Qin shook her head as they clambered into the stream to walk in the water for as long as they could. Once again, she wished they had managed to get Casmir. Then this would have been worth it all. But now…

  Engines roared above the forest. The Kingdom ships had arrived for the search.

  Oku returned to her room after dinner, but instead of settling in for the night, she paced and kept glancing toward the window. A message had come in during her meal with her mother that her father was returning to the castle, and she planned to demand in person that he free Casmir. Whatever wheedling, begging, or promising it took.

  What he thought he was doing with this dreadful execution, Oku didn’t know, but she’d been trying to figure out how to stop it since she’d heard the news. Since everybody had heard the news. What would his poor parents be thinking? She’d been too much the coward to contact them to ask. It wasn’t as if she could offer any comfort, not until she figured out a way to stop it.

  She kept hoping the media had misinterpreted some report and that her father would let her know it had been a mistake. If he truly meant to have Casmir killed… that would be the last straw. She had no idea how she could mount a rescue, or even where Casmir was being held, but if she couldn’t talk her father out of his insane plan, she would find a way. Even if that meant she ended up being labeled a criminal herself.

  Night had fallen outside, so there wasn’t much to see out the window, but from her room in the castle, the guidance lights of the royal landing pad were visible beyond the walls and on the other side of the street. If she didn’t shut the blinds, she could see shuttles and other small craft coming and going.

  In her youth, she’d occasionally felt resentful that Finn and Jorg had rooms on the other side of the hall that overlooked the sea, but by the time she’d grown old enough that her parents wouldn’t have minded if she chose a room in another part of the castle, Oku hadn’t cared enough to move. Between her studies and her research trips to other systems, she hadn’t been here that often.

  Tonight, she was glad for this view. Dozens of people would want her father’s attention, but she planned to get to him first.

  The lights of a shuttle and several escort ships descended toward the landing pad, and she rushed to the window and gripped the sill. She couldn’t yet tell if it was his personal shuttle and was about to message him when a knock sounded at her door.

  She thought about ignoring it, but it opened anyway. Her mother walked in, and Chasca, who’d been lying on one of the rugs, took the opportunity to trot out into the hallway. Oku was wary about letting her out of her sight these days, but with Finn up on one of the orbital stations, she doubted another dog-napping would take place.

  Oku glanced back but only flicked her fingers to acknowledge her mother’s arrival. They’d just been at dinner together, so Oku couldn’t imagine she had fresh news or anything major to say.

  The shuttle and its escort descended, bright red and white lights gleaming against the cloudy night sky. The royal purple of the hull grew discernible. It was her father’s shuttle.

  As it disappeared behind the castle wall for landing, her mother joined Oku at the window.

  “I got a message from your father.”

  “He’s aboard, right?” Oku waved toward the landing pad. “I need to talk to him.”

  In person. Not via their chips or a comm.

  She didn’t add the reason why, though she was tempted to ask her mother if she knew where Casmir was. Still up on her father’s ship? Or had he been taken to some prison until the execution?

  But even if her mother knew, would she share the information? Weeks earlier, she had warned Oku to avoid trading messages with Casmir, to avoid anything to do with him. Had she some inkling that this would eventually come to pass?

  Before this, Oku hadn’t been sure if she had romantic feelings for Casmir, a man she’d only met in person twice, but some detached part of her noted how distressed she’d been since the news announcement—how distressed she was now. She didn’t just want to talk to her father; she wanted to wring his neck.

  Especially after she’d gone through all those reports, including the latest ones from Captain Ishii, who’d been surprisingly neutral and unbiased. After reading everything, Oku agreed that Casmir’s actions with the gate pieces had gone against her father’s wishes, but she also agreed with what Casmir probably believed, that the gate didn’t rightfully belong to the Kingdom but to all of humanity. Even if that was up for debate, Casmir and Kim and all of their friends had clearly been acting to help the Kingdom in System Stymphalia. And they had. They’d risked their lives to stop Dubashi and get rid of that virus. Casmir had even found time to make the Kingdom a bunch of crushers and a slydar detector. He should be welcomed back as a valuable ally, not a criminal to be executed.

