Born of Legend (47 page)

Her father rose to his feet as she headed for the hallway that led to it. “Do you think it's a good idea to bring
him
here?”

“Better than provoking him to violence.” She leaned forward as if imparting a secret. “Let me tell you the one thing I've learned about dealing with my husband. Think of him like the giant lorina in the wild, sleeping happily in his cave. He might stick his head up to watch you walk by, but so long as you don't get his full attention, he won't attack. Whatever you do, for the sake of the gods, don't throw a rock at him. Because once you do come under his full attention, he's going straight for your jugular. Just ask Kirill.”

That got her uncle on his feet.

Which caused Jullien to turn and face him.

Kirill's father Klavdii took one step forward until he took in the exact size of Jullien's height and width, and saw the color of his eyes.

Then he retreated.

Ushara swept her gaze over the males gathered in the waiting area. “Shall we move this to the conference room, eh?”

“Who's overseeing it?” her father asked.

“I am.” Trajen, who appeared from the shadows, swept past him.

Her father actually jumped in startled alarm.

Trajen paused at the conference room door to look back at them. “Unless one of you wants to challenge me for
my
position?”

One by one, they looked away.

Trajen passed an arch stare to Jullien.

“Tempting, but I'm too tired to bother with it.”

With a snort, Trajen gave him a playful, brotherly slap. “Ironic. You're the only one who'd stand a chance of taking the seat from me and you're probably the last one who'd ever make the try for it.”

“'Cause I'm not a fucking idiot.… I'm only partially brain-damaged.”

Laughing, Trajen led the way into the conference room to take the seat at the head of the table. His smile died instantly as the rest filed in and took chairs.

Ushara sat to his right while Jullien stood behind her. She glanced up at him. “Aren't you sitting?”

He shook his head and stood with his legs braced. Arms crossed.

That certainly wasn't intimidating or scary at all. She passed an amused glance to Trajen who was smirking at Jullien's stance.

Trajen cleared his throat. “I'm thinking before we start.… Should we disarm your bodyguard, VA Altaan?”

“I already took the blasters from him. Thought it would be a bad idea to have them on his body for this.”

“Good call. Knives?”

She glanced around again. “Just one. It's his security blankie. I hate to take it from him. He gets a little edgy without it.”

“Well, we don't want that. Any other weaponry I should know about?”

“Just hands and fangs, but we can't really detach those.”

Trajen stroked his chin speculatively for a second. “Yeah, guess not. Very well, then. Let's keep in mind that we should all be on our best behavior, shall we?”

Ushara had no idea why Trajen was trying to provoke her family, but she didn't say anything as her cousins, uncle, father, and brothers crowded in. Davel was one of the last to show. With a grimace, he elbowed his way past them to shove his way to stand next to Jullien.

“Morning. Sorry I was late.” He kissed her cheek to let everyone in the room know whose side he was decidedly on. Then he moved to stand next to Jullien. He attempted the same stance, but for some reason it wasn't as badass when Davel did it. It was, however, adorable.

Trajen sat back in his chair. “All right. First bitch up.”

Kirill rose. “He blew up my ship. The whole damn thing. There's nothing left!”

“I know,” Trajen drawled. “Was there. Saw it. Laughed my ass off.”

“And you let him?”

“
Let
is a strong word. Not sure I could have stopped him, given his state of mind at the time. At least not without losing a vital piece of my anatomy. Decided it wasn't worth it. Especially not for your sorry ass.”

“I can corroborate that as I stood back myself and watched it go up.” Davel laughed. “It was quite … impressive.”

“And I expect restitution!”

Ushara arched a brow at Kirill's indignant tone. “I suggest you take it from the money you made selling my husband into slavery. Or perhaps from the creds someone on your crew made from his gear that was taken and never returned to him, and I know the full value of it firsthand. I have the billing tithe on it. Would you like me to forward that to you?”

Kirill glared at her. “I didn't make any creds on him, for your information. I had to pay
them
to take him.”

Too late, he realized what he'd said.

Ushara couldn't breathe as those words slapped her hard. Jullien didn't move.

Her gaze went to her father, then her uncle in turn. “Were the two of you in on this conspiracy?”

“Your father wanted him out of your life. We took care of it.”

She cocked a brow at that.

Her father blustered. “You've not been the same since he came here. You're distracted and your loyalties fractured.”

“My loyalties are
exactly
where they should be. Where they've always been. With my high admiral, this Nation and with my family. I've not broken an oath or wavered on
any
duty.”

“You have risked us all by bringing a
hunted
darkheart into this Nation knowing we hate him. That he's not welcome here. That he'll
never
be welcomed here.”

“Man, that's harsh.” Davel winced. Then he spoke to Jullien in a low tone. “I, for one, welcome you,
drey
. Love you, too, in a purely platonic, brotherly way.”

“'Preciate it.”

“No problem. Just don't set my ship on fire, especially if I'm in it.”

Jullien snorted.

Their father glared at Davel.

Trajen let out an irritable sigh. “Look, you're all wasting my time. I'm not picking another VA. Ushara has done nothing to shake my confidence. I'm only holding this little soiree to placate you. End of the day, get over it.”

Klavdii shot to his feet. “This is an outrage!”

Ushara shook her head. “No. The outrage is yet to come. Check your standing. Every member of the
Night Rain
has lost rank, effective immediately. Those with Canting have lost it as well. And that includes you, Klavdii,
and
my father.”

“What!”

She looked at her father without flinching. “Anyone who had a hand in what happened to my husband is busted. We do not betray Tavali. Even a cock. For
any
reason. I placed my husband in your hands. When you betrayed him, you betrayed me
and
this Nation. You all violated your most sacred oaths. In the eyes of Tavali, you have committed treason and I will not allow that to happen.”

