Part 33 (1/2)
”Who, Cai? Other than yourself?”
Tears fell fast and furiously down his cheeks. ”Kasen was with them! My son and daughter! Shay and Dev were there! d.a.m.n you, Syn, you heartless piece of s.h.i.+t! How can you be so calm? Don't you care?”
His dark eyes filled with rage, Syn went for his throat.
Fain caught the blow that would have left Caillen on the floor, searching for his teeth, had it made contact with him. ”Hey!” He put s.p.a.ce in between them as Chayden moved in to take control of Caillen. ”You need to calm down and remember that everyone grieves differently. Doesn't mean they don't care. You don't judge people in pain, and you d.a.m.n sure don't lash out at them when they've lost what Syn has! There's not a one of us here who hasn't been gutted today. Now get ahold of yourself, Caillen, and breathe. This is not the time for us to turn on each other. We have to stand together now more than ever.”
Caillen wiped at his eyes as Chayden pulled him into his arms to comfort him. Honestly, Fain was amazed at how well Chayden was holding together given how much he wors.h.i.+ped his sister and niece and nephew who'd been lost. ”Don't worry, brother,” he whispered against Caillen's head. ”We're going to tear them to pieces. For Vashe and Lil and Des.” He finally broke on a sob as he said his sister's name.
Fain turned toward Syn, who was as stoic as Nykyrian. But then they had no choice. Death had always been a brutal part of their lives, and especially for Syn. ”You all right?”
Syn gave a slow, subtle shake of his dark head. ”I just had my heart ripped out and fed to me. Of course I'm not okay.” He pa.s.sed a look to Nykyrian that if Fain didn't know better, he'd swear they were two Trisani speaking with telepathy.
Then again, they'd been friends for so long, the two of them could read each other's minds. And in this, they were united in malice.
Justice was all about making two bodies where only one had been. Kill them all and let the G.o.ds sort it out.
With a cold-blooded snarl, Nykyrian met Galene's gaze. ”Jullien in charge of the attack?”
”No. Nothing's been mentioned about him. Your grandmother has resumed the throne and is returning Andarion allegiance to The League. Amba.s.sador Dane notified us that Emperor Cruel's brother Drakari has been voted in by the CDS, and he's preparing a retaliatory strike as soon as he can muster one.”
Jayne rubbed Nykyrian's arm to comfort him as Morra and Qory joined their group. ”Eriadne and Kyr are demanding you surrender to them immediately for a public execution.”
Nykyrian actually let out a chilling laugh. ”Eriadne should know by now how hard I am to kill. The b.i.t.c.h doesn't have an army that large.” Without a word, he walked back toward the hangar. ”Fuel my s.h.i.+p,” he called to one of the workers. ”I want to launch immediately.”
Dancer ran after him. ”Nykyrian? What are you planning?”
He turned on him with a snarl. ”Nykyrian's dead. This is about Nemesis rising to strike down the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who dared to take what I love. And I'm going to shove it down his throat right before I put him out of all our miseries.”
”Wait!” Safir shouted as he let go of Maris to follow after Nykyrian. ”Kyr didn't do this.”
Nykyrian turned toward him with an arched brow. ”Explain.”
”Don't get me wrong. My brother's guilty of a lot of malice and cruelty.” He gestured toward his bruised and battered face that was still healing from the round of torture he'd suffered at Kyr's own hands. His brother had even sheared off Saf's long black hair an act of disgrace for an a.s.sa.s.sin, and done for no other purpose than to shame Safir, who'd been one of the League's best a.s.sa.s.sins. And all because Saf had refused to kill Maris, and had helped his brother escape Kyr's troops by allowing Maris to use him as a human s.h.i.+eld rather than murder Maris in cold blood. ”But I know he's not responsible for attacking the palace.”
”Yeah, right.” Syn narrowed his gaze. ”What makes you so sure about that?”
”The children.” Safir glanced to Maris, who was finally starting to calm down. ”You've always wanted to know what made him change that summer when he was seventeen... His wife and daughter were brutally slaughtered.”
Maris wiped at his eyes. ”He was never married.”
”Yes, he was. You can ask Zander if you don't believe me. He's the one who told me the story a few months ago. It's why Kyr a.s.saulted you so vehemently at your wedding to Tams. In his mind, you were callously throwing away what he'd been denied.”
Maris scowled. ”I don't understand.”
