Trinity
An hour later, we were dressed and in Commander Karter’s office. Leo and me, Prime Nial, Jessica and Ander. I had to hope the two of us didn’t look like we’d spent every available moment wrapped up in each other, but then, Jessica was glowing, too. Looked like Prime Nial and Ander were taking full advantage of their battleship detour as well. Her lips were swollen and her skin was flushed. Unlike me, she seemed to have a constant smile on her face when she was around her mates.
All I could think about was the fact that I was going to get Leo killed. And he wouldn’t even hate me for it. But I would hate myself. Then again, I was going to be the ruling regent very soon. Surely, I could protect him somehow.
“Thank you for allowing us safe passage on your ship, Commander,” Prime Nial said.
The hulking Prillon leader smiled, bowed slightly to Nial. His coloring was similar to Nial’s and Ander’s. A caramel tone of skin and eyes. His hair was a rich brown. The Prillon warriors didn’t look human. There was no mistaking the sharper angles of their cheekbones, of their noses. And their coloring ranged from palest gold, to deep brown to a gorgeous copper. I’d never seen so many gorgeous men in one place in my life.
Commander Karter was one of them. He was, perhaps, a decade older than Prime Nial and had the confident, no bullshit bearing of a military man. “My ship is available to you anytime. It is an honor, Princess Trinity, to have you on board as well.”
I reached out to shake his hand.
“Ah, an Earth greeting.” He gave it a firm squeeze. “One of my former captains is an Earthling. She is mated to a very large Atlan. I think you two would make fast friends—you and Sarah, not her beast. Warlord Dax took his new mate to Atlan. I’m sure she would be thrilled to have you in her home, once all of this is over.”
I smiled, glad he and everyone we’d met—aside from the assassins—were all very nice. “Thanks.” I wasn’t sure where he was going with this, other than just trying to give me another Earth-female friend out here in space. But Atlan was a long way from Alera, from what I understood. But then again, that’s what transport technology was for. And I was going to rule an entire freaking planet… “I’d love to visit her someday. Thank you. Maybe Lady Deston would like to accompany me?”
“Hell yeah. I’d love to do a girl’s weekend.” Her smile was radiant, especially when Ander’s blank face turned to a scowl. “Maybe we could binge on my shows.”
For a moment, life felt normal again. Surrounded by alien warriors, on a battleship, talking about binge-watching TV. “What do you watch?”
She rubbed her hands together and recited a list of police procedurals and crime dramas. Me? I wanted dragons, Jedi Knights or hot Tolkien elves. Well, just one elf, anyway. That silver-haired badass and his bow were hot, hot, hot—
“I am grateful for your kind offer to Trinity, but we are here for a reason, Commander Karter. Lady Deston. And that reason has nothing to do with play,” Leo stated. “My mate is being hunted by one of the Fleet’s deadliest assassins. Now that her Ardor has cooled, I am looking forward to eliminating that threat. With my bare hands.”
And that was Leo, practically growling like a riled grizzly bear at two of the most powerful and respected warriors in the galaxy. For me.
Jeez. Why was that so freaking hot? And why had he realized that my Ardor was over before I did? For a fleeting moment, I panicked that Leo wouldn’t want me anymore. That I really had been just a job, my problem something his honor had demanded he take care of.
But then I remembered the Aleran men were different. Leo’s body woke up for me. That thick, magnificent cock had never been inside another woman. He was mine. As long I as I lived, he was mine.
Commander Karter bowed slightly at the waist, distracting me from my momentary lapse of all reason. “Of course. Your Highness, you can record your message here, in my office, and we will broadcast it all over Alera, as you requested. But first, I understand you wish to speak directly with your sisters?”
“That’s correct. From what Leo has told me, direct communication can be made via the NPUs we all got from Warden Egara on Earth.”
I glanced at Leo, who nodded and said, “Prime Nial contacted me on Alera to meet and guard you and your sisters.”
“A wise move. From what I’ve been told of the incident following their arrival, your help was quickly needed,” Commander Karter said.
I blushed, remembering all the assistance Leo had given me over the past few hours.
“He’s been very… helpful,” I offered, hopefully not blushing too hard.
The older Prillon eyed me and Leo, as if assessing the truth since we didn’t wear collars like his kind. I didn’t see one about his neck, so I assumed he was unmated. While Jessica and her mates were well-suited, I had to wonder what it would be like for the commander to have a mate, and a second, on a battleship. We’d only been here a short time and I’d heard the battle alerts, the constant hum of warriors coming and going, racing to medical. Training and stomping around. Living here, on a battleship, as I’d heard many Prillon mates did, would be an unusual lifestyle. “Congratulations on your mating. A very serendipitous event.”
