Born of Ice (The League #3)(20)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Part of him felt like a heel for scaring her, but she needed that fear. Because in the end, if it came down to her or Omari or Sway or Vik, she would lose. No questions asked. “That depends on you.”

“I definitely vote you don’t kill me.”

He would find that funnier if he weren’t so pissed off. “So what did you do to my ship?”

Alix held her hands up. Tell him nothing… But at this point, he knew everything. All lying would do was get her into more trouble. “Look, you took an oath and so did I. Since the day Tempest was born, I’ve been the only one who’s protected her from what my father and the other men in our crew would do to her. Right now, she’s alone and she’s in danger. Her and my mother. Swear to me on Omari’s life that you’ll help them and I’ll tell you everything.”

“You just said that you don’t trust people. What difference would my oath make?”

“You love your son. I know you do.” She blinked back the tears that swelled in her eyes. “I have no one in this world, Devyn. No one. I’m the only one I and my family can depend on. If anything happens to them because of me…” Her words broke off in a sob as all the weeks of abuse, humiliation and terror combined inside her.

“Alix! Don’t let them take me, please!” The sight of Tempest’s face as she reached for her was branded in her heart. Merjack’s men had torn them apart. Still, her sister’s screams had echoed and they were seared inside her now.

That memory finally succeeded in breaking her as her tears flowed.

Devyn tensed as she started crying. His first reaction was anger over being manipulated. It was something Clotilde had always defaulted to. But her grief wasn’t feigned. Her sobs came from deep inside and they wrenched at his gut.

Before he could stop himself, he pulled her into his arms. “It’s all right, Alix. It’s all right.”

“No, it’s not.” She pulled away from him. “I’m so tired of this. Tired of being the one who has to come up with solutions. And I don’t know what to do now.” She looked at him and he saw the desperate sincerity in her eyes. “You think lying to you has been easy? It hasn’t. I don’t like using people and I hate lying. You’re a good man. The only one I’ve ever met. But I can’t let them kill my family any more than you could save me if it meant seeing Omari abused and murdered.” She brushed angrily at her tears. “I want Merjack’s head in a way you can’t imagine. If you swear to me that you’ll help me get it, then I will trust you.”

Devyn pulled her back into his arms and kissed her wet cheek. Closing his eyes, he inhaled the scent of her and debated the sanity of trusting her. Clotilde had carved out his heart.

How could he open himself up to Alix after this?

And yet, he understood her motivation. He would have done the same himself.

“Let me tell you a story, Alix.” He pulled back to show her the ship around them. “This ship… the Talia? It’s named after my father’s older sister.”

He swallowed as he saw the image of his aunt’s battered childhood face staring at him from the sole photograph his father had of her. “She killed herself when she was fourteen because she couldn’t stand living the horror of her life for another day. With her death, she both condemned and freed my father from his monster of a father. I never knew the pain of her life or his. But I named this ship after her to remind me of all the children out there like her and Omari… the children like you and your sister who are silent in their pain. They have no voice and no hope.”

He gave her a hard stare. “But I hear them. Every time I think of my parents. Every time I see Omari, I hear the sobs that are kept inside for fear of it making their lives worse, and I will not stand by and see your sister torn apart by an animal. You help me nail him and I swear to you, I will lay Merjack down at your feet and hold him there while you take your revenge.”

Alix bit her lip as she heard words she’d never thought to hear. Did he really mean them?

She swallowed. “I’m going to trust you, but know that it’s not in my nature. If you betray me—”

“I won’t betray you.”

She reached up to cup his prickly cheek in her hand. Trusting was so hard …

I will believe in you, Devyn.

“I didn’t do anything to your ship. Merjack’s agent, Lieutenant Wheims, did it. He wants me to have you land on the Charisis station for repairs. I’m supposed to have evidence then that he can use to arrest you.”

“And if you couldn’t get the evidence?”

“He wanted me to fabricate it.”

His jaw ticced under her hand. “Frame me?”

“According to Merjack, bring you to justice.”

He growled low in his throat as he pulled away. “That sleazy bastard. You do realize that if they did arrest me, that means the entire crew would go down, including you.”

“They offered me immunity to testify against you.”

“And you believed them?”

“No. I’m not that stupid. I’m sure somehow I’ll end up being sold again. It’s what I am, right? Worthless property.”

He saw the humiliation in her eyes as she said that, and while he might be mad at her for what she’d done, he didn’t want her to hear those haunting voices. “You’re not worthless, Alix. But right now, I have to say that I don’t like you as much as I did before I found all of this out. I don’t appreciate being toyed with or betrayed.”

Alix wrapped her arms around herself as those

CHAPTER 8

“I think we should kill her.”

Devyn gave Sway a hard stare as they sat around the council table to brainstorm a plan of action.

“What?” Sway actually managed to look innocent in a cold-blooded, ruthless sort of way. “She’s ruined my entire day. Made me fight with my wife and now you tell me she’s a spy sent to put us all under the jail. What part of ‘kill your enemies before they kill you’ did you sleep through? Your dad was an assassin, same as my mom. Don’t puss on me now, boy. You know what they’d do if they were here. Hell, your own mother would tear her up, spit her out in pieces, and not blink.”

“He’s right,” Alix agreed. “None of you have any reason to help me. Why should you care?” She clicked the vid wall and a picture of a teenage girl was there. One who bore a scary resemblance to Alix except that her sister held an almost angelic quality to her features.

“That’s my baby sister, Tempest Elenari Gerran.

