Born of Shadows (The League Gen 1 #3)(42)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

How tragic for all of them.

Gwen passed a pleased smile toward Caillen before she looked back at Desideria. “You’ll be able to take a consort now, My Queen.”

Yes, but inside she knew Caillen would never submit himself to her as a pet. It wasn’t in him and she loved him too much to even ask it.

You could fight him. He would win and be her equal.

But she knew better. She would never take the chance of hurting him and if she didn’t fight him with all her strength, the fight would be nullified by their laws.

All she wanted was to protect him. “If you stay here, Caillen, I can offer you political asylum.”

He stroked her cheek with his thumb before he dropped his hand away from he face. “Appreciate it, but the League and her assassins would always be after me to finish this. They’d be in your affairs and could hurt any one of you in the crossfire. I have to clear my name and make Karissa pay for killing both my fathers and uncle. I owe them that much.”

And once he did that, he’d be a ruler. Then they could never be together.

Her heart shattered with the cold reality.

“How are you going to do that?” Kara asked.

He shrugged with a nonchalance that made her want to beat him. “No idea whatsoever.”

Forever by the seat of his pants. Her smuggler would never change.

“When do we leave?” she asked him.

He looked over at Kara and Gwen. “You’re a queen, Desideria. Your place is here and your people need you. I finally understand that.”

She hated the fact that he was right. She had to stay.

He had to go.

Pain hit her so hard, it was crippling. But she was Qillaq and they didn’t show emotion. Especially not a broken heart. “I guess this is good-bye then.”

He nodded. “You can always call me when you need someone to yell at.”

“You’re not good at taking that abuse.”

“True, but I’ve learned to accept it from you.”

Her throat tightened at his teasing tone. She’d miss that most of all.

Don’t leave me, Caillen. Not here in this cold place with people who don’t know how to laugh.

How to love.

She couldn’t stand the thought of not seeing his smile every day. Of not listening to him banter with her and his friends.

I can’t make it without you.

Those words hung on her lips. She wanted so desperately to say them. To beg him to stay with her and not leave.

But she couldn’t. He belonged to a world she didn’t understand. One where he needed freedom and independence.

Him and that backpack…

“Take care of yourself, Caillen.” She was proud of herself for keeping the pain out of her voice.

“You too.” He took her hand in his and placed a tender kiss across her knuckles. But she wanted so much more from him than that…

Tears gathered to choke her as she savored the warmth of his hand on hers. The softness of those lips that had soothed and pleased her. She would never know that warmth again.

And when he let go of her, she felt her world shatter. The loss of his touch was more than she could bear.

Only the knowledge of Kara watching her… judging her, kept her from running after him and begging him to stay with her no matter the laws or the consequences.

She watched him leave with the others. He paused at the door to look back at her. She saw the agony in those dark eyes. The tangled emotions that said he wasn’t any happier about this than she was.

With one last gentle smile, he left her and the agony she felt inside was enough to drive her to her knees.

You could abdicate. The words hung on her tongue as she met Kara’s stern expression.

But that wasn’t what a Qillaq did either. Her mother would be so disappointed in her.

So would her father. As queen, she’d be able to pardon her father at long last. Salvage his name for their records.

I want Caillen.

But life wasn’t about wanting. It was about surviving and following your duty. When those things conflicted, obligation always won out.

Children followed their wants.

Duty commanded adults.

Funny, she’d spent her entire life wanting to be an adult and yet right now, in this moment, all she wanted was to be a kid again. To be able to follow her heart.

And the name of that heart was Caillen Dagan. Renegade. Smuggler. Pirate. Prince.

Hero.

Kara stepped forward. “So tell me, My Queen. What is your first command?”

With every step Caillen took that carried him farther away from Desideria, he felt a part of himself die.

Go back.

The call was so strong that it was almost impossible to resist. But he couldn’t. He had to avenge his fathers and make sure the bitch who’d killed them paid for her crimes. No matter what his heart wanted, he had other obligations that took precedence right now.

Besides, they didn’t belong together. Desideria was queen in a world that would never accept him and he was…

Outlaw. Scoundrel.

Worthless.

Your problem, Cai, is that you lack all ambition. Really, is this all you want out of your life? Yeah, Kasen’s voice rang out loud and clear in his head. “I don’t know how you can be content smuggling hand to mouth all the time.

“You’re just such a waste, little brother.”

<2em" wht="0em" width="27">He was everything a queen was told to avoid. Everything that would taint her reign. Yet his heart belonged to Desideria and there was no denying that one single truth. The only time in his life when he’d felt worth something had been in her arms.

If only he could go back…

Don’t.

He had a mission to complete and once it was done, he’d be an emperor.

That thought made him shudder. But the one thing his real father and Desideria had taught him—noblesse oblige.

Chayden slowed as they neared the opening of the crypt. “Are you sure about leaving? Sanctuary’s a hard thing to give up.”

Caillen scoffed. “You turning craven?”

He narrowed his gaze at Caillen’s emotionless question. “You know better.” Sighing, he shook his head. “You are an idiot, Dagan. But far be it from me to point that out since going back to her means you’d be with my sister and that mere thought disgusts me. All I’ll say is that if I had someone who would fight by my side, I wouldn’t let her go. But that’s just me and I’ve never had anyone worth fighting for. Damned if I’d turn my back on her if I did.”

Caillen was about to go for his throat when all of a sudden his link buzzed. He started to ignore it and engage Chayden more. Until he caught the ID listed.

It was Darling.

Part of him was angry that Darling had lied to him about his father, but the other was still loyal to his friend no matter the aggravation. So he put the link in his ear and activated it. “Dagan here.”

“Hey, drey. We have a little problem.”

