Today, you recovered the Iona-29 installation. As much as I enjoy when you embrace your darker appetites, I can see you're already losing yourself. If it were anyone else, I'd encourage them.

But not you, Rayne.

You'll turn that guilt and that shame inward like a knife to your heart until you cut the pieces away. Every man you slaughtered was a pedophile or a murderer. I employ them because they're expendable. Don't rack your self-loathing on their lives. They meant nothing.

But I appreciate your bloodlust.

Two Earth-years following the atmospheric obliteration of Lacceirus-Capra, we found ourselves called to war again. At Earth-age fifteen, the Tritans permitted Xelan to join as a scientific observer. And only because he wouldn't shut up until Lance agreed.

"Do you think we can meet the Queen?" He bit his thumbnail and muttered some more. "No, I suppose not, since this is an invasion. This concept of hive reproduction fascinates me. Do you think she gives some kind of consent signal to a single drone or that she just heralds the entire hive for mating? What would that be like..."

Korac and I stared at him as he paced within the sterile air of the Monarch 3 shrine. Lance watched him like a hawk. The Tritans didn't like his brand of curiosity matched with his brains. Cut too much into their territory.

"If you will." Lance indicated Xelan find his place at the front of the procession. "We send you there without atmospheric persuasion. No tectonic weapons either. Skirmishes and battles only. Disturb the conglomeration. Leave their eggs alone."

"Aww, no live birth?!" You can guess who bemoaned that.

I swallowed a snicker as Lance glared. I glanced at Korac, wishing to see that cool exterior of his broken. Nothing. And not for the first time, I pondered what life was like for him before Cinder. A life that made him hide behind so much stone.

"Good luck."

Amolot faced the procession as she walked backward into the conduit. "You heard the boss! Make Elden proud."

Xelan barked out a laugh, and I restrained him this time. "No trouble making on your first trip, little brother." I shoved him through the conduit before he choked out a response.

Behind me, Korac muttered, "You may as well tell Li not to blaze."

The conduit opened into a cavern of sorts. No. Not a cavern. The surrounding space was vast but not open. No sky. A brown wall encompassed this circular hollow. A strange, sweet fog gathered at our waists. Lush vines as thick as my arm hung from the top of this place. Black flowers as big as me blossomed from them.

Xelan cautioned, "I advise against touching them." He threw a stick at one of them. The petals twitched, bounced, and then closed like a massive jaw with pretty teeth. A bizarre purple cloud perfumed from it. It smelled of decay.

My brother lifted a device that the Tritans loaned him to collect gas samples. He stared at the contents within. "I wonder at its composition. I cannot wait to return to the lab." Storing it away, he made to wonder off.

Korac grabbed him by the collar. "Stay with the army, young Prince. This is not on an expedition. Today, we win a war."

One million soldiers thundered an agreeable grunt.

Amolot turned and raised an eyebrow at Korac. She expected him to salute her, but he wasn't a soldier in her army. He was mine.

Rather than salute the woman and remind her troops who's in charge, Korac brushed an invisible nuisance from his shoulder. Once finished, he looked around as if surprised to find her glaring at him. It was the first time I ever saw him fully smirk.

It made me grin.

Amolot smoldered. "King Umbra wants you two on the front line. Take ten thousand with you and meet him there."

"Ten thousand?" I glanced at my second-in-command.

He shook his head. "Why hold so many back?"

"You may not be my men--"

I cringed at her choice of words.

"--But you are under your father's command. Now go."

I turned to find my brother interviewing a plant. "Xelan--"

He rolled his eyes. "I know. I know. I stay here."

Rayne, how long do you think that lasted?

Umbra waited for us at the center of this enclosure. A heart hung above us. That's the only word for it. Vines and branches connected to its center as it pulsed and writhed. A wet, meaty thing. Purple in color. It produced the fog. It produced the very life this place thrived on, and only then did I recognize the shell in which we stood. We were inside a magnificent tree.

"We take it down." Umbra pointed to it.

I still didn't understand what the Tritans wanted from these people on these planets. They hadn't attacked us. There wasn't even a front line. No soldiers. No defenses. "Why?"

"When you become King, I hope someone questions you as intolerably as you have done to me."

"You find nothing about this suspicious?"

He put his face in mine, and I noticed Korac watched me with a faint smirk. "Nox, the Tritans offer Cinder salvation. They will not grant it to us until we do as they ask. Stop standing in the way of this. Think of our people."

"I need to speak with my council."

Father recoiled but dismissed us with a wave.

"Korac, I want you to speak freely."

Something passed in the mercury of his eyes. "If my sire wishes."

"What do you make of this?" I gestured to encompass all the bullshit.

Korac stared up at the hive above. "The Tritans use us. To what end? I find that beyond me. But if your father speaks the truth--if they speak the truth--Cinder deserves a renaissance. These Mon3 people are not worth more than that."

