The League: Born Of Betrayal Part 31

In the hallway, she saw the b.l.o.o.d.y trail Fain had left. Her throat constricted at the sight of the carnage. Please don't let that blood be his.

It was awful and it left her sick to her stomach.

But in all honesty, she was impressed. There were bodies everywhere. Fain had torn them apart as he headed to secure Talyn and Felicia. She only prayed that he'd made it.

By the time she reached Talyn and Felicia's room, her fears had almost paralyzed her. Yet the moment she saw Felicia with Morra, Jayne, Qorach, Sumi, Kalea, and Darice, she calmed. They had Felicia surrounded like a treasured crown jewel.

"Where's Talyn and Fain?" Galene asked.

Jayne hugged her. "They went out with Dancer, Vari, and Brach to chase after the bad guys. You okay?"

"Rattled. They hit Talyn's old room first." Tears made her vision swim as she glanced to Felicia. "Had his father not changed rooms with him, they would have probably killed him in his sleep."

Felicia rose to her feet with a growl. She grabbed the blaster from Morra's hip and headed for the door in a feral, determined stride.

Qorach caught her and shook his head.

"Q, out of my way! No one goes after Talyn's back. No one! By every G.o.d of Andaria, I'm going to find them and skin them alive while they scream!"

The only thing that kept Felicia from attacking the mountainous Qill in an effort to get past him was that her link went off with Talyn's ring. She pulled it from her robe pocket.

"Baby?" she breathed.

"Hey, Lish. We're good. They were League a.s.sa.s.sins. We cornered them and they killed themselves before we could capture them. You all right?"

"Fine. Where are you?"

The door to her room opened to show Talyn and Fain, with Dancer, Vari, and Brach pulling up the rear. Talyn slid the link into his pocket before he disarmed Felicia and gathered her into his arms.

Fain hesitated in front of Galene.

Relieved that he was still breathing, she quickly examined the blood on his body to make sure it wasn't his. "Were you hurt?"

"No, thanks only to your quick reflexes. I didn't even know they were there. They'd have had my a.s.s, had you not shot them while I fumbled for my blaster." Fain kissed her before he turned his attention to Talyn. "They went for you first. Thank the G.o.ds you weren't in your room." He scowled as he glanced about. "Did they go after anyone else?"

"No." Morra jerked her chin toward Galene. "They only went after Galene and Talyn."

Raw, unmitigated fury tore through him over that. He'd just started for the door when it opened to admit Venik, who wore a similarly enraged expression.

The Tavali leader's gaze swept the room as he took inventory of the occupants and their varying stages of dishabille. His gaze narrowed on Fain as he raked him from head to bare feet. "You all right, Hauk?"

Fain wiped at the blood on his face. "More p.i.s.sed than I've ever been in my entire life. I want the throat of the Porturnum b.a.s.t.a.r.d who sold us out to The League."

A strange darkness descended over Venik's features. "No one attacks my base." His scowl deepened as he noted Fain's eyes. "Stralen? Really?"

Fain gave him a snide smile. "Told you it was complicated."

"Everything with you always is. I should have finished killing you when I dragged you off that ship. Teach me to show mercy." He sighed heavily. "We're searching for more League a.s.sa.s.sins. Everyone's being scanned for IDs, prints, and DNA. All of you have to submit, too. I want anyone who has any ties, past or present, with those b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. I intend to feast on their entrails."

"I'll come back positive for League ties." Sumi stepped forward. "But I can a.s.sure you, I have no love for them, and I didn't do this. I went rogue from my post, and have a staggering price on my head as a result. You can check the reports. Last time I was with Kyr, I almost succeeded in ending this war. If I'm ever near him again, I plan to finish him."

"So you're the woman who almost gutted him. Good job. Shame the slimy b.a.s.t.a.r.d escaped."

"Yes, it is."

Fain got his brother's attention. "Did you get anywhere with that recording I sent over?"

"No. The b.i.t.c.h got erased."

He glared at his brother. "Erased?"

Dancer nodded glumly. "I was going to tell you later." He pa.s.sed a meaningful stare toward Galene. "Didn't want to ruin your night."

