Lucas couldn’t say why he woke up in the dead of night, only that some survival instinct kicked in and suddenly he was wide awake and sitting up in bed. He searched the inky darkness but it was difficult to see anything among the shadows. Perhaps it was nothing and he’d been imagining things. A tingle on the back of his neck had him on his feet before he could think twice.

A knife whipped past his face as he dodged, following that same survival instinct. Cycles of training had his body reacting without thought. The blade still managed to nick his cheek as Lucas side-stepped. Immediately, he went to disarm his attacker, but the man wore dark robes with a deep hood over his head. It was difficult to get a good grasp on him.

The two males fought in Lucas’s room. The heir of Treon wondered how his attacker could have gotten so deep in the mountains to the family Seat. Their vast home was well protected. Someone had betrayed his family and let them in. It was the only explanation as to how an assassin managed to get into his personal rooms.

Lucas felt the blade bite deep into his side and he grunted with the pain. He lashed out and managed to get a hand around the assailant’s neck. With a carefully placed shove he flipped the man over onto his back. Lucas dove and pinned the assailant. He ripped the large knife from the attacker’s hand and yanked the hood back to see who his would-be assassin was.

Lucas stumbled back in horror and shock. “Grady?” he asked incredulously. He couldn’t believe his eyes. His own brother? Lucas didn’t know what to say or do. Grady had been at his side since his birth and they’d been inseparable as children. Lucas had always looked out for his little brother and this is how he repaid him?

“You should have listened to father,” Grady hissed. “Our plans to gain power would have gone smoothly if you hadn’t interfered.” Then he lunged at Lucas.

Lucas was so dumbfounded he made the grave mistake of reacting too slowly. Grady grappled with him and managed to regain control of the blade. His brother crouched and Lucas took a step back, hands in the air in surrender. “You tried to kill me because I disagreed with your plans to assassinate the royal family?” It seemed so absurd he couldn’t believe it.

“The new king of Khara Prime promised us our own fertile planet, not this wretched excuse of a rock. The surface is barely habitable even after terra-forming,” Grady spat. “I do not want to spend the entirety of my life underground in the mines on the fringe of the Draga galaxy in the outer rim.”

His brother attacked again.

Grady was never great at combat, but Lucas was wounded and bleeding. Lucas redirected the attack but the blade managed to make a deep slice into his leg. With a twist of his arm and a yank he held his younger brother to his side. Lucas had an arm across Grady’s throat and pulled back hard enough to cut off his air.

Grady struggled but he had never been as big or as strong as Lucas. Within a minute he slid to the ground, unconscious. Lucas stood in the middle of his room and stared down at the prone form of his brother. His chest heaved from the exertion and blood soaked his shirt. He was no longer safe in his own home. Where could he go?

Lucas sent a cast to his personal starship and any man he knew was completely loyal to him and him alone; not his family. He needed to leave and soon.

As heir, he controlled the future of Treon and if his father did not like his plans it seemed the lord was ready to assassinate his eldest son to get his own way. Grady was weak-willed and constantly sought the approval of their cold-hearted father, which made him a willing pawn.

Lucas packed hurriedly with one hand pressed to his side. The medic on his ship would take care of him. He only had to get there. Lucas needed to warn the royals on Draga Terra. If Treon allowed Khara Prime into Draga space it would allow the Neprijat access to the inner planets. The King of Draga had to have a strategy for when the Neprijat finally reached those inner planets.

Lucas rushed through the stone halls. For the first time, his large home deep in the mountains felt like a tomb. His own father and brother wanted him dead. Even on the run he wouldn’t be safe. It was easy to send enough gold credits to convince anyone to become an assassin.

The hangar full of starships built for war at the mouth of the mountain was quiet and still in the middle of the night. The freezing cold air hit him like a wall of ice and it made his breathing even more labored. Lucas stumbled as he crossed the wide hangar. His ship was close. Only a little further and he would be safe for the time being.

“My lord!” someone exclaimed as he stumbled again. Lucas had forgotten about the cut on his leg. The cold made his legs numb and useless. He hit the ground hard. “Draga,” he croaked. Blood seeped onto the floor from his side. “Get us to Draga Terra now.”