Page 97 of Gladiators of the Vagabond Boxset

“Son, when are you going to learn that you have no say in anything? Your mate will soon die, and then I will break that stubborn mind of yours. Soon, you’ll be like Dyantos—a perfect little puppet,” he said with a calm and confident voice, utterly certain of how things were going to be.

In a way, it displayed his evil better than if he had shouted or threatened.

From the corner of my eye, I could tell that, while my mother looked on avidly with what was almost glee, my father seemed slightly uncomfortable.

Good. I hoped at least one of them would realize just what an evil bastard they’d made a deal with.

Kest, however, was now grinning like a maniac—as if Purveyn had played right into his hands.

I felt the first shiver of hope then. Was there a way out after all? Could Chloe be saved?

“So, Grand Master Purveyn, here’s the thing,” Kest suddenly cut in, his voice smooth, confident, and cultured.

“As head of the Akentral family, I’ve been reading up a bit.

I discovered the contract my father signed with the Suleantran Order in exchange for Kitan’s admission to their ranks.

Interesting reading, that, actually.” Kest grinned as he spoke, his glinting canines directed at the priest, who’d turned to look at my brother with a closed expression on his face, his wrinkled skin going gray around his mouth.

“Is that so, Kest? Good for you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be taking Kitan back to the monastery where he belongs,” the old Sune said while sharply gesturing at his guards to start moving in on Chloe and me.

I braced myself for a fight, ready to go down in a blaze of glory.

Letting us get taken was now certain death for my female—better to die here together, free.

It was what I’d once said to my friend Pu’il when we fought to free ourselves and claim the Vagabond as ours.

“Hold on a minute, I wouldn’t go yet if I were you, Purveyn,” Kest said smugly, and he lifted his eyes straight up to the ceiling.

No, wait, he wasn’t looking at the ceiling at all.

There was a small drone hovering right above our heads.

I recognized it as a camera drone, typically used by the media.

It would afford a three-sixty view and record all audio.

If this was an upgraded type, it would stream all it recorded directly, either for live presenting or to someone’s device.

Purveyn went ghastly white the moment he saw it, seeming unable to even formulate what to do.

Kest took that moment to say, “You could shoot it down, but it’s live-streaming to several big media outlets.

Everything you’ve said and done since the moment you entered this warehouse has been seen by millions of Sune all across the planet. ”

This news made me bark out a laugh. “Kest, you genius!” Marginally relaxing, I curled my arm around Chloe and waved up at the camera.

“Hello there, Sune, this is my mate Chloe. She’s injured, and Purveyn here has been withholding her treatment just so that he can control me—just like he and the rest of the leaders of the Suleantran Order work really hard to control true shifters.

For the sake of power, not any kind of holy mission. ”

This made the old bastard growl furiously. “Lies! These are all lies! The true shifters are our most revered priests. Dyantos is our leader; I am under his orders.”

I snorted a laugh and pointed a finger at him. “No, Dyantos helped us escape. He stayed behind to protect a four-year-old girl from the torture you and your associates inflicted on me while I was growing up in the monastery.”

I was ready to leap at him now, wrap my fingers around his scrawny neck, and choke the life right out of him for what he’d done.

This greedy bastard didn’t deserve to live.

Chloe held me back, and then Kest shook off his guard and stepped forward, positioning himself between Purveyn and me, and showing me how his hands were tied behind his back.

“Untie me, please, brother,” he said in a clear voice, making sure the recording device picked it up.

Shifting my hand partially to display sharp talons, I sliced through the rope like it was butter.

Kest dramatically shook out his hands, rubbed his wrists, and then made a show of pulling a square of folded parchment out of his back pocket.

At the sight of it, Purveyn’s eyes went wide with panic, and he started shaking, his arm coming up to point at the camera drone.

“Shoot it down! Shoot it down now!” he demanded, but the soldiers in the warehouse didn’t move.

They shuffled uneasily on their feet and shared looks between each other, but they didn’t shoot.

“Good, now I’m guessing you recognize this, don’t you, Purveyn?” Kest said as he unfolded the parchment and held it aloft so the camera got a good look at it. My parents had gone utterly pale, my mother clinging to my father like she was so overcome that she couldn’t remain upright.

