Born of Shadows (39 page)

Chayden passed them both masks that included eye shields. “So long as we’re together, they’ll think wrushed sire here for a shipment and that you two are part of my crew.”

“You’re not wanted here, are you?” Caillen asked before he pulled the mask over his face.

Chayden snorted. “Like that would be a concern given the fact that the two of you are plastered all over the media right now? Please. Don’t insult me.” Then his eyes turned a bit sheepish. “But to answer your question, there is a reason I’m wearing the mask.” And he quickly lifted his cowl to cover his head.

Caillen laughed. “Looking real brave there, pun’kin.”

Chayden made an obscene gesture at him before he led the way off the ship. Desideria kept her head covered as she traveled behind Caillen and in front of Fain. The men walked with that predatorial grace that was unique to soldiers and assassins. The gait of someone who had no doubt they could win any battle or fight.

The collective power sent a shiver over her.

Since it was well after dark, the street traffic was relatively light. Still, every transport gave her pause as she waited for the authorities to be notified and for someone to try and arrest them.

Their luck held as they approached the royal palace. Caillen pulled them to a stop in an alley across the street. Keeping to the shadows, he made sure they were out of sight for the cameras and guards.

“There’s a back way in through the servant entrance.”

Fain arched a brow at Caillen’s words. “You know this how?”

“I crawled through their security while I lived there. I had my father plug most of it, but his head asshole thought he knew better than me, so he left a few holes intact. That one happens to be large enough for me to sneak through.”

Desideria shook her head. “Not without me.”

Caillen paused at her determined tone. “It’ll be faster if I go in alone.”

“You’re wounded and I’ve got as much at stake in this as you do. There’s—”

“Children, rest it,” Chayden snapped. “All of our necks are in the gallows on this one. Caillen, lead. We follow.”

“Yeah, but don’t get used to it,” Fain muttered.

Caillen started to argue, but realized every delay was costing them. “Fine. But keep up and follow exactly in my steps. Otherwise we’ll be seen and I really don’t feel like running away right now.”

He crept along the wall, into the back gardens. There were several dark zones in the surveillance. Part of him was disgusted that they were there after the attempt had been made in this very place on his father’s life, but the other part was grateful since it allowed them to slip inside and make their way to his father’s office.

Caillen paused at the door he’d entered dozens of times to meet withr.

Not wanting to think about it, he cracked it open and slipped inside. Completely dark and empty, it looked just as it had when they’d left for the
Arimanda
. Any minute, he expected to see his dad walk in.

Clenching his teeth against the agony of that thought, he went to the monitors and pulled up the surveillance for the palace. His father had everything wired to this room so that he could monitor it and see what was going on.

It only took a few seconds to locate his father’s advisor. Ironically, he was in the war room and appeared to be reading over some reports. Good. There was very little surveillance there since it was where his father met with military commanders.

Without a word, he led his small group through the servant halls that were hidden. These should be monitored too, but Bogimir and the others had thought it rude and unnecessary.

We have never in our history monitored them. Why should we start doing so now?

Yeah…

Caillen paused outside the hidden war room door to meet Desideria’s gaze. He had no plan on what he was going to say or do once he confronted the advisor.
Oh hell, just wing it
. That was how he flew through his life and he was too old to change his ways now.

He opened the door and snuck inside. His anger rising, he crossed the room silently and nudged the chair. The instant he touched it, the advisor fell out of it and went sprawling into the floor where he landed with a thud.

What the…?

“He’s dead,” Desideria breathed.

Caillen’s gaze narrowed on the trail of blood near the chair. A trail that led to the next room. Instinctively, he moved his hand to his blaster as he followed it.

On the other side he found his uncle.

Equally dead.

Shit.
It’s a setup
. No sooner had that thought gone through his mind than an alarm blared.

Fain cursed as he pulled his own weapon out to cover them. “Move it!”

They could hear guards coming from every direction. Caillen pulled out a blaster for each hand, preparing to make them regret their decision to come after them.

“Meet up back at my ship,” Chayden said before he ran down the hallway alone.

Caillen inclined his head before he grabbed Desideria by the arm and dragged her behind him.

She frowned. “This isn’t splitting up.”

“Yeah, but you don’t know where you are or how to speak or read the language. Do you really want me to leave you to your own means?”

He did have a point. “Fine.”

Caillen led her to the guard station where there were several transports parked. Bypassing the guards who were patrolling the area, he quickly commandeered one, then wired it so that he could “borrow” it to get them back to the hangar. The moment he started the engine, the guards scrambled, shooting at them.

Desideria held her breath as Caillen careened out of the lot and then eluded them. A few minutes later, they were the first ones to reach Chayden’s ship.

Notifying Hauk who was manning the guns about what was happening, Caillen rushed to fire the engines and do the prelim checks as he waited for Fain and Chayden to join them.

She went to eye the hatch so that she could allow Fain and Chayden inside. Glancing back at Caillen, she saw he’d frozen in place as he stared at the small monitor in front of him.

“Desideria?”

“Yes?”

