"Yeah, I know."

As Bastien moved to return the call, Trajen drifted over to Thrix.

It was a recorded message from Syn with intel Bastien had been waiting on. A slow smile curved his lips.

"Ach, now, if that's not a frightening look. I'm shivering in me boots!"

Bastien smiled even wider as he recognized the smooth, deep cadence of a familiar voice. Jory Hinto. He had been the Jup that day on Oksana when Jullien had first returned to Bastien's life. And since the day Jullien had introduced them, they'd become fast friends, as it was impossible not to adore Jupiter Hinto.

He turned toward the Tavali pirate with a smirk.

"Don't you be cutting them eyes at me like that, cade. I'm just here to corrupt and entertain."

Bastien laughed. "Jory, you a.s.shole. What are you doing here?"

"Ach, now, was invited. I'm a.s.suming you were too. Besides, it's not me you need to be fretting, me Kirovarian brother. It's your maither over there, sitting on us all."

"My mother?"

He jerked his chin toward the door, where a new group had just come in. "Fain Hauk."

Bastien laughed again, especially as he noted Fain and his wife Galene interacting with Ember and her sisters. But his laughter died the instant it dawned on him that they were all Tavali here and The Tavali were the natural enemies of the Dread Reckoning.

Ah minsid h.e.l.l ...

Clearing his throat, he glanced back to Jory. "They're friendly, but they're DR. Please don't kill them."

"Well, you're asking a lot. Good thing I still love you. And that Fain is too happy about his own new grandbaby to be in a slaughtering mood." With a wink, Jory headed over to see Sphinx.

"Who's Jory?" Ember asked as she came up behind Bastien.

"Jory Woods Hinto. Son of Gadgehe Hinto."

Ember choked as she instantly recognized that name. "Gadgehe ... as in the HAP of the Septurnum Nation?"

"Affirmative. Also Jory as in the brother-in-law of the VA of the Wasturnums, and the amba.s.sador of the entire Tavali joint Nations. Not someone you want to shoot at." He smiled down at Ember. "By the way, you should always ask Jory if he's hauling Precious Cargo."

"Into battle or the party?" She screwed her face up at him, not understanding the reference. "Why would he do that?"

"He'll know what it means."

Ember arched her brow as she tried to decipher his cryptic words. "How so?"

Bastien laughed evilly. "It would mean that Ryn Dane is with him."

She gaped at that name. Not only was he the above-mentioned amba.s.sador and Wasturnum VA, he was also the older half-brother of Darling and Drake Cruel, both of whom would be extremely upset should anything happen to him. No wonder they called the man Precious Cargo-an apropos call sign, indeed. "Anyone else we need to make sure we don't hurt?"

"Probably." Bastien stretched out the word. "If Fain, Ryn, and Jory are here, it's a real good bet they're hauling Chayden Aniwaya with them, as Jory seldom goes anywhere without Chay following. Those two are thick as thieves."

"And Chayden would be?"

"A prince of the Qill empire. Beloved brother of the Exeterian and Garvon princess. Which means she would have sent their prince and heir, Caillen, to guard her brother. Or Caillen's here just to bust heads and have fun because he makes me look sane."

"I thought he retired."

"That's what he claims, but I'll believe it when I see it, and as I said, Desideria isn't going to let her brother be hurt."

Ember let out an aggravated sigh. "Is there anyone you don't know?"

He sobered instantly. "My son."

Guilt cut through her at his unexpected reminder as Bastien went over to talk to Vasili and Florian.

Ember stayed back to gather her dignity over what she'd intentionally done to the one person she should never have hurt. Bastien would have stood by her through the fires of h.e.l.l. And she'd cut him adrift out of fear. Fear of his father. Fear of her own emotions and fear of his uncle.

How could she have been so stupid?

Kindel moved to stand by her side. "You okay?"

"I don't know."

Kindel laughed. "You've never known. Mind some advice?"

She pa.s.sed a droll grimace at her older sister. "Of course I do. I hate your advice."

"Because it's usually right, and in this case, it's extremely true."

As much as she hated to admit it, Kindel wasn't wrong about that. d.a.m.n her for it. "Fine. What is it?"

"Get out of the way of your happiness."

"How so?"

Kindel jerked her chin to where Bastien was smiling and greeting an extremely attractive auburn-haired man dressed in the red uniform of a Wasturnum Tavali. One who bore the same n.o.ble bearing and regal refinement that was innate to Bastien. "You overthink everything! You panicked the night he asked you to marry him, and rather than tell him why, you ran. Stop running. Stop thinking. Just feel and do."

"Said no one ever in the history of the United Systems. That is the worst advice ever, big sister."

Kindel pointed to where Bastien was now hugging Fain Hauk and greeting the others. "You have been in love with that man since the night he called you in the hospital and asked you out for dinner. Do you remember what you said to me?"

"Not at all."

"That Bastien was the only man who ever met you and Alura at the same time and then chose you. And that he was s.e.xier than h.e.l.l."

"And the craziest lunatic ever born!" She definitely remembered saying that part.

Kindel ignored her outburst as she continued. "Why do you think Alura did what she did to you and Bastien?"

That was easy. She was a selfish b.i.t.c.h, but most of all ... "She wanted to be a visira."

"In part. But mostly, it was to get back at Bastien for daring to love you and not her." With a gimlet stare, Kindel folded her arms over her chest. "You know why she testified against him?"

And that was an even easier question to answer. "To save her own a.s.s." It was what Alura was best at.

