She popped Bastien’s butt. “You’re not funny.”
“I don’t know,” Iskander said. “That was pretty good. Wish I’d thought of it.”
But all joking aside, Bastien knew things had changed.
And he was done playing.
*
Bastien was grateful Kindel had put her foot down and insisted that Iskander stay out of the fight. He just wished that she and the others had backed him with keeping Ember out of it, too.
While he liked having her at his back, he would rather not risk Florian’s mother.
He paused onboard Cin’s ship as they neared Kirovar and drew closer to the palace where Bastien would either fulfill his promise to kill his uncle.
Or die trying.
He turned toward his favorite sister-in-law. “Tasi?”
“Yeah?”
“You still have your priestess license?”
“I do.”
“Then marry us before we do this.”
Ember’s brows shot north. “Pardon?”
“I asked and you accepted. If this goes wrong, and I go down, I want to make sure that no one questions Florian’s place as an heir of this empire. It’s to protect you both.”
Ember’s throat went dry at his kindness. Nodding, she agreed. “I always imagined a more formal affair.”
He grinned. “Save me from my routine stupidity. Get me out alive, and I’ll throw you the biggest damn wedding in the history of the Nine Worlds.”
“I don’t need that, but something between the level of Nykyrian’s and Caillen’s will do.”
Since Nyk had eloped in a deserted hangar bay with only criminals to witness it, and Caillen’s had been record setting, that left a lot of room for negotiation. “Whatever you want, it’ll be yours.”
She sobered instantly. “I just want you.”
Bastien kissed her. “And I, you.”
“Well,” Tasi said with a smirk. “You two are married. That was easy. Nice vows. All I need is to declare you as two united hearts before the gods. May you live in peace and remember to hold each other sacred, and yourselves solely one to the other.” She drew a circle in the air around each of them and then united it. “There you go. Happy union.”
Cin held up her link. “Bas, fingerprint here.”
He let it scan his print.
“Now you, sis.”
Ember followed suit.
Cin pressed the send. “Paperwork filed. The marriage will hit the system within an hour.”
Bastien kissed her. “All right, Major Cabarro. Let’s go kick ass.”
She cleared her throat. “That’s Visira Ember.”
He laughed. “Technically, it’s monidara.”
“Pardon?”
“My brother abdicated. You heard him. As soon as I take Barnie’s ass and mount it on my wall, you’ll be Her Most Excellent Ember, High Monidara Cabarro.”
Ember shook her head as that reality slapped her hard. “Um … is it too late to ask for a divorce?”
“Only the monidar can grant it. And I have no intention of doing so. Now…” He turned toward Kindel and took the Gyron axe off her belt as they landed in the port just inside the main city with paperwork Syn Wade had forged for them.
She frowned at Bastien’s actions. “What are you doing?”
“I swore to bury my Gyron axe in Barnabas’s head. Since I don’t have one, Kindel’s will have to do.”
And with that, he lowered the battle shield on his helm and led the way from the landing bay to the palace.
Lacking the easy confidence he exuded, Ember followed with her sisters in tow. How he managed to make this look so easy, she had no idea.
But he was right, no one questioned their presence or the validity of their uniforms that The Sentella had provided for them. They appeared as all the other palace guards. And as Bastien had always said, act like you know what you’re doing, no one questions it. They didn’t even garner a second look.
As if testing his theory, Bastien walked room by room through the elegant Kirovarian palace that had been his home. And Ember tried not to think of the parties she’d attended here where his mother, sister, and Quin had made her feel horrible.
Made her feel lacking and unwanted.
No, that wasn’t true. She’d allowed them to make her feel that way. Bastien had never seen her as less. Had never treated her as anything other than his monidara.
Her sister was right. She should never have allowed her own doubts and insecurities to come between them. His family hadn’t run her off.
She had.
Bastien could sense Ember’s nervousness on this mission. Brand’s too. But Kindel, Ash, and Cin were rock steady. Tasi fell between them. She was a bit of both.
His only aggravation came at the fact that he had yet to find Barnabas.
Where was that bastard hiding?
They entered the courtyard where his cousins were playing a chasing game of some kind.
Bastien paused to watch them. Barnabas’s granddaughters. Cala would be nine now … right around his son’s age. The other two were younger and would have been born after his exile.