For the sake of the camera, and maybe me (because I sure didn’t recognize the document, though it looked extremely officious and was marked with our house seal and the seal of the Suleantran Order), Kest started explaining.

“This is the contract that a family signs with the Suleantran Order when they hand over a true shifter baby into the care of the order.” Kest pointed at the seal of our family.

“It is signed and transferable specifically to the head of a family so that the contract remains in place as long as the true shifter lives. Which means, when my father made me the head of the family, the contract came to be in my name.”

Heart pounding, I curled Chloe into my arms, limbs trembling from excitement. Kest had found what he’d been looking for—the way out. It lay in the details of this contract! And by recording and streaming it publicly, he was making sure they couldn’t undo whatever he did.

Purveyn hissed, but he didn’t say another thing. His frail body had curled in on itself and seemed to diminish right before my very eyes. Good—that was extremely satisfying. For once, he wasn’t the one in power, the one dealing the blows.

“While it has never happened in recorded history, a family head can at any time choose to end the contract that places a true shifter in the control of the Order. When that happens, the extremely sizable stipend the Order pays the family stops, and the true shifter should immediately be released from the Order.”

With a voice meant for public speaking, ringing with authority and satisfaction, Kest turned to me and spoke.

“I hereby end this contract and demand Kitan’s immediate release.

” Then, with a dramatic gesture, he ripped the contract in two.

His golden eyes met mine and glinted with pride and satisfaction.

“You’re free, brother. The Order will never touch you again. ”

I struggled to even comprehend how that made me feel—happy, relieved, and weak in the knees.

My stomach was somersaulting, elated. I turned to Chloe, saw the radiant smile on her face, and spontaneously burst into tears, which was embarrassing, to say the least, knowing it was on camera for millions of Sune to see.

Except, who gave a damn about such things anyway?

I was free, free! Finally, truly, completely free.

Picking my equally emotional mate up in my arms, I spun her around and whooped, “Yes! Free, Chloe, we get to fly again.” The thought that we would now have the chance to get her the surgery she needed—to get her implant replaced with the state-of-the-line one she carried in her pocket right now—to fly the Vagabond with her and roam the galaxy filled my mind.

I was going to make love to her in the pilot’s chair, right there; it was going to be epic.

I barely paid attention to how Purveyn had a complete, raving, ranting meltdown right on camera, nor did I notice how his very own guards moved in and restrained him. I kissed my Chloe and kept on kissing her right until Sune law enforcement actually arrived.

Not only was Purveyn taken into custody, but so were his guards, who surrendered without a fight, claiming they had no idea.

Both my father and mother were hauled in, which was extremely satisfying to watch, especially as my mother made a spectacle of herself—wailing and howling—and my father even shifted into his hybridform, trying to sternly intimidate the officers into not touching him.

Kest stood beside Chloe and me, watching it all with a stoic expression on his face.

It had to hurt him, though, unlike my contentious, barely-there relationship with my parents.

He had grown up with loving parents who cared about him and his goals, who’d been proud of him and celebrated his achievements.

I wondered what the other eleven of my siblings would think and feel about all of it.

Would they hate me? And Kest? Or would they be happy for my freedom?

Reporters swarmed us when police escorted Kest, Chloe, and me off the premises.

I wanted to leave, to get Chloe to a stasis pod as soon as possible, but Kest paused and urged me to speak about my plight and the plight of the other priests like me.

At first, I didn’t want to; I didn’t want to be the center of attention like this, but then Dyantos’ parting words flashed through my head, and I gave in.

They were frantic for news and lapped up my description of growing up in the monastery and the “training” they forced on us. They watched in fascinated horror as I explained the true power structure of the Suleantran Order, and the horrors that went on behind closed doors.

Eventually, I made a cutting motion with my hand and looked fully into the nearest camera.

“My mate needs immediate medical attention from the best neurosurgeon there is. We are leaving now. Any further questions, I’ll answer via com.

Kest will know how to reach me.” Chloe was pale and tired, but she looked absolutely beautiful and laughed when I picked her up in my arms and started walking through the crowd.

I was only too happy to leave it all behind. Now, they’d let the Vagabond land to pick us up and we could finally leave this godforsaken place. That couldn’t happen soon enough for me, even without the threat of the Suleantran Order, Sune would never be my home.