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For all the dreamers of the world who never give up, no matter how hard life tries to knock you down. You are the bravest of the brave and stand as heroes for us all.
To my readers, who are ever my source of comfort and joy. Thank you so much for all the smiles you've given me. And to my friends and family who understand my weird, quirky ways and are willing to share me with the voices in my head.
To my agent and editor, and the staff at St. Martin's (and my copyeditor), who work so very hard on our behalf to make each book the best it can be. You, too, are our silent, unsung heroes. You take a lot of fire in the background and yet march ever onward into the face of opposing forces to make sure we have the books we all cherish every month. Thank you for all you do.
May we never see a day where we live without our imaginary worlds and people to transport us away for our escape on those hours when we need it most.
PROLOGUE
"Where are my clothes? And what did you do with my towel?"
Furious and defiant, Galene Batur lifted her chin with a dignity she definitely didn't feel as she faced Fain Hauk in the male locker room of their school.
Her worst enemy. Lying bastard.
Faithless dog!
Seething, she raked a glare over his perfect naked body. A body that earlier this day would have left her breathless with heat.
But now ...
Now she wanted every inch of that lush, caramel skin flayed off his bones. Most of all, she wanted his betraying heart in her fist.
"It's true, isn't it?" she asked breathlessly.
Fain scowled at her. "Is what true?"
"Are you in love with a human?"
"Excuse me?"
"Don't you dare deny it! Merrell Anatole just told me that he saw you and Omira Antaxas having sex yesterday! Yesterday! After I left you and went to get ready for the party! How could you?"
The color faded from his face, confirming her worst fear as he stammered, no doubt searching for a believable lie.
For a full minute, she thought she'd be sick. Tears filled her eyes as she struggled to breathe. No wonder Fain had asked her to leave a few minutes ago when she'd been trying to give him what she stupidly thought was joyous news. He no longer loved her. Merrell had been right. Fain didn't care. She'd lost him completely.
To a human!
"You're pledged to me, Fain!"
A tic started in his jaw. "By our parents. Before we even started school. Neither of us had a say in it."
As if that mattered? A pledge was a pledge. To an Andarion, it was as binding as marriage. And he was supposed to honor his word.
Honor her. No wonder he'd refused to touch her again all these weeks since his birthday. He'd barely come near her after she'd given him everything she had of herself. Her heart and body.
Her very soul.
Now she knew why. And here she'd stupidly thought he might have gone stralen. That, she could have lived with. But this ... this she would have never believed. Not of her precious Fain. He'd promised to love her forever.
There's only you for me, Stormy.
Apparently not.
Agony choked her. "You've betrayed me!"
He looked away. "I'm sorry, Galene."
Furious, she snatched her pledge ring from her finger and threw it in his face. He didn't react at all as it struck his chest and bounced away. Damn her bad aim! The least she could have done was put out his eye!
How could he do this to her after all these years? Tears choked her even harder as his words shattered her heart.
Worse, they shattered her dreams. She'd come here to share with him the most blessed news. This was supposed to be the happiest day of her life.
Instead, it was the most miserable.
No, he was the most miserable!
Since their parents had pledged them over a decade ago, she'd lived only for the day when they'd marry. Had dreamed only of a life partnered with Fain Hauk.
Now he'd not only dishonored her, he'd done it with a human. A human!
"Where are my clothes?" he demanded again. "What did you do with the towels?"
She'd hidden them both, but damned if she'd tell him that. "Why don't you ask your woman?" She started for the doors.
Fain caught her. "Galene! This isn't funny."
She snatched her arm from his grasp and bared her fangs at him. "No, it isn't. At all! You have shamed me and I curse you for it, Fain Hauk. I hope you spend eternity in utter agony!"
Before he could recover, she shoved his naked ass through the doors, into an auditorium full of sentient beings--parents, students, and teachers--and locked the doors behind him.
This was their graduation.
In more ways than one.
A tiny bit of regret went through her over what she'd just done to him, but she refused to let it take root. He deserved it, and more.
This is about payback.
After this, everyone would laugh at her, just as they were laughing at Fain right now. Once word got out that Fain had chosen a human over her, she would be tainted for the rest of her life. No decent family would ever accept a pledge from hers again.
With his actions, he'd damned them both.
So be it. She didn't need a husband. She damn sure didn't need one whose heart belonged to some human female.
And still the agony of losing him was there. An agony that would only worsen once her parents learned of this. They would be so disappointed in her.
Galene pulled her ornate veil from her hair and let it fall free. Forget graduation. There was nothing here for her, except more humiliation, and she'd had enough of that in her life. She would not go out there and be laughed at or pitied.
Fain wanted a human. She wanted dignity.
And by the gods, she would have it. From this day forward, she would never again trust in anyone. She knew better.