That was true. I’d been on Earth and Leo on Alera. If Mother hadn’t been kidnapped, if Prime Nial hadn’t called him, Leo and I never would have met.
“I am the fortunate one,” Leo admitted, placing a possessive hand on my shoulder.
“Say the word and I’ll ask Warden Egara to fix you up.” Jessica looked thrilled at the prospect, but the commander shook his head.
“Thank you, Lady Deston, but I am perfectly content.”
“Liar.” Her one-word response was spoken softly, with a gentle smile meant to tease, but it landed in the room and shocked the men like an armed grenade right before the explosion.
“Jessica.” The warning came from Prime Nial, and not as one mate to another, but as the Prime telling her to back off. I’d never seen this side of him before and it was fascinating.
Leo, apparently, had had enough. “The princess wishes to speak with her sisters, but we do not know their whereabouts on Alera.”
“Even I heard the news of the three spires alighting. The news spread through the entire Interstellar Coalition within a few hours,” the commander said. “You will be recognized everywhere you go, Princess. Every planet. Every battleship. Your face has been spread far and wide. You are famous, the long-lost princess. But until Prime Nial told me the other two spires were set alight by your sisters, I had no idea who they were. Every agency is reviewing the video feed, looking for a glimpse of them.”
“As we wanted,” I told him. “They can freely move about the planet continuing their search for our mother. They will search for her while I will take on the role of royal heir until she is found.”
Ander cleared his throat. “It will not take them long—whoever wishes them dead—to make their way to Earth for answers.”
Prime Nial shook his head. “I have placed a ban on all transport on or off Earth unless it is initiated by the Interstellar Brides Program until this matter is settled.”
“Holy shit.” Jessica blinked in shock, her eyes going wide. “Can you do that?”
“I can, and I did. No one will be able to get on or off the planet without my permission unless they are a bride.”
Wow. He had locked down an entire planet for me and my sisters?
Nial continued, “The stability of the Coalition is of great concern. The planets cannot send warriors to fight the Hive if they are entrenched in civil conflicts.”
It made sense, but his words also made the weight on my shoulders that much heavier. Leo had said the planet was on the brink of war. Alera could tear itself apart if my sisters and I didn’t find our mother. Or worse, didn’t survive.
Ander spoke, “Their arrival has caused unrest. Reports from the planet indicate a large number of people flocking to the capital city to view the spires. To witness their illumination for themselves. The royal guard has recalled warriors from the outlying areas to return to the city at once.”
Jessica looked at me, and I saw worry in her eyes. “It’s a madhouse down there. I hope you know what you’re doing.”
“Me, too.” I searched for Leo’s hand. Found it. Held tight.
Ander held up a small transport disk, just like the one I’d used to rescue Leo. “We will transport her directly into the queen’s palace for her safety. With one trusted guard, of course.”
I glanced at Leo. My guard. Once we arrived back on Alera, we somehow had to convince the entire planet that he was just my guard. Nothing more. Not someone I would kill to protect.
Should have taken that stupid acting class in college.
I didn’t like thinking of Alera in turmoil, that the spires alighting would lead to chaos instead of peace. It only made me more determined to find my mother, to put the government back to rights with her at the helm.
“This is why I need to speak to Faith and Destiny,” I said. “They will know things we don’t.”
Commander Karter went around his desk, sat down. “Yes, Prime Nial has kept me updated. I agree, the more information you have, the higher chance for success of your mission.”
“We are here seeking your permission, Commander.” Prime Nial stood directly before the desk. “To make the transmission from your ship.”
Commander Karter folded his hands on his desk, met the Prime’s eyes. “Your courtesy is well-appreciated, Prime. Permission granted, of course.”
Nial bowed as the commander pressed a few buttons and spoke to someone about coordinates, NPUs and other words that I didn’t understand. Not because my NPU didn’t work, but because the technology was way over my head.
Jessica grinned, clearly satisfied with all of this. It seemed she liked to be in the thick of things. I just silently exhaled. I was learning much from Prime Nial. He held more power, more sway than the commander. Yet, he deferred to the battlegroup leader with deference and courtesy. There was a chain of command to things. But common courtesy went a long way.
“Trinity?”
A woman’s voice rang clear and loud in the commander’s office.
“Faith?” I said back. It was like she was on speaker phone, but I hadn’t even known the call had started.
“I’m here, too. How the hell are you calling me inside my head?” That was Destiny, straight to the point. But Faith wasn’t finished, either.
“Where are you, Trin? You were supposed to be queen supreme by now. Instead, it’s like a freaking war zone down here. There are people everywhere. Fist fights. Even the animals are freaked.” Of course, Faith would talk about the animals. She’d always had a soft spot for any injured thing. “No one on Alera has said you’ve been seen. But your face is everywhere.”
Leo looked grim.
