Born of Shadows (44 page)

Outlaw. Scoundrel.

Worthless.

Your problem, Cai, is that you lack all ambition. Really, is this all you want out of your life?
Yeah, Kasen’s voice rang out loud and clear in his head.
“I don’t know how you can be content smuggling hand to mouth all the time.

“You’re just such a waste, little brother.”

<2em" wht="0em" width="27">He was everything a queen was told to avoid. Everything that would taint her reign. Yet his heart belonged to Desideria and there was no denying that one single truth. The only time in his life when he’d felt worth something had been in her arms.

If only he could go back…

Don’t.

He had a mission to complete and once it was done, he’d be an emperor.

That thought made him shudder. But the one thing his real father and Desideria had taught him—noblesse oblige.

Chayden slowed as they neared the opening of the crypt. “Are you sure about leaving? Sanctuary’s a hard thing to give up.”

Caillen scoffed. “You turning craven?”

He narrowed his gaze at Caillen’s emotionless question. “You know better.” Sighing, he shook his head. “You are an idiot, Dagan. But far be it from me to point that out since going back to her means you’d be with my sister and that mere thought disgusts me. All I’ll say is that if I had someone who would fight by my side, I wouldn’t let her go. But that’s just me and I’ve never had anyone worth fighting for. Damned if I’d turn my back on her if I did.”

Caillen was about to go for his throat when all of a sudden his link buzzed. He started to ignore it and engage Chayden more. Until he caught the ID listed.

It was Darling.

Part of him was angry that Darling had lied to him about his father, but the other was still loyal to his friend no matter the aggravation. So he put the link in his ear and activated it. “Dagan here.”

“Hey, drey. We have a little problem.”

His gut knotted. What catastrophe now? “Does the League have our CL?”

“No.” Darling’s tone was completely dry. “That would probably be better.”

Dread consumed him even more. “What then?”

“While your father was about to call a press conference, Desideria’s mother took advantage of the distraction to escape my custody.”

Caillen scowled as he tried to understand what Darling was saying. “My father’s dead.”

Darling sucked his breath in sharply. “Um… Not exactly.”

“What is ‘not exactly’ dead, Darling?”

“Don’t get mad. It’s why I sent Hauk to you instead of coming myself. We wanted to flush out the traitors, so I talked your parents into pretending to be dead long enough for the real traitors to expose themselves. The footage you saw of their supposed assassinations was something I had Syn fake. It was all digital animation.”

He would call him a liar, but he knew exactly how skilleyn was on a computer. There was nothing that man couldn’t do.

Darling cleared his throat before he continued speaking. “I convinced both of them that if their enemies thought they were dead, you two could stay ahead of them long enough for us to find out who’s behind all of this. Her mother caved before your father did, by the way. Said she’d love to test her daughter’s mettle even if it meant throwing her to the wolves. Your dad took a lot of convincing. The last thing he wanted was to see you hunted or hurt.”

Yeah, that sounded like his father.

“Both of them have been with me the entire time. However, I had to stand hard on your father to keep him hidden and safe while you’ve been under fire. Believe me, it was no small feat. That man is wicked insane when it comes to you.”

Caillen glared at Hauk. “Did you know my father was alive?”

Hauk actually blushed.

Damn them for that. “You lied to me?”

Darling let out an irritated breath. “Let’s not argue semantics right now. That’s not important.”

The hell it wasn’t…

“What you need to focus on is that we achieved our objective,” Darling continued—it was a good thing the little bastard was nowhere near him right now or he’d make him limp. “The traitors revealed themselves. The problem is your father found out about your uncle’s murder—”

“Not my fault. I didn’t know he had news access,” Maris said over Darling.

Darling took a second to shush him before he continued. “Your father wanted to call for the press so that he could clear your name before someone killed you for something you didn’t do. While I was locking him in his room, Desideria’s mother took off on her own. She wants the blood of her sister and niece over this treachery, and she won’t stop until she has it.”

Caillen’s concern for his father’s safety far outweighed his anger and irritation over their deceit. That familiar battle calm settled over him. “Where’s my father?”

“Nykyrian’s palace, surrounded by security. I couldn’t think of anywhere safer.”

He was right about that. Since Nykyrian’s wife and children were there, that place was without a doubt the most secured building in existence.

“And Desideria’s mother?”

“Commandeered a ship out of the hangar. Since she was leaving and not coming in, security didn’t realize they’d screwed up until after she was gone. I hacked her flight plan and she’s headed straight to Exeter, no doubt to execute her sister and niece.”

Oh yeah, this was bad. And he had no doubt that Darling’s speculation was right. Sarra wasn’t exactly known for her calm rationale.

She’d be out for blood.

Caillen growled as his thoughts kept coming back to one truth. “They’ll kill her if she comes out of hiding.”

“Yes, they will.”

And if she wasn’t Desideria’s mother, he’d say good riddance. That kind of stupid needed to be strained out of the gene pool. But in spite of everything, she was Desideria’s mother and he couldn’t let her die.

“Where are you?” he asked Darling.

“In my fighter, heading after her. I’m hoping I make it in time to stop her from committing suicide. If not, I plan to go down fighting beside her stupid ass.”

Saddest part? He knew Darling would stay true to those words.

