Ascension Saga (Interstellar Brides): Book 5

Faith stood looking down at my mother. Frozen, her face wide-eyed with horror. She knew.

Mother’s breathing was becoming more labored, her forehead now dotted with sweat. Whatever poison was in the vial, it was fast-acting. It hadn’t been more than five minutes since my father ate the meat from Faith’s plate. And now he was dead.

And so the clock was ticking. I had to get the truth out of my mother, the fucking traitor, before she, too, was dead.

My heart shattered, torn in two. How could I love my mother, and hate her this much? “Mother? What have you done?”

“I told Zel what to do. It was me. I’m sorry.”

She gave orders to Zel to kidnap Trinity? “Goddess, mother. Why?”

This made no sense. I knew her to be ruthless in protecting her own, but this? Trinity had nothing to do with… anything.

“Lord Wyse promised me a place in the new government.”

“New govern—”

“Lord Wyse is the queen’s first cousin,” Faith said, cutting me off. “But his daughter failed to light a spire.”

Holy fuck. “Lord Wyse kidnapped the queen? He hasn’t killed her, the spire is still lit. So, he went after Princess Trinity as well? Why?”

Mother’s breathing became more ragged. “Yes. Lord Wyse.”

Lord Wyse, the fucker. I’d kill him myself. Hunt him down and strip the skin from his body. Kill him slowly. Make him suffer. For this. For the death of my father. My mother. For trying to kill my mate.

“Why did you do this?” I asked, knowing her time was almost up. “Why?” I asked, ready to shake her for the answer.

“Son. Love you. Only the best. For you. Sorry. Forgive me,” she wheezed, then fell unconscious.

Faith dropped down across from me, took Mother’s hand. Not that it mattered now. She wouldn’t awaken, not if she passed as my father had done. Wouldn’t know Faith was touching her, holding her as she died.

I stared at both my parents. Dead and dying. Poisoned. Faith was the one to be unbreathing on the floor, not either of them.

“Lord Wyse wants the crown,” Faith said. She was looking down at my mother, but thinking aloud.

“Mother was the traitor in the Jax household,” I replied, stating the obvious, now that she lay seconds from death between us. “While you’d been snooping about, she’d been the one to contact Zel, help him to kidnap Trinity—most likely to take her somewhere and have her killed. She must have been the one to send Zel along with the other guards to collect you from the transport center.”

“She didn’t know who we were, that was obvious. If she knew I was a princess, she’d have been thrilled for us to be mated.” Faith’s words rang true and a bitter pain settled in my chest. I was not worthy of this female. A traitor’s blood ran in my veins. I was what Leo had feared, a traitor to the queen. A danger to Faith, and her sisters.

I laughed, although it was completely without humor. My parents were dead before us. What a ruthless plot that had just unfolded. “Mother wanted power. She’d been greedy for it. And yet she had it before her all along. The highest power of the land. She’d done it for me, but all she had to do was love you. She didn’t even know her son was mated to the princess.”

Faith was quiet, for my tragic words couldn’t ring any more true.

“Lord Wyse must have known who you were,” I said, finally, thinking of that bastard.

Faith shook her head. “No. That makes no sense. He would have said as much in that interrogation room. He knew I had no Aleran records, but not that I was from Earth, or that I was a princess. God, he’d have killed me right away if he’d known.”

And to think, when I’d arrived at the station, he’d been taking her away, to some level of the Optimus building meant for the worst criminals on Alera. Had he really intended to take her there? Or somewhere to kill her? While Faith might not have talked, upon her death, her spire would have gone dark. He’d have known then, had probably been willing to risk an innocent life for the chance to kill a royal. To remove anyone in the way of his gaining the throne.

“Or later, when he came to my apartment to find us.” I avoided sharing my other thoughts. “But it was empty, so he must have ransacked it looking for a clue as to where we went.”

“You think Lord Wyse did that?” Her face was pale, her eyes haunted.

“Who else?” Who the fuck else?

“Then if Lord Wyse doesn’t know I’m a princess, then there must be someone else in on all this.”

“Zel, dead. Mother, dead. There are many people in play here. Lord Wyse, too, perhaps is just a pawn. This is more sinister than I ever imagined.”