“I am glad you contacted me and we removed you from the planet, Princess,” Prime Nial murmured. He might be Prime of a planet and in charge of a whole slew of battleships, but I was the never-to-be-heard-of heir to the throne of a planet whose queen had disappeared decades earlier. I was a sensation.
As for what Nial said, I was glad he’d helped me, too. We now had a plan in place, and I had backup.
“I’m on a battleship out in space on Battleship Karter with Leo, Prime Nial, Jessica and her second, Ander,” I told Faith and Destiny. “It’s like Buck Rogers and Star Trek. Combined.”
Commander Karter nodded, clearly satisfied with the connection. “I’ll leave you now. I have a meeting I must attend. Please, take your time.”
The door slid closed behind him. The fact that he left us in his office was a blatant sign of respect.
“Where are you two? Are you safe?” I asked.
Faith’s voice was filled with disgust. “Regular slave labor over here. But I’m in. They hired me right away. What about you, Destiny? Any trouble getting in?”
“No. Everything is going according to plan. I’m a regular old nun.”
“A nun?” Faith said, then laughed. “As if. Did you tell them about Paul Carbano or Sam Wallowitz? Like they’d take you after what you did with those two hotties.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes, remembering Destiny’s exploits in high school. Leo, Jessica, Nial and Ander all stared at me, silently listening.
“What is a nun?” Leo asked.
“Well, not a nun, specifically, since these guys are allowed to have sex, but I’m officially an initiate of the clerical order,” Destiny said.
Next to me, Leo tensed, his jaw tight. “You play a dangerous game, Princess.”
“That is you, right, Leo?” Faith asked.
“Yes.”
“Hey, Leo, how’s it hanging?” Destiny asked.
Leo grinned, but it didn’t last long. Jessica slapped a hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. Nial scratched the back of his head and was actually blushing. Clearly, he’d learned a few Earth slang terms from Jessica.
“Destiny, the clerics are not to be underestimated nor trifled with.”
Oh, boy. I could practically see Destiny roll her eyes.
“I got this, Leo. They aren’t all that bad. Think the strange Italian vampire court in Twilight. Minus the freaky kids and all the superpowers. They just think they’re all powerful.”
The clarification made some sense since we’d seen that movie series too many times to count when we were teens. Not so much for Leo, but he was familiar with these real clerics and I was not.
“And one of them is—God. He makes me so damn mad, Trin. I think I’ll have to torture him for fun before I leave this place.”
“You wouldn’t hurt a fly,” Faith argued. Despite Destiny’s penchant for violence, she really was a great big softie at heart. She’d learned a lot of ways to kill, but never actually killed anything. She even caught spiders and let them go outside. In some ways, she was just like her twin.
“Watch me.”
“Sounds like he’s a hottie, to me. You never could take a sexy man with a sassy mouth.” Faith was merciless. It was a twin thing.
“I’ve got something for that mouth to do, I’ll tell you that.”
My sisters were talking about oral sex over an interstellar comm with the leader of the entire coalition fleet listening? Holy crap.
Facepalm. “Hey, you two! Knock it off.” My sisters weren’t prudes. They weren’t virgins and their minds were far from innocent. But then, neither was mine, for I was sore in places a nun didn’t even know existed.
“Sorry.” That was Destiny. I expected that to be the end of it, but she kept talking. “I think when we went into the citadel, something happened.”
If she was talking about seeing strange lights around people, I wanted to hear about it, but not now. Not in front of others.
“I think I’m—”
“Guys,” I interrupted before Destiny went off on a random tangent about odd abilities.
“It’s the Ardor, Trin. I’m screwed.”
“Oh, shit. You, too?” Faith asked. “I was hoping I was imagining it.”
Great. Both of them in Ardor? This complicated everything.
Faith, as usual, seemed to read my mind. “Don’t worry about me, Trin. It’s early. I can hold out for a while. Long enough to get things done.”
“Yeah, me too. What’s the plan?” Destiny asked. “I’m ready to kick some ass.”
“Not you, Dest,” I countered. “You need to stay where you are, do whatever it is you’re doing. The less you know about my plans, the safer it will be.”
“That’s right,” Faith said. “A three-pronged attack.”
“Not attack, Princess Faith,” Prime Nial corrected. “You are to remain in hiding as you have been, learning details that may help find the queen, but nothing more. Princess Trinity will be returning to Alera and taking over the throne. She has a number of trusted fighters to help her and will be safe at the palace. You do not have trusted fighters or a secure fortress to live within.”
Faith sighed. “If you didn’t call to tell me your plans, Trinity, and I doubt you want to share any of the juicy details about Leo with everyone listening in, why did you call?”
“Yeah, you’re just teasing me with the thought of kicking ass and taking names,” Destiny added.