30 Chapter (1)

Six months later

“I still think you should have stayed on Tai’Lehr.”

Rohan focused on piloting the small ship toward Malok-1’s docks. “What a coincidence,” he said dryly. “I still think you should have stayed home, too.”

He didn’t need to turn his head to know that his friend was scowling.

“My home is Calluvia,” Warrehn bit out.

Rohan snorted. “You sound like you need to convince yourself first, buddy.”

He got a telepathic shove for that, nearly causing them to collide with the freighter docking ahead of them.

“Careful, dammit,” Rohan said, shooting Warrehn a glare. “Anyone ever told you not to distract the pilot?”

“No,” Warrehn said with a grumpy face, but since Warrehn’s face looked somewhat grumpy ny percent of the time, the effect was rather ruined even though this time Warrehn actually had a legitimate reason to be his grumpy, brooding self. It wasn’t every day one returned to one’s home pl after neen years away.

As they docked, Sirri emerged out of the cabin, yawning. “Ugh, I didn’t think we’d be here so soon,” she said sleepily. “Where’s the blockade when you need it?”

She followed them out of the ship, still muttering something unhappily.

Rohan punched in his ess code and headed toward the station’s TNIT. There wasn’t much to look at along the way: gray walls, low ceilings, and lack of furniture and people. Malok-1 was an automated orbital station, operated by the centralputer and droids. The station was hidden behind a gas giant that was located at the far end of the star system Tai’Lehr was located in. It was far enough from Tai’Lehr for the transgalactic teleporter to function, but close enough for its work to be masked by Tai’Lehr’s maic field. It had been built in secret centuries ago by Tai’Lehr engineers, and Calluvia was oblivious about it.

Or so they had thought.

Rohan’s lips thinned. Of course, there had always been a chance that the unregistered TNIT would be discovered: sooner or later, Calluvians were bound to learn about it. He still would have preferred for it to be later than sooner—and in other circumstances.

“I still think you should have stayed behind, Rohan,” Sirri said, catching up to him. “Warrehn and I are perfectly capable of dealing with this.”

“See? She agrees with me,” Warrehn said.

Rohan ignored them.

Sirri sighed. “You’re such a control freak, honey. Why can’t you trust other people to get the job done?”

Rohan entered another ess code and the door to the TNIT room opened. “Prepare the TNIT,” he said shortly.

“Ass,” Sirri said, heading toward the TNIT’s controls. “At times like this, I wonder why I ever fucked you. If you weren’t such a fantastic lay, I would have punched you years ago.”

“And here I was, wondering why you put up with his shit,” Warrehn said, stepping onto the transporter pad. His blue eyes were tight as he looked around the room. Rohan wondered if he was remembering the first time he was in it.

“You’re one to talk, you grumpy old man,” Sirri said. “At least Rohan has one redeemable quality: his talent in the sack. You, I’m not sure about. You’re nice to look at, but looks aren’t everything, if you get what I mean.”

Warrehn’s lips didn’t even twitch. “Want a demonstration?”

Sirri laughed. “I’m afraid I lack… necessary assets for your assets to work. And I saw what you did to that shop boy. The poor thing couldn’t sit for days. Thanks, but no thanks.”

Rohan joined his best friend on the transporter pad. “Sirri. Just get it done.”

She raised her yellow eyebrows mockingly. “Say please.”

Rohan gave her a flat look.

Sirri rolled her eyes. “Fine. You have no sense of humor since your trip to Calluvia. What happened there to turn you into such a moody dick?”

Rohan averted his gaze and said tersely, “Maybe you should be the one to stay home if all you’re interested in is gossip.”

“Fuck you,” she said mildly, finally finishing up and hopping onto the transporter pad. “Or is that it? Maybe you should just get laid.”

The activation of the TNIT prevented Rohan from saying anything to that. Not that he had much to say in any case. He could hardly tell Sirri that the idental bond he’d formed to a Calluvian prince made his skin crawl with unease every time he’d attempted to have sex in the past year. Sirri would never let him live it down. Even Warrehn had no idea, and they usually told everything to each other, being as close as brothers.

When Rohan rematerialized, he was breathing fresh forest air.

He opened his eyes and found himself looking at the enormous mountains towering over the forest. No matter how many times he saw them, Rohan couldn’t help but feel a little awed. The Kavalchi Mountains, or Great Mountains as people called them, were one of the tallest and steepest mountains in the galaxy.

He looked at Warrehn, who materialized next to him. His jaw was clenched, his blue eyes greedily taking in their surroundings. Warrehn’s shields were usually impable, but now they were all over the place.

Rohan laid a hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezed it.