That was the most words the blond soldier spoke at once since acting as my guard. Wise council articulated well.

"For Cinder."

He bowed with his head. "For Cinder, your majesty."

I turned. "How do we remove it?"

Umbra pointed at it with his nasty sword. "Those with wings disconnect--"

The ground beneath our feet heaved once. Twice. Before it folded in half. Standing in the center, the sides of the petals closed over us like the hungry black flowers at the conduit.

If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

The grass and moss fell away, revealing walls sticky with viscous goo. It pooled up to my waist. Up to Korac's shoulders. He pulled his hair out of it with a groan.

The plant fell with us inside, dropping suddenly a long way below. Between the inertia and the overwhelming smell of decay, I considered vomiting.

"Wretched plant." Father spat on the petals and cut into them with his nacre glass sword. Nothing.

When the descent ended, the petals unfolded and flattened once more. We fell through some kind of shaft, perfectly square and very deep. Gravity pulled the goo to our feet. I backed up and something crunched underfoot. A skull. Not an Icarus. Not a Tritan. Another bone surfaced beside it.

"Look in the mess."

Skeletons littered the petals beneath our feet, varying in size and origin. "Dissolved. Nacre-less," Umbra surmised.

I glanced at Korac without making it obvious. He wasn't reacting to the liquid as if dissolving. "No. Something else did this--"

A terrible buzzing heralded the arrival of Monarch 3's native species. Twelve identical beings on beautiful wings fluttered into the shaft. Insects with tri-segmented bodies. Hair braided around their antennae and down their backs. Trumpeted spouts for mouths. Or maybe their noses. Or both.

They inspected us with long, thin faceted ovals as they hovered, but they didn't attack. Six arms and legs thick with muscle brandished spears and swords.

I frowned before attempting to communicate. "Are you the people of Monarch 3?"

Umbra snarled, "Keep your mouth shut, Nox. Leave the savages to their simple tongue. Nothing more than beasts."

The "beasts" stood at attention and assumed a formation. They waited.

Korac peered around me. "What are they--"

The flower trembled hard enough to slosh the fluid. A loud rushing followed. Thirty hefty caterpillars, the size of an Icarus, crawled into the chamber. Horned and spiky, they acted on instinct alone. Sleep and eat.

The first Icarean soldier died within a few quick minutes. Gnashed and minced, the caterpillars chewed thoroughly. Another soldier tried to rescue his comrade, but a winged drone prodded him in the spine until he stopped moving.

Umbra growled, "To Hell with this." He spread his wings and flew up the shaft. One drone followed him.

I shook my head.

Korac ordered, "Men, phalanx." The ten remaining soldiers pulled tight into the center. With all the skeletons.

Korac put his back to mine. "Your majesty, I never imagined myself as bug food."

The caterpillars surrounded us. "I have no intention of leaving you to this fate."

"You can fly after your father and leave us down here."

"Dying as a monster is not in my future. You lot deserve better than that."

The soldiers grunted their approval.

I could hear the smirk in his voice, "How noble of you, sire--"

"Nox! Father's called the retreat. However did you get down there?"

Korac cursed at Xelan's call.

One man stabbed a caterpillar in the eye and another ripped off its horns. We ran out of time. "Xelan, go! Leave us."

"I can find a way to get you--"

My brother cried out as a drone grabbed him from behind. His screams carried away distantly and then died completely.

Xelan saw Many Feet through four litters of hellkittens. The boy welcomed Korac with his own clothes and taught him Icarean court etiquette. The same teenager regrouped the Valkyrie after Para and Karter fled. He established and funded the first orphanage for those lost to Thailea, built the first schools, and developed a treatment for Vittle blight.

And now...

Target engaged.

Combat initiated.

Calculated duration: Eleven minutes.

I lit an Icarean firestick and tossed it into the goo. The petals caught fire. We burned up to our ankles. The caterpillars shrieked and railed. The drones flew in to attack us.

I wrenched one from the air and shoved its head onto the ground so hard its skull caved in.

Korac sliced one in half with my barbed whip, and he made sure the top half hit the fire.

I lifted a caterpillar by the horns and split it down the middle.

Korac pulled the arm off a drone and beat a flaming caterpillar to death with it.

Our men gave us a wide birth and watched in horrid fascination. Occasionally, they dealt with an errant drone or caterpillar, but overall, they stayed away.

That was best.

The bloodlust barely recognized Korac as a non-target. If Xelan were alive, I had to get to him. And these things were in my way.

A flying Icarean soldier made his way into the pit. He collected one soldier and retreated with him.

That was enough for me. I ran out of things to kill in the bottom. Gathering Korac with his legs smoking, I hauled us both to the surface. Under the watch of that disgusting hive, I slaughtered even more of the indigenous civilization.

The flower lift returned with the remaining men. I beyond satisfied the "leash" on Mon3 agony as our soldiers escaped. I was prying the leg from a drone when a voice called my name.