  As far as Oku could tell, her father’s only reasons to be angry with Casmir were that he’d impeded the acquisition of the gate and he’d been in the area when Jorg had been killed. And that Rache had also been in the area. Several of the reports from Ambassador Romano and a Lieutenant Meister in Intelligence had pointed out that Casmir and Kim kept showing up near Rache and might have worked with him.

  Oku could see how they would find that suspicious, but all that should merit was an investigation, not an assumption. And certainly not a death sentence.

  “Yes, he’s aboard,” her mother said after a delay—had she been reading another update on her chip? “But he got some news and won’t be able to stay.” Her mother shook her head. “Not even to have a bite to eat. The Kingdom and Odin aren’t quite out of trouble yet.”

  Oku wrenched her mind back to the moment. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but apparently a new threat has been made. That virus may be involved.”

  “I thought Cas— The reports I’ve seen from Royal Intelligence implied that the virus had been taken care of.”

  Judging by her mother’s squint, she’d caught that slip-up.

  Oku made a frustrated chop with her hand. What did she expect?

  “I didn’t realize you’d been getting reports from Royal Intelligence,” her mother said.

  Oku couldn’t tell if the neutrally delivered words held censure. “Van Dijk is giving me some. I asked for them. I want to be informed.”

  “Good. I’m sure your father will be pleased that you’re showing more of an interest in what’s going on in the Kingdom.”

  Oku clenched her jaw. She was more interested in what was going on with Casmir. She almost blurted that out in frustration, but her mother spoke again first.

  “You know your father isn’t likely to name you his heir, at least not at this time, unless you show a lot more interest over the years ahead, but he hasn’t ruled you out completely. We spoke when he was on the way back about the possibility of marrying you to someone the Senate might deem a suitable advisor, someone respected by them and by the military.”

  Oku gaped as she realized who. Finn had mentioned the man himself. “Not Senator Oswald!”

  “Sir Senator Oswald. Don’t forget he’s a knight and well-respected among the older generation, chiefly all of those in the Senate.”

  “That’s because he’s in the older generation. Mother. He must be eighty.”

  Her tone turned dry. “He’s sixty-five.”

  “That’s old. I’m twenty-six!”

  “I’m aware of your age, Oku. I was there for your birth, you know.” Now her tone was very dry.

  “Mother.” Oku groaned.

  “I know it’s not what you would wish if you could pick for yourself, but you’ve always known that you wouldn’t be able to do so. I’d assumed—and you were always told—that you would be married to some distant prince or emperor to solidify an alliance for the Kingdom. Even if Sir Oswald isn’t ideal in your eyes, it would allow you to remain here on Odin. You’ll forgive me if that’s something I would like to see.”

  “I don’t want to leave Odin, either, but…” She groped at the air, then dropped her hand and the argument.

  This didn’t matter right now. She had to ensure that Casmir wasn’t executed. Later, after she rescued him and helped him clear his name—or, if it came to that, helped him escape the Kingdom and find sanctuary in another system—she could worry about the future husband she might be stuck with.

  “It’s difficult being born into royalty.” Her mother rested a hand on her shoulder. “Trust me, I know.”

  And Oku knew she did. Her marriage to Father had been arranged long ago and hadn’t had anything to do with love.

  “Yeah,” was all she could manage to say.

  The shuttle and its escort took off again. If her mother was right, her father had never stepped foot outside of it. She would have to muster the gumption to comm him directly and fight for Casmir’s life. Dare she? Or would it be better to try to get information out of him about where Casmir was being taken and handle matters herself? One of the prisons in the city, the news had said. She needed to find out if that was true, but if she asked too many questions, her father might realize she would be brazen and defiant enough to stage a rescue.

  Her mother lowered her hand. “For all of our sakes, I shall hope the virus threat is a hollow one and that your father won’t have to stay in orbit with the Fleet for long.”

