Page 29

ADRIANA

I shed the deep red hues of the Terosan betrothal robes like a snake molting. The make-up takes longer to wash off, in my cramped bathroom that makes me long for the vast, sprawling field of Virelia, but within minutes, I’m back in my plain grays of the Administration.

I turn my palm. The cut was so fine, so thin, there is only the slightest white mark remaining.

The crowd spanning the hills was the largest Terosa had seen, dwarfing even the masses who came for the betrothal of Lysandra and her Frostholdian fiancé.

They wanted to see the Aurelian prince for themselves.

He carried himself well. When I was carried in the palanquin, I could feel the rhythmic movements of the bearers, sliding through the mineral rich sands.

He knew how to navigate the sands. Was it part of his cultural research… or training to prepare for an invasion?

The knock at the door is light and respectful. “Come in.”

One of my assistants opens the doors. “There’s a triad waiting at the entrance of the ship. The crown prince requests you.”

“Thank you,” I answer, holding my head high, ignoring my nervousness.

I insulted Prince Doman’s own family. I called his mother and fathers murderers of the vilest kind.

I will face the consequences of those words, because they were the truth.

I walk through my ship and to the ramp which leads out into the Aurelian hangar bay. There’s a triad waiting for me, and they bow their heads respectfully before leading me deeper into the ship.

I try not to freeze up when I realize we’re not going to the throne room.

I might be marching to a jail cell, but I march with my head high, when they turn a corner and we go down a long hallway to a set of large doors guarded by two triads, hands near their Orb-Blades. They throw the doors open, and I enter the private residence of the royal triad.

After the majesty of the throne room, I had expected opulence.

The room is huge, high-ceilinged, but spartan.

Three huge beds in the center of the room, a solid wooden table with three chairs, doors leading out deeper into the ship.

The true luxury is the space itself. The doors leading out mean he has an area bigger than my entire ship just for his triad.

The three aliens are sitting at the ends of their beds. They are clad in their warrior togas that leave the left half of their chests bare.

No crowns on their heads, an informal meeting compared to the audiences in the throne room.

“Maybe you should sit,” says Doman, gesturing to the wooden table against the wall. I pull myself onto one of the over-sized wooden chairs, my feet dangling.

“Does your hand hurt?” asks Gallien.

“No. Those knives are razor sharp.”

“We have a private med-bay. We can smooth your palm.”

“I’ll keep it.”

Titus nods. “I keep every scar. Reminds me to be faster next time,” he says, unconsciously running his hand over the bullet wounds he earned saving Pentarian lives. It was just duty to him.

“Well then,” I say carefully, watching the three men.

Doman sits up on the bed, rigid, his face clouded. “I do not know if you are right. But I admit there is a… possibility.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Careful, Prince Doman. That’s starting to sound like treason.”

He closes his eyes slowly, his face a stone mask. But while his eyes are closed, his battle-brothers watch me carefully. “Yes. Treason. And you could report this to any one of the Interrogators on my warship, and even my royal protection would not put me above their investigations.”

His eyes open, bright, burning blue.

“This is not a ploy.”

“Then we need your help. Your spy network. You’ve penetrated Colossus. Do you have agents near the Royal Palace itself?”

“I do not know the identities of our spies. The intelligence agency is a separate body.” His question reveals a key fact—he doesn’t even consider the possibility spies could be within the palace itself.

He has no idea how deep our network goes.

“Protected by layers of bureaucracy,” says Titus.

“You don’t know individual spies. But you’re not completely ignorant. I’m trusting you here, Adriana. One word of this conversation and my triad will be brought back to Colossus for interrogation.”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because on our wedding day, I am going to break Fay free.” There’s no more dancing around the topic, no more vague allusions. He fixes his gaze on me, searching my reactions. My eyes widen in shock I can’t contain, even as I try to keep my face a neutral mask.

“I don’t believe you. I felt your three auras. You’re at war. You wouldn’t go against your own people. You wouldn’t fracture your Empire for a single life.”

Doman’s hands clench against the blanket. “If we succeed, no one will ever know. My parents would keep it hidden. They would not show any weakness. The official report would be that Obsidian’s Mate was moved to another secure location.”

