All For One [Nuworld 3] (54 page)

“Not everyone is like their papa, Ana.” Andru managed to remain calm although

he wanted to clobber submissiveness into his sister.

“You’re a prime example of that,” Ana snapped sarcastically. “Quit trying to

control me. I told you I’d take care of things and I will. Now let me be.”

“Ana, if there’s something to address, it won’t go away if you ignore it.” Andru

called to her back but she simply gestured a vulgarity at him and kept walking toward

her glider.

“May I ask what that was all about, my Lord?”

Andru turned his head to see Gilroy standing right behind him watching Ana

storm off.

“She was supposed to be on anti-conception pills but she never got around to

taking care of it,” Andru spoke quietly to his friend.

Gilroy’s expression turned hard and he met Andru’s gaze. He moved like he would

take off after Ana but Andru grabbed his arm. “There’s no time right now. We must

meet with Lord Darius.”

Darius stared at the young men standing at attention in his backyard. Andru stood

at the end of the line, closest to him. As always, his son’s dark eyes watched him, never

looking away. He was the tallest of this group of young soldiers, except for Gilroy who

stood next to him. That young man was one hell of a soldier and his loyalty to his son

was admirable.

All Gothman soldiers had organized at dawn to partake in the Gothman death

ceremony in tribute to the eight soldiers who died in the Tree People nation.

“I want to announce that Gilroy will be your new commanding officer since that

position is now available.” Darius enjoyed watching the young man’s face light up but

there was a haunted look he didn’t usually see on the jovial young man. “Head down to

the practice field for war games. Andru, Gilroy, stay with me for a minute.”

Darius stood face to face with the two young men and studied them for a moment.

Gilroy stood as tall as he did and would probably be fuller in the chest within the next

few winters. He was a brick wall like his papa, Arien, with the same good looks. There

was a guarded look now that had replaced the haunted expression and he noticed his

son’s face was slightly too blank.

“You’ve heard me say that a good leader always knows everything that goes on in

his kingdom, haven’t you?”

Andru and Gilroy looked at each other then nodded and gave Darius their

attention.

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“The trick is that you hear everything that’s said around you and you watch every

reaction a person makes to what they hear, you do.” Dark gray eyes and sky blue eyes

watched him carefully. “For example, my daughter storms out of the house and yells at

my son, she does. Everyone reacts to this scene in a slightly different way. Most are

amused, as I was myself. So, it wasn’t hard to detect that there was one person in the

yard that wasn’t amused, no.” Darius looked directly at Gilroy and Andru looked at

him as well. Gilroy handled himself well, not backing down from their gazes for a

second. He’s been raised well, Darius thought to himself.

“Now then, a fact has just been brought to my attention. I know the look of

possession and up until this morning, the only one who has looked at my daughter like

that is Andru, yes. So, I focused on my daughter’s words and learned a second fact, I

did.” He paused and let his gaze fall heavily on the two who stood looking back at him.

“You have instigated a relationship between these two, am I right?” Darius asked

Andru but nodded his head toward Gilroy.

“Yes, my Lord.”

“And has she been receptive?” he now asked Gilroy.

“I think so, my Lord.” Gilroy answered honestly.

“She has always submitted to you willingly, Andru,” Darius now spoke

thoughtfully as he stared out across the field. “It will be interesting to see if she will

submit to someone else.” He then surprised Gilroy by asking him directly, “Is she

pregnant?”

“There would be no way of knowing this soon.”

Andru raised an eyebrow at Gilroy’s blatant honesty. Darius seemed pleased by it.

“Maintain this level of loyalty and continue to serve Gothman as you do, son, and

you’ll do well, you will. I daresay a claim to my daughter would be the ultimate

award.” He patted Gilroy on the shoulder and Andru smiled, glad to see his father

obviously approved of his methods of tending to his sister.

Ana stood behind the garage at the top of the hill talking to several of her friends.

Everyone was curious to hear about what happened in the Tree People nation and

envious of Ana having such a great adventure.

“I would have volunteered to go over there if I’d known about it,” one of her

friends commented.

“Yeah, and you’d be dead,” the other one said.

“Not everyone died,” Ana said with a shrug.

“That’s right, Gilroy brought you home. I heard he had you wrapped up pretty

tight.” Her friends laughed as they teased her. “Speaking of which, here he comes, with

his Lordship and Andru. Getting in good with the family, isn’t he?”

