 
# Clash of Lines

### A Drath Romance Novel

## Meyari McFarland

#### MDR Publishing

### Contents

Other Books by Meyari McFarland:

Special Offer

1. Chance Encounter

2. Battle Worthy

3. New World

4. New Brother

5. New Rules

6. Blood Lines

7. Missed Messages

8. Crystal Garden

9. Hyun-Ju

10. Rival Invasion

11. Rival Brothers

12. Endless Questions

13. Quiet Night

14. Surprise Attack

15. Hidey-Hole

16. Taking Control

17. Not That

18. Desperate Battle

19. Neelam's Gamble

20. Intertwined Plots

Other Books by Meyari McFarland:

Author's Note: Finding A Way

1. Decisions

2. Apprentice

Afterword

Special Offer

Author Bio

# Other Books by Meyari McFarland:

**M atriarchies of Muirin:**

Tales from the Dana Clanhouse

Repair and Rebuild

Storm Over Archaelaos

Coming Together

Facing the Storm

Fitting In

Following the Beacon

The Solace of Her Clan

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**The Manor Verse:**

A New Path

Following the Trail

Crafting Home

Finding a Way

Go Between

Like Arrows of Fate

**_You can find these and many other books at_** ** _www.MDR_Publishing.com_** ** _. Sign up for our newsletter there and get updates on the latest releases plus a free book!_**

**L ooking for more amazing queer people of color on great adventures and falling in love? Not only is _Clash of Lines_ , the first novel in the Drath series, free on all major sites, you can get a free copy of the sequel _Joining of Lines_ by signing up for our mailing list: ****Get your copy here** **!**

> Duty defined Jing Althus' life.
> 
> Duty to Nthanda, his cousin. To the Ceelen who expected him to lead if Nthanda fell.
> 
> Someone had targeted the Ceelen for destruction.
> 
> Only one person could help Jing discover them: Iman Hogarth, conman, genius and the most beautiful man Jing had ever met.
> 
> If Iman would help.
> 
> Jing's only hope was to convince Iman that he was worth risking Iman's life.
Copyright ©2016 by Mary Raichle

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Cover image

© Curaphotography | Dreamstime.com - Sensual Male Model Photo

© Kevron2001 | Dreamstime.com - Saturn And Moon Photo

© Marusja2 | Dreamstime.com - Galaxy In A Free Space Photo

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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

* * *

Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be emailed to me_ya_ri@yahoo.com

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This book is also available in TPB format from all major retailers.

  Created with Vellum
This story is dedicated to my parents for always being the best example of love that I've ever seen.

# 1. Chance Encounter

Ru dove into the alley, slid behind the huge black slime-covered vent stack and froze, face tucked as close to the slime as he dared. His rucksack of belongings, too small and light but it was all he had, pressed against the base of his spine. The hiding spot was the best he could do, the darkest spot available at the moment. Better now than before he made his delivery. Hiding with that big box would have been impossible.

If he was very, very lucky this spot would be enough. And if it wasn't enough then he'd be dead and that would be that. But he wanted to live.

The alley stank of rotting garbage and piss, no surprise in this part of Hexal City. No sane garbage bot would come down here. They'd end up jacked and resold, half their parts missing and most of their gears replaced with crumbling ones. Their parts would be worth more than they were intact. Besides, garbage rotted and went away. Drained down the sewers by the endless rain that came from the upper levels.

He shivered when voices came closer, shouting, angry, but didn't move. This wasn't Ru's problem. It never had been. The only reason the Bangers were looking for Ru was that he'd managed to walk by one of their fights just as it ended. Ru hadn't even seen who was down when the shouts went out of 'witness!' and 'get him!'

So he'd run and now he'd hide and hopefully they'd miss him and it would be all right. They hadn't had any closer a look at his face than he'd had at theirs. Face rec notwithstanding, Ru was pretty sure they didn't really know who he was. Skinny kid in worn leathers with his hood up, hair hidden and eyes behind glasses? There were a million of those out there in Hexal. More like fifteen million, really, and Ru was just one of many.

If he could get away from the search.

That was the important part, the part that had him standing still despite the water dripping around and over him, despite the stink of black slime in his nose and the rumble of hunger in his belly. Two days since his last real meal. Food tablets didn't count even if they did keep you from starving and passing out. The bread had been old and dry, the soup thin and watery with just beans and random shreds of algae in it, but it was real food so he'd savored it while 'listening' to the preachers selling their tales of heaven and hell.

Stupid to believe them. They didn't live here. Hexal's under city was hell already. He was supposed to think that there was something worse than what he saw around him day in and out? Get on with that. There wasn't anything worse that the things he saw every day.

"That way!" a Banger shouted as he ran through the puddles at the end of the alley. "Saw a hood! He's that way!"

The pack of Bangers howled and ran past the alley, shivs out and claws splayed. Ru glimpsed fangs and slitted eyes, pumping arms and legs open to the rain that were covered with tattoos and gene-spliced stripes of fur, then they were gone. Their howls, mostly awkward and weak compared to the howls of true Engineered, drifted through the street, up the little alley and to Ru's ears. Only once they'd been gone for a full five minutes did Ru carefully untuck himself from his hiding spot.

He peeked into the street and sighed with relief that no one was there. Then he ran the opposite direction, heading towards the lifts. One advantage of being a delivery boy was that he knew the entire Undercity like the back of his hand. Right now the lifts were his best bet of getting to safety. Not what he'd wanted to do, spend money on a trip upwards, but if the Bangers were prowling then he couldn't get home on this level of the city. And to get to a level where he'd be safe he had to go higher than his legs could carry him.

Ru made a point of letting one of the cleaner downspouts of water from Above wash over him before he got a ride on a lift. Sure, he dripped in his corner of the lift but he wasn't covered in slime or dirt and the other people on the lift, other than one tall, muscular man who really, really, really didn't belong down here, were equally wet so they'd done the same.

And that man was wet, too, just the sort of wet that said he'd gotten rained on, not the wet of 'gotta wash off the worst of it before I try to be respectable'. Gorgeous. Skin dark as deep shadow, hair trimmed so short it was a bare fuzz on his scalp, the man stood like a one-man army even though Ru couldn't see a single weapon on him.

Didn't mean a thing, not when the man was obviously from the Surface. Maybe from Beyond, outside of Hexal City entirely. Not too many people here had skin that dark. It spoke of deep space and exposure to the raw radiation out there. The poise said off world, too. He stood so tall, so straight, that he seemed to suck the air out of the lift compared to everyone else who carefully slouched so that they wouldn't brush up against anyone else.

Especially him.

As the lift reached the next stop, Ru's stop, the man's eyes swept around the lift. They lit on Ru, caught him staring fair and clear, which made Ru blush and flinch. The man's eyes, ice blue and shocking against that dark, dark skin, suddenly twinkled with amusement. Ru nodded to him, got a raised eyebrow and nod back.

Then the lift open and Ru slipped out. With the man on his heels.

Damn it.

Ru let out a breath and set off across the plaza. Nice plaza, only a little dampness from the rain above, some scrubby bushes in big concrete pots five times as heavy as Ru was. People were nicer dressed, not rich but nice enough, with boots that had no holes and hoods that'd actually keep the rain off their hair. Most of the stores in the plaza were shut up, blinds sealed and steel shutters down, but there was enough traffic that Ru didn't stick out too badly. Give it another hour and he'd be arrested for loitering just because he was there.

Up here you had to be different. Stand straighter, walk confident but not swagger. Putting on a swagger would get you arrested up here, just on suspicion. Wasn't like the High City where Ru would be arrested for not having proper ID chips but you couldn't be cocky here. So he worked on lowering his shoulders and using the walk his Ma had called 'places to go and things to do' when she'd taught it to him when he was tiny.

Worked, mostly. Ru got some looks but every time he got one he'd look at the signs pointing towards the next lift station, count on his fingers, nod and then stride onwards. Places to go and things to do, that was Ru, just making his way to the right lift station so he could go do his things. Which was get home, back to his squat, eat some food tablets and then curl up to sleep for a few hours before his next shift. All things to do, important things, yes sir, very important things.

He was just about far enough that he could get back down to the right levels when the man from the lift grabbed Ru's shoulder and hauled him backwards.

"Don't," the man hissed at Ru.

"What?" Ru hissed right back only to backpedal right into the man's chest as he saw the Guard coming straight at him. "What'd I do? I didn't do nothing!"

"They're not after you," the man murmured. "They're after me."

Ru stared at him and then cursed under his breath as the Guard spotted the two of them and shouted. First Bangers and now the Guard, just what this day needed. He jerked free of the man's grip, spun and ran at right angles to the Guard. Not away. That's an easy shot and Ru wasn't about to be an easy shot. Right angles took him through six big concrete pots who's bushes had gotten big. Another turn, right this time, and the Guard shouted.

He didn't look. Didn't dare. The man's footsteps were right behind Ru and that was all he needed to know. One man army like that could protect himself. All Ru needed to do was get away so that's what he'd do.

"Down," Ru gasped as he turned left into a broad street full of people hurrying home that his heels skidded on the wet pavement.

"Up!" the man countered. "I have allies. They will help."

"They're not here," Ru snapped at him as he wove between bodies, people, shouts piling up behind him that turned into screams as the Guard turned the corner too. "Down means Bangers. They're hunting tonight."

"Ah."

There was enough approval in that one word that Ru looked and yes, there was admiration in the man's eyes. He nodded, scruffed Ru so that he didn't smash into another concrete pot, and then they were off running towards stairs that led down one level. They needed ten levels to get to the bangers but there was no lift close enough, safe enough, for them to use.

"Hold on!" the man shouted as he picked Ru up and slung one arm around Ru's waist.

Ru screamed 'what?' as the man jumped straight down the center of the stairwell, not down to the next level like a smart if reckless man but the center, the pace where there were no stairs at all. He managed not to scream for more than a few seconds but damn, he wanted to as they fell. Just as Ru was convinced that he was going to die the man hugged him close and then grabbed a railing, swinging them like they were on a cable onto the stairs.

"Oh fuck," Ru gasped. "How many levels?"

"What?"

"How many levels did we fall?" Ru asked, looking up where the Guard were cursing and firing randomly down the stairs as they ran after them. "We need ten levels."

The man looked, still as stone for a second, and then nodded. "One more level down."

"Stairs," Ru said as sternly as he could only to get a blindingly bright grin out of the man.

They ran. Down the stairs and out onto the slimy street where the howls of the Bangers were far too close for Ru's comfort. The man stiffened at hearing it, lip curling up on one side. But he nodded and then gestured for Ru to lead. Ru shook his head, waited twitching until he heard the Guard's voices clearly, most of them cursing and swearing to beat and rape their dead bodies.

"You owe me food," Ru said to the man, wagging a finger at him.

"I shall be glad to provide," the man replied with that brilliant grin.

His teeth were so white, white and perfect and even. Ru shuddered, bit his lip, and then nodded before taking off straight towards the howls of the Bangers. He was going to regret this. He just knew it. But the man was gorgeous and Ru still wasn't home yet. If he had to be trapped between Bangers and the Guard, well, there were uglier people to be trapped with.

And if he was right that the man was off world then he might have some very good surprises for both the Guard and the Bangers. All Ru had to do was keep his head, run and then stay alive when the fighting started.

He could do that. He would do that. It was something that Ru'd gotten very good at since Ma died four years ago. And if there was potential for a meal in there, well, Ru would take that up, too.

"Keep close," Ru panted as the Guard shouted and fired towards their backs. Missed for some damn reason which probably had more to do with running out of breath after the chase than anything else but hey, Ru would take his luck where he got it. "The Bangers are nasty, not the worst but they'll still stab you if you give them a chance. Or claws. Or bite. Or beat you. They don't care."

"Do they in fact hate the Guard worse than either of us?" the man asked. He didn't sound winded at all. Lucky or very healthy, Ru didn't know.

Ru barked a laugh. "Man, there's no one the Bangers hate worse than the Guard. We just gotta set them on each other and then run like hell."

The man hummed, smiled a wicked wild smile that might have made even the craziest of Bangers step back and away. "Good. I can use that. I will get you to safety, I swear it. You will not be harmed."

It was a promise so formal that Ru nearly stopped to stare at the man. Stupid promise to make right now when there was a pitched battle about to happen but hey, maybe that was how off worlders rolled. Ru didn't know. Didn't care.

"There!" Ru gasped. "That's them!"

He didn't point, didn't dare throw off his stride. Instead Ru ran straight for the pack of Bangers howling and shouting as they beat someone to death. If he was very, very lucky he might save whoever it was and his life, too.

Ru ran, focus narrowing. Time to fight.

# 2. Battle Worthy

Nthanda Ceelen, you are a fool. You spot a person with dark, bright eyes peeking out from under his heavy black hood, full lips and skin as golden as the sun rising over the bow of the ship and you lose all sense. Whoever the youth was, he was not someone who could help with the quest. At best, he was a distraction, a dangerous distraction.

The Guard were quite determined to kill Nthanda before he could find what he needed to save his family. This youth was not a solution to that problem. Nor to his family's immanent fall. Even if his shoulders were strong and wide, his hips narrow and ass the sort of thing that would draw Nthanda across solar systems. Much too dangerous, this youth, and much too distracting.

Still, Nthanda ran with the entirely too comely youth straight at the thugs who were apparently titled 'Bangers'. This entire trip had been a fool's errand and one that threatened not only his life but the stability of the entire Ceelen family. If he had a sibling or better yet offspring, then this would not be so foolish. Battle with strangers on a world the majority of the galaxy decreed to be worthless would not be the end of his line.

As the sole survivor of the Ceelen line, Nthanda had a duty to continue his bloodline. The problem was finding one whose bloodline did not have conflicting modifications or mutations. The Ceelen were among the first to take to space and thus had a host of latent medical problems. Technology kept them from damaging Nthanda but they were lethal to all the children he'd attempted to sire and bear so far.

The only solution that the doctors had come up with inside the confines of the law was finding a bloodline that had none of his markers. And sadly, that was a difficult task indeed. Three lines existed. None of the scions of those lines could be found though it was believed that they still existed. The trail had led him here to Hexal City on Melin only to go cold as a dead comet once he arrived. Even going down to the actual records offices in the lower levels of the city where physical records of births, deaths and marriages were kept had revealed nothing of use.

Nothing other than the determination of the Guard to keep him from succeeding. Someone had paid them off. Someone rich and powerful which meant one of Nthanda's circle was a traitor. A problem to be sure, perhaps a deadly one if he didn't keep his head in the battle.

But here he was, charging into battle with an unknown youth as his sole companion. A fool indeed. At least his shields had held against the Guard's blasters. He would have been most displeased to see the youth crumple, holes burnt through his perfect body.

The Bangers looked up as the youth charged straight at them. They grinned like the predators they were, displaying altered fangs in the place of teeth and claws on their fingertips. The youth didn't slow, didn't hesitate, didn't even attempt to shout a warning to the Bangers.

"Guard!" Nthanda shouted as he ran at the youth's side. "Coming quick!"

The Bangers' eyes widened and then they howled very much like the animals they sought to become. Thankfully, their focus shifted past Nthanda and the youth towards the Guards who screamed at them the stop, to drop their weapons, or who simply shouted obscenities as they, too, charged the Bangers.

Promising.

The youth crashed straight into the line of Bangers, shoving his way through them. Nthanda followed through the gap and then cursed under his breath as he realized that this was no small pack of humans trying to pretend to be predators. This was a rape gang with their prey on the ground. The boy, only twelve or thirteen, sobbed and scrambled to get up as the Bangers let him go. Bloodied, bruised, barely able to move one arm and clothes half torn off, the boy still tried to live.

Admirable. Nthanda gasped as the youth grabbed the boy and hauled him, one handed, up to his feet. The youth kicked hard at the knees of the Banger closest to him, knocking the Banger to the ground and opening another gap for them to surge through.

Nthanda took it. He seized the youth in one arm, no squawk from him this time, and the boy in the other. The boy screamed and clutched at Nthanda's shirt. The youth slung an arm around Nthanda's shoulders, grunting loudly, but he kept his poise, riding Nthanda's strength as if he had done it a thousand times.

His shield surged, knocking Bangers left and right, and then they were out of the gap, through the Bangers and running towards the next street. The boy jerked in Nthanda's arm, pointing urgently done one alley. Nthanda took him at his word and ran straight into it.

It was narrow enough that he had to shift the youth to his feet in front of Nthanda so that he could carry the boy in his arms.

"Where?" the youth called to the boy.

"Up," the boy said, the single word half a sob, half a gasp of shock as the youth scrambled for a hanging railing.

The youth's weight pulled that railing down, exposing a battered, slimy rusting stairway that led upwards. Nthanda grinned and followed the youth. So fast, so smart, so wise, this one. The stairway retracted behind them, hiding their pathway from the potential pursuit by either Bangers or Guard. Six flights of stairs later they emerged into a different level of the city. The youth followed the boy's quiet directions, leading Nthanda to a block of decrepit rooms built out of miscellaneous junk into the crevices between heating ducts and air vents.

"Close enough to home?" the youth asked the boy.

"Yeah," the boy said. He tried to stand, flinched when his foot touched the ground but managed to support himself on his own feet. "Thanks. I um."

"I know," the youth said. "They almost got me earlier. Couldn't leave you."

The boy shuddered, nodded to them both and then shuffled away as quickly as he could. Another wise one, that child. Nthanda breathed, looked around himself, and then frowned as he had absolutely no idea where he was or how to get back to the upper levels.

The youth grinned. "Lost? I'm Ru."

"Quite," Nthanda admitted with a grin of his own that became a laugh when the youth, when Ru, snickered. "Nthanda. I do still owe you food. Perhaps we could do that now? I do need to return to the upper levels quickly. There are those who will be quite upset with my ah, absence."

"Slipped your watch, huh?" Ru said. His nose wrinkled adorably. "Okay. I'm not exactly dressed for high levels but hey, food is food, especially when it's free. The lifts are this way but you're paying. I already spent my fare for the day."

"I am more than happy to..."

Nthanda stopped. He stared at Ru's arm, at the line of golden skin peeking through the sleeve. At the blood dripping down Ru's arm to stain the sleeve a darker shade of black. Ru frowned, looked at his arm and then shrugged as if the wound was nothing at all.

Instead of evidence that Ru had saved Nthanda's life.

That spot on Ru's arm was exactly where Nthanda's jugular would have been. Ru had taken a death blow for Nthanda. He reached out, fingers shaking despite his efforts to control them, only to pull his fingers back when Ru glared at him.

"Just a graze," Ru said as if he thought Nthanda was being a fool.

"No, that knife would have struck my neck," Nthanda replied. "It bounced low, did it not? Off your arm and then into my jacket. The jacket is armored but my neck is not. It would have cut my jugular, Ru. Do not pretend that it would not have."

Ru's face went red as Nthanda spoke. He wrapped his hand around the wound as if to hide it, shrugged while looking away. Such a valiant person and yet Ru seemed to view himself as having no worth. A by-product of living in the lower levels of Hexal City? Nthanda wondered and yet did not.

"Still just a scratch," Ru grumbled. "Not that important."

"I like to think that my life is quite important to me," Nthanda said, grinning when he was rewarded with a lightning glance and an amused smirk. "I believe I owe you more than just a meal, Ru. Please. Let us walk and we can discuss it."

"Discuss what?" Ru said. "It's still just a scratch."

He looked around and started walking to their left so that must be the way to the lifts. When Nthanda opened his mouth to explain, Ru held up a hand, waved it at the surrounding tiny homes and then scowled while tapping his head where his ears hid under the hood.

So. Listeners who would take advantage. Logical. Nthanda nodded. Their return to the lift was accomplished in silence, Ru in the lead and Nthanda following him closely. This level of Hexal City was constantly wet, covered with black slime that Nthanda did his best not to touch. The stuff was toxic. They'd all been warned extensively about touching it before they disembarked on Melin. Ru didn't seem to have problems with it, though. He laid cautious fingerprints on a patch of the stuff when peeking around a corner and only brushed them against his thigh afterwards.

Good strong genetics on him. Nthanda watched Ru, considered his options and decided that he truly only had one choice. As much as he would love to take Ru to his bed as a lover, Nthanda had to keep himself for the scion of the lines he found, should he ever find one. That meant that Ru must be considered a sibling, not someone to bed.

Nthanda almost cursed at the universe for denying him the right to claim Ru that way. He would chew his own limbs off when those around him began to court Ru because one as beautiful, strong and intelligent as Ru was destined to be instantly popular.

Still, he would offer Guardianship. As Ru's Guardian, Nthanda could bring him home, back to his flagship. He could train, educate, guide and, more importantly, add Ru to the Ceelen line. A new branch, strong and bright, was exactly what the Ceelen needed. It would also allow more pairings as Ru would not have Nthanda's difficulty in breeding. He was not a space-traveler, after all.

"That's the lift," Ru finally said half an hour later. "It's a rickety one, goes nowhere useful, but it'll get us up to the higher levels. From there we can move onwards, take back routes, to whatever level you need."

"Get us to the surface and I will take it from there," Nthanda promised.

"You're taking me to the surface?" Ru hissed at him. "Have you seen me?"

"Yes," Nthanda said. He struggled not to smile in the face of Ru's disgusted expression. "I see a brilliant young person, a powerful warrior and a good heart in you. That is what I wished to offer you. My family, my line, is dying. I was here to search for a mate whose genetics would produce healthy children instead of stillborns or spontaneous abortions. I did not succeed in that. However, I would offer you Guardianship. I will be your Guardian which will make you of my bloodline. My sibling as it were. You will inherit after I do and your children will carry the Ceelen name. Hopefully, your children will play and grow with mine, should I ever find the scions I seek."

"...You want to adopt me?" Ru hissed, eyes wide under his hood and golden skin pale. "Me?"

"Yes," Nthanda said. "You have every trait the Ceelen value and you saved my life, Ru. It is proper and, well, I have been alone my entire life. Having a sibling to carry the burdens of my position would be... welcome."

That he wanted so much more than a sibling was irrelevant at this moment. Ru could not be the mate Nthanda needed. He would take what he was allowed and he would not complain. Nthanda's certainty rocked Ru back on his heels. He set one hand on the wall, ignoring the black slime that coated his palm, and then stared at Nthanda for the longest time.

"Ceelen," Ru finally said. "You said that you're of the Ceelen line. The ones who run the Ceelen Shipyards. Ceelen Spaceliners. Ceelen Industries. Those Ceelen."

"Oh yes," Nthanda said. "My father was the head of the family until he died three years ago. It fell to me to take his place. I... well. It is lonely, Ru. Please. Your path will be your own, that I promise you, but can it be much worse than this?"

He gestured to the slime and ever-falling rain, the dark hallways and looming levels of the undercity. Hunger and no light and the eternal struggle for food which had to be bad for Ru to so willingly take the offer of food from Nthanda. Though he probably had expected a bag of food from a small shop and the immediate parting of ways with no words ever spoken between them again.

Ru's eyes went wide. He looked around, frowned and then put one hand on his bag, discrete little black thing slung across his back. After a moment, his thoughts hidden along with his eyes because Ru bowed his head to allow his hood to hide his face in shadows, Ru nodded.

"I accept," Ru murmured. "No sex. No pain if it can be avoided. I don't bleed for anyone against my will. And you don't set up any damned matches for me. I want someone then I'll seduce them myself. You'll have my back, right?"

Nthanda's heart lifted so high that it felt as though his feet left the ground. "I will have your back in every way, Ru. This is my promise to you. Were you younger I would raise you as my own child. Instead, you will be as my sibling in every way possible for as long as you want. If you have family, I will bring them as well. You need but ask."

Ru's intent stare, lips twitching as if he was amused, crumbled. "They're all dead. Sorry. Ma died four years ago and it was just us. She claimed to have relatives off world but they never answered any messages so I think she just made them up. Gave her the illusion of security, I guess. So yeah. It's just me. But thanks. I appreciate it. Now come on. We shouldn't stand around down here. You get any slime on you?"

"Inevitably," Nthanda said with a tired sigh for the decontamination he would endure once back to the _Graceful Swan_.

"Quick shower and we'll go then."

Ru didn't explain where he would find a shower facility down here. Instead he strode into a downspout of water from above, bowing his head under its stream until his clothes were soaked and any visible signs of the black slime were gone. When Ru gestured for Nthanda to follow suit, well, Nthanda hesitated for a moment. An odd method but if it worked perhaps he would be able to avoid full decontamination?

Which it did seem to do, surprisingly. The streaks of black on his coat washed away. While he was soaked, head to toe, and desperately grateful that his personal electronics were sealed against all impact and water damage, he was cleaner than he had been. It would suffice for the moment. Ru grinned at Nthanda's attempts to shake the excess water off. Then he gestured grandly towards the lift.

"Indeed," Nthanda said, chuckling. "Do let us depart. There are lectures to endure and papers to sign."

"And food to eat," Ru said so challengingly that Nthanda burst out laughing.

"And food to eat," Nthanda agreed. "The best food I can arrange at short notice."

"Gotta be better than what I'm used to," Ru replied. "Gotta be a lot better than what I'm used to."

As the lift doors shut them in and the lift began is jerky rise towards the surface, Nthanda considered that very likely it would be the best food that Ru had ever eaten in his entire life even if Nthanda himself viewed it as marginal at best. What a life his new... brother... had lived. The entirety of the Ceelen would not know what to do with Ru.

Nthanda found himself looking forward to it even as he dreaded it. If only he could keep Ru to himself and never have to share.

# 3. New World

The lift ride was jerky and wobbly, sending Nthanda to clutch at the walls three times. Not as bad as it could be but enough for Ru to grin at Nthanda's fear. Justified. The thing could stop, drop, explode if they were unlucky. But they made it to the top of the shaft, walked several blocks and then took a second lift that was full of people heading upwards.

The occupants changed as the lift rose, normal people slipping out and new people, nicer dressed people, stepping in as they went higher and higher. Nthanda pulled Ru to the very back of the lift, set their shoulders against the wall. Good idea. Ru didn't particularly like the way the rich fucks eyed him once they hit single digits.

No one stared outright but there were a lot of side-eyes and a few people, men, who tried to edge closer only to jerk and ease away again as if they'd hit a live wire. Shield. Nthanda had said something about the knife getting through his shield. Which, damn, meant that Ru really had saved his life by knocking the damned knife away.

It'd been a hard throw, not from the Bangers but from one of the Guard who'd snarled when he saw them getting away. Ru hadn't even thought about it. His jacket was lightly armored, not much but good for knives, and he healed fast as a legacy of his Ma's bloodstream nanites, so he'd just put his arm in the way and then let the knife fall where it would. Thankfully, they'd been far enough away that the throw had been at the end of its power.

Or maybe it'd just barely gotten through the shield and that was why it'd done so little damage. Either way, Nthanda was right that the knife would have hit his neck. He still didn't much like the idea of having Nthanda owe him but a new life out of an instant decision and a tiny little cut? Fair deal as far as Ru was concerned. He'd sure as hell not get anything better out of life and Ma had always told him that if he ever got the chance to get off Melin he should take it and not to hesitate. Ask questions, yes, hesitate, no.

He kind of wished he'd asked for a place in Nthanda's bed. The man was everything Ru liked in a lover, tall and strong and dangerous as anything Ru had ever seen, but also rich and kind and clean and so damned polite that it was a shock to the system. Man like that, well, Ru would have taken the offer immediately, if he'd gotten it.

Not that he had. Brothers was enough, much as Ru wished there could have been more than that.

Still, Ru watched the other occupants of the lift with his lips pressed thin and toes on the triggers of the knives built into his boots. One forward, one back. If he could kick the assholes where it counted they'd be dead and that would be just fine by Ru.

But nothing happened other than Ru's nerves getting jumpy as all hell. They made it all the way to the mythical surface that Ru had never once seen and no one did more than look their way. Nthanda cleared his throat once they hit ground level.

"This is our stop," Nthanda said in that deep, dark voice that seemed to come from another dimension entirely. "Do please excuse us."

The other people started, staring at Nthanda now as if his diction was more than just overly formal. Ru followed him out of the lift, across a blazingly bright plaza covered with lush green plants, dry pavement and poles decorated by big light globes. More light here on the surface than he'd ever seen in his entire life. So weird that they'd waste that much power but apparently the rich and powerful liked to see what was coming at them.

Ru would have preferred quite a few more shadows to hide in.

"Where now?" Ru asked as he followed Nthanda's determined version of the 'places to go' walk across the open air plaza towards a building that was white and clean and covered in glass that Ru couldn't believe someone had to clean. But they obviously did because he couldn't see a single bit of grime anywhere.

"Now we catch a ride on the train," Nthanda said, smiling quick as a switchblade hiding away, "and then I get yelled at for rather a long time."

"You really did slip your watchers, didn't you?" Ru said, unreasonably amused by the idea of anyone treating Nthanda like he needed to be protected. "You bad boy, you."

Nthanda grinned, teeth so perfectly white against his dark black skin. "One does try at least on occasion."

The train turned out to be something similar to a lift, just running horizontally instead of vertically. Followed a track that at first wound on the ground through the buildings and then spiraled up ramps to zip over the ground by a few stories. That was scary. Someone could blow up the struts and they'd all die but Ru supposed that no, the Guard wouldn't allow that to happen.

No one on the train looked their way for long. Ru's glare made them flinch. Nthanda's flat stare down his broad nose made them bow their heads and study anything but the two of them. He was going to have to figure out that stare thing though Ru's nose was snub, not broad. Who knew if that made a difference.

About an hour later after Ru had gotten tired of staring out the window at bright lights flying by and huge glass buildings that looked like they'd never once been touched, Nthanda moved to the door. Ru blinked, followed him, set his back so that he could keep an eye on the rest of the occupants of the train. None of them stirred even though a couple looked like they really wanted to get up and join them.

"Our stop?" Ru murmured to Nthanda.

"Indeed," Nthanda said. He chuckled. "Do not fret. These people are not a threat as long as you stay close to me."

"Says the man who almost got knifed," Ru replied. He arched one eyebrow and nearly laughed at the way Nthanda's eyes went wide.

"Point taken," Nthanda said, graciously nodding his head to Ru. "We will need to move quickly once we stop. Stay close."

"On your heels," Ru promised.

Which turned out to be a hell of a lot harder than Ru expected. The station where they stopped was packed with people who surged at the doors the instant they opened. Nthanda walked out, deliberate and stern, his shields jolting people so that they couldn't get too close. Ru stayed nearly on his heels at first but Nthanda stretched his legs as they hurried towards another lift, this one silver and chrome with glass instead of good solid walls.

They just barely made it into the lift before it closed and it was so packed that Nthanda obviously had to shut off his shields. That sucked so bad that Ru firmly pushed Nthanda back against the wall and then sat his back against Nthanda's chest. Rich man with all the power got protected. No one knew that Nthanda wanted to adopt Ru so it was in Ru's better interests to keep him safe.

Ru just didn't expect the erection that slowly grew against his ass.

He turned and stared over his shoulder at Nthanda who shut his eyes, proud shoulders slumping a little bit. Ru snorted. Well, that was a surprise. Something to keep in mind. He wouldn't have expected it after that speech about making Ru Nthanda the next best thing to a brother but hey, maybe Nthanda's people had different rules about brothers by adoption or something. No way to know yet.

Either way, the trip in the shiny chrome lift lasted entirely too long for Ru's comfort. They went up twenty floors, stopped and let half the people out, went up four more, another stop, three more floors, all but one person got out. That one person stared at Ru, then at Nthanda, and then deliberately pushed the next floor up. He left with a little nod towards Nthanda, letting Ru shift away from Nthanda and towards the doors because who the hell built a lift with glass walls?

"You do not wish to see?" Nthanda asked. He attempted to discretely adjust himself and then groaned when Ru just stared at him. "My apologies. I did not expect that."

"You're the rich man," Ru said. "Best for me if we get there in once piece. And no, I don't want to look. Damn stupid to make a lift with glass walls. What if someone fires a gun, rocket or something? They'd break and whoop, out you go. Nope. Not interested in the view."

Nthanda grinned at him. "It would take something more than that but I understand your concerns. We're nearly there."

"Where?" Ru asked.

"The spaceport," Nthanda said. "My personal flyer is waiting for us at the port. From there we will return to my flagship in orbit at the station. I do have to warn you. My... my friends will be most annoyed with me for leaving. I'm expecting rather a scene."

Rather a scene. Ru nodded, decided not to ask what that meant and then, when they emerged into the glass and chrome-covered hell that was the spaceport, Ru wished that he'd asked. Because the walk through the way too open and way too bright spaceport with its robots and shiny railings that did nothing to protect you did nothing to prepare him for the 'flyer'.

Three stories high, a hulking black thing with so many gun ports that Ru relaxed automatically, the 'flyer' looked like a war waiting to happen, especially next to the delicate little bits of fluff that were parked around it.

Even seeing that flyer didn't prepare Ru for Nthanda's friends. They were black like him, tall and broad shouldered, with weapons strapped on their arms, thighs, calves, across their chests. All of them had close-cropped fluffs of black hair on their heads, except for one older man with short-cropped white hair and an eyepatch who turned to glare at Nthanda as they walked up.

"You idiot!" the older man bellowed. "Where did you go? I told you that we would handle the research. You could have stayed safe and nothing would have happened."

"It is my life and my line, Lee," Nthanda said so sternly that all the other men flinched. "You and the Dirk have served my family for generations but it not your place or anyone else's to solve my problems. Besides, I encountered only a few problems."

Lee growled, glaring at Nthanda. His good eye slid to Ru and it was all Ru could do not to turn and run. He thought that the Bangers would flinch away from Lee. The Guard would probably have immediately turned tail and run. But Nthanda stiffened like he was getting ready to fight for Ru so yeah, he really did have Ru's back.

And Ru kind of thought that he needed to have Nthanda's even if Nthanda was likely to be dismayed at Ru's version of that.

"A few problems?" Ru asked. "That what you call being chased by the Guard and nearly taking a knife to the throat?"

Lee paled, sagging a little as his good eye went wide. "Do not joke about such things."

"Not joking," Ru said. He showed Lee the cut on his arm, nicely scabbed over now but still fresh. Give it another hour and it'd be pretty much gone. "Blocked it. And we got away but it was close. Saved a kid from a gang rape though so I do think it's a good day's work. You still owe me food though. Hell of a walk for a quick meal."

Nthanda burst into snickers. His grin really did shine like the brightest, newest glow lamps. The others, Lee especially, stared at them. So they didn't know what to make of Ru. Had been warned about that so Ru decided to ignore it for the most part.

"This is Ru," Nthanda said, "my ward as of this moment. He is to be treated as my brother in everything, as if he was Ceelen born. He saved my life and is a true warrior with a good heart and the best reflexes. If I fall, Ru will take over the Ceelen."

"You better damned well not fall anytime soon," Ru huffed at Nthanda. "I don't know knowing about leading anyone or running companies. So you gotta live for at least a hundred years and have maybe sixty or seventy kids first."

That got a huge grin out of Lee and his warriors. Also a shy grin out of Nthanda who nodded, bowed, and then graciously gestured for Ru to join him in the flyer. Ru shook his head. He deserved that after the lift thing down below. Despite the hunger making his belly growl, the wet slowly chilling his body and the hope, Ru still hesitated a little bit before crossing the threshold.

"Be assured, Ru Ceelen," Lee said, grave and serious as stared into Ru's eyes, "you will be safe with us."

"Ru Sashi Ceelen," Ru corrected with a wry smile, "and don't make promises you can't keep, old man. Nothing is ever perfectly safe. That's just the way the universe works."

"Sashi?" Nthanda asked. He stared at Ru, so obviously puzzled that Ru snickered at him. "What line is Sashi?"

"Sashi was my Ma," Ru explained, still snickering. "I'm supposed to got a line but I don't know what it is. So I use my Ma's name. She was Sashi Derby after her mother. Other than that I don't know."

Nthanda nodded, grave and so damned dignified that Ru kinda wished that they weren't going to be brothers. He could think of more than a few things he'd like to do with a man like Nthanda, all of them noisy and done horizontal, preferably with nice clean sheets.

"Then be welcome, Ru Shashi, newly of the Ceelen," Nthanda said. "I am honored to have you as my brother."

"Same here," Ru said, cheeks warming at the looks he got from everyone else. "But you still gotta feed me. That was the deal."

Ru grinned as Nthanda threw back his head and laughed. Oh yeah, he could think of a few thousand things he wanted to do with Nthanda. He really was going to have to learn what all this Guardian / ward stuff meant quick as possible. If there was the chance of climbing Nthanda like an emergency escape then hell yes, Ru was going to take it.

# 4. New Brother

Nthanda insisted on taking the controls of the flyer. As much as he loved and trusted Lee, they both knew that Nthanda was the better pilot. Given that there was someone in his circle who wanted Nthanda dead, putting the best pilot behind the controls was the only wise choice. That also meant sending the rest of the troop to the weapons controls. Lee settled in the copilot's seat.

Ru sat behind Lee in the control room, eyes wide as they took off and then blasted up into space. The moment when the distortion of the sky with its pollution both light and smog fell away drew a gasp from Ru.

"Never seen the stars this way, hah?" Lee asked. His smirk was a bit too superior for Nthanda's taste but Lee would learn to respect Ru in good time.

"Never seen them before at all," Ru answered. "So that's what Ma was talking about. Used to say that there was a moment when you left a planet where the veil fell off and you saw the Design. Had no idea she was being literal."

Nthanda blinked but did not ask if Ru followed a God, a religion. The Ceelen had followers of a thousand different religions among them. He personally refused to honor any one religion in particular. It was inappropriate from one who was required to lead. But Ru was Ru so if he did, well. That would be fine. He would make sure of it.

At this point, Nthanda could think of very few things that he wouldn't do to make sure that Ru remained by his side. It would never be what Nthanda wanted but having Ru there, healthy and happy if Nthanda had his way, would go a long jump towards making Nthanda happy. And, once Nthanda found a scion who could have children with him, their children would grow up together. It was as good as Nthanda would get and nothing, not politics or religion or people's ridiculous plotting, was going to get in the way of it.

"It's always beautiful," Lee said, voice so soft that Nthanda glanced his way. He only saw the eyepatch but the gentle curve of Lee's mouth made Nthanda smile, too.

"Kinda terrifying to realize that there's no air out there," Ru said. He grinned at the startled look Lee gave him. "Hey, I grew up poor, not completely ignorant. Space means no air, no warmth, no water but what you generate yourself. Least in the Undercity you were always guaranteed air and water though not that they'd be clean."

"I fear I have no idea what sort of life you have lived, my brother," Nthanda said with a little sigh.

"Eh, I'm not the one who walks like a one-man war," Ru said. "Think you've probably had your own adventures, yes?"

That made Nthanda splutter and Lee boom a laugh that filled the control room. Nthanda heard the others snickering through the comm system. Which was a thing to remember. Ru had no access to their comms and no shields. He would have to be given all the appropriate upgrades as soon as possible if Nthanda was to keep his promise to protect Ru from all unnecessary pain. There were endless numbers of disasters Ru could fall into if he didn't have proper access. Upgrades were certainly high on the list of things to do once home.

Ahead, the _Graceful Swan_ slowly resolved out of the darkness of space. At first it was just a slowly growing blotch of black against the distant stars but as they got closer the ship resolved into all its blocky beauty. The irony of its name never lost its appeal to Nthanda. As graceful as a brick flung at your head, the _Swan_ held a crew of ten thousand and could house a hundred thousand in needful times.

She was black, much more heavily armed than the flyer, and as deadly a ship as sailed the spacelanes. Father had commissioned her a year before his death and had been killed just days before her completion. Nthanda's heart hurt every time he looked at her because the _Graceful Swan_ was his father's final gift to him.

"That's... a ship?" Ru said, voice gone high and squeaky.

"Yes, my flagship," Nthanda said with every bit of his pride in his voice. "The _Graceful Swan_."

"Graceful."

Nthanda looked over his shoulder and laughed at the dour expression on Ru's face. One word, one look, and the sheer sarcasm had Nthanda laughing until his sides ached. Truly, one would have thought that they grew up as brothers given how easily Ru made Nthanda laugh.

"Okay then," Ru drawled, stretching his vowels until 'okay' became at least four syllables and 'then' transformed into 'thyan' by some alchemy of amusement and sarcasm. "Gonna have to remember that you're prone to understatement."

"My father named her," Nthanda said through his wheezing snickers. "And yes, he was very fond of dramatic understatement and irony."

Ru snorted but remained silent as they approached. Lee did as well, handling the communications and docking procedures so that Nthanda could simply enjoy this bit of flying. It wasn't complicated flying but Nthanda so rarely got the chance anymore that he savored it and regretted when the docking system tractor beams engaged, drawing them into the _Graceful Swan's_ bay.

And of course, because Lee would have reported Nthanda's absence the instant it was noticed, as soon as they exited the flyer Imani, dressed in her 'going to battle' scarlet dress and head wrap, waited with her staff standing behind her. Short, round as a moon and as terrifying as only a chief of staff in a snit could be, Imani had her hands crossed over her ample thighs and that completely calm expression that threatened an explosion.

"Get the feeling this is the lecture you were talking about," Ru murmured.

Lee choked on a laugh, coughing into his hand while Nthanda sighed. That made Imani's smile go narrow and her chin rise so yes, this was his overdue lecture. Nthanda stopped in front of Imani, bent and kissed her cheek. She snorted and slapped a hand against his chest to make him stand up again.

"You stink," Imani declared.

"Oh, I like her," Ru fake-murmured to Lee who cough-laughed again. "She's mean. And blunt."

"And this is?" Imani asked, glaring at Ru. They were nearly of the same height, Ru a pair of inches taller, so she could do it easily instead of having to crane her neck the way she did with Nthanda.

"Ru Sashi, newly of Ceelen," Ru said with a mockingly formal bow what brought wicked delight to Imani's eyes. "Your boy here decided to slip his watch and ended up in the Undercity. Almost took a knife to the throat but we did save a kid from a gang rape so it's not all bad."

Imani shut her eyes, warm brown cheeks going pale. The staff behind her gasped and shuddered, which made Ru raise an eyebrow at Nthanda. He pouted back. Truly, he hadn't been in that much danger, other than from the knife that Ru blocked.

"You see?" Ru said, jerking a thumb towards Imani. "That's what happens when you slip off like that. Give people all the heart attacks for no good reason. Now if you'd just taken Lee with you or one of the others, then it'd be an honorable battle and great tales and all that crap. Don't slip your watch."

"I have barely acquired a brother," Nthanda said to Imani. "And he already scolds me like a brother born."

"And a very good job he does at the scolding, too," Imani said with a firm nod of approval that made her elaborate scarlet head wrap bob threateningly. "I believe I like this one, too. But you were injured, my Lord?"

Nthanda shook his head, pointing towards Ru's sleeve. Which made Ru roll his eyes as Imani gasped and grabbed his arm so that she could inspect the wound. Her frown made Nthanda look more closely. The wound, rather than still weeping blood or barely scabbed, looked as though it had happened days ago. As much as a week.

"I got Gensyn blood," Ru explained with a little shrug. "Give it an hour and it'll be gone. Not the shifting type, just so you know. Ma said my blood father was Gensyn, too, shifting, but she had the blood as well. So, you know, both sides for me. Makes me sturdier than most."

There was awe in Imani's eyes, quite justified in Nthanda's opinion. The Gensyn were the first truly successful explorers in space colonization. Their chosen solar system turned out to be dramatically unstable, full of radiation and sadly lacking in habitable planets so the Gensyn had tried a thousand things to survive on their frequently damaged space stations. Many of them worked, including in-blood nanites colonies that healed injuries magically quickly, genetic alterations to add bone strength as well as muscle density and, most importantly, every Gensyn was one of three varieties of synthesis of genders.

Some, less than ten percent, could shift between penis and vagina at will, a thing which confused and awed Nthanda given the amount of energy that had to be required for the shift and the physical structures in the body. Others were a stable mixture, usually with an emphasis more towards penis or womb but with the potential to both sire and bear children. And some, more than sixty percent, were able to shift once or twice a year if they so chose. Most didn't.

"We should still have you both examined," Imani said. "The Undercity, as you call it, is dangerous for more than the residents. I would not have the _Gentle Swan_ contaminated by the toxins below."

And that meant that they would have a full decontamination despite Ru's impromptu shower. Nthanda sighed as he followed Imani to the docking medical facilities. Smaller than the full hospital at the center of the ship, the docking facilities were entirely focused on first aid, decontamination and containment of anyone who should not be there. Stark steel barely cushioned by plastic was the décor, unlike elsewhere in the _Graceful Swan_. As bluntly functional as the medical facilities were, they made Ru's eyes go wide with awe.

"Into the decon pods," Imani ordered. "They will remove any surface contaminates you have, do a preliminary scan of your body and report back to me what weapons you carry."

"Only a few," Ru said as he cautiously stepped into the pod next to Nthanda's. "Can't afford too much weight in the Undercity. Slows you down."

The pod door closed and Nthanda stood still as air gusted over him. He kept his eyes shut and struggled not laugh at Ru's startled yelp next door. It was always quite the shock when the wind battered you. And then came the scan, followed by irradiation to kill whatever microbes he'd gathered on his adventure, followed by a blast of antiseptic water and more air that nearly completely dried Nthanda's clothes.

He emerged and patted his disordered coat back into place, checked his pockets and then shuddered as Ru stepped free of the pod.

Ru's hood had fallen to his shoulders to reveal pitch black hair as long as Nthanda's arm. It looked, from the pins sticking out at odd angles, that Ru had pinned his hair up. But now it hung loose and gorgeous around his face and shoulders like a midnight cloud.

"Lovely," Ru drawled. "Coulda warned me."

Nthanda tried to say something but his throat sealed up as tight as emergency doors during a hull breach.

Ru grinned and shook his head. Then he looked at Imani who had her hands over her cheeks, Lee who coughed and looked away, and the other guards and staff who stared at Ru with as much lust and awe as Nthanda felt.

"What's the deal with them?" Ru asked, voice higher than normal. His eyes were wider than when they charged the Bangers. Or when Nthanda jumped down the stairwell for that matter, though his hands shook far less now than before.

"We... generally do not wear our hair long," Nthanda explained. Or tried to given that he wanted to take back everything he'd said about being brothers and swear to be Ru's one and only lover for life. "To wear long hair says... things."

"Sexy things or dangerous things?" Ru asked as he swiftly braided and then coiled his gorgeous hair at the back of his head. It only made him appear more dangerous than before which helped not at all with the attraction.

"Both," Nthanda replied. He thrust his hands behind his back so that he would not offer to help secure the little fuzzy tip of Ru's braid that poked out like a tempting invitation to the world. And to Nthanda himself. "Is there a reason why you wear your hair long?"

"Yeah," Ru said with such a flat frankly sad smile that Nthanda's lust stilled into something quieter, warier. "I haven't cut my hair since my Ma died. Don't trust anyone else that close to me. Frankly, that courting thing I mentioned? Probably the first move I make with anyone will be asking them to help me cut my hair. There's not much more to show trust than letting someone that close to you with a blade."

# 5. New Rules

The entire room went still. Ru tried to ignore it but there was a strange mixture of lust and horror on pretty much everyone's faces. Even round, bossy Imani looked like she wanted to be the one to make Ru 'get over it'. Which, yeah, was crap. Big stinking piles of it. No way was Ru letting anyone get that close to him except maybe for Nthanda who just nodded slowly as if he completely understood Ru's point of view.

He might. Nthanda had said he'd lost his father and it didn't look like he had a mother running around anywhere. So, single parent now gone, just like Ru. Made Ru wonder if Nthanda wanted a dozen or so kids, too. Being an only child was lonely and Ru had always sort of envied the kids who had siblings.

Even when they were all hungry because their parents couldn't afford anything other than food tablets.

"I must admit that I had not considered that," Nthanda said. "For us, long hair is a sign that a person is highly skilled at defending themselves, which you are of course, and generally that they are..."

"Protected?" Ru asked as Nthanda's cheeks went red and his voice ran out. He grinned at the way Nthanda looked away.

"Well protected," Nthanda said, gruff and awkward. "Generally ah, precious lovers or spouses who are never in any danger at all."

"Huh," Ru grunted, a snicker ticking at his breastbone because wow, he'd never known that rich people could look that awkward and out of place before. Kind of cute in the want to knock him down and make him blush harder way.

But then the moment shattered as one of the people working with Imani straightened up and swaggered towards Ru, chest all puffed out and hand on his completely empty belt. Not a single weapon on the man that Ru could see which didn't necessarily mean anything given that Nthanda had shields somewhere that wasn't visible.

Next to him, Nthanda stiffened so furiously that Ru automatically felt better about waving for him to stand down. Someone always had to be first and it was usually a big guy who should know better but who'd never really learned to mind his own business before. Just like big and stupid that Imani hissed at.

"You should be protected," big and stupid said, reaching out towards Ru's hair as if he intended to pet Ru. "One such as you should always be pampered."

"Really?" Ru drawled.

That was all he said. He licked his upper lip and tasted nothing but that nasty-ass disinfectant spray from the decon chamber. Time to teach everyone a proper lesson.

Ru grabbed big and stupid's arm, grinning that yeah, the asshole had actually let Ru into his shields if he had them. It was easy to kick big and stupid's ankle out from under him, toppling him to the side with a solid jerk on his arm. Ru added a good bit of force to the spin so that he slammed big and stupid into the decking hard enough that Imani jumped. A twist put big and stupid face down, Ru on his back holding his arm so that the least little move would dislocate his arm. Tip of one boot went between big and stupid's thighs, letting Ru pop the toe spike that could rip big and stupid's crotch right open.

"That," Ru said as he pressed the knife into big and stupid's balls, "is a knife. In your groin. Because you're big and you're stupid and I'm going to kill you if you ever try that again. Could just dislocate your arm. Hell, easy enough to rip it off. Seems I'm a lot stronger than you, hah?"

"My Lord!" big and stupid gasped, shaking underneath Ru as if he was about to go into shock. Moron.

"Had you any sense at all you would have looked to me before attempting this," Nthanda said so scornfully that Ru grinned up at him. "I have already promised my brother, my ward, that there will be no matches made for him. He and he alone will determine his mate, Mohana. I would not have thought that you would humiliate the Baumhauer by behaving in this fashion."

"Important family?" Ru asked. He looked down at Mohana whose eyes were wide and skin grey-pale as he sweated. "Don't have to cripple him if it'll cause you problems. I mean, no one does know yet that I'm not to be approached."

Nthanda snorted a little laugh. "He is... in training with us. The Baumhauer are allies. Mohana is an heir but lower in the line of descent. I doubt his mother would be too piqued by his loss. As he cannot seem to apologize for his incredibly poor behavior to my brother."

Nthanda emphasized the word 'brother', making Mohana flinch. The way he said it, the way everyone else backed off and eyed Ru more respectfully, conflicted a little in Ru's heart. Sure, the respect was nice but Ru kind of wished he'd followed that wild urge back in the Undercity to ask if he was going to be Nthanda's lover, not his brother. Be nice to have that long lean body to explore, to keep all to himself.

Didn't know yet that he had to keep his hands to himself but it sure looked that way. And it sucked. Because Ru would love to be able to lay claim to Nthanda, every sexy, deadly inch of him.

"I apologize, my Lord," Mohana instantly said. "I was rude. Very rude."

"You were not rude to me," Nthanda snapped at him. "I am not the one you owe an apology to, Mohana Baumhauer."

Ru couldn't help but laugh even though Nthanda really did have to set the rules out. He grinned up at Nthanda who huffed at him as if Ru was being ridiculous. Made Mohana stare first at Nthanda and then at Ru, neck craned around awkward. Had to hurt, not that Ru really cared if Mohana ended up with a million aches after his stunt.

"He's so damned stuffy when he's angry," Ru explained. "Like listening to a dictionary program give you a lecture. Still right. You insulted me. Not him. I ain't a toy and I won't be treated like one."

Mohana shut his eyes, swallowed audibly and then put on a serious enough face that Ru eased the pressure on his arm. "I apologize. I was inappropriate, far too forward and... very rude to you."

"Accepted," Ru said. He let Mohana go, popping the knife back into its slot in his boot before getting up. "You do it again and I'll just kill you. So you know. Hey, am I going to be a lord, too?"

He said the last to Nthanda who looked startled and then amused as Ru strolled away from Mohana's side and back to Nthanda's with no visible worries about a very big man at his back. Not that Ru was worried. Guy's arm was strained at least, nearly dislocated and Ru knew he'd left some really nasty bruises on Mohana's spine. Even if he healed like Ru did, Mohana wasn't going to be getting up quick.

In fact, he barely made it to his feet. Mohana clutched his shoulder, sweat pouring down his cheeks and forehead. The meditechs immediately tugged him away to one of the treatment benches, making him lie down and put his legs up. Ru frowned, cocked his head at their muttered comments about torn ligaments and then looked up at Nthanda.

"You guys don't have the alterations I expected," Ru said. "No nanites? Reinforced joints? Not even muscle density?"

"Some," Nthanda said, eyes still angry as he looked at Mohana. "But not many. Most of us were altered so that we would not mutate as badly when exposed to cosmic radiation. We have nanites but their programming sends them chasing after RNA fractures, not after injuries. Very, very few among us have the... advantages that you do. We are predominantly baseline human, not Altered at all."

"Pull my punches in the future," Ru said, nodding and sighing. "Didn't realize you were all fragile. Seriously, you walk like a war about to happen and you're that damned breakable? You really should get yelled at for slipping your watch."

"Yes!" Imani snapped, startling both Nthanda and Ru into jumping, Nthanda very high, Ru just a little bit. "Very true! There are a great many things I intend to say to you, my Lord, but before that I believe there are procedures that should be followed to bring your new brother into the Ceelen."

Nthanda sighed and nodded, looking for all the universe like a toddler being scolded for taking a treat from a street vender. Which, cute. Way too cute. The man was a walking temptation and Ru really did need to have that talk about what would be required, what the standards of behavior were, and just what 'brother' meant between the two of them.

Later, though.

Ru held up a hand to distract Imani. "Food anywhere in that set of procedures? Because I was promised a meal and after two days of nothing but expired food tablets I'm kinda hungry."

Imani stared, mouth open. She snapped it shut and puffed up like she was about to explode at someone, possibly Nthanda who backed off a step and eased behind Ru as if he expected Ru to protect him. Ru stared at him, lips twitching. Nthanda blushed and hunched a little but his lips started twitching, too.

"Didn't expect you to have my back that way," Ru said, just to see if Nthanda would laugh again.

It worked. Nthanda burst out into a belly laugh and the fear, the little boy look, disappeared into a wicked grin that made Ru snicker at him. Yeah, they were going to have way too much fun together, come what may.

"Oh!" Imani huffed. "Come with me, both of you. Yes, my Lord Ru, there will be food. Whatever food you want. And you, my Lord Nthanda are getting your lecture and no puppy eyes will save you from it this time!"

She whirled, scarlet dress flaring, and stomped off up the hallway. Which left Ru and Nthanda to follow her while her staff started muttering between themselves about paperwork, ascension lines and deportment lessons. Last one of which made Ru flinch.

Great. He was going to be stuck learning how to behave like a rich person. It'd be good to blend in a little bit but Ru already knew he'd always stick out like a sore thumb. Everyone they passed in the hallways had dark black skin and curly fluffs of hair cut shorter than an inch. Most less than that. Those who didn't have short hair seemed to always wrap it up in bright colored cloths. Might be a thing to think about though Ru'd only do that if he could tuck a weapon or two away in the folds.

No matter what lessons Ru got, he was going to be obvious and he was going to get comments. Couldn't be helped. So he wasn't at all sure why he should take the lessons other than to understand the rules everyone else played by. Looked like Ru might get to break those rules if he wanted to. If Nthanda approved.

And looking sidelong up at Nthanda Ru kind of thought that Nthanda might let him get away with murder no matter how much trouble it caused them both.

The hallways went from utilitarian steel to beautifully finished walls covered with fake wood and had to be synthetic woven grass mats except that they smelled green and fresh, not like plastic. No oil, no grease, sweet smells on the air and soft floors under Ru's boots. This place obviously played by completely different rules than Ru was used to.

The look in Nthanda's eyes was anything but brotherly. That was the look that Ru expected out of a lover about to slam him against a wall for soul-eating kisses. Or when he was about to drop to his knees to beg to be allowed to open Ru's pants. That, too.

Ru hadn't had many lovers, real lovers. Just Bala in truth. But Bala had taught him a lot about recognizing a person smitten, a person in love, versus a person who was jealous or who just wanted something new. She'd taught him about gentle touches, about those times when nothing but pain made you come. She'd given him everything he needed to survive the time when Ru finally fell in love for real or at least she'd tried.

And Ru kind of thought that Bala would smirk at the two of them, making that pinching gesture that meant they should just kiss already.

Yeah, they needed that conversation. They needed it bad. Because what Ru's heart, and groin, wanted didn't seem to match with the words coming out of Nthanda's mouth. The words also didn't match with the scorching looks Nthanda gave Ru. Something was off, something important, so as soon as Ru had some food in front of him and a moment of anything like privacy, well. Questions were getting asked and Ru wasn't letting it go until he had answers.

# 6. Blood Lines

As silent as Ru had gone in the hallways, watching and assessing everyone they passed, Nthanda thought that he went as still as stone once Imani led them into the private quarters. Nthanda's private quarters.

Ru froze at the doorway, staring around the room as if he had never in his life seen such things. The paintings on the wall, actual paintings done by Nthanda's grandfather of various planetscapes he had seen, drew a tiny moan from Ru. The huge acrylic rug brought from Earth when Nthanda was a tiny to replace the one he'd ruined by spilling dinner and then throwing up all over it made Ru swallow hard. And the huge couches, sized for long limbs, made him shudder and rub his hands over his thighs even though they were nearly fifteen years old and in need of new padding. Nthanda hadn't sent them to be reupholstered as he hadn't want to lose that link to his father.

"Everything is old," Nthanda murmured to Ru while Imani muttered and grumbled, ordering them a buffet spread sent up right away.

"Old?" Ru hissed at him. "This is what you call old?"

"Mm-hmm," Nthanda said. "Sit on the couch. You'll see. The padding is nearly gone."

Ru stared at him, brows drawn down in a doubtful frown, but he did as Nthanda suggested. When he sat it was as if he expected that he might somehow destroy the old leather, scratched and scuffed by decades of family use. And then the doubt disappeared into suppressed laughter as he settled onto lumps and broken springs, the couch sagging so much under him that his rear end nearly hit the floor.

"The Ceelen," Ru said, drawing Imani's attention and then her chortle. "You're the Ceelen, the one. The most important one. And your personal couch. I assume this is your personal space. Looks personal to me."

"Oh yes, this is my home," Nthanda said, cheeks burning and laughter bubbling under his diaphragm.

"Your personal couch is a broken down piece of junk that'd be chopped up for parts in the Undercity," Ru finished, laughter finally slipping free. "The hell?"

"I..."

"He hasn't wanted to let go of the final reminders of his father," Imani said when Nthanda hesitated for too long. "It's ridiculous. Do get up. You'll destroy your back, Lord Ru. Those aren't fit for man or beast."

"Agreed," Ru said. He scrambled to get off the couch, barely made it back to his feet and then frowned down at it. "I think I need to add a condition. New couches. Seriously, that's crap."

Any arguments that Nthanda might have made were drowned out by the arrival of four, not one or two, but four servants with carts full of food. They bowed their heads to Nthanda, nodded politely but curiously to Ru, and then set about laying out the far too generous meal in the dining room. Which Ru stared at, peering through the doorway, with awed eyes.

"Chairs that old in there, too?" Ru asked as the servants marched back out with their now-empty carts.

"Close," Nthanda said and then laughed. "But they are not padded so it does not matter."

"History's a thing for him, isn't it?" Ru asked Imani.

"Yes," Imani sighed.

She pushed Ru into the room, then pushed him into a chair when he stumbled to a stop at the sheer quantity of food. And then started serving him beef and ham and a huge serving of greens that Ru stared at as if he'd never seen or smelled anything like that before. Perhaps he hadn't.

Ru seemed far more comfortable with chopsticks than knife and fork but he very soon was eating great bites of the meat and cautious small nibbles of the greens. Imani arranged small plates with nibbles of pie and fruit, bread and honey, plus three different sorts of soup, around his place. All of which Ru duly tried. The miso was met with a wrinkled nose. The potato and bacon soup was met with a hesitant nodded request for more that made Imani beam.

"She likes you more than me," Nthanda said as he settled into get his own meal.

"You have not been two days with only food tablets to eat," Imani huffed.

"Not complaining," Ru said around a too-big bite of ham. "You always eat this much?"

Imani blushed. Nthanda laughed and showed Ru his portion, perhaps a quarter of what Imani was attempting to stuff into Ru. Which made Ru blink, frown and then consider.

"You're really baseline," Ru said. "Huh. Must be nice not to need quite that much food. Because this is about right for me."

Which meant that Imani immediately piled more food on Ru's plate, much to his amusement and Nthanda's attempt at pouting. Not that his pout was at all successful given that he kept laughing at Imani's joy in finding someone that she could feed to her heart's content. By the time Ru finally waved Imani away, he had eaten close to half the food that Imani had ordered.

Thankfully, feeding Ru seemed to have calmed Imani to a truly remarkable degree. Nthanda sipped his coffee, watching as Ru and Imani discussed her favorite meals, the sorts of things Ru had eaten before, and what if anything he would like to have at meals. Apparently, for Ru all food was good food though he wasn't at all sure what the greens had been besides oddly tasty given their smell and texture.

"Avoided your lecture entirely, didn't you?" Ru said once Imani pushed them out of the dining room so that she could summon the servants to clean.

"I seem to have, yes," Nthanda said, grinning at him. "Do you feel better now that you have eaten?"

"Much," Ru said. He poked Nthanda in the bicep, jerking a chin towards the rest of the suite. "So. Show me around and start explaining why I'm here, what I'm supposed to do and why you were down there in the first place. What you said before didn't make much sense."

Nthanda nodded and led Ru into the library as that was the best place for the discussion. Holograms of his father, grandfather and other relatives going back ten generations shimmered into life as they entered. All of them dark skinned, serious, dead. He did focus too much on the past but Nthanda couldn't blame himself for it. His family's history surrounded and supported him as he attempted to carry the Ceelen into the future.

"The Ceelen are an old bloodline," Nthanda explained as he ran finger over the base of his father's hologram. It flickered, solidified once he stopped. "We have been in space for long enough that we have accumulated a great many mutations. Between the cosmic radiation and inbreeding, my genetics are littered with mutations that kill fetuses before they have a chance to grow."

Ru stared, one finger slowly circling as if to signal his circling thoughts. "And you're as baseline as you can be so you can't or won't alter your genetics to get rid of the mutations."

"Exactly," Nthanda agreed. He sat in the less comfortable of the two big leather chairs in the library, gesturing for Ru to take the other. "Our history and laws demand that I find a bloodline that will not reinforce the mutations. Thus, I was on Melin searching for scions, descendants, of three specific bloodlines that we know are genetically compatible. It is my hope to arrange with them at the very least egg or sperm donations or at best a marriage so that I can have healthy children. So far all my efforts to sire children have failed."

He nearly laughed as Ru poked the chair to see if it was as broken as the sofas outside. Ru sat, scowling, and then relaxed when he realized the chair was comfortable. Then, to Nthanda's amusement, Ru curled up in the chair as if he was a little boy, knees to his chest, arms around the knees. All he needed was a brace of comfortable pillows and a blanket to make a proper nest.

"So you have tried," Ru said, redirecting Nthanda's thoughts away from making Ru comfortable and back to the conversation.

"Oh yes," Nthanda said with a tired sigh. "Baby chambers, of course, but there have been six miscarriages so far. Everyone agreed that no further attempts should be made until a scion is found. It was... heartbreaking. The last one survived for nearly two months before dying. I do not think I could watch that again."

Ru winced. He sighed and shifted, staring at the books surrounding them. Actual books, most of them, with paper pages and in inscribed therein. It was a ridiculous weight and expense but Father had loved real books and so he had collected them. Nthanda's collection of books was carefully stored on data crystals arrayed in ranks near the door. He had a thousand times more than Father but Father had read every single one, taking them from their stasis-locked shelves to gently turn the pages one by one as he studied.

It must seem a strange thing, to have so many books. Growing up as poor as Ru had they must be wonders.

"Expected more books," Ru said, startling Nthanda again and then laughing. "Yeah, yeah, not what you thought I'd say."

"Indeed not," Nthanda agreed. "You've seen larger collections."

"Oh sure," Ru said, a soft, tender smile stealing across his face. It instantly made Nthanda ferociously jealous of whoever Ru was thinking of. "First lover, Bala, she had books. Four, five times as many as you do. It was thing for her. The way to get her to reduce her fees was to bring her books, any type, in her subject areas. She's my cousin, second or third or something on my blood-father's side. There was Ma and Bala growing up. Ma to keep me grounded, Bala to push me to be more. She's a courtesan, one of the high-price ones that works the high towers now. Back then she was just Bala."

A flush of sheer rage ran through Nthanda as Ru spoke. Someone else had made Ru look that way. Someone else had been his teacher, his tutor, his lover. Nthanda hated her so much that he could barely breathe for a long moment. He throttled the improper emotion down.

Ru was his brother and would always be his brother. There was no possibility of a relationship. He could not and would not ever kiss those lips or run his fingers through that beautiful sleek hair. Nthanda breathed, nodded, and then swallowed because the hurt and rage and pure jealousy made him feel sick and wrong.

"What should I be doing here?" Ru asked, more serious, eyes intent as if he'd seen Nthanda's inappropriate emotions.

"I do not know yet," Nthanda admitted. "Certainly learning how the Ceelen work. Learning a skill or trade. Perhaps taking a place in the command structure if that is your choice. And children. You should definitely have a great many children. If I cannot have them then you must. A dozen or so would be perfect."

Ru snorted a laugh, intensity gone. "I'm not getting bulgy that often for anyone."

"You could...?" Nthanda asked and then sighed as he shook his head. "Foolish of me. Gensyn blood. Of course you could bear a child should you so choose."

"Been pregnant twice now," Ru admitted, eyes locked on the bookshelves as if he was afraid to meet Nthanda's eyes. "Lost the kid both times. Early on, really early on. Second time I didn't even realize I was pregnant until it was over. So yeah, I get the pain. Baby chambers would be harder though, I think. Seeing the kid growing and then... Yeah. Harder that way."

Nthanda shut his eyes, nodding.

They sat in silence for a long moment. It was companionable. Comforting especially given the topic of discussion. Even Imani had not been able to discuss the miscarriages with Nthanda, not with rage and tears and once a mug flung across the room that made Imani squeak and then burst into tears before she ran out.

He had given her jewels after that. She wore them from time to time, big bright topaz the color of an ocean from orbit, set in earrings, a heavy necklace and one bracelet filled with shield electronics. Strange that he could discuss it with Ru so easily but then Ru had his own history that made it more personal. More bearable.

"I should see if Ma was crazy or not," Ru said finally.

"You said you may have a bloodline," Nthanda said, eyes open once more only to discover that Ru had been staring at him with a little smile on his face. "We can certainly research it for you."

"Nah, I want to do it myself," Ru said.

He unfolded himself from the chair, patting the back of it once vertical. Really, Nthanda did have to give in and have the couches reupholstered. It would be very nice to lounge on them with Ru as he used to with Father. Nthanda could pull out the old pillows, the blankets that they'd gathered from a dozen different worlds. Having that room once again be a place of comfort would be a joy, even if he hated the thought of losing that link to his father.

"Is there a reason why?" Nthanda asked as he stood, too.

"Ma sent messages every quarter," Ru explained, face sad but eyes speculative as Nthanda led him to the computer system built into the wall nearest the door. "Got no replies. So either Grandma Derby did something that pissed off her line so damned badly that all her offspring were permanently disowned\--"

"Unlikely."

"Agreed," Ru said. He whistled as the computer system came up, lights and screens coming to live all around them, most with stock reports, shipping schedules and Nthanda's favorite opera series already queuing for automatic play. "Really? You listen to that dreck?"

"I enjoy the story," Nthanda mumbled because truly, the acting was terrible, the singing worse and the costumes were so horrifically bad that they were only laughable.

"What little story there is." Ru snorted. "Remind me to turn you onto _The Laughing Thief_. Anyway, if Grandma Derby wasn't disowned then that means Ma was probably crazy and sending messages to nowhere. I'd rather no one else knew that but me. And you, if you want to stick around for the search."

Nthanda nodded, gesturing for Ru to take his place once he'd logged Ru's biosignature in as a valid user. "Please. I would like to know. It makes no difference either way to me. You will still be my ward and I your Guardian."

Ru smiled at that, shy and sweet enough that Nthanda actually see the feminine in him. When he sat his expression went as serious as a battle to the death. Nthanda stilled behind him.

"Let's see what there is to see," Ru murmured.

# 7. Missed Messages

The computer system was... old. That surprised Ru. Bala's computer system made this thing look like an antique. Given Nthanda's obsession with keeping things long since worn out for apparently sentimental reasons it made sense. Just made the search a lot more work than it should have been.

If he'd gone and crashed at Bala's place by the crystal gardens, Ru could have logged in, and he was never going to get used to the fact that people would just give him log ins, first Bala and now Nthanda, search for Ma's name and found every message she'd ever sent to anyone anywhere.

Might have something to do with Bala's fondness for knowing everything that happened everywhere on Melin but you could find anything on her system. Anything at all. He very carefully had never asked if the majority of Bala's power and influence came from information trading instead of her incredible looks and mind-blowing sexual skills. Some things weren't safe to know.

On Nthanda's creakingly ancient system, Ru had to link here, request there, submit passwords and very, very carefully phrase everything to get any results at all. But eventually, a good three minutes after he sat down, Ru had a list of all Ma's calls off world.

"Huh, so she was calling an actual address," Ru said, more than mildly surprised by that. "Just never got a response from them. Let's see if Grandma Derby ever called the same place."

That little search delved into older data, much older, like decades old, and gave him so much data in reply that Ru rocked back a little on his borrowed stool. Right into Nthanda's abs.

Both of them grunted for the contact. Ru looked up and Nthanda's cheeks were bright red even with his dark skin. He grinned, deliberately knocked the back of his head against Nthanda's stomach and then laughed at the way Nthanda hissed at him.

"You give me responses like that I gotta take the chance to tease," Ru said, more than wishing he could pass Nthanda a pair of scissors on the spot. He'd give Nthanda a lock of hair and be glad for it. "Looks like something happened to Grandma's line. Let's see what the last messages were about, hmm?"

All the amusement died.

His bloodline. Ru's family. The people that he could have been a part of if only Grandma hadn't died when she did, if Ma hadn't been too young to reply. They'd been killed in a spaceliner crash when Ma was just fifteen, a few months after Grandma died in a bombing. There wasn't anyone left but once Ru's family had been rich, strong, powerful.

"You..." Nthanda whispered.

"The Hyun-Ju," Ru said in as normal a tone as he could manage. Not very normal at all given that his eyes were watering and his stomach had clenched around his dinner. "Heard of them, even down in the Undercity. They were warriors. But not Gensyn. Wonder how Ma got that blood. Grandma Derby musta spent some time sleeping around on her way here."

"They are... were," Nthanda started to say only to stop as his voice cracked. "They were great warriors. The best. I am not surprised that you are such a fine warrior. It is in your blood. It is a problem, though. The Hyun-Ju and the Ceelen competed viciously for territory. There were many who blamed my grandfather for their deaths. People will talk."

"Let 'em," Ru said. "That was almost forty years ago. We're two different people and the money's all gone anyway."

Ru jerked as Nthanda's hand landed on his shoulder. The grip was strong enough that Ru turned on his stool to stare up into Nthanda's eyes. Oh. Big old frown that said no, Ru was about as wrong as Ru could get.

"Not gone?" Ru asked and yeah his voice shook like crazy on the words.

"Not at all," Nthanda agreed. His hand shook a little on Ru's shoulder so Ru wasn't the only one messed up by this. "It is held in trust awaiting a claimant to the family who can prove their right to it. Which, given what you have just done, I believe you can. As long as you can prove your descent from Sashi Derby, and Sashi's descent as well, all the money and power of the Hyun-Ju is yours."

Scary thought. Very scary thought. Ru had spent his entire life being poor enough that food was a luxury. Being able to have anything he wanted whenever he wanted it, all the food and clothes and weapons he fancied, that was terrifying.

And tempting.

He'd be on an even footing with Nthanda, not a ward but an equal. Sure, there was old blood feud issues to deal with, but Ru was pretty sure that a couple of solid blow jobs would take care of that between the two of them. And he'd already proven himself as a friend and ally to Nthanda by saving his life as far as everyone else was concerned. Besides, Ru didn't want to give up this new relationship, no matter what it might or might not become.

"Tabling that," Ru said. He shook his head at Nthanda's frown. "Too big to address right now. Don't want to shut down on you. Now, you were looking for people, right? What bloodlines? My cousin Bala could probably find them for you easily enough if they're alive. Hell, for enough money she could probably get you their blood, tissue samples, so you could create babies that way."

Nthanda pursed his lips for a moment as if he hated the idea of imposing on Ru and Ru's friends but nodded. Didn't look like he wanted to give up on the previous line of conversation given how his eyes lingered on Ru's search results but hey, he did.

He went and sat on the arm of the closest chair, rubbing both his hands over his short hair. It made Ru's palms itch. What did that fluff of hair feel like? Soft? Wiry? He wanted to know. Wasn't much that Ru wanted to know more right now and yeah, that was Ru trying to distract himself but fuck it. Nthanda was gorgeous. Ru wanted him.

"The most suitable line would be the Wirnhier," Nthanda said. "Their bloodline looks to be a near perfect match. Other than them, I was searching for the Keen and the Paquet. All three are supposed to have scions of the line on Melin."

Ru's jaw dropped open.

Wirnhier. That was... unexpected. Really damned unexpected. Bala was Wirnhier and so was Ru, distantly. Real distantly on his blood-father's side. Ma had said that Bala was a cousin but she'd never said just how close or distant the relationship was. Bala had just shrugged and waved Ru's questions away when he was younger.

Might be time to push the point, though. If Nthanda could have kids, had to have kids, he couldn't do much better than Bala. Always presuming Bala would agree to it. She might not agree to have kids herself but Nthanda already said that he had baby chambers ready and waiting. Ru was damned certain that if Ru asked for Nthanda, called in a favor from her and did the begging eyes thing, Bala would at the least agree to give genetic samples. Maybe even a couple of eggs.

"That's Bala," Ru said finally. Reluctantly. Very reluctantly because much as he loved Bala he found he wanted to keep Nthanda to himself. "Me, too, distantly. At least I think it's distant. Can't be certain. Ma never told me how I was related to Bala, just that we were."

Which dropped Nthanda's jaw open just like Ru's had.

He laughed, saving the search results away and then connecting to the intersystem comm systems. Nthanda's system was so damned old that he couldn't properly seal it against anyone overhearing. That was going to have to change and damned quick. No way was he going to let that continue.

"What are you doing?" Nthanda asked.

"Calling Bala and seeing if we can go visit," Ru said. "Best to ask direct but she might have..."

He stopped as Bala's system connected, flashing a 'not secure you idiot!' message with a little caricature of Bala shaking her fist at him. Nthanda choked behind Ru, and then laughed as Bala appeared, scowling furiously at him. Her hair was up in a messy knot on the top of her head and her makeup was half on. She had on the ratty old peacock blue robe with the black velvet collar. It was still stained by makeup.

"I thought you were going to wash that thing," Ru scolded her, grinning at the way she snarled.

"What the hell piece of crap system you using?" Bala demanded. "This isn't secure. What do you want, Ru?"

"Visit?" Ru asked. He pressed his hands together in front of his lips, bowing properly like he was praying even though he was laughing. "Got someone I want you to meet. Saved his life today and well, there's debt now. Besides, I think you'll like him."

He'd never brought a lover to meet Bala before. Never had one that he wanted Bala to meet. None of them could have handled her, not her intelligence or her cutting wit. Not even her riches and power. Best that would have happened was them trying to seduce Bala and getting their damned fool asses killed by Bala's security team.

But Nthanda wasn't a lover. Yet. Maybe ever. He was a brother and a friend, for all that they'd only just met. Ru really wanted to see what Bala thought of Nthanda and vice versa. Pretty sure that they'd loathe each other on first sight and then after about a half hour or so of sniping decide that they were best friends forever. They were too much alike not to end up friends.

Apparently that showed in Ru's eyes because Bala's eyes went wide for a moment, then narrowed as she studied what she could see of the room behind Ru. He didn't explain. Didn't expand on what he'd asked. On an unsecure system that'd be stupid.

Finally, Bala scowled. "Fine. One hour, don't be late. And tell the idiot he better upgrade that system or you're not allowed to call me direct again."

Her system cut out, leaving Ru to laugh and shake his head. He turned and grinned at the chagrin on Nthanda's face. Nthanda gestured towards his computer with the best set of sad begging eyes that Ru had ever seen, asking if his computer was really that bad. When Ru shrugged and nodded his agreement, Nthanda sighed.

"My father designed it," Nthanda admitted.

"History is history," Ru said. "I understand wanting links to the past but this is stupid. You getting it upgraded. And you getting those couches fixed or replaced, too. Hell, you need to get your whole security system upgraded, Nthanda. Nowhere near enough checks and double-checks around here, especially given that I don't have access to anything. Shoulda been guards stopping us all over the damned place to verify that I was allowed to come in here. Didn't even see a single lock to keep people out of your rooms. What the hell happens if someone turns against you and tries to assassinate you? This needs fixing bad."

"We... rely on cybernetics," Nthanda said, frowning. "You truly believe we need changes."

"About fifty million," Ru said. "Come on. Get a jacket with a bit more armor and we'll head down. Gonna need body guards, at least ten. Prefer twenty."

"How deep are we going?" Nthanda asked.

The way he stood, Nthanda looked like he was ready to kill an army just to protect Ru. Nice and appreciated given where they were going. When Ru shook his head, Nthanda frowned, up on his toes and ready for battle just that fast. Ru shut off the computer system, stood and then smiled grimly.

"We're not going down," Ru said. "We're going up. Crystal Gardens, heart of the richest neighborhood in Hexal City. You're going to see the Platinum Consort, Nthanda. Add some weapons, put on a nice shirt and be ready to defend yourself. No one more vicious around than the people who court Bala. And you're there to try to take her away."

Nthanda paled. He swallowed audibly. "I will inform Lee and Imani immediately. I hope that you are right that this is the path to follow."

"It is," Ru said. "Even if Bala doesn't want to give you a kid or genetic material, she'll know where to find another relative or someone from the Keen and Paquet. Bala knows everyone, has her hands in everything. It'll work out. Just mind your manners with her. Her crew got no patience for rude people."

Nthanda nodded.

It was going to be interesting as hell, that was sure. Ru followed Nthanda out of the library and wondered just exactly where his life was going. Brother to a Ceelen, last heir to the Hyun-Ju, and apparently working to set up the man he was in serious lust over with his first lover; life didn't get much weirder than this.

# 8. Crystal Garden

It was odd that a beautifully maintained garden illuminated by crystals the size of a man could feel more dangerous than any battle Nthanda had ever been in. Perhaps it was the way Ru stalked in front of Nthanda, knives openly strapped to his shapely thighs. Or perhaps it was the thousand and one security systems making his cybernetics scream.

More than likely it was simply the looks they got as they approached Bala Wirnhier's home. If it was a home. He doubted that it was a home. How could anyone feel at home when they were surrounded by vicious eyed fops and sour-mouthed wastrels of all genders who looked as though they had never worked a day in their lives? Every one of which who looked at Nthanda as though he was a meal to be consumed and then away from Ru as if they were afraid to even gaze at his face.

Indeed, his brother was more powerful than Nthanda had thought. They were challenged ten times before they entered the garden. Each time, Ru stared and the guards backed down. Once in the garden in all its frosty artificial beauty, Ru was a black-clad knife cutting through the frosted sugar nonsense. Every challenge was met with a glare, a murmured comment or a snapped order to contact the Platinum Consort herself.

Finally, they arrived at a small lake, the waters shimmering white with underwater lights. Pure white lilies floated on the surface, each of them glimmering in the evening as if they were artificial, too. Tiny turtles, silver and gold and pale milky jade, swam in the waters beneath the lilies. They too looked artificial.

"Is anything real here?" Nthanda murmured to Ru as half of his contingent of guards began to cross a series of white marble stepping stones that led to a graceful house set on stilts in the middle of the lake. It too was white, glowing with lights, and so coldly artificial that Nthanda wished that he could turn and leave immediately.

"The danger," Ru replied. He snorted at Nthanda's stare. "Told you. You need every guard you've got. We're not safe here. It's just a fact."

Nthanda pressed his lips together to keep his many comments and questions inside. This was Ru's first lover, his cousin, his sole remaining family. It was not proper for Nthanda to say that they should turn and leave this very instant, as much as he wanted to.

He wanted so very much to go back to the _Graceful Swan_ where Imani would even now be arranging for his precious couches to be refinished. Where Lee was starting work to upgrade the computer and security systems to meet Ru's standards. Nthanda wanted to go home, to take Ru home, and leave all of this behind.

Unfortunately, Nthanda had to have heirs so he followed Ru across the stepping stones, stomach turning flips as he saw snow-white sharks under the surface and what looked like human bones littering the bottom of the lake.

Setting foot on that brilliantly white porch surrounding the pure white house with its tiny accents of gold leaf had Nthanda's stomach in knots so hard that he had to swallow back down his meal. Nineteen separate alarms sounded in his system to warn him that he was in danger. Physical threats like hidden guards and laser guns tucked into the eaves, electronic ones like the array of programs that attempted to hack his system, it all stopped Nthanda in his tracks.

Ru raised an eyebrow.

"You're certain that this is wise?" Nthanda asked Ru, voice shaking.

"Bala, quit it," Ru said with an annoyed roll of his eyes. "Quit picking on him."

The threat warnings stopped. Entirely. Nthanda stared at Ru, at the elaborate carved and inlaid door that depicted coupling people of indeterminate gender surrounded by pristine white lilies. Ru shrugged as if it was to be expected.

"She's family," Ru said. "And you wouldn't check out someone who came in with your family member? Say when your daughter brings home a lover someday."

Nthanda opened his mouth, eyebrows rising at the sheer hatred he had for that concept. "Point made. I still am not at all sure this is a wise idea."

"Wise?" Ru said with that wicked grin that looked so terribly dangerous. "No. Necessary? Yes. Come on. Bala'll calm down soon enough. You two just need to meet each other, get over the hatred and realize you're best friends."

Nthanda's guards, Lee included, pressed their lips together in an effort not to laugh out loud. He nearly laughed as well though Nthanda's laughter was anything but amused. This was not a person he could like. That was clear. There was no chance of that.

Still, as Ru pushed the carved doors open, revealing more and more and more white inside, Nthanda tried to let his hostility go. He hadn't met Bala yet. She'd seemed quite fierce despite the mess of her hair and the brilliant scarlet of her lips. Odd that her skin had been paper white but perhaps that was part of why she'd chosen a home so incredibly devoid of color.

They passed through three chambers, four hallways and a floating garden that made the hair stand up on Nthanda's arm because he could have sworn that there were thousands of tiny octopus writhing in the pool but every time he looked at it straight on he saw nothing. Only when he looked away did movement appear in his peripheral vision.

"Darling," Bala said, voice as deep as Nthanda's and resonate in ways that made Nthanda suspect alterations. "So good to see you."

She was the same height as Ru, with the same sleek black hair. Bala wore it loose other than two strands by the temple which had been braided and looped into a complicated knot on the back of her head. Her dress was scarlet and gold. The bright red lips now had gold and blue eye shadow, carefully crafted shadows in green on her cheeks and nails easily four inches long on her fingertips. There was the scent of gardenia, impossible in a place like this, except apparently nothing was impossible for this woman Ru cared so much for.

Bala was an explosion of color in the midst of an ocean of white and Nthanda realized as he stared and she stared and Ru rolled his eyes while shaking his head at the two of them that he had absolutely no idea what to make of her.

"Breathe," Ru drawled at Nthanda. He hugged Bala who was stiff for a moment as she stared at Nthanda.

Then the ice melted and Bala laughed like a little girl while rocking Ru and hugging him tightly. He groaned and laughed, his black against Bala's color the perfect accent rather than a strange shadow in Bala's white world. They looked good together, comfortable and happy as Bala pressed her forehead against Ru's, both of them grinning as they held hands.

"So who is this?" Bala asked, voice now high and sweet instead of deep.

"My new brother," Ru said. "Nthanda Ceelen who slipped his watch earlier today and ended up in the Undercity where I met him. And kept him from being knifed in the throat."

"Idiot," Bala huffed at Nthanda who had to groan because Lee and his guards all glared at him, not Ru. "Don't do that to people who care about you."

"I shall not in the future," Nthanda said with a tired sigh. He glared, not as fiercely as he wanted, at Ru. "Is this how you will introduce me forever?"

"Mmmn, yeah, think so," Ru said. He grinned at Nthanda's huff of outrage. "Explains how we met, how we got to be brothers and why you're surrounded by guards now all in one quick sentence."

Bala laughed.

Instead of something deep and throaty or high and girlish, her laugh was a bray that Nthanda would have expected from Lee. Loud and brash and completely unaware of any shock she might cause with it. So many surprises in Bala, so many.

She waved for Nthanda to sit on the pristine white cushions. He waited until she reclined on a large one that was more bed than cushion. To his dismay, Ru settled in with Bala, letting her drape herself over his lap and then laughing at the way he played with the ends of her hair.

"Silly boy," Bala said.

"Always for you," Ru said, grinning. Such a beautiful grin, too, open and happy and child-like in ways that Nthanda had not known that Ru could be. "Here for a couple of things besides meeting you."

"As expected given that you're with him," Bala said. She waved casually towards Nthanda, four inch nails gleaming like knives. They might be knives. The undersides looked entirely unnatural and sharp. "You're looking for scions of the Keen and Paquet, yes? I have information on where you can find two of them, available, even."

"Also the Wirnhier," Nthanda said. "Which Ru tells me you are a member of and that he is, distantly, as well."

That prompted Bala to sit up straight, frowning intensely not at Nthanda but at Ru who blinked and cocked his head as if confused as to what disturbed Bala. She reached out to cup Ru's cheek, pinching his ear so hard between two fingers, not finger and thumb, that Ru squawked. He did not, Nthanda noted with more than a little surprise, try to free his ear from Bala's grip. In fact, he was very careful not to struggle against her at all. Perhaps those long nails truly did hide knives.

"Distantly?" Bala huffed. "We're half-sibs, you lump of used up carbon!"

"What?"

Ru's squawk was so horrified that Bala let go. She stared at him, turned to stare at Nthanda. All Nthanda could do was shrug because he had no idea whatsoever. When Bala turned back, she shifted position so that she could sit next to Ru with her legs crossed, elegant dress bunched up around her legs in a rumpled mess that would make Imani shudder with horror.

Despite the different clothes, the different genders, they looked so much alike in that moment that Nthanda could easily believe that they were siblings. Even full siblings with Bala as the older sibling and Ru the younger.

"Ru, we have the same father," Bala said slowly. "I thought Aunt Sashi told you that before she died."

"No," Ru said, cheeks pale and hands shaking. "She never said that. Not once. We... Bala, we were lovers!"

"I know, I know," Bala said with an impatient wave as if that was not a consideration at all. "I didn't find out until after we broke up. Apparently Aunt Sashi decided that the nanites would keep it from being an issue. It's not like either of us could get pregnant with someone too close. Not that we would get pregnant, especially me. You can get fat and awkward if you want but I'm not doing it ever."

Ru shook his head and ran his hands over his face. They shook badly, vibrating as badly as an engine about to fly apart. He was pale, too, eyes wide and mouth working even though no noise came out. After a moment he shut his eyes, swallowed, and then sat still as stone. Nthanda might have thought that Ru was a sculpture, not a person, until he let out a gust of air and frowned at Bala.

"She never told me," Ru said. "All she ever said was that we shouldn't marry, that we wouldn't suit. That was it. I had no idea we shared a father, Bala."

"Apparently Grandma Derby was being a pest about Aunt Sashi having a baby, at least one baby, and when my mother got pregnant Aunt Sashi decided that he'd do for her too," Bala said. "It was just sperm donation, I think, but we are half sibs."

Nthanda let out a breath, rubbing his abruptly sweaty palms over his thighs. He couldn't imagine not knowing something like that but then Ru did always refer to his father as a 'blood-father'. It opened up a whole host of possibilities that Nthanda had forbidden himself to consider, all of them ones that would change how he and Ru interacted.

If their genetics were compatible, then they could actually marry. It wasn't impossible. That was a huge if, especially given Ru's apparent upbringing, but it was one that made Nthanda's heart rise and beat against his breastbone as if it wanted to fly straight into Ru's hands.

"Right," Ru said. "Which brings up another really big issue. Apparently Ma was the last heir to the Hyun-Ju, Bala. Which means that now I'm the last heir. And as you're my sister that means you're drawn into it, too."

Bala stared at him. She blinked rapidly, turned and looked at Nthanda, still blinking far too fast.

"We discovered that just before calling you," Nthanda explained.

Her eyes narrowed. "On that piece of washed up crap you call a computer system. You did a search on that system, called me, and then came straight here. Is that what you saying?"

"Ah, yes?" Nthanda said.

Bala groaned.

Scarlet silk flew around her as she rolled to her feet. She stomped out of the room, yelling to her staff to increase the security, bring in a debugging team and to pull up her system because she had problems to fix. Ru sighed, head cocked to the right as he smiled wistfully at Bala's back.

Nthanda could hear people shouting, scrambling, running around but here in this room there was quiet. Yes, Lee shifted and looked completely uncomfortable. Yes, the other guards swallowed as Nthanda's systems altered him to a huge surge in weapons deployment and activation around them. And yes, Ru rolled to his feet with the grace of a predator stalking his prey.

"Told you your system was crap," Ru said.

"I take it that this may have been a stupid choice?" Nthanda asked as he stood, much less gracefully than either Ru or Bala.

"Nah," Ru said. He grinned and wagged his eyebrows. "I mighta deliberately come straight here because I knew Bala's people could keep us safe and contact the Hyun-Ju without causing an outright war. No one messes with her. It's just dumb to do so."

"So those are human bones in the lake," Nthanda said. His voice came out pale and weak and shook somewhat but he thought that was quite appropriate.

"Could be," Ru said. He laughed. "Could be. I've never asked and not gonna. Come on. She'll have questions we need to answer. Best to be right there to answer them than make her come to us."

He followed Bala with complete confidence, as at place in this terrifying white fortress of artificiality as he could be. It took all of Nthanda's courage to follow. Facing Bala's fury was not something he wanted to do but the fate of the Ceelen demanded he brave it. Until he had an heir, several heirs, Ru and Bala were his best hopes.

That he wanted Ru in his life forever was a different issue that Nthanda would have to think about later, once things calmed down. If they ever did.

# 9. Hyun-Ju

Watching Bala kick ass was always a glorious thing. She was smart, fast, and downright terrifying when she got going. Which was awe inspiring. Especially when she was kicking ass for him. It always made Ru feel like the little boy who'd learned to fight by using a rubber knife against Bala while she fought on her knees and grinned at every single kill strike he got in. She was six years older and had hit a growth spurt early so she'd been enormously tall to little Ru.

Having Bala kicking ass for Nthanda, too, well, that was a strange mixture of wonderful and terrifying because she ripped everyone involved into little bloody shreds. Metaphorically speaking. Not literally.

Lee got a stripe taken out of his hide for the horrible security system the Ceelen used to secure their internal comms. Imani, shaking and eyes full of tears, got ripped into for the lack of tracking on both Nthanda and Ru's locations. And Bala just about tore the entire governing structure of the Ceelen apart before she decided that no, she couldn't fix it from her home and that no, she wasn't going to let someone else fix it either.

"Cancel all my appointments for the next three days," Bala shouted to her harried assistant Athaliah. "Tell them whatever you want. Anything!"

Athaliah's eyes went wide as she clutched her pad to her chest. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Bala replied, laughter suddenly in her voice where there'd been none before.

"Thank you!" Athaliah exclaimed.

She ran off, chortling with delight that made Lee step back, one hand over his chest as if he was having a heart attack. Bala rolled her eyes but Ru snorted and punched Lee in the arm. Much lighter than he would have with anyone else, like Bala, but still hard enough to make Lee flinch.

"She's available," Ru said. He looked at Bala whose lips were pursed. "Is still available, isn't she?"

"Oh yes," Bala said. "Quite. That was a pathetic strike."

"Baseline humans with no healing functions on their nanites," Ru explained.

Bala's eyes went wide. She turned and stared at Nthanda who had lurked in the background with his shoulders firmly against one of the serene white walls. He shrugged, smiled ruefully and then sighed when Bala shook her head at him.

Neither of them explained their points of view but they didn't snipe at each other, either. So it was good enough. Nthanda still looked spooked. Not quite as spooked as he had crossing the lake but definitely on edge. Ru could understand it. The entire place was designed to keep people off balance. If Bala invited someone back here it was generally to fuck them or to fuck with them. Whichever, she wanted to be the one in charge and keeping people on the edge of panic worked nicely for that.

Ru was really glad they'd broken up when they were young, completely aside from the surprise sibling thing. He couldn't have handled living Bala's lifestyle. Hell, he barely handled his own lifestyle. Running deliveries was decent work, not safe, granted, but it paid well enough for him to have acceptably good real food every few days. And now, with Nthanda, things were going to be completely different so yeah, Ru couldn't have dealt with handling Bala's drama and Nthanda's power at the same time.

Scary to think that he was going to have his own money and power to sort out soon, too.

"All right," Bala said, glaring at Ru and then Nthanda. Ru didn't flinch. Nthanda did. So did Lee and his guards. "We're ready. I've got special transport to the spaceport arranged. Once we get to the _Graceful Swan_ I will be very busy dealing with upgrading everything that's wrong with the Ceelen. Ru, the Hyun-Ju are already on their way. They noticed your search, reversed it and decided you need to be 'rescued'. And then didn't listen when I told them you were fine after I contacted them. So you'll have that to deal with."

"Lovely," Ru groaned. "Just what I didn't want."

"Nthanda," Bala said, completely ignoring Ru just as she always did and as he'd expected, "you have three people working against you. I can't deal with them. I wouldn't even if I could. You have to do it. I expect you to do it effectively or I won't let Ru fuck you."

"Hey!" Ru exclaimed.

"That... is not likely to be possible," Nthanda said, face going pale and eyes far too wide, especially given that his pants filled out. "I am his Guardian."

"Irrelevant," Bala said with an imperious wave of her hand that made every single one of the Ceelen flinch. "I can find ways around that."

"So can I," Ru said.

"Either way," Bala said, glaring at Ru for interrupting, "I'm not letting my little brother settle down with someone who can't manage his own affairs. He gets in far too much trouble for that. The both of you would drown in the chaos. So take care of it."

She whirled, scarlet silk flaring out high enough that the knives strapped to her calves were visible for an instant. Then she strode towards the back door as if she intended to personally gut everyone that got in her way. Her staff followed, moving much the same way, even Athaliah who was never a fighter at all. Ru snorted, shrugged and then gestured for Nthanda and his crew to follow after.

The trip back to the spaceport was done with atmospheric flyers, three of them in close formation that made Nthanda twitch at first and then coo as he realized that no, this wasn't done with computers. The pilots were actually controlling the flyers. More secure given that Ru could see chaos on the streets below.

"Just how many people did you let know that you were leaving, Bala?" Ru asked.

"Oh, I made a general announcement," Bala said, focused on the pad Athaliah had given her instead of Ru. "Best way to keep any assassins from catching the two of you. Or me."

"So those are actually riots down there," Ru said with a tired little sigh.

"Riots?" Nthanda gasped.

He looked, frowned, and then stared at Ru with such an obvious request for explanation that Ru shrugged. Frankly, Ru didn't really know how to explain Bala's power over Hexal City. It wasn't something he'd ever figured out.

Yes, she was rich. She was powerful and knew everyone. It was pretty much a fact that she had dirt on every politician and upper on the planet. But there was more to her grip on people, on the city. When he was sixteen and she was twenty-two, Bala had gotten a very bad cold. One of the ones that gave you a fever, knocked you flat, made you sleep and cough and blow your nose every few seconds even with your nanites trying to destroy it. Happened even to Gensyn if the virus was virulent enough.

There had been riots, widespread riots.

Bala, somehow, had gathered so much power and influence that everyone was affected by her least little action. It was something that Ru accepted part of how the world worked. Water flowed down. Slime was nasty. Bala was Bala, was the Platinum Consort, was the secret ruler of the world. What Bala wanted, Bala got.

"It's Bala," Ru said.

"Very helpful," Nthanda grumbled at him.

"Hey, I don't understand it, either," Ru said. "Bala is who she is. She's powerful. Everyone's afraid of her except me. And maybe Athaliah."

"Oh no," Athaliah exclaimed, bright and perky and cheerful as she waited for Bala to give her more orders. "I'm terrified of her. Makes working such fun. I hate being bored."

Which seemed to be enough to make Nthanda shut up.

Ru settled into his seat, then settled into a seat in the control room of Nthanda's burly flyer. How could his life have changed so much so quickly? This morning he'd been more concerned with making a few credits so he could have a real meal than with anything else. If there was anything he hated more than tangling with the Guard, it was going to Bala and asking her to feed him. So even if he wasn't as weirdly successful as she was, Ru had always made sure that he provided for himself, no matter what it took.

Oddly, Ru didn't mind the thought of Nthanda providing for him. Well, not as much. He'd love to have the money and power to take care of Nthanda, to be able to curl right up next to him and put his head on Nthanda's shoulder, but there was something nice about the thought of Nthanda making sure he'd eaten, that he had clothes, that he was safe.

Nthanda was different. So very different and it was odd that he was so profoundly different in Ru's mind from Bala given that they were both richer, more powerful and older than Ru. Except no, it wasn't that surprising. Because Nthanda had made a point from the moment he offered to be Ru's Guardian to make it clear that Ru's life was his choice. What he did was up to him. Nthanda would back him, support him, do what he could to help Ru make it happen.

If Ru had gone to Bala and said 'hey, I want to track down Grandma Derby's family' Bala would have done the searches herself, contacted them herself, set up ground rules for contact and probably made all the legal decisions without saying a word to Ru. He'd only have heard about it after she had it all sorted out. Which, really, was why he'd waited until he could do it without Bala instantly finding out.

Sure, Ru had run straight to Bala after he knew that he was the heir to the Hyun-Ju but that was because he knew he was in over his head and no one was better than Bala about making things happen. It had been his choice at that point.

And that, Ru smiled as he stood and went to sit next to Nthanda who stared at him for a moment before shifting over so that Ru had the space he needed, was why Ru would let Nthanda take care of him and he'd fight Bala's version of care. Nthanda respected Ru. Bala still say him as a little boy.

"So," Ru said and smirked when Bala raised an eyebrow at him, "Bala will run right over the top of you and your people if you let her. Literally. I've seen her knock people down and then walk on top of them to make a point. She will set things up and not tell you. She will make decisions and not fill you in until you challenge her on it."

"Hey," Bala protested but it was so mild and meek that it was confirmation rather than objection.

"Which means that if you object to anything she's done already, you better say so," Ru continued as if Bala hadn't spoken. "And you need to watch her like a hawk and tell Imani to bite back whenever Bala or her staff bites her. Lee, too. I mean, yeah, the security system needs to be updated and your computer system is a complete hunk of junk."

Nthanda started snickering, lips pressed together as if he was fighting the biggest grin ever.

"But that doesn't mean you want to end up with her system," Ru said. He nodded when Nthanda's eyes went wide. "It's your ship. Your company. Companies, I presume. So it's your choice how they work. She can give input and strong guidance but it's you and your people that have to live with it. Don't let her stomp on you."

"I'm tempted to tell you that you can't live with him," Bala grumbled.

"Bala," Ru said and he used his version of Ma's 'you done crossed a line and you 'bout to get your ass whupped' voice. It made Bala's head snap up and her fingers stop on her pad. "I'm an adult. Not a child. You don't get to tell me where I live or with who. There a reason I worked deliveries. And that because I not a kid and I not being treated like one."

She flinched. Sighed. Nodded and sketched an apology with her fingers before going back to studying her pad.

Next to him, Nthanda shifted. It wasn't uncomfortable, like he wanted to be anywhere else but between the two of them, not that he really was. No, it was his chest puffing out, his shoulders going all proud and his chin coming up as if he was about to burst with pride in Ru. Silly man. They'd only just met even if that lift ride seemed ten years ago now instead of a matter of hours.

Ru leaned into Nthanda's side, laughing at the way Nthanda froze and then laughed quietly. The entire universe seemed to be unravelling around Ru right now with Bala leaving her floating palace and Ru suddenly rich and powerful, if he actually was going to get to claim Grandma Derby's position, but Ru didn't feel half as off balance as he should have.

Because Nthanda was right there, backing him up. And come what may, Ru thought he could deal with it as long as he had Nthanda at his side.

# 10. Rival Invasion

Ru's advice lingered in Nthanda's mind through the nerve-wracking flight back to the _Graceful Swan_ , through the battle with Bala to keep her changes from completely altering the way the Ceelen worked, and even through comforting Imani's storm of tears until she drew in a shuddering breath, wiped her cheeks and strode out of Nthanda's private quarters to go into battle against Bala and her staff herself.

An adult.

Nthanda was an adult. He was three years older than Ru according to Bala. Ru had shrugged, apparently not caring about age differences. But Ru was an adult and he demanded an adult's respect from his sister. It was a thing to be admired.

And perhaps emulated.

Because Nthanda had grown up among his staff. They had all seen him as a little boy with too long arms and legs, front tooth knocked out and all but vibrating with enthusiasm for a new toy, a new weapon, a new book. He knew that Lee still saw him as a child. Imani not as much but even she tended to take it for granted that Nthanda would take her advice even when he felt strongly that it was not the right thing for himself or the Ceelen.

"I do need to stand up for myself more," Nthanda said.

"Mm, yeah, think so," Ru said. "Not an easy thing. Bala'll slip and treat me like a kid again. She's used to it. I'm used to it. It happens. And when she does I'll tell her to stop one way or another. And it'll be better for a bit. Takes a lot to get through to people you knew since childhood that you're grown, you know?"

"I do know," Nthanda said. He looked around his denuded living room, the old leather couches replaced with temporary ones that were sleek and modern and probably utterly comfortable. "So ugly. I hate it."

Ru cackled, absolutely cackled as he flung himself down on one of the bland navy couches. "Very comfy. Should try it."

"I think the ugly would rub off on me," Nthanda said with a grin at Ru's laughter. "I dare not risk it."

"You ask her who the three people are?" Ru asked, much more seriously as he sat up once more. "Or do you know?"

Nthanda sighed and sat on the couch opposite Ru. "I hate that this is comfortable. Terrible thing. But yes, I know. I knew as soon as she said that there were three people working against me. One is my third cousin Jing Althuis. If I fail or fall then it will fall to him to lead the Ceelen. And frankly, I suspect he would do a stellar job of it. He is stunningly intelligent, frighteningly charismatic and very organized. Not creative, but quite methodical in reaching his goals."

"Sounds like a good leader, yeah," Ru said. "He want the job?"

"I... don't know," Nthanda said. "I do think that he would take it if he had to but he has never pushed to take the position from me even when I have made truly stupid choices in the past. It may be a matter of him deciding that the Ceelen must have a better leader. Or him deciding that he must manage things from the background whether I will it or not."

"Hire him," Ru declared, one finger stabbing at Nthanda's chest like a spear. "Mind like that on your side is a good thing. What about the others?"

A very good idea and one that Nthanda had considered more times than he could count. Lee had always advised against it. Imani always sniffed and curled a lip when Jing's name came up in conversation. There was a reason for their disdain, certainly. Nthanda would have to investigate and decide whether their reasoning was sufficient to deprive the Ceelen of one of their most brilliant minds. He doubted that it was.

"Next would be Neelam Garcia," Nthanda said. "She is... well. A contractor. We hired her in to handle a major accounting problem. She turned out to be so brilliant at it that she was rapidly promoted. Father trusted her utterly. I never have. Frankly, I suspect her of being a spy and of embezzlement. However, I have never been able to muster sufficient proof to remove her. She has a great many allies in my command structure, not just on the _Graceful Swan_ but on many of our ships."

"Sic Bala on that one," Ru said with a little snort. "She'll figure it out quick. Better yet, ask Bala to have Athaliah work with Lee on it. Make both of them happy and you'll get answers fast. Athaliah loves jobs like that, especially if she has someone to guard her back as she tears people's finances apart. Certified auditor, that's Athaliah."

Nthanda grinned. "I will hire her for it, a short-term contract. Anything I can do to be rid of Neelam without having half my staff cut my throat would be welcome. The final one is the hardest: Yaroslava Orlando. He was my father's closest friend and confidant. I have a great deal of respect for him but he truly does not see me as a grown man and has said many times that he feels I am too young to lead the Ceelen without 'proper supervision and oversight'. That one, well. That one will not be easy to solve."

Ru winced and sighed as he flopped back on the ugly, horribly comfortable couch. "Got nothing for that one. Sorry."

There was little to be done about Yaroslava. At least, Nthanda had never found an adequate solution to the issue. Yaroslava was one of the Ceelen's greater leaders, respected by all, and completely dismissive of Nthanda's ability to lead. To rule. He had frankly given up that fight several years earlier when he reached the age of majority and Yaroslava had laughed, patted his head as though he was a child and commented that in twenty or thirty years he might make a passible replacement for his father.

Which still hurt. Nthanda suspected that it would continue to hurt for a very long time. He shifted on the ridiculously comfortable couch and then shook his head as he stood. Truly, pacing was better than sitting on that horrid thing. As Nthanda paced across the room, hands clasped behind his back and eyes on the ground, Ru sat up and then lounged half over the back of his couch. His lips curled in a smile that tempted Nthanda to stop, to kiss, to taste deeply of Ru's mouth.

"Do you know what you will do when the Hyun-Ju arrive?" Nthanda asked instead. A marginally safer topic of conversation.

"Keep them from killing people," Ru said so readily that he must have been thinking about it, "find out just what Grandma Derby was in the Hyun-Ju and how she ended up on Melin, see if I even want to be part of them and keep Bala from taking over the instant they arrive. I figure I might manage one or two of those. Probably not three. Certainly not all of them."

"A wise man as well as dangerous," Nthanda said. He laughed at Ru's mockingly courtly half bow over the back of the couch. "Perhaps we should repair to the control center. They would know best if the Hyun-Ju have arrived."

"And they wouldn't automatically tell you?" Ru asked.

Nthanda paused, frowning. "...No. I don't know that they would, actually."

"Let's go," Ru said. "Time to remind your people that you're an adult, too. You got my back, I got yours. Point me at anyone who needs to be reminded that they're baseline human."

That prompted a startled laugh. Nthanda nodded and then led Ru through the hallways of the _Graceful Swan_. Entirely too many of the crew avoided meeting his eyes. He would bet half the annual profits that Bala and his three trouble-makers were already undermining him. When he got to the control center, yes, one of them was there. So was Bala.

Thankfully, Yaroslava and Bala were completely focused on one another and not at all on the door or what anyone else was doing. Nthanda shook his head at the vicious little low-voiced argument they were carrying on over the comm officer's head. He strode to Athaliah's side, amused despite his annoyance that Lee was hovering near her as if he wanted to fall to his knees before her.

"I have a request for you," Nthanda said, not surprised that he saw Bala raise an imperiously silencing hand to Yaroslava or that Yaroslava curled his lip and glared down at her. "I would like a complete audit to be done of the Ceelen's financial data. I had been advised by Neelam Garcia, our Vice Controller of Accounting, that it was too costly and time consuming to be done. Do you agree?"

"Oh, goodness, no," Athaliah exclaimed. "You should have yearly full audits done. I have no idea why you wouldn't. Every area should be audited at least once a year, preferably twice."

"Would Bala allow me to hire you, short term contract of course, do lead such an audit?" Nthanda asked. "It has been entirely too long since one was done. At least a decade."

"Bala?" Athaliah asked, pad clutched to her chest, eyes wide and bouncing on her toes like a tiny child being offered a special treat.

"Market rates," Bala said. "And she's right. That really does need to be done yearly."

"Now see here," Yaroslava huffed, "there's no need for any such thing. Neelam is a woman of great integrity. I don't think I like what you're implying here, woman."

"She isn't implying," Nthanda said before Bala could do more than whirl and hiss up at him. "I am. I'm stating it. I believe and have believed that there is something wrong with our accounting and that it has been wrong for a great many years." He held up one finger, glaring as Yaroslava puffed out his chest and attempted to look older and wiser even though he was already the oldest person in the control center. "Are you the leader of the Ceelen?"

Yaroslava stared at him, mouth open in such shock that Nthanda had the wild impulse to apologize. But Ru was at his side, hand on his belt and a glare furrowing his brows. So Nthanda raised his chin, stared back and waited while the silence in the control center stretched until it became a living breathing monster waiting to tear them all apart.

"You are, my Lord," Yaroslava finally said. "I still object."

"Your objection is heard," Nthanda replied. "And dismissed. If you lead then it would be your choice. It is not your choice. Please submit the contract to me as soon as possible, Athaliah. I would like to have you begin today if you can."

"I'll do it right away," Athaliah said, squealing and giggling as she set to work on her pad.

Such a thing to be excited for. Nthanda didn't understand the joy but he still looked forward to her results, no matter what they said. He could hope that Athaliah would find nothing untoward but in his heart he knew that he would have to take action against Neelam sooner or later. That still left Jing to confront but the issue of the Hyun-Ju was much more urgent.

"Have the Hyun-Ju arrived in-system?" Nthanda asked.

"Yes, my Lord," the comm officer said, glancing towards Bala and Yaroslava who both glowered at him. "They have requested that we allow them to speak with their ah, 'captured king'."

"Oh, I'm a king now, am I?" Ru said with so much amusement that Nthanda grinned at him. "And I assume they," he waved towards Yaroslava and Bala derisively, "decided I'm much too young and inexperienced to answer them myself."

The comm officer cleared his throat, lips twitching with amusement as he shrugged noncommittally. Yaroslava grumbled something under his breath that made Bala sneer at him. Nthanda shook his head and clapped his hands as hard as he could, startling everyone other than Ru and Bala. Bala frowned at him. Ru only raised an eyebrow.

"Who leads the Ceelen?" Nthanda asked, staring at the comm officer.

"You do, my Lord," the comm officer replied so readily that it calmed the rage rising in Nthanda's breast. "Which I did attempt to tell them. I was not heard. And when I attempted to signal you my hand was slapped away."

Bala winced at that. So it came from both sides.

"You are here because you are my brother's sister, Bala Wirnhier," Nthanda said. "Also so that we might request a DNA sample to see if our genetics would combine in a fruitful fashion. You are not here to take over the Ceelen. And I had thought that you were not going to treat Ru as a child. There was conversation to that point on our way here, was there not?"

"Ru, you know that you're no good at this," Bala huffed.

"I not a child," Ru said, so cold and so furious that Bala turned away, golden cheeks going pale. "You keep this up, we not siblings anymore, Bala. Love you but you pissing me off."

"Taught you to fight!" Bala snapped at him. "This biggest fight you ever seen!"

"Is it?" Nthanda asked as Ru's shoulders stiffened and his lip curled with rage. "Open a channel. Put them on the biggest view screen. Now. I do not care if the communication is open to the entire system, the entire galaxy. I will speak with them now."

"My Lord!" Yaroslava gasped.

"You can't!" Bala shouted only to groan as the comm officer did exactly what Nthanda wanted.

They looked like Ru. So much like Ru. Long dark straight hair, golden skin, a dangerous air that heightened when they saw Ru standing next to Nthanda. Ru blinked, staring at them while Nthanda cocked his head and then smiled.

"Anyone who saw them would say that you were Hyun-Ju," Nthanda commented to Ru. "I am surprised that your grandmother and mother were able to hide it at all."

"Not everyone has black skin. Most people on Melin have skin like mine," Ru said with a little snort of amusement. He turned to the screen, crossing his arms over his chest. "You got a problem with me living my own life?"

"He has kidnapped you!" the oldest of the Hyun-Ju declared so furiously that Nthanda sighed. Apparently Ru would have old reactionaries to deal with too. "You will be liberated soon, my King."

"He's baseline," Ru said with such a flat tone that even the old Hyun-Ju with the silver streaks at his temples stilled. "I'm Gensyn. Couldn't keep me from doing what I wanted even if he tried. None of them could."

"We are not... Gensyn," the oldest Hyun-Ju said, blinking in confusion.

"Can't help that," Ru said. "Ma was Gensyn. So was Grandma Derby. Makes me wonder if that's why she didn't live with you lot. Got a lot of questions for you. Behave yourselves or I'll forswear all Hyun-Ju blood and become fully Ceelen. Even my half-sister Bala Wirnhier, the Crystal Consort, can make me do something I don't want to."

"Why are you even there?" the oldest Hyun-Ju demanded but his eyes were suddenly full of fear and the others around him plucked at his sleeves as if begging him to moderate his tone.

"He saved my life," Nthanda said. "I swore to take him as my brother, to be Guardian to him. This was..." he chuckled, grinning at Ru who shrugged, "well before we discovered his connection to the Hyun-Ju. He has been here for less than a day."

"Not even twelve hours yet," Ru said. "Damn, I think it's barely than six."

Nthanda stared at Ru, counting hours and trips to and from the surface. It was very close to six hours. Six incredibly long and complicated hours that had wrought more change in Nthanda's life than all the years he'd lived previously.

Everything had changed with Ru's entrance into his life. He suspected that even more was about to change as the Hyun-Ju stared, fidgeted and then nodded before bowing formally to Ru. It was a dramatic movement, copied by everyone on the screen from the technicians to the oldest Hyun-Ju whose hair was quite nonexistent on the top.

"It will be as you command, my King," the oldest Hyun-Ju said once he'd straightened. "There is much you must be told."

"Please, come aboard the _Graceful Swan,_ " Nthanda said when Ru just sighed. "It is my flagship. I will be honored to be the first of the Ceelen to welcome the Hyun-Ju in friendship."

# 11. Rival Brothers

Not the best idea to bring mortal enemies onto your flagship but Ru could see where Nthanda was coming from. They were supposed to be brothers, much as Ru wished it could be different, so it made no sense for them to treat the Hyun-Ju as enemies. Still, he kinda wished that he'd suggested meeting in Hexal City. Yeah, it was Bala's territory but at least she'd have made sure that no one picked a fight.

As it was, pretty much everyone other than Ru and Nthanda was tense enough that the least little thing might make them break into shards at any second. Bala looked like she wanted to knife Nthanda in the back. Yaroslava, the old guy who clearly didn't see that Nthanda wasn't two anymore, huffed and growled and snarled at everyone that got too close to Nthanda, whether they were Ceelen or otherwise.

"You do get that he's kinda adopting me, don't you?" Ru finally asked Yaroslava ask the Hyun-Ju ship, just one flyer, was seized by the landing bay tractor beams.

"We shall see about that," Yaroslava grumbled.

"No, we shall not," Nthanda said with a glare that could have stripped flesh from bone at a thousand yards. "You forget who you are, Yaroslava. My father gave you great respect and great power. I am not him. Watch your tongue or I will remove you from the ships of the Ceelen and send you to live on a planet somewhere until you die of old age."

Yaroslava's mouth dropped open in such horror that Ru wondered if the old man had been born in space or something. He shook his head as if to deny that Nthanda would do such a thing but there was nothing but steel in Nthanda's eyes, in the set of his shoulders and the jut of his jaw. After a long moment of stunned silence, Yaroslava bowed his head, spread his hands and then stepped back and away. His hands didn't shake half as much as his knees so yeah, Ru would have to keep an eye on him.

"Be polite to them," Bala told Ru the instant Yaroslava backed off.

"You aren't Hyun-Ju, Bala," Ru said in as close to Nthanda's tone as he could manage. It came out angrier, sharper, but it forced Bala back a couple of steps so Ru would take it. "Don't tell me how to interact with the rest of my family. I'm your brother only in genetics. We weren't raised as siblings. I never knew we were related and I have to believe that Ma did that deliberately. She coulda told me when I was little or at any point up until she died. She never told me at all. So don't you presume to tell me how to handle my actual family, the ones that I can claim the bloodline on, the ones Ma and Grandma Derby claimed as family."

"I just... don't want you to get hurt," Bala said soft and sad and so much like the Bala he'd known before she got so powerful.

"Life is full of pain, Bala," Ru said and yeah that came out much too sharp but damn it, he wasn't going to let Bala's paranoia destroy this. "That's what makes the joy worthwhile. Stop trying to keep me from living."

Flyers that the Hyun-Ju used were a completely different design from Nthanda's blocky tank of a flyer. It was sleek and quick looking, oversized engines promising bursts of speed that could take it across a solar system in practically no time. Someone with more aesthetic sense than Nthanda had painted it with a stylized dragon, head extending over the cockpit, wings out onto the wings. Made the thing look a thousand times more amazing than Nthanda's flyer even though the Hyun-Ju's flyer had less than a tenth the firepower.

The Hyun-Ju themselves were like looking into a series of mirrors that showed what Ru would look like as he aged. That one with the green shirt half off, right shoulder covered in tattoos displayed for the world, was Ru in five or so years. Behind him was a man with a high collared black shirt and black pants and black boots who could be Ru in fifteen. And the oldest one with the glitzy gold and scarlet outfit, topped with a floor-length cape of all things, that was what Ru might look like if he lived to eighty or so.

Ru smiled at them, helpless against the awe of seeing himself in other people's faces. Sure, he'd been surrounded by people descended from Old Earth Asian types but they were South Asian when Ru had always looked like he was from northern Asia somewhere. At least that was what his research when he was ten had showed him. Thin nose versus wide, high cheekbones instead of a round face. Yeah, it was amazing seeing so many faces that looked like his.

"Ru Sashi Ceelen," Ru said when the old man came to stand in front of him. They were nearly the same height, Ru only a half inch taller.

"You will take the name," the old man hissed.

"Yeah," Ru said with a shrug. "Good possibility that I'll be siring kids for him so yeah, I got no problem taking the name. Also got no problem with being Ru Sashi Ceelen of the Hyun-Ju. Not so sure about the king thing. Got no training in leading, you know. You got a name or we just gonna call you 'old man'. Because I can do that if you want. Just seems rude."

The old man choked on something that might be amusement, might be horror at the thought of Ru and Nthanda having kids together. "I am Su Carran, regent to the Hyun-Ju. I have been regent since the massacre of the ruling family thirty-five years ago. I had thought that I would pass the mantle onto my son for no member of the family has been found in all that time."

"Makes me real curious, that does," Ru said with a nod that Nthanda echoed. "I mean, Grandma Derby died before I was very old but she had to know that something was wrong. Had to know that the rest of her family was gone. I'm only nineteen. So why'd she stay away? Why didn't she tell Ma or me? Had to be a reason for it and I can't believe it's just that Grandma Derby had Gensyn genetics and nanites."

Su frowned at him, making a little noise of confusion and frustration at the back of his throat. "I do not understand. The laws of the Hyun-Ju forbid crossing with the Gensyn."

"Too late," Ru said and then laughed as Su glowered at him. "Ma was Gensyn. So was Grandma Derby. It's been done for generations. Though I really don't see why you'd make a rule that bald-ass stupid. Woulda thought that warriors would want the strongest children possible."

"You understand it," Su turned to Nthanda whose eyebrows went up. "The line must be kept pure."

Nthanda shook his head no, so grave and sad that Ru patted his shoulder. Which netted glowers from the Ceelen, hands on weapons from the Hyun-Ju and Bala sighing as if it was the stupidest choice Ru could have made. Ru wanted to snap at them all but Nthanda ignored it all with such serenity that Ru decided he should too. For now. They kept that crap up and he'd administer a beat down, even on Bala though she'd be equally likely to beat him through the floor.

"I have watched six of my children die in the best baby chambers on the market before they reach two months of gestation, Su Carran," Nthanda said and wow, so much sorrow in his voice even if it didn't show on his face. Made the Ceelen stand down so that was good. Also made the Hyun-Ju flinch. "My father only managed to bring me to term and that took massive amounts of effort and over a dozen dead fetuses. We have rules against genetic engineering, yes, but I would be honored to have my children share Gensyn traits. Sadly, there are only three lines in the galaxy that we know will, possibly, provide healthy children. Ru carries one of those lines. If he will share his genetics with the Ceelen it will only bring honor to us."

Su Carran opened his mouth and then slowly shut it while nodding twice. He looked damned troubled as he turned back to Ru. So troubled that Ru was tempted to ask the old man to come inside, to one of the conference rooms that Imani had set up, glaring all the while at Bala who glared right back as if Imani couldn't possibly have done it right.

The one he'd glanced into on the way to the landing bay had looked damned good to Ru. Nice big computer system on one side that everyone could access. Big buffet full of food because yeah, feeding people always calmed them down. Plus not one bit of alcohol so hopefully no one would lose their inhibitions and decide to start stabbing. At least Athaliah had looked like she approved.

Whatever'd gotten into Bala, Ru really wished she'd get over it. Her attitude was wearing really damned thin.

"We have had similar problems," Su Carran admitted much more respectfully now. "Your family searched for a solution from the time I was a very young man. None was found."

"Think they did find one solution," Ru said. "Gensyn blood. Nobody's as successful as the Gensyn and that success is built on flexibility, Su. I should call you Su, shouldn't I? Not the whole name and title thing, right?"

The question, prompted by sudden anxiety that he was going to seriously piss people off by using the wrong title just like he always did (deliberately) when visiting Bala at her home, made Su's eyes light up with delight. He laughed, clapping his hands together in front of his nose and then bowing really damned formally.

"I would be honored to be so addressed by you, my King," Su said. "But it is usual for us to use familial names for everyone other than the rulers."

"...doesn't that get confusing?" Ru asked, looking at Nthanda whose eyes were dancing with laughter and whose lips were twitching against another of his room-illuminating grins. "What do you do when you got, like, four of the same family in a room?"

Su laughed again while the other Hyun-Ju grinned at Ru and wow, that was wild. So many of his wicked grins pointing back at him. No wonder people tended to sweat when Ru smiled like that. It was a seriously out of control smile, one that promised death and destruction, laughter and blood. No wonder Bala always told him not to smile at people if he wanted them to think he was friendly.

"Then we say 'Carran the Elder' or use personal names," Su said. "This... may be very interesting, my King."

"Keep up this 'king' thing and yeah, it will be," Ru said. "Come on. We got things to talk about and I got about a billion questions. Just so you know, I count Nthanda as my brother at the very least. More than that, really. We just met but." Ru shrugged. He wasn't going to explain it with Bala hovering in the background like she wanted to undo everything he'd just said. "I won't appreciate hostility to him and the Ceelen. There used to be a feud. I know that. No cause for one now and I won't allow it to continue on my watch."

Su shook his head, all the laughter going away. He stared first at Nthanda who only cocked his head curious and then at Yaroslava who snarled as if he intended to start a fight right then and there. Oh great. The older generation were going to try to keep the whole feud going, weren't they? Damn it, they were going to have to stomp on them all until they stopped being ridiculous.

"There is evidence that the Ceelen were responsible for your family's death, my King," Su said. "Not conclusive but suggestive evidence."

"Bring it," Ru said while the Ceelen guards and especially Yaroslava squawked like they'd been stuck in the kidney. "Pretty sure Bala and her people can determine if it's true."

"If it is true," Nthanda said with a nod of agreement, "then the responsible parties will be summarily exiled from the Ceelen and turned over to the Hyun-Ju for whatever punishment you deem appropriate. I will not have such people in the Ceelen. Not now nor in the future."

The silence that dropped over the landing bay was so complete that Ru would have thought he'd gone completely deaf other than the quiet ticking of the cooling engines of Su's graceful flyer. Ru let out a slow breath, looked at Nthanda and found only determination there. So yeah, they were going to have a fight soon. Whoever was responsible, if it was a Ceelen, was going to do their best to ensure that Nthanda went down instead of them.

When it happened, Ru fully intended to be there to protect Nthanda from whoever tried to stab him in the back. Or front. He wasn't going to let Nthanda die, not when there was hope for something more out of this entire mess. And Ru was determined that he would make something with Nthanda, somehow. No way was he letting Nthanda go. Would not happen. Ever.

# 12. Endless Questions

Watching Ru work over the Hyun-Ju, and there was no other term for his aggressive questioning, was quite the experience. Nthanda had never allowed or condoned such forceful demands for answers. It was uncouth and insulting to treat people as though they would not speak the truth on their own. That was what he had always been taught and that was what he had believed.

And yet, Ru had repeatedly questioned the assertion that the Ceelen were responsible for his family's death. With each round of questions, directed sometimes at Su Carran, sometimes at Athaliah and once, very memorably at Bala who had snarled and snapped and then admitted that yes, Ru's mother had said something about assassins once when they were very small. Ru had apparently been a mere baby, Bala only seven years old, but the incident had stuck in her memory and, Nthanda suspected, driven her to become who she was.

Near death incidents had long-lasting effects on everyone.

With every round of questions, Ru found more information, more details that no one had thought important. More people outside both the Ceelen and the Hyun-Ju who could have benefited greatly by weakening both families. There were many other lines that wanted what the Ceelen and Hyun-Ju had. And many other people who might have arranged for a strategic 'thinning' of the Hyun-Ju's most powerful.

"I wonder," Nthanda said as Ru, Bala and Athaliah worked together to create an incredibly detailed map of the event.

"What do you wonder, Ceelen?" Su Carran asked.

"The baby chambers," Nthanda said. He smiled, grim and sad, at the start of surprise in Su Carran's eyes. "They were advertised and promised to be the very best possible but we got the same results with them as with the worst available. Father thought the fault was in our genetics. But I wonder if that is true, now. So many siblings who died, Su Carran. My father's siblings and mine. Now my children. I have lost six already. What if it was sabotage of the same order as the death of Ru's family? What if we are looking for the wrong people?"

Su Carran sighed, chin dropping down to his chest as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I find that more believable than that state of the art baby chambers would fail to warn you that a fetus was terminal as soon as it was placed inside."

"No warnings, not one," Nthanda murmured. "Only when the fetus died. Only then."

He didn't expect the fury on Su's face when he looked up again. Such anger for an enemy but the murder of babies, that was a thing that went beyond feuds, beyond rivalries. Su nodded towards Ru who was nodding urgently, that little tuft of hair bobbing and tempting Nthanda horribly.

"He calls you brother," Su said.

"I would that I could call him far more than that," Nthanda admitted. His cheeks went hot at Su's startled stare. "He is... everything I have ever wished for suddenly delivered into my hands. And his life has been completely and utterly upturned in a quarter of a day. I do not know if he would welcome more than brotherhood, Su Carran. I cannot believe that my people, especially the older ones who followed my father, would welcome him as my spouse."

Su let out a breath that was almost a whistle, a huff, a gasp. He shook his head and stared at Ru with a completely different sort of hunger than Nthanda felt. It seemed to Nthanda that what Su wanted was what Ru represented instead of the man himself. That was not a thing which would survive more than a few minutes in Ru's presence. Nthanda had already seen Ru tear multiple people apart verbally for daring to apply their own conceptions of him, Bala being only one of them. It was inevitable that Su would learn soon enough so Nthanda did not confront him.

It was not his right to do so. As much as Nthanda wanted to be a part of Ru's life, there was the very real possibility that nothing of the sort would happen. Ru could decide to go and live with the Hyun-Ju. He could decide to go back to Melin, to Hexal City. There was so little tying him here to Nthanda's side. Some forms, easily ignored by everyone but Nthanda, Nthanda's promise, and the ache in Nthanda's heart; that was all.

"You would turn your back on what your father believed," Su said.

"I would have the joy of a person I admire and respect by my side," Nthanda countered. "As my father did until she was killed. Which, if you did not know, was by assassins that Yaroslava Orlando and Lee Dirk believe to be from the Hyun-Ju. Looking at their reconstruction of the event which took Ru's family, I find myself questioning that for the first time. There are a great many similarities."

"He is in danger then," Su hissed. "He must be kept safe!"

Nthanda laughed, shaking his head when Ru turned and looked at them. Instead of accepting the reassurance, Ru strode over, his torn sleeve exposing that perfectly healed arm. When Nthanda gestured towards it, Ru frowned and Su looked puzzled.

"What?" Ru asked, poking at the vanished cut. "It's healed. Told you it would be."

"...What?" Su asked far more warily.

"The reason I offered Guardianship to Ru was that he blocked a knife that would have cut my throat," Nthanda said. "That cut sleeve less than six hours ago held a cut arm. Not a small cut, a graze, but a good half inch deep. Even when fresh it barely bled at all. By the time we boarded my flyer that cut was fully scabbed over and now it is completely healed with no sign of a scar."

"Gensyn," Ru said with so much impatience that Nthanda grinned at him. "Damn, I love it when you grin like that. Lights up the whole room. But yeah, I heal. It's a Gensyn thing. Their nanites are programed to fix injuries as well as guard against radiation damage. Everyone knows that."

Su nodded but it was a blank sort of nod, one that clearly did not mean comprehension. Which truly, Nthanda could not allow that to continue even if it wasn't his right to intrude into Su's relationship, as new as it was, with Ru. He gestured for Su to follow him and then beamed that Ru came along with him. They ended up with an even complement of guards from the Hyun-Ju and the Ceelen, decided by some alchemy of posturing, glaring and non-verbal threats between Lee and Su's chief of the guards.

No one spoke as they made their way to the hospital in the center of the _Graceful Swan_. Ru did wince when they arrived at Mohana's bedside but Mohana was apparently so well drugged to deal with his pain that he only smiled at Ru instead of flinching away from him. In fact, Mohana twitched his fingers as if he wanted to wave Ru over for a hug, the ridiculous man.

"Ru Sashi Ceelen!" Mohana boomed, eyes unfocused and smile a bit sloppy. "They say I will regain full usage of my arm. I wanted to ask, I can ask, can't I?"

"Sure, you can ask," Ru said, laughing under his breath while Su and his people looked even more confused.

"Can other people get your nanites?" Mohana asked, eager and serious and not quite focusing on Ru's face. "I want to be as strong as you. As fast. You were, were, can I ask you something?"

Ru laughed, chin dropping to his chest just like Su's had. "Why don't you ask when you feel better?"

"I feel fine," Mohana said, bottom lip out now as if he was two years old. "Better than fine. Did I tell you that I will get full use of my arm back?"

By that point Su was laughing and his guards looked somewhat alarmed despite their covert amusement. Ru patted Mohana's ankle and then shooed everyone way from Mohana's bed. Nthanda made a point of turning on the privacy screen around Mohana. The milky force screen shielded them enough that Mohana relaxed back on his bed and began to snore mightily.

"I take it there is a point to this visit?" Su asked, still chuckling.

"I beat the crap out of him when he tried to touch my hair earlier," Ru said. "Big but dumb and kinda slow. Seems nice enough now that he's drugged out of his mind."

"He is a good soul," Nthanda said, grinning at Ru's look of disbelief. "Not a very smart one but a good soul. I brought you here because you must understand, Su Carran. Ru could kill every single one of us, Ceelen and Hyun-Ju, with little or no effort. He has all the Gensyn modifications. His bones are thicker. His muscles more dense. His reflexes far exceed a baseline human's. He does not need to be protected, not as you suggest. He needs to be supported, backed, given the opportunity to become the stunning person his potential suggests will be."

Ru went brilliantly red at the praise while Su went incredibly pale at the description of Ru's physical differences. He couldn't tell whether Su's response was irrational fear of how different Ru was or simple shock that Ru was so very capable. A problem to say the least.

On the other hand, the Hyun-Ju guards looked as though they wanted to have the same modifications, much like Mohana. Which, Nthanda was fairly certain, wasn't possible. Perhaps the nanites could be reprogrammed but changing your muscle and bone density was a thing that Nthanda believed to be impossible outside of the womb.

"Take it he decided that I needed to be kept safe and sound?" Ru asked.

"Oh yes," Nthanda said. He sighed. "Much as Bala believes that you must be coddled and protected, too."

"Weird thing is that I don't even have a baby face," Ru complained as he headed back into the hallway. "I'd understand it if I looked like I was twelve, all chubby cheeks and wide eyes, but I don't."

"No, you look stunningly dangerous," Nthanda said and then grinned at the way Ru blushed again. "You do. You move like a predator stalking its prey."

Ru burst out laughing. He raised his eyebrows, eyes full of a sort of manic energy that made Su suck in a sharp breath and the Hyun-Ju guards' mouths drop open. So very deadly, so dangerous, so incredibly intelligent; how could anyone look on Ru's face when he smiled this way and not fall head over heels in love?

"You haven't seen me stalk anyone yet," Ru said. "Just wait. We figure out what's going on and who's doing it, then I'll be stalking. Probably with Bala on my heels. She's damn pissed about the whole situation."

The manic energy faded, leaving Ru staring up at Nthanda. He wasn't sure what Ru saw in his expression but it made color sweep over his cheeks, flooding his face and turning even his ears and throat quite red. Nthanda's cheeks went red from sympathetic embarrassment especially as his groin reacted to the shy look Ru gave him before striding away.

Nthanda followed.

What else could he do? They had so many problems to address, so many people who might be threats. It needed to be dealt with as quickly and as firmly as possible.

Despite that, Nthanda desperately wanted to take Ru aside, to show him his bedroom and then slowly lay Ru out on his bed so that he could worship Ru from his toes on up. Guardian. He had been absolutely mad to suggest it, to have Imani submit that paperwork. The very last thing he wanted was to be Ru's guardian. He wanted to be his lover, his spouse, the father of his children and to have Ru father Nthanda's children.

As it stood, though, Nthanda wasn't at all sure that it was possible. Someone had killed both of their families. There were secret assassins, explosions wiping out bloodlines, people paying of Guards of Hexal City to throw knives at Nthanda's throat. So many threats, so many problems.

And all Nthanda could do was face them down.

With Ru.

It would have to be enough for the moment.

# 13. Quiet Night

The bed was too soft.

Much too soft.

Ru shifted, rolling onto his left side, his right, his belly and then back onto his back. It was like lying on foam-gel, the scum that bubbled up and then stayed that way until some desperate hungry bastard had to scrape it away outside some of the Undercity factories. They lost half a dozen people every year to foam-gel. Ru's one time doing it had his skin crawling as he lay there on the bed. Sure, it was probably designed to perfectly support your back and neck, conform to your every moment but Ru hated the damned thing.

Give him a hammock any day. Or a pad put on the floor, nice and thin and firm enough that you knew you weren't going to keep on sinking into the fluff and then smother. Ru sat up and glared around his dark bedroom.

It was nice. Like staying with Bala except there was color in the room. Nice big bed that'd fit four much less the two Ru wanted here. Big chair that at least felt like you'd sink only so far before you stopped and came to rest. Dresser that could hold Bala's entire wardrobe plus a closet that was bigger than the home he'd shared with Ma growing up. At least Nthanda's tastes ran towards warm browns and greens, deep burnished golds and burgundies, instead of the white that blinded him at Bala's.

Ru tried lying down again but the about to smother feeling came right back so he threw the blankets back, pulled his pants back on and then grabbed the top blanket off the bed. The center room was empty and quiet but the new couches that Nthanda loathed so much were there. And those things were at least the sort of comfy that Ru could sleep on.

He curled into a ball under the borrowed blanket and then sighed as he distinctly didn't keep on sinking into the couch's cushions because there was a support under his hip and another under his shoulder. Perfect level of discomfort mixed with comfort. His eyelids drifted shut as sleep finally reached up to grab him.

Ten minutes or maybe several hours later, Ru wasn't sure, someone grunted. Ru jerked awake, heart pounding but perfectly still so that whoever was in his hideout wouldn't see him. Except no... No, this wasn't his hideout. Nthanda's flagship, he was on Nthanda's flagship and someone had grunted after stubbing their toe on the way to Nthanda's room.

Ru moved before he even finished the thought.

He erupted over the back of the couch and tackled whoever it was to the floor. There was a shout and then Ru found himself face to face and groin to groin with Nthanda. He stared.

"What are you doing up?" Ru demanded.

"Ru?" Nthanda asked, stunned and pained and then fiercely erect underneath Ru. "What are you doing sleeping out here?"

"Bed was too soft," Ru said. "Seriously, why are you wandering around? There might be assassins. And you know that Su and his people stayed overnight. You shouldn't be up and wandering without guards. Didn't I tell you not to slip your watch?"

The scolding was a good bit too fierce for a man who led one of the biggest space empires in human space but Ru couldn't help it. He'd have to kill have the solar system if Nthanda got hurt on his watch. Not that he'd been properly watching because if he had he'd have noticed Nthanda wasn't in his bedroom in the first place. Or he'd have set up his normal tell-tales that alerted him when anyone got close. That'd have told him that Nthanda had moved from his room.

Should do that now, honestly, but Nthanda's hands landed on Ru's hips and it felt way too damned good to sit there on top of Nthanda's erection. The man was dangerously sexy and he didn't seem to realize it. But then Nthanda licked his lips and moaned so softly while shifting his hips. It sent a jolt straight through Ru. Maybe he knew just how sexy he was.

"I couldn't sleep," Nthanda whispered, eyes dark in the dimness of the living room. "Too many things to worry about. So I went walking. I do it often. It's amazing what you can discover by walking the ship at night."

Ru nodded, leaned down to set his arms on either side of Nthanda's neck. It put their lips within range of each other which only made Ru's cock get hard, too. Seriously, he wanted nothing more than to fuck Nthanda silly. Almost willing to be fucked just as hard.

"Like what?" Ru asked.

He sniffed Nthanda's cheek, scenting ham, that sweet bread with the sugar and spice swirled through it. No alcohol. Nice. Good that he hadn't blunted his senses or his awareness with alcohol.

Nthanda groaned and bucked a little against Ru, hands large and hot over Ru's hips. Seriously, they felt like they'd been turned into heating vents for an engine about to blow up. Felt even hotter as Nthanda slid his hands up over Ru's torso, his back. Skin on naked skin was about the best thing Ru had ever felt and it seemed like Nthanda felt the same way because he shuddered and whimpered.

"The night guard," Nthanda panted, licked his lips, "they believe me about Neelam. Th-they had stories of Neelam canceling properly signed off requisitions. And the night chef in the lowest crew kitchen," he thrust a little harder prompting both of them to grunt, "said that Yaroslava used to undermine my father. Big and little ways. Jing, Jing was the only one no one had a bad thing to say about."

"Need to meet him," Ru said as he started assertively rocking against Nthanda. He nuzzled Nthanda's cheek and then kissed his neck, grinning at the desperate whine he earned. "Seems like a good guy if no one hates him."

"He is," Nthanda agreed and yeah, he wanted this as much as Ru did because he took control of Ru's hips and set a pace that was going to have Ru messing up his pants in very short order. "I would, would be honored, honored to have him rule after me. For me. With me. Oh damn it all!"

He froze suddenly, head back and breath stuttering in his chest. Ru felt the jerks, the twitches and then laughed against Nthanda's neck. Well, someone was even more wound up about this than Ru was. Nice to have confirmation of it.

"Nice," Ru murmured. "Gotcha."

Nthanda snorted and then laughed, hands, arms wrapping around Ru's back. Damn but the man felt good. Strong but not threateningly so. Ru could have broken free at any time but being held this way while he rubbed against Nthanda's slowly softening erection was far too good for that. Didn't take long at all before Ru gasped and shuddered his way through his own orgasm.

"Very nice," Nthanda murmured into Ru's ear.

He snickered at the way Ru cursed at him, low and sloppy with pleasure, nuzzling Nthanda's neck the whole time. But the floor was too hard under his knees so it had to be even worse under Nthanda's back. When Ru pulled back a little Nthanda hung on, making the most ridiculous unhappy toddler noise deep in his chest.

"Couch," Ru said, snickering.

"Hate those couches," Nthanda complained but he let Ru go nonetheless. And then tried to settle down on the opposite couch instead of the same on Ru had been sleeping on.

"Not there," Ru huffed at him.

He grabbed the blanket and then pushed Nthanda back so that he could cover them both with the blanket. The couch was even more perfect with Nthanda sharing it. Yeah, soft and there were bars under Ru's hip that dug in but Nthanda was warm and he wrapped his arms around Ru with such reverence that Ru poked him in the ribs.

Which led immediately to snickers and a poke battle but Ru won but biting Nthanda's neck. Not hard enough for a mark but Nthanda shuddered and hardened a little from it so it was obviously good. Especially this soon after an orgasm. Baseline humans didn't recover that fast normally. Nice.

"You cheat," Nthanda whispered.

"Always," Ru agreed. "Wasn't sure you really wanted me."

"I... thought from the comments my people made that I was being as obvious as a sun going super-nova."

Ru cackled. "Okay, fine. I knew you wanted me. Didn't know if you'd be willing to do more than just want."

"I should not," Nthanda said. He sighed so sadly that Ru frowned at him even though the shadows were too deep for expressions to be seen. "Your position with the Hyun-Ju, my lack of heirs, the potential assassins, all sides' objections. There are reasons why this is madness."

"Fuck 'em," Ru said and then laughed at Nthanda's squeak of amusement. "Seriously, the problems aren't that big. Well, they're big. They're just not so personal. Sure, I gotta be some sort of king. Maybe. We'll see on that front. Not sure I want to take that up. They done fine with a regent so far. No reason why they can't continue."

Ru wasn't at all sure he really believed that and it came out in his voice. He could hear that. Because yeah, Ru could see clear as anything that Su and the rest wanted him to be with them. If Ru had found them before he found Nthanda? No question, Ru would have gone. Happily even with all the issues and assassins and shit.

But now he knew Nthanda and Ru didn't want to let him go. Other than maybe to change his pants. And maybe not even then. A shower together before a second round would be amazing.

"There are still assassins to worry about," Nthanda said.

One big hand rubbed Ru's back and yeah, that was the best thing ever. Man's hands felt like heaven on Ru's back. Only thing better would be if both of them were naked. Ru couldn't feel anywhere enough of Nthanda's skin.

"Been dealing with people trying to kill me since I was tiny," Ru countered. "Hell, since before I was born. That's nothing new. Quit changing the subject. You want me."

"I would marry you and install you as the Consort of Ceelen," Nthanda instantly said. "It is a title with nearly equal power to mine. You would command everyone, have access to all my wealth, and the power to overrule me if I attempted something that would damage the Ceelen."

That.

Ru heard himself whine, desperate and high, but he didn't seem to have any control over it. Marriage. Like a real marriage, not just saying you were together and people being happy for you, maybe giving you a little gift or two. So damned few people he knew had ever gotten real-married. Life was hard and split ups happened. Happened all the time. That was just how relationships worked.

You were happy and floating in love at first, things settled and you were content and then over time you kinda grew apart. Or you fought and then you went you separate ways. That's just how it was. How it worked.

But Ma had always told Ru stories of that 'one true love' that everyone was supposed to have. She'd shared stories of her great-great-great-grandmother who'd apparently loved her wife so much that she'd followed her across the galaxy, from Old Earth to near the edge of Drathanni space. They'd married and raised kids together and apparently founded the Hyun-Ju with all their kids.

He wanted that.

He'd wanted it with Bala, with his other lovers, but none of them had ever wanted it back. They'd been looking for now, for as long as it's fun, for whatever they could get. To suddenly have Nthanda offering what he'd secretly dreamed of since he was tiny was enough to make Ru shake and hide his face in the crook of Nthanda's neck.

"I would," Nthanda said slow and sad when Ru couldn't reply, "but that is only my desire. It does not have to become reality. Especially if you do not desire it, too."

# 14. Surprise Attack

Nthanda had not expected a response. Not really. He had no right to expect an immediate 'yes!' from Ru when they had only just met. When there were so many factors against them. But still his heart hurt a little that Ru didn't leap at the opportunity. The clinging and whimpers suggested so much distress that Nthanda signaled the lights to slowly rise so that he could see Ru's face.

Except that he couldn't, especially when Ru bit his neck hard enough to make Nthanda jump. Still, he did not pull back enough to allow Nthanda to see his expression so Nthanda sighed and rubbed Ru's back. Their huddled shapes under the dark blanket his grandmother had made for Father when he was very young blended in almost perfectly with the horrid new couch. Ridiculous until it very much wasn't.

Someone eased into the room, clad all in black with a primed and faintly pulsing blaster in his hand.

Nthanda's arms tightened convulsively around Ru. His whimpers went silent. His body went still. Then he carefully and silently rolled under the blanket so that he, too, could see the assassin easing his way towards Nthanda's room.

Someone truly did intend for Nthanda to die.

He felt rather than heard Ru's growl. Nthanda kept his arms around Ru until the assassin eased the door to Nthanda's bedroom open. Then he lifted the blanket so that Ru could dart out. Which Ru did, erupting off of the couch and across the room even more violently than he had when Nthanda startled him.

There was a crunch of bone breaking. The assassin screamed. Then Ru stood over him with the blaster in his hand, still at full power but not pointed at either the assassin or Nthanda. It happened so quickly that those were the only things that Nthanda consciously perceived.

"He's down," Ru said.

Nthanda ordered the lights on full, smiling at the way Ru flinched. "A mask?"

"Yeah," Ru said, eyes squinted mostly shut. "You call for help?"

"No, certainly not," Nthanda said. "I can. At least I assume I can. I haven't tried yet. But given his carriage as he entered I assumed that they intended to take me by stealth, not by systemic attack."

"Probably both," Ru said.

He passed the gun to Nthanda which allowed Nthanda to lower the power on the blaster so that it would kill but not completely vaporize the target. Leaving a corpse behind to identify was important. It gave Nthanda someone to investigate and thus a trail to follow.

Ru knelt and peeled the mask off. It was a contact mask, the sort that adhered to the skin, rather than a hood-type. The face underneath was neither Ceelen nor Hyun-Ju. Well, that certainly confirmed his suspicions that other forces were at work. Nthanda knelt as well, gun to the side. He checked the assassin's neck and found it nauseatingly fluid.

"Snapped the spine," Nthanda murmured.

"Not leaving any damned assassins alive," Ru grumbled. He glared at Nthanda, daring him to disagree. "Doing that's bald-ass foolish."

"Oh, I agree," Nthanda said. "I just expected a fractured skull, not a snapped neck. I thought you'd cracked his head against the wall, you see."

Ru blinked, stared for a moment, and then started snickering. "No, just the neck. Don't like brains all over the place. They stink more than plain old dead bodies. You want the blanket put back? It looks old."

"Please," Nthanda said. "My grandmother made it for my father when he was young."

"You and your old things," Ru said but there was such fondness, such humor in his voice that Nthanda caught his hand and pressed a kiss to it. "Stop that. Gotta think and focus here. Besides, you'll make me go nonverbal and squirmy if you keep that up."

"I had only wondered if that was a good squirmy or a bad squirmy," Nthanda replied. He couldn't help his grin nor the adoration that had to shine in his eyes.

"Good!" Ru said, face going blindingly red as he grinned helplessly at Nthanda. "It's good. Stop it. I have to be deadly, not make goo-goo eyes at people."

Which reduced Nthanda to highly inappropriate snickers as Ru put the blanket back on his bed. Nthanda sighed, checking the assassin's body for cameras, microphones, other forms of tracking that would allow his backers to know whether or not he'd completed his mission. There were three small cameras, one at the nape of his neck, one at his throat and a third near his belt. All of them were recording so whoever it was had to have heard that Nthanda and Ru were alive. They also likely realized that Nthanda was quite serious about his interest in Ru.

_" Situation,"_ Nthanda sent through the internal comm system that Bala had just installed. He'd gotten his access code just before going to bed so hopefully she'd actually gotten everything set up ahead of time.

_" Sleeping!"_ Bala snapped back at him.

_" Dead assassin on my floor,"_ Nthanda replied and then blinked because he had the distinct sense of Bala leaping from her bed, covers flying, and cursing echoing in her bedchamber. _" Ru is safe. He protected me. There are cameras, currently recording everything said and done around the body."_

_" Oh...!"_ Bala's delight came through the comms even if her expression didn't. The signal was once more purely verbal, nothing more. _" Lovely. I'm on it. Do not stay put. Get out of there and find somewhere secure to hide for a bit. I'll wake Lee and Athaliah. They're together tonight."_

_" A fact which shocks no one,"_ Nthanda replied. He rather hoped that his amusement did carry through the comms. Ru certainly saw it when he emerged from his bedroom fully clothed, armed once more and with his hair securely pinned at the back of his head. _" We go. Tell me if anything untoward happens."_

_" Will do,"_ Bala said. _" Tell him to stay safe and not to kill everything that comes across his path."_

_" Unlikely,"_ Nthanda said and then grinned at Bala's sigh. It sounded rather like static through the comms. "We should leave."

"Got a good place to go to ground?" Ru asked.

Nthanda laughed. "Oh, Ru. This entire ship was my playground as a child. I know every hiding place, every closet, every weapon and every post. I have, multiple times, made it from one end of the ship to the other without being seen once. It is a training exercise actually. The last time was a bare month ago. No one caught me though several times Mohana and Lee came close. Come. Let me show you the other side of the _Graceful Swan._ Let me show you her underbelly and her claws."

Ru grinned his vicious smile, the one with wild eyes and manic energy. He looked down, eyes flicking to each of the cameras as if he'd expected them to be there. Perhaps he had. It seemed that Ru was better prepared for this battle than Nthanda was but then it was Nthanda's home and he knew it better than anyone else in the entire fleet.

"Lead on," Ru said. "I got your back."

"And I have yours," Nthanda said. "Stay close."

"On your heels."

They ran. The hallways were blessedly empty at this level of the ship. It would not remain so for long. The closer they got to either the control centers, the hospital or the engines the more likely it would be to encounter people. Which meant that they needed, badly, to get out of sight. And Nthanda knew exactly how to do that.

Up around a corner where Nthanda paused to peek for anyone coming and Ru held a small throwing knife at the ready, there was a cluster of wiring and heating ducts. Which was exactly what Nthanda was looking for. He waved for Ru to follow him and then squeezed back behind the ducts. Ru looked dubious but followed, substantially more easily than Nthanda given his size.

"What is this?" Ru whispered.

"Service corridor," Nthanda replied in a low murmur that carried less than a proper whisper. "They run through the entire ship and are rarely used."

"Thought we'd take air ducts or something," Ru said as he followed Nthanda up the narrow, low, dimly lit corridor.

"Too small," Nthanda said. He grinned at Ru's surprise. "They are the size of your head. Good for small robots and air, not good for people. Besides, the _Graceful Swan_ was built with screens and traps in the ducting to eliminate the problems of rodent infestations."

That netted him a considered nod and then a flip of Ru's fingers for Nthanda to lead the way. His favorite hidey-hole, as Ru and Bala would put it, was three floors down and a quarter mile away. It rested at a junction between the personal quarters and one of the industrial sections, a tiny room that wasn't actually a room. It was a box formed by the various conduits, walls and an elevator shaft. In fact, the only way to access the room was from the inside of the elevator shaft.

"You're not serious," Ru hissed when Nthanda opened the access hatch for the elevator. "What if an elevator comes?"

"Unlikely," Nthanda replied. He grinned at Ru's glower. "Opening the hatch signals the elevator to freeze at a station. It is a risk that someone will notice the stopped elevator but a small one at this time of the night. We have three floors to go down. Do be careful climbing the ladder. The _Graceful Swan_ is quite large."

An understatement, certainly, but it made Ru snicker again. Truly, Nthanda was painfully obviously smitten if just a tiny snicker and a wicked little grin could make him regret the loss of his bed and pine for being tackled to the floor once more even though he was certain he had bruises forming on his back. But perhaps once they arrived there would be time for more.

Nthanda could hope.

The shaft was better lit than the service corridor. Lights blinked at regular intervals along the shaft, granting them the ability to see where they were going. And how far down they could fall. A good twenty stories in this elevator, with another ten overhead. Nthanda ignored it. Ru grumbled and cursed about it but he swung out into the shaft and climbed more agilely than Nthanda did.

By the time Nthanda opened the little door he'd rigged on the 'secret room', Nthanda's hands ached a bit. Not unbearably so but enough that he was grateful to slide into the room on his belly. Ru followed suit and then snorted when Nthanda shut the door and silently triggered the elevator to resume operation outside with the switch he'd jury-rigged years ago. That should keep anyone from attacking them.

The lamp was where Nthanda had left it. It took only two pats with his hand to find it and turn it on. Ru stared around the little room with something like awe in his eyes. It was an odd sensation, having someone else see Nthanda's most secret sanctuary. Unlike his quarters, this space was entirely Nthanda's.

He had laboriously brought every single thing here. The ventilation existed because he modified the wall of the elevator shaft. His tiny, nearly too tiny now, 'escape hatch' down to the top of the machine shop below, existed solely because Nthanda had, at thirteen, covertly altered the air duct on the far side of the room so that there was a small jog into which he had placed a door that looked like a door only from the inside. It looked like an inactive electrical box from the outside, complete with a hatch that showed that no wires had been routed to it. You could only enter from the elevator shaft, yes, but you could leave and arrive at the machine shop which had all the tools one might need.

That plus the little pallet bed he had created, the torn and stained quilt Nthanda had put on the wall behind the bed, and the stack of book crystals he'd carried down for days when he did not wish to study with everyone's eyes on him were all Nthanda, not anyone else. He'd even carefully, so carefully, tapped into the computer system with a manual keyboard and tiny hand-held pad as a screen so that he could keep tabs on people searching for him.

Which Nthanda powered up now. The batteries were still good, still held more than enough charge for several hours of use, so he grinned triumphantly. Perhaps they could see exactly what was going on out there and then make plans of how to deal with it.

# 15. Hidey-Hole

Ru stared. Frankly stared. The last thing he'd have expected out of Nthanda was a deluxe crash pad with security and even computer access. Nice bed, just Ru's favorite sort, good air supply and cozy but not roasting from the heating conduit far side of the little room. Nthanda could even stand up in the thing, no problem. His own hidey-holes weren't this nice and it looked to him like Nthanda had created the whole thing all by himself.

Impressive to say the least.

He wouldn't have expected a rich boy like Nthanda to understand the importance of hidey-holes, really good and secure hidey-holes. But look at this, he did. It made Ru want to tackle Nthanda back onto his bed and kiss him until they were both hard again. Until they both came again.

Be a good place for that. Not a good place for more unless Ru was the one bottoming. His body could handle a lack of lube. Nthanda couldn't. Tempting thought, that, letting Nthanda take him, letting him fill Ru's body, rocking inside of him until they were both breathless, sweaty and moaning. Little room like this might echo though so they'd need to be quiet, need to hold their breath and bite their lips so that no noise would escape.

Ru adjusted himself. Really needed to focus. Assassins were not a thing you wanted to take on with a hard on and a brain full of mush because you wanted to fuck. Or, worse, make love. Ru couldn't remember the last time he'd actually made love to anyone. With anyone. Bala? Maybe early on but their struggles for control on her side and freedom on his side had started pretty early. Much as he loved her, Bala had never been a good idea. He could see that now.

Hell, he saw that back then, too. Ma had never liked the two of them together. Really was strange that she'd never told him that Bala was his sister.

Later, after Bala went home, Ru was going to have to investigate that. Something didn't read right about the whole thing but it was a stupidly low priority right now.

"Ah," Nthanda breathed. "Your sister is quite terrifying."

"Always," Ru agreed. He came over and knelt behind Nthanda, draping his arms over Nthanda's shoulders so that he could see the tiny little screen. Barely as big as his hand but it worked well enough. Little hard for Ru to read but that just let him press closer to Nthanda. "What's she doing?"

Nthanda shivered at the feeling of Ru against his back. It was a really obvious shiver that made Ru grin. Shifting his face so that his breath would gust over Nthanda's cheek netted him another shudder and then a very quiet, very flatteringly desperate whine. Oh yeah, they really did need to fuck for real. Hard and fast then slow and inevitable as the drip of water from the surface down into the Undercity. That'd be perfect right now except that Nthanda actually answered his damned question instead of turning his head and letting Ru kiss him into silence

"She's tracking the signal from the cameras on the assassin," Nthanda explained, tapping the little screen. It shifted and showed an image that flicked between locations on the _Graceful Swan_. "It looks as though Lee has activated all the security systems. Insufficient to capture us and thus I have no doubt that it would be insufficient to capture anyone acting against us, too."

"Logical," Ru agreed. He grinned at the blush rising on Nthanda's cheeks. Harder to see in the dim light but Ru could feel the heat. "Should focus, you know."

"You do not make that easy, Ru," Nthanda said with enough dignity that Ru almost didn't catch the understatement and the edge of wry amusement.

He snickered, setting his chin on Nthanda's shoulder and then chortling at the way Nthanda shuddered. They really needed to fuck. And Ru needed to find a way to say 'yes, absolutely!' that wouldn't piss the Hyun-Ju off and make Bala stop talking to him entirely. Way it was going Ru was tempted to tell them all to go fuck themselves. Ru deserved a bit of happiness in his life and Nthanda was just the bit he wanted.

At the moment he was pretty sure the Hyun-Ju would rather drag Ru off to play 'king', as if a shipping family could have a king. Even the whole 'lord' thing was ridiculous to Ru. It was just a title and apparently the Hyun-Ju had had to not only one-up the Ceelen, they'd two-up'd by skipping 'prince' and going for 'king'. Stupid, all of it, but that was what Ru was going to have to deal with when this little mess was over with.

He almost hoped that it took longer so that he could put the mess off.

"What was that?" Ru asked as one of the images that flickered past looked like armed men.

"Ah... Well."

Nthanda tapped his little keyboard and returned to that image. It was a video feed from the landing bay. The guards left down there were on the floor, sprawled unconscious or burnt to smoldering ash. The attackers' ship was as nondescript as it could be and so were they, dressed in black, carrying black weapons, all their faces hidden by blank black masks.

One of the attackers was attempting to break into the computer system, tapping away at one of the control panels, but his shoulders looked way too tense for him to be succeeding as easily as he'd expected. Good on Bala. Looked like she'd gotten far enough in the upgrades to the security that their enemies were going to have to work for it. Ru could handle that. Not so sure he could handle the thought of more of the Ceelen dying as the assholes tried to blast their way into the _Graceful Swan_.

Because that was surely the next step.

"Assholes," Ru grumbled. "Can we do anything?"

"Oh yes," Nthanda said.

He bowed his head, nodded once and then switched to a different program. Several commands later alarms began whooping all through the ship. At least Ru assumed it was all through the ship. Should be if Nthanda had set off the alarms. Nthanda carefully shut down his tiny computer and then gestured for Ru to follow him.

A cunning little door set into a jog in the air ducts let them, Ru more easily than Nthanda, slip outside and then down onto the ceiling of what looked like a machine shop. Nthanda made sure his secret door was shut once more before leading Ru down into, yes, a very nice, very well appointed machine shop.

"I could start a war with this room," Ru said, smiling at all the lovely tools, bits of metal and half-repaired bits and bobs.

"That's the idea," Nthanda said. "I told Bala that we have been invaded. She has people coming from beneath us, one floor down. It appears that we have spies in our ranks."

"Which section they coming from?" Ru asked as he set to work cobbling together a quick and dirty fragmentation grenade that wouldn't blow through conduit, an electrocution grenade that'd fry anyone and anything it touched and then several really nice zap-traps that'd trip and then stun whoever walked into them.

"You did mean a war," Nthanda said as he created what Ru suspected was a very small-scale EMP grenade. "Feel free to create projectiles if you think we can carry them. We have only three minutes to be in place though."

"Long enough," Ru said and hurried through a series of spears (pipe with shards of sharp metal shoved into the tips), a really nice club and a bucket full of ball bearings of multiple sizes that'd make walking a hazard and a half.

They hurried, loaded with their loot, to the elevator shaft. Not the same one that they'd climbed down. That was behind them. This one looked much more like a service shaft, big and drafty hallway with scuffs all over the walls. Ru lucked out in that there was only one way to go from that elevator and there were multiple turns and corners in the hallway so he was able to rig one of the zap-traps right off, then another later on to tip the bucket of ball bearings. Then they took up post on top of some conduit, nice and warm but not hot to the touch, so that they could drop grenades into the midst of the attackers.

Best part was that Nthanda didn't seem at all upset. He was a nice enough guy that Ru had wondered if he'd really had the fights to back that one-man army walk he had. Seemed like he did because Nthanda made sure their hiding spot was one easy to get into and out of while still being protected against shots. He also did something to bollix the lights so that the hallway was dim, emergency lighting flickering as if it was about to go out, too.

No doubt, no hesitation, no fear. Rare and just the sort of thing to make Ru's far too interested cock twitch. Seriously, a baseline human should not be that damned proficient at fighting. Nthanda could go down from one simple punch, a kick, a single bullet to the chest and yet here he was moving like he was three times as invulnerable as Ru was.

Ru had to wonder if Nthanda had had his knees and ankles replaced though. No baseline human should be able to jump down floors the way Nthanda had. Though he had nearly gone to his knees at the landing. So maybe not?

Didn't matter. Not now. What mattered was killing these assholes and keeping them from making it any farther into the heart of the _Graceful Swan._ If they were fast, careful, vicious, they'd do it. Ru squared his shoulders. He'd do it. No way was he letting Nthanda get hurt on his watch, not when Ru was so much more durable.

"Don't punch me," Ru said as they heard the whine of the elevator getting closer.

"I think I have more to worry about you punching me," Nthanda said, low and amused. "My bones break more easily than yours. Run if you think we will fail. Get to Bala."

"Not a chance," Ru said and then glared at Nthanda's automatic objection. "You're the Lord. You know the ship. I don't. You gotta run and get the Hyun-Ju, Nthanda. If this goes sour at all then you gotta go get reinforcements. You can access the systems. You can get automatic obedience. I can't. Besides, I heal way faster than you do."

Nthanda opened his mouth to object but there wasn't any time for arguments. The elevator whined to a stop. The door whooshed open and they both heard the cursing from whoever was behind all of this. Not clear enough for Ru to get an idea of gender or identity but yeah, someone was damned pissed about being blocked.

A small blast coupled with an electric charge, like static on drugs, swept over them.

"Go now," Ru whispered imperiously to Nthanda.

"I should not leave you!" Nthanda whispered but he was already moving.

"Get help," Ru ordered. "Do it. They just took out all our neat tricks. Run!"

Nthanda shuddered, reached for Ru for just a half of a second, and then he was gone, running not on the floor but on top of the ducting. Amazingly, his footsteps barely made the duct echo at all. No vibration. Damned thing was tougher than Ru had thought and way more secure than any duct had right to be. In seconds there was no sound at all so Nthanda had taken another of his secret paths out of sight to get help.

Which, Ru was more than willing to admit as the first person snorted and then jerked the zap-trap out of place and then cursed when the second zap-trap did what it was supposed to and dumped ball bearings all over the hallway, he desperately needed.

These were nasties. They were the sort of Guards who took your bribe and then beat you, raped you and threw you in jail anyway. They were the food sellers who gave you rotted foot and smiled when you couldn't complain. They were bad. The real sort of bad, the sort that Ma and Grandma Derby would have been more than happy to kill without looking back.

So that's what Ru decided he'd do.

They were dead. They just didn't know it yet. Time to teach them that death came to everyone. He tossed the first grenade, the one with the fragmentation charge, into the hallway and grinned when it went off. Not all grenades needed electricity. Four down. Who knew how many to go?

# 16. Taking Control

Nthanda ran. The service corridors were low enough that he crouched as he ran but he still ran to the next elevator, past it, and then up one of the emergency stairways that led towards the command deck. He needed to get to Lee, to the troops, to someone who could send help for Ru. At this point he would gladly lead the Hyun-Ju through his 'secret' pathways if it meant that Ru was safe.

Brave Ru. Stupid Ru! He should have let Nthanda stay and fight. But no, he'd been right, Ru had been right. Nthanda was the only one who could get help. And Ru was alone, alone, fighting, dying, no!

No. Ru couldn't die. He was better than that. So beautiful and fast and strong and he wouldn't die. Ru wouldn't die. He wouldn't. Please, please, please let Ru not die!

Every few seconds he tried to yell through the system to Bala but there was no response. Nothing, not even a glimmer. Damn her and her improvements! Too vulnerable because they were new and the wiring wasn't shielded and he shouldn't have given in. Old systems had problems but they wouldn't have been fried by the EMP. Well, yes, but not as bad! Ru wouldn't be trapped and fighting and\--

Nthanda snarled and ran faster, leaping pipes and sliding around corners to crash into walls. There would be bruises but he didn't care. Damn it, he had to move faster. Faster than he ever had. The _Graceful Swan_ was so big, so big, and they'd been so deep inside of her. So far from the command centers and the guest quarters. Because no, of course he couldn't have houses the Hyun-Ju somewhere close to his own quarters. No, that wasn't done and if Yaroslava was behind all this Nthanda would shoot him through the forehead himself with his 'not done', 'untrustworthy lying cheats'. Hidebound old man didn't deserve the position he'd held and they could all jump out an open air lock if they didn't like Nthanda demoting him and shipping him off the Ceelen's ships.

The air was flat and dead, unmoving. He could already smell it going stale and despite being in the center of the _Graceful_ Swan Nthanda would have sworn that it was getting colder already. Pure fancy, that. If anything it would get hotter as the cooling systems failed and the accumulated heat of the hopefully no longer sleeping crew built up.

Three floors up and out of the stairwell, Nthanda ran down one of the main hallways as fast as he could. If he encountered more combatants, more warriors, he was doomed but Nthanda didn't care. There were no lights. Just the dim emergency lights. No people, not a one, not his, not the Hyun-Ju, not the attackers.

Still within range of the EMP. Damn it, who used EMP in a spaceship? Stupid people, ridiculous people, that was who except no, they weren't stupid.

They were brilliant and deadly. Whoever hired them, the professional mercenaries because no one else would have seen the electrocution-cords that quickly and easily, had to have told them exactly what to expect.

Probably not Yaroslava. He was far too proud of the Ceelen to stoop to hiring outsiders. Proud and stiff-necked and stupid if he believed for a moment that Nthanda would allow himself to be led anymore. Yaroslava had overreached himself and he was about to have his hands cut off just before he reached the prize, not that Nthanda honestly believed that Yaroslava was behind this attack. Just this attack. Other problems, oh yes, yes, that was Yaroslava and Nthanda was going to have his head for it.

Neelam, that Nthanda could easily believe. She would hire outsiders, had attempted to hire a huge number of outsiders and then complained bitterly when Nthanda refused to give outsiders she trusted priority over Ceelen people. Fought and yelled and tried to bully Nthanda only to stop and seethe when he threatened to cancel her contract.

Where had she been all this long day? Normally she was in his face five, ten times a day, sign this, approve that, no, you don't need to read it. Don't you trust me? No, no he didn't, he never had and he'd seen the resentment behind her careful smiles and bright expressions. She would hire mercenaries, she would, and then tell them to kill everyone who tried to stop them.

Ru.

Nthanda ran, arms burning, ankles aching.

And Jing, Jing worked frequently with mercenaries, 'contract warriors' as he liked to call them. He wasn't even on the _Graceful Swan_ , hadn't been for weeks but that was normal. Gone and 'taking care of things' for the Ceelen and now, now, much too late Nthanda wondered what those 'things' were. Things like mercenaries? Things like attacks against Nthanda? Things like a coup against Nthanda so that his branch became the Lords of the Ceelen?

It felt right, felt true, infuriated Nthanda as he ran and ran and damn it, where was everyone and why didn't Bala answer?

Jing or Neelam, that was his opponent right now. Except no, it wasn't his opponent, it was Ru, Ru who was fighting alone against mercenaries with only a knife and the gifts of his genetics. Poor Ru who had no one to back him up and who would be hurt and there was nothing, nothing, nothing Nthanda could do because he needed to get help.

Nthanda ran faster, chest heaving, arms and legs burning as he rounded a corner and finally, finally! Finally saw regular lights and felt the air moving correctly. He was out of the dead zone at last!

_" Answer me!"_ Bala bellowed into Nthanda's system.

_" EMP,"_ Nthanda yelled back with details on the location riding the word. _" Ru is fighting alone, no weapons, just a knife. No idea how many. Closest warriors?"_

_" The Hyun-Ju,"_ Bala answered and despite the computer system between them Nthanda thought he could feel her worry. _" Almost there now."_

Indeed he was, because Nthanda rounded a corner and nearly ran straight into Su Carran who had on his full armor and whose gun was armed and ready. Nthanda skidded to a stop, sent Bala an order to send his warriors to stop the ones in the landing bay and for her to find any other spies lurking in their midst, and then gasped for a lung of air.

"Ru is fighting alone against mercenaries," Nthanda said in one too-fast rush, panting for more air. "Hurry! They used EMP. He only has a knife."

Su Carran's eyes went wide. Then he cursed and waved for Nthanda to lead them. Nthanda nodded and then ran back the way he'd come, not slowing down and not really caring if the Hyun-Ju managed to keep up. He had to get back to Ru.

They kept up well, running at Nthanda's heels as if they were as Altered as Ru but no it was that they were fresh and Nthanda was flagging, exhausted and shaking as he rounded corners and jumped down stairs, rolling at the landing so that he didn't break his knees. Bruises, so many bruises but he didn't care because they had to get back to Ru before something horrible happened to him. Something painful and scarring and, please no, please no, please not deadly.

Nthanda rounded the final corner before the corridor with the ball bearings and then shouted as his feet shot out from under him. He smashed face first into the bearings, rolled, kicked them out from under his feet and then scrambled backwards.

"What is this?" Su demanded, hissed, panting under his armor.

"Ru's trap," Nthanda explained, spitting blood from his mouth and testing his, yes, broken nose. "It wasn't here. They moved it."

"Our King..." Su whispered, eyes wide behind his armor's faceplate.

Ru.

Ru would never have allowed them to do that if he was free. If he was alive. Nthanda snarled and peeked around the corner, cursing as he saw a single warrior standing there. Not even at the ready, arms crossed over his chest and smirking at Nthanda.

"We have your pet," the warrior called. "Alive for the moment. Not going to live long if you don't do what we want."

"I will kill you all and space your remains," Nthanda shouted back at them. "Surrender or die."

"Bad boy," the warrior called. "Consequences for being bad."

Ru's scream echoed in the hallway, high and sharp, then falling into gurgling curses that made Nthanda's testicles crawl up into his body. Before the scream had even faded, much less Ru's horrifying curses, Su's hand clamped around Nthanda's wrist. He hauled Nthanda back and away from the corner, far enough that they could whisper together without it carrying up the hallway. The Hyun-Ju, pale faced and shaking with outrage, stood at the ready.

"You cannot submit!" Su hissed at Nthanda.

"I know, I know," Nthanda hissed back at him. "They will kill Ru no matter what. They do not realize what they have. Your people have made no announcement, have they?"

"None," Su agreed. "They cannot be told that Ru is our king or there will be no saving him. How did they get so deep into your flagship in the first place?"

The irritable question was the true puzzle, now wasn't it? Nthanda straightened and stared up the hallway. One way in, one way out. They had the elevator but Nthanda knew quite well that it was shut down due to the EMP. So they had planned to take their stand here or in a place like here.

At the heart of the _Graceful Swan_.

No, not the heart. Had they actually gone for the heart, the engines, they would be six floors down and quite a bit to port of this hallway. It was a completely unimportant hallway, one that served no function other than carrying air from one end of the ship to the other, disbursing heat and allowing passage.

Which, frankly, made Nthanda's skin crawl. He gestured for one of the Hyun-Ju warriors, a lean young woman with lighter armor than most. She looked to Su but came over and saluted after a second. How long would the attackers wait for Nthanda's response? A very long time, he suspected.

"Run that way," Nthanda said, pointing away from Ru. "Get to a point where there is electricity and communication again. Tell Bala and Lee to shut down the air to this corridor. Not to remove it. Isolate it. Heat as well. I suspect that they may have bombs, toxins, that variety of weaponry. Also, if they have not shut down the elevators and locked them, tell them to do so. Have them activate the bulkheads between floors as well. I will isolate these bastards entirely. They will not escape with Ru."

She looked to Su who nodded and then ran faster than Nthanda had at his best. One thing dealt with. He sighed and rubbed his hands over his face. Lee would be coming. There were ways for Lee's people to attack from the rear even with the bulkheads closed and the elevators locked down. Nthanda had shown them to Lee himself.

"You will stall?" Su asked.

"The question is who is behind this," Nthanda murmured. "Yaroslava, Neelam or my cousin Jing. They must have something they want thought I doubt that they will admit it freely if I ask."

"Ask their demands," Su advised, nodding his agreement with Nthanda's assessment. "The first will cast blame away from them. They are professionals. Whoever hired them will not be a fool."

Nthanda nodded. "Be ready. Ru is Gensyn. If the damage is too severe his body will... will shut down in an effort to preserve his life. We must get him away from them and then to medical care before they realize and do something to shut down his nanites. Have a second runner ready in case they give away their leader somehow."

Su's face went pale at the thought of Ru enduring mock-death but he nodded and gestured for a second warrior to be at the ready. None of them had the proper nanites for this battle. The damage they took would remain, just as Nthanda's bruises and broken nose would remain until given the time to heal. If he had the time. The mercenaries almost certainly had advanced healing nanites, that plus modifications that made them more than a match for Ru. Sweet Ru, dangerous Ru, please don't let him die!

When he strode back towards Ru's captors, the Hyun-Ju got out of his way. Not a single hard look, not a worry. Nthanda tucked that in the back of his mind and dismissed it. Now was not the time for marveling at the possibility of their generation-long feud ending. He had to save Ru.

"What do you want, you monsters?" Nthanda shouted up the hallway.

"Rude," the warrior said. "No need to yell. We can hear you just fine."

"Demands?" Nthanda replied with his best sneer in his voice.

He did not step around the corner, did not peek as much as he wanted to. His heart pounded that the conversation might have been overheard.

It was likely not true. He knew the acoustics of the _Gentle Swan_. Her walls were not designed to allow tiny sounds to echo. Big ones, yes, briefly, but not tiny ones. In a ship this large it could turn into an echo chamber if not properly designed to capture and nullify random sounds.

"Impatient," the warrior replied, sounding amused.

Stalling. That meant that their true goal was somewhere else. Perhaps the team attacking the landing bay but more likely...

Nthanda paused, a shiver running up his spine as he realized that they were nearly directly on top of the accounting offices. Neelam's office. With the vast majority of the records of the Ceelen's transactions.

A boom echoed up the hallway from the elevator. The air stopped moving entirely. Immediately the heat in the hallway began to rise.

And the mercenary started cursing viciously in six different languages.

Nthanda smiled. "Not at all. Your demands?"

"Open those fucking doors or we kill him!" the mercenary shouted.

"No." Nthanda's heart hurt to say it but he could never allow that. "I cannot at any rate. Your EMP shut down all communication in this area. That was action outside of my control. Your demands?"

The mercenary cursed some more. There was a short sharp scream from Ru and then silence for an entirely too long moment. Except that it wouldn't be true silence. Just as the design of the walls and hallways kept sound from carrying from Nthanda to them, it kept their whispered conversation from carrying to Nthanda's ears.

"Now what?" Su whispered.

"If they insist on opening all the bulkhead seals and having free movement to the landing bay," Nthanda whispered back, "then they are Neelam's. If they insist on my stepping down for another candidate, then they serve Jing. If they attack and attempt to destroy us all then very likely they serve Yaroslava who hates you and disapproves of me."

"Then I pray they chose one of those paths instead of something unexpected," Su replied, snorting an amused laugh at Nthanda's glare. "I would hate for us to have another enemy."

"Oh, we do," Nthanda breathed as he heard the mercenary's voice rising up the hallway but not enough that he could make out what he said. "But they are deeply hidden and will watch for our weaknesses in this rather than attacking. They play a long game, Su Carran. We must do the same but better."

# 17. Not That

Ru slid back to the floor, knife in one hand and his last couple of grenades between the fingers of his other hand. He couldn't hear how many of the baddies where were but there had to be a lot of them. The elevator hadn't dinged as much as it'd vomited forth a horde of pounding boots before rushing back down to get more. Not good. He could handle one set, sure, but endless sets?

Not so sure he could handle that. Especially with so few weapons. Best to let them come to him. At least the _Graceful Swan's_ hallways were full of corners and angles. Plenty of lovely places for Ru to hide behind, lurking as he waited for the next set of baddies to come up the hallway.

Didn't take long at all but it came in unexpected ways.

The ball bearings shot up the hallways, ricocheting of the walls as they rocketed past Ru as if fleeing for their lives. Ru bit down on the urge to curse. Their weapons had been fried by the EMP but obviously the baddies' weapons hadn't been.

Meant exactly one thing: Ru was facing mercs.

Not warriors like Nthanda's people. Not honor-driven soldier-merchants like the Hyun-Ju. No, these were true mercenaries, people who fought for pay and paid for the best weapons the galaxy had to offer. Ru's heart crawled up his throat, pounding and clawing to try to escape from what he knew was coming.

For one very long, very terrifying moment, Ru considered running like hell.

He was alone. Alone with two improvised grenades that would only piss off the mercs. Two grenades and a knife that wouldn't do much either. There wasn't a hell of a lot he could do. Just fight and die.

Fight and buy Nthanda time.

Buy Bala time.

And Lee. And Athaliah and Su and the Hyun-Ju who looked at him and saw a king worth following and damn it, Ru had to stay.

He couldn't leave his post when there was a chance that Nthanda could get to safety, could get reinforcements, could come back and save Ru. Because if he was right about these assholes, well.

Ru was going to need to be saved.

"You're going to die," one of the mercs shouted.

Ru didn't answer.

"You sure they're not gone?"

"Of course they're not gone," the merc snapped at whoever the bright-boy was. "This is the rear guard. They're staying to slow us down."

"Well, go through them!" the bright-boy snarled. "We've got a timeline here."

And wasn't that interesting? Whatever this was about, and Ru had a few speculations of his own that had nothing to do with Nthanda's problems or the Hyun-Ju's, it was more than just blowing things up and putting Nthanda out of power.

Money. Power. Pride. He was betting money, lots and lots of money like the uppers that orbited around Bala at her palace in the lake. Except bigger than them, wider power base. Who gained if the two biggest space-based families stopped having kids and fought each other to a standstill?

Ru didn't know a name yet. Yet. But he was pretty damned sure that Bala would be able to give him a nicely itemized list complete with links, references and recommendations for destroying them when he saw her again. Su would probably even smile as he paid for it.

Something rolled up the hallway, clicking as it bounced against ball bearings. Ru gasped and threw his back against a wall but it was already too late. The Taser flashed and electricity arced through Ru. Everything went white and black as agony flashed up his arms, his legs, along the length of his spine to dance hard and fast in the base of his skull. He heard screaming, horrible choking screams but then the electricity was gone and people were coming.

Ru, half blind and shaking, threw the grenades. He grinned, staggering back against the wall as they blew and people died, screamed, fell and bled among the ball bearings. Pain? Yeah, pain, slashes across his cheek, chest, arm, but hey, he was alive, alive, so alive and they were dead so it was good. Not great, no, not that, but good enough.

He shook his head and nearly fell over because his heart was beating funny, all out of rhythm. There was someone further back shouting orders, screaming about 'charge' and 'shoot'. That didn't do. Couldn't allow them to get away with that.

Ru carefully bent, grabbed a handful of ball bearings. Not much of a weapon but he'd use what he had at hand. At hand. He giggled as he staggered back to his feet and then began flinging the ball bearings as hard as he could at every helmet that poked around the corner.

Didn't kill anyone. Startled them, yeah, made them curse. Shout. Back off, more shouting and damn it, Ru's mind was all messed up by that stupid Taser. He should have run but there'd been no time. No time at all.

He turned and looked at a flash from the corner of his eye only to scream as the electricity jolted through him a second time. Ru jerked and screamed and his whole body turned against him as his muscles tried to break his own bones and the lights were red and black and white and strobes, strobes behind his eyes and then he fell, fell, ball bearings under his cheek and his knife dropped from his numb fingers while the world went grey and distant, full of shouts and boots pounding in on him until the world went away.

Pain and a thousand-pound weight on his chest woke Ru.

"One man?" the merc asked, hauling Ru's head up by his braid. "This little bit of fluff? This is what took out my people?"

"Who cares if he had help?" another merc snapped, impatient and looking back towards the elevator, ahead towards the ball-bearing filled hallway. "We need to move."

"You'll care if you take a shot to the head," the merc snapped. "We need to know what we're up against or we'll all die before we earn our pay."

"Be quick about it!" the other merc shouted. "We don't have time for this."

Idiot. Ru was such a damned idiot. Only an idiot would go up against people he couldn't see, didn't know the capabilities of. Such an idiot.

Ru fought the urge to cough against the weight bearing down on his chest. It wasn't a weight. Broken ribs, punctured lung. Soon to collapse if these assholes kept holding him up by his arms. And the damned Taser they'd used had made it so he could barely move though that wasn't going to last long if his nanites could just do their thing.

Taser had slowed down his nanites, that was for fucking sure. He could feel blood dripping down his cheek, down his chest and arm. Not to mention the weight in his lung and the pain in his gut from being kicked as he passed out. The nanites should have been able to block the pain, should have been able to stop the bleeding but he was still bleeding and hurting and damn it, he was the damnedest fool for taking this stand by himself. Should have run, should have staggered away as soon as the first surge of the Taser hit him. Before, better before his nanites could be damaged.

They had to be working to get to his lung, had to be. But he couldn't tell if they actually were. No, they were, they had to be working to stop the internal bleeding from that and one or two or six boots to the gut. Ru couldn't remember. He'd attacked, been hit with the Taser twice, clubbed as he fell, dropped to the floor and then there were too many boots and too much pain, especially when his ribs broke. Should have run, run with Nthanda. Staying and fighting had been all showing off and no sense. Bala would beat him up when he healed.

If he healed.

There was a foggy bit with pain and Ru's screams echoing though he couldn't remember screaming. Passed out again? Maybe. He didn't know, didn't know what woke him back up but the mercs holding him were shaking slightly and the leader looked infuriated.

"They sealed us in," the leader of the mercs hissed to his second or maybe it was his client. "You didn't tell us that they'd do that."

"I didn't know he'd do that!" the second hissed right back. "He's soft on the boy. Use him. Get those damned bulkheads open. The others can't get out with the goods if the bulkheads are sealed. That's our priority. That's what you were paid for. You're fucking pros! Get out there and get the bulkheads open so we can get clear!"

Sealed? When? But no, he'd been unconscious for a while, hadn't he? So Nthanda had done something. He was there with his people, with Lee and his soldiers. There was hope which was all that let Ru focus his eyes on the Leader's angry face. Ugly, pale, pale skin like an albino or burn victim and scars over his face from a grenade near-miss years ago.

The leader snarled, one hand curling into a fist that he didn't swing into the second's face. Probably female. Maybe Gensyn? Hard to tell. Deeper voice, slim shoulders, wide hips. The armor hid almost everything of the second's figure and the whispers obscured any vocal cues.

"Bring him," the leader said.

Ru shuddered as the thugs holding him dragged him out into view at the end of the corridor. No Nthanda. Nobody at all though Ru could see a splatter of blood among his ball bearings so Nthanda or one of his men must have taken a faceplant. Or maybe it had been Ru. He could have left the bloody spot just as easily. Couldn't track where he was versus where he'd taken the Taser hits.

"Get those damned bulkheads open or the boy dies," the leader called. "I don't care what you have to do, get them open."

"Ah," Nthanda called back and the pleasure in his voice made Ru perk up automatically. "Thank you. That was what I needed to know. Neelam Garcia is your employer."

"The fuck?" the leader asked, jerking back a step and startling his people into jerking Ru as well.

Ru shouted. He couldn't help it. Every time they moved him the pain spiked. When he was still he could cope. The nanites dulled his nerves' responses enough. But moving made the pain spike past what they were prepared for. What he was prepared for.

"You have one choice," Nthanda called, now cold as ice. "You give up Ru and you surrender. Or you die."

"Think you can take us, you pathetic little bastard?" the leader shouted.

Yeah, leader was rattled. Really rattled. Face too pale, sweaty forehead or was it hot in here? Ru couldn't tell. He felt cold. Fingers were like ice and his chest was getting heavier by the second. Sure, he could twitch his toes inside his boots but he couldn't quite make his legs cooperate. Kinda like that time he'd nearly died of hypothermia the winter after Ma died except that time he'd felt warm despite his dropping body temperature.

"I already know that you cannot win," Nthanda said and that was the war machine that Ru had fallen in love with. Good on him. He'd keep fighting, would win. That was what mattered, especially with Ru feeling this way, this weak.

He felt so cold. Ru's head slumped and he blinked as he realized that there was a puddle of blood on the floor underneath him. Oh. Bleeding to death. That wasn't good. Taser must have really done a number on his nanites for him to be bleeding this much. Military grade Taser, not the market varieties that didn't do more than piss Ru off.

"You don't have the men to take us," the leader bellowed.

No, not bellowed. That was a regular voice. It just echoed weird in Ru's ears. Hadn't noticed before but the _Graceful Swan_ didn't really echo. No sounds up the hallways, pings of pipes getting hot or cold. He'd have to ask Nthanda about that later.

If he had a later.

Way things were going he wasn't going to have a later, no more life, no more Nthanda. Crying shame, that. He wanted Nthanda so bad. The little taste he'd gotten was just never going to be enough. Hadn't even gotten the chance to feel Nthanda's naked body against his. Hadn't wrapped his had around Nthanda's cock and watched his face as Ru made him come.

So wasn't fair.

But he just couldn't move and even as he tried to move his body got colder and heavier though it looked like the blood flow was finally slowing. Ru's eyes drifted shut as he heard the merc leader shouting something at Nthanda that was met with a derisive laugh.

Yeah, get 'em, Nthanda.

Make them pay.

Show them...

# 18. Desperate Battle

Every second was torture. Nthanda didn't allow his eyes to settle on Ru. Slowly fading, drooping, head dropping down until he was clearly unconscious Ru. The blood had slowed, stopped, so his nanites had finally slowed his body's processes to save his life.

Or he was dead.

The thought made Nthanda's stomach lurch. He swallowed, raised his chin and curled his lip at the leader of the mercenaries waved a fist at Ru.

"You think I won't kill him?" the leader shouted.

"I think you would be a fool to kill the King of the Hyun-Ju," Nthanda replied completely calmly even as Su Carran hissed at him from around the corner.

Time, he needed more time with Ru. More importantly he needed Ru to survive and if admitting to who Ru actually was was what it took, well then. Nthanda would do it. There was nothing he wouldn't do to save Ru from these monsters who had hurt him so badly.

"The what?" the leader asked, shocked into stillness. His face was paler than normal, scars standing out vividly against his light skin.

"That is the lost King of the Hyun-Ju," Nthanda explained. "If you kill him then the Hyun-Ju will hunt your company across the galaxy and kill every single one of you. And I shall help them. That is my brother by choice, by oath, Ru Sashi Ceelen, ruler of the Hyun-Ju, and you would threaten to kill him. Not wise. Not wise at all, but then this entire commission was not a wise one for you. It would be better for you to surrender, honestly. Because otherwise all of you will die."

The leader of the mercenaries curled a lip, looking at Ru as if he was nothing but dirt beneath his boots, but his hands shook and his eyes were far too wide. Su Carran pushed a weapon into Nthanda's hands, a narrow-beam blaster that already quivered with a fully active charge. Nthanda had two shots at most for a blaster this small before it would need to recharge. Against armor that well designed and the shields that the mercenaries undoubtedly wore he might only get one effective shot.

The two warriors holding Ru looked nervous. The leader was distracted. Nthanda nodded once, smiled as Su Carran and the Hyun-Ju surged around the corner screaming the Hyun-Ju wailing battle cry.

Nthanda took his shot just as the leader turned, blasters in his hands.

The leader dropped to the decks, a hole burned neatly through his forehead. Then Nthanda ran at the warriors holding Ru, catching him as the warriors fell from head shots of their own. Nthanda cradled Ru in his arms, dropping the blaster as pointless for the moment.

"Do not let them escape!" Nthanda shouted to Su Carran.

"Go!" Su shouted back as he tried to blast through the armor and shields of the other mercenaries. "We have these bastards. Save our king!"

Nthanda nodded and ran. Neelam was most likely not with them. Perhaps. But probably not. Neelam had always been the sort to be in the background, pulling strings and giving orders, rather than the one to fight. She would have several routes out of the _Graceful Swan_. He would have to trust that Bala and Lee, along with Athaliah, would keep her from escaping.

He was so much slower with Ru's motionless body in his arms. Nthanda did not dare careen around the corners. While he could take the bruises, he had no idea how many injuries Ru had. Any of them could become fatal if he was mishandled that way. So Nthanda had to slow, and to be careful, and every extra second made him want to scream.

Ru, Ru, damn it, live Ru! His heart pounded against his breastbone more from worry than from the exertion at this point. Sweat soaked his clothes and dripped down his face but Nthanda did not let himself stop until he'd passed the point where the electricity worked again and Bala's shouts echoed through his personal system once more.

_" I have Ru!"_ Nthanda shouted over her, tagging his location and his run towards the next elevator where the two Hyun-Ju warriors waited. _" Send a med team!"_

_" They're in the elevator now,"_ Bala replied. _" Let the Hyun-Ju deal with those mercenaries. I need you up at the control center right away."_

_" Once Ru is safely in their care, yes,"_ Nthanda replied even though he desperately wanted to scream and stay by Ru's side as they operated to save Ru's life. _" I need the elevator anyway."_

_" Fine,"_ Bala said.

There was an echo as if she had snarled at someone else but Nthanda ignored it. The elevator opened and there, thank every deity that Nthanda had never been able to pray to directly, was a full medical team with a trauma bed already set up to take a patient straight to the hospital."

"Lord," the medic said as they scooped Ru up and put him on the trauma bed, "the hospital is fully functional but this looks bad. I have no vital signs other than minor electrical signals in his brain."

"He is full Gensyn," Nthanda told her. "His nanites have, I assume, shut him down until he has been given fluids and the injuries have been stabilized."

She let out a sudden breath, not a sigh or a gasp, but a release of tension nonetheless. They pulled Ru into the elevator and then went down, taking Ru away from Nthanda, from the battle, from everything. Nthanda shut his eyes and refused to allow himself to scream even though he wanted to desperately.

"Up?" the young male Hyun-Ju asked.

"Yes," Nthanda replied. "You can go back to Su Carran. They are likely working to subdue the mercenaries but I suspect that there will be more on other levels of the ship. Tell Su Carran that I request his assistance in clearing out all of the mercenaries and the traitors loyal to Neelam Garcia. If he can find her and capture her alive I will consider it a great boon."

"It shall be done," both of the warriors said before turning and running back towards the battle.

Ru.

Nthanda shook his head to clear it and then fidgeted his way through the wait for the elevator to return and take him up to the command level. He wondered as he rose through the _Graceful Swan_ if this was the only functioning elevator, if Bala had all of them under her control. It would be good if they were but it wouldn't stop Neelam or her people.

There were ways around elevators, around the stairwells. The bulkheads were more difficult but with sufficient access, which Neelam had, one could open a bulkhead, pass through, go to the next bulkhead and open it, moving in small leaps through the ship. Which would mean that every second put Neelam that much closer to escaping with whatever her ultimate goal had been. She had to have something that she'd wanted. This entire situation made no sense otherwise.

The funny thing, not that anything about this entire situation was amusing in the slightest, was that if Nthanda had not met Ru then Neelam would have gotten away easily. Bala's changes to the system would not have happened. The Hyun-Ju would not be here to back Nthanda's people up. The mercenaries would have been able to move freely through the _Graceful Swan_ because Nthanda most likely would not have even realized that someone had come into his room. It was only Ru's presence that had kept Nthanda from sleeping and that was what had saved his life.

Ru had saved him so many times now and Nthanda didn't know if Ru was alive or not.

Sadly, Nthanda though as he shook his hand and eyed the faint dent in the wall of the elevator, punching things did not make him feel better. Hearing Ru's voice again would. Nothing else.

"Good," Athaliah said the instant the elevator door opened, "you're here. We've got several situations."

"Tell me," Nthanda said as he strode towards the command center.

"Bala's working the system as best she can but it's just not up to her standards," Athaliah said, eyes locked on her pad. She nearly ran at his side, so much shorter than Nthanda that she couldn't easily keep up with his long strides but she didn't protest at all. "We're missing a whole series of command codes that would give her full access."

"There are no command codes to give full access to the system," Nthanda said, instantly furious at Neelam. "I refused to have such a system installed. I will not allow the entire ship to be shut down with a single code. It's foolishness."

"Oh!" Athaliah breathed, eyes wide as she stared up into Nthanda's eyes. "Come on. Bala's about to break the codes."

_" Do not!"_ Nthanda shouted through the system.

_" Don't what?"_ Bala snarled back at him. _" I've almost got this."_

_" Do not break the codes,"_ Nthanda said. _" Those are Neelam's not mine. I refused to allow her to install any system wide codes because it was too much of a threat to the _Graceful Swan. _If you are facing codes then they are Neelam's."_

_" Oh, that little bitch,"_ Bala breathed. _" Get in here now!"_

Nthanda didn't bother replying. He hurried, Athaliah running by his side, to the control center. Lee stood outside the door, fidgeting and blaster at the ready. His eyes lit up when he saw Athaliah and then he blushed and cleared his throat at seeing Nthanda. Which, yes, was just as amusing as Ru had predicted it would be.

"Has Neelam been found?" Nthanda asked.

Lee jerked, eyes wide and then narrow as slits. "We have taken Yaroslava into custody, my Lord. Neelam reported that he was behind the attack."

"No," Nthanda said, cursing inwardly. "It was Neelam, Lee. Whatever Yaroslava may think of me and of the Hyun-Ju, he did not bring these mercenaries in. This is entirely Neelam's plot. There has to be someone behind her but this, this entire situation, is her causing."

"She's inside," Athaliah said. "She was the one who said that Bala needed to break the codes."

"Do not kill her if you do not have to," Nthanda ordered.

Both Lee and Athaliah nodded. Lee thumbed his blaster to stun while Athaliah pulled a tiny palm needler from her skirt pocket. She expertly popped out the explosive fletchettes and installed Taser ones instead. Lee beamed at her as though she was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen while Nthanda grinned at the both of them. Ru was going to love it when... Nthanda told him about it.

And he would. He would tell Ru about the obvious little romance blooming between Lee and Athaliah. It would make Ru grin and then laugh and Nthanda would laugh with him. Then he would bend over and kiss Ru, caress his cheek and propose, seriously propose. He could not live his life without Ru by his side.

To a black hole and the depths with being Ru's Guardian. He would be Ru's spouse and if that meant giving up his position as the Lord of the Ceelen then Nthanda would do it. Jing could take command and no doubt Yaroslava would support him. It would be fine.

But first he had to stop Neelam so that there would be a fleet for Jing to command.

"Let's go," Nthanda said. "Do not hesitate."

"I will not, my lord," Lee said.

"I will," Athaliah said, shrugging. "I'm not a soldier. You two go first."

"Be careful if you do have to take a shot," Nthanda told her. "It's very likely that Neelam has... Alterations... that we are unaware of."

Nthanda didn't allow himself to consider that. There was no time. And no word from Bala, not even an electronic grumble about Neelam standing over her shoulder. It worried Nthanda. His own condition worried him even more. Exhausted, bruised and distracted, how effective could he be against someone who might be Altered in every way but the visible?

Well.

Time to find out.

# 19. Neelam's Gamble

The command center was silent when the door slid open. Silent other than the beeps of the computer system, the harsh breath of too many people, and the gritting of Bala's teeth. Nthanda sighed as he stepped inside with Lee at his side, Athaliah behind him with her tiny needler. No one moved, not his people, not the small knot of Neelam's accountants who held their fully professional blasters with far too steady of hands.

"Neelam," Nthanda said.

"Nthanda," Neelam drawled. Her eyes were hard as black ice that formed on the nose of a flyer plunging into a storm in the upper atmosphere. "You warned her. I almost had what I needed and you warned her."

"Of course," Nthanda said. "Because you cost me Ru. I will destroy you for it. I do not care if I have to give up being the Lord of the Ceelen. I will destroy you and everyone you care about for taking Ru from me."

It wasn't true. Hopefully. If the surgeons were skillful. If Ru's nanites were functioning at all. If, if, if. But it certainly felt true and if Ru did die. Well. The sheer rage Nthanda felt at the thought of Ru dead because of Neelam's plots made his jaw clench and his chin rise. His heart beat faster as Neelam's eyes went wide, wider, widest. She shook her head, the hand around Bala's neck loosening for just an instant.

"Bitch!" Bala screamed as she wrenched against Neelam's grip. "I'll tear your spine out!"

Nthanda charged Neelam's accountant-mercenaries. They jerked, apparently expecting Nthanda to 'save' Bala from Neelam. As if she truly needed it. What she needed was for Nthanda to make sure she wasn't shot in the back.

He took a glancing blast to the shoulder but didn't stop, didn't care. His shield mitigated the worst of it, saving him from losing his arm. Nthanda shifted the shield to its highest level, smacking into the mercenaries. Their shields activated at the last second, protecting them from being smashed into the computers behind them but then blasters began firing.

Nthanda's warriors rained death upon Neelam's people. He turned and then snarled to see that Bala had been captured again. Neelam had her hands around Bala's throat, was crushing her windpipe. And Lee, Lee was looking the other way.

"Sorry," Athaliah said.

She fired once.

Her fletchettes went straight through whatever shields Neelam had. It struck straight between Neelam's eyes and then.

Blood and bone splattered the ceiling, the computers, Bala's face. Nthanda's up-flung arm. He turned and stared at Athaliah who shrugged and then walked over, through the complete silence that had fallen in the command chamber, to help Bala stand up.

"I suppose your responsibilities to Bala do override my commands," Nthanda said, smiling as Athaliah grinned, wrinkling her nose at him. "Pity. I had wanted to interrogate her."

"Let me at her computer systems and I'll tell you whatever you want to know," Bala said. She sounded horrible but she looked quite satisfied as she leaned on Athaliah's shoulder.

Nthanda turned to Neelam's people. Only one was still alive and that one stared at Neelam's body as if he was waiting for her to stand up again. Fair enough. After this day Nthanda almost expected her to stand, also. He turned to Lee who looked at Athaliah as though she set the stars and planets into motion.

"Lee," Nthanda said. He snorted when Lee did not hear him at all. "Lee!"

"My Lord?" Lee asked, standing at full attention and blushing hotly at the grins pointed his way.

"Free Yaroslava," Nthanda said. "Have him contact Jing. I need Jing back on the _Graceful Swan_ as quickly as possible. Then help Bala and Athaliah to discover exactly what Neelam was up to. We must be certain that we remove all of her agents and any programs she may have put into the systems."

"Of course, my Lord," Lee said. He frowned, shifting his feet and then squaring his shoulders as he stared into Nthanda's eyes. "Are... condolences in order?"

Nthanda shut his eyes, smiling. The smile hurt his face. "I do not know yet. Ru's brain was still... somewhat active. But all other life signs had ceased. I must go and help Su Carran capture or kill the rest of the mercenaries. I entrust the command center to Yaroslava. And to you."

Lee saluted exactly as he used to when Father gave an order, just as he never had before with Nthanda. "It shall be as you order, my Lord. I shall see that it happens personally."

Nthanda nodded and left, ignoring the little noise Bala made. The questioning look in Athaliah's eyes and the worry in all of his people's expressions. There was no guarantee that they would be his people for much longer. Very likely they would not be.

And Nthanda found that he did not care who he would disappoint by leaving.

If Ru lived, then Nthanda would follow him to the Hyun-Ju, would live by his side as Ru's consort. If Ru had died, well. Nthanda would hunt those responsible across the galaxy even if it led beyond human space. If he had to he would take the battle to the Drathanni and tear all of the human worlds apart. This life, his life on among the Ceelen, would not be worth living without Ru by his side.

Su Carran had taken that knot of mercenaries when Nthanda returned to their sides. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the woman kneeling, bound, bloodied, furious, in their midst. Su saw him and smiled grimly, jerking his chin towards the woman who could not be Neelam Garcia.

"We caught your traitor," Su said. "She put up a fierce fight but we killed the mercenaries and took her alive. I thought you would want to question her."

"That I do," Nthanda said. He slowly walked over to stare down into the face that looked so very much like Neelam Garcia's. "Especially given that we just shot her in the head on the command center. The blood on me is from her."

"You bastard!" screamed the woman who could not be Neelam.

She jerked against the restraints that, interesting, were apparently magnetic because she couldn't stand, couldn't lift her arms or legs from the floor. As she screamed obscenities at Nthanda, the lights came on in the hallway. Good. Nthanda reached through the system, finding it a bit slow and glitch.

_" Bala?"_ Nthanda asked.

_" Busy,"_ Bala replied, not at all crankily but far too quietly for the fiery woman he had known so far.

_" I grieve with you,"_ Nthanda said and waited.

A steady stream of profanity filled the link between them, furious and fast with the hint of unshed tears behind it. Nthanda stared down into the woman who was not Neelam's face, letting the image flow back to Bala. The profanity stopped. Started again and this time all the energy and fury that he expected was there.

_" Cloned?"_ Bala snarled. _" She cloned herself?"_

_" Perhaps,"_ Nthanda said. _" Perhaps not. I do not know yet. But I do know that we may have more... specimens of Neelam on the ship. Do please let me know where the other knots of resistance are that the Hyun-Ju and I may go collect the rest, will you?"_

_" Oh, so you get formal when you're pissed,"_ Bala said with a snort of amusement that translated to static over the system. _" Here's your locations. I'll tell your people to take any more of her alive if possible."_

"She screamed something about a package," Su said, frowning down at the woman who was not Neelam, "just before we killed the mercenaries."

"To protect it or to destroy it?" Nthanda asked.

The woman had gone silent, glaring at Nthanda with seething resentment that he could completely understand. He was angry enough to snap her neck on the spot but then he would not get the information he wanted. And that information would be vital, especially if Ru did not survive. That he had yet to hear a word from the hospital had him more and more convinced that Ru was not going to survive, that it had been too late, that Ru was already dead.

"To move quickly," Su said. "She said 'take it down now'."

"Ah," Nthanda breathed and then smiled as the woman began to sweat. "Then I know exactly how they brought the mercenaries in, how multiple versions of Neelam came in. And where they are taking this package. Gag her. Bring her along. I will not have her from my sight until this has been solved. Oh, and do ensure that she can no longer communicate with anyone else, will you please, Su Carran?"

"Gladly," Su said with a formal little bow that was exactly the right amount of sarcasm and fury for Nthanda's growing bonfire of rage inside.

It took six minutes shy of an hour to capture all the other clones of Neelam Garcia. They fought viciously, tried to distract and slow Nthanda with impotent threats and mysterious sounding offers, but Nthanda ignored all that. There was one last group heading for the keel of the ship where the environmental systems supplied air and food and water to the _Graceful Swan_. It had been designed to have an independent landing bay, small, yes, but still quite independent.

And, just as Nthanda had expected, there was a group of mercenaries desperately working to open the landing bay so that they could escape in a small flyer. An intra-system flyer, not an inter-stellar flyer. Interesting. Bala would find that quite fascinating. She would very likely be able to track where they had intended to go to ground on Melin.

"Kill the mercenaries," Nthanda said as he saw the grav-cart with six small cryo-chambers on them. "Kill all of them. I will have those chambers."

"What are they?" Su asked as he waved his people to attack.

"My children," Nthanda replied and then nodded grimly at the fury in Su's eyes.

Six cryo-chambers exactly the right size to support and protect an embryo or small fetus. Six dead children that Nthanda had mourned. His children. This plot of Neelam's, whatever it was, was targeted at his children and that Nthanda would never forgive and never forget.

He joined the battle despite being exhausted, bruised and at the end of his endurance. Still no word from the hospital. No Ru. Nthanda took several grazes, one blaster and the others fletchettes. One knife to the shoulder and a kick to his knee that nearly broke it. But all of the mercenaries surrendered when they saw that the other versions of Neelam Garcia had been captured.

"You traitors!" the last Neelam screamed as the Hyun-Ju tackled her to the floor and restrained her so thoroughly that she could barely lift her head.

"You paid us to get these out, not to die for you," the leader of the surviving mercenaries said. He spat at Neelam. "Didn't pay us enough for that, either. Lost nearly the whole company. We claim right of retreat."

"Denied," Nthanda said, glaring at the man who went pale. "The only way you live through this is if you answer every single question put to you and then only if your answers are proved true after investigation. You aided in the kidnap of the Ceelen line heirs."

"These aren't... kids," the mercenary paused, staring at the cryo-chambers. "Fuck me. Everyone... Your kids. Everyone knows they died."

"Except that no, I do not believe they did," Nthanda said as he walked over to check the status on one of the chambers. Alive. Vital, frozen but alive. An embryo. His child. "We had questioned why there was no warning when the embryos failed. Now I know. They did not die. They were kidnapped."

"But why take them?" Su asked as he checked the other chambers and nodded that they were alive as well. "And why remove them now if they'd been so well hidden for so long?"

Su paused as he slowly looked into Nthanda's eyes, realization dawning. Nthanda nodded. It was Ru. Everything that had happened had been because of Ru. This entire plot had been uncovered because Ru had suspected the baby chambers had been tampered with. They had to have decided that they needed to move immediately because Nthanda and Ru could have children together naturally. The value of his kidnapped children would fall once Nthanda finally had children to raise. Even a baby in a chamber would survive anything thrown at it if it had Ru's Gensyn blood and nanites so they couldn't sabotage Nthanda's efforts to raise an heir anymore.

"We must get to Ru," Su said. "He is in danger from these monsters."

"Agreed," Nthanda said. He smiled as Lee jogged in with his men. "Lee, question the mercenaries. Kill them if they do not cooperate. There is no right of retreat when the survival of the line is endangered. They aided in the kidnap of my children."

Lee stared at the cryo-chambers, glowered at the mercenaries and then nodded. "It shall be done. I would suggest taking the children to the hospital, my Lord. And Su Carran?"

"Yes?" Su asked, frowning at Lee.

"Make our Lord submit to treatment," Lee said. His eyes swept Nthanda's bruises, cuts and bloodstained clothes. "Sit on him if you have to."

Nthanda huffed but Su snorted and nodded that he would do it. So. Treatment it was to be but not before Nthanda's heirs were transferred to a much more secure location where they could be grown to viability in safety.

And not before Nthanda learned if Ru was alive or dead.

# 20. Intertwined Plots

Ru woke.

Huh, woke. He hadn't really expected to wake up again. Nice. Surprising but nice. Didn't like the damned bed he was on, too soft, blankets too light over his legs and there was a crinkle of plastic or something from the too-thick pillow under his head as he breathed.

Too light on the other side of his eyelids, too, with beeps and the stink of antiseptic and the distant murmur of voices.

So, yeah, hospital, had to be. He breathed in, breathed out, pleased that the expected pain was well under his level of pain control. Still ached but the agony of the broken ribs was gone. Nanites must have gotten that fused back up. And he didn't feel as heavy-exhausted as he should have so someone must have pumped his veins full of blood or plasma or even just fluids. The nanites would work with any of them, get him back to something like normal.

When he opened his eyes the little cubical was white. Shimmery field around his bed that reminded him of Mohana on his drugs, babbling and gregarious instead of stuck-up and a total asshole. Good to see. Good to see. What was strange was that there was no one there. No Bala, no Su, no Nthanda.

And frankly, it was Nthanda that Ru wanted to see the most. Sexy man had to be around here somewhere. Question was how long he'd been asleep. Or, you know, sort of dead. Because he was pretty sure that going cold and heavy thing at the end of the fight had been sort of dying. Or maybe actually dying and then coming back when the nanites finally rebooted after the double hit of Taser nastiness.

"Hello?" Ru called and then grinned as Bala strode straight through the field to stand glaring at him on his bed. "Hey Bala. We kill the baddies or did they kill us?"

"You idiot!" Bala snapped at him. "Why the hell didn't you run?"

Ru shrugged. "Had to buy Nthanda time. And I was an idiot. Which doesn't matter as much as knowing if we won or they won. So, who won?"

Bala sighed. Behind her, Su poked his head through the screen. He had bruises all over his face, a split lip that someone had put synth-flesh on and a black eye that was a dandy. Eye was swollen entirely shut but he didn't look upset at all about that as he strode over to grip Ru's ankle. Ru grinned at him.

"So who won?" Ru asked Su since Bala didn't seem to want to explain. "Us or them?"

"We did," Su said and then raised his chin when Bala glared at him. "We saved the babies. Our people survived in far greater numbers than theirs. And we captured what we believe are all the clones of Neelam Garcia. This was a victory."

"We still don't know who's behind this," Bala snapped at him. "And there's no guarantee that they're actually clones. They could be face-shifts."

"Easy to check," Ru said as he sat up and nodded that yeah, his ribs were good and he wasn't too anemic. Didn't even get lightheaded at all. "Give me a knife and I'll do it myself."

"You should stay in bed," Bala and Su both said, Bala angrily, Su with worry and fear making his hand shake around Ru's ankle.

Ru snorted, kicked his ankle free and then raised an eyebrow when Bala tried to block him. She glared, glared some more as he frowned at her and then moved with a little grumble when he shrugged and moved to climb over the rails on the other side of the bed. Better.

Outside his little cubicle, there was a pack of people surrounding one bed with a very welcome, very battered looking Nthanda on it. Cuts all over his face and arms, bruises blooming purple on that beautiful dark skin, and what looked like at least a dozen different burns that Ru couldn't figure out how they happened. Blasters didn't leave little burns like that. They left great big gaping holes. So yeah, Nthanda was alive but man, he was going to be hurting bad for quite a while given that his nanites wouldn't help him heal properly.

Nthanda's eyes were shut but he flinched every time the doctors touched him so no, not asleep. Should be. Would be a hell of a lot easier for him to be treated if he was out instead of awake for it all. Ru snorted and walked over, one hand cupping his ribs because they might have fused but they certainly weren't back to normal yet. Bending over was going to suck for a few days.

"You look like sixteen floors of black slime and rotted garbage," Ru said.

He pushed past the doctor closest to Nthanda's head, pretty sure that Nthanda was going to want him in touching range right away. Ru certainly wanted to be there, too. Frankly, he wanted to climb right into Nthanda's bed and curl up with him. Didn't look like a good idea right now, though. Might do it anyway. Ru wanted to feel Nthanda's arms around him.

"Ru!" Nthanda gasped. His eyes flew open, he tried to sit up and then he squawked as Ru pushed him right back down on the bed. "You're awake."

"Yup, awake and alive," Ru said. He grinned and then laughed at the pure delight on Nthanda's face. "Bit of a surprise, really. Didn't expect to wake up. Hear you got clones that might not be clones? Know a way to test if it's cloning or face-shifting."

"Do you, now?" Nthanda asked and nope, that wasn't a question.

"Got lots of face-shifts in the Undercity," Ru explained. "Give me a scalpel and I'll check one of them out. Only take a second or so."

Nthanda mouthed 'scalpel' while frowning but he nodded for the doctors to give Ru one. They passed over a dandy little cauterizing one that Ru rejected. After checking four other state of the art, painless, cauterizing and disinfecting ones Ru turned to Su and held out his hand for a plain old knife. Which Su blinked at and then gave to Ru with a formal little bow that both Ru and Bala snorted at.

"I'm not leaving Nthanda," Ru told Su. He got back a tired sigh so maybe that wasn't a surprise. "Neither are you. This whole damned war is over. Official, word on high, whatever it takes. We're allies now. And you," Ru said as he turned back to Nthanda who was damn near incandescent with joy, "are getting your fucking nanites updated so that they'll heal you. No damned reason for you to have that many bruises when you got nanites. It's ridiculous. So you," he pointed at the doctors who looked either indignant or amused, depending, "get to work on updating those nanites. You gotta have a sample of mine in all that spilled blood. Get Bala to help transferring the programming."

Bala started snickering. Good on that. She definitely needed to lighten up by a long ways. He couldn't be the only one sick of her grim and gritty bad attitude. Which was neither here nor there when Ru had, wow, five copies of the same person glaring at him. All with skin about four shades lighter than Nthanda's, identically curled auburn hair and furiously glaring hazel eyes that reminded Ru of that pet snake one of Bala's former lovers used to carry around until it bit his cheek and escaped into the city.

"Wow," Ru commented, staring at them. "Nice job. Excellent clone work. Or face-shifting for that matter. Really well done. You check them for ID, Bala?"

"Yeah, didn't find any," Bala said. "Whoever did it paid to have the ID marks removed. Or never applied."

Ru nodded thoughtfully as he came over to carefully study each woman's face one by one. Slight variations between the eyes, different patterns of color in the irises. Mole beside the left eye varied by as much as an eighth of an inch up or down depending on which woman it was. He hummed and then jerked back as the fifth woman tried to spit in his face.

"Well, you just volunteered to be tested," Ru said. "Not that I think this is face-shifting or cloning."

He grabbed her hair and wrenched her head to the side as all of the other women screamed at him. A tiny cut, barely a quarter of an inch, directly in front of her ear was all it took to verify that it wasn't a new face temporarily implanted overtop of her actual face. The cut bled and when he tugged at the edge of it, the wound didn't curl and extend so that the face could be removed.

Ru nodded and gestured for some synth-skin which he put over the cut despite the way the woman cursed at him. She seemed more than a little bit pissed off by the cut but there was confusion there too. Her eyes kept flickering to the little tube of synth-skin in his hand as he stepped back.

Not well treated, then. No surprise, really. Litter-bearing families never really treated their kids well. Had too many of them to give each individual child a good level of attention and care. At least that wasn't something Ru had to worry about if he ever had kids. His nanites would keep him from having too many sets of twins at the same time or, as he suspected was the case with these women, the first embryo splitting into eight or ten fetuses before implanting into their mother's womb.

"They're not clones," Ru said.

"They're obviously clones, Ru," Bala huffed. "Look at those faces."

"Yeah, look at their eyes," Ru countered. "Eyes, moles, wrinkles around their mouths. They're not clones. They're litter-mates. A matched set from a bloodline that Altered for litters instead of other forms of durability."

Not one of the women would meet his eyes. Didn't mean a hell of a lot but Ru was pretty damned sure that he was right. He passed the knife back to Su who was frowning at the women, then went back to Nthanda's bed. Took a little effort to climb up into the bed but Nthanda beamed as he made space for Ru and then gently, gingerly, wincing, wrapped one arm around Ru's shoulders.

"So they didn't kill the babies," Ru said, looking at Nthanda who went from beaming to grimly furious at the mere mention of the word, "they stole them?"

"Yes," Nthanda said. "We have verified that all the frozen fetuses are mine. Bala and Athaliah's check of the records taken with the cryo-chambers show that they destroyed my brothers before they could come to term. Something changed with my children, though. The plan was to take them away and raise them under their power. I do not know who is behind this but I will find out."

Ru nodded. "We'll definitely do that. I am, by the way, staying with you. We're gonna get married, if you say yes, and the two bloodlines are going to join up. I decided. I mean, you can argue it but I'm pretty damned sure that's what this was all about. Keeping our lines from coming together. Which means that their backer," he waved at the litter women who were glaring glittering rage at him again, "will try to kill us all. So get those damned nanites fixed not just for you but everyone else, too."

"Make it so," Nthanda said, turning to the doctors who started. "Was I unclear? This will happen for all Ceelen. Anyone who objects can find a new job and a new home elsewhere."

"Yes, my Lord!" said the lead doctor, the oldest one with hints of grey hair poking out from her very restrained grey head wrap.

All the doctors moved a little away and started muttering together. Logistics, maybe. Complaints, probably. Ru didn't care. What he cared about was that pretty soon Nthanda wouldn't be hurting anymore and maybe they could get back to that thing they were doing on the couch before everything broke loose.

"You do want to marry me, don't you?" Ru asked and completely ignored Bala's snort of amusement and Su's quiet chuckle.

"I had already announced that I intended to turn over command of the Ceelen to my cousin Jing if you went back to the Hyun-Ju," Nthanda said. He grinned, cupping Ru's cheek with a hand that was as much synth-skin as it was actual skin. "But ending the clash between our lines will work as well. I think Jing may take over the day to day leadership duties anyway. I believe our efforts are better focused on raising the babies as they are born and on finding out enemies, whoever they maybe."

Ru nodded. His face hurt from how wide his grin was. He wanted that and damn it, there went his ability to form words because fuck, a family. A real family. One that he shared with Nthanda. Kids and a home and enough food for everyone. Clothes and toys and all the stuff that Ru had missed so badly since Ma died.

Generations of family, even, because Su was beaming at them, bouncing on his toes as if he thought the idea of them having kids together was the best thing ever. And Nthanda's people would be there, too, Lee and bossy little Imani and even Mohana though he'd better learn to check that attitude of his. It promised to be everything that he'd always dreamed of and Ru couldn't do more than make inarticulate noises while nodding and then patting Nthanda in some of the unbruised spots because words, damn it, words!

"That means yes," Bala drawled. She grinned at his glare. "He gets all emotional when he's really happy. Loses his words. Cutest thing ever, really. That's how you know that Ru really likes something. He starts squeaking and clinging to you."

Ru glared death at Bala but she just laughed and went back to studying the litter women who snarled and tried to bite her when she poked at their faces and tugged at their hair. Still, embarrassing as Bala was, she'd apparently reassured Nthanda because he grinned and then laughed as he cautiously hugged Ru close.

"I look forward to learning all your quirks," Nthanda whispered to Ru. "And to your learning all of mine."

Ru nodded. They would have time. Bad as this... one day? Two? He wasn't sure. Bad as it'd been since he eyed Nthanda in that elevator in the Undercity, Ru was glad that they'd met. Glad that he'd saved Nthanda's life. Everything was better now and damned if he didn't think it would keep on getting better.

And even if the threats kept on coming, Ru knew that together he and Nthanda could deal with it all. Nothing was going to stop them now.

He'd make sure of that.

* * *

The End

# Other Books by Meyari McFarland:

**Matriarchies of Muirin:**

Tales from the Dana Clanhouse

Repair and Rebuild

Storm Over Archaelaos

Coming Together

Facing the Storm

Fitting In

Following the Beacon

The Solace of Her Clan

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**The Manor Verse:**

A New Path

Following the Trail

Crafting Home

Finding a Way

Go Between

Like Arrows of Fate

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**Clockwork Rift**

Blood Worms

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**_You can find these and many other books at _****_www.MDR_Publishing.com_** ** _. Sign up for our newsletter there and get updates on the latest releases plus a free book!_**

# Author's Note: Finding A Way

_C lash of Lines is the first in what I plan to be a series of romance novels. But it isn't my own romance novel or my only Romance series. Another series is the Manor Verse which is set in an alternate universe version of western Washington where the European colonization of the world never happened. My favorite out of that series, if I had to pick, is _Finding A Way _so I decided to give you an excerpt here to share my joy in that world. Hope you enjoy!_

# 1. Decisions

Dust. Atif sat in the pantry, eyes shut, and breathed. All he smelled was dust. His heart beat entirely too fast, making his empty stomach wobble enough that he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep his meager breakfast down when he stood to walk outside. Between the fear, the hunger and the very quiet argument going on between Father and Mother, Atif didn't want to move.

The house was too quiet, not even the sound of the fire snapping and cracking on the other side of the house. Lord Ammad of Breding Manor had made sure that all the peasants in his district had mass heaters after last winter's horrible cold snap but they hadn't had the money to get fuel for the fire. Faez, Atif's second oldest brother, had worked so hard to cover their debts while Father was away but there wasn't enough left over now. Not that there had been before Father returned but at least then they'd had the option of promising payment when Father's goods sold.

There were no goods.

It had been weeks since they'd last had fresh fruit that Atif hadn't gathered himself. Their breakfast had been a gift from old Yoriko up the lane, just rice balls but it was more than Atif had eaten in days. Father had come back from his latest trip across the sea with nothing, not even his ship. He'd arrived in port on a Korean sailing ship in borrowed clothes because his ship, his beautiful trading ship, had crashed off Hokkaido.

Mother had gasped when he showed up at their door. She'd cried and clung to Father, pulled him into the house to cry some more where none of the neighbors could see.

They'd all cried at the loss of the crew. Half the town's sons had been on the ship, working for their share of the profits of the trip to Pakistan and back. Atif hadn't realized just how much things would change without the ship, without Father's trade goods, without hope.

"Haidar," Mother hissed. She never used to hiss at Father before the shipwreck. "We need to find some way to pay them."

"Sehr, if I had a way to pay them, I would have already done so," Father said and now his voice rose as another fight began. Too many fights lately, too.

"Contact Lord Ammad," Mother said for the thousandth time. "He's your cousin. He'll help!"

"He just put on a wedding," Father groaned. "Sehr, he doesn't have the money to help us right now."

Atif opened his eyes, staring at the door of the pantry. The little room was barely big enough for him to sit in with his knees pressed against his chest. It'd seemed much larger when Atif was a little boy. Then he would stare up at the shelves covered with preserves in their thick jars, at the bunches of herbs drying on pegs stuck in the rafters. Cheese and apples and big thick-hulled squash filled the little room with the promise of food to eat.

No herbs hung on the pegs now, other than one bedraggled strand of chives that had gotten stuck there and forgotten. He didn't share the floor with squash. No rice or grain sat in big baskets on the shelves. There weren't even beans waiting in dry wood boxes to be soaked and cooked until they were soft.

"Lady Shizuka is here!" Waqar called.

Atif stirred, stilled as Mother and Father's fight abruptly cut off and then waited until they stomped outside to greet their Lady. Then he stood and carefully slipped out of the pantry and into their bare little house.

The entire time he'd grown up Atif's house had been full of color. Mother had covered the bare wood floor with plush rugs from Pakistan. They'd had more rugs hung on the walls for insulation and more pillows to lounge on than anyone could need. Their kitchen had always had food waiting for someone to eat, either family or guests come to talk business with Father or Mother.

Now the rugs and pillows were gone. Only four thin blankets remained, carefully folded and stacked in a corner of the room. Everything had gotten sold, every single thing that they'd ever cherished, and it still wasn't enough for the family to survive. Atif sighed.

Arshia had married just before Father left on his doomed trip. She lived in a different village now and Atif was glad. At least she was doing well with her husband's family, potters that they were. Waqar had four jobs that he worked around the village. He worked so much that it had cost him his engagement to his sweetheart Saira. Faez worked, too, every other odd job the town had to offer. That left very little for Atif to do besides sit and listen and try to help.

Lady Shizuka smiled as she nodded at whatever grand claims Father was saying about getting back on their feet soon. She really was beautiful, long black hair and a round face that was the very image of the moon. Her wife, Lady Nabeela, stood behind her with an indulgent smile that made Atif want to scream. He could see the resemblance between Lady Nabeela and Father. Same beaked nose, same high cheekbones, same mop of heavy, wavy hair. Atif had the same nose, hair and eyes, too, just like his siblings.

Couldn't they see how desperate the situation was? But no, of course they couldn't. The outside of the house looked just like always, cedar planks painted in bright designs that mixed native Snohomish designs with traditional Muslim geometric patterns. Father had been so careful not to let their new poverty show outside the house.

"Hey, there you are, cousin," Lady Nabeela said. "Is there anything you need while we're here?"

Atif blinked at her, laughed quietly as he shook his head and then stared straight into her eyes with every bit of his desperation showing. "A job."

"Atif!" Mother gasped.

"We're not doing well," Atif snapped at her because no, he wasn't going to hide this anymore. They were starving to death and they didn't have to. "Father's ship went down and we lost everything other than the house, Lady Nabeela. My brothers are working every job available and there are no jobs left for me. Not in this village. I need a job that will give the family some hope of paying off our debts."

Lady Shizuka put a hand on Lady Nabeela's arm when she started and opened her mouth. The very shrewd look that Lady Shizuka gave Father made his chin come up and his lips go thin. Mother looked away and Waqar's shoulders slumped as he nodded confirmation.

Just putting the truth out there was like dropping a hundred pound weight from his back. Atif's head spun but that was probably the hunger. His hands shook and if he was lucky then it wouldn't matter that his desperation showed. Please let them do something to help the family!

"We don't need charity," Father growled finally.

"The debts are more than you can pay?" Lady Shizuka asked.

"At... this moment, yes," Father admitted with a frustrated sigh. "But we will pay them. We just need a little time"

Lady Shizuka nodded thoughtfully. "Then I know what Atif can do. He can become an apprentice like I did and learn a new trade that will help support the family into the future. There is a very large bonus given to the family when someone signs on. It should be enough to get you back on your feet. And, as he learns his new trade he will be able to send money home. Though I would not expect that you'll fall in love with a Lady somewhere and get married. That's quite rare, despite my circumstances."

Lady Nabeela clapped her free hand over her mouth but it did nothing to muffle her honk of laughter. Father stared at Lady Shizuka, then at Atif, his mouth open as if he was a frog getting ready to catch flies. Hope sent shivers up Atif's spine, down his arms, over his knees which shook so badly that he abruptly sat on the house steps.

Apprentice. He could apprentice. Atif had assumed that he'd work with Father on the ships or with Mother on selling the goods. It was the job that had seemed to lay in front of him since he was a tiny child. But that wasn't the only job in the world. He could learn a trade and establish a life somewhere else. Lady Shizuka was a doctor in addition to being a Lady and she'd learned that while she was an apprentice.

"I'll do it," Atif said. He waved at Mother's horrified gasp, Father's cursing. Even Waqar stared at him in horror. "I'll do it. What do I have to do? To sign? When can I start?"

"Come over to the carriage with me," Lady Shizuka said, patting Lady Nabeela's arm in such a warning way that Lady Nabeela snapped to attention and then stepped out of Lady Shizuka's way. "It's going to be hard. You won't be allowed direct contact with your family and you'll end up in a completely different part of the country, Atif. Let's talk in more detail before you make any final decisions."

Atif laughed as he stood, one hand on the doorframe so that his legs didn't give way again. His stomach growled so loudly that Lady Shizuka's brows drew together. He shook his head and then started towards the beautiful carriage with its dark-stained cedar body topped by a heavy canvas canopy. The horses were beautiful, spotted brown and gold and red with braided manes decorated with ribbons.

Every step he took from the house seemed to open Atif's world up. The dust and cold desperation bloomed into warmth from the horses, the scent of spiced meat buns somewhere in the carriage and the hint of fragrant cedar branches caught on the edges of the canopy. Atif found his shoulders straightening, his spine unrolling as if he was a fern in spring unfurling before the renewed warmth of the sun. Apprentice.

He didn't look back, didn't dare meet Mother's eyes and see the horror that had to be there. There was no way he could look at Father's shame. Or Waqar's embarrassment. They might never understand why Atif leaped at this opportunity but he knew it was the right choice. Come what may, his family needed help and this was something that only Atif could do.

He would become one of Their Majesties' apprentices. Somewhere, out in Ambermarle, he would be given a new home, a new name, and a new profession to learn. Doing this would save his family. If he was right, it might save their entire village because Father's ship had been what kept everyone going even if his trips took a year or more each time.

"I've already decided," Atif told Lady Shizuka. She blinked at him, head cocked to the side so that her waterfall of silky black hair tumbled over her shoulder. "How soon can I start?"

# 2. Apprentice

Samurakami Haru-Sama!"

Haru didn't flinch at the shouted Japanese words though his not-quite run towards his mother's workshop did stumble as he stopped. He didn't allow himself to snarl, shout or keep going towards the smoke, the fire, the screams and cursing and horrifying moans that he knew he'd hear in his dreams tonight, as much as he wanted to.

Instead he took a deep breath, forced his shoulders down and his lips into an approximation of a pleasant, if harried, smile, and turned to face the representative of their Majesties. The woman was short, stern, her greying hair drawn back in two tight braids that hung as rigid over her shoulders as if they were made of stone.

Behind the officially nameless representative was a young man in an apprentice's white tunic and pants. Quite attractive, yes, if fairly wild-eyed and getting more so the longer Haru stared at him and yes, it was Haru's stare, not the chaos behind Haru if the young man's wide eyes locked onto Haru's face were anything to judge by. Haru switched his gaze to the representative and bowed, just barely, and hopefully it would be enough to convey that he was in a rather urgent hurry.

Though he would have thought that the smell of smoke, the, relatively, small explosion only moments ago and the rising cursing coming from his mother's workshop would be enough convey that.

"Please, do be welcome," Haru said. "I am afraid that I have an urgent matter," he waved towards the people running buckets of water into Mother's shop behind the heavy stone wall and thick not quite properly formal gate that served as Klallam Manor's official warning to tread carefully here, "that I must attend to. The servants will surely have tea prepared for you."

The representative's shoulders sagged slightly, so very slightly but it was as extreme on one of her type as if Haru had fallen over and begun to wail openly. "Again?"

"I am afraid Mother is determined to continue her experiments," Haru said. "Ren has not been successful in dissuading her."

"Lord Consort my ass," the representative muttered while glaring towards Mother's shop. "Go. We'll wait."

"My thanks," Haru said. "And my apologies."

He turned and ran towards Mother's shop with all the speed he could manage short of losing one of his sandals. The wall around her workshop had done its job. The explosion had, definitely, blown out every shoji screen in the smaller fabrication shops neighboring Mother's workshop but the shoji of the manor itself were intact. That was progress.

A story high and approximately twenty feet long, the new workshop that he'd ordered built after Mother burned down her last one, was surprisingly intact. The heavy stone walls were scorched, yes, but intact. And yes, the heavy redwood door that marked the entrance was lying on the ground like a ramp for fire fighters to run up but it looked as though it had come off its rails cleanly, leaving the building and the door solid. Still, he was cautious as he peeked inside to see just how bad the explosion damage was.

Thankfully she seemed to have been prepared this time. The majority of the explosion appeared to have been contained behind heavy redwood panels braced so that they wouldn't collapse instantly. Two at the far end of the workshop lay tumbled, burning, but the others were still in place. Everyone appeared to have been wearing the goggles Mother had invented so there shouldn't be any lost eyes and they all wore thick firemen jackets that dripped water so no one should be burned. It was hard to tell through the smoke and steam but no one looked as though they'd been hurt.

Still, as many times as she'd tried to get steam engines to work, as many explosions as he'd seen, Haru still found it hard to deal with the inevitable smoke, fire and scorch marks over everything and everyone. It smelled like death, the ash coating his tongue, his clothes, his very skin with that sense of doom that accompanied Mother's experiments.

"Mother?" Haru shouted over the firemen, the tinker who'd promised to help her one last time who now cursed at the top of his lungs between coughing fits and the, thankfully, falling crackle of flames hissing as a relay line of firemen threw buckets full of water into the blaze.

"Here!"

Haru followed the sound of her shout, then the lone arm waving in the cloud of smoke and steam. Lady Samurakami Jun of Klallam Manor sat on an old fuel bin that had been turned upside down, her sleek black hair now a frizzy, burnt mass on the right side of her face. It hung undamaged to her chin on the left side, giving her a lopsided appearance that prompted Haru to sigh.

"Good news?" Mother asked with such wryness that Haru shook his head and laughed. "Ah. Not good news."

"Their Majesties' representative is outside with our new apprentice, Mother," Haru said. "I believe they arrived just in time for the explosion."

Mother groaned. Her head sagged towards her chest as her hands flopped on top of her knees. Which, Haru knew, meant that she'd completely forgotten that the new apprentice was due to arrive today. And that there was to be an audit in the next week, at the latest assuming the auditor had bad traveling weather instead of their current wonderful weather. Possibly she had also forgotten that she had Court to attend tomorrow with several major legal cases to adjudicate.

Someone, probably Haru's twin brothers Michi and Kaoru, threw open the great doors at the far end of the workshop that had come ajar but not opened all the way. Air rushed in, covering Haru with smoke-scented steam, before flowing right back out in a rush that sounded like the suck of the tide over the gravel in the bay. At least it cleared the air so that Haru's nose wasn't filled with fire and scorched hair.

"Are you injured?" Haru asked because with Mother there was no telling. Sometimes she thought a paper cut was the worst injury possible and yet when he was twelve she'd burned her left elbow so badly that the skin blackened and she had barely slowed down.

"No, just scorched," Mother sighed. "All right. If you'll escort them inside, I'll make sure everyone is intact here. I can figure out what went wrong later."

"You'll actually come in within the hour, yes?" Haru asked and didn't flinch in the slightest when Mother glowered at him. "If you need to do the analysis immediately, then say so. I'd rather have an accurate estimate of your arrival time than keep putting them off."

Her mouth twisted as if she'd bitten into an imported lemon but she nodded as she stood and swayed. Haru automatically put one hand under her elbow to keep her from falling. It was still strange to be taller than Mother. She was such a personality that for her to be barely up to his chin felt odd. Wrong. And yet, there he was, staring down at the top of her head where the part of her hair neatly divided shriveled remnants from smoke-filled healthy strands.

"You'll have to shave your head again," Haru sighed.

"Good," Mother said, grinning up at him as if that was the best thing she'd ever heard. "I look better with no hair, no matter what everyone else says."

Haru swallowed a laugh and then let her go, estimate on arrival time undelivered. Right. She'd show up when she showed up, probably when Michi and Kaoru dragged her in by the wrists to make her sit, eat and get cleaned up. He would never figure out how Mother ended up as a Lady when she was so desperately unsuited for it.

Lady she was though, for all that she pushed the majority of her duties off on Haru at every opportunity, including Their Majesties' representative and the new apprentice with his velvet brown skin, hair like the waves on the bay in a storm at night and eyes that stared at everyone in obvious shock. Haru brushed himself off as he walked back to them, more slowly this time.

"I am afraid she will be delayed," Haru said and then spread his hands at the representative's irritated expression. "I can, of course, take responsibility for the new apprentice if you are in a hurry. Mother is likely to be several hours assessing what happened in this latest failure."

Their Majesties' representative pressed her lips together as she glared towards the workshop. At least the fire appeared to be out. Haru saw only steam rising out of the windows and doors when he glanced over his shoulder. The smell of the ash lingered though, filling Haru's mouth and nose.

"Klallam Manor formally accepts him?" the representative asked with an admirable level of calm given that she looked as though she wanted to stride into Mother's workshop and shake Mother until her teeth came loose.

"We do," Haru said with a properly slow, serious bow to the older woman. "With gratitude. I will do my best to ensure Mother does not immediately coopt him into her research."

The representative sighed and nodded, patted the apprentice on the shoulder before striding off to her very stern-looking basic black carriage. She swung into the back and the driver shook the reins smartly, startling the horses into a quick trot that carried them away so fast that it was as if they wanted to escape.

And perhaps they did. Haru sighed. The apprentice swallowed audibly when Haru turned and smiled at him. Obviously not one of his best smiles.

"Well, not the introduction I would have wished for you but perhaps more accurate to our daily life at Klallam Manor," Haru said. He gestured for the apprentice to follow him inside the gate to Klallam Manor.

Unlike the gate to Mother's workshop, composed of huge logs barely stripped of their bark, the gate into Klallam Manor was a work of art. Deliberately. Grandfather had put up proper Japanese torii when he rebuilt the Manor on traditional Japanese plans. They'd been huge, towering three stories over people who entered, painted bright red and quite impressive. Haru had always liked them.

But the wet weather and time had eaten away at the base of the torii so that it was unstable. That had allowed Haru to replace the grand logs with something more appropriate to Ambermarle and Klallam Manor's place in society. He'd commissioned three great cedar trees to be cut from the nearby forest and then had local artists carve them in the native style as though they were totem.

It was a very fitting look as far as Haru was concerned. The gate had the shape of a torii, tying in with the ruling family's ancestry, but the appearance of something native, something Snohomish. He truly did like the red and white accents that outlines the various bears, wolves, eagles, moose and orca decorating the gate.

Other people's objections to the 'bastardization of tradition' were unimportant, especially given that Mother had already said that she liked it.

"I am Samurakami Haru," Haru said to the apprentice with a little bow and a wave to follow him through the gate, "heir to Lady Samurakami Jun, she of the explosion you just witnessed."

"Ah, please call me um, Atif?" the apprentice asked, waving one hand towards Mother's workshop. Odd to have a proper name from an apprentice but perhaps it was one he'd always wanted. Most apprentices took more fanciful names for the duration of their training. "Is she okay?"

"Oh yes," Haru said. He chuckled at the pure disbelief on Atif's face. "Truly, she is. There would be far more swearing if she were not. I am afraid that my mother is quite devoted to her experimentation. She is in the process of developing a steam engine to power ship travel across the ocean. It is not yet successful but given Mother's determination we expect that she will find a solution to her pressure problems sometime in the next few years."

"Steam engine?" Atif asked, stopping dead in his tracks to stare at Haru. He was slightly shorter than Haru, with thick eyebrows that drew together dramatically. "For ships? It would... power oars?"

"Mother thinks that wheels," Haru said, gesturing his hands like the paddles of a water wheel, round and round, "would be most effective. Her assistant has created several small scale models that appear quite promising though they work on springs, not steam. If they're right ships might be able to make the trip to Japan in oh, weeks instead of months."

Atif choked, turned and stared out the main gate of Klallam Manor with all its formal frippery carved into the great logs towards Mother's shop. "My father was a sailor until his ship went down. He could make so many trips if it only took weeks. It would change commerce everywhere throughout the world."

"It would, indeed," Haru agreed. He gently touched Atif's elbow, smiling softly at the way the young man started. "If she can stop the boiler from exploding. So far she has not found a method to do that which is not too expensive in terms of weight and material costs. The amount of metal needed is quite harmful to the environment. Mining so much would radically change the mountains. She is still working on it, though. I imagine in time she will find some method that works without too much cost."

This time when Haru turned and gestured for Atif to follow, he did, down the covered path to the main entrance, stopping to remove his sandals along with Haru and then with Haru as he continued onwards towards the apprentice quarters. Two steps behind Haru and to the right, as was proper. Difficult for conversation but then Haru didn't suppose that conversation was desired at the moment. He had to stink of smoke and ash.

A proper tour of the Manor would have to wait until Haru didn't feel like he trailed mother's chaos behind him like ashy footprints that would never wash away. The last thing he wanted to do was stain the lovely native art that decorated the walls, ceilings and floors with ashes. Still, Atif did get to see into the formal hall where Mother held court. Or more accurately, where Haru normally held court because Mother forgot and couldn't be torn away from her experiments. The shoji screens around the inner room and the dais had been pulled back to air the tatami mats out. It looked empty rather than grand.

Haru turned right, leading Atif through the covered walkway towards the kitchen and its connection to the apprentice quarters. Most of the shoji were open in the offices and thankfully no one looked too disturbed by the latest explosion. They bowed as Haru passed, eyes glancing over Atif before they returned to work. Apparently the wall they'd built around Mother's workshop had done its work better than Haru expected. As close as the offices were to her, the shoji should be torn and the staff terrified but not today.

It had made the offices on the north side nearest Mother darker but the safety was worth it. Haru found his shoulders relaxing as they continued onwards to the kitchen and the entrance to the apprentice quarters. Thankfully the shouts and cursing from behind Mother's wall had subsided into a busy murmur of voices that Haru recognized as intensive problem solving. Little hope that she would emerge before nightfall if they'd already reached that stage of discussion.

"You'll find the Manor relatively easy to navigate, I hope," Haru said. "Mother's workshop is completely self-contained. To enter it you would have to go back through the main gate and then through the gate you saw. We find it to be much safer that way."

"I can see why," Atif said with a little laugh that sounded so shaky that Haru paused at the door to the kitchen to look over his shoulder at the young man. "That was... shocking."

"I know," Haru said. "Truly, I do apologize. Mother was told that you were to arrive today but I suspect she forgot in her enthusiasm. It happens fairly frequently, I'm afraid. I'll do what I can to get you assigned somewhere not prone to explosions right away, unless you want the excitement."

"No!" Atif exclaimed, hands up to ward that off. "No, thank you. I'd prefer no explosions at all if possible."

"Good," Haru said, amused. "I can definitely use help with the actual work of ruling our lands, Atif. Mother enlists virtually everyone in her experiments, even my younger brothers Michi and Kaoru. This will likely be a place you spend a great deal of time. This is the kitchen. Access to the apprentice quarters is strictly through here so you'll be coming through many times a day."

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_Finding A Way is now available at all major retailers in ebook and TPB format._

# Afterword

I love building new worlds. It's one of the best parts of being a writer, imagining new worlds and new situations, putting people in them and seeing how they react to those worlds. This story is set in a world, a universe really, that I've been building off and on for over a decade. There is _so much stuff_ that I can't put on the page.

Yet.

I will eventually. I know myself. Now that I've started writing in this world I'll be back with more stories and more romances over time. I'm calling it the Drath Universe because of the first alien race that humanity contacted. They'll probably come into the story in the third or fourth novel. Not the second which I'm writing hot on the heels of this one. They're a fascinating race with a deep and complicated history that they don't talk about without extreme provocation.

I'll have to figure out how to get them talking because wow, fun stuff to write about! Either way, humanity expanded through the stars with generation ships in this universe. Faster than light travel just wasn't possible with our level of technology. But then, way out on the outer edge of the human sphere, a human generation ship encountered a Drath battle cruiser and everything changed.

I posit eight intelligent space-faring species in this universe (in contrast to the other one I'm working on where every single solar system has at least one intelligent species). Only the Drath like talking to other races. Only the Drath poke their noses into other species' affairs. And as the Drath are the oldest surviving species to have achieved space travel, well, they have a great deal of power and aren't ashamed of using it.

Not that most humans ever encounter them. This is a human story, a love story. The entire series, the whole world, is built around love. So yes, there will be a great deal more. Of the Ceelen and the Hyun-Ju, of Nthanda and Ru though they're taking a back seat to other characters in book two. I hope that you enjoyed Nthanda and Ru's whirlwind romance. Thank you for reading!

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Meyari McFarland

July, 2016

http://meyari.wordpress.com/

**L ooking for more amazing queer people of color on great adventures and falling in love? Not only is _Clash of Lines_ , the first novel in the Drath series, free on all major sites, you can get a free copy of the sequel _Joining of Lines_ by signing up for our mailing list: ****Get your copy here** **!**

> Duty defined Jing Althus' life.
> 
> Duty to Nthanda, his cousin. To the Ceelen who expected him to lead if Nthanda fell.
> 
> Someone had targeted the Ceelen for destruction.
> 
> Only one person could help Jing discover them: Iman Hogarth, conman, genius and the most beautiful man Jing had ever met.
> 
> If Iman would help.
> 
> Jing's only hope was to convince Iman that he was worth risking Iman's life.

# Author Bio

Meyari McFarland has been telling stories since she was a small child. Her stories range from adventures appropriate to children to erotica but they always feature strong characters who do what they think is right no matter what gets in their way.

Meyari has been married for twenty years and has no children or pets. She lives in the Puget Sound, WA and enjoys the fog, rain and cool weather that are typical here. When vacation times come, she and her husband usually go somewhere warm like Hawaii or they go on their own adventures to Japan and other far away countries.

Her life has included jobs ranging from cleaning motel rooms, food service, receptionist, building and editing digital maps, auditing and document control.

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More from Meyari McFarland

Website:

* * *

www.MDR-Publishing.com

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Social Media:

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### Contents

  1. Title Page
  2. Contents
  3. Other Books by Meyari McFarland:
  4. Special Offer
  5. Copyright
  6. Dedication
  7. 1. Chance Encounter
  8. 2. Battle Worthy
  9. 3. New World
  10. 4. New Brother
  11. 5. New Rules
  12. 6. Blood Lines
  13. 7. Missed Messages
  14. 8. Crystal Garden
  15. 9. Hyun-Ju
  16. 10. Rival Invasion
  17. 11. Rival Brothers
  18. 12. Endless Questions
  19. 13. Quiet Night
  20. 14. Surprise Attack
  21. 15. Hidey-Hole
  22. 16. Taking Control
  23. 17. Not That
  24. 18. Desperate Battle
  25. 19. Neelam's Gamble
  26. 20. Intertwined Plots
  27. Other Books by Meyari McFarland:
  28. Author's Note: Finding A Way
  29. 1. Decisions
  30. 2. Apprentice
  31. Afterword
  32. Special Offer
  33. Author Bio

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Contents
  4. Also by Meyari McFarland
  5. Copyright
  6. Dedication
  7. Beginning
  8. Afterword