Fain ground his teeth. "Well, whoever that little b.i.t.c.h is, he's about to learn what three stralen War Hauks are capable of. I will find him... or her, if I have to tear this entire station down, rivet by rivet."

Venik opened his mouth to speak, but the lethal expression on Fain's face backed him down instantly.

Fain moved away from Galene to check the charge levels of his weapons. "We need to split our families up to keep them from becoming a bigger target."

Dancer nodded in agreement. "Nyk has reinforcements headed in."

Galene's and Talyn's links started buzzing with an alert tone.

Fain scowled as they checked the message. "What is it?"

Gasping, Galene went pale. "The League and her allies just bombed the Andarion palace. The heaviest strike was made against the royal family wing."

"Where's Nyk's family?"

Dancer appeared to be one step away from hurling. "They came in for our wedding and have been staying at the palace with Cairistiona ever since... even Nyk's father."

With tears in her eyes, Galene handed Fain the link.

Fain cursed before he pa.s.sed the link to Dancer so that he could see the photo that had been sent to Galene. "They didn't just strike the palace, drey. They leveled it. No survivors."

Chapter 12.

W.

hile Galene had held Fain's utmost respect before, he truly saw the depth of her mettle as she kept herself together in the wake of this news. Her spine went straight and her chin lifted defiantly. She met Talyn's gaze. "Tough times never last."

"But tough Andarions do," Talyn finished for her as if it was something she'd said so many times that he knew it by heart.

She inclined her head to him. "We secure our family here. And we move forward with a retaliatory strike. Kyr has to have something he cares about. I want that weakness found and destroyed." She met Dancer's gaze. "Has the tahrs been informed of this?"

"No. They're flying dark so that they can reach us without The League picking them up."

"Then let me know when he lands so that I can inform him."

Dancer indicated him and Jayne. "That's our job. We're his family and he'll need us. I owe it to him to tell him personally."

Galene choked on a sob. "And Cairie and Tylie were my family."

Talyn started for her, then paused as Fain gathered her in his arms.

Galene patted him on the back before she stepped away and took his hand and Talyn's. "I'm fine. Until bodies are found, we will hold hope sacred in our hearts and pray that they made it to shelter. It's possible they had warning and evacuated."

A slim possibility. But it was one that allowed her to move forward and function.

She narrowed her gaze at Fain. "How many Tavali can you muster?"

"How many you need?"

"A hundred thousand."

His eyes widened at the number. "I can do it. But it'll take some time. Maybe as much as a week to get them mobilized to one place."

"Rendezvous them at Qaris and let me know as soon as they're all there. A group that large will draw notice, so they need to arrive within an hour of each other. Once ama.s.sed, I want a strike force with them from the north and us from the south. Every Leaguer in this galaxy is about to get a taste of Alliance vengeance."

Venik let out an evil laugh. "I like your female, Hauk." He saluted Galene. "I'd like to put dibs on the salvage of whatever remains from this."

"If there's anything left of their ships, it's yours to raid." She stepped back. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have research I need to do, and a battle to plan."

Fain started after her only to find Talyn in his way. The expression on his face said that he was one breath away from ruining the rest of Fain's life.

Or ending it.

"Is there a problem?"

"Don't leave her alone, Hauk. She's not as strong as she pretends to be. She had a very close and strong kinship with the tadara. When no one else was kind to her, Cairie was. They've been best friends for thirty years. Please help, Mum. She has to be dying inside over this."

Cupping Talyn's head, Fain pulled his cheek to his son's. "I love you both," he whispered in Talyn's ear. "And I won't leave her alone."

"Thank you. And for the record, I'm glad you weren't in my bed tonight when they attacked. It's my honor to fight by your side."

Fain tightened his hand in Talyn's braids as those words brought tears to his eyes. Unable to speak past the fierce wave of love that surged inside him, he released his son and went after Galene.

He found her in her office outside the command center. True to Talyn's words, her hands were shaking as she made notes and researched data.

"Stormy?"

Tears glistened in her eyes as she looked up at him. "I was only three the first time I met her. Did you know that?"

He closed the door and crossed the room to stand beside her. "No."

