Born of Legend (53 page)

“Yeah, but remember, it's not the part that's good for you, anyway. I'm the part that hogs all the covers and steals your sweets.”

She laughed. “And who lets me bury my cold feet under him at night and never complains about them.” She burst into tears.

Jullien froze at the sound of her utter misery. It was the first time anyone had ever cried like this for him. He'd only seen his mother weep for his brother in this manner. “Shara?
Mu taru
?”

“I'm sorry. I just really miss you. I forgot what it was like to need someone else this much and to have to live without them. You kind of snuck up on me.”

“I'm not sure what to say to that.”

“That you love me and you'll be home safe and sound as soon as you can.”

“You know I do and that I will. I've never loved anyone but you.”

That made her cry even harder.

Jullien sat up, feeling all kinds of worthless. “Honey? What did I do now?”

“It's not you … well, it is you, but it's not.”

He felt completely helpless and lost. “Shara, you're killing me. I can't stand for you to be in pain and not be there to help.”

“I know. I'm sorry. It's just a hormonal thing. I've been really emotional lately. It'll pass. I promise.” And still she sobbed.

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Just stay safe.”

Suddenly, the ship's alarm rang out.

Her eyes widened. “You're under
attack
?”

“I'm sure it's nothing.”

With a droll, irritated glare, she cocked her head at him. “That's an alarm for battle stations, Jules. It's not
nothing
.”

“I know. I've got to go. I'll call when it's over. Love you.”

“Love you, too. Be careful.” She hung up.

Jullien tucked his link into his pocket as he rolled from the bunk to head for the bridge so that he could see what was going on. They weren't supposed to be anywhere near a League-controlled zone. Nor any kind of enemy territory. Since he was wanted so severely and Davel was a new father, this was supposed to be a low-risk training run. Simple in and out. Legal supplies, with legit paperwork. No complications.

They both should have known better.

As he entered the bridge, Jullien drew up short. A few feet away, Davel was engaged in a heated discourse with a League patrol and the last thing Jullien wanted was to be seen by anyone in a League uniform. While he'd been out of the limelight for years now, he still didn't want to chance anyone recognizing him from any of the media blitzes that had once run constantly against him.

Davel let out a tired breath as he reiterated his point. “We're an independent contractor on our way to pick up a shipment. I don't understand why you need to inspect us. You've got the live-feed on our cargo bay and can see it's currently empty.”

“We have it on good authority that you're hauling contraband. Now prepare to be boarded and inspected, or we will be forced to attack.”

Davel passed a suspicious glower toward Jullien as he muted the channel. “Anyone have a confession before I let them on board?”

Gallatin shook her head. “I inspected every piece of cargo and personal item. We're clear. Nothing illegal came on board.”

“Except for me.” Jullien jerked his chin toward the League officer's image. “I'm the only thing they can be looking for.”

“That's what I was thinking, given how vague they're being.” Davel met Gallatin's gaze. “We've got to hide him.”

“I'm on it. Buy us time.”

Davel opened the channel. “All right. Cargo airlock. Prepare for boarding.”

Gallatin led Jullien toward the head of the ship, away from the cargo bay. “I've got a bad feeling.”

So did he, but he didn't want to make her even more nervous. “How many others have warrants?”

“All of us. But only yours is a kill warrant. Our IDs and codes should pass muster without any problems. Yours…”

His face was too well known, even with his beard, different eye color, and hairstyle. Hard to hide when you were the former heir of not one, but
two
major empires, and had once been the most photographed spoiled bastard of all time. Not to mention the small fact that he was a rare hybrid of two species not known for screwing each other and breeding children together.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for sheltering me.

Suddenly, blaster fire rang out.

Gallatin cursed. Jullien grabbed his blaster and started for the flight deck. Before he took more than a few steps, his link went off.

It was Davel.

“Yeah?”

“We were right. They're here for you. Take one of the fighters and launch out. We'll cover it.”

Was Davel out of his mind? “They'll mark you for harboring a fugitive if I do.”

Davel fired at someone. “They'll capture you if you don't.”

“I'll surrender, then. It's not worth the risk to you and your ship or crew. You have an infant and children to consider.”

“Yeah, so do you.”

“Vas will—”

“Ushara's pregnant, Jules. She didn't want you to find out until after we got back, because she knew you wouldn't leave her. It's why she's been so tired and emotional the last few weeks. Now go and let us cover you. Don't make her raise another baby without its father. I can't do that to her.”

Jullien stared at Gallatin as those words sank in.

Gallatin patted him on the arm. “Come on, let's get you out of here.”

Even though it wasn't in Jullien to run from a fight, he went this time.

For Ushara.

Gallatin led him to the small rear bay where her own fighter was docked. She gave him her passcodes and main blaster, along with her patches and the ship Canting, and all the creds she had on her. “Find another Tavali crew to shelter you. We'll scout as soon as we can.”

He gave her a quick hug. “Good luck.”

“Same to you, Dagger. Godspeed you.”

He holstered his blaster and climbed into her ship. She manually uncoupled the anchors and let him drift out to space for the launch so that they didn't alert any of the League soldiers that he was launching.

Jullien stayed dark until he was far enough back to see that there were three League ships and a battlecruiser. Damn. They'd seriously wanted a piece of his ass.

Don't do it.

Think of Shara.

She was pregnant. That news still hit him like a sledgehammer to his stones. The dream of having a child of his own was something he'd given up on so long ago, that honestly he couldn't even remember having it. Hell, Merrell had even fabricated a medical report that said he was sterile and given it to Eriadne in an attempt to have him disinherited.

