Born of Vengeance

  Jullien scratched at his dark beard. "You know, you could ask Ryn to train her." The Tavali ambassador Ryn Dane and Nykyrian went way back. Unlike his bitter, mistrustful feelings for Jullien, Nyk had always trusted and respected Ryn. That would be the much more logical choice for a matter this delicate.

  Nyk shook his head. "She doesn't want Ryn. He's not family. And given that his wife is about to birth his son, he'll be distracted and preoccupied with them, as opposed to her safety. Besides, Thia asked specifically for you to train her."

  Ouch. Talk about wanting to coldcock your dad--and Jullien was definitely an authority on that particular topic, as he'd lived his entire youth trying to piss off both his progenitors.

  His niece's request must have stung his brother to the marrow of his bones. "Teenage rebellion?"

  Nyk snorted at his suggestion. "No, she's not you."

  Double ouch there. Not that he'd hold it against Nyk. His brother was right, after all.

  Jullien was forever a contentious ass, first and foremost. How his wife Ushara could stomach him, he had no idea. There were entire days when even Jullien didn't want to be around himself.

  Nyk let out a ragged sigh. "I fear she feels out of place with my other children. Kiara and I have done everything we can to make her feel loved and welcome. But ... we just can't seem to get through to her. No matter what we do, she still feels like a stepchild."

  Jullien ached for his brother. The love Nyk bore his eldest daughter was evident in every line of anguish on his face and in the deep timbre of his voice as he spoke. And Jullien knew from their shared near-death experience that Kiara felt the same about Thia. She couldn't love the girl any more if she'd birthed her.

  For himself, he was lucky that his eldest son, Vasili, didn't view him as a stepfather, but rather accepted him as if Jullien were Vas's natural father. And in turn, Jullien loved Vas just as much as he loved the children he'd fathered with Ushara.

  It was a shame that Thia couldn't find that same peace with her stepmother that Vas had found with him. And as Nyk had said, he knew it wasn't from a lack of effort on Kiara's part.

  Or Nyk's.

  He'd seen their love of Thia firsthand. Yet Thia still felt out of place with them. No one knew why.

  But if he could help them in any way ...

  "I will guard her like my own."

  That finally succeeded in making his brother smile. Or at least as close to it as Nykyrian could manage. A lopsided grin that was more frightening than friendly.

  For most people, anyway.

  Jullien wasn't most.

  Nyk cleared his throat. "That's why I'm entrusting her to you, little brother. I've seen your psychosis where your children are concerned." Crossing his arms over his chest, he smirked. "You still putting Vidar down to nap on your chest instead of his crib?"

  "Absolutely." Jullien grinned proudly at something everyone mocked him over. "And to sleep. No way in Tophet I'd trust my infant to rest in his own room. Not after all the shit that I've seen and what was done to us. My girls and Vas are lucky I let them have their own beds."

  And Vasili was eighteen.

  His girls would be starting school in the fall. They'd only graduated to their own beds because Ushara had insisted on it. And had used her unfair wiles against him that he couldn't resist.

  He grew hard just thinking about that particular fight. It was the only one in his life he'd been happy to lose.

  Nykyrian laughed as if he knew where Jullien's thoughts had gone. "That's why I know you're the Tavalian for the job of keeping my girl safe for me." He held his hand out to Jullien.

  The moment he took it, Nyk jerked him closer for a brotherly hug.

  Jullien closed his eyes, savoring the novelty of it. Though neither of them would ever say the words, they both regretted the years of bitterness that had driven an awkward wedge between them.

  But they were getting better.

  Slowly.

  While still not brothers per se, they were no longer enemies, and were learning that they could reach out to each other without getting slapped for it.

  In time, they both hoped to become the family they'd never been.

  Clearing his throat gruffly, Nyk clapped him hard on the back and stepped away. "She's in her rooms."

  Jullien's gut clenched involuntarily at those words, as he remembered the vicious slap he'd felt when he'd first learned that Thia had been given his old quarters in the Andarion palace after he'd been ruthlessly disinherited. A palace that had been leveled by their own grandmother in an attempt to kill Nykyrian and his family--after putting a brutal hit out on Jullien's life.

