Maris coughed. “I try to avoid Death as best I can. Bastard is relentless. I think he works for the League.”
Ture and Darling stood up and moved back so that the medics could lift Maris onto the stretcher.
When they reached the transport, they both started to go in. Ture hesitated.
Darling smiled kindly. “Sorry. Habit. I know he’d rather have you with him.”
Ture wasn’t sure about that. Not that it really mattered right now. He dropped his gaze to Darling’s blaster. “You should go. I can’t protect him from another attacker. Not like you can. I’ll meet you at the hospital.”
His smile melted into a frown. “Are you sure?”
“Positive. This isn’t about my ego. It’s about Mari’s life. Keep him safe for me. Please.”
Darling hugged him before he climbed into the transport behind Syn.
“Don’t worry,” Hauk said as he draped an arm around Ture’s shoulders. “I’ll get you there before the transport.”
* * *
M
aris pulled the mask away from his face as the transport took off. “Where’s Ture?”
Darling returned it to his mouth and nose then held it in place so that Maris couldn’t pull it off again. “He told me to go with you.”
Wincing, Maris clenched his teeth. After all the times Ture had professed his love, Maris had never responded to it. But with Darling...
Maris hadn’t even thought about it, or how it would sound to Ture.
Damn. It had to cut deep. No wonder he’d stayed behind. His luck, Ture would never speak to him again.
“Shh,” Syn said, leaning over him. “You need to calm down.”
Easier said than done. He wouldn’t have hurt Ture for anything.
What have I done?
When he failed to relax, Syn knocked him out.
* * *
T
rue to his word, Hauk got Ture to the hospital on his airbike before the transport arrived. He was weak from fear over the way Hauk drove, but he was here in one piece. Physically, anyway.
Mentally was a whole other matter.
Hauk led him inside the lobby where Zarya, Princess Annalise, Drake and a man who looked a lot like Hauk was waiting for them. Zarya’s pregnancy was now as evident as Ana’s had been a few weeks ago.
Ture bit his lip as he saw how pale she appeared. “Are you okay, sweetie? Should you be standing?”
Her gaze flitted over the blood on Ture’s clothes and skin as she paled even more. “Mari?” Her voice trembled.
“He’s alive.”
Closing her eyes, she sighed in relief and placed her hand to her heart. “I was terrified when Darling told me Maris had been ambushed. Are you okay?”
“Scared like you, but I’m not injured.” Ture pulled her against him and held her close. “I’ve missed you.”
“You, too.” She leaned her head back to smile up at him. “Told you, didn’t I?”
He rubbed his nose against hers. “Yes. You were right. I love Mari. He is everything you said, and then some.”
Drake let out a low whistle to get their attention. “You let my brother see you molesting his wife like that, and I’ll have to scrape your remains up with a spatula. No offense, I hate cleaning.”
Zarya laughed. “Relax, Drake. Darling won’t say a word.”
Drake appeared highly doubtful as he moved to stand next to his sister, Annalise.
The doors opened. Ture turned to see the stretcher with Darling and Syn. Without pausing, Syn whisked Maris past him and through the ER doors.
Darling stopped by his side. “Mari’s stable. He panicked when he realized I was with him and you’d stayed behind, so Syn knocked him out to keep his vitals at normal.”
Ture sighed. “He is never going to believe that I’m not jealous of you. I don’t know how to convince him that your relationship with each other doesn’t bother me.”
Darling arched a skeptical brow that was very similar to an expression Maris used. They’d known each other for so long that they shared many such quirks. “It doesn’t?”
“No. Why should it? You’ve been in his life a lot longer than I have. It’s not like you’ve slept with him or are going to . . .
that
I would issues with. Up until now, I’ve thought of you more like an irritating in-law Maris takes care of . . . one whose existence I have to suffer with in silence.”
Darling’s jaw went slack. “I think I’m insulted . . . And what do you mean
up until now
?”
Ture sobered. “He would have died today had you not been here. I could strangle him for calling me and not you. But for you, I would have had no idea where to look or any way to locate him. Thank you, Darling.”
“You don’t have to thank me for saving Mari. That’s my job.” Darling pulled Zarya into his arms to hold her. “Just take care of him for me. That’s all I ask.”
