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  Carina was ridiculously pleased by that praise. She’d been told she was beautiful, smart, cultured, a good rider and those sorts of things her entire life. But no one other than her trainer had ever said she was good at combat; it wouldn’t have been done, given her position.

  “Thank you very much, Julian. I would be very pleased if you would give me tips on technique sometime.”

  Daniel, who’d taken her hand, squeezed it once, a ghost of a smile on his face. This made her even more proud.

  “After things die down, I expect we’ll be seeing you around. We can work something out then.” Julian had turned, walking backward to deliver that last bit, and she thanked him. They would of course, see her around after they returned to Ravena, because she would be with Daniel. It pleased her on some perverse level to be teasing him in her head. He was probably annoyed for no reason he could figure out right then.

  She snorted a laugh, and he looked to her, cocking his head before turning back to the trail.

  “We have a ways to go. Another five clicks or so. Mostly flat terrain but there’s one steep ascent at the end. We’ll have a meal when we arrive and talk about how to get you out of the Imperium and into safe territory on the other side,” Marame continued.

  Carina wondered what it would be like to work with Daniel like this every day. Part of her would be relieved to know with her own eyes that he was alive. But seeing him in danger all the time might begin to wear, and she knew well enough to understand asking him to stop would be tantamount to asking him to simply give up on what he believed in.

  Without too much thought, she dug into her pack and handed him a piece of fruit, tossing another one back to Andrei.

  “Thank you,” Daniel said, kissing her quickly.

  Now that the danger had passed, she remembered to ask Daniel about her brother. “Daniel, is Vincenz alive? You made it sound—on the transport, you made it sound like you knew he was.” She stopped in the passage, hoping she was right.

  Daniel nodded, and she threw herself at him. He caught her up in a hug and without any effort, they began to walk again as she clung to him. “I’m sorry I couldn’t say so before now, it’s a, well he’s helped us a great deal, so we try to limit any exposure.”

  She nodded. “I understand. Oh my gods, he’s alive and making a difference. I’m so relieved. I’m also heavy.” She squirmed, and he held her in place.

  “Watch it,” he said quietly. She didn’t know what he meant until she felt his cock brush against her ass. Ah. He put her down, and she returned to her place against his side, his arm around her shoulders.

  “Any news on my mother? On the search for whoever may have helped me escape?” Carina asked as they began, yes, a steep ascent.

  Marame answered, “Your mother appears to be fine. Someone was executed for helping you. I’m sorry. But it wasn’t your mother.”

  Relief warred with guilt. “We know about my maid. Is that who you mean?”

  “No, and I’m sorry about that. Claira was a brave woman. No, a house assistant found your former intended dead. He’d committed suicide, left a note saying he’d helped you. Your father then executed the head of his Skorpios guard for letting Alem’s treachery go undetected for so long.” Julian said it dispassionately as he keyed in a code and used another retinal scanner.

  “Alem? Please, the man is incapable of helping anyone but himself!”

  Daniel grunted beside her. “And now he’s dead.”

  Yes. She paused, realizing she felt nothing but relief. “Everyone is better off because of that.”

  “Depends on who takes his place, but yes, I’d agree.”

  That was that. She looked back at where they’d come and then toward where Julian stood, unlocking the doors. “I can’t believe all this exists.” She indicated the tunnel they’d just traveled through.

  “Smugglers and mercenaries.” Marame shrugged. “The whole tunnel is shielded so it can’t be detected from the surface. Eavesdropping programs can’t find it. Never underestimate man’s desire to make credits and move merchandise. The house we’re entering now also has shields against eavesdropping, just so you know.”

  The house was spacious and appeared to be built into a cliff face. Darkened, plasglass windows showcased a view of the canyon and valley below, of the cities in the distance.

  “This is magnificent.” Carina turned in a circle.

  It was then she saw him leaning against a table nearby, grinning. Her mouth dropped open as she dimly heard Daniel speak to Marame just behind her.

