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  Like Jullien. To be alone and isolated from everything and everyone they'd ever known. To have no one and nothing to rely on, except themselves and their own bitter, raw determination and resolve to not lie down and let the universe defeat them.

  She couldn't imagine trying to rebuild her life the way they'd been forced to. It was why she held them in such esteem and regard. They were warriors in the truest sense of the word, and she admired them for it.

  Ushara smiled as she joined him in the hallway. "So what can I do for you?"

  Thraix hesitated.

  She arched her brow at his sudden awkwardness as he stepped outside so that she could seal and lock her office to leave. How unlike him. He was always so cocksure and in charge. "Is something wrong?"

  "No ... and sort of." He rubbed at the back of his neck. "I kind of need your help, Admiral."

  Admiral? Oh, now she was terrified as she adjusted her briefcase. "Um, okay. What's going on?"

  He let out an elongated breath, but before he could speak, his link went off with a strange, upbeat frolicky tone that was extremely out of character for the somber, handsome Trisani. Oddly enough, it sounded a lot like her sister Mary's favorite song. Blushing, he pulled it from his pocket to check it. "Can you please give me one second? It's important."

  "Sure."

  She watched as he stepped away, toward Zellen's empty desk, to speak in private.

  "Yeah, I'm here." He glanced back at her as he listened to his caller. Long and lean, he held a peculiar air about him that reminded her of Vasili whenever he was afraid of getting into trouble for something.

  Or Jullien in the early days of their relationship whenever he was cautious that he'd done something to upset her or make her angry. Strange, she'd forgotten about that since Jullien had grown so comfortable with her now that she very rarely saw this side of his personality. It was so weird to see another male exhibit it around her, especially one she wasn't related to who held the extreme powers that Thraix commanded so effortlessly.

  Ushara was even more curious now. And her curiosity tripled as a slow blush crept over his chiseled, handsome features.

  "I don't know if that's a good idea." He sputtered for several seconds before he finally let out an exasperated growl. "Fine ... Okay. Hold on." Sheepishly, he headed back to Ushara and held the link out toward her. "It's for you."

  Yeah, this was even more peculiar. She took it and held it to her ear. "Admiral Samari. May I help--?"

  "Oh, like I don't know who you are. Really?"

  Her eyes widened at the familiar voice. "Mary?"

  "Yeah, it's me. Of course it's me. Like you don't know your sister when you hear her ... And yeah, you're confused and by now my sugar-honey is probably glowing in the dark, so tell him that you're okay with him being my nummy treat so he doesn't die of embarrassment, okay?"

  Now Ushara was sputtering as badly as Thraix had been doing a moment ago when he spoke to Mary.

  Was she hearing that correctly? Or was she hallucinating? "B-b-beg your pardon?"

  Mary let out an aggravated sigh before she spoke to Ushara like a parent with a child she was trying not to strangle. "Tell Thraix that you have no problem with us being together, as in a united couple. That our parents are not going to flip out because he's not a Fyreblood, and that you'll be there tonight when we tell them that I'm pregnant and that we're planning on a unification ceremony in a few weeks."

  Her jaw fell wide open and hung there.

  No. It locked there. She couldn't close her mouth for anything. She couldn't think. Couldn't move. She was stunned catatonic.

  All Ushara could do was stare in shock at Thraix, whose face was now bloodred.

  Had she really heard that?

  Pregnant? Mary? Her flibbertigibbet baby sister?

  With Thraix?

  No wonder he bought the condo next door. That was why he'd been in such a hurry to get it when Lev moved out. Suddenly, a lot of odd things made sense. Things she'd noticed, but dismissed. Like how he always volunteered to run point for Mary every time she headed out, even though he wasn't Tavali ...

  He swallowed hard. "Admiral? Are you all right?"

  No. Not even a little bit. Quite honestly, she'd stripped a gasket in her mind while trying to wrap her head around this whole unfathomable scenario.

  Mary was sleeping with Thraix.

  This must be how everyone felt when they found out about me and Jullien. She finally understood their shock. Not that she objected to Thraix. Far from it.

