CHAPTER SIXTEEN
It took two weeks to reach Arcadia, and Sebastian would have happily turned the ship around and started the journey again.
It was one of those rare and blessed times where everything just worked. There were no more delays or breakdowns. Random pirates or Commonwealth agents didn’t show up to chase them through space. Nothing blew up metaphorically or literally, and the crew bickered and teased and functioned like the happy, screwed-up family they were.
His good mood wasn’t just because Sebastian had Ren in his bed every night, there was also Ren during the day. Ren relocated the ship’s account books to the library and spent hours there, seemingly content to untangle the mess Sebastian had made of the numbers. Other times Ren helped Bo with the environmentals, perfectly willing to tinker over the precise chemistry and percentages required to keep them all breathing. He subjected himself to Simi’s teasing so that he could spend time in the engine room and lifted heavy objects recreationally with Rylan. It also turned out that Ren and Jaime’s training had been similar — Ren’s theoretical and Jaime’s practical — so the two of them had long conversations about computer behavior that were incredibly boring to listen to but very pleasant to watch.
Soon Ren’s shoulders eased rather than tensed at mealtimes, when it was a full house, and he began to join in on the conversations rather than holding himself back. He smiled that real, true smile, and Sebastian let himself believe in something longer than this one journey and smiled back.
Also there was lots of sex.
But maybe two weeks was more than he deserved. He’d been in only a few actual relationships in the years since he’d left Ren, and they’d all been with people more ruthless and hard-bitten than Sebastian himself. Yet he’d still managed let them all down in some way. He couldn’t bear the thought of doing that to Ren. Again.
So seeing the blue, cloud-swept planet approaching made Sebastian feel like a sweet and gentle dream was ending, and now he was going to have to wake the fuck up.
Sebastian studied himself in the mirror in his quarters, scratching at the dark brown hair covering his jaw. “I wonder if I should lose the beard,” he mused.
“Don’t,” Ren said quickly. Very quickly, and Sebastian caught his eyes in the mirror. “I just meant that it suits you, and well” — he smiled — “I like it.”
“It doesn’t make me look too rakish?” Sebastian smoothed the hair above his lips. “I don’t want to scandalize your family by looking disreputable. I am, completely, of course, but no need to emphasize the fact.”
“It won’t matter how you look,” Ren said gloomily as he shrugged on a shirt.
“Ouch.”
He stood up and wrapped his arms around Sebastian, looking at both of them in the mirror. “I want you to meet my family,” Ren said. “Very much. Well, my cousins will gossip, my father will pontificate, and the regent will… I’m not sure about her reaction. But my grandfather will like you. He’s always been kind to me, the only one who didn’t make me feel like I was a disappointment.” He rested his chin on Sebastian’s shoulder. “That’s how the rest of them see me. So no matter how handsome you look, the focus is going to be on my failures.”
Sebastian turned in Ren’s arms to face him. “You didn’t fail at all. You’re bringing the Heart back to Arcadia.”
“Zaria will have reached the planet by now,” Ren said. “I can only imagine what she’s telling them.”
“She may be the real thief. Or someone in your oh-so-loving family. This job’s not done; we still have to uncover who was plotting to steal that jewel and why.”
“Oh, is that all?”
“It’s got to be easier than fighting a robot — which reminds me—” Sebastian went for a wrapped up bundle he’d brought into the room earlier and had set on the chair when he’d been distracted by Ren in the best possible way. “This is for you,” he said, handing it to Ren.
Ren sat back on the bed, the long bundle on his lap, and unwrapped it. He revealed the sword he’d brought back from Fortuna — the blade considerably shorter now, but restored to something sharp, the metal alloy shining obsidian rather than the previous pitted gray. Sebastian had made a sturdy sheath for it out of dark cloth.
“I got Simi to do her best to fix it. That cover’s just vat-grown cloth, really rough, but it won’t slice open at least.” Sebastian shrugged at the surprised look Ren gave him. “Don’t princes in the stories have swords?”
Ren dropped his eyes to the blade. “Thank you, but it should be yours. I never used it. I wanted to, on Ebba, when I thought you were— But I couldn’t”
“I’m glad.” Sebastian sat on the bed beside him. “It’s not a very pleasant thing to stab a person no matter how fancy the blade. It’s good you avoided it.” He considered. “Stabbing a robot was interesting, though, but I want you to have this.”