Her father glared at Trajen. “You're allowing this to stand?”

“Her husband. Her call. Unless by some miracle, you can find someone to speak up on your behalf?”

“I will.”

They turned in shock as Jullien spoke.

Ushara gaped at him. “Excuse me?”

“Just thinking that sadly these bastards have all spawned. While I couldn't give a shit about any of them, some of the spawn who aren't in this room are rather cute. The younger ones are still innocent. It's really not fair to punish them because these assholes couldn't wear a condom or behave like sentient beings with a conscience. I don't want to see their young on the street or starving.”

Davel was seized with a sudden coughing fit that he finally gave up on and allowed to turn into hysterical laughter.

Ushara managed to hold her composure, but it wasn't easy, especially with her brother and his hyena fit. “Fine. You're all on probation for a year, and your voting rights regarding my husband's standing in the Nation are permanently suspended. Any other infraction and your Canting is gone, forever. You so much as frown in my husband's direction and I'll bust you to his personal slag. Furthermore, ten percent of your take for the next year will go to pay for Jullien's lost wages and tithe.”

When they started to protest, she held her hand up. “Keep bitching and it'll be twenty percent. And Kirill, you're down two ranks, Captain Altaan.”

“That's bullshit!”

“No, it's not. You're lucky, you're still even a bait at this point, given how mad I am at you. So don't even whine about it. Now you're all dismissed. Get out before I let my husband have at you!”

They left slowly, and very grudgingly.

Davel sighed. “It's going to be fun at our house during family holidays for the next few years.”

“Ah, you love it.” Ushara smirked.

Davel snickered. “Yeah, you're right. I do.”

Her father glared at them as the room emptied.

She waited for him to speak. That expression on his face always meant a caustic lecture was brewing. Honestly, she wasn't in the mood for it. She was too old for his speeches, especially when she wasn't the one who'd done something so morally reprehensible.

But before he could start on her, the door opened.

Ushara frowned as her grandparents came in with the high priestess. She had no idea what this was about, but it terrified her, especially given the glower on her grandfather's face as he neared them.

“Vidarri,” Trajen greeted. “What can we do for you?”

“I wanted to verify my granddaughter's news that she gave me before she left.” He approached Jullien with Unira Samari flanking him.

Jullien immediately stiffened and went into that warrior's stance that never boded well for the ones facing him.

“Easy,
m'tana
,” the high priestess said, touching him lightly on the arm. “It's all good.”

He cast an uncertain glance to Ushara.

“Graspa?”

Without responding to her, he gently pulled the glasses off Jullien's eyes to look at them. He sucked his breath in sharply at their red color. “Dear gods … it
is
true. You weren't lying.”

“Paka?” Her father rose to his feet. “What's going on?”

Tears welled in her grandfather's eyes. Reverently, he and her grandmother went down on their knees in front of Jullien and bowed reverently.

Which infuriated her father. “What are you doing! We do not kneel before—”

Her grandfather cut him off with a sharp hiss. “You show respect before the last Samari son!”

Her father scowled. “What?”

Jullien grimaced in pain. “Yeah. My grandmother got around a bit.”

Her father shook his head in denial. “Bullshit! It's not possible. Only males carry the gene. He couldn't have inherited the stralen from his mother. His father's human.”

Trajen shrugged. “The human DNA must have mutated the Fyreblood genes and somehow activated the stralen within him. It's the only thing that makes sense. But you can't deny the fact that he's stralen,
and
a Fyreblood.”

Ushara nodded. “I've seen him breathe fire. And he was tested against Unira's DNA. He's definitely Edon Samari's grandson.”

“How long have you known?” her father asked.

She glanced at Jullien. “I found out not long before he left.”

“Why didn't you tell me?”

“I asked her not to.”

Her father looked ill at Jullien's words. “You really
are
one of us?”

Unira nodded. “I suspected as much the first time I saw him when he came to temple—he looks a great deal like some of my family. In particular, my father. It was why I did such a double take that day. And then once the admiral told me he'd gone stralen, I knew he was the one the old prophecies spoke of. Through him, the rarest bloodlines of Andaria are united. And if he fathers a son with your daughter, every bloodline could finally be merged—winged, Fyreblood, darkheart, and stralen. For the first time in centuries, there could be a full-blooded Andarion child born of all lines.”

Her father's eyes teared as he realized the magnitude of that. “My grandson could be the
onakenedd
?

“Yes.” Unira smiled at Jullien. “And as the very last of the Samaris, I would be humbled if you'd allow me to adopt you back into my lineage so that your children could carry our name, if they, and you and your wife, so choose to honor us.”

Jullien couldn't breathe as those unexpected words hit him. He was too used to being disparaged and rejected by everyone.

Accepted?

He turned to look behind him to make sure she was actually speaking to him and not someone else. But there really wasn't anyone there.

Unira smiled kindly. “You all right?”

“Sorry … yes, I would be thrilled to be part of your lineage. I was only making sure you meant me and not someone else.”

Unira laughed at him, then gave him the envelope in her hand. “And this was the gift I wanted you to have that I mentioned yesterday.”

Frowning, he opened it and gasped as he realized it was the title for her ship. “I don't understand.”

“I'm old and I don't need to be running blockades anymore. The gods were trying to tell me something when they grounded me. And I've been thinking a lot since I saw you working on my old girl with such loving care … I want you to have her.”

“But I'm not Tavali.”

“Not yet. You will be and you'll need a ship. She needs to go to someone who understands her and who will love her as I have. You not only love her, but you can repair her and keep her flying in a way no one else can. I can think of no better captain for her than you.”

“High Mother—”

“Matarra,” she said with a twinkle in her eye, cutting him off.

Jullien gifted her with a rare smile. “I—”