Jullien had never bothered to denounce the report, even though he'd known at the time it was a lie. Since he'd never found a female who could stand his hybrid presence, never mind abide his touch to breed with him, it'd been a moot issue to argue.

To have a baby with a female who actually loved him …

Inconceivable.

All common sense said to tuck his sorry ass in, keep his head down and crawl back to her as fast as he could. Take no chances and live a long, uneventful life in eternal gratitude that he'd found the only female in existence who was able to overlook his shortcomings and worthlessness to spawn with him.

That's what he needed to do.

But that was her brother under heavy fire, putting everything he loved on the line to get him home.

Jullien couldn't buy his happiness for the price of Davel's. He damn sure couldn't do it if it meant her brother's life.

In the end, we all face the Rekkynynge.
All souls had to account for every action taken during their lifetime. Good and bad. Eri would judge them and determine if they were worthy of eternal peace spent in Eweyne.

Or damnation in Tophet.

And while Jullien was pretty sure his past guaranteed him a straight shot through the fiery gates of Tophet, and no amount of good at this point would ever bail his rotten soul out of that sentence, he wasn't about to stand by and watch a good male go down to save his sorry hide today.

“Titana ræl.
” He fired the engine and headed straight for the League ships, full throttle. “You want a piece of me, bitches? Come get some.”

 

C
HAPTER
19

“What do you mean you lost my husband? Davel, so help me, this better be a really bad joke.” Ushara could barely breathe as she struggled not to scream at her brother over the video link.

“I'm so sorry. Somehow The League knew he was on board my ship. I have no idea how. They attacked and we were badly hit. He did escape during it, so we're hoping for the best. We're searching for him right now, but we really need his locator from you to find him.”

“You're lying to me. What aren't you saying? I know you. Tell me!”

Davel glanced away.

Ushara rose to her feet. “Gal … Answer me now, or so help me I'll sic both my mother and Tray on the lot of you! And if that doesn't scare you like it should, I'll call the twins after you and send them to your location,
with Mary
!”

That threat broke Gallatin immediately. The truth rushed out of her, like Nadya running from Oxana at bedtime. “Dagger attacked The League to help us get away, and was hit really hard by them. He made a hot landing. We found what was left of my fighter … It looks like he got out though, but there was no sign of him anywhere.”

“'Cause the little bastard's good at covering his tracks,” Davel muttered. “He detonated everything to keep the League assassins off him. In the process, we lost him, too.”

Ushara covered her face as she fought against the wave of hysteria that threatened to overwhelm her. This couldn't be happening.

Not again. She couldn't lose another husband. Not while she carried his baby. It was bad enough to have to raise a baby who knew their father and could barely recall him, she couldn't stand the thought of her child not knowing his or her father
at all
.

And even worse was how much Jullien meant to her. While she'd loved Chaz, she'd never depended on him the way she did Jullien. He'd never allowed her to.

Jullien
was
her partner. In every way.

“Shara?”

“Give me a minute.” She breathed and fought against the tears that threatened to send her into hysteria. This wasn't the time for them.

Clearing her throat, she took a deep breath to hold herself together. “I'm sending his frequency, but he'll have changed it by now.” She racked her brains to think like her husband would, and to remember the survival lessons he'd given Vasili. “I'd try odd numbers, then back it four digits. He's into random sequences like that. He won't be in a huge population center. You have to think really smart. Look for an outpost with just enough tech to be relatively current, but not one that's overly monitored. He's more likely to be in an unpopulated zone or near a smaller spaceport that would be Tavali friendly. He won't be near anything Sentella or Andarion.” Ushara paused as a thought occurred to her. “Hold on a second.”

Her hand shaking, she reached for her wedding band and prayed for a miracle as she activated the heartbeat function.
Please work. Please work. Please work.
The words became a frantic chant in her head until that miracle happened.

She felt his heartbeat on her finger.

“He's alive.” She burst into tears as her hands shook in relief. “Oh, thank the gods!”

Davel and Gallatin looked at her as if she were crazy.

Ushara wiped at her face as she calmed herself. “It's something he did for me so that I'd know he was okay while he was gone. He put a tracker on his vital signs for me.”

“Can we use it to locate him?”

“That's what I just sent you. I hope so. Find him, Davel.”

“You know I will,
kisa
. Let us know if you hear from him.”

“Okay. Love you.”

“You, too.” He cut the transmission.

Ushara closed her eyes and held her black flower wedding ring to her trembling lips. “You better come home to me, my darkheart. I will
not
forgive you if you don't.”

*   *   *

“Stall it now, slag, or we'll be terminating you right where you be standing.”

Jullien froze at the sound of the thick, lilting accent unlike anything he'd ever heard before. He held his hands up so that no one would misunderstand his intent. “It's all good, brother. No harm intended. I'm just an orphan, trying to find my way home, hoping to find some family to aid with my journey.” He used the Tavali code words that would signal to a fellow member that he'd been separated from his crew and was invoking Safe Harbor law. Under Tavali Code, once those words were spoken, no fellow Tavalian could hurt or betray him without risking the loss of their rank, Canting or life.

“Family, eh? Then turn about slow-like, and you be telling me all about how we be kinfolk. Who's your da,
cade
?”

Jullien turned to find a tall, muscular male who was much younger than he'd have thought given the authoritative, cocksure tone. Human by the looks of him, he had short blond hair and sharp, chiseled features with intelligent eyes that missed absolutely nothing. While he held a jovial air about him, there was a lethal undercurrent that said it was a lie meant to mislead. Something this man did to give others a false sense of security that they were safe in his youthful presence, but Jullien had met enough creatures like this one to know he was a deadly predator who was well-trained and capable of striking down any enemy who crossed him without mercy or hesitation.

One wrong move would be his last.