My stomach tenses with the guard’s words I hear coming from the communicator in the building at the port on Honra.

“Caleb is here, Sire.” One of my most trusted guards, Zan, tells me.

“Is he the one who started this?” I close my eyes and rub my temple.

“No, Sire. He has committed to help, though. He is the new leader’s top advisor.” Zan’s voice is low as he’s hiding from whoever it is who has taken over the palace.

“Tell me who it is, Zan. I need to know what we’re up against.” I wait and when no answer comes I say, “Zan, are you against me now too?”

I cannot believe the man would stab me in the back. I never saw this coming. Not in a million years.

“No one is against you, Prince. It is the King, and I have been sworn to secrecy about telling the leader’s name. A Euthenian. Just know as long as you do not try to defend your father, then you will be left alone.”

“How can I not defend him, Zan? He is my father!” I begin to pace as my head is starting to hurt with how many people want my father dead.

When did the Universe turn against him?

“Once you come home and find out the truth you may not be so ready to defend the man who is your father, Prince. I wish like hell I could tell you everything. I really do,” Zan says then he whispers. “I must go. See you in a week, I pray.”

The connection terminates, and I am left looking at the wall full of colorful pictures of all the different flowers on this planet.

Zan didn’t seem upset about the take-over of the palace. Not even a little. And what is Caleb doing there? He went to the settlement because he wanted to.

I invited the man to stay with us at the Palace and enjoy the same type of life we did. He wanted to go out to the wilderness and live a simple life and find a simple wife.

So why the change of heart just as the Earthlings start an uprising?

Caleb was like a brother to me, and here he is, a part of it. I find my feet taking me to my father. He has to have an idea of who it is that is Euthenian and has such a hatred for him.

In the shop at the front of the port, I see Kataline with my Aunt Nar. They seem to be picking out seeds and laughing as I walk up and take my aunt by the arm.

“See her to the ship when her purchases are done. I need to speak with my father. It is no Earthling at the head of the uprising. It’s a Euthenian and one with a special hatred for my father.”

Nar’s blue eyes go wide in shock. “Who would do such a thing?”

I shake my head. “Zan could not tell me. He told me I could not defend my father, though. So I thought you should know that as you are one of his best supporters. I want you to stand down and let me handle it. I don’t want you hurt.”

Her hand runs over my shoulder. “Nor I you, Kerr. But we can’t allow your father to be hurt either. Your mother would roll in her grave if we allowed anyone ever to hurt the man she loved more than life itself.”

I nod in agreement but have no clue what we can do. “We do have many royals and guards behind us. Maybe we could manage to take them down. I don’t know. I guess within this week I’ll try to figure things out before we land on Euthenia.”

With a nod from Nar, I walk away to talk to my father. “Wait, Kerr,” I hear my wife call out.

I turn back and raise a brow in question. She makes her way to me and places her hand on my arm. “A name for our daughter has been running through my head a lot. I mean it has been there for a while now. Well, since we got on the ship as a matter of fact, but anyway, it’s Gleeu. We could call her Glee for short. Doesn’t that sound adorable?”

My heart stops. “Did my aunt tell you my mother’s name?”

She shakes her head. “What is it?”

“Gleeu,” I say. “That is not an Earth name, Kataline.”

She looks down at the floor and seems upset. “No, it’s not. It just came to me. Seriously. When I got on the ship, it popped into my head. It’s been there since then, and I recall it often. If it’s her name, we don’t have to use it. It was just an idea.”

“We’ll discuss it later. I need to talk to my father. Nar will see you back to the ship,” I say and then leave a kiss on her cheek.

I turn around and take in a deep breath. The odd things just keep on coming.

How did my mother’s name pop into her head the very moment she walked into the ship?

My father sits in the courtroom with the captain of the Armada and a room full of guards. “Glad you could come and join us for the meeting to decide what our tactic will be once we reach Euthenia,” my father says.

I look around and say, “My father and I need to talk. We can meet at the third moon before we go all the way back to Euthenia. There we can convene and discuss things. I’m not entirely sure going in with guns blazing is a good idea. I have found out it is not the Earthlings who have taken over. It is one of our own.”

The men look confused, and the captain asks, “Do you know who?”

I shake my head. “My guard couldn’t tell me. There are some Earthlings at the palace, and one has been named as the leader’s top advisor. Caleb is a warrior. He is a man to be taken seriously and his devotion to the leader, a Euthenian, over us, has me concerned.”

My father shakes his head. “Not Caleb. He was such a good man.”

“I know. And I, for one, am not ready to forget about how much we all respected one another. There has to be something we can do to get this uprising under control.” I pace back and forth as my father begins to pour a couple of drinks.

Amazingly, he hands one to me, and I place it on the table nearest me. If the man thinks anything he hands me will pass through my lips again, he really has gone mad.

His eyes rest on the full glass sitting now on the table, and he says, “Your trust in Earthlings is misplaced, Son.”

I cock my eyebrow at him. Too many people are around us for me to disgrace him with the words he recently told me about him most likely having the blood of an Earthling in him.

