Adam watched Luce sleep, an old habit he lacked the willpower to break. She was never more real than when she was awake, her ancient eyes blazing with righteousness. Had any Otillian ever burned brighter? Such a weapon he had forged, and he was lucky to still be here to wield her. Though, if his father had caught wind of them, he might not live to see the final battle. Not much could kill him but . . . his sire would crush him when he discovered his betrayal.
Their would-be spy was out cold. He had given Sariah twice the amount of sedative the doctor recommended. He was taking no chances with Luce’s safety. Their tableau flummoxed him. It was evidence of Sariah’s subconscious trust in Luce. She had writhed out of his grasp, sensing the threat to her, but she burrowed against Luce and slept as secure as a cub with its mother. Except Sariah had never known a mother’s love, not in the way Luce understood parental affection.
His phone vibrated in his pocket, and the number broke him out in a cold sweat. He rose, strolled to the rear of the cabin, and closed his eyes. “Father.”
“I sensed your presence today,” he said with polite interest. “Yet you did not come pay your respects.”
“I had other matters to attend,” he said coolly. “I apologize for not showing you due reverence.”
“Sarcasm, Adam. Is that the best you have to offer?” A dangerous thread of interest wove through his words. “You are my son, my heir, my will made flesh. You ought to thank me for raising you so high.”
“I am grateful.” His fist clenched until his knuckles popped. “Your interest in my pursuits honors me.”
“On that, we agree.” His amusement portended nothing good. “You brought a guest with you. That’s rare. You prefer to work alone.”
“A partner.” He kept playing bored. “Given the timing, I thought temporary backup might be prudent.”
“The cadre’s reemergence,” his father supplied. “I had forgotten this was their time.”
Such things were beneath his notice. His eyes were ever turned skyward. So long as the protections sandwiching Earth held, he had no reason to bother himself with what he considered a nuisance. A minor irritation. An annoyance better left to his son. Father did so enjoy delegation.
Adam was tired. So tired. Of it all.
“Three of the four have breached,” Adam informed him, seeing no reason to lie. “The fourth should arrive shortly.”
Eagerness coated the blade of his voice. “How many have you killed?”
“None,” he admitted, knowing it would be seen as a failure.
“Do you require assistance? I am happy to oblige, my son.”
He would wipe Luce and the others off the face of the planet, along with half the population, human and charun. There was no standing against his father.
A reminder that came too late.
“I have matters well in hand,” he echoed Luce’s earlier sentiment. “Famine has been secured as well as War’s second in command.”
“That I had not heard.”
Adam ground his teeth. He hated delivering news to his father. He much preferred to avoid him altogether. “Testing has already commenced.”
Each species of charun existing on Earth did so at his father’s sufferance. The only reason species aside from theirs were allowed to live at all was because Adam had dedicated his very long life to finding ways to wipe out other breeds if the occasion called for such mass-extinction. Father tolerated no threats to his power. Not even from his son. Especially not his son.
The only species resistant to their methods were Otillian. Their chameleonic nature made them the charun equivalent of cockroaches. Impossible to kill unless you stomped on each one individually.
“This will be your second time having a cadre subject. Do have a care with this one. The last one expired before yielding acceptable results.”
The thing about experimentation was it made allowances for errors, such as the syringe full of a rare venom he had injected into the carotid of the previous incarnation of Conquest to end her suffering. “Yes, Father.”
What his father had never understood was the only way to maintain balance was for every predator to fall prey. Checks and balances kept an ecosystem healthy. Earth had no such equilibrium. His father had no such rival.
But his father hadn’t faced off against Luce Boudreau, either.