“Love you, too,” Thia choked out. For the first time, Jullien saw grief in her eyes and knew that Thia did love them.
But she was old enough now to try and find her own way in the world.
She released Thia to Nyk’s embrace. He lifted her completely off her feet with one arm. “Stay safe. Don’t make me kill my brother.”
“I will and I won’t.”
And with that, he released her to Jullien’s care.
Jullien said a quick good-bye, took Thia’s bags from her hands, and then he and Thia headed for the main entrance of the palace.
He hesitated as they descended the stairs. “You sure about this? You’re not going to try and kick open the door when we go to launch, right?”
She laughed. “I’m good. Thank you, Basha Jules.”
“My pleasure. As long as you don’t get me killed.” Jullien winked teasingly at her.
Until they turned the corner toward the exit and came face-to-face with his father.
Tall, blond, and handsome, Aros was an almost identical copy of Nyk, except he lacked the facial scarring Nyk had from his brutal childhood and battles.
Scowling, his father glanced between them. “Is something wrong? Are we under attack again? I was just told that Nyk had granted you clearance to land.”
Yeah, because Jullien knew better than to make the request to his father, who’d banned him from landing privileges here more than a decade before—after his father had disinherited him and abandoned him to every assassin in the Nine Worlds who’d been hunting Jullien for his grandmother’s thrill-kill warrant. He was so used to his father coldly rebuffing him that he’d long ago stopped reaching out to him in any way.
But Thia didn’t know anything about their bloody history, and the last thing he wanted was to taint her relationship with her only surviving grandfather. “Basha Jules is going to train me to be a Tavali.”
Aros looked even less enthused about her leaving than Nyk as he met Jullien’s gaze. “You weren’t planning to tell me you were here?”
Not really. And why should he? Not like his father hadn’t banned him from all Triosan territories.
And Jullien’s birthright.
Jullien tried his best to ignore the sick feeling in his stomach he got whenever he spoke to his father—like someone had just kicked him in the stones. “Didn’t see the need for it, any more than I thought you’d grant me docking privileges if you knew it was me trying to land here.”
A harsh dig at his father, but then considering the last time Jullien had requested those privileges he’d been bleeding out from an attack assassins had made on him, and his father had coldly denied the request, it was a well-earned one as far as Jullien was concerned.
“I see.” His father cleared his throat, then turned back to Thia. “Stay in touch, my precious little one. We’ll all miss you.”
She kissed her grandfather on the cheek before Jullien began to lead her away.
“Jullien?”
His gut tightening even more, he paused at his father’s call to look at him.
“Take care of yourself and your family.”
Like you really give a shit what happens to me, old man.
“I intend to.” With that, he left, hating the fact he hadn’t been able to make a clean exit. Damn it. Last thing he’d wanted was to see either parent.
Their total lack of care for him while he’d been a kid and cold attitudes toward him as a teen and adult had left him with a bitter hole that could only partially heal so long as he stayed far away from them. The moment they came around, those old wounds ripped open anew, and he despised the fact that they still got under his skin and hurt him.
Why couldn’t he put their past to rest? Why did it have to continue to burn so much? So often?
“Are you okay, Basha Dagger?”
He smiled at Thia’s warm concern. “Always. Just don’t do anything that makes your father kill me,” he repeated.
She laughed. “Is Vasili on board?”
“No, sorry. He’s studying for the first Tavali exam he has next week so that he can go for his Hazard in the fall. And his pilot’s license.”
She gaped. “He’s that close to becoming a Canted citizen?”
Jullien smiled as he opened the ramp on his ship. “He is.”
“You must be proud.”
“Honestly? Scared shitless. Last thing I want is for him to be able to request a transfer to another crew.”
“You think he’ll do that?”
Jullien scratched at his beard. “You know how you’re fleeing your father’s cloying grasp to join The Tavali because you feel stifled by his overprotective ways?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s just say I make your paka look careless with his progeny.”
“Oh dear God!”
“Exactly.”
“And I suspect ole Jules here will be even worse with you.”
Thia let out a shriek as she heard Chayden Aniwaya’s voice as they entered the flight deck where he was waiting for them. “Chay-Chay Poo Bear!” She ran to hug him.