That was true, but they didn’t need a lot of light to see.
“Quin?” Bastien tried again. “You here?”
A whistle rent the air. One he was all too familiar with.
This time, Bastien ducked and twisted out of the way as the paralytic dart shot toward him. It landed harmlessly in the wall.
He lunged at the shooter.
It was a tiny woman. Hissing, she sank her teeth into his hand so hard, she let blood.
Bastien cursed.
“Let her go!”
His heart stopped at that deep, dark voice. A voice he’d never thought to hear again. “Quin?”
Turning his head, he expected to find his ever elegant, impeccably groomed brother. But the man there bore little resemblance to the Kirovarian heir. Dressed in rags, Quin looked worse than Bastien had on Oksana. His brown hair was long and shaggy—and his grimy face had been painted with symbols.
Bastien’s jaw went slack. “It’s Bastien,theren. I mean you no harm.” He let go of the woman, who scrambled to Quin’s side.
It was only then that Bastien saw she was in the beginning stages of a pregnancy.
Quin still had his blaster trained on Bastien. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to get you free.” Bastien held his hands out so that his brother wouldn’t mistake his intentions.
“No! You’re here to kill me.”
When he went to shoot, Ember disarmed him. She flipped Quin to the ground while Ryn and Xander covered the woman. “Don’t you dare harm him. Not after everything he’s gone through to get toyou!”
“Ember?” Quin scowled up at her.
“Yeah.” She jerked her chin toward Bastien. “Yourtherenwas convicted for your murder. You want to explain how it is you’re alive and breathing?”
Rage and pain mixed in his eyes with such force it was tangible. A tic started in his jaw. “Barnabas,” he growled. “I woke up down here, alone. He told me that Bastien was on my throne.”
Bastien opened his coveralls to show his Ravin mark. “Here’s a big fucking surprise. He lied.”
That drained the anger out of Quin. “You were really convicted?”
“Yeah. For killing all of you. I’ve been hunted for almost a decade. Thank you for that. You bastard! All you had to do was climb up out of here and you could have told someone the truth!”
“Told who? They’d have killed me.”
Bastien scoffed bitterly. “You could have tried,theren. Did you?”
“To what end? Everyone but you was dead.”
When Bastien lifted his blaster to shoot him for that statement, Ember disarmed him. “Stop it! Remember how upset you were when you thought him dead?”
“Yeah, well, I got over it. Now I remember why I couldn’t stand him when he was alive.”
Sighing, she shook her head. “We never could leave the two of you alone in a room. I swear.” But with that determined glint in her eye that made Bastien’s gut tighten, she turned on Quin. “You’re both coming with us. We will exonerate your brother, and then if you want to return to live down here, feel free. First, we kill Barnabas and restore Bastien’s freedom. Then I don’t give a shit what you do.”
Bastien wrapped his arm around her and kissed her head. “My baby.”
She elbowed him hard. “Don’t call me baby.”
