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“How did you get into my home undetected?” Taryn asked.
“Bribes.”
Taryn raised his brow symbols. Quillons didn’t give or accept bribes–unlike Zavorians.
“Fine.” Rezal licked his fangs and took another unhealthy gulp of ambronin. “I snuck in. One of your hedges scraped my boot. And if you tell anyone, I am going to make your life miserable.”
“You can try, but I don’t think you’ll succeed.” With Leah, his life was wonderful. As long as he had her by his side, he would be happy forever. “And I still haven’t decided if I should turn you in to the Sentinels.”
“Ah, big brother, save your empty threats for someone who believes them. We both know the treaty isn’t signed yet. I have–what do the humans call it?Diplomatic immunity?” Rezal licked his fangs. “A stupid rule. Their diplomats should be the last ones to be immune to justice.”
A beat of silence passed.
“You know something,” Taryn said.
“You know it, too, you’re just too blinded by your eagerness to help their entire species to see what their leaders are truly capable of.”
“Ah, I forgot. The great Zavorians, flying through time and space to force order and righteousness onto chaotic planets. Fixing corruption even if they destroy everything in their path.”
“As opposed to Quillons, who judge from afar and only intervene when it’s too late to actually accomplish anything?”
“It’s not our place to intervene.”
“It was foretold! Do you think Ilikehaving to sacrifice my people to save nameless, faceless beings that curse our names?” Rezal slammed his glass against the table. A storm brewed in his bright eyes, like when he was young, and their brothers reveled in beating him at every ninka battle, every game, every argument. When he opened them back up, they were clear and cold. “I didn’t come here to argue over visions of how the future is supposed to unravel.”
“Whyareyou here?” Taryn looked down at his glass. “Obviously not to poison me, you drank more.”
“Killing you myself would have required far too much effort.” Rezal reclined back in his seat as the true Zavorian royal he was. “That’s why I have the best assassins in the universe.”
“Yes, your formidable group of vicious murderers. How are they?”
Taryn joked, but Rezal’s assassins were, actually, feared in all the known galaxies. They struck swiftly and didn’t leave a trace behind. Taryn only knew about them because Rezal led them. He hadn’t heard or seen a trace of them in all his missions, though he suspected they were behind some of the most important deaths in the past yanns.
“Since evenyoudon’t know, almighty spy, I say we’re doing very well.”
Of course Rezal would’ve figured out Taryn was a spy. He’d always been the most intelligent in their wretched family.
“So you came all the way here to brag about how powerful and skilled you are?”
Rezal worked his jaw, the angles of his face turning sharper. Gone was the runt of the family, who used to chase leaves in the garden and got ridiculed for it. He’d been such a happy youngling. But happiness didn’t survive for long on the invincible Zavorian ship.
“I need your help,” Rezal grunted, as if he wanted to rip the words to shreds with his fangs.
“My help or Quillon’s? You’re delusional for thinking you’ll get either.”
“This is serious.”
“I’m sure it is, since you wandered galaxies away and stumbled into my weapons room, trying to bribe me with–”
“Taryn?”
Something in Rezal’s voice made him hesitate. It was raw and vulnerable and almost pleading.
“Yes?” Taryn asked.
“Our brothers are dead, too.”
The words echoed in the ugly silence that followed. Taryn knew it wasn’t a good sentiment, but all he could think about wasfinally.