  Oku managed a nod and another, “Yeah,” but as with the threat of marriage, she couldn’t find space in her mind to focus on another problem right now.

  “Good night, Oku.” Her mother saw herself out.

  A group of armored soldiers appeared on the covered bridge that went from the landing pad over the street and to the castle wall. Oku squinted. Had Father decided to stop in for a bit after all? She saw one figure in the middle who wasn’t in armor, but between the darkness of night, the guard towers along the wall, and the tinted Glasnax sides of the bridge, it was impossible to see faces.

  “You better be careful,” a male voice said from the corner of the room. “I seem to recall rumors that Sir Oswald has some bedroom perversions.”

  Oku almost shrieked.

  Instead, she lunged for her desk drawer and yanked out the stunner she’d been keeping there since Finn had arranged for Chasca’s kidnapping. She pointed it at a man in black combat armor who stepped out from her linen closet. What the hell? Had he been in there the whole time? Since she’d gotten back from dinner?

  For a crazy second, she thought it was Casmir, that he’d somehow escaped and gotten armor, but the voice wasn’t right, and the words didn’t make any sense. Casmir wouldn’t know anything about knights, and she couldn’t imagine him showing up in her linen closet.

  She almost shot, but she realized the stunner wouldn’t affect someone in combat armor. “Who are you?”

  Whoever he was, he wore a full suit, even a helmet and some kind of face covering that kept her from— Oh, shit. Oku almost dropped the stunner when she realized who this might be. But why in all Twelve Systems would Tenebris Rache show up in the castle and in her suite?

  “You don’t remember me? I’m wounded. Jorg didn’t remember either.”

  For the first time, true fear crept into her. The reports said Rache had assassinated Jorg. Had Jorg only been his first target? Did Rache plan to kill all of King Jager’s children?

  She glanced toward the door, wondering if she could possibly make it past him. That armor would enhance his speed, and rumors abounded about cybernetic enhancements that the mercenary had. Should she scream? He wasn’t advancing—yet.

  “What do you want, Rache?” Oku used his name intentionally, hoping wildly that he would say she’d mistaken him for someone else.

  “It’s David,” he said quietly, “and I came on another errand, but I arrived early, so I thought I would visit you.”

  “Visit me?” Oku blurted before the name registered to her brain. David? Wait, she did recognize that voice. She hadn’t heard it in ten years, and the helmet altered it somewhat, but... “David Lichtenberg?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re dead.”

  “So I wished the Kingdom to believe. Most pointedly him.” Rache—David—he pointed in the direction of her parents’ suite.

  “Why?” Oku looked around, not toward the door this time but toward her chair. The fear had bled out of her—perhaps unwisely—and now she felt numb, her legs weak. But she didn’t know if she wanted to relax in front of him, so she only braced herself against her desk.

  His voice shifted from calm and conversational to pure ice. “Your father had my fiancée raped and murdered to motivate me.”

  Oku rocked back against the desk.

  He seemed to get control of himself, of the burst of emotion, for his voice returned to his calm tone. “Perhaps, when you’re asking for reports from Royal Intelligence, you might ask them what happened to Thea Sogard.”

  She had disappeared, hadn’t she? Been kidnapped? It had been so long ago that Oku barely remembered. After ten years, Oku had almost forgotten about David and also that he’d been engaged to be married. She’d only been sixteen when he died—supposedly died—and had only known the Lichtenbergs as distant relatives her family had occasionally visited.

  “Are you Rache too?” She had to be sure.

  “Yes.”

  Oku almost swore. He didn’t try to hide it, didn’t sound apologetic in the least for all the evil he’d done. And whatever more evil he would do. Just what errand had brought him here?

  “You murdered Jorg,” Oku stated, though she didn’t know what she expected from him. Clarification? To hear his side of it?

  None of the people who’d filled out the reports about the event had been eyewitnesses. Normally, she wouldn’t care about Rache’s side of anything, but if he wasn’t only Rache, but was also someone she’d known as a child, and if there was any truth to that angry claim he’d made…

  “I challenged him to a duel. Face to face as battle raged around us.” Rache hitched an armored shoulder. “He accepted, and he lost.”

