Syn shrugged. "Trust is a stretch. Like you, I have serious mental issues with that whole concept. But Hauk did, and Bastien got him out of there, even though he had nothing to gain, really."

Nyk nodded slowly as he continued to think it over. "Keep an eye on him and let me know when he wakes up."

Bastien came awake with a start in a cold, sterile room. For a moment, he was terrified as he thought himself back in League custody. With a curse, he sat up and started to rip the IV and monitors off.

Then he saw Aros in the corner, eyeing him as if he were filth.

Bastien's heart retreated from his throat as he remembered what had happened. That he was in Sentella custody. Not League. He was technically safe. But given the way his uncle was staring at him, that state might not be a lasting one.

"You've no idea how much it angers me that they removed your death sentence from you, boy."

Scowling, Bastien tried to understand what Aros meant. "I thought you begged the Overseer for clemency in my case?"

Aros screwed his face up as if the very thought nauseated him. "I would never have done such. I wanted to see you hung for what you did to my sister and her family."

Yeah, 'cause they weren't his family, too.

Bastien glared at him. "Then why did you send the pet.i.tion to Alia Mureaux on my behalf?"

"I never sent anything to her about you."

Bastien's jaw went slack as he realized what had happened.

Jullien. There was no other explanation. That little b.a.s.t.a.r.d loved to forge paperwork. He was the only one who'd have had the skill, knowledge and b.a.l.l.s to pretend to be his father, and to send that in without the Triosan emperor knowing, and no one else in the Trigon Court realizing it was a forgery.

He was also the only one who'd never bought into the lies. Not once.

Leave it to Julie. But then, that was how he was. Never sought credit for any good deed, because if he was ever caught doing one, it was met with extreme suspicion from everyone around him. So he kept to the dark recesses where he couldn't be seen-a shadow dweller like Bastien.

Pet hate, indeed ...

Forget Syn. Jullien was the only man he wanted to kiss right now.

But since he wasn't here, he pinned a gimlet stare on Aros. "If you think me guilty, why are you here, Uncle?"

With a grim expression, Aros stood up. "I wanted to look you in the eye and tell you personally that I hope you get exactly what you deserve."

Those words fell like blows against his soul. Gut punches he could have done without. So much for being home.

Yet that was okay. They also fueled his own fury and determination. Because the one thing about Bastien Cabarro, he was a sc.r.a.ppy son of a b.i.t.c.h and nothing motivated him more than condemnation and obstacles.

Over. Under. Around or through. There was always a way to get what you wanted. To get what you needed.

Let no one stand in your way, son. Especially not yourself.

His father's favorite saying.

The need for vengeance, and to make them all eat their unjust convictions against him, swelled inside him. Rising from the bed, Bastien slowly peeled the monitors off.

Then he pulled out the IV.

"For your sake, Uncle, you better pray that I don't. Because if I do get what I deserve, I will be emperor of the Kirovarian empire. And when I am, your crown is the first one I'm coming after...." He raked a repugnant stare down his body. "Funny, really, I only came back for the head of one uncle, but after this ... two heads mounted on my wall will be all the sweeter."

CHAPTER 9.

"You're sure you won't stay? At least a little longer?"

Standing in the Sentella landing bay, Bastien hesitated.-Nyk's question meant a lot to him. Every member of their high command was there to see him on his way. "Thanks, but I have to see this through."

Syn sighed while Jayne pouted. Even Dancer and Fain appeared to be on the verge of tears. "We've grown attached to you. Not often I find someone more sarcastic than me."

Dancer concurred. "Yeah, you're like that fungus in the bathroom that no matter how hard you try to scrub it off, keeps coming back. Till you're forced to live with it."

Laughing, Darling nodded. "We hate to see you go."

"Appreciate it." I think.

But in spite of the missions he'd flown with them over the last few weeks, they weren't his tribe. And he had a date to keep. "I've waited a long time for justice. It's time I see it met."

Syn nodded. "You need us, call immediately."

"Thanks."

Dancer caught his arm as he started to leave. That personal contact wouldn't mean anything coming from a human, but for an Andarion to make such a gesture was significant. It meant he considered Bastien family. "I owe my daughter's safety to you, Cabarro. And my life, and Sumi's. Night or day, you call."

He inclined his head to Dancer and clapped him on the back. "It was my honor to see Kalea returned to you and her mother. No family should be separated."

"Which is why you need to stay with us." Jayne winked at him. "You're one of us now."

Bastien laughed before he returned his attention to Nykyrian. "I'll return the fighter to you as soon as I can."

"It's yours, drey. Least we could do given what we owe you." Nyk's expression turned even grimmer than it'd been before. "Sorry about my father and how he treated you."

"It's all good."

Aros hadn't told Nykyrian that Bastien had threatened him. Most likely because he didn't think it a real threat.

Then again, it wasn't.

It'd been a promise.

But first he had another to keep. "I'll be in touch."

Their good-byes followed him as he climbed aboard the fighter and prepared for launch.

After pulling his helmet on, he took a moment to glance back at Nyk, Darling, Syn, Fain, Dancer, and Jayne, who was waving at him.

