She laughed. "Have I told you today how much I love you?"

"I love you, too. And I can't wait to see you again." Darling heard his uncle's muffled voice on the other side of his door as he interrogated Darling's guards. "I have to go."

Her features sobered instantly as she leaned forward. "Please be safe."

"You, too."

She blew him a kiss before she disconnected.

Darling had barely hidden the link he wasn't supposed to have under his cover before his door crashed open.

Arturo glared at him.

Biting back a curse, Darling forced himself to appear nonchalant. "What did I do now?"

"First, you know better than to cut the feed to your room. How many times have I told you to keep it live?"

Yeah, Arturo couldn't stand it if he couldn't spy on him. Pervert. But for obvious reasons-like plotting Arturo's death-Darling had pulled the feed hours ago. "Sorry if, unlike you, I prefer to masturbate in private."

Growling in fury, his uncle closed the distance between them to shove an electronic ledger in his face. "What's this?"

"A ledger."

Arturo slapped him with it.

Darling clenched his fist, but stopped himself before he struck back.

"Were you feeding that other butt monkey with my money?"

His rage snapped into place and it took everything he had not to crush Arturo's throat... one hit and he could end all his problems.

Don't do it. You won't die alone...

So he struck back with words. "Last I checked, it was my father's money, not yours."

That got him a vicious punch to the jaw. Pain exploded through his head.

Damn, that hurt. Good thing he was used to it.

Arturo kicked at him. "Do you know what your father would think of you if he could see what you are? He'd be even more repulsed by you than I am. If he were still alive, you'd have been thrown out on the street years ago. Something I should have done the first time I caught one of your butt nuts coming out of your room."

But they both knew why Arturo couldn't really throw him out. Only a full-blooded, legitimate governor could disinherit a full-blooded heir. That had been one nuisance law his uncle had been unable to overturn. No matter the threat or violence, the CDS refused to budge on the original thirty-five Unification Laws that had been drafted and ratified when the Caronese Empire was first founded 3,408 years ago. Those laws were the bedrock of all others and deemed to be sacred and above contestation or revocation.

Thank the gods for that.

Not to mention, if Darling was thrown out, his uncle couldn't monitor him.

Or kill him under mysterious circumstances.

Even if Arturo did manage to toss him out, once Darling turned thirty, as a full-blooded heir, he could return and overthrow the bastard.

And all because his uncle was the by-blow of a prostitute Darling's grandfather had elevated to royal mistress status. Arturo could only rule so long as Darling and Drakari lived, and were deemed by law to be minors or incompetent.

Should both of them die as things currently stood, Arturo would lose all power, and the ruling family would be chosen by the CDS (probably after much bloodshed) from one of their primary full-blooded male cousins.

The only other way Arturo could hold his current power was if they were dead, and he could produce a son with his blue-blooded wife, but only if the CDS ratified that son's inheritance.

That being said, Arturo's rule would end the moment his son turned thirty.

It was why Darling's father had made the mistake of trusting his much older half brother. Since Arturo couldn't rule for the whole of his lifetime, his father had never conceived of the treachery it would take for Arturo to kill him and then seize control of his sons.

That had been his father's greatest act of blind stupidity.

Arturo grabbed Darling by the neck and pressed him against the floor.

Darling locked his hands around his uncle's wrist as he glared up at him. He could break his uncle's arm so easily.

A single punch to his throat or nose and he could kill him...

It would take so little pressure, and Darling had killed enough men that way to know exactly how easy it would be.

One punch. He wouldn't even feel guilty about it.

Stand down.

You can wait one more day.

Keep your temper.

Think of Maris, Lise, and Drake.

Hating himself for loving them, he loosened his grip and wheezed, forcing himself to stay limp while Arturo choked him.

"I should do your mother a favor and kill you. Then she wouldn't have to cringe every time your name is mentioned by others."

Little did Arturo know his mother didn't cringe. She was so grateful he was a protective idiot that she was more than willing to live with the shame of a gay son than to be dead from her numerous affairs.

"Really, Darling, how dare you complain. Am I not entitled to one single moment of pleasure in this horrible life I was shoved into? I was only a child when I was forced to marry your father and only twenty-seven when I was widowed. And after all I've done for you, is it too much to ask that you do this one thing for me? I don't understand why, since you're gay anyway, you get so upset about claiming my lovers as yours. I can't believe I raised such a selfish, thoughtless brat. Your father would be as disappointed in you as I am."

His sight dulled as his ears buzzed. If he died right now, the only thing his mother would miss was having him cover for her.

Yeah, that would seriously fuck up her day since everyone knew Drake was straight.

Arturo finally released him.

Darling coughed as he finally drew an unrestricted breath through his bruised throat.

Arturo raked a sneer over his naked body. "I'm pulling a hundred thousand credits out of your trust to pay for this and as punishment. You charge something like that to me again, and I swear..." His uncle kicked him hard in the groin.

Cursing, Darling cupped himself as pain exploded through his entire body. Bile rose in his throat. He felt like he was about to vomit.

With one smug smile, Arturo left him to his misery.

You fucking bastard...

He couldn't wait to kill him tomorrow night. I'm going to bathe in your blood and drink my fill of it.

The wolf was coming home to den, and it was going to claim sixteen years of long overdue vengeance.

4.