  Chapter 15

  “It’s you.” She dashed toward Vincenz, and he caught her up in a hug. He was a man, not the just barely man he’d been when she saw him last.

  “Carina, gods, it’s so good to see you.” Vincenz kissed her cheeks and held her back so he could look at her. “You’ve grown up into a woman. A beautiful woman who has been in a lot of danger.” He shook her once. She saw the fear in his eyes, understood it because she’d felt it for him.

  “It’s on my list of things to avoid in the future,” she assured him, hugging him again. “Oh, Vincenz, I’ve missed you so much. So much. They said you were dead, but I never believed it all the way. There were days I did, just because it hurt too much to think otherwise, but always in my heart I had hope you’d escaped. YaYa helped, didn’t she?”

  He nodded. “She helped get me out. Used all her influence, all her saved-up credits, everything. Between YaYa and Mai, I was able to get over the line, and when I made it, Wilhelm Ellis himself was waiting with Daniel.”

  Daniel snorted a laugh behind her. “Vincenz, it’s good to see you.”

  Her brother turned to her . . . lover? Her man, yes, she decided, her man. Her brother turned to her man, and they both eyed each other warily for a moment until they clasped forearms.

  “Daniel, well met. You have my thanks for helping my sister.”

  Daniel shook off the praise. “It’s my job, and your sister did much of her own saving. Resourceful, you Fardelles.”

  “Some of us anyway.” Vincenz turned back to her. “We have so much to catch up on.”

  “Why don’t the two of you go on, take some time. Vincenz knows the place, this was his idea. So go on and visit while we plan some.” Marame smiled at them, and Carina saw the look in the other woman’s eyes when she looked at Vincenz. Smitten perhaps, but he didn’t return it. Didn’t seem to notice it. He hadn’t changed very much then.

  Carina turned to Daniel, took his hand. “Does that sound all right? I’ll be back shortly.”

  He smiled, warmth in his eyes. “Of course. You two catch up.”

  “You’ll be here when I return?” It was, she knew a silly question to ask, but it was a fear that she’d wake up or turn around and he would be gone.

  “Will you all excuse us a moment?” Daniel said it, but it wasn’t really a question. He drew her aside. “Why would you ask such a thing? I’m not leaving you. Don’t you know that by now?”

  “I don’t know. Yes, I do. I do. But I’m scared, and you make me feel safe, you make me happy, and I don’t want that to go away.”

  He sighed, still holding her hand. “Carina, I don’t have any plans to do that.”

  “Do you want to?”

  “What? Abandon you to your fate?” The incredulous look on his face told her a lot, but he dodged the real question, and that annoyed her. Men.

  “You know what I mean, Daniel. I love you.”

  He smiled. “This is not the right place or time to have this discussion. Your brother is right over there waiting. Go and be with him, enjoy him.”

  She narrowed her eyes, and he laughed. He squeezed her hand before he brought it to his lips. For him, in front of all these people, that was as much a declaration as if he’d dropped to his knees and shouted to the heavens that he loved her.

  “I’m not going anywhere. It would take three armies to wrest you from me. Go. I’ll be here when you return, same as yesterday and tomorrow.”

 
; She tiptoed up and kissed him before he could give her any distance. “Good. Because I’ve decided to keep you.” She twirled, still smiling, and tossed back ever so casually over her shoulder, “I love you, Daniel.”

  Vincenz said nothing until they’d reached a small garden area just below where they’d entered the house.

  “YaYa’s gone, isn’t she?” Vincenz asked as they sat together. He’d been the one to start calling their grandmother that in the first place. It had been his first word.

  “I’m sorry you didn’t know. Disappeared. Just a few turns after you’d gone. We weren’t allowed to speak of her again. Mai tried to find out what she could, but there was nothing.” There was a catch in her voice. She tried to stop it, but it was there.

  He put his arm around her shoulders. “I never could have gotten out without her. She risked everything.”