  “He would have been an idiot to challenge you—to challenge Rache.”

  “You’ve lived with him your whole life,” he stated, as if Jorg’s idiocy was patently obvious and she would be the dolt not to see it.

  Oku clenched her jaw, refusing to speak badly of her dead brother. Not to this man, a murderer and a criminal. Whatever Rache claimed, he’d killed thousands of soldiers and crewmen out there in the dark reaches of space. Whoever she’d known as a child was long gone. David was gone, replaced by this man. This enemy of the Kingdom.

  “What do you want from me?” Oku lifted her chin. “Are you here to kill me too?”

  “I came to speak to you about Casmir Dabrowski.”

  Again, Oku rocked back. She shouldn’t have been surprised that Rache would bring Casmir up, since the reports kept mentioning how often they’d been in the same place together—if not on the same side together—but it was still startling hearing this cold-hearted killer say Casmir’s name.

  “You know he’s your father’s prisoner,” Rache said.

  “I do.”

  “And slated to be executed.”

  “I’m not going to allow—” Oku made herself stop. This wasn’t an ally. Giving him information would be ludicrous. “What do you care about Professor Dabrowski?”

  Had Rache come to try to retrieve Casmir? Was that his errand? But if so, why? Did he need Casmir for something? Was he still after the gate?”

  “Someone I like doesn’t want him to be killed,” he said.

  Someone he liked? Oku couldn’t imagine the Rache she’d heard about in the news all these years being capable of liking anyone. It was far more believable that he had some use for Casmir.

  “And to answer your other question, I did not come to kill you, no. I do not feel any ill will toward you. Jorg was a selfish prick and Finn is a whiny brat.”

  Wait, did that mean he was here for something to do with Finn? If that were true, she would have to laugh, since Finn wasn’t in the castle. He wasn’t even on the planet right now.

  But Rache had spies everywhere, didn’t he? He would know where Finn was. Her other supposition that he’d come to get Casmir made more sense.

  “The Kingdom is better off with neither of them in line to inherit more than a plot in the family cemetery,” Rache added.

  “That’s not for you to decide.”

  “And yet I’ve taken it upon myself to do so.”

  Her grip tightened around her stunner. She should have screamed for help instead of standing there and talking to him. Except that he might kill her if she did so, and who would rescue Casmir then?

  “If you’re not killing me and have no other reason to be loitering in my linen closet, I would appreciate it if you leave. I have things to do.”

  “But I did have a reason for coming to see you.” He tilted his helmeted head to the side. “Not one that would have brought me down here by itself, I’ll admit, but since I was here anyway and went to all the trouble to sneak into the castle, I thought I would come speak briefly with you on someone’s behalf.”

  “Not Sir Oswald, presumably.”

  “No. Casmir. Do you like him?”

  “Do I like him?” It was the last question she expected to come out of this man’s mouth. Maybe she should have sat in her chair after all. “Why would you care?”

  “He’s expressed interest in you. Guardedly, I’ll admit, but he’s easy to read. I didn’t know whether to encourage that interest, but if there’s hope, I thought I would put in a good word for him.”

  How could someone with Rache’s reputation, who had done all he had done, put in a good word for anyone?

  “Are you friends?” Oku asked, appalled at the idea.

  If so, she would have to doubt what she believed about Casmir. The idea that he could be friends with Rache was horrifying. Even if they were cloned from the same DNA and technically brothers, Rache was completely loathsome.

  “Enemies, actually. Though I’m not sure he realizes it. Or maybe he does but won’t accept it. After he thwarted my plans not once but twice, he gave me gifts of underwear and comic books. I must warn you, his taste in literature is dreadful, but if you want someone loyal, determined, optimistic, and vaguely entertaining to stand at your side in any situation, he’s your kid. Your man. Perhaps not as testosterone-filled as the men who usually seek your favor, but not a damsel in distress either. Don’t tell him I admitted that.”