2. Chapter 2

"I will do no such thing," I informed my brother Nathan haughtily.

"Niara, please," he begged.

"What you suggest is treason," I reminded him.

His hand moved through his short cropped hair, "I know."

He paced the floor in a circle. "What is done is done," he finally said, coming to an abrupt stop right in front of me. "And you better behave."

"Or what?" I pushed my fists into my sides, glaring up at him. He was my brother and I loved him dearly, but I would rather drown myself in the ocean than be part of this.

He must have read my mind, because his face turned into a sneer, "Where do you think the credits, for all the repairs are coming from, eh?" He pulled at my sleeve. "Or your clothes?"

I sucked in a deep breath. "You didn't?"

"Oh yes little sister, I have. Ever since father left me this wreck of a… a… what is this anyway? An island? An oversized boat? Hah, I know, a floating ruin, that's what he left us. A floating ruin."

My jaw clenched at the memory of two rotations ago when Horn had indeed been in utter ruins, threatened to capsize into the never-ending ocean, or just sink like a cheese with too many holes in it.

Nathan's words were true. In the beginning we had co-ruled after our father's sudden death, stuck our heads together and brainstormed over ways to figure out how to earn enough credits to repair at least the most urgent issues. The fact though was that ever since the Leandar and the Sirens had entered a new trade agreement the pitiful amount of quanip—a seaweed—and graff—a delicatessen fish—we used to barter with the Leandars for wasn't needed by them any longer—at least not on Oceanus.

I suggested, we scraped together as many credits as we could and buy a small space transporter to see if we could sell our bounties elsewhere in the Leandar system and Nathan had jumped at the idea. That was the end of our co-ruling however. I had been so busy ordering repairs where they were needed to realize that Nathan had asked me less and less for advice, only happy that my suggestion had turned out to be good enough to bring in the credits we needed. And then some. Enough to buy a bigger transporter, enough to indulge in a new dress and to have my mother's necklace fixed so I could wear it again.

Enough that I should have asked questions.

"Damn it, Nathan and damn you." I cursed.

"That ship we bought would have never even made it to Leandar," Nathan defended his actions.

"So you traded with Chrymphten?" I raged .

"I didn't have a choice," Nathan justified what he had done. "They intercepted us, they could have killed us."

"But they didn't," I pointed out.

"Because I promised to corporate." He spat.

I rolled my eyes and threw my hands up. "You could have stopped, after the first contact, it's not like they would have come after us. Here. On Oceanus."

"No, they wouldn't have." He admitted, "But we would have been right where we started, unable to set out into space and earn credits."

"So what?" I huffed, "Then we would have started over. We came up with this idea once, we could have figured out something else." I whirled on him, sticking my finger into his face, "Not you though, right? You couldn't stop once you got a whiff of the credits you could make with your traitorous act."

"Don't go all high and mighty on me, Lady Saint," his temper was just as hot as mine. "You were all too happy to spend the credits I made."

"To repair Horn," I cried, but even as I said the words, I knew he was right. I had never stopped and asked questions. Because you trusted him , my mind argued, because he was supposed to sell the goods in Ackaron on Leandar, not to Chrymphten.

"What's done is done," he repeated with an over exaggerated sigh.

"So now you want my advice," the words didn't come out as malice filled as they should have, because his face fell and he nodded miserably and he was still my brother and I still loved him with all my heart. "Oh Nathan."

"Help me Niara?" He asked, opening his arms and I rushed into his embrace.

"I won't help you commit anymore treason, but I will help you get out of this." I promised.

"They threatened to expose me to Vissigroth Myles, if I don't give them more intel about our atmospheric defenders," he laughed dryly, "as if I had that kind of information."

As if summoned by mentioning his name, first a servant entered, flustered and agitated, "Baron Nathan, Viss—"

"Vissigroth Myles is here," the Leander entering behind him announced himself. As if there was any mistaken him for anything other than a vissigroth, our vissigroth.

His scales were on full display on his bare chest and I swallowed. I had never seen him this close before. Many rotations ago he was here to talk with our father, but I had only caught a glimpse of him then. Now, he stood inside our great hall , which wasn't so great to begin with, smothering the place with his all-consuming presence.

Nathan stepped away from me and the vissigroth smirked, "I hope I wasn't interrupting anything?"

My face heated under his leisurely perusal of my person. In sync, his left eyebrow and lip curled up and I felt his burning gaze taking its fill.

"It's not… we are not… this is my sister, Niara," Nathan stuttered combobulated .

"Sister?" Somehow Myles made this one word sound like so much more, implying and contemplating things that made my skin burn, even more than my face.

"What did we do to deserve the honor of your visit?" I managed since Nathan had turned white as a sheet and seemed to have lost the use of his tongue at the same time.

"That is just the question now, isn't it? What did you do?" Myles asked, leaning with his shoulder and hip against the wall, regarding Nathan and me equally attentively.

"We—"

I interrupted my brother before he could dig his hole any deeper. It was obvious the vissigroth already knew something, I just didn't know what or how much. Either way, he was our absolute ruler, if he decided to put us to torture, I was sure we would tell him what he came here for to find out one way or another. My father had always preached that honesty was the best approach to any situation, so I went with that.

"We made a mistake. Which coincidentally we were just discussing when you arrived." I gave Nathan a sharp look, one that didn't seem to escape Myles and I cursed myself for making us look more suspicious.

"Does said mistake have anything to do with the Chrymphten, by chance?" Myles asked just as nonchalantly as if discussing the main course for dinner, his eyes however betrayed his composure, small flames burned in their black depts, creating a fearful lump in my throat .

What little bravado I had managed to keep, left me and I waved my hand over to the couches by the hearth, "Would you like to take a seat?"

"I would not."

His stance didn't change, he kept leaning against the wall as if discussing the weather, same with the tone of his voice. But his eyes… oh his eyes, I swore I could read our death in them.

"I was desperate, I—"

Again I interrupted Nathan, "We lost our trade with your people when you entered a new one with the sirens. We were desperate for credits—"

This time Myles interrupted me, with an icy edge to his tone, "So this is my fault?"

"No, no. Not at all." I hastened. "I'm just simply trying to explain why we—"

"Committed treason?" He threw in.

I lowered my head and managed a nod.

"It wasn't her fault." Nathan asserted and I didn't have the courage to interrupt him again. "We bought a transporter to take to Ackaron to sell quanip and graff. The Chrymphten intercepted me and… and bought my cargo."

"I see, easy credits," Myles encouraged Nathan to continue, but his eyes rested on me.

"It was stupid," Nathan admitted.

"And treasonous," Myles added.

"We only tried to survive," I finally found my voice again and a little outrage poured back into me. "Our city was about to sink, we didn't have the funds to repai—"

"You had enough funds to buy a transporter," Myles stated icily.

"We needed to find a way to support ourselves," I defended Nathan's actions.

"Hmm," Myles pushed himself away from the wall and took two steps forward. I didn't dