Bastien turned to Ember. "Looks like I'll be taking the aptly named Ship of Fools."

"All right." Fain stepped back to leave.

"But my ship's prettier!" Chayden pouted.

Fain growled at him. "There is something profoundly wrong with you, human."

"Yes"-Chayden slid his gaze to Fain-"and he's standing on my left."

Fain shoved him away from him.

Ignoring them, Bastien said goodnight to Florian before Ember's sisters took his son to wait for them in the bay.

As they headed out, Ryn pulled Bastien to the side. "Syn also came across some data while gathering those files you asked about that he wanted me to give to you personally."

Bastien paused at the odd note in his voice. "What?"

Ember returned to listen.

A dark shadow haunted Ryn's blue eyes as Jory stopped by his side. "Go ahead, cade. 'Tis something he'll want to hear."

Still Ryn hesitated.

Ember knew Bastien dreaded the words. But both of them were completely unprepared for the bomb he dropped on top of them.

"Your brother Quin? He's still alive."

CHAPTER 15.

Bastien couldn't breathe as Ryn's words slapped him. Hard. Unable to comprehend them, he shook his head. "No. I saw my brother die. In front of me."

Ryn's expression darkened. "And I swear to you that he's alive. We would never play with you that way. There's not a one of us who hasn't been through h.e.l.l for their family. And of all people, Syn isn't the one to take the death of a sibling lightly."

No, he wasn't. It was common knowledge that he'd lost his sister to suicide. So no, he'd never toy with anyone about such a somber topic.

"He's sure it's Quin?"

Ryn nodded. "You and Ember come with me and I'll explain it."

Bastien hated to let his son go back home without them, but if his brother was alive, he needed to find him.

Sick to his stomach, he went to where Florian waited by the door.

"I know." He flashed a grin at them. "Rian, go with Aunt Cin. Be good. Brush your teeth. Do your homework."

Ember cupped his cheeks and kissed him. "Love you, precious."

"You, too. Be careful."

Bastien held his hand out. "When this is over, you and me, bud ... long camping trip. No one else. Male bonding. Uninterrupted. Lots of p.o.r.n."

"Bastien!" Ember snapped at him.

Florian smiled. "Promise?"

"Absolutely ... minus the p.o.r.n, though, as I don't want your mom to hurt us." He hugged his son. "And a Cabarro never breaks his word."

"That's what Mom says."

Bastien held him a little longer even though he knew time was of the essence. It was hard to let go. But he had no choice.

Kissing the top of his son's head, he forced himself to do the last thing he wanted.

He released him to Cin's care. "Thank you."

She hugged Bastien. "Don't worry. We adore little Bastien as much as we do big Bastien. It was Alura we voted out of the family."

He laughed. "I always loved all of you. Really missed you."

Cin kissed his cheek and hugged him. "We missed you, too, little brother. And just so you know, Tasi and I told Alura that we'd take you up on that threesome any time you wanted."

He burst out laughing until he realized that his son might have heard her. A quick check told him that Florian was thankfully out of range. "You're lucky you didn't find yourself in jail alongside me."

That sobered her. "No. We found ourselves left for dead and under a.s.sault by the Eudorans and under friendly fire. Trust me, there's no love for Alura among us anymore. She killed it the day she betrayed us all for your uncle. Go kick her a.s.s, with our compliments."

"Don't worry," Ashley said as she came up behind Bastien. "I plan to cut her head off and hand it over to all of you to play ball with before everything is said and done. Just like our ancestors did."

Bastien had to do a double take since they were both dressed up for the party. When they were in battle clothes, it was easy to forget how much Ashley and Cin favored. When they were dressed up and not standing side by side, it was hard to tell them apart. He'd gotten into trouble a couple of times for mistaking them. Which he'd felt terrible about until Tasi had told him that she'd accidentally groped Ash by mistake a time or two herself, for the same reason.

With a curt nod to her sister, Ash and Cin took Florian out, and Bastien and Ember followed Ryn to get the details he had.

Ryn led them to the North Bay, where he'd docked his ship. Without a word, they went to the flight deck. Ryn's first officer, Yra, materialized in front of them, ready to shed blood. Though not very tall, the blue-skinned, red-eyed Starken was tougher than nails and more than capable to take down an entire League hit squad.

Until she saw Ryn. Then she relaxed into a smirk. "One day, Amba.s.sador, I'm going to shoot you, thinking you're here to steal your own ship. When are you going to start warning me?"