It'd been tempting to accept their help for this, but the last thing he wanted was to drag their nations into another war while they were already fighting against The League. They had their own battles.

This was his.

If he failed, he didn't want to destroy anyone else's family in the process. Especially not after getting to know them. A sad smile tugged at his lips as he saw Sumi and Kalea in his mind. They'd met him for a farewell breakfast.

Kalea had broken into tears at the thought of Uncle Bas-Bas leaving. He could still feel the warmth of her wet hug. It really had been his honor to help them rescue the little girl from League custody.

Now grateful for this send-off, he inclined his head to them and signaled control before he launched.

He was headed for Jullien. Another reason he'd been unable to accept their offers of aid. The one time he'd brought up Jullien's name, Nyk had almost torn his head off.

He's a b.a.s.t.a.r.d and a snake. I wouldn't trust him for s.h.i.t! If I ever meet him again, I'll hand him his t.e.s.t.i.c.l.es and laugh while he bleeds out at my feet.

While extreme, that threat wouldn't mean much coming out of the mouth of the average person. Coming from the mouth of one of the most lethal a.s.sa.s.sins ever trained by The League ...

It was as much a promise as the words Bastien had delivered to Barnabas.

So for now, he wouldn't even attempt to cross-pollinate those two. Nykyrian obviously needed more time to forgive his brother.

Few more decades, at least.

After breaking atmosphere, Bastien let his thoughts wander to where they always went when left unchecked.

Ember. Against all common sense, he'd tried to trace her from the Sentella's computers, but there had been no records for her over the last few years. Her sisters either. Only Alura showed up.

His gut drew taut in fear that something bad had happened to them during Barnabas's takeover. Had Ember married, there would have been something to mark it.

But the last movements he could find on her were about a year after he'd been made Ravin. The Gyron Force logs had her and her sisters and mother listed as MIA.

Yet he knew better. KIA would be most likely. Because if she were still alive, she'd have returned to duty.

Unshed tears choked him at the thought of her dying in the field with her sisters by her side. If Barnabas had been behind it, then he would gut him with his bare hands.

Closing his eyes, he could still feel her touch on his flesh. Hear her laughter in his ear as he made love to her for hours on end.

Going home without her there would be excruciating. In fact, he could still remember the first time she'd taken him to meet her parents.

"Are you nervous? Captain Ghost Gadget?"

He'd given her a droll stare. "Of course I'm nervous. Never met parents before. At least not intentionally."

She'd scowled at him. "Meaning?"

He'd flashed his most charming grin at her. "Well ... there was this one time when Dad came home early while I was at university. Wouldn't have been so bad had he not been one of my professors."

"Oh my G.o.d! Bas, tell me you weren't?"

"What? Naked? Of course I was. Her, too. Needless to say, flunked that cla.s.s."

Her laughter had ended in a sympathetic groan. "Well, keep it in your pants, flyboy. I've already warned them about you."

"Meaning?" he asked, using her favorite phrase she had anytime she wanted more information on the given topic.

"Oh, c'mon. Like you don't know."

"Know what?"

"That you're the friend everyone has to explain before they meet you and then apologize for afterward."

"Oh gee, thank you."

Bastien smiled at the bittersweet memory. Ember had been the only person he'd ever met who could make him laugh while she insulted him. Tell him to go to h.e.l.l and make him look forward to the trip.

You were ever a woman of multiple, unique talents.

And he would love her forever.

She was still on his mind when he finally reached the main Gort base and asked the hostile controller for permission to land. Obviously not something they granted out of routine procedure like most bases. And judging by the amount of time between their communications, it must be taking an act of the G.o.ds for them to clear him.

Eternity pa.s.sed before the woman returned with the permission he needed to land in their North Bay. There was no missing the shocked disbelief in her voice as she told him he'd been approved.

Wow, Jules ... paranoid much?

Then again, he couldn't blame him, given the number of beings out to end his life.

As soon as Bastien landed, he spotted Jullien waiting for him with a man and woman he didn't know. Hard to miss his cousin's gargantuan a.s.s, even among the huge Fyreblood Andarions who called this place home. Only their species could make Bastien feel like a middle-schooler, since they dwarfed him. It was weird not to be among the tallest in a group.

But they put his genetics to shame.

Bastien removed his helmet and jumped to the deck, then made his way over. He pulled Jullien in for a brotherly hug.

Jullien laughed when he saw that while Bastien had trimmed his beard down to shadowed whiskers, he'd kept his long hair and wore it pulled back into a messy ponytail. "What is this?" He tugged playfully at it.

Bastien shrugged. "A reminder that I'm no longer civilized, and I have no intention of ever again playing by anyone's rule book."

"I understand. And I take it by your presence here that you're no longer tagged?"

"No," he said gratefully. "Syn Wade pulled it out of me. Finally."

Jullien's jaw dropped in shock. "Really?"

Nodding, Bastien clapped him on the arm. "Really long story short, they ended up on Oksana with The League hot on their a.s.s, and I got caught in the cross fire. After a lot of bruising and damage and a couple of near-fatal catastrophes, it ended well for me." His gaze went to the exceptionally beautiful and pregnant female standing beside his cousin.