Korac turned first and lost all color to his complexion.

Soaked in pink foreign blood, I turned to find my brother staring in horror. Breathing heavily, I had no excuses to offer. "I thought they killed you."

He looked away from us. "I met the queen. She wants us to leave. I promised we would without..." My little brother shut his eyes to the body parts scattered around.

I miss being his hero.

We looked up as Umbra exited the hive with dark satisfaction on his face. He walked between us; his smile too disturbing to ignore.

"Father, what--"

Cries and shrieks howled from within the pulsing organ as it collapsed. The vines connecting it to the tree withered. The surrounding plants, the bark itself, everything shriveled.

Xelan cried out, "No! No! How could you?!"

Father shrugged and offered, "Orders."

Xelan ran to the fallen hive with its shrieking inhabitants. Korac and I chased after him.

Tears streamed down his face as my brother tried to climb inside. "I can save them. We just have to save the queen. The rest will survive."

I grabbed him by the collar. "No. We have no idea what Umbra did to them. It could kill you, too."

"I can give her my blood. It will--"

I put some muscle behind keeping him still. "She has no nacre. It will never work."

He turned, and the conviction in his words made me recoil. "Then let her have mine! I am worth less than an entire species. Let me do this."

Korac wrapped his arms around Xelan from behind and lifted him bodily away.

The entire time, Xelan wept for the dying hive. Frustrated. Angry. "I cannot let them die. Not knowing I had a hand in it."

Xelan left me with little choice. I pointed a finger in my brother's face. "Stay here." I spared a glance to Korac. "Do not release him."

My guard nodded as I left to find somewhere out of sight for what I needed to do next.

Throughout the hollowed tree, our men peppered the ground--if any of it was ground at all. I found a soldier around a bend, still alive despite missing a few limbs. One of the men from the pit. He smiled at me in relief.

I knelt beside him. With the "leash" full, I spared some of the countdown to take the Icarus' hand. "You are a good soldier. Brave and capable."

Tears spilled from his smiling face as he squeezed back.

"Your nacre can still heal you, but... I need it for another. You are worth less than my brother, and he will save our entire species. Do you understand?"

The smile melted away, and the tears poured faster. He plead silently as I punched into his chest and ripped the vital jewel from his sternum. I ignored the satisfaction from my "leash" refilling after our brief contact with his demise. "Forgive me."

Returning to Xelan, I held it out. "From a fallen soldier."

My brother's eyes widened with conflicting emotions. Korac eased off of him as Xelan reached for it.

With it in my palm, I clasped his hand and steadied my gaze. "Just the nacre. Do not give her your blood. This is more than enough."

Xelan licked his lips and nodded. "Yes. Yes, this should do."

We let him go alone, afraid of causing more damage to the hive with three of us stomping around in there. Xelan returned, and we retreated to find our people waiting at the conduit.

With one last look at the beautiful tree, my brother promised, "One day."

Lance waited for us in the Enki shrine. Xelan cut right to it, "I will take no part in genocide."

I glared at him.

Korac smirked.

Lance nodded. "Of course, Prince Xelan. We sent you with that very notion in mind. We knew you would prevent their demise."

Umbra snarled, wordlessly.

Xelan pressed, "I am no mock leader like my father. Nor am I good soldier like my brother."

Korac's eyebrows popped high as he glanced at me.

The rightful leader of our planet dug in, "Your aid for Cinder so far amounts to very little. And I know what you needed here. I know what you can do. Yet you do nothing for us. Do not call on Cinder again. The Icari will not serve you one more time until our people no longer starve."

Lance looked the smuggest, and I restrained myself from punching his face. He turned that smug look to Umbra, asking for backup.

I expected my father's censure. Xelan did just call him a puppet leader and accuse him of being their lapdog. Instead, Umbra agreed. "The Prince has a point. Recently, you called on us more and more and for major disputes. Yet we see shit for it. I lost several million troops in Thailea and almost a hundred thousand to the butterflies. While the Lyriks make for fine company, we demand more in return. Until then, leave us."

Lance gaped at us. We left him speechless as we traveled back to Cinder. Father surprised us further by expelling the Lyriki diplomats from our planet until the Tritans made good on their word.

Not even a day later, Umbra called us to his throne room. I stood between Xelan and Korac. The moment he addressed us, I grew suspicious.

"My sons."

Xelan tensed beside me, and I felt Korac's restraint from recoiling.

"The three of you are accomplishing impressive feats. I think we can learn from each other. With my knowledge of the Vast Collective and your understanding of battle strategy and the sciences, maybe we can work together after the Tritans worked so very hard to keep us apart."

I almost gaped. I thought logical reasoning was beyond my father. I looked to Xelan. Who looked to Korac. We each exchanged glances, speaking without words. This wasn't a good idea. We knew what father was like. But we also wanted to escape Enki control.

"What do you propose?"