“I assure you,” Falc stated, “I have no idea what you are talking about.”
He swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. “He’s really missing?”
“I swear on my honor, Master Narek.”
“I’ll be home in a few hours.”
“Understood.”
Nuri didn’t. He didn’t understand any of this anymore.
What was Silver really up to?
He wasn’t…hurt, right?
No, he couldn’t be.
This was all an act. He’d left Falc and Eli out of it, sure, but that didn’t mean it was anything other than another carefully constructed rouse to get Nuri right where he wanted him.
One of the Imperial Guard were waiting by his parking spot when he arrived at the palace, and he followed him into the building out a side exit, to a path that led to an attached area with a helipad.
Eli was waiting there with several others, including the Minister of Justice and a handcuffed Romeo Brixton.
“I need a word once this is done,” Nuri said as he quickly made his way up the steps to the platform, making a beeline for Eli.
“Is it about the Emperor? He can’t stay away for much longer, there are several galactic missives waiting for his approval,” Eli told him. “You need to convince him—”
“I don’t know where he is.” Nuri meant to keep that between them and discuss it once this was through, but he was starting to get anxious, and the confession burst out of him before he could hold it back.
Eli froze. “Pardon?”
Romeo’s sharp laughter sliced through the already tense atmosphere, and they both turned to him.
Nuri stepped closer, noting the bruises peppered across the man’s face, and the way he was favoring one leg. He’d been kept in a high security prison all this time, awaiting a proper trial, which had finally taken place two days ago. Fortunately, neither Silver nor Nuri had needed to be in attendance for that, and the verdict had been clear.
Romeo was banished from Ignite and stripped of his Imperial title. The helicopter was going to take him to the nearest shuttle station, where he’d board a spaceship. Since Eli and the Minister of Justice were present, Nuri wouldn’t needto go with them all the way, but it was still required of him to physically see the prisoner loaded onto the helicopter.
“Do you know something about this?” Eli demanded, glaring at Romeo, but that only caused the man to laugh more.
“Not at all,” Romeo replied once he’d gotten a hold of himself, staring at Nuri all the while, “but I’m not surprised he’s vanished.”
“Speak,” Nuri ordered curtly.
“If you have any part in—” Eli began, only to be interrupted.
“I’m guessing he confronted you and you denied everything.” Romeo grinned at Nuri. Gone was any hint of the sweet guy he’d pretended to be all of these years.
“You made it all up,” Nuri reminded. “Of course I denied it.”
“We used to be close when we were children, did you know? Until one day, when I got tired of doing everything he told me to do, and I stood up for myself. As soon as my cousin realized he could no longer control me, his demeanor toward me completely changed. It was like I was suddenly invisible.”
“I fail to see what this has to do with me.”
“Nuri. You can tell me. The two of you had a fight, didn’t you? You stood up to him and he didn’t like it.”
“Take him away,” he ordered the guards. He didn’t owe Romeo an explanation, so there was no point correcting him. Especially since, while he may have gotten the order of events wrong, he wasn’t entirely off the mark.
They hadn’t fought about Romeo or the lieshe’dspun, but Silver and Nurihadfought.