  “She did it willingly. You know that. YaYa had her own mind. She wouldn’t have done it if she hadn’t wanted to. Where have you been? Does Mai know you’re alive? She was never quite the same after you left. And then Petrus.” She turned to him. “Did you know what he did to our Petrus? Vincenz, did you know?”

  The pain in his eyes told her he did.

  “Not until long after. News takes some time to get to the Edge, and then we didn’t know for sure about the true nature of it until later. He has to be stopped. Our father has to be stopped, Carina.”

  She nodded. “I know.” Putting her head on his shoulder a moment, she let herself relax, let herself know he was alive and safe, he was her family. She was not alone in this new world she’d tossed herself into. Well, apart from Daniel. She smiled a bit just thinking about what his face must have looked like when she told him she loved him upstairs.

  “Daniel Haws is a dangerous man, Carina.”

  She didn’t like the warning in his voice. “Thank the gods for it. You have no idea how many times that’s saved my life since he got me away from Caelinus. What are you doing, Vincenz? Where do you live? Daniel says you’re helping them.”

  “At first I lived in Ravena’s capital city. You’ll like it there. Beautiful, massive city for as far as the eye can see. Bustling with life all the time. The people are different than they are at home. They’re open. Not all the ’Verses in the Federation are that way; some are like Nondal, which is far, far more like home than most other ’Verses I’ve been to.”

  She waited, but he kept quiet.

  “You’re considering lying to me. Most likely because the last time you saw me I was a lot younger and most likely far more frivolous, though don’t tell Daniel I admitted that.” She laughed, but he sighed and pushed his long, lanky body from the place next to her, ambling to the wall of windows.

  “What is Daniel to you, Carina?”

  “Where do you live now and what do you do?” she countered.

  “I live on the Edge, sometimes in Asphodel, sometimes in Caldara. Officially, I run a brokerage of sorts. I work with the mercenaries and smugglers. In turn, they give me information I need.”

  “And you pass it on to the Federation.”

  “Yes. When I first arrived, they debriefed me. They’ll do that to you as well, but you know more, and it is a time of great stress. This concerns me, though I do trust Ellis and Lyons. They’re good men.” He shoved a hand through his hair, hair she noted needed a trim.

  “I’m doing the right thing,” Carina said quietly.

  “You are. I don’t know what data you’ve got in that chip, but the way he’s sending out his dogs after you, the massive outpouring of resources to get you back or kill you tells me you’re the key to giving the Federation the upper hand in this war.”

  “Can’t it prevent war?”

  “It’s awfully late for that. I’d like to think it can. You know our father. I’d wager to say you know him better than anyone. Will he simply just give up? Even with whatever you have?”

  She blew out her breath. “Probably not. He’s building something bad. Have you heard about all the explosions and cover-ups? The portal shut down? I can’t help but think it’s connected. He’s worse, you know. Once you’d gone and then Petrus”—she choked back a sob and continued—“once Petrus was dead and he had no male heir, he brought on more advisors. He’s not the only one in control of his office, Vincenz.”

  Her brother’s shoulders froze, rigid, as he spun. “You’re very observant. You’ll need to be sure to tell this to Ellis.”

  “I will. Daniel tells me this Ellis is a brilliant man. I gather they’re a lot more like father and son than boss and employee.”

  “All the Phantom Corps are that way with him. They’re way out of your league, Carina. These men and women do dark deeds.”

  Phantom Corps? The name seemed to fit the people she’d met so far. “How do you mean?” Alarm slid up her spine, broke over her skin.

  “These Phantom Corps your Daniel owns and runs, they’re shadows. They’re that dry, deadly wind that crops up, and all the animals run and hide. This loyalty they have to Ellis, the way he is, yes, like their father, what is it he does that makes them so efficient?”

  “How is that dark? Any more dark than anyone else that carries out orders most people wouldn’t have the courage to do? Are you insinuating Ellis harms them? Forces them?” Their father quite often used the people and things his soldiers cared about to keep them in line.