  He was wonderful. A truly great guy whom she adored. She'd just had no idea that he and Mary were ...

  Anything. Never mind doing that together while naked. The two of them were so different. In every way. She couldn't imagine the two of them having a conversation, never mind an actual relationship.

  Mary was all silly and fluff. And Thraix was anything but.

  "Shara?"

  She blinked at Mary's voice. "Yeah, I'm here. I ... I ... What do you need me to do exactly?"

  "Can you take Thraix to the house for dinner? I wanted to do it, but I'm going to be late getting in. I'll be there as soon as I can. Just keep him calm for me--he's really nervous about this. You're the only one who knows besides me and him. I wanted him to see that the family will be fine about it. He's convinced Paka's going to geld him with a knife. Smile and tell him no one's going to gut him over it. Love you!" Mary cut the transmission without warning or preamble.

  Flabbergasted, Ushara handed the link back to Thraix, who looked positively green and sick.

  He gave her a wan smile.

  "Well," she said, stretching the word out. "They'll be a lot more welcoming to you than they were to Jullien."

  "Not very comforting. As I recall, they almost killed him ... twice, and sold him into slavery."

  "See. You have nothing to worry about."

  Sighing, he slid the link into his pocket and turned even greener. "How bad will it be? Really?"

  "Depends. Are you willing to convert?"

  "Already started." He pulled his sleeve back to show that he was wearing an Initiate's bracelet, which was given to those who had no background in any Andarion religion. Because Jullien had been raised in another branch of their basic faith, his conversion had been a little different and a lot quicker, as Jullien had intimate knowledge of their rituals, services, holidays, and gods.

  Thraix, on the other hand, would have to learn everything from the beginning. "Since I know how important temple and religion are to Mary and your family, I volunteered as soon as Mary told me she was expecting, and she agreed to marry me." He shrugged his sleeve down. "I lost faith in my gods a long time ago. Maybe yours will be kinder to me."

  "Oh." She waved her hand and blew out air dismissively. "See, you've got nothing to worry about," she repeated. "That would be their biggest concern about your marriage, and you're already taking care of it. No, they won't be jumping through hoops. But it's Mary. We know she's never done anything the traditional way."

  She led him from her office out toward the street. "Do you love her?"

  "I'm Trisani," he said simply as he held the door for her.

  She hesitated at his answer. "Not sure what that means."

  He followed after her. "We don't have casual sex, Ushara. Ever. As much as we hear internal thoughts just standing next to someone, you don't want to know how much more we know about them when we're that intimately connected to them. There's a reason why Trajen and I are solitary creatures. And we damn sure don't share domiciles with someone voluntarily. That takes a special level of commitment and torture you can only appreciate if you're one of us." He quirked a charming grin. "Especially when you're involved with someone as spirited and open as Mary. Your sister holds nothing back, and can be quite overwhelming."

  Ushara laughed at his tactful description. Mary was definitely an acquired taste. "Very true. So how long have you two been seeing each other?"

  "Our son's due about two months after yours."

  She stumbled. Thraix caught her and set her back on her feet. "We just found out it was a boy two days ago."

  "I know."

  And that was the eerie part about being with a Trisani. Ushara was barely showing her pregnancy, and they were only now medically able to determine the gender of her baby, yet Thraix already knew the gender of his child and most likely the exact day their son would be born.

  Which made her wonder something. "Did you know the first time you met Mary that you'd be involved with her?"

  "It doesn't quite work that way."

  "What do you mean?"

  "We have a degree of control over our destinies. So while I knew it was possible, I tried to behave."

  "Meaning?"

  "Your sister is a hard female to deny, especially when she sets her mind to something. She's the real reason I stayed here instead of returning to my base when war broke out. I wanted to make sure I was close by should she need me. And I didn't want her flying to my base to track me down." There was no missing the way his voice softened when he spoke of Mary. Or the way his eyes sparked.

  He did love her.

  Grateful that Mary had finally found someone who could appreciate her peculiar charms, Ushara opened the door to her condo. The twins rushed her and Thraix with an excited scream that all but pierced her eardrums.

