Born of Ice

“Probably. So did you find anything on our ghost?”


His father hesitated before he answered. “Is she around to overhear anything?”

“No.”

“Good, ’cause there’s definitely something weird about her situation.”

Devyn checked his chronometer. Less than two hours since he’d asked for the search and he already had an answer . . . that might be a record even for his father.

And to think Claria’s “experts” had found nothing after days of searching.

“Enlighten me.”

“Her father, Tyson Gerran, was a typical freighter, in debt out his ass to over half a dozen creditors. He came from the lower ranks of the Kronobian desert and is the son of a nomadic branch of the Boudins. His father sold him into the military when he was seventeen and was conscripted to the crew of the Silver Eagle.”

“A League ship?”

“No. Strictly local military. His record’s peaceful and mild. Nothing out of the ordinary, one way or the other. He did his fifteen years of service and earned his freedom. He then went back to his father and sold that bastard, along with his mother and younger siblings, into slavery and used the money he made for a down payment on his own ship.”

Devyn sucked his breath in over treachery so raw he could barely understand it. “Damn, that’s cold. But what has that to do with Alix?”

“In short, she’s a slave. Just like her mother, Doria, and her fifteen-year-old sister, Tempest. All owned by her father, who marked his daughters as such the moment they were born . . . until a few weeks ago when he was executed as a smuggler.”

Devyn went cold as each revelation hit him like a physical blow. Just how many lies had she told him?

Alix had a living sister?

A mother?

And she was a slave . . . “He was executed by whom?”

“The Rits.”

Devyn’s heart stopped beating at his father’s tone. His father was a Ritadarion . . . one who wasn’t a friend of that government since he and Devyn’s mother had brought down their ruling house several years before Devyn was born.

This was getting fuglier by the minute. “You don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

His father scoffed. “Do you?”

“Not really. I don’t believe in them.”

“I knew I raised you right.”

That he did, and right now, every instinct Devyn had was on high alert. “Did you find out anything else?”

“Just that she was scheduled to be auctioned off, along with her mother and sister. The Rit gov called it off literally right before they were hauled to the block.”

“Why?”

“That, there’s no record of. It only shows the canceled auction.”

Devyn let out a slow breath. Wasn’t that interesting? “So who owns them?”

“The Rit gov. Holding them for her father’s debt, which he owes them for the cost of his trial and execution. You gotta love the Rits and their sense of irony.”

Sonofabitch . . .

That only left Devyn with one conclusion over all of this. “She’s a spy.”

His father made a sound of agreement. “I’d lay money that Merjack is using her to get intel on you that he can use to fry you.”

“Kill her, baby! Don’t let that bitch hurt you.”

Devyn grinned at his mother’s bloodthirsty order that she yelled out from across the room. Gods love that woman, she had a hair-trigger on her temper that was unrivaled. He was the only person she reined it in for. “Tell Mom not to worry.”

“Easier said than done. She’s already suited up and ready to meet you at your next stop so that she can kill Alix herself. I’ve had to disarm her three times since I started the search—which is why it took me so long to find it all. You’re making my life a living hell, buddy. Don’t get hurt or I’ll never live it down.”

“I’m on top of it.”

His father gave a sarcastic laugh. “In all seriousness, I don’t know what game they’re playing. But you know how much Merjack would love to have a piece of us. You stay out of Rit territory whatever you do.”

“Don’t worry. A wise man once taught me that an enemy known is better than one unknown, and as long as you know who and what you’re dealing with you can handle it.”

“Yeah, but what I’m willing to face myself and what I’m willing to let my son face are two entirely different things. You walk with caution every step of the way.”

“I will, Dad. I promise. Love you guys. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Launch the bitch out of an airlock now before it’s too late!”

He shook his head at his mother’s angry tone.

His father sighed. “We love you, too. You need anything, call.”

“Devyn, baby?” His mother must have snatched the link from his father. Her voice was now fully in his ear and it was low and lethal. “You kill her, you hear me? You don’t take a chance with your safety. I want her heart handed to me. Don’t you dare let your compassion rule you. You take her out before she hurts you or Omari.”