Jullien was forever a contentious a.s.s, 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 s.h.i.t 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 b.i.t.c.h 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 wh.o.r.ehouse.

So given that, he well understood Thia's feelings of isolation and not belonging. Of wanting to escape this h.e.l.l 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 d.a.m.ned 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 G.o.d! Oh my G.o.d! Oh my G.o.d!" 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 pa.s.s 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!"

G.o.d, 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 s.h.i.t 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.