He didn’t want to add to remember me by, but it hung there anyway. Ren smiled unsteadily.
“A monarchy does function mainly on symbols, I suppose. Thank you, Sebastian.”
Sebastian stood and offered his hand to Ren. “Let’s go save the world.”
The hills of Arcadia were green and rolling, with seemingly nothing harsh or ugly marring the landscape. Trees with lush red leaves filled the valleys, and, as The Wayward Prince flew in low to avoid detection for as long as possible, they had to dodge flocks of long-necked, white-winged birds.
“It is beautiful,” Sebastian said to Ren on the bridge of the ship.
“Yes, I’d almost forgotten how much.” Ren took a steadying breath as he stood next to Sebastian’s chair. “We’ll be able to see the palace just past this next hill.”
Sebastian wasn’t sure what to expect of something called a palace, but he was surprised by what they saw through the ship’s windows. A small city of white dwellings with conical roofs was spread out around a single massive rectangle of gray metal thrusting up into the sky. It was a huge spaceship, one of the old star cruisers of pre-Singularity days — Sebastian had seen a few of them before, repurposed into orbiting space stations capable of housing thousands of people, but never on the ground unless they were in ruins.
“How the hell did they land it?” he wondered.
“The queen,” Ren said. “Those were more heroic times.”
Sebastian thought that heroic and desperate were two sides of the same coin, but he had to admit it was an impressive sight.
“All of the government business is conducted there,” Ren said. “For a long time, the ship provided power and clean water for the city, but the planet has been self-sustaining for the last seventy years.”
“We’re being hailed,” Mags said, frowning over her monitors. “And we’ve picked up a tail. Several.”
Drones, small messenger types and larger ones capable of carrying a person, were following them as they glided over the low white buildings of the city.
“It’s all perfectly normal,” Ren assured them. “There’s a landing pad on top of the palace. An escort is customary.”
“Yeah, this feels real friendly,” Kaz said grimly as the swarm of small ships around them grew. “Well, let’s land and get this shitshow over with.”
“Think happy thoughts,” Sebastian advised. He reached to squeeze Ren’s hand where it gripped the back of his own chair. “For once, we’ve done nothing wrong.”
There was a phalanx of guards on the landing pad, but they busied themselves setting up wind baffles around its edges once the Prince had cut its engines. Aside from landing instructions and a terse invitation for the entire crew — emphasis on entire — to disembark, they’d received no other communications.
They all gathered in the cargo hold, Sebastian turning to face his crew before he opened the doors and lowered the ramp. Kaz was still grumbling about having to leave the ship.
“We’re not having you dragged off,” he said. “We’re all in this together.”
“What about Dub?” Kaz insisted.
“Dub is not to take off or cooperate with anyone except a member of this crew,” Sebastian said a little louder. “Got that, Dub?”
“Aye, Captain,” Dub’s voice said echoing loudly through the hold.
“And no talking! Let them think you’re an obedient ship’s computer and not a perpetual thorn in my side.”
There was a twinkling chime, almost like laughter. Sebastian looked around at the others, nodding reassuringly.
“No weapons,” he added to Mags.
“Who me?” She batted her eyelashes innocently at him, ready to play the part of a harmless, sweet-faced older lady. Sebastian found it more unsettling than her usual steely stare.
Ren stepped forward. “I should go out first. This is my home.”
Sebastian gripped his shoulder and then turned to hit the controls. Daylight and fresh planet-side air poured into the hold as the ship’s doors opened.
Ren smoothed his hands over his dark coat, his posture perfect and his face expressionless. He had the short sword in its cover fastened to his belt, but Sebastian supposed it was antique enough not to qualify as a real weapon. Also, if the Arcadian guards were ready to shoot at Ren, the crew was in more trouble than they were prepared to handle. Ren had already rejected the option of hiding out and contacting his family from a safe distance. He wanted to face them. So now he walked down the ramp, every bit the returning prince. The others followed in a less precise fashion.
The wind that was whistling around the baffles had a slight chill to it, but it was nothing compared to the expressions on the faces of those watching them. A row of guards, with no weapons that Sebastian could see but all sturdy and implacable-looking, moved to flank them, forming a V, its apex pointing to a set of double doors in the building.
The doors opened, and a woman stepped out. Well, swept out was more precise.
