Page 43 of Loving the Alien Spy

Trusting him at his word, I make my way back to the waiting shuttle and return to the capital, the palace, and a reckoning.

The palace is quiet—nearly as silent as immediately after the rebel attack before chaos ensued—as I make my way toward the throne room. Even the guard who accompanies me is silent.

On the return flight from my estate, I sent a comm to Horek informing him of my impending arrival. He directed me to come straightaway as there was much to discuss. I pause for only a brief moment before I take a deep breath, straighten my shoulders, and knock at the throne room. A muffled voice calls out for me to enter.

I do so—closing the door firmly behind me—and my gaze immediately finds the male whose face stares back at me every time I look into a reflective surface. Bannik still wears his same guard’s uniform, although it has clearly been laundered and attempted to be repaired. He too appears clean and well-fed. Not that I expect anything less. Ivik made sure he was taken care of during his time in the containment cube. My brother’s glare is, unsurprisingly, hate-filled. His mouth opens to spew vitriol, I am certain, but I interrupt before he can.

“Ivik has recovered from the blow to his head. In case you were worried.”

Bannik sneers. “I wasn’t.”

Of course not.

“Before either of you says something neither can take back.” Janik speaks loudly and glares, his gaze bouncing between us. “I’ll be doing all the talking for the moment.”

My brother’s jaw clenches, but while he remains silent, his eyes say everything his mouth cannot. As always, I mourn the loss of the friendship we had when we were kits. Before everything. I shift my gaze to the prince. Horek and Mak are present as well, as though both will be needed to keep Bannik and me from doing harm to each other.

“Now then,” Janik begins. “The time has clearly come for truths to be revealed. We have much bigger problems to deal with than this bitterness between you.”

I laugh out loud that he thinks a few words from him will erase anums of deceit and animosity. During my time in the rebel camp, I never took him for being a male without intelligence, but in this, he is undoubtedly one.

“Carrik.”

“Your Highness.”

Janik narrows his gaze as though he knows what I’m doing. “We don’t have time for games.”

“I am merely waiting for you to do all the talking.”

Horek’s lips actually twitch before he clears his throat and his mouth returns to its usual severe appearance. The prince sighs. I nearly feel sorry for him since I understand the pressure he’s under.

“Bannik.” Janik turns to face my brother. “Carrik is a spy for the crown. As was your father—and your father’s father and every single father in the entire Deqan line—before him. The greedy, money-hungry male you think you know is his cover. His avarice, wealth, and rolling in excess are a false front. He was sworn to secrecy by penalty of death, which is why he never told you.”

“There was no penalty of death involved.” I shake my head.

Janik sighs far too dramatically and turns to me. “I am trying to help you earn Bannik’s forgiveness so the two of you can make up and we can move on to what is, by far, more dire than a feud between brothers. Mohneek and Orvak need to be found, Alik needs to snap out of the mating fever holding him hostage, and I need to spend more time in bed with my heart’s fire and less time making decisions for thousands of people.”

The prince must truly be delusional if he thinks he can force my brother to forgive me. That is why I’m not surprised when Bannik laughs as I had. Only, it’s not a sound filled with humor but, rather, disbelief, hatred, and perhaps a touch of mania.

“Carrik? A spy? Our father as well?” My brother continues laughing, which contains more bite than before. “Is that what he told you? And you believed him?”

“It’s the truth.” To yet one more person, I explain our line’s history. “Every eldest son has been sworn to secrecy in order to protect our family. The intelligence I’ve gathered from a vast number of planets throughout the galaxy over the last ten anums is more than enough to get myself—and anyone I care about—killed if I were ever found out.”

Bannik scoffs. “You think your continued lies will protect you? Do you truly expect me to believe anything that comes out of your mouth? I have seen how you live. The excess which you flaunt in front of everyone. The way you have looked down upon me for anums. I heard the conversations you had with our father about how pathetic I am for even thinking I am—or could be—just as good as you are.”

I wince at the accusations, because while I did not mean the words, I did speak them. Only because I knew my brother had been listening and they were said to further the divide between us. Per our father’s orders.

“Enough!” Horek roars, causing Bannik to jerk to attention. “Mohneek and Orvak are still out there somewhere—hiding and, no doubt, scheming—and we are no closer to finding them today than we were on the day of the attack on Preska. There is also Ryvik to consider. Especially given the fact that he has shared that he knows of Carrik’s and your father’s roles as a spy.”

This announcement causes my brother to blink with confusion. “What do you mean, Ryvik shared his knowledge? And who is Ryvik?”

“He is a former rebel strategist,” Janik answers. “Apparently his father—an unidentified male—has known for anums that your father and Carrik work for the crown and in what capacity. Our guess is he is either trying to use you or Carrik to further whatever plans he has or threaten your brother in some way by exposing his secret.”

Bannik’s gaze doesn’t soften as he watches me. “I’m still not convinced you speak the truth, but let us say you are. None of that makes up for our past or the grievances I rightly hold against you or our father. We were closer than most brothers. We shared a womb. Yet, you still betrayed me by not trusting me with the truth. I would have never shared what you did with anyone. Not even upon the threat of death. You sowed the dissent between us without hesitation for the past twenty anums, and I will never forgive you for that.”

I thought my heart had been broken before, but hearing Bannik’s words shatters it completely. He will never know this, though. It is the penance I must pay. “I do not expect you to. Nothing I do will change the past.”

A long, uncomfortable silence settles until, finally, Janik breaks it.