Human. Andarion. It didn't matter. Sentient creatures used and they lied. And she was done with them all.
"You better hope I never lay eyes on you again, Fain Hauk." Because the next time she did, she would kill him.
CHAPTER 1
It was all-out war.
Prime Commander Galene Batur stared at the report of the League attack on an Andarion outpost where almost two hundred civilians had been mercilessly slaughtered.
And for what?
Human vanity? How she hated their inferior species. Humans had never brought her anything but utter misery. Now they had brought her a whole new bloody war that would cost the lives of countless Andarions. Cost her the lives of her loyal soldiers who would be forced to protect their repugnant species.
How she wished she could bomb the entire human race into oblivion.
"Commander?"
She looked over her shoulder at her lieutenant commander's call. Dressed in the standard red and black Andarion command uniform, Talyn wasn't just her second-in-command and adjutant, he was the only male she'd ever trust at her back.
At twent
y-nine, he stood head and shoulders above her, and most everyone else. Muscular and unbelievably handsome, he wore his long black hair in typical Andarion warrior fashion--tiny braids that were held away from his face by a red band. Her only complaint with him was the well-trimmed moustache and goatee he'd started wearing lately. It was a current fashion trend she didn't care for. At all. But he thought it made him look more masculine and sexy.
As if he needed help in either of those departments.
Still, his presence caused her heart to soften. It took everything she had not to reach out and cup his beloved cheek and kiss it tenderly. But he wouldn't approve of such open affection before the rest of their troops.
Her Talyn was always prim and proper. Always circumspect. Respectful.
"Yes?"
Talyn saluted her. "I have an urgent message for you from the royal house."
Galene forced herself not to wince. It must be the tadara wanting information she had yet to gather about the attack.
Sighing that she didn't have more to offer, she headed for the secured line. She placed the link in her ear before she opened the channel.
Instead of Tadara Cairistiona eton Anatole, it was Tahrs Nykyrian who showed on her monitor. Unlike his fraternal twin brother who'd been removed from succession, Nykyrian appeared human with his white-blond hair and green eyes. The only part of him that betrayed his Andarion roots was his set of fangs ... along with his height and military prowess. While she might not appreciate his human half, she definitely respected his exemplary war record and battle skills.
She gave him a curt bow. "Your Highness, to what do I owe this honor?"
"I know you're busy, Commander, and I hate to take your attention away from our troops for even a second, but I have serious business to discuss with you. The Alliance has decided that we need a single military leader we can trust to oversee our joint forces and armies as we fight against The League. Your name was the first one to come to our minds, and we are all in agreement. We'd like to offer the position to you."
Stunned, she stared at him, amazed by the offer. "I'm honored, Highness."
"If you need time to think it over..."
Was he serious? Who in their right mind would turn this down? This was a dream appointment anyone would kill to possess. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Galene would command the single largest military movement in the entire history of their United System of Planets.
"No, Highness. I would love to lead Alliance forces. I only have one concern. I know that part of our forces are Phrixian and Caronese." Misogynistic troops and armies that would balk heavily at taking orders from a female commander.
"You'll be assigned a male adjutant for handling them ... a well-respected Tavali commander. Likewise, you'll be responsible for dealing with the Qillaq directly, since they won't take orders from a male."
That was certainly true.
It was rare for any army to be as integrated with both sexes as the Andarions were. Male or female didn't matter. Only competence and lethal skill did.
"When would you like for me to start?" she asked.
"Immediately. The Tavali are on their way to you right now with a transport and your new adjutant. The two of you will be flown to their northernmost base, where The League has been making their heaviest strikes. All we'll need is for you to name your successor for the Andarion armada, until the war is over."
Galene gestured to Talyn. "We will see it done."
Nykyrian inclined his head to her. "Welcome aboard, Commander. May the gods smile upon you. Always."
"Thank you, Your Highness. I promise, I will do you, your mother, and Andaria proud."
"I know you will." He cut the transmission.
Galene stared at the blank screen as she considered this latest twist of fate.
Wow. She, the daughter her parents had callously thrown out from their house when she was just a girl, was going to lead their combined forces in the war against The League. If they won, she'd be eternally famous. Revered and renowned. A celebrated war hero equal to the beloved War Hauks who'd once saved their race from conquest and slavery.
If they lost, she'd be executed for treason.
One hell of a gamble. But then, as the Andarion armada's prime commander she'd die if they lost, anyway. At least as their military leader, it would all be in her hands, and if they failed, she alone would be to blame.
Thrilled and a little scared, she turned toward Talyn.
His beautiful white eyes glowed with loving pride. "Congratulations, Commander."
She smiled at him. "I shall name you the new prime commander of the armada."
He shook his head. "I will go with you to The Tavali."
"No ... you belong here."
