angry."
She smiled at the one truth of Talyn's character. "Ever full of fight."
Hadrian nodded before he buckled himself in beside her.
Her heart aching, Jayne turned her link on and pulled up the old photo she kept of Talyn from back in the day when he'd been in her class and she'd first met him and Galene. It'd been her first year as a student teacher at Brunelle Academy. Nervous and unsure, she'd kept waiting for someone to recognize her as the daughter of her nefarious father, and throw her out.
Or have her arrested.
But no one had. And as the class had filled with students on that first day, she'd just begun to relax.
Until Talyn had walked in. The moment he did, a fissure of friction permeated the air so thickly that she could have sliced it with a dull spoon.
Only eight years old, he'd held his chin high and walked in alone, unlike the others whose parents had brought them in and helped them to find their seats. Without a word, and acting like a full-grown adult, Talyn had ignored the sneers of the Hyshian students and parents who didn't want an Andarion male in the mix, and had gone to his desk. He'd been so adorable with his caramel skin and bright white eyes. Since his black hair was longer, per Andarion fashion, than the rest of the males in his class, Talyn had worn it under a dark-colored religious Azukarian cap, which he continually tugged at to make sure it didn't expose his hair.
"Gah, why am I stuck with that in my room?"
Jayne had arched her brow at her senior teacher's derision. "Is there a problem?"
She'd jerked her chin in Talyn's direction. "I can't believe the administration allows him to go here. He's no business in this room with our kind. Imagine a universe where they mix freely with us."
By the sudden tenseness of Talyn's jaw and hurt look in his young eyes, she knew he'd heard the older teacher. But rather than call her out, he'd unpacked his bag and kept his gaze on the floor in front of his desk.
Little had the stupid bitch known, Jayne's own grandmother was a full-blooded Andarion. It was why her hair was black and she was so tall. And it'd been just such prejudice that had forced her grandmother from her homeworld and made Jayne's father the angry criminal he was.
Feeling for Talyn and knowing he had to be even more nervous on his first day than the others, Jayne had gone over to him.
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