Her birthday was day before yesterday. She turned sixteen in jail with my mother. I may be out of line, but I’ll bet when you guys turned sixteen, you had a celebration for it with presents and friends wishing you well.”

She clicked to the next photo of a frail-looking woman around the age of Devyn’s mom. Her blond hair laced with gray was pulled back from her wan face. Defeat and despair haunted her pale gray eyes. Unlike her daughters who still held fire in their gazes, she’d been broken by the harshness of her life.

Alix met Sway’s hostility without flinching. “You won’t just be killing me. You’ll be killing them, too. Tempest is a prime sexual age and a virgin. Any idea what’s the first thing her new owner will do to her when she’s sold?” She looked down at the table before she added, “I don’t want her to ever know the horror that was my sixteenth birth day.”

Devyn’s stomach churned at the thought.

A tic started in Sway’s jaw. “How many days do we have to get them free?”

“I was given three weeks to bring you in, but Wheims said he wanted something on Devyn day after tomorrow.”

Devyn let out an aggravated breath. “The Ta/ia’s still running under capacity. I’ve contacted Taryn. He and Starla are headed in to provide support for us in the event we run into something unpleasant while we’re en route.”

Sway scoffed at his euphemism. “Unpleasant… like League battle cruisers out to hang a crew of idiots?”

Omari snorted. “We’re not all idiots, Sway. Just you. Remember you could have gone home with Claire and chose to stay with us.”

“Muzzle it, punk. I’m not in the mood.” Sway turned back to Devyn. “Starla’s coming, huh? You okay with that?”

“Not really. But there’s not much I can do about it.”

Alix frowned at the unfamiliar name. By the look on Devyn’s face, she could tell there was history between them. “Who’s Starla?”

Sway smirked before he answered. “The sole daughter of Darling Cruel and third in command of The Sentella.”

Alix gaped at the names. Darling Cruel was an aristocrat with hefty political ties even Taryn would envy. He ran The Sentella which was the most important organization that opposed League authority. But since they didn’t outwardly break any laws, The League couldn’t shut them down.

“How do you know the Cruels?”

Devyn flashed a grin at her. “Haven’t you learned by now? We all grew up with Starla and we all want to choke her. She’s balls to the wall, in your face, and has more testosterone than all of us guys put together.”

That confused her even more. “If you can’t stand each other, why’s she coming?”

“We’re family and it’s a fight. She’d never want to be left out.”

“Neither would I.”

Alix jumped as a new voice was added to their group. She jerked around in her chair to face the unexpected newcomer.

Holy…

He was gorgeous on an inhuman level. Tall and lethal, he had the coldest gray eyes she’d ever seen. Dressed all in black, his hair was pulled back into a loose ponytail. The collar of his jacket rode high with silver buttons that fell in a line from the collar to his waist. There was an air of imperial grace and one of feral brutality.

He made the hair on the back of her neck rise.

Devyn didn’t appear so intimidated as he let out a sound of utter disgust. “What are you doing here, Nero?”

He pulled up a chair beside Omari and leaned back as if he owned the ship. “Your dad called and sent me in with a replacement part. He doesn’t want you down for even a second. I’m also here to, and I quote your father, ‘Fuck up anyone who comes at you.’” Nero held his hand out and a bottle of water shot from the cooler in the middle of the table into his hand.

Her eyes widened as she finally understood how he’d come to be on the ship and in their room without opening a door. “You’re Trisani?” The Trisani were an almost mythical race of people whose psychic abilities were the stuff of legends. And male Trisani were even more rare since their powers were so strong they normally killed the males before they left puberty.

Nero took a drink of water before he spoke again. “Nice to meet you, Alix.”

“How do you know my name?”

“As you noted, I’m Trisani.” He winked at her.

Omari snorted. “Yeah, be careful what thoughts are in your head. He can pluck them out without even trying.”

Nero passed him a droll stare. “And I’ll be so thrilled when you finally get laid and stop the… oh wait, you’re male. You’ll never stop those thoughts. Damn, I need eye bleach.”

Devyn laughed. “So where’s my part?

“I’ve already installed it. It doesn’t do me any good to bring it here and then leave it on the floor.”

Sway let out a low, appreciative whistle. “Man, I would kill for those powers.”

And therein was the problem. Many people had.

Nero rubbed his thumb along his jaw. “So what are we plotting?”

“Suicide.” Devyn leaned back in his chair. “Glad you could join us for it.”

Nero rolled his eyes before he looked over at Omari. “How are your studies coming, sport?”

“I’m not dead yet. It’s all good.”

“Good. That whole spontaneous combustion thing can be a real buzzkill. Ruins your clothes, too. Take it from someone who knows.” Nero turned his attention back to Devyn. “So are we killing Merjack?”

Alix was puzzled by the man’s ADD and the speed with which he’d gone from one topic to the next.

But Devyn wasn’t quite as bloodthirsty as Nero. Or maybe the correct term would be stupid. “Unless we can come up with a reason we can sell it to The League and get a warrant for assassination, we can’t.”

Nero curled his lip. “Gah, you are your mother’s son.” He spat the words out as if they were nauseating to him. “Trust me, Dev. I know over two hundred ways to kill someone and all but two of them will look like accidents.”

Alix shook her head as she met Devyn’s bemused frown. “You run with the most bloodthirsty people.”

Nero blinked at her as if she were dull-witted. “It’s what happens when assassins spawn. They tend to bequeath their warring ways straight to their children.” He turned back to Devyn. “I’m telling you right now I could make him pop an aneurysm and no one would know.”