  “I have absolutely no reason to think that. Ellis is a fearsome man. Tall, broad, you can see the intelligence in his eyes, always thinking, examining, planning. But he has, as far as I’ve seen, honor at his very core. His people respect him because he deserves it.”

  “Then why the comment? If you know something bad, you need to tell me now.”

  “What is Daniel to you?”

  She didn’t bother playing games, she knew what he asked. “I love him.”

  He growled low in his throat and began to pace. She watched him, thinking how much they were alike though they had not been in contact in so long. He thought about it; she saw the edges of his warring emotions all over his body language. He disapproved; she saw that clearly enough in the rigidity of his spine. But not wholly. She saw the softness of his mouth, had heard the admiration in his voice when he’d spoken of Daniel. His eyes narrowed as he puzzled out how to say it.

  He stopped pacing, pausing before the windows again, giving her his back. “So you said upstairs, though I’d hoped it was just a taunt. You’re in love with a man who kills for a living,”

  She folded her hands in her lap. “I am. Are you shocked that I know this? I saw him kill men to save me. More than once. He’s also a man who saves lives for a living, too. What do you do, Vincenz? Do you rescue small furry animals now?”

  “It’s not the same! Can’t you see that?”

  “You’re right, it’s not, but not in the way you’re insinuating. He does a job many others, most others won’t do. But it needs doing nonetheless, and you know it. You may find it distasteful, but neither one of us would be here now if it weren’t for Daniel Haws!” She stood. “He’s a good man, a strong man who cares very much about his people and his world. He has the courage to take a step into darkness so you and I don’t have to. I love him for his heart, for his strength and yes, because he walks into places I can’t imagine, all so I don’t have to.”

  “I don’t want to see you get hurt.”

  She hugged him. “Life is full of hurts. What I feel for Daniel is beautiful, and I can’t regret it, no matter how it turns out.”

  He sighed. “How can you even know if what you feel is real?”

  “Is that a philosophical question? Because I’m quite certain you would never have the gall to suggest I didn’t know my own mind.”

  He laughed. “You’ve grown up well. I’m proud.”

  “What is it that brings the envy to your voice when you talk about them? Is it something between you and Daniel?”

  He shook his head. “No. He’s been a friend to me. He’s a professional. I had thought one d
ay to be an operative with them, too. I had wanted that when I first arrived. Ellis said no, and guided me out to the Edge. I’m still there, and he was right in many ways. I’ve come into my own, built my own skills, and I’m good at what I do. I suppose I want someone normal for you. A man who is home each night to tuck your children into bed.”

  He was different now than he’d been in his youth. She supposed she was, too. What they’d lived through had changed them. She realized it would take time for them to know each other again.

  “I don’t know that I’ve ever been destined for normal.” She smiled wanly. “But what I have, well, it’s good and right. and I’m grateful for it. I hope you can see that. I hope you can trust me and Daniel, too.”

  “I’m working on it.” He held his hand out. “Come on, I imagine they’re working hard on a plan to get us the seven hells out of here.”

  Chapter 16

  Daniel sighed, shaking his head when she called out her I love you. He held a hand up, cutting off any questions as he walked into the kitchen area, poured himself a mug of kava and took a sip before he spoke.

  “Thank you for bringing him in. I’m sure she’ll feel better, and he has good contacts as well.” He knew Vincenz would want to talk to his sister about everything, including her parting shot to Daniel as she’d left the room. Daniel considered Vincenz a friend, though not one he saw often. He trusted the other man, respected him. In his place, Daniel had been hypercritical of his sister’s relationship with Roman Lyons.

  He knew Carina loved her brother, and he couldn’t help but give in to a tiny spark of fear in his belly that she’d let him convince her Daniel was wrong for her. Even though he was. But wrong for her or not, he loved her.

  “She loves you?” Marame asked.