The men shared a heavy look.
“Tell me what happened!” I demanded. “Where's Talon? Did you kill him? I hope you didn't kill him, because I want to kill that son of a bitch myself.”
“We didn't kill him,” Kyrian said.
I started to smile.
“He escaped,” Kyrian went on.
“What?!” I screeched.
“And he took our magic with him,” Malik added.
“What?!”
“He had an escape tunnel beneath the house,” Malik explained. “He grabbed the vials and ran while his men held off the Danutians.”
“TheDanutians?” I gaped at them, settling my gaze on Everan, who shouldn't have been there.
“I came in from my patrol to find all of you gone,” Braxis said as he opened the door; he immediately averted his eyes from my nudity.
“Braxis,” I whispered, flushing again.
My men started to get dressed at last.
“Here, I found something for you to wear.” Braxis handed me a dress as he continued to look away.
It was too big and not my style, but it was better than walking around in my nightgown. I slipped it on.
“Where did you find that?” Kyrian asked.
Braxis shrugged. “I assume it was Ugela's.”
I made a face and tore it off.
“Amara,” Malik growled.
“That bitch killed my parents,” I growled back. “I'm not wearing her clothes.”
“That bitch is dead,” Braxis said gently. “We found her corpse.”
“Yes, I know,” I whispered and pulled on my nightgown. “I saw Talon murder her.”
“You...” Malik took a deep breath, then let it out. “Tell us what happened, Mvarra.”
Everan slipped a blanket over my shoulders and Braxis finally looked at me.
“Hold on. I want to hear what Braxis has to say first.” I met Braxis's gaze.
“I found the house empty but there was a deactivated transporter in the upstairs corridor,” Braxis reported. “I saw no one on my patrol, but the grounds are large; it's possible that a single person was able to sneak past me with that transporter. Then it would have been easy enough to transport all of you up to a ship. I'm ashamed that I failed you.”
“That is the opposite of what you did,” Malik said firmly. “One man is not enough to patrol our estate. I should have been out there with you.”
Braxis nodded gratefully before he continued, “I went up to Prince Malik's ship and checked its scans. Only one other ship had been in the area recently and it was a Triari cruiser. I tracked it to where it docked, just above Germany. I knew I couldn't go after you alone, but after seeing that Triari ship, and its status as a registered vessel and not a stolen one, I didn't know what to do or who to trust. I figured the only one who I could be certain of was your father, Amara. So, I called Landry.”
“That was smart,” I murmured.
Braxis smiled softly at me. “Are you all right, Mara?”
