‘You walked the exterior of a corvette in mid-flight?’
Ki’Remi shook his head in disbelief. ‘With no mag boots nor a tether to be seen, which confirmed to me, for I was on watch last night, what he claims to be is true.’
Idan huffed. ‘You saw me, man?’
‘My cameras did, from the bridge, my friend. You’re an -.’
‘Anomaly, I know it. Highborn Sacrans with my physiology don’t need oxygen to survive. I often took spacewalks during my time as Commander. The vacuum gave me clarity on what I must do next.’
Ki’Remi poured three mugs of the black stimulant. ‘So, where to, then? Apart from getting your asses into Eden II?’
Idan reclined in his seat, hands crossed over his chest, pushing his tongue into his cheek in thought.
He sighed, eyes to the passing stars.
‘I have to find my supposed half-brother, Molan, so that we can plot the end of my father’s murderous campaign.’
Issa paused serving, her hand gripping a ladle, both eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘Molan is your sibling?’
‘Naam, we share a father.’
‘Wait, Sulfiqar is your father?’ Issa asked, her eyes dilating and flaring with more shock. ‘I’d no idea, for you carry a matriarchal name.’
‘I am a Caliostheles on my mother’s side,’ Idan rasped, slicing his gaze to her. ‘However, my father is Sulfiqar the Unmaker. He seeks his throne back with Molan’s help, thus fueling his pursuit of us on Tansinia.’
The stirring spoon in Issa’s hand clattered against the table, her face a mask of pure disbelief. ‘You’re blowing my mind.’
Idan took a deep inhale. ‘My mother, Aeryn-Thall, the Weaver of New Life, presided as the Goddess of Immortal Harmony. She was the architect of the celestial weave, and she was also Sulfiqar’s concubine; the only being who could soothe the Emperor’s divine madness. Sulfiqar did not love her. He coveted her and sought to control her throughout their complicated relationship.’
He paused, pursing his lips, the memory a shard of pain in his mind. ‘A few years ago, the tyrant ordered the execution of my mother and her entire entourage.’
Sheba took a deep breath and wrapped her arms around his back. ‘Honey, I’m so sorry.’
He exchanged glances with her, drew strength from her, and continued.
‘He killed her for her defiance. He’d demanded her blood, wanting to siphon her essence to mend his ailing form andstretch his immortality into another age. She refused to become his lifeline so that he might continue his brutal rule, and so she became another victim of his rage.’
‘Damn,’ Ki’Remi breathed. ‘Sounds like thekinaideserves a brutal end.’
Idan’s lips twisted. ‘He does. I sought to avenge her, but then Sulfiqar fell. My then-lover, Artya, betrayed me by running her mouth to the ruling Council about my biological link to him. Her treachery got me kicked out of Sivania; in fact, my ship got sabotaged and thrown into a gravity well. I survived the crash. In that darkness, my celestial connection to the Sacran Army severed. I chose to leave the cord cut, free offokkin’ titles and twisted duty. I landed on Tansinia and used myNihil-Stalkerexperience to vanish into its cliffs and deserts.’
‘I remember the day the news broke,’ Issa whispered. ‘We thought you were dead.’
‘The Harbinger of the Divine Reckoning, Breaker of the Unyielding Bastion, and Sentinel of the Silent Grave did certainly perish in that well,’ Idan muttered. ‘I traded the brutality of a mercenary life for the peace of a farm. I masked my Shadow-Step ability beneath the gait of a shepherd, and since then, each breath I take is a calculated rejection of the empire I served.’
Sheba’s fingers brush the callus of his hand. ‘It’s understandable given what you’ve shared.’
‘Indeed. Now, the Unmaker orchestrates chaos to drag Molan and me back into his orbit. He wants our spectral and psionic might for his crusade to retake Sivania. I possess no ambitions for thrones or conquest. All I want is a farm and animals, as well as peace, love, and companionship in obscurity.’
Idan sat up, his massive frame casting a long shadow over the table. ‘Which is why I must find Molan and beseech him to partner with me in dismantling Sulfiqar’s plans.’
It was the most he’d ever spoken in a while, and his pitch dropped to a raw, hoarse murmur, laced with hardness.
‘It seems that I can no longer hide in the mountains. Molan and I must face this reckoning. If we fail, Sulfiqar will destroy every soul we touch and us. This is a war to the death.’
The Corvette descended onto the orbital space port of Eden II, its hunter-class silhouette casting a sleek shadow over the moon-world’s fractured radiance.
Through the bridge’s plexiglass, Idan studied the sphere beneath, its silver surface gleaming under the glare of the system’s twin suns.
