Let him go?The thought echoed through his mind as he faced his emperor.One look at Daaynal’s face had been all he needed.The emperorknew.Knew that Raaevik had fallen for his charge, for the Empress-to-be… possibly more.Raaevik should have been executed on the spot, but Daaynal had?—
“Give him the ship?"
Daaynal looked up from where he was crouched over the unconscious male, the fourth one.The only one Raaevik had left breathing.He stood and looked at Thyaar.
"Walk with me, Sub-Commander."
It wasn’t a request.
They moved to the far side of the bay, the emperor’sdrakeenforming a wall between them and the doors.Daaynal stopped near the bay doors, looking out into the darkness through the shielded window.
"You saw his eyes," Daaynal said.
That wasn’t a question either.
Thyaar's gut clenched.Hehadseen them.When Raaevik had turned from the last body, blade dripping, his face had been wrong.The eyes, the deep violet that Thyaar had known for years, had been ringed with red.Bright and vivid.
"I saw," he said.
Daaynal nodded.He crossed his arms, leaning against the bulkhead.The posture looked casual, but Thyaar knew better.Nothing about the Emperor was casual.
"When I was seven years old," Daaynal said, "my closest friend was a boy called Raalt."
He froze at the name.
"Raalt of Izaea?”he asked, not sure he’d heard right.Every warrior in the empire knew that name.Raalt was the leader of the berserkers.Blood Rage in living form.
"The same."Daaynal's gaze didn't waver."We trained together.Same training hall.I knew him better than his own kin.And I was there the first time his eyes changed colour."
The floor tilted under him.Something in his understanding ofeverythingwas rearranging itself, fast and brutal.
“We were nine," Daaynal continued.“And we were sparring.Another trainee hit him harder than the exercise called for, and Raalt… broke.Not the way you'd expect.He just went quiet and his eyes bled red around the edges for half a second.The training master didn't see, but I did.”
He looked at Thyaar.
"I saw the same thing in your brother's eyes twenty minutes ago.I know what it means, what the change in his voice means, even if they haven’t admitted it to me yet.”
Thyaar opened his mouth to ask who ‘they’ were, but then closed it and dragged a hand over his jaw."But you handed him a stealth interceptor anyway."
Daaynal looked at him for a long moment."Would you have preferred I let him take someone's flyer and ram the docking ring?"
Fair point.
"He'll find her," Daaynal said.“The thing that’s driving him, it won't let him stop.The question isn't whether he can track that shuttle.The question is what state he'll be in when he catches it."
“Ineedto see the emperor!”The sound of a female’s shrill voice made them both turn.Miranda Evans was just visible at the bay doors, trying to push past the guards there.
"—completely unacceptable!I was told there was an emergency, but no one will give me any details.Where is my daughter?Where is the Emperor?I demand to speak with?—"
She stopped.
Her eyes found the bodies.The blood on the deck.
"What happened?"she breathed, her gaze cutting to the pair of them as they headed across the bay to her.Daaynal motioned to the guards to let her through, hisdrakeenmoving into place to block her view of the bodies and the bloodshed.
"Your daughter was taken."He didn't dress it up."A stealth shuttle launched from this bay roughly thirty minutes ago.Emily was aboard, along with an unknown number of hostiles."
Miranda's hand went to her chest, her mouth working soundlessly."What does this mean for me?For my position?My accommodations?I was guaranteed a stipend, and I need to know if?—"
