“My sons are trying to kill me,” he says.
“Now just a minute—” I start.
“Aside from my personal feuds with the king,” Father interrupts. “I’m not in a position to do that unless you can get the king’s permission to marry his son. Somehow, I don’t think that’s likely.”
Yeah, okay. It was a long shot. “Can I at least have the ring, sir?”
The Orion family ring. It goes to the eldest with Father’s permission. I want to put it around Gem’s finger. Maybe we can’t be official with the Gods—yet—but he can wear something special. It’s not just any ring. It’s carefully threaded with protection magic from the Gods. Someday it’ll go to our firstborn—mine and Gem’s.
Father takes a new breath and exhales again. “I saw the thing comin’ between you and the Centaurus boy ages ago. It’s far less of a surprise than Treyu and the other Centaurus boy, I’ll tell you that.”
They weren’t a surprise to me and Gem, but we’ve been the ones to suffer through their every era.
“That’s my big speech to say that I’ve had time to talk myself into givin’ you the ring when you finally asked for it.”
“I can have it?”
“You can have it. You’re going to have to figure out the rest of the marriage stuff on your own.”
“Understood, sir.” Nothing can wipe the smile from my face. Gem’s gonna be so happy. He’ll dance around. I’ll twirl him. His hair will flare around him like fiery sunrays. Fuck that’s good stuff. I need to find a way to slip that into conversation. “Why were the hawthors here?”
Father’s body clenches. The hawthors don’t leave their planet unless it’s dire. “They were trying to get to Treyu before Heaven did, but looks like they missed him.”
“Treyu? Why do the hawthors want Treyu?”
“There’s something about Treyu you don’t know. I kept it secret for his protection—for the family’s protection. Unfortunately, it’s no longer a secret. He should know first. Let’s get him back here, and I’ll tell all.”
I nod. If Father says it was to keep us safe, I believe him.
“Thank you for your faith in me, son,” he says.
“How do you read that from his face, sir?” Jamie asks.
“Yeah, all I ever read from Lanta is murder,” Jericho says.
“Father and Atlanta have some weird communication thing going on,” Delph explains.
“I taught all of you how to piss in a straight line, so shut the fuck up,” I say. They know me too, they’re just sore about me stabbing them.
“The hawthors want to offer Treyu asylum. They think he’s safer staying with them.”
Shit. If the hawthors are willing to stick their necks out for him, it’s gotta be one doozy of a secret.
“If someone’s after him, maybe he’s safest with the angels,” I say. My heart’s pounding. I don’t like it.
“He’s safest in my home,” Father says. “Heaven exacts a price. He’ll have to pay to be there, and who knows what they’ll demand? Zhang is conduit and Treyu’s husband. He volunteered to go into Atlantis.”
“By himself?”
“He’s the only one who can request peaceful access to the Heavens,” Dad says.
“What’s our backup plan for when that grand plan doesn’t work?” I ask.
Father crosses his arms. “Don’t know yet.”
The clicking snap of star rifles being stashed snaps my head to the door where a guy from our security nods. As he spins out of the way, Gem enters, and the axis of my world rightens. Standing, I clear the fucking path for him, pushing my brothers out of the way.
“Move, assholes.”
