She nodded. “I even talked to His Highness’s secretary and was told that I should stay out of it.”
“Highness,” Lorens said, stepping forward. “I’ve spoken with the tahrs’s staff and Commander ezul Nykyrian myself. I know they took Major Batur into custody. But they wouldn’t tell me anything more.”
Tylie broke off into a list of profanity under her breath. “Come with me.” She walked with the same determined stride Galene had used as she crossed the palace and entered another wing.
Without preamble, she threw open a set of doors.
Indignant over her entrance, Tahrs Jullien, who was supposed to be off-world, rose to his feet. The moment he saw the commander, rage darkened his gaze. “What is the meaning of this?”
“You tell me,” Tylie demanded. “Where’s Major Batur?”
“He’s of no concern to you.”
“And there you would be wrong, Julie. Where is he?”
“He’s part of my staff.”
“Really?” Tylie’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “You employ felons now? So much for those mandatory background checks, eh?”
Jullien curled his lip. “Batur is my —”
“Enough!” Tylie growled. “You will produce him for me, right now, or I’ll go to my mother, and you won’t like that, I promise you. While you think she loves you, I am her daughter she nurtured at her breast. And if that doesn’t scare you as much as it should, I’ll put a bug up your mother’s ass. Cairie will get him or take it out on you.”
Jullien lifted his chin defiantly. “He attacked me.”
“Show me the evidence.”
“You would defend a felon?”
“You have a history of lying, Jules. Let’s not go there. Now I’m sure if the Iron Hammer hit you, you’d have one hell of a bruise. In fact, knowing you, you’d have a medical record for it. So show me the bruise or the write-up from your doctor. Now!”
“Why do you hate me so?”
Tylie glared at him. “I am not playing this with you. You have three seconds to produce the major, or I will rain down a hell-wrath so fierce that the gods themselves will weep for your remains.”
His expression sullen, he crossed his arms over his chest. “I can’t do that. He was banished by Commander Anatole for assaulting him and Chrisen. And for your information, he was leading a revolt against our family. I have a vid of him threatening us all.”
Felicia gasped.
Tylie cursed again under her breath. “What did you do, Jullien?”
“I merely allowed my cousin to punish a traitor. That is my right as tahrs!”
Tylie ignored his outburst. “Where is Talyn?”
“He’s on Onoria.”
Felicia had never heard of the place, but the look on her brother’s, Galene’s, and the princess’s faces said that it was deplorable.
Tylie winced as she turned back toward Galene. “I’m so sorry, Lena.”
Galene appeared to be one wrong word away from assaulting Jullien herself. She faced Tylie. “Highness? If I get him back, will you pardon him?”
“Lena —”
“Please. I know someone who can track him, even there.”
“They’ll die trying to find him. You know that. It’s impossible to retrieve someone from that hellhole. If he’s even still alive.”
Galene shook her head. “He’s alive… I know it. Will you allow me to send them in?”
Finally, Tylie nodded. “Get him back, and I’ll make sure he has a full pardon waiting.”
“You can’t do that!”
Galene spun on Jullien. “You really need to visit your father for a while, Highness.”
Jullien started to speak until Tylie cut him off. “She’s right, Jules. Run. Run to Aros.”
Terrified and frantic, Felicia sat in Galene’s elegant palace office while the commander spoke to her friends in The Sentella. Felicia had wanted to go after Talyn herself, but the planet they’d sent him to was so dangerous, and she lacked the training needed to navigate it. Unlike Talyn, climbing wasn’t her hobby. And the last thing Felicia wanted was for her inexperience to get in the way of Talyn’s rescue or to delay it in any way.
They had to get him home as quickly as possible.
Lorens had been recalled to his post shortly after their arrival here, but had promised to return as soon as he could.
Galene finally rejoined her in the posh sitting area. “They’re already en route to his location. We should know something by midday tomorrow.”
“Do you think they’ll find him?”
Galene bent over to whisper in Felicia’s ear, making sure to keep her lips covered so that no one would be able to read them through a monitor. “One of my best friends is a member of The Sentella High Command. She’s like a mother