  Jullien laughed at them. "So much for trying to get their shoes on them."

  Thraix swung Mira up over his shoulder and held her upside down while she laughed and kicked. "I think we can get some shoes on this one. If we hurry."

  Ushara caught his gaze behind Jullien's back. Does he know? she mouthed.

  "Do I know what?" Jullien asked without looking at her.

  Ushara gaped at his hidden talents. "How do you do that?"

  "Lived in a palace with enemies plotting against me. I can literally see through walls." He scowled at her. "What are you two up to?"

  Thraix tickled Mira before he used his powers to put her shoes on her feet. "He only knows because he walked in on us once."

  Jullien grimaced. "Oh, crap. She found out about her sister?"

  Ushara gasped as she glared her husband. "You knew and never told me?"

  "Mary swore me to secrecy."

  Gasping again, she popped him on the bottom.

  Mira sucked her breath in sharply as she looked at her sister. "Mama spanked Paka!"

  "Yes, I did. He kept a big secret from me."

  Jullien rubbed at his posterior. "What's the big deal?"

  "The big deal is that my sister is now pregnant."

  Freezing, Jullien arched a brow at Thraix. "Hell of a kiss, huh?"

  Thraix rolled his eyes. "Yes, my powers are that extreme. I can impregnate with my lips alone. Fear me."

  Mira tugged at her father's sleeve. "What's impregnate mean, Paka?"

  He brushed her hair back from her face. "Lyra Mary is having a baby like Mama."

  Viv clapped her hands together. "We're having two babies?"

  "Kind of," Ushara explained. "Mary and I will have our boys close together. They'll almost be twins like you and Mira."

  Mira clapped her hands together. "So Basha Thraix will be our real basha?"

  Jullien nodded. "Yes."

  Both twins ran and hugged him.

  "Till your graspa turns him into your lyra."

  Ushara snorted at Jullien's sarcasm, which confused them. "Stop!"

  "I don't know," Thraix said as he hugged the girls. "He's probably not too far off the mark."

  After they herded the girls out the door to head to her parents', Ushara saw that Jullien had been watching the news as he turned the monitor off and locked the condo.... Which meant he'd most likely seen the report about his mother and her newest additions to the Andarion royal family.

  Sobering, she allowed Thraix to walk ahead with the girls, toward her parents' house. "You okay?"

  He shrugged his jacket on. "Fine."

  "Jules..."

  He settled it on sideways as he always did, but she fixed it for him while they walked. "Really, Shara. I'm good. Yes, it hurt at first when I heard it. But my cousins and I were the main reason Fain Hauk was Outcast from his lineage. So I'm good with my mother taking him in. It feels right. I'm actually glad she did it. He deserves to have a family again."

  "Okay. If you're sure?"

  "Really. I swear." He tucked his scarf around the scars on his neck and put his red glasses on.

  Deciding to believe him, she had just set it from her mind when they entered her parents' house and her link buzzed. It was the base comptroller.

  Weird. They almost never called her.

  She answered it while Jullien and Thraix took the girls to Nadya and her sister's to play and say hi to Oxana.

  At first, she didn't understand what they were telling her. It was hard to hear over the boisterousness of her family. "What? Can you repeat that?"

  When she did, Ushara felt the room tilt.

  "I said, Admiral, that a rogue group hit the convoy that was headed in. Right now, we're not showing any survivors. What do you want us to do?"

  Ushara dropped the link as her stomach pitched hard and she stumbled against the wall.

  Jullien turned toward her at the same time Thraix went pale. No doubt from having heard her thoughts.

  Numb, she swallowed before she told her parents and family what they'd just told her. "Mary and Ryna's convoy was hit...."

  CHAPTER 34

  Jullien and Ushara flew out on the Pet Hate, while Thraix headed up the Vengeance with Zellen and Unira on board. Trajen and Davel ran point behind them on their own ships. Because they were emotionally overwrought and worthless in that condition, the rest of the Altaans had been left behind, including Vasili.