The men leave us as I’ve requested and I eye my father. “I wanted no one else to know about this. But it is you they want, Father. I was told that if I tried to defend you, it would hurt me. Now I need you to reach back in your mind and think about anyone you may have done wrong to. In their eyes, at least.”

The fact that my father takes a seat and taps his finger to his brow as his fingers go from one to two to three tells me he has, at least, three people he can think of right off hand.

“Fantastic! There’s a list, Father?” I walk away from him and go back outside.

I need air. Lots and lots of fresh air.

What has he pulled down on us all with his ways?

With long strides, I go back to the communication building and try to contact the palace once again. I need more answers.

Someone answers my call from the communicator. “Kerr?”

The voice is Caleb’s and my heart just stops. “Caleb.”

“Kerr, it’s good to hear your voice. I wish things were better.”

“Caleb, can you tell me anything? Anything at all, friend. Brother.”

“When you come back, come unarmed. Leave your father in the ship and allow us to deal with him. No one else has to be hurt. No one else has to die.”

The silence between us is deafening. “Caleb, why?”

“The one he did the evil deed to will explain everything to you upon your arrival. As long as you do not attempt to defend your father. That person needs to know you stand with them, against your father, Kerr. And I am telling you to do it. You will not be sorry if you place your faith in the one who has taken over the rule of Euthenia,” Caleb’s voice is strong and full of truth.

Yet this is my father we are talking about.

“I don’t know if I can do it without knowing who has taken over. Who am I placing so much trust in? Who wants my father dead? A name is all I ask.”

“And that is all I cannot give you, Kerr. You must trust what I am telling you. Leave your father on the ship alone or with those who stand with him. We will deal with him, and those people alone and no others need to be hurt. Your life will be back to normal before you know it. Only a better normal than before.”

My heart is pounding. My body is sweating, and I have no idea what to do.

“Is there nothing else you can tell me, Caleb?”

“I have been told there is a secret weapon which will be unleashed. I have no idea what it is. I have been told it has been programmed for the utter destruction of the King and all who defend him.”

“Any idea when this will take place?” I ask as I run my hand over my face.

“Sometime after you land here, Kerr. So once you land get the fuck off that ship as quick as you can. Get all you care about off the ships and as far away from them as possible. But make sure your father is secured somewhere inside your ship. I’m pretty sure anyone who is left in the ship will be trying to help him, and they will meet their end as well.”

“Thank you, Caleb. Seems I have a big decision to make.”

“Please make the right one and come home to us, Brother.”

The connection ends, and I am left once again with an empty feeling inside me.

Am I to blindly follow one I do not know and turn against my own father?

“Kerr,” Kataline’s sweet voice comes from behind me.

I look down at the floor. “How much of that did you hear, Kataline?”

“Most of it,” she tells me. “Kerr, you know what you have to do.”

I spin around and face her. Anger flashes inside me as I throw my hands into the air and shout, “How can you stand there and say that so damn easily? You carry our child. Tell me how you would see it if she was asked to turn her back on me, her own father and let me die!”

Kataline’s hands cover her face. I feel horrible immediately. But she is acting as if it’s so easy to turn your back on one you’ve only known to have loved you your whole life.

I take her hands from her face and kiss her palms. Tears flow down her reddened cheeks. “I am sorry, Kerr.”

“You speak in voices which are not your own and talk of killing my father, Wife. You do this in your sleep. And now there is a person who has taken over the rule of our planet who also wants my father dead. A man I have grown to love and trust with all my heart. A man who also knows my father well and was treated like a son by him has asked me to incarcerate my father and leave the ship so he can be destroyed.”

Kataline blinks at me without speaking. Then she shakes her head. “I talk in voices which are not my own? I talk about killing your father? Kerr, you have to help me. I’ve kept the voices in my head from you. But if they’re coming out when I sleep then you know what’s going on inside me. If you don’t help me, I am sure to kill him.”

“You’ve done much better today, baby,” I say and run my hands over her shoulders. “Maybe that’s over.”

She nods. “I haven’t heard a word in my head since we left the ship. Perhaps it is. But we still have the problem of once we get to your planet, don’t we?”

With a nod, I place my arm around her shoulders and head back to the ship. “We do. And now we must go.”

As we walk into the ship, Kataline’s body goes tense, and I can feel it. She leans against me as though she feels weak. Her breath goes in deep, and she seems to be trying to catch it.

I stop her as her hand runs to the back of her neck, and she rubs it. Pulling her hair up I run my hand where she did. I can feel each vertebra, but nothing out of the ordinary.

“Looking for something, Kerr?” she asks.

“I’ve just been thinking you might have some type of device which has been placed in you.” I take her hand and keep walking.

“What makes you think that?” She runs her arm around my waist and leans into me as if she’s feeling weak.

“Did you start to feel bad when we got on the ship?”

She nods and looks down. “My head is beginning to hurt again.”

With a sigh, I say, “When we get to Euthenia a medic can run you through a scanner and find anything that’s wrong or has been placed inside you. We can get you all fixed up when we get there.”

She smiles and squeezes me. “Finally, a plan.”

For her, yes. For my father, no.