Ana turned to look in the direction her friends indicated and three faces glared at

her.

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“Uh-oh,” she groaned. “I’m in trouble. I’m not exactly where I’m supposed to be.

Go on down to the war games. I’ll catch up with you.” At least she hoped she would.

“She just wants him all to herself.” Ana heard one of her friends say as the two

Runner girls trotted down the hill. She wanted to run and catch up with them. She shot

a glance at her papa as the three approached. He knew everything. His loyal subjects

had reported all and he was obviously in agreement with whatever they told him.

As she looked at them, something caught her eye. She raised her head and looked

past them into the sky. It was a glider, coming right at them, and swerving. Her

expression turned to horror and the three men turned to see what had her attention as

they reached her side.

“Mama!” Ana screamed and ran past her brother as the glider attempted a very

rough landing. Through the dome, she could see her mama, slumped over and very

bloody. Behind her was Beel, doing his best to try and navigate the glider to the ground

with the unconscious woman blocking his ability to reach the controls.

Ana screamed again when she saw the glider bounce roughly off the ground and

her mama’s body literally bounce along with it inside the dome. Blood smeared on the

inside of the clear plastic dome.

“See if you can grab it and hold it down!” Darius barked at Gilroy and Andru as he

gestured to the glider.

The two young men leaped into action. They ran as fast as they could until each

was on either side of the glider. Darius flipped on his comm and began instructing Beel.

He knew his voice would come out the small speaker on the console, and his bastard

son looked at him horrified when he heard his papa’s voice but then nodded and

reached to cut off the power to the glider.

Andru and Gilroy grabbed the contraption and then slowed their running until

they were able to bring it to a stop.

Darius flipped his comm again and ordered a medical crew to the site immediately.

He cursed his injured body as he used his cane to walk slowly up to the glider as Andru

grabbed Beel and pulled the shaken boy free of the glider.

“I did my best,” the boy mumbled but then seemed to relax when Andru patted

him on the back.

“Oh Crator, please.” Ana’s hands went to her mouth and she felt tears stream down

her cheeks. “Tell me she’s not dead.”

“What happened?” Darius growled as Andru and Gilroy slowly lifted Tara’s limp

body off the glider.

“She came to get me. I didn’t even think she liked me.” Beel took a deep breath,

reminding himself of the mighty warriors that surrounded him. “I was with Sorg and

she charged into the room and attacked him. She said I was a member of her family and

I was coming with her. Sorg said some rather hateful things about Ana and that by right

she should be returned since his brother took her virginity. Tara shot him. I didn’t even

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see her move she was so fast. All I know is that Sorg flew up against the wall and blood

splattered everywhere. Guards showed up from everywhere and it got so confusing.”

Beel lowered his head into his hands and his shoulders began shaking. When he

looked up so Lord Darius and Andru could see his face there were tears in his eyes. “I

want to be a great warrior like all of you but the truth is…I hid under a table. I stayed

there until Tara was down and a beaten pulp on the floor. The guards left her there and

I assumed they went to get Olix so he could tell them what to do. I carried her out the

window and to the glider without being detected. Then we sat on the glider until it got

very dark. I knew we only had one chance to escape and it had to be very late at night.

My Lord, I swear by Yawa, I did my best. I’m sorry if I waited too long.” He looked at

Tara’s limp bloody body nestled in Andru’s arms.

Several gliders swarmed above them and then landed quickly. Dr. Digo was on his

comm immediately ordering a jeep to the house to transport Tara. Two medical

assistants placed her face up on a portable cot that had been pulled from one of the

gliders and snapped together quickly.

Ana continued crying as a jeep pulled up and several more assistants jumped down

to help lift the leader of all Runner nations into a predetermined area behind the bench

seat. Darius hurried off to his glider but then stopped briefly and looked at his bastard

son.

He was smeared with Tara’s blood and appeared to bear several bruises. The boy

looked up at his papa and then without notice Darius pulled him to him and gave him a

hug.

Once again, Ana’s hands clasped her mouth.

“Let’s have the doctor look you over, too,” she heard Darius say to the boy and

walked with him to his glider.

“Stay with her.” Andru looked at Gilroy and nodded his head toward his sister

then took off running after his papa.

Immediately, strong arms wrapped around her and she could do nothing more

than collapse into Gilroy’s powerful chest.