"I belong at your back, Commander. Protecting you. Always."
"Talyn--"
"Mom," he stressed the word, making her realize that she'd dropped their strict military behavior first, by using his given name. "I will not stay here while you interact with others who could betray you. You will need a support staff you know is loyal to you and above reproach. Now more than ever. If you think for one moment that I will stay behind while you risk your life for all of us, you don't know me at all." His gaze burned into hers. "You go. I go."
She wanted to beat him. But how could she? "You are ever my pride."
"And you are ever my cherished mother."
Smiling, she pulled his head down so that she could press her cheek to his. "I love you, mi tana."
"I love you, too."
She fisted her hand in his hair. "I should order you to stay."
"Only if you wish to see me court-martialed."
She tugged at his hair. "Don't tempt me, scamp." Releasing him, she stepped away with a frown. "Call Commander Ilkin. We can promote him."
"Yes, ma'am. And I'll personally assemble an Andarion security detail for you."
Galene rolled her eyes at his paranoia--as if she couldn't protect herself. She would argue that with him, too, but he was far more stubborn than she was when it came to such things. Years of fighting his steel will had taught her that.
"See it done quickly."
He saluted her. "Yes, ma'am."
Her heart swelling with love and pride, Galene watched him leave to carry out his orders. In all the universe, he was the only family she had. The only family she needed.
You should have been a surgeon, Talyn. It was what she'd drilled into him from the cradle. But her ever-defiant boy had refused, and followed her into the military as soon as he graduated primary school.
Evil little booger. Stubborn and headstrong ...
Just like his father.
No one could ever tell him what to do. The gods knew she had tried. Many times.
Now he would follow her into war. It was the last thing she'd ever wanted for Talyn. But there was no way to keep him out of it. The time had come for all of them to choose a side.
At least this way I can keep an eye on him.
And she would tear apart anyone who threatened her baby.
Sighing, Galene took a moment to look around the Andarion command center that had been her home since Cairistiona had overthrown her own mother and assumed the throne. Talyn had been here, at her side, almost the entire time she'd led their armada. It would be weird to adjust to a new army. A new way of doing things.
But she was nothing if not adaptable.
Okay, not really. She hated change passionately. But she liked to lie to herself about her inflexible flexibility.
Still, a whole new chapter was about to begin for both her and Talyn. She didn't know what it would hold, but she couldn't wait to see where it led her.
Good wind blows to all ill things.
A chill went down her spine as she remembered her father's old saying. She only prayed that this time, he was wrong.
CHAPTER 2
Fain felt his stomach shrink with dread as they dropped tether and called for the Andarion contingency they were here
to pick up.
I fucking hate you, Jayne. This was why he didn't have friends. Why he didn't want them. Because they invariably did shit like this to him.
His brother, Dancer, and Dancer's friend Jayne thought it was funny to volunteer him to be the adjutant for a female who hated his guts with the fire of a million suns.
It wasn't.
The last time he'd seen Galene Batur, she'd shoved his ass into a public arena with all his business hanging out, and had locked the door behind him. Something he'd been beaten for, and not just by his parents who'd been horrified by the indecent display.
He couldn't wait to see what Galene would do to him this time.
Probably shoot me.
If he was lucky.
If he was really lucky, it wouldn't be in his balls.
Sighing irritably, he stood up to get it over with. There was no need in delaying the inevitable. He might be a lot of things, but a coward had never been one of them.
And it wasn't like he hadn't been shot before. At least this time he had on battle armor. As long as she didn't shoot him in the head or groin, he would survive the encounter.
Physically, anyway.
Dignity ... might be a problem. They were oh for seven on that one.
He hesitated by the door and pulled down a helmet so that he could add an extra layer of protection between his groin and whatever might go flying at a part of his anatomy he'd like to preserve. Though, to be honest, he wasn't sure why at this point. Not like he had many chances to use it anymore.
Don't go there.
Chayden clapped him on the back. "You all right, Hauk? You look like you're about to hurl."
Fain cut a glare toward his friend. Hurl? No ...
Kill. Definitely.
"I'm fine."
Fain's little brother came out of the holding area to stand next to him. "I'm with Chay. You look a little green, drey."
Fain dodged Dancer's hand as his brother reached to touch his forehead, and barely resisted the urge to slap him. "I know you were just a kid when I ran off with Omira. But do you remember the fact that I was pledged to an Andarion female before I married her?"
Dancer's jaw dropped. "No. I have no memory of that at all. Who were you pledged to?"
Fain faced the ramp that was lowering in front of them. "Prime Commander Galene Batur."
Dancer's curses rang in his ears as Fain headed down the ramp toward the one female he was sure would gut him on the spot. As he scanned the gathered Andarion soldiers, he kept the helmet carefully positioned.