“Leave us,” Vaxa’an finally ordered the warriors.
The warriors hesitated, obviously loathe to leave their Prime Leader alone with a known traitor, even if that traitor was his brother.
“Now,” Vaxa’an clipped and the guards inclined their heads and left, pulling the two heavy doors closed behind them. No doubt they would alert the council and perhaps the Ambassadors that Jaxor had returned to the Golden City, that he was in the Prime Leader’s custody.
Jaxor had forgotten how large the war room was. Cavernous, even. Coms lined the walls, but the ceiling was so high that Jaxor couldn’t even see where it ended. The light would not reach there. And in that massive space, he thought that his brother would seem small, but he did not. He had become the great leader that their sire had always known he would be.
Jaxor had the stray thought that they were strangers to one another now. They might as well be.
Vaxa’an’s swallow was audible in the thick silence as he rounded the circular table, an unforgiving slab of Luxirian steel.
“A part of me,” Vaxa’an said, “believed that I would never lay eyes on you again, brother.”
Jaxor’s chest heaved with unnamed emotion and a thousand thoughts flooded his mind as he studied Vaxa’an’s face. Standing before him in chains was not how he envisioned this reunion, but it was no less than he deserved.
Erin.
“I know I have no right to ask it,” Jaxor started, his voice low as he connected his gaze with his brother’s. Twin eyes. They had always had the exact same eyes. The shade of their mother’s. Many had commented on it when they’d been younger. “But I am in need of your help.”
Vaxa’an looked at him. Something flashed in his gaze. Anger. Fury.
“This is what you have finally returned home for?” his brother asked. “So I can be of use to you?”
“I have not returned home,” Jaxor said quietly. “I came here, though I know the consequences of returning, to seek your help.”
Vaxa’an’s hands shot out so quickly that Jaxor thought his brother would strike him. But instead, he placed his hands on the sides of his neck, touching his flesh for the first time, and Jaxor felt the agony in his brother. Blood was strong. It was why fated mates performed a blood bond, thefellixix. Siblings shared blood and so they already shared the bond. They’d been connected all their lives, since the moment Jaxor was born. He could feel his brother’s soul, felt it taken up by another—his human mate—just as certainly as Vaxa’an felt Jaxor’s soul consumed by another, by Erin.
Touch helped connect them and Vaxa’an’s nostrils flared with the realization that Jaxor, too, had a mate. Jaxor brought his chained wrists up, clasped his hands on his brother’s forearm, felt the heat of him and the pulsing of his heart.
“I need your help,” Jaxor pleaded. “She is in danger.”
“What have you done?” Vaxa’an asked him, his pupils wide.
“More than she will forgive me for,” Jaxor said, inhaling the same air between them. “But I will spend the rest of my lifespan making it up to her. However short that life may be,” he added softly, knowing that his execution was very probable now that he had returned.
Vaxa’an seemed to realize this too and he released Jaxor, but didn’t step away.
“There is much you are not telling me,” Vaxa’an accused softly.
“I will tell you everything you wish to know,” Jaxor replied, “but first know that the Jetutians have breached our atmosphere on multiple occasions over the last ten rotations.”
Vaxa’an shook his head. “Not possible. We would have—”
“There is one male I know of that has been coordinating with theMevirax. A male stationed here at the command center. There may be more, but I have no way of knowing.”
“Rebax?” Vaxa’an asked softly, absorbing his words. “You are telling me that the Jetutians have breached our planet’s surface with the aid of a Luxirian warrior. One ofmywarriors?”
“Tev,” Jaxor said. “Bring Kirov here. Have him scan the surface manually. That is the first step.”
“Kirov is not here. None of the Ambassadors are. Cruxan just…” Vaxa’an trailed off. “The Lunar Celebration is tonight.”
Vrax.
Which meant the Ambassadors were at their respective outposts.
Jaxor swallowed this news down and said, “You must summon him. Immediately.”
“Why?”