She sniffed back her tears. "It's the first real clear memory of my life. I was in the palace with my paka, who'd gone to give her a physical to make sure she was still fit for military duty while pregnant. I was sitting on the floor, playing outside her suite, when I heard the clicking of sharp boot heels against the marble floor. I looked up and saw the most beautiful female I'd ever seen in my life. Tall. Strong. Proud. Her head high, she wore her red battlesuit like the mythic G.o.ddess Kadora. She stopped by my side and smiled down at me."

Galene wiped at her eyes. "I dropped my gaze to her blaster. I'd never been that close to one. 'Are you afraid of me, little one?' she asked. I shook my head no. And she smiled so beautifully and asked if I wanted to touch her weapon. When I said yes, she took it out, ejected the charge cartridge, and handed it over. I was beguiled. My father horrified. He started fussing at me for wasting the tizirah's time. But Cairie quickly shushed him and told me that she wanted me in her armada when I grew up. That she respected my courage and fire."

Covering her face with her hands, she wept as if her heart was broken.

Fain knelt on the floor by her side to gather her into his arms.

"I loved her so much, Fain. You just don't know."

"I'm so sorry, Storm. But you said it yourself. It's possible she wasn't there."

Galene held on to him and to those words. She let his strength melt into her and was grateful to have him here. It was the first time since childhood that she'd had someone she could lean on. While Talyn had done his best to fill that role, she'd always been extremely aware of the fact that she was the parent and that she was supposed to be strong for him. Something that had been so incredibly hard at times.

But with Fain...

She could be weak and needy. She didn't have to pretend that this didn't hurt her to the core of her soul. And as that thought went through her mind, she remembered that Fain had also been close enough to the tadara that she'd adopted him. That he was a lifelong friend of others who'd perished.

They were his family.

"How are you doing?" she breathed.

He looked away, but not before she saw the heartbreak he was holding inside. "I just keep thinking about the kids. Cairie's lived a long, full and good life, and I'm Andarion enough to appreciate that and be at peace with it. But the kids... Zarina's only a few months old, and Thia's just entering the prime of her womanhood. She looks older, but she's just a baby. So full of life and wonder... like her brothers. The twins are a wrecking crew of disaster. Jayce and Adron would make Saint Sarn a cursing atheist, and yet I love spending time with all their annoying questions. And Kiara... she's the gentlest soul I've ever known." He shook his head. "I refuse to believe they're gone." He spoke between clenched teeth. "I won't accept that."

Galene bit her lip as she sniffed daintily. "Thia's the same age you were when Keris died."

That succeeded in wringing a single tear from him. Angry, he wiped it away. "Did you know Keris's last words to me were 't.i.tana tu, giakon'?"

She cringed at words that were basically go f.u.c.k yourself, you castrated coward. "Why would he say that to you?"

His red eyes glistened with grief-stricken agony. "I'd just found Omira in bed with a man and I'd tried to go home. My parents slammed the door in my face and threatened to call the enforcers on me if I didn't leave, so I went to Keris's. I just wanted five minutes of shelter. Instead, he sucker-punched me, insulted me, and left me in the rain on his doorstep."

"I'm so sorry, Fain. Did you never try to speak to him again?"

Shaking his head, he sighed wearily. "I took what little money I had that night and bribed a ride from a Tavali to Rook, hoping I could find work on someone's crew. Since I was Outcast, I had no papers. No Andarion could hire me, and no one else would touch me without legal doc.u.ments and a birth registration. So I was left sc.r.a.ping for whatever illegal crew was willing to pay me under the table and not ask questions about my background. A week later, I went into a bar for a job prospect, and ended up getting drugged and enslaved. Ven liberated me right before Keris took Dancer on his Endurance. I was planning to talk to Keris to make amends once he was back from it... never had the chance. Never was able to say that I was sorry, for everything."

He blinked back his tears. "I was the only one there when they cremated him. All I kept thinking was that I should have been there for Dancer when he fell during his climb, and for the years after that when everyone blamed him for Keris's death. That he was alone in that house with our parents' hatred, and with no brother there to help him through it."

"You were always there for him."