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  “All right. I’m ready.” Sophie turned to give Kat and Liv one last hug. “I’ll let you know when I get there safely,” she said bravely. “Love you.”

  And then Sylvan was leading her out of the suite and down the long metal corridor at a brisk pace with Kat and Olivia calling ‘I love yous’ from the doorway of Kat’s suite.

  Sophie risked one last glance behind her and blew them a kiss, wondering when she would ever see them again.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  “It isss time. They are preparing to fold ssspace.”

  “I know. Our instruments detected the spike in their energy output as soon as it happened.” Xairn nodded, his eyes never leaving the hooded figure on the metal throne. Behind the AllFather stood his new personal guard. Four vat-grown warriors, each eight feet tall and incredibly muscular, they formed a silent wall at the Allfather’s back.

  “Meet Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta.” The AllFather nodded at the wall of muscle at his back. “I thought it prudent to expand my protection. I had them grown and trained to my personal specificationsss.”

  And I had nothing to do with them. Didn’t even have knowledge of them until just now. Xairn frowned. It was a bad sign. “They look very…competent,” he said aloud.

  “More than competent—deadly.” The red eyes flashed. “But I did not sssummon you here sssimply to admire my new guardsss.”

  “I know,” Xairn said quietly.

  He had been expecting this summons for days—ever since the urlichs’ attempt to take the Earth girl had failed. They had been acting on Xairn’s orders—orders he had given against the AllFather’s will. And yet, though the details of the failed attack were well known to his father, this was the first time Xairn had been summoned to the throne room since it had happened. He was almost tempted to hope his father had forgiven or forgotten his small rebellion. Almost. But he knew the AllFather too well for that. Most likely he was simply waiting, letting the dread of another punishment build to make the harvesting of Xairn’s pain all the sweeter.

  “I have not forgotten that you defied me in the matter of the girl’sss capture.” The low hiss made him think that the AllFather must have been reading his thoughts and Xairn looked up quickly. “Sssome good did come of it, however,” the hissing voice continued. “The marker the lead bitch placed when it bit her may prove to be most useful—especially now that I have lost my lock on the warrior’s mind.”

  Xairn was surprised though he tried not to show it. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d received any kind of praise from his father. “His mind eludes you now?” he asked carefully.

  The AllFather made a noise of disgust. “He must have visited one of their accursed priestessesss. Hisss hate and rage have been repressed, making him difficult to read.”

  “Well, at least with the marker in place we can track the girl anywhere—as long as we’re in the correct proximity. Of course, if they go too many light years away…”

  “They could go a thousssand light yearsss from the Fathership and I would ssstill have them right in the palm of my hand.” The AllFather’s boney, scabrous fingers clenched suddenly, like a trap snapping shut. “Do you not wish to know how?”

  “I am certain you will tell me when you are ready.”

  “I am ready. And you will sssee. But first, I think we have time for a quick punishment.”

  “What?” Xairn took a step backwards, thrown off his guard. “But, Father, I thought you said the marker was useful. You said—”

  “I sssaid it was useful, yesss. But placing the marker was not your only objective when you inssstructed the urlich to attack, wasss it?” Glowing red eyes regarded Xairn steadily from the confines of his hood. “You intended to defy me. And useful or not, I will not let sssuch defiance go unpunished. Come. Kneel.”

  “I…do not wish to.” The words seemed pulled from his throat but Xairn couldn’t help himself—he had lived a lifetime under his father’s sadistic tyranny and he was tired of always bending beneath the lash of the AllFather’s cruel will.

  “Come. Kneel.” This time the words had power he had not felt before though he had seen it at work in others. Xairn felt as though iron cables had suddenly been fastened around his arms and legs—cables that worked his limbs as though he was a life-sized marionette.

  “I…do…not…wish…to,” he grated out again. Yet despite his words, he felt his limbs moving against his will. But I haven’t had time to prepare, to shield my mind. What if he finds out— He cut off that line of thought abruptly. Nothing, he must think of nothing if he wished to keep his secret.

  “A ssshort punishment,” the AllFather murmured as Xairn was forced to kneel before him. “But no lesss painful for all that…”

  Hating his father almost more than he could endure, Xairn looked up to take the pain that was his birthright.

  There was nothing else he could do.

  * * * * *

  Afterwards he felt drained. The AllFather’s directions had been specific. “Go to the docking bay and tell the Master of Ships that I wish the new ship readied. You ssshall pilot it yourself. You and none other. And at the proper time—the time that I sssay, you will collect the girl and bring her to me.”

  “Yes, Father,” he had murmured through numb lips. His hatred was just as strong but his spirit was weak. So weak that he had to risk disobeying his father once again though he knew it might draw a further punishment.

  The corridor that led to his private apartments seemed longer than it ever had. The AllFather never came down to this end of the ship, preferring to spend most of his time in the throne room. The metal throne etched with glowing green runes was the seat of his power and, in part, the source of the dread he exuded the way any other male would exude a bodily scent.

  His father’s absence from this part of the ship—where most of the flesh vats and the urlich kennels were located—was Xairn’s main objective in claiming the prized space for his own. It had not been easy, though. He had killed three of his father’s most trusted advisors and the general of the Scourge army in order to gain the rooms he now occupied. Xairn did not regret their deaths. It was only by violence and bloodshed that he had earned his way out of the throne room and into a space of his own.

  A space where he could keep his secret.

  Upon reaching the triple-thick plasti-steel plate that served as his door, Xairn keyed in a sequence that only he knew. It was a combination of runes, glyphs, numbers and letters that changed daily and he trusted it to no one other than himself. After letting himself in, he closed the door and locked it securely. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

  “Sanja? Here, girl,” he called softly. Though the walls of his lair were sound-proofed, he was still careful. One could never be too careful on the Fathership.

  A soft, uncertain whining could be heard coming from the inner chamber where he slept. Xairn could hear the question in it and he approved. He had taught her to trust no one—not even him—without the code words.

  “Green eyes,” he murmured and a short, joyful bark answered him right before Sanja came rushing around the corner and barreled into him.

  “Easy girl. Easy!” Xairn felt his face break into a smile—such an unfamiliar expression and yet one that seemed natural whenever his pet was with him.

  Sanja panted happily and her stump of a tail wagged frantically in greeting. Xairn regretted that—all urlich pups were born with soft, floppy ears and long, bushy tails and Sanja’s had been beautiful. He had not been able to save her before the medical mutilation that turned her lovely ears into sharp, menacing points and truncated her tail. But at least he had rescued her ahead of the chip implantation which enhanced the sense of smell and aggression in an adult urlich and turned their eyes the same evil, glowing red as his own and the AllFather’s.

  He had been forced to kill the Master of the Kennels in order to get her away without a trace but that was another death he did not regret. Anything was worth keeping his secret—anythi