Which meant they were all heading to the gallows.

22

“You should tell Desideria our mother is still alive.”

Caillen arched a brow at Chayden’s comment. “You need to pilot and not worry about it. We need to tel ass as fast as possible.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Chay, what good will it do to tell her her mother’s alive if her mother gets herself killed in the next hour? Really? Call me provincial, but to me it seems cruel to say, guess what? Your mom’s alive. Oh wait. She
was
alive. Now she’s dead again ’cause our worthless asses couldn’t save her. Sorry, hon. Hope you’re okay with me jerking your emotions around and stomping on them. And while I’m at it, you got a newborn puppy I can kick too?”

“He has a point.”

Chayden glared at Fain for that last comment. “Stow it, Hauk.” Then he glanced at Caillen. “Fine, but when she wants your head over the fact you neglected to tell her about this, remember
I’m
the one who tried to save your hide.”

“And here I thought I screwed up metaphors.” Caillen focused all of his attention on catching up to Darling. Honestly, he didn’t want to give Desideria any more bad news. He wanted to be able to tell her that her mother was alive and well. To see the joy and relief on her face, not the sadness.

I can’t believe I’m out to save the life of a woman I detest.
It would be a public service to let the bitch die.

But Desideria’s happiness meant more to him than that.

Fain cursed, drawing their attention to him.

“What is it?” Chayden asked.

“A hornet’s nest.” He pushed his images up to the main monitor for all of them to see what he was looking at.

Caillen winced as he saw a sizable army heading straight for them. “League fighters?”

“Can’t make the markings. But I don’t think so. They’re not shooting at us.”

Chayden hailed the newcomers.

No one spoke or even breathed while they waited for the response. At first all they had was static.

Until a soft voice broke through the stillness. “We’re here to assist.”

Caillen gaped at the last thing he’d expected to hear.

Desideria’s face showed on their com screen.

Amazed, he gave her an arch stare. “What are you doing, sweetie?”

Her smile warmed him. “I’m saving you. You can’t go in there alone. I mean, you can. But I don’t want to see you hurt. After you left, it dawned on me that I have an army at my disposal. So here we are, assisting you until your name’s cleared.”

He shook his head at her. “Don’t you have a government to run?”

“It’ll be okay for a few hours. With Narcissa arrested, there’s no immediate threat.”

Chayden muted them. “You better tell her.”

He was right.

This time.

“Feed the transmission into the bunk room.” Caillen unstrapped himself and headed off the bridge to talk to her alone. There was actually a lot of stuff he wanted to talk to her about. But this wasn’t the time or place.

The one thing though was the tenderness in his heart for a woman who put everything on hold to come to his aid. She didn’t know about her mother or the fact that his name was cleared because his father was still alive.

She had no reason to be here.

Except to keep him safe like she’d said.

And this time he knew what name to give the confusing feelings he had inside him where she was concerned. He loved her. Loved her in a way he would never have thought possible. He trusted her and he would give his life to keep her safe.

Those thoughts hung heavy in his mind as he turned on the link in the bunk room and saw Desideria’s beautiful face again. Oh yeah, that was what he needed.

No, what you really need is her naked in your bed.

There was that…

“Hey, beautiful. I have some news for you. Are you alone?”

She gave him a droll look. “Fighter only sits one.”

He arched a brow at her dry tone. “I didn’t know you could fly. You’ve been holding out on m.”

She smiled. “Only Qillaq fighters. I know nothing about other craft.”

Yes and no. Flying was flying. But he could understand her reservation, especially if she couldn’t read the language for the gauges and controls. That was a one-way trip to the hospital.

Or morgue.

And as he stared at her, he realized how much he liked being around her. Even when she made him crazy.

“Are you just going to stare at me?”

He grinned at her question. “I might.”

“Not really productive.”

“But highly entertaining. At least from my perspective.”

She shook her head that was covered by a flight helmet. He had to admit he much preferred her open-face style to the League and Sentella’s closed helmets. This way he was able to enjoy seeing her.

“Okay,” she stretched the word out. “If I cut you off, it’s because I need to lead my people and—”

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

She frowned at him. “Not sure I like your tone of voice.”

“That’s because I’m not sure how you’re going to take this news.”

She screwed her face up in distaste. “More bad news?”

“From my perspective, definitely. From yours, probably not so much.”

Fury darkened her eyes. “Stop playing this game with me, Caillen. Spit out what I need to know.”

“Your mother’s alive.”

Both of her brows shot up this time. “Pardon?”

“She was in hiding to draw out the traitors. Now that she knows who they are, she’s headed for them to kill them.”

“Is she insane?”

He laughed, grateful she saw it the same way he did. “I’m not touching that one since she’s your mother.”

“Is she alone?”

“Darling should reach her… hopefully in time.”

She cursed with a word that shocked him. “There’s no way to teleport there, is there?”

“Not if you want to be intact when you arrive. The distance is too great and there’s too much interference.”

“Can Darling fight?”

“Oh yeah. Don’t let his diplomatic demeanor fool you. He’s as skilled and fierce a fighter as any assassin the League ever trained. More skilled than most. Something I tend to forget too until I see him in action. He might be shorter than most of us, but he can kick ass with the best of them.”