  But for Jullien and his Tavali brethren, the bitch would have succeeded.

  Thankfully, they'd all survived, and now his brother had moved his family into their birth father's palace on Triosa. A palace where Jullien had been made to feel about as welcome as a lethal STD in a whorehouse.

  So given that, he well understood Thia's feelings of isolation and not belonging. Of wanting to escape this hell as fast as possible. But to be fair to Nyk, his brother was a good and decent father.

  Unlike theirs.

  Yeah, there was nothing here he missed at all. The sooner he could leave and get back to his Gorturnum base, and more importantly the family that loved him, the happier he'd be.

  And as they entered the east wing, Jullien saw that Thia's current rooms were the ones that had belonged to an aunt who'd finally married. Not that he begrudged his niece her place in the royal family. Never would he slight any of his nieces or nephews anything. Rather, he hated his parents for their lack of regard where he was concerned.

  Hence his years of teenage rebellion.

  But that was another story and the last thing he wanted to think about.

  At the end of the hallway, Nyk knocked on the door and waited for Thia's bored, irritated voice to bid them enter. Rolling his eyes at Jullien, Nykyrian opened the door.

  Jullien wasn't expecting the sudden ear-piercing shriek that greeted them.

  "Basha Dagger!" Nykyrian's twin sons came running so fast, he barely caught them before they leapt against a part of his anatomy that would have rendered him on the ground in agony.

  He smiled at his rambunctious nephews, who jumped all over his body in an attempt to tackle and hug him. "Hey, Terry and Tier. How are my boys?"

  Laughing, they wrapped their spindly bodies around his and squeezed tight. Now he fully understood Vas's complaints about his sisters whenever they attempted to scale his body.

  After sliding off Jullien's back, Taryn looked down the hallway behind Jullien. "Did you bring Viv and Mira?"

  "Vas?" Tiernan added as he clapped his hands in hopeful excitement and did what would also double as an I-need-to-go-to-the-bathroom-Dad dance.

  "Sorry, my glorious Fetchyns. It's just me this trip."

  Tiernan pouted, but Taryn smiled even wider as he showed Jullien his arm where he still sported Jullien's Tavali patch on his sleeve. "You haven't forgotten, right, Basha Dagger? When I'm growed up, I'm going to be on your crew like kyzu Vasi!"

  Jullien barely caught himself before he corrected Taryn's Andarion. "Kyzu" was the female term for a cousin. Vasili would have a fit over that mistake. "Kyzi" was the word the boy wanted. But if Nyk wasn't teaching them proper Andarion, then be damned if he would. "Absolutely, Terry."

  Thia tsked at her brothers as she pushed her way past them. "You two need to learn a little restraint." She leaned forward to kiss Jullien's cheek. "What brings you here, Basha?"

  He frowned at Nykyrian.

  "I didn't tell her I was calling you. Thought you'd want the honor of it, since the final decision about it is entirely yours."

  Jullien hesitated. While that was true, he wasn't used to this kind of trust or respect from his birth family. It actually scared him. "Your paka said that you wanted to sign on with The Tavali?"

  Her jaw went slack an instant before tears welled in her eyes. "Really?"

  Nyk's own
eyes moistened. His angst-filled expression probably mirrored the same one Jullien had worn the day he'd decided to let his own son follow him into battle. To this day, he got sick to his stomach every time he glanced over to see Vasili on his ship whenever they came under fire.

  "If it's truly what you want, Thia, I won't stop you."

  Her joyous shriek made a mockery of her brothers' and caused Jullien to visibly cringe from it. And like her brothers, she threw herself against him so unexpectedly that he barely caught her before they fell to the floor.

  "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!" she repeated fast and furiously. "Love you, Daddy!" She released Jullien, then jumped up to kiss Nykyrian before she dashed into her room to begin frantically pulling clothes from her closet and throwing them on the bed and floor.

  Jullien scowled at her exuberant packing. "Should I tell her now or later that The Tavali have a strict dress code and everything she's tossing about is futile?"

  Nykyrian grimaced as he stroked his light whiskers. "You can try. She never listens to me."

  "Can I go, too, Uncle Basha?"