”She wasn't of n.o.ble birth or Naglfari. A common foreigner Kyr met and fell in love with. He wors.h.i.+ped her, but because Kyr was heir, Father refused to allow him to marry her and betrothed Kyr to another female. One of our own. Kyr balked and joined The League to get away from Phrixus and Father's dictates. Father was furious, and to punish him, he had Kyr moved from the League armada that he'd joined to a.s.sa.s.sin training as punishment so that Kyr wouldn't be able to marry anyone at all. What Father didn't know was that Kyr had already married the woman, and that she was pregnant with his child. About a year later, Huwin Quiakides found out about the marriage and ordered his wife and child killed, per League dictates. Kyr was on a link with her, trying to get to her to save her, when she died. He heard everything. And it destroyed him.”
Nykyrian cursed under his breath. ”That's why he turned psychotic when I took the warrant on my father and killed him.”
Saf nodded. ”He wanted the kill himself. It's also why he has never once, as prime commander, ordered the death of any child. Think about it.” He looked to Maris. ”It's why Terek wasn't killed when his mother was. Why the League a.s.sa.s.sins left your son in his crib, safe and unharmed. Kyr made it clear that if any of us touched a child, he would slaughter us where we stood.” He turned back to Nykyrian. ”He trained you. You know how he thinks. What his policies are. Better than anyone.”
Sumi let out a nervous laugh. ”It's why he never harmed Kalea. He threatened it, but I had the best of care until I delivered her. My training didn't begin until after Kyr had been a.s.sured I was fully healed and physically able to endure it.”
Nykyrian glanced away as a tic started in his jaw. ”Yeah, I would call bulls.h.i.+t, but that actually explains some of the stranger things I saw him do when I was in The League with him. Still, it changes nothing.” Closing his eyes, he visibly struggled with his anger and guilt.
Jayne tried to hug him.
He gently moved away from her side. ”I don't want comfort, Jayne. There's nothing inside me right now, except the need to make that b.i.t.c.h who birthed my mother, and anyone who had a hand in this, bleed out of every orifice.”
Caillen wiped at his tears with the back of his hand. ”Are we sure there are no survivors? Desi's tough. Shahara even more so. They had VIK with them. They could have-”
”Eriadne wouldn't have left a survivor. She callously served poison to her own brother and his kids, and watched them eat it and die in front of her. She kept my mother in a drugged stupor for almost half her life and handed me over to humans to torture and kill when I was just a child. That b.i.t.c.h has no semblance of a soul... Dammit, I should have never left.” Throwing his head back, Nyk bellowed with rage.
With tears in his eyes, Syn growled low in his throat. ”I give them credit. They found a way to make sure none of us have a clear head for battle.”
Nykyrian scoffed. ”What she underestimated was our combined determination. We won't be burning the queen in effigy. She's the one we'll set fire to on the lawn of the palace grounds.” His features even grimmer than normal, he started for the command center.
”Tahrs?”
They all hesitated at the unfamiliar sultry feminine voice.
Fain scowled as he saw the last thing he expected. A Gorturnum contingency.
And not just any group.
He knew by the female's Canting that this was Trajen's right hand. Vice Admiral Ushara Altaan. A female whose personal motto was to never go to bed angry, but rather stay up and plot revenge. While no one had any idea what she really looked like beneath her Tavali mask and heavy war-paint makeup, they all knew what happened to those who crossed her.
A closed-casket funeral, provided your loved ones were lucky enough to find some bone fragments or skin cells to run through a DNA scanner to identify your remains.
Dressed in typical Tavali gear, she wore a black-on-black tight leather battlesuit that hugged an extremely pregnant body. One that appeared four, maybe five months past her due date which was doubly shocking since her last known husband had been brutally slaughtered years ago, and no male had been brave enough to go near her since.
Her face was painted stark white with thick, bold stripes beginning below her eyes and nose in sharp geometrical angles gold, electric blue, metallic purple, and then three thin red lines in a distinct pattern of some ancient Andarion lineage Fain didn't recognize. That, along with her silvery-white eyes, height, and the hint of fangs when she spoke betrayed her Andarion heritage, but like Nykyrian and in total contradiction of their species, she had snow-white hair.
Nykyrian drew a ragged breath. ”Admiral, this is a really bad time.”
”I know, Highness, but really, you and your friends want to speak with me. Immediately and in private. I'm afraid I have to insist.”
When Nykyrian started for the commcen, she recklessly stopped him.
”Again, Tahrs, I insist, and I'd rather we speak aboard my s.h.i.+p where I know we can't be overheard by a spy.”
They exchanged puzzled frowns before Nykyrian finally agreed. Curious, they followed her toward her vessel.
Fain glanced around as more Gorturnum landed in the station. Venik was getting a full house. Something that would make him really cranky. Even though he'd agreed to it, he never played well with others. And he really hated when the other Nations ventured into his territory.
He also noted how nervous Galene was with Ushara's arrival.
”You said you didn't really know her?” she whispered to him.
”Yeah. No idea what this is about.”