Darling opened the door to his sister's dorm room and smiled as he saw her sitting on her bed with pink earphones set deep into her ears while she studied for her finals. He could hear the bass from her music even at his distance. Unaware of his presence and completely lost to her blissful youth, she bobbed her head and kept time to the raucous beat with her stylus. She didn't appear to have a worry in the universe-a state of existence he'd fought hard to give her.

Thank the gods she was still untouched and happy. That alone was worth every degradation and beating he'd ever suffered.

With her long red hair in pigtails that fell to her waist, Lise was beautiful-an exact duplicate of their mother, except for the hazel green eyes she'd inherited from their father. She was extremely tall for a woman. Barely an inch shorter than he was, she towered over their petite mother and most other women.

Sitting on the frilly pink bed in a blue tank top and shorts, surrounded by primitive print textbooks and her e-reader and note ledger, she was all skinny arms and legs.

How he wished he'd been able to study for his exams in such peace and security.

Unlike his brother and sister, Darling had been brought home from school the moment his father had died-two days before his brother and sister had even been notified of the murder. A lovely task his mother and uncle had delegated to him. There were some things a twelve-year-old shouldn't have to do and telling your little brother and sister they wouldn't see their father again was one of them.

After the funeral, Arturo had demanded he stay at the palace to be tutored, supposedly for his own protection. But Darling knew the truth. It was another way for his uncle to keep him under control and make sure Darling didn't try to find another relative to pose as Grand Counsel until his majority.

From that day forward, he'd scarcely had a moment of freedom from his uncle's overbearing presence or fists-not unless he'd somehow managed to run away for it. But that had changed when he was seventeen, and his uncle had made the unfortunate mistake of hiring Nykyrian to guard Darling for public functions. Thinking the fierce Andarion would intimidate him into behaving, his uncle had never dreamed they would become close friends.

His uncle's second biggest mistake.

Because of his own battered past, Nykyrian had welcomed Darling in like a brother. Rather than ride herd on him as his uncle wanted, Nykyrian had given him a cover story so that Darling could finally live like he was almost normal, and have days of freedom at a stretch.

At least until his uncle got nervous about his whereabouts and sicced his dogs on him. Then Darling was dragged back to his cell and kept there until something else distracted Arturo.

When Nykyrian had founded the Sentella to protect innocent victims from the League and her allies, Darling had gladly signed on as their youngest member, and one of the five leaders.

To this day, his uncle had no idea about the other life Darling had been living for years.

But he was about to meet Kere. And there would be no mercy for him.

First though, Darling had to make sure his family was safe.

Annalise and her roommate, who was on the bed next to hers, finally looked up from their work to see him in the doorway.

Lise smiled brightly as she turned her music off. "Sashi? What are you doing here?" Her smile turned into a look of sheer astonishment as she skimmed Darling's body from the high collar of the black battlesuit he wore, all the way to the shining tips of his flight boots. She arched her brow. "And dressed like that, no less. Wow. You almost look straight, shilo."

Darling didn't respond to her term of endearment that meant "adored brother."

"I need you to come with me."

All the blood left her beautiful face as her jaw went slack. "Momair?"

He felt like a total ass as he realized what he'd done to her. The last time he'd spoken to her in a tone like that had been the night he'd told her their father was dead. "She's fine. Drake's fine. I'm fine. I just need you to come with me."

Fury darkened her hazel green eyes. "You dick! Don't you dare scare me like that. You know better. I can't believe you'd do that to me. Asshole!" Letting out an irritated breath, she gestured to the electronics and books around her. "And I can't just leave. I have exams tomorrow."

"They can wait."

Her roommate snorted. "He hasn't met your instructors, has he?"

Darling ignored her. "Lise. Move it. Now."

This time she arched both brows at his military-issued orders. "What has gotten into you? You been drinking testosterone from Drake's cup? No offense, but I want my sweet, gay brother back. Please go find him and take this one away. I don't like him at all."

Darling cursed in Phrixian under his breath. He hated whenever Lise dug her heels in over something. Spoiled by everyone around her, even her own guards, she'd always been the most impossible creature in the universe. Second only to their mother, anyway. "Do I have to stun you and carry you out?"

Her eyes dared him to try it. "You do and I'll tell Momair on you."

Scoffing at her threat, he'd pay money to see his mother take him to task. Ladling him with guilt, though, was another matter entirely...

"Oh wait," he said in a fearful tone, "that would mean she'd actually have to speak to me." He made a sound of utter shock. "Maybe even acknowledge my existence. Gods forbid! Kere's fire throne would freeze over from the shock of it."

Honestly, he couldn't remember the last time his mother had said anything to him at all. Even a single syllable. Must have been at least three or four years ago. Maybe more. Whenever she found herself in his presence, she'd quickly walk out the closest door. In the beginning, he'd taken it personally. Now he strangely considered it amusing.

"Forget it, sis. It'll never happen." He tapped his watch. "You have five minutes to get dressed in something a little more appropriate before I stun you and carry you out of here. Naked if I have to."

She jerked her earphones out in a royal huff. "Gah, I swear you've been hanging out with that barbarian Syn too long. You're starting to sound like him." She finally got up and began cramming her materials into a pink tote. "Where are we going and how long will I be gone?"

"A few days."

"Does Momair know?"

"I'm taking you to her and Drake."

Lise straightened up with a frown. "Do I need to pack clothes?"

"No. I don't want you to take anything too personal. I want it to look like you'll be back any second."

She glanced at her roommate before she looked back at him. "Now you are starting to scare me."

He didn't respond to that as he met her roommate's gaze. "Can you tell her instructors that we had a family emergency?"