“Tian.” His father’s voice echoed through the solar. “Have you finished your call yet?”
“Yes,” he ground out.
“Good, well, get yourself down here … the court’s about to go into session again.”
Tian pushed himself off the window. Damn his father. This pantomime was ridiculous.
Cathal Mir-Brennan was on trial for the crimes of his grandfather, the clan-lord who’d warred with Tian’s own grandfather. There had once been a bloody conflict that had culminated in the Mir-Ferrins losing their planet.
Tian understood that his father wanted revenge, but he was wasting precious time. Better just to kill Cathal and be done with it—but no, Mican wanted it done formally. He wanted to put the clan-lord on trial, even if the judges had all been bought off by him. That way, when Mir-Brennan was found guilty and sentenced to public execution, his father would feel vindicated.
That way, when Mican broadcast the execution across the sector, he’d stand there, head held high, righteous in his actions.
The Mir-Ferrin clan-lord and his sons had planned this attack meticulously ever since Tian and Jenna’s wedding day, biding their time while they rallied their army and resources.
They’d only have the element of surprise once—it had to be done right.
They hadn’t been quite ready to strike, but when Jenna had announced she was divorcing Tian, they’d been forced to act.
Nonetheless, they’d never have succeeded if it hadn’t been for Tian. He’d laid the groundwork, had sent his father detailed plans of the Mir-Brennan defenses—and had thrown open the doors for their army of battle-droids and cyborgs when they stormed the tower.
His father had yet to acknowledge the part he’d played though.
Tian clenched his hands by his sides. Mican would be furious to learn that Jenna had escaped. However, he wouldn’t be blackmailed by the Widow Makers. No, instead, he’d take another approach—he’d put a price on his wife’s head. Bounty hunters would be more tenacious, and cheaper, than the assassins. One of them would track her down.
But first, he had a sham trial to attend.
“Yes, father,” he replied, heading toward the doors. “I’ll be right there.”
13. A SOLID PLAN
EMERGING FROM MORHAVEN spaceport, Jenna started to shiver. Even with her thick cloak, the chill, damp air bit into her.
Morith was freezing.
Her breath steamed in front of her as she peered into the murk. It looked as if dusk was settling, but the light levels were always low here, even during daylight hours. The nights were supposed to be long on Morith, fifty-two hours, while daylight lasted just ten.
The moon was a prosperous mining colony. However, its inhospitable climate and lack of sunlight meant it wasn’t a tourist hotspot.
Nonetheless, it did have something to recommend it—a stunning view of Triton 4.
Tilting her head up, Jenna’s gaze alighted on a massive gas giant that hung in the sky, its surface swirling bands of blue, white, and grey. The huge planet, which was always visible, loomed over the moon.
“Ready?” Malik stepped up to Jenna’s elbow, drawing her attention from Triton 4. Other passengers were milling around; it was best to be prudent when conversing until they were away from them.
Jenna nodded. She’d booked them into a room near the central hub. It was a private place, one that she’d paid for in advance, linking her PCSD to her tablet.
“Come on then.”
Jenna fell in next to her bodyguard, hurrying out through the spaceport gates into the road beyond.
Clusters of grey-stone warehouses and refineries surrounded Morith’s spaceport. Convoys of huge vehicles rumbled past, transporting ore and waste rock from the open-cast mines that pock-marked the moon’s surface to the processing plants.
Jenna wrinkled her nose as she inhaled the oily smoke that belched from the vehicles’ exhausts. She was surprised they didn’t transport the ore about on shunts as they did on Staturine II, which was also a mining planet, where they’d gotten rid of these slow, polluting transporters decades ago.
“It’s busier than I expected,” she murmured.
Malik grunted. “After the attack on Idral, the Mir-Brennan governors will be readying themselves for more conflict. Prices … and demand … for Crillon are likely to go up all over the sector.”
