Bastien clapped him on the back, letting her know they were close, too. “They were just explaining to me how they blew our League friends out of the sky.”
“Yeah,” Jupiter said with a wicked grin. “You missed one hell of a great dogfight, Cabarro. You should have been there, cade.”
“Well, my ship was, during one fight… without me.”
Now it was Fain’s turn to laugh. “You know, when I first heard that story from Drake, I thought you were in it, till I realized you’re notquitethat crazy. How much explosive did you load on it?”
“I was hoping enough to take them all out. Epic fail to that.”
Ryn, who was even in height with Bastien, shook his auburn head. “You’ve been hanging out with my little brother too long. I thought only Darling was that reckless with explosives.”
“Really?” Bastien asked drily. “’Cause Dancer Hauk was the one who blew my base to smithereens. I’m still pissed about that.”
Fain snorted. “You? I still can’t believe my brother did that, given how much he hates explosives and explosions. Says it all about how worried he must have been.”
“Given the fact that we were responsible for Nyk’s beloved daughter at the time? I’d risk the explosion, too.”
“Truth to that.” Chayden laughed. “You weren’t there when I helped escort Thia here for her new assignment. I don’t think any of us breathed until we were clear of Sentella-controlled space and made sure Nyk wasn’t trailing after us, target-locked.”
“Speaking of being target-locked…” Fain glanced around the group. “Has Ryn told you?”
“What?”
“We’ve got intel on Barnabas from Syn. We’re all planning to go with you to fight him.”
Bastien gaped. “Suddenly, I feel so loved.” Then he grinned, but only for a second, until it melted into a frown. “I can’t believe you’d risk your lives for me and mine.”
Ryn snorted. “You didn’t think we were going to let you fight alone?”
“Um, yeah.” Bastien inclined his head to Ryn. “Don’t you have a baby to tend?”
“Not yet. And it was either I come to back Jory in this fight, or Mack would have come. So I docked her with my mom and flew right out as I don’t want my pregnant wife doing something profoundly stupid while protecting her lunatic brother.”
Bastien snorted at the mention of Ryn’s headstrong wife. “Gutsy.”
“Yeah, not really. Mack and my mom scare me, they get along so well. I keep waiting to get booted out of the family.”
“That’s ’cause you married your mom.”
Fain and Jory turned to glare at Chayden for his comment.
“What?” Chayden said innocently. “Oh, c’mon! I cannot possibly be the only one who’s noticed that Mack and Hermione are basically the same person. They look alike. Dress alike. Even move alike.”
Jory slapped him hard in the stomach, then between gritted teeth said in a loud whisper, “We don’t talk aboutthat! Ach, cade, are you insane?”
“They are nothing alike!” Ryn insisted.
But Ember could tell by the expression on Bastien’s face, as well as the others’, that Ryn was being willfully obtuse about it.
How much could they favor?
Before she could ask for clarification, Cin and Tasi brought Rian out to them.
“Do we really have to leave now?” Rian asked.
Ember ruffled his hair. “Sorry, baby. We have to get back to our base.”
All of the men fell quiet as they noticed the fact that Rian was Bastien’s clone. It was actually comical the way they glanced between them.
