Part 12 (1/2)

Raw unmitigated fury ignited inside Bastien. Before he could catch himself or think better of it, he slammed the pack down and started for the Trisani, only to have the b.a.s.t.a.r.d throw him against the wall again with his powers.

”Put him down, Thrix!”

Aghast, Thrix glared at the man Bastien was even more convinced was his cousin Jullien. ”You would really spare a snake this treacherous?”

”I didn't do it!” Bastien roared, sick of being accused of something so grisly it gave him nightmares every time he closed his eyes.

Thrix scoffed. ”That's what they all say.”

Jullien exchanged a glance with the woman, who was remaining oddly stoic and silent through all of this chaos. ”I believe him. They never had any real evidence against him, other than the word of his own uncle, who now sits on the throne he inherited after he testified against Bastien. And Bastien's ex-wife, who inherited everything they took from him.”

Thrix laughed bitterly. ”Oh, okay, 'cause the younger son never murders the older one for a throne.”

The expression on the Andarion's face would have made a sane man shrink back in unholy terror.

Obviously Thrix wasn't sane.

Nor did he value his life or b.a.l.l.s.

Jullien curled his lip. ”Yeah, and sometimes the second son just makes a ready-made patsy for others to pin their own crimes on. Because everyone but that second son is smart enough to figure out that when the entire family dies, he's going to be blamed for it. Funny, he's creative and ambitious enough to remove the direct obstacles to his succession, yet doesn't ever consider that in the obvious chain of suspicion, he's suspect number one and that either jail or death is a much more permanent hurdle against his ruling. Yeah, right.... That thought never occurs to him, until it's too late. Now, put him down.”

Oh yeah, that overly defensive explosion about being a second-born royal son had to be from Jullien. Like Bastien, Jullien had been equally screwed over by his family, because they'd both been misjudged by everyone around them.

Bastien hit the ground with a solid thud that was even more painful than the one before it. Son of a ... he was going to feel this for the next few days.

”Really?” Jullien said to Thrix in the same tone an irate parent would use with a petulant toddler.

Thrix smirked. ”You didn't specify 'gentle' as a condition of his release.”

Sighing, Jullien growled in the back of his throat while Bastien pushed himself to his feet to confront them. With an agitated grimace, he started back for the stairs. ”Aksel's office was on the second floor. What we need, if it's still intact, should be up there.” He led them away from Bastien.

Yeah, that's definitely my boy.

And there was one way he knew he could prove that Andarion's real ident.i.ty.

As they left the room, Bastien called out to him. ”Paktu, mi kyzi.”

”Estra, mi pleti.” No sooner had those words been spoken than the Andarion froze as if silently cursing himself for the automatic response that meant, Anytime, my blood.

It was something Jullien had taught him when they were kids and Bastien had been trying to make Jullien feel welcomed and wanted in a palace and family that had made it abundantly clear they all resented his foreign presence there.

Holding the pack that Jullien had given him to his chest, Bastien stayed back from the group as his cousin turned slowly around to face him.

His breathing ragged, Bastien swallowed hard. ”Tell me I'm wrong. But it's you, Julie, isn't it?”

He watched an impressive debate play across his cousin's face. Obviously, Jullien was desperate to deny it with everything he had.

Yet after a long pause, he slowly nodded. ”Yeah.”

Unable to believe that something good had finally happened to either of them, Bastien stared at him as if he were a ghost. Then he laughed and reached out to pull him in for a hug. ”d.a.m.n, if you don't look good, cousin! Running looks much better on you than it does on me. You wear banishment well.”

”You wouldn't have said that two years ago. Trust me.”

Clapping him on the back, Bastien released him. ”Thanks for not cringing when I touched you. Believe me, I know I'm disgusting and it's more than I deserve.”

”It's all good, m'drey.”

Bastien knew better. ”No, it's not. And for what it's worth, which isn't much, I tried to get my father to harbor you after you were cast out. It sickened me how they did you. I'm really sorry.”

Jullien gestured at him. ”I'm sorry for this. What happened to you after I was exiled?”

That was a long story he didn't want to even begin to relive. So he shortened it to the pertinent facts only. ”League. I'm a Ravin. Been running since Barnabas murdered my family and stole our throne.”

Jullien cringed in sympathetic pain. ”I figured you were dead by now.”

”Same here. Thank the G.o.ds for my Gyron Force training.” He narrowed his gaze on the new lean and trim Jullien, who looked like he could take the Iron Hammer in a Ring match, instead of his old foppish cousin who'd relied heavily on his servants for every task. Which probably had included wiping his nose and chin.

This was definitely an improved version. ”So how the h.e.l.l have you survived?”

To become a Tavali officer, no less. That had to be one h.e.l.l of a story there.

Jullien smirked. ”Thank the G.o.ds for Gyron Force training. Had your uncle and father not been such b.a.s.t.a.r.ds those times I visited, I wouldn't have lasted a week on my own.”

Bastien snorted. ”Ain't it a b.i.t.c.h? Barnabas had no idea he was doing us a favor. One I pray I get to return to him by planting my Gyron axe in the center of his skull.”

”Gealrewe!” Jullien clapped him on the back as he finally smiled. ”Well, since you know who I am, you want me to drop you somewhere? Get you off this rock?”

More than Jullien could imagine. But that was only a pipe dream. Sadly, this was where he was safest.

He let out a long, tired sigh. ”Yes-but no. Not unless you know how to pull a League chip out of me.”

”No.” Jullien glanced at his friends.

”Sorry,” the woman said. ”Not a clue.”

Thrix shook his head. ”Beyond my abilities. I could try to do it with my powers, but it's as likely to explode the chip, which could cause internal damage, and depending on where it's located, that could paralyze or kill him.”

Eyes wide at the mere prospect that shriveled his gut, Bastien held his hands up and backed away. ”Rather not chance death. My life sucks enough without a maiming or fatality.”

Thrix nodded. ”Figured you'd feel that way.”

Which made him wonder something about the Trisani ... ”Were you really going to kill me?”

”Had you not been his cousin? Yeah. Still might. If you give me any reason to.” Thrix headed for the stairs with the woman.

”Duly noted.” Bastien opened the pack and ripped into one of the meals as he followed after them. ”So what brings you here. Really?”

Jullien glanced at him over his shoulder. ”Looking for the files Bredeh ran on my family back when he was trying to kill Nyk. I'm hoping I can find something to lead me to my grandmother and the rest of my cousins who've sided with her.”

Interesting ... Nyk, or Nykyrian, was Jullien's twin brother, who was supposed to be dead. From this conversation, Bastien would presume that those old rumors had been right and Grandma must have been the one to put a hit out on Nykyrian all those years ago. Somehow the boy had survived. Made sense, actually. The Andarion queen had killed off most of her family. But why she'd have it in for her own grandkid, he could only imagine.