His gut knotted. What catastrophe now? “Does the League have our CL?”

“No.” Darling’s tone was completely dry. “That would probably be better.”

Dread consumed him even more. “What then?”

“While your father was about to call a press conference, Desideria’s mother took advantage of the distraction to escape my custody.”

Caillen scowled as he tried to understand what Darling was saying. “My father’s dead.”

Darling sucked his breath in sharply. “Um… Not exactly.”

“What is ‘not exactly’ dead, Darling?”

“Don’t get mad. It’s why I sent Hauk to you instead of coming myself. We wanted to flush out the traitors, so I talked your parents into pretending to be dead long enough for the real traitors to expose themselves. The footage you saw of their supposed assassinations was something I had Syn fake. It was all digital animation.”

He would call him a liar, but he knew exactly how skilleyn was on a computer. There was nothing that man couldn’t do.

Darling cleared his throat before he continued speaking. “I convinced both of them that if their enemies thought they were dead, you two could stay ahead of them long enough for us to find out who’s behind all of this. Her mother caved before your father did, by the way. Said she’d love to test her daughter’s mettle even if it meant throwing her to the wolves. Your dad took a lot of convincing. The last thing he wanted was to see you hunted or hurt.”

Yeah, that sounded like his father.

“Both of them have been with me the entire time. However, I had to stand hard on your father to keep him hidden and safe while you’ve been under fire. Believe me, it was no small feat. That man is wicked insane when it comes to you.”

Caillen glared at Hauk. “Did you know my father was alive?”

Hauk actually blushed.

Damn them for that. “You lied to me?”

Darling let out an irritated breath. “Let’s not argue semantics right now. That’s not important.”

The hell it wasn’t…

“What you need to focus on is that we achieved our objective,” Darling continued—it was a good thing the little bastard was nowhere near him right now or he’d make him limp. “The traitors revealed themselves. The problem is your father found out about your uncle’s murder—”

“Not my fault. I didn’t know he had news access,” Maris said over Darling.

Darling took a second to shush him before he continued. “Your father wanted to call for the press so that he could clear your name before someone killed you for something you didn’t do. While I was locking him in his room, Desideria’s mother took off on her own. She wants the blood of her sister and niece over this treachery, and she won’t stop until she has it.”

Caillen’s concern for his father’s safety far outweighed his anger and irritation over their deceit. That familiar battle calm settled over him. “Where’s my father?”

“Nykyrian’s palace, surrounded by security. I couldn’t think of anywhere safer.”

He was right about that. Since Nykyrian’s wife and children were there, that place was without a doubt the most secured building in existence.

“And Desideria’s mother?”

“Commandeered a ship out of the hangar. Since she was leaving and not coming in, security didn’t realize they’d screwed up until after she was gone. I hacked her flight plan and she’s headed straight to Exeter, no doubt to execute her sister and niece.”

Oh yeah, this was bad. And he had no doubt that Darling’s speculation was right. Sarra wasn’t exactly known for her calm rationale.

She’d be out for blood.

Caillen growled as his thoughts kept coming back to one truth. “They’ll kill her if she comes out of hiding.”

“Yes, they will.”

And if she wasn’t Desideria’s mother, he’d say good riddance. That kind of stupid needed to be strained out of the gene pool. But in spite of everything, she was Desideria’s mother and he couldn’t let her die.

“Where are you?” he asked Darling.

“In my fighter, heading after her. I’m hoping I make it in time to stop her from committing suicide. If not, I plan to go down fighting beside her stupid ass.”

Saddest part? He knew Darling would stay true to those words.

Which meant they were all heading to the gallows.

22

“You should tell Desideria our mother is still alive.”

Caillen arched a brow at Chayden’s comment. “You need to pilot and not worry about it. We need to tel ass as fast as possible.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Chay, what good will it do to tell her her mother’s alive if her mother gets herself killed in the next hour? Really? Call me provincial, but to me it seems cruel to say, guess what? Your mom’s alive. Oh wait. She was alive. Now she’s dead again ’cause our worthless asses couldn’t save her. Sorry, hon. Hope you’re okay with me jerking your emotions around and stomping on them. And while I’m at it, you got a newborn puppy I can kick too?”

“He has a point.”

Chayden glared at Fain for that last comment. “Stow it, Hauk.” Then he glanced at Caillen. “Fine, but when she wants your head over the fact you neglected to tell her about this, remember I’m the one who tried to save your hide.”

“And here I thought I screwed up metaphors.” Caillen focused all of his attention on catching up to Darling. Honestly, he didn’t want to give Desideria any more bad news. He wanted to be able to tell her that her mother was alive and well. To see the joy and relief on her face, not the sadness.

I can’t believe I’m out to save the life of a woman I detest. It would be a public service to let the bitch die.

But Desideria’s happiness meant more to him than that.

Fain cursed, drawing their attention to him.

“What is it?” Chayden asked.

“A hornet’s nest.” He pushed his images up to the main monitor for all of them to see what he was looking at.

Caillen winced as he saw a sizable army heading straight for them. “League fighters?”

“Can’t make the markings. But I don’t think so. They’re not shooting at us.”

Chayden hailed the newcomers.

No one spoke or even breathed while they waited for the response. At first all they had was static.

Until a soft voice broke through the stillness. “We’re here to assist.”

Caillen gaped at the last thing he’d expected to hear.

Desideria’s face showed on their com screen.

Amazed, he gave her an arch stare. “What are you doing, sweetie?”

Her smile warmed him. “I’m saving you. You can’t go in there alone. I mean, you can. But I don’t want to see you hurt. After you left, it dawned on me that I have an army at my disposal. So here we are, assisting you until your name’s cleared.”