Warrehn gave a tight nod and reinforced his mental shields. “Sorry,” he said gruffly. “Bad memories.”

Sirri was looking around curiously. “I’ve never been to Calluvia before. Is this the forest you’ve been rescued in by our people, War?”

Warrehn gave another clipped nod. “Not very far from here. I was lucky.” He didn’t sound as though he thought he’d been lucky.

Knowing better, Rohan didn’t push.

Unfortunately, Sirri didn’t know better. “Right,” she said with a snort. “I’ve read the reports. They said you tried to go back to Calluvia numerous times in the first year on Tai’Lehr.”

Warrehn didn’t say anything, turning his back to her and starting to walk away, deeper into the forest.

But Sirri being Sirri, didn’t know when to give up. “You were one ungrateful ass,” she said, following him. “You still are.”

“Sirri,” Rohan said warningly.

She ignored his warning. “Didn’t you realize that it would be stupid to go back? You were just a kid, and you couldn’t even get an audience with the Council without your Auntie Dearest finding out about it and making you look like a delusional little attention-seeking idiot—”

“Shut up!” Warrehn snarled, whirling around and shaking her by the shoulders.

Sirri was many things—asionally annoying and meddling—but cowardly wasn’t one of them. She stood her ground, looking Warrehn in the eye, not at all intimidated by his height and body mass. She was a tough woman, despite her tiny body.

Rohan didn’t interfere, knowing that she wouldn’t appreciate it.

“You know I’m right, War,” she said. “You were what, ten? Old enough to realize that your auntie was a cunning bitch who was two steps ahead of you. The rumors of your… unstable behavior had been spread long before she tried to murder you. Back then, your own people thought that you were an unstable, attention-seeking brat. You would have been dismissed right away if you went to the Council claiming that your auntie tried to kill you. You know that. We were right to keep you on Tai’Lehr. It’s obvious your little brother was dead already anyway—”

“That’s enough, Sirri,” Rohan said, watching Warrehn’s back bing tenser with every moment.

“Why?” she said with a scoff. “He has no right to act as though we were wrong to force him to stay on Tai’Lehr. It was for his own good!”

“Right,” Warrehn said, his lips twisting into a sardonic smile. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Although Warrehn was a handsome man, his face looked more natural when it was scowling and glaring than when it was smiling. “Just for my own good. It had nothing to do with Lord Tai’Lehr being afraid that I’d give the rebels away if I went back.”

Sirri glared at him. “Uncle G had his people to think about. One ungrateful royal brat’s happiness was secondary. We saved your life, but you’re still holding a grudge. Ungratefulness should be your second name, you ass!”

“You know nothing,” Warrehn bit off, his jaw working. “Your perspective is biased.”

Sirri raised her eyebrows mockingly. “And yours isn’t?”

“Enough,” Rohan snapped, fed up with both of them. It was an old argument between them, rehashed over and over. Warrehn and Sirri were stubborn hotheads who never knew when to admit defeat. “If you wanted to quarrel, you should have stayed on Tai’Lehr. One more word and I’m sending you back. Both of you.”

Warrehn glared at him mulishly, but Rohan stared him down until Warrehn finally averted his gaze, frustration rolling off him in thick waves.

“You’re not the boss of me,” Sirri said, lifting her chin. “You can’t send me back. It’s my mission, not yours. You’re just tagging along for no good reason!”

Rohan turned away and continued walking, given them no choice but to follow him.

He knew Sirri was right.

He shouldn’t be here. He shouldn’t havee back. The bond that was pulsing at the back of his mind, like an itch he couldn’t scratch, was proof enough.

“If I weren’t here, you two would have killed each other instead of aplishing anything,” he said flatly.

Neither Warrehn nor Sirri said anything, thank fuck. He was in no state of mind to tolerate their bitching, and they seemed to realize that.

“Do you know where you are going?” Sirri said at last, her voice calmer. Careful.

“He said he would meet us by the Shmei tree. There’s only one in the area.”

“We’re a little late,” Warrehn said. “It’s already ten.”

Rohan held back a scathing retort. They wouldn’t have been late if Warrehn and Sirri hadn’t sidetracked them with their useless argument.

“He will wait,” he said, walking faster.

“If it isn’t a trap,” Warrehn said, checking his blaster.

Rohan didn’t say anything. The possibility was always there, of course.

“It still doesn’t feel like a trap,” Sirri said.

Rohan relaxed slightly. It was one of the reasons she had been chosen for this mission. She had a gift for premonition, a gift that was as rare among the telepaths as Rohan’s own gift forpulsion. If Sirri said that she didn’t have a bad feeling about their meeting, things were unlikely t