"Probably one day after you shoot me for not doing it."

She rolled her eyes.

Bastien laughed. "Your crew is a little paranoid, Dane."

"And with reason."

"How so?"

"It's how he met his wife," Yra said drily. "She took our entire shipment while he had his pants down."

"I really wish you'd quit telling everyone that story!" Ryn snapped.

"Why? Mack tells it more than I do."

Grumbling, Ryn went to his con to power up the ship to basic maintenance level. "I curse the day I chose to surround myself with lippy women."

"Yeah, 'cause mouthy men are so much better."

He snorted at Bastien. "Good point."

Bastien swept a hot look over Ember. "And they're not nearly as much fun to ogle."

"Now that's s.e.xual hara.s.sment," Ryn reminded him.

"Not if you do it right." Bastien grinned.

Ember sighed. "I'd be offended if I thought for one second he was serious. But I know he's joking. I've never been around anyone more respectful than Bastien."

Ryn laughed as he brought up a map and files. They hovered in the air in front of Bastien. "This is the prison where Syn found him. Apparently, he was only wounded during the coup, and hauled here while you were taken into custody."

Bastien's jaw dropped as he saw the old abandoned prison that had been condemned by his great-grandfather. "Are you sure?"

Ryn shrugged. "Wade doesn't normally make those mistakes." He pulled up more files for Bastien. "Syn's theory is that Quin was to be held so long as you were on the run, in case you came home. He's a p.a.w.n Barnabas plans to use against you."

"Can we get to him?"

"That will be tricky. It's a treacherous area of Kirovar and he's down in a hole. Wade said it appears they drop food in to him from time to time. But mostly he's left there to wallow."

He glanced over at Ember. "I'm an expert climber and I've been rappelling my whole life. I can get to him."

Ember nodded in agreement. "I can testify to that."

"All right, then. Operation Suicide. Tell me what you need and we'll scramble."

Bastien should have specified a body double as a parameter for this mission. d.a.m.n, it was tight, squeezing down to get to where Syn had said they were keeping his brother. Forget rappelling, this was caving, with them having to drill their way down at times.

"I take it you're also a caver?"

He smiled up at Ember, who was apparently determined to make their son an orphan, as she kept joining him for his suicide runs. "Little bit. Usually with Quin. Lil never had much taste for it."

"I can see why," Xander groused. "Not my idea of fun."

Ryn snorted at him as he continued to dig down. "Stop whining. This isn't so bad. Besides, you never know when the skills will come in handy."

"Like now." Bastien returned to chiseling.

"Exactly."

By the time they reached the bottom, they were exhausted and covered in dirt and grime.

Grimacing, Bastien scratched at his neck and adjusted the light on his helmet. "I'd stay upwind of me if I were you," he warned Ember.

With a gentle tsk, she kissed his cheek. "Your smell doesn't offend me."

He grinned at that. Until he caught a sound off to his left. They drew blasters.

It stopped.

"Quin? That you?"

No one answered.

Bastien walked closer to where the noise had originated. His heart pounding, he tried to peer into the darkness. "We should have brought an Andarion."

Ryn snorted. "We'd have had to blast to get the opening large enough for their body ma.s.s."

That was true, but they didn't need a lot of light to see.

"Quin?" Bastien tried again. "You here?"

A whistle rent the air. One he was all too familiar with.

This time, Bastien ducked and twisted out of the way as the paralytic dart shot toward him. It landed harmlessly in the wall.

He lunged at the shooter.

It was a tiny woman. Hissing, she sank her teeth into his hand so hard, she let blood.

Bastien cursed.

"Let her go!"

His heart stopped at that deep, dark voice. A voice he'd never thought to hear again. "Quin?"

Turning his head, he expected to find his ever elegant, impeccably groomed brother. But the man there bore little resemblance to the Kirovarian heir. Dressed in rags, Quin looked worse than Bastien had on Oksana. His brown hair was long and s.h.a.ggy-and his grimy face had been painted with symbols.

Bastien's jaw went slack. "It's Bastien, theren. I mean you no harm." He let go of the woman, who scrambled to Quin's side.

It was only then that Bastien saw she was in the beginning stages of a pregnancy.

Quin still had his blaster trained on Bastien. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to get you free." Bastien held his hands out so that his brother wouldn't mistake his intentions.