She was nearly the same height as Ren, and their faces shared the same sculpted cheekbones and skin tone, though hers was perhaps thirty years older. Her hair was arranged in elaborate twists coiled on top of her head, and she wore an almost decadent amount of cloth — a length of silvery blue that wrapped around her body and over her shoulders like a cape. Sebastian appreciated the way it flared down to the ground — it would make a hell of a swirl if she desired it, and, judging from the imperious tilt of her jaw, she was a woman who didn’t mind making an entrance.
“The regent, I presume,” he whispered to Ren.
Sebastian saw his arm twitch, like he wanted to elbow Sebastian, but Ren only inclined his head respectfully. “Aunt,” he said.
“Ren,” she replied in a voice that carried, “I’m glad you have decided to return to us.”
“As I always intended,” Ren replied, “as we agreed when you sent me on this mission.”
A frown marred her forehead, and Sebastian saw that her dark eyes, while cold, were also tired. “There have been… differing reports.”
The regent nodded to someone behind her, and Zaria Khan stepped forward. She looked much the same as when Sebastian had seen her last, except that the disapproval she had radiated toward him before now was clearly hatred.
But it was not Zaria that drew his eye or caused Ren to start. Moving out of the shadows was a slight figure, one with a sly smile and a tattooed chin.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Sebastian said.
“Ebba,” Jaime hissed, and before Sebastian could grab him he darted past them, headed straight for her.
Two guards caught Jaime roughly by the arms hauling him back. Sebastian put his hands out to stop Rylan — not that it would do much good — but Ren stepped forward, his voice deepening.
“Release him immediately,” he said to the guards. “He is of royal blood.”
One guard did hastily let go of Jaime, but the other looked uncertainly at the regent. She waved a hand, and he dropped Jaime’s arm as well.
“So is our distant cousin here as well,” the regent said, inclining her head toward Ebba. “Zaria brought her along to give me a very interesting account of what transpired during your mission.”
“That woman is a liar and a thief,” Ren said.
Sebastian winced since it was a description commonly applied to him as well, and Ebba caught his eyes, dimpling slightly.
“I am,” she said in her light voice. “One that was hired to facilitate the theft and sale of the Heart of Arcadia.” She nodded to Ren. “By your prince.”
Sebastian sighed. This was going to be a very long day, he could feel it. “I’m sure she’s spun you a very convincing tale,” he said in his most placating tone. “Why don’t we sit down somewhere privately and discuss this in a reasonable manner? Preferably over a glass of wine.” He paused and then added, “Your Majesty.”
The regent’s eyes flicked over Sebastian as if he were something small and scuttling. “You claim to have found the Heart,” she said to Ren. “Hand it over and then we can begin to decipher what exactly is going on.”
Ren drew himself up, and Sebastian saw his hands clench. “I think not,” he said politely. “The Heart is in a safe place, I can assure you of that.”
Before they had approached the city, the ship had touched down in a remote spot that Ren knew, and the Heart was stashed there. It was their one bargaining chip, and Sebastian intended to hang onto it for as long as possible.
The regent’s eyes narrowed. “Ren, you are dangerously close to treason right now. Your mother would be so disappointed.”
Ren was standing slightly ahead of him, so Sebastian couldn’t see his face. He imagined it was unchanged; Ren was very good at concealing his emotions. But even he couldn’t hide the slight twitch of his shoulders at the mention of his mother. The regent had landed a blow.
“Perhaps,” Ren said tightly. “But it’s a feeling I’m accustomed to, so I can live with it a while longer. And I am certainly not turning the jewel over when you could very well be the one who had it stolen.”
Sebastian grimaced. The one thing he had emphasized in the planning was not to accuse the regent publicly or semi-publicly. People in power tended to feel like they had to react in those situations.
The regent stared at Ren for one long, cold moment. “Take Prince Ren to his rooms,” she said. “Make sure he stays there.” She started to turn away, throwing more orders over her shoulder like an afterthought. “Arrest the others and put them in the palace cells.”
At least she hadn’t called it a dungeon.
Sebastian turned to his crew. “Remember no one’s resisting.” He spread his hands wide, because the guards did have weapons, small pistols they were pulling from their belts. “We’re cooperating. Gladly. All Commonwealth citizens here. Fans of the rule of law and humane treatment of prisoners.”
Ren cast him one last agonized look before he was led away, walking calmly and with dignity. Sebastian tried to smile reassuringly back because that was the only thing he could do.
It was all on Ren now.