Caillen jerked his hands up as if he was surrendering in the most sarcastic manner imaginable. Last thing he wanted was to feed Fain’s ego by having a tape of him being taken into custody. “Bite me, asshole.”
“I would, but your greasy ass wouldn’t be worth the indigestion.”
Caillen snorted before he led her up the ramp. Fain would pay for this, but obviously the Andarion had concerns about them being monitored and wanted this to look authentic if that were indeed the case. So for now, he’d play along.
Once they were inside, Fain followed them in and closed the hatch. Only then did he relax and return his blaster to its holster. He activated the link in his ear. “Got them. You were right. Dagan headed straight for us when he saw Nyk’s fighter.” He paused to listen. “I’ve got the scanners running already. See you when you get here.”
Caillen ran his thumb along the edge of his lips as Fain’s patient tone amused him. A ruthless killer who’d been thrown out of the house by his parents when he was just a kid and forced to grow up hard on the streets, the Andarion had little tolerance for anyone except the younger brother he guarded like treasure. “Only one person I know you’d be that civil with. Dancer?”
“Yeah, and you better be glad you’re friends with him. There’s no one else who could have called in this favor, especially for a human.” Fain sneered the word as he shut the link off and ran over the shuttle’s settings. “After your suspicious exodus from the Arimanda, Darling deployed Dancer out to look for you and he called me as soon as he realized where you were. You’re lucky I happen to live on this hell rock.”
“Since when? I thought you lived on Kirovar.”
Fain scoffed as he pulled back from the conse and moved to make a systems check. “Too many humans wetting themselves whenever I walked down the street. Got tired of the mamas grabbing their kids up like I couldn’t control myself and was going to snack on one of those repulsive creatures. Have you seen what human kids eat? Gah, most of them munch their own mucus. Disgusting little parasites.” Shivering, he flipped several switches.
Caillen laughed out loud at Fain’s uncharacteristic rant—normally he didn’t do much more than growl at anyone near him. This was probably only the third time he’d ever said more than a handful of syllables around him.
And it was highly unusual for Fain to show any form of weakness. The Andarion didn’t believe in ever exposing his underbelly in any way. “Wow, that’s all it takes to make you, Captain Badass, squeamish? I had no idea you were so easily cowed. Forget trying to shoot you. All someone has to do is send a kid into your general direction and you’ll run for cover.”
Fain slid a threatening grimace at him. “Don’t go there. And my habitat and repulsion triggers aren’t the daily topic. You two are.”
“Yeah, I know. We have an assassin after us.”
Fain snorted in derision. “That’s the least of your problems given what you’re accused of.”
Those words set his temper on fire as he remembered what else he was facing and he slid an irritated glare at Desideria. He was still livid over the stunt her crew had tried with him. He couldn’t wait to get back and set the record straight. “Again, I know. The Qills have accused me of trying to kill Princess Pain.”
She gave him a glower that would shrivel a lesser man. “Would you stop calling me that?”
Fain ignored them. “That’s still nothing.”
Now that got Caillen’s attention. That and the deadly look emanating from Fain’s eyes. “What do you mean?”
Desideria frowned as a bad feeling went through her. Obviously something had happened that they didn’t know about.
Fain pulled the mask down from the lower part of his face so that it lay against his neck. His handsomeness actually caught her off guard. If he would wash the makeup from his face, he’d be every bit as devastating as Caillen…
In a freakish kind of way.
When he spoke, his fangs flashed in the dim light cast by the control panel. “Your father was killed and so was the Qill queen. The entire universe is now after the two of you for their murders.”
Desideria couldn’t breathe as that news tore through her like a dagger. Her mother was dead?
No… It couldn’t be.
It wasn’t possible.
And yet she could tell by Fain’s expression that he wasn’t lying. Her mother was dead.
I’m too late.
She wanted to cry, but Qillaqs didn’t weep. Not about death.
They got even.
And still the pain of her mother’s loss washed through her entire being. It hurt much worse than she would have ever thought possible. Until this moment, she hadn’t realized just how much she’d loved her unlovable parent.
She wanted to see her mother again. To hear the sound of her voice even if it was criticizing her.
I’m an orphan.
It was a stupid thought really, especially given what was going on and what was at stake. She was a grown woman and yet she felt abandoned and alone in a way she wouldn’t have thought possible.
What am I going to do?