  Smiling at the redundant terms, Jullien picked Taryn up and squeezed him gently. "I'd love to take you, Terry, but I don't think your paka could handle letting go of two babies at once. Your mum, either."

  Nykyrian pulled Tiernan into his arms while his younger twin protested it. "Definitely not. Still not sure I won't yet stun Thia and carry her back to her room when she starts to leave."

  "Daddy!" Tiernan fussed. "You're crushing me!"

  "Sorry."

  The tears in Nyk's eyes made Jullien's throat tighten.

  "I felt the same way when we dropped Vasili off at university. Ushara cried for a week, and hugged the twins so hard that they're still scarred from it."

  Nyk cupped his son's head and kissed the dark curls before he set Tiernan down. "How did you deal with it?"

  "Talked to him nine times a day--until he threatened to get a new line and not let us have the frequency.... You know I'll bring her straight back if you need me to."

  Clearing his throat, Nykyrian wiped at his eyes, then took Taryn from Jullien. "Thank you for doing this. I owe you, little brother."

  "Not really." Jullien winked at him. "Given our gruesome past, taking care of your daughter for you is the least I can do."

  Thia came running up to him. "Got everything packed. When do we leave?"

  "As soon as your father can stand to let you go without shooting one of us."

  Nyk ground his teeth, then nodded. "She can go now if she wants."

  Taryn's gaze shimmered from his tears. "Thia's leaving?"

  That finally shattered her happiness as she knelt down by his side. "I'm only a call away, Terry. Day or night. And I'll be back every holiday and birthday. Okay?"

  Sniffing, he nodded. "You better. I'll miss you."

  "Me, too," Tiernan said, wiping at his eyes with a chubby fist.

  Jullien turned to find Kiara in the hallway with her youngest daughter asleep in her arms. Out of Nyk's six kids, Zarina was the only one who looked Andarion. The rest could easily pass as fully human.

  "Thia's really leaving?" A tear slid down Kiara's cheek.

  Thia nodded bashfully. "I'll be back."

  And still the tears fell down her face unchecked. Her gaze anguished, she stared up at Nykyrian. "That's it, then. You're right. We're chaining the rest to their beds until after we die."

  Thia let out a tired sigh. "Great. My siblings will hate me forever ... and speaking of--Let me go say good-bye to Adron and Jayce. I'll be right back."

  Kiara's gaze followed after her, then she turned to glare at Jullien. "Take her out of here and I'll kill you myself."

  He choked at her uncharacteristic threat.

  Nykyrian pulled her into his arms and kissed her cheek. "Now, now, Ki, don't threaten him for doing something I asked him to do."

  She nodded, and glanced back to Jullien. "You will watch over her?"

  "Like I do my own."

  Sniffing and laughing, she stepped away from Nyk to give Jullien a kiss. "If she needs anything, call us. We can get to her immediately."

  "I will. And don't worry. Ushara's already made a room for her. And Nadya's looking forward to having an older sister-cousin. She was making a welcome banner for Thia with her sisters and my twins when I left."

  Thia came dancing out of her brothers' room to grab Jullien's hand. "I'm ready!"

  God, how he envied her that enthusiasm that came from venturing into the world with a safety net that would cushion her should she stumble. It was something he'd never known.

  Nyk either.

  They'd been thrown to the wolves to fend for themselves when they'd barely been out of their nappies. No one had ever given a single shit what happened to either of them. It was what made the two of them so insanely protective of their children.

  Jullien glanced between his brother and Kiara. "Are you two ready?"

  "Not at all." Nyk winced as he took Zarina from Kiara as if it was the only way he could trust himself to not grab or shoot Thia to keep her there.

  "Me, either."

  Jullien well understood. "You two stay here and pretend she's going off with friends. It'll be easier."

  Kiara yanked Thia into her arms and wailed in the poor girl's ear. "I love you, baby!"

  "Love you, too," Thia choked out. For the first time, Jullien saw grief in her eyes and knew that Thia did love them.

  But she was old enough now to try and find her own way in the world.

  She released Thia to Nyk's embrace. He lifted her completely off her feet with one arm. "Stay safe. Don't make me kill my brother."

  "I will and I won't."

  And with that, he released her to Jullien's care.