“Majesty?”
Darling turned as an officer joined them.
The male officer bowed low. “Two assassins were dead on arrival. The third killed three officers and escaped. We’ve notified all agencies to be on the lookout. Hopefully, we’ll catch him.”
Darling inclined his head. “Thank you for your service and report.”
The officer started to leave them, then pulled his weapon out and angled it at the door.
Startled, Ture looked past him to see a uniformed League assassin entering the lobby. As soon as he saw the officer, he held his hands up and froze.
Darling pressed the man’s blaster toward the floor. “It’s all right, Officer Dalens. He’s on our side.”
Bowing again, the officer retreated.
Only then did the assassin approach. Tall, well-muscled, well-armed and raven-haired, he moved with the fluid grace of a lethal killer. Yet there was something strangely familiar about him.
“How is he?” the assassin asked Darling.
“He’ll live. Any idea who got away from us?”
A tic started in the assassin’s jaw. “Draygon. My guess is Mari let him go. There’s no way Dray could have gotten away from him on his own...which means he’s going on an asetum for the compassion.”
“A what?” Ture asked.
Darling made a sound of supreme aggravation. “Blood vendetta to avenge his honor. But more serious than it sounds. When a Phrixian makes an asetum, it is to the death.”
“In this case, Dray’s...unless Mari lets him take his head. Stupid fucking bastard might do it, too.”
Ture saw red at those words. Without thinking, he shoved the assassin back. “Don’t you dare insult him!”
Darling came between them before the assassin could retaliate. “Emotions are running high here for all us. But before you two go at it, let me make introductions. Ture Xans meet Safir Jari. Saf is Maris’s baby brother. Ture is the boyfriend.”
That took the fight out of Ture, and the fire died in Saf’s dark eyes.
“Sorry,” they said at the same time.
So this was the brother that had been beaten in Maris’s stead.
The one Mari loved above all others.
By the slightly softened expression on Saf’s face, Ture knew Maris had spoken to his brother about their relationship. But he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Like all assassins, Saf kept his emotions visibly checked.
“I meant no disrespect to Mari,” Saf explained. “He’s just tender-hearted when it comes to our idiot brothers. Personally, I’d like to have a legal shot at Kyr...and most days, Dray, too.”
“Yeah, but Dray’s not League,” Darling said. “The other two killed were.”
Saf ground his teeth. “Kyr has called out the whole family on Maris so that we can avenge the shame he’s brought to our house. Your little stunt at the prison killed the last shred of sanity Kyr possessed. While he’d love to have your head on his wall, it’s Mari’s he’s obsessed with.”
Ture scowled. “Why?”
The tic returned to Saf’s jaw, something Mari’s did whenever he was pissed off. “It would be bad enough if Maris was just gay. The fact he’s gay and the best, most decorated warrior in our family... Kyr wants his testicles in a jar to prove he’s the bigger man.”
“Mari’s better than you?” Ture couldn’t help asking.
Safir went rigid. “I am damn good at what I do. I’d put my skills up against anyone’s, any time, any place...except Maris’s and Nykryian’s.” He glanced to Darling. “And the one man who taught Mari how to really fight, and blow shit to pieces. Growing up, I got into enough altercations with Mari to know he can sweep the floor with my ass, and that’s with him holding back because he didn’t really want to hurt me. While I can make him bleed, I can’t stop him, and I know it. Unlike the rest of my family, I have a healthy respect and appreciation for my brother’s abilities and skills.”
Darling shrugged. “Yeah well, I learned most of what I know from Nyk.”
“Which is why I’m not taking that contract. Or yours. I may be arrogant, but I’m not stupid. Luckily, Kyr and Dray hogged the family share of that.”
Ture was beginning to really like Saf. Unlike the others of his ilk, Saf was strangely humble and kind.
Safir glanced around the room. “Speaking of, I better go. It wasn’t exactly intelligent to come and be seen here. But when I heard Dray’s report, I panicked and wanted to make sure he was lying about the severity of Mari’s condition.” He held his hand out to Darling.
“Peace, my brother.” Darling took his hand then hugged him.
