“You’re Hadean Corps, right?” Drake asked from outside, in the hallway.
“I am.”
He opened the door to see them, and grinned at Bastien. “Nice to see the dead has risen.”
Bastien rolled his eyes.
Ignoring him, Drake returned his attention to Ember. “I’m intercepting some strange Tavali stuff, and I can’t get ahold of my brother, Ryn. But I swear I heard his mother’s name mentioned and it concerns me. Can you take a listen and see what you think?”
“Absolutely.”
She and Bastien followed him off the ship and outside to the primitive base that had once been a mining facility. But it’d petered out centuries before and been abandoned. Since no one had come here and it seldom showed on maps, the DR had decided it was a great place to use for emergencies.
Like now.
The old shed appeared abandoned on the outside. But inside, it was crisp and clean, outfitted with the latest technology. She tried not to let her thoughts wander to how good Bastien smelled when freshly bathed as they went to the comm room where Cin and Kindel were waiting.
At first, she couldn’t understand the thick accents of the speakers over the channel. It wasn’t Gorturnum. But the longer she listened, the more she began to understand.
Finally, she deciphered it.
Drake had been right. It was about Hermione Dane and it did involve the Tavali.
She felt the color drain from her face as she met his concerned gaze. “They’re planning to bomb Hermione and kill your brother Ryn.”
CHAPTER13
Drake went ramrod stiff at Ember’s declaration that the message he’d stumbled on was the plot for Hermione Dane’s murder. “What?”
She nodded. “Sounds like they’re going to try for it in two days.”
“You’re sure?”
She squinted as she continued to listen. “The accents are thick, but yeah, I’ll stand by that. It sounds like a major strike they’re planning against all of The Sentella.”
Drake cursed. “I have to find my brother and warn him.”
“And Darling,” Bastien reminded him.
“Yeah. And Darling,” he agreed. “Definitely Darling.” He bit his lip. “You’re one hundred percent sure about this?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then may the gods be with us.”
But as the days went by, it began to feel like they weren’t. While they were able to save Hermione’s life, The League made a devastating run against the Porturnum Tavali StarStation, they hijacked a Caronese freighter that had been carrying medical supplies to orphans, hit the Wasturnum West Fleet that was being led by Drake’s sister-in-law, and bombed the Andarion palace to the ground.
Their casualties included Drake’s sister-in-law, Mack Hinto-Dane. Nykyrian’s family—wife, children, and parents. Drake’s older brother Darling and his wife and son. Syn Wade’s wife and son, along with his sister-in-law, and basically the families of the entire Sentella High Command.
Even Saf’s nephew and brother-in-law went down with the palace.
And Jullien and Thraix.
None of them had been left unscarred by the waves of attacks against them.
Bastien reeled from the pain. It was too much to contemplate. He couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t function or plot.
Neither could Drake. Their anguished grief rendered them useless.