  Jullien said a quick good-bye, took Thia's bags from her hands, and then he and Thia headed for the main entrance of the palace.

  He hesitated as they descended the stairs. "You sure about this? You're not going to try and kick open the door when we go to launch, right?"

  She laughed. "I'm good. Thank you, Basha Jules."

  "My pleasure. As long as you don't get me killed." Jullien winked teasingly at her.

  Until they turned the corner toward the exit and came face-to-face with his father.

  Tall, blond, and handsome, Aros was an almost identical copy of Nyk, except he lacked the facial scarring Nyk had from his brutal childhood and battles.

  Scowling, his father glanced between them. "Is something wrong? Are we under attack again? I was just told that Nyk had granted you clearance to land."

  Yeah, because Jullien knew better than to make the request to his father, who'd banned him from landing privileges here more than a decade before--after his father had disinherited him and abandoned him to every assassin in the Nine Worlds who'd been hunting Jullien for his grandmother's thrill-kill warrant. He was so used to his father coldly rebuffing him that he'd long ago stopped reaching out to him in any way.

  But Thia didn't know anything about their bloody history, and the last thing he wanted was to taint her relationship with her only surviving grandfather. "Basha Jules is going to train me to be a Tavali."

  Aros looked even less enthused about her leaving than Nyk as he met Jullien's gaze. "You weren't planning to tell me you were here?"

  Not really. And why should he? Not like his father hadn't banned him from all Triosan territories.

  And Jullien's birthright.

  Jullien tried his best to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach he got whenever he spoke to his father--like someone had just kicked him in the stones. "Didn't see the need for it, any more than I thought you'd grant me docking privileges if you knew it was me trying to land here."

  A harsh dig at his father, but then considering the last time Jullien had requested those privileges he'd been bleeding out from an attack assassins had made on him, and his father had coldly denied the request, it was a well-earned one as far as Jullien was concerned.

  "I see." His fa
ther cleared his throat, then turned back to Thia. "Stay in touch, my precious little one. We'll all miss you."

  She kissed her grandfather on the cheek before Jullien began to lead her away.

  "Jullien?"

  His gut tightening even more, he paused at his father's call to look at him.

  "Take care of yourself and your family."

  Like you really give a shit what happens to me, old man.

  "I intend to." With that, he left, hating the fact he hadn't been able to make a clean exit. Damn it. Last thing he'd wanted was to see either parent.

  Their total lack of care for him while he'd been a kid and cold attitudes toward him as a teen and adult had left him with a bitter hole that could only partially heal so long as he stayed far away from them. The moment they came around, those old wounds ripped open anew, and he despised the fact that they still got under his skin and hurt him.

  Why couldn't he put their past to rest? Why did it have to continue to burn so much? So often?

  "Are you okay, Basha Dagger?"

  He smiled at Thia's warm concern. "Always. Just don't do anything that makes your father kill me," he repeated.

  She laughed. "Is Vasili on board?"

  "No, sorry. He's studying for the first Tavali exam he has next week so that he can go for his Hazard in the fall. And his pilot's license."

  She gaped. "He's that close to becoming a Canted citizen?"

  Jullien smiled as he opened the ramp on his ship. "He is."

  "You must be proud."

  "Honestly? Scared shitless. Last thing I want is for him to be able to request a transfer to another crew."

  "You think he'll do that?"

  Jullien scratched at his beard. "You know how you're fleeing your father's cloying grasp to join The Tavali because you feel stifled by his overprotective ways?"

  "Yeah."

  "Let's just say I make your paka look careless with his progeny."

  "Oh dear God!"

  "Exactly."

  "And I suspect ole Jules here will be even worse with you."

  Thia let out a shriek as she heard Chayden Aniwaya's voice as they entered the flight deck where he was waiting for them. "Chay-Chay Poo Bear!" She ran to hug him.

  Bemused, Jullien locked gazes with his first mate and brother-in-law Thraix, who'd flown in with him and Chayden. "Chay-Chay Poo Bear?" he repeated.

  "Don't even start, Dagger," Chayden warned. "My girl can call me whatever she wants. But you two better not."

  Thraix snorted. "Word to the gods, I will never call you Chay-Chay Poo Bear. Especially if there's anyone else around to hear it."