"No." Fury glinted in Kindel's eyes. "Back then, she talked to me. Told me everything. Originally, she had planned to hide while Barnabas did his coup. What changed her mind, you ask? Bastien overheard you talking to Cinder about your breakup with Cedric. You remember that?"

"Vaguely." He'd been an unimportant rebound. But it had cut her to the bone when he broke up with her after he found out about Rian. He'd been furious to learn she had a child and hadn't disclosed it to him on their first date.

"Well, you can ask Cin to verify this. While talking to you, she turned around and saw Bastien's face. He looked as if he'd been gutted. At first, she thought he was feeling sorry for himself. Until she heard later that he'd gone to Cedric and beat the utter s.h.i.t out of him for hurting you."

Ember's jaw went slack. "You're kidding me."

Kindel shook her head. "He made you cry so Bastien made him weep. When Alura found out who Bastien a.s.saulted and he refused to tell her why, she put it together and was furious that he was still defending you. That he still loved you enough to care and go to jail for you. So she went to Barnabas and told him she'd do whatever he wanted to get back at her husband ... because he loved you, his ex-girlfriend, more than he loved her, his wife."

Yeah, that sounded like something her sister would do. No one hurt Alura's feelings with impunity. "Does Bas know?"

"I have no idea. But I thought you ought to, given what it cost him."

She was right. And now she felt all the worse about it. "Thank you, Kiki."

Leaving her sister, Ember headed for Bastien, who was laughing with a tall, dark-haired Qill who must be the Chayden Bastien had mentioned earlier. By his Tavali patch, she saw he was a Rogue pilot.

"Psycho Bunny?" she asked as soon as she saw the name on his patch.

He laughed good-naturedly over his call sign. "Chayden Aniwaya ... although, Psycho Bunny is much easier to p.r.o.nounce."

Bastien clapped him on the back, letting her know they were close, too. "They were just explaining to me how they blew our League friends out of the sky."

"Yeah," Jupiter said with a wicked grin. "You missed one h.e.l.l of a great dogfight, Cabarro. You should have been there, cade."

"Well, my ship was, during one fight ... without me."

Now it was Fain's turn to laugh. "You know, when I first heard that story from Drake, I thought you were in it, till I realized you're not quite that crazy. How much explosive did you load on it?"

"I was hoping enough to take them all out. Epic fail to that."

Ryn, who was even in height with Bastien, shook his auburn head. "You've been hanging out with my little brother too long. I thought only Darling was that reckless with explosives."

"Really?" Bastien asked drily. "'Cause Dancer Hauk was the one who blew my base to smithereens. I'm still p.i.s.sed about that."

Fain snorted. "You? I still can't believe my brother did that, given how much he hates explosives and explosions. Says it all about how worried he must have been."

"Given the fact that we were responsible for Nyk's beloved daughter at the time? I'd risk the explosion, too."

"Truth to that." Chayden laughed. "You weren't there when I helped escort Thia here for her new a.s.signment. I don't think any of us breathed until we were clear of Sentella-controlled s.p.a.ce and made sure Nyk wasn't trailing after us, target-locked."

"Speaking of being target-locked..." Fain glanced around the group. "Has Ryn told you?"

"What?"

"We've got intel on Barnabas from Syn. We're all planning to go with you to fight him."

Bastien gaped. "Suddenly, I feel so loved." Then he grinned, but only for a second, until it melted into a frown. "I can't believe you'd risk your lives for me and mine."

Ryn snorted. "You didn't think we were going to let you fight alone?"

"Um, yeah." Bastien inclined his head to Ryn. "Don't you have a baby to tend?"

"Not yet. And it was either I come to back Jory in this fight, or Mack would have come. So I docked her with my mom and flew right out as I don't want my pregnant wife doing something profoundly stupid while protecting her lunatic brother."

Bastien snorted at the mention of Ryn's headstrong wife. "Gutsy."

"Yeah, not really. Mack and my mom scare me, they get along so well. I keep waiting to get booted out of the family."

"That's 'cause you married your mom."

Fain and Jory turned to glare at Chayden for his comment.

"What?" Chayden said innocently. "Oh, c'mon! I cannot possibly be the only one who's noticed that Mack and Hermione are basically the same person. They look alike. Dress alike. Even move alike."

Jory slapped him hard in the stomach, then between gritted teeth said in a loud whisper, "We don't talk about that! Ach, cade, are you insane?"

"They are nothing alike!" Ryn insisted.

But Ember could tell by the expression on Bastien's face, as well as the others', that Ryn was being willfully obtuse about it.

How much could they favor?

Before she could ask for clarification, Cin and Tasi brought Rian out to them.

"Do we really have to leave now?" Rian asked.

Ember ruffled his hair. "Sorry, baby. We have to get back to our base."

All of the men fell quiet as they noticed the fact that Rian was Bastien's clone. It was actually comical the way they glanced between them.

"Yeah," Bastien said after a second. "I know. And yes, he's my son. Florian, meet Chayden, Jory, Ryn, and Fain."

His jaw dropped at the ma.s.sive size of Fain. "Are you an Andarion?" And before he could answer, Rian hurriedly added, "You know you look just like the Iron Hammer! He's an Andarion Ring fighter."

Fain grinned, exposing his fangs. "Yeah, I know. Talyn's my son."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Fain said proudly. "You ever want an autograph, just let me know." Then he glanced back to Bastien. "Love your kid. He's adorable, now pick a ship before we all get into a fight over you."

Bastien laughed at the thought. "Whose is largest?"

"Jory's."