“And if you fail?”

“Then the four of us will be put in a jail cell. You too, Adrianna. I can’t protect you from that. We’ll be placed apart, unable to feel each other, until the war is done.”

“How are you going to do it?”

“With your help, and the help of my younger brother, Prince Bruton. I spoke with him on his wedding day. I showed him Fay. He doesn’t agree with her captivity either… but neither of us ever once considered the possibility that…” He clenches his jaw. He can’t bring himself to say it.

And for the first time, Doman, Crown Prince of the Aurelian Empire, seems…

Human.

Under that consuming need to conquer, I felt that platinum thread of honor from the three men during that moment that stretched out, when their souls imprinted on my mind.

It only made me more terrified of them. That their twisted conception of honor would let them keep a pregnant woman captive, if that is what it took to win the war.

“You’re doing the right thing,” I say, and for once, I am not speaking as Prime Minister Adriana.

He looks up, his eyes filled with pain. “Am I? And when Obsidian’s son grows into a man, and he returns at the head of an army, and when millions more die…

not just soldiers, Adriana. Civilians. I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing.

But I am doing the only thing I can. I will not be a part of this. I will not let this happen.”

I run my hand over the wooden table, watching the three Aurelians.

Titus is shaking his head slowly, his dark black mane moving in time, still not fully believing what Queen Jasmine is capable of.

Gallien is watching me, returning my gaze easily, and he gives me a small nod, a nod of respect.

Gods, but he is handsome, every feature chiseled and hard, with a depth to him.

He knows what I risked to tell Prince Doman the truth.

“So. Your plan. You expect your younger brother to help? Prince Bruton, the man who flies the flayed corpses of his enemies as his flag? The hunter who was the only Aurelian to brave the Rift, willing to die a thousand times over? You think he will soften to save two innocent lives?”

“He is a good man. He has a good heart. He will help us.”

“I watched him wed his Princess. His Fated Mate. He has a lot to lose. You think he’ll risk it?”

Doman nods. “He will.”

I shift in my seat, uncomfortable. I don’t know what I was expecting when I was called to meet with Doman’s triad, but it wasn’t this.

“What, exactly, is your plan? Fay is the most guarded woman in the universe. I’ve had reports of two rescue attempts thwarted already.”

Gallien’s eyes flash. He knows what my words mean—I’m admitting to him we have spies, in the capital itself. Spies close enough to the palace to hear reports of attacks. “Three,” he says.

“I don’t know the plan yet. All I know is that our wedding day will be the chance. That is when the security teams will be the most distracted. That is when we’ll have our opportunity. It won’t be without risk, Adriana.”

I nod. “Okay.” I take in a deep breath. “Okay,” I repeat. “Thank you for telling me. I’ll play my part, whatever it is.”

There’s a sad smile on Doman’s lips. “One day, I hope to see you when you’re not playing a part.”

The triad is no longer dripping with arrogance, and I’m seeing them in a new light. When I told him what his parents were capable of, I thought he would respond with anger or think me crazed. Instead, the three of them listened.

And they made the choice I had no hope they would. I never for a moment considered the possibility they would go against their own Empire, risk their entire war, for a single woman and her unborn child.

They sit on their beds, straight-backed against the weight of duty. Without crowns, without ornamentation, I feel like I’m getting to know them for the first time.

“The ceremony on Etherion. I would like all three of you to be there.”

Titus grins. “Planning to drown us all in one fell swoop?”

“Maybe.” They are titans, but I can tell they haven’t slept in too long. There’s a tightness around their eyes, a deep exhaustion in their bones. “You three should get some rest. We’ve got a long swim tomorrow.”

I get up to go back to my ship, when Doman stands up from his bed. “There are more chambers within. You’ll find our beds more comfortable than the cots on your… economical ship.”

I glance down at the doorways leading into his ship.

“Is that all you have down there?” I say, giving him a long, considering look.

“Among other things.”

A shiver runs down my spine. Because one of those doors leads down a hallway deeper into his ship…

To his pleasure room.

“I think I’ll sleep a little easier in my own bed.”

“Sweet dreams,” says Doman, but his voice has a dark, honeyed tone that tells me I need to get out of his chambers, and fast.