To Ture’s complete shock, Saf pulled him into a full body embrace. “Take care of my brother for me. Tell him he can’t die and leave me the sole source of sanity for the family. I’m depending on him to help me hold the line.”
After giving Hauk the same hug he’d given Darling and kissing Zarya’s cheek, Saf made a League sign of respect and solidarity over his heart then left.
Ture quirked a brow at Zarya. “He was unexpected.”
She nodded. “I’ve loved Safir since the moment I met him. You know he’s the only reason you and I are alive, right?”
Ture frowned. “No. How so?”
Darling crossed his arms over his chest. “After all of our combined resources failed to locate you, Saf’s the one who found out where you were being held and got word to Maris. You’d both still be in prison, or dead, but for Safir.”
Ture went cold at the courage that it took for Safir to go against Kyr and the rest of the League. If they ever learned what he’d done, they’d make sure his death was symbolic, painful and prolonged. “I like him all the more, now.” He frowned. “Why didn’t Maris tell me that?”
“Mari protects what he loves. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t trust you. But given his harsh upbringing, he’s learned to say as little as possible when it comes to handing over information that could get someone killed. You’ve no idea the horrors of what he and Saf have been through. There’s a reason their entire family is insane. And Maris is the sole reason Saf is halfway normal. He went out of his way to protect his brother, and show him that there were other ways to live than the severe life they’d been born to.”
Ture digested that. “Mari never really talks about his family or past.” Anytime he tried to broach the topic, Maris deftly changed subjects.
“Because it would break your heart.” Darling led him away from the others so that they could talk in private. “Did you know that the Phrixians have thirty-three words for honor? Twenty for loyalty? Three dozen for betrayal, but not a single word for love?”
Ture gaped. “You’re joking.”
Darling shook his head slowly. “Their declaration of affection for one another is two words that translate to,
I will cause you no dishonor
. Or
esera diya kya, which means
I will die before I shame you. His people truly have no social concept of love.”
“None?”
“Not even parent to child. Phrixian children are viewed as property of the government. Parents don’t have them, nor do they raise them, because they want them or love them. They do so because it’s their national duty to breed warriors to fight, and daughters to procreate the next generation of soldiers.”
Horrified by what Darling described, he stared at him. “I can’t even wrap my mind around what you’re telling me.”
“I know. Their world is mind boggling. Kids can be, and will be, taken from any parent who is deemed too lenient with them. At sixteen, their males are all conscripted into the military. Some girls, if they make the cut, can join, but it’s frowned upon. There, they are viewed as government property until they’re forty-two years old. Until then, they can’t own anything or marry. Should they have a child, it’s raised by the government and they know nothing of the child’s upbringing.”
“What happens to their daughters?”
Darling rolled his eyes in disgust. “If they’re deemed beautiful or have the right lineage, they’re put into the marriage pool as virgin trophies for the retiring warriors to choose a mate from. The rest become social servants, which includes servicing the conscripted soldiers whenever they earn sex privileges.”
Ture frowned. “I’m confused. Mari was engaged and had property at one time. He’s told me that much.”
“Maris is a prince. While they still have to abide by the same laws as everyone else, they, alone, are allowed to own property before they leave military service, and can marry should their father need them for a political match. Even married, they still can’t live with their wife until they turn forty-two and are released from service. The only other honorable way out, for any of them, is to be good enough to join the League as assassins, such as Saf and Kyr.”
Where they were forced to be celibate, and where no one could retire. Assassins were killed the moment they became too old or too injured to continue their duties.
Tears filled Ture’s eyes as he tried to imagine how horrible that existence had been for his peace-loving Maris. “Mari said that the League forced his father to give up one son to mix with humans.”
Darling nodded. “Maris was a political prisoner for ten years.”
Ture narrowed his gaze at Darling. “Prisoner? From the way he explained it, I thought he was just fostered by a human family.”
Darling let out a bitter, angry laugh. “I so love how Mari sugarcoats things for the ones he loves.” His gaze seared Ture. “He was barely five, and couldn’t understand a single word of Universal or any language other than Phrixian, when his own father handcuffed him and surrendered him to League custody with one order... You bring any shame to Phrixus and we’ll dine on your liver.”