  "How you doing over there, Thraix?" Jullien asked as they went to investigate what had happened to the convoy.

  "I'm not burying another wife and child." His tone was deadpan.

  "Wife? What?" Davel's voice broke through the static. "Child? Did I hear that right? Who did Thraix marry?"

  "We'll talk about that later," Trajen said, cutting Davel off mid-tantrum.

  As they neared Mary's last known coordinates, Jullien took Ushara's hand in his. What he saw made him sick to his stomach for her as his own grief and anger choked him. He loved Mary and Ryna, too. Since the early days of their marriage, her sisters had been welcoming and warm to him, especially Mary.

  Damn it!

  How could this have happened?

  There was twisted wreckage all over this sector. Tears glistened in Ushara's eyes as she saw the remnants of her sisters' ships and the remains of a brutal, nasty fight. Her family had fought hard.

  It just hadn't been enough.

  Gutted, Jullien struggled to keep his emotions in check for Ushara. And he knew she was doing the same. How she managed to hold it together, he had no idea. This had to be tearing her apart. Yet she maintained her composure like a champ.

  No, she held herself like the military commander she was.

  Never had he respected her more. Though, to be honest, he wouldn't have faulted her for losing it under these circumstances.

  Clearing his throat, he went over the readings, wanting the lifeblood of whoever was responsible.

  "This wasn't a League hit." The League didn't leave a charred mess like this. They were clinical and precise. Had they gone after the convoy, they'd have left a team of sweepers who'd have removed all the debris to keep anyone else from running into it--or from seeing this as a warning that they were patrolling this sector. Plus, they'd have teams still in the vicinity, waiting for accomplices to show so they could arrest them.

  Which Jullien and the others had been prepared to fight and evade.

  But there were no League ships here. Not patrols or scouts.

  Ushara glared at the damage that had been wrought. "This looks like Mavericks. They're the only ones I know who would leave behind this kind of destruction as a sign of pride that they were here. But I've never known them to hit us before."

  Neither had Jullien. Because the Mavericks were another pirate group, like The Tavali, they had an understanding that they'd leave each other's ships and crews alone. Otherwise, it invited a nasty retaliation that could quickly escalate to open warfare.

  It just wasn't done. It'd never been done in the history of their worlds. The Mavericks might unite with The Tavali to prey on The League or other governments. But they never went after each other.

  Jullien opened the channel. "Are you guys picking up anything?"

  "No." Trajen's voice was cold. Empty.

  When Thraix didn't answer, Jullien scowled at Ushara. "Sparda? You there?"

  "I want blood, Andarion. No one's getting out of this alive." Thraix's ship went off their scanners as he shot out of their range.

  "Ah shit," Jullien breathed. "Tray, can you trace him?"

  "No. You?"

  "No, but I got a bad feeling I know where he's going. Follow me." Jullien used his powers to fly into the last sector he wanted to venture.

  Ushara turned to stare at him as she saw their new heading. "Solaras? Why are we going there?"

  "I guess I'm feeling suicidal," he answered sarcastically.

  The only places worse for him were the Arcadian and Tryga Systems--the two ruled by his parents, where he was exiled. What made Solaras more dangerous for him was the small fact that it was controlled by The Sentella and Porturnum.

  More precisely, it was where Nyran and Eriadne were currently shacked up, along with the majority of those who wanted Jullien most dead. If he had an enemy who lived to gut him, they seemed drawn to this particular sector.

  So naturally, it was where Thraix decided to have his nervous breakdown.

  Effing figures. So much for my pardon.

  His stomach knotted with dread and grief, Jullien led them to Barataria--the heart of Maverick-controlled territory.

  While the Porturnum ruled a portion of the sector, the Mavericks dominated the majority of it. For that matter, the entire system was known for its spirited lawlessness. As well as the fact that no matter how hard The League tried, they couldn't quite bring it under heel. There was just something about the beings who called this area home, that they wouldn't be tamed. No matter how heavily patrolled or how many centuries went by, the Solaras System remained one of the raunchiest and deadliest in the Nine Worlds.

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