He enhanced what he was looking at and put it up on the main display. “Any idea why Chayden has an entire file on you and your mother? One that dates back decades?”

21

Desideria was so stunned that she didn’t move even to blink until Chayden and Fain had run onto the bridge.

Chayden came to a hesitant stop as he saw what had her transfixed. Even with the mask in place, it was obvious the color drained from his face and panic filled his dark eyes.

Rising to his feet, Caillen drew his blaster and aimed it straight at Chayden’s head.

Fain skidded to a halt as he scowled at them both. “What’s going on?”

Ignoring the question, Chayden held his hands up. “Whoa, buddy. It’s not what you think.”

Caillen moved the setting on his blaster from stun to kill with his thumb. The targeting laser never wavered from Chayden’s forehead.

Never in her life had she seen anyone with a steadier hand. Caillen cut a sexy, fearsome pose as he glared in angry retribution over Chayden’s invasion of her privacy. “It better not be.”

Desideria dragged her gaze away from the screen that held every tiny detail of her life and her mother’s as well as her sisters’ to Chayden. “Why do you have all of that?”

Chayden lowered his cowl and the mask over his face so that she could see the sincerity in his expression. “You’re not going to believe me, I know you won’t, but I swear to the gods I worship that it’s the truth. She’s my mother too.” He gestured toward the files. “Obviously, I’ve been collecting all of—”

“Why?” she asked, interrupting him. “Why would you spy on us like this?”

He didn’t answer until Caillen tightened his grip on the trigger, pulling it back to let him know that he had no qualms about taking his friend’s life if Chayden had betrayed her. “You need to answer, Chay. Now. No lies.”

A tic started in Chayden’s jaw. “I wanted to feel connected to my family even if it was only from a distance. It was stupid, I know. But when you’re alone in the universe, you reach out even when it doesn’t make sense to do it.”

Turmoil filled his eyes as he stared at her. “You have no idea how isolated you feel when your own mother hates you for something you couldn’t help and wants nothing to do with you. You don’t want to crave her or the rest of your family because you know they’ll never accept you, so you stay at a distance and imagine what it would be like if your family could just be normal, even for one nanosecond.” He glanced up at the photo of her mother. “Once I heard she was dead and I realized you weren’t the one who killed her, I pulled the files I had so that I could put together a suspect list. Unfortunately, it’s long—no one should have that many enemies. But knowing our mother, I’m really not surprised.”

Desideria couldn’t breathe as all of those unexpected words slammed into her like fists. That was the absolute last thing she’d expected to hear from him.

There was no way he was her brother…

Was there?

“Bullshit,” Caillen blurted out. “I don’t believe a word of it.”

Chayden inclined his head toward the monitor. “My father’s photo is in there too. Flip through the files and Desideria will know the instant she sees him.”

With his blaster still on Chayden, Caillen stepped away from the con so that she could take his place and scan through the files. The moment she began opening them, she grew even more suspicious. Chayden had every single thing about her family catalogued. Honestly, it was creepy and disconcerting… it definitely reminded her of the dossier an assassin would put together to use against a target. He even had her old test scores from school and her recent promotion. Articles about her mother and private transmissions between her mother and some of her advisors. Everything he’d need to kill them all.

It took several minutes to find a male photograph buried in the multitude of others of her, her mother and sisters. But just as he’d predicted, she knew the minute she’d found his father. There was no doubt whatsoever.

How had she not noticed the similarity before? But the most heartbreaking one was the photo after it…

Chayden had manipulated a picture of her and her sisters so that he was in it too. Pain for him swelled inside her that he’d had to go to such a degree to have a family. She didn’t mention it to Caillen or the others. There was no need to embarrass him. She closed the file.

Her heart pounded as she turned toward Chayden and the reality of his identity slammed into her so hard it was all she could do to breathe. She reached out and lowered Caillen’s arm so that his blaster wasn’t centered on Chayden’s head any longer.

Chayden dropped his hands.

She stared at him in disbelief.

He was her
full
brother.

Her mind whirled as she struggled to put all these new pieces together and the reality of who he was sank in with a force that was dizzying. “I don’t understand.”

“Yes, you do. I’m a male heir. Firstborn and only half Qill. Mom couldn’t afford to have me hanging around lest I bring her legitimacy into question or confuse the chain of inheritance.”

But that wouldn’t make him an heir. Only his daughter would be eligible to rule.

Suddenly she felt stupid. His daughter, should he ever have one, would be able to petition and fight for the throne. Another “non” Qillaq to embarrass her mother and one who would have even less Qillaq blood than she did…

Yeah, it made sense. Her mother would never want the daughter of her son to rule. Her mother wasn’t exactly tolerant of men. Especially those as strong as Chayden. If he’d exhibited any of the predator aura that bled from him now as a child, she could easily see her mother banishing him over it.

Still, she didn’t understand how her brother could end up as a renegade pirate. “How did you become Tavali?”

Sadness tinged his eyes. “I ran away as a kid and was taken in by one of their order. He was the closest thing to a parent I’d ever known. I learned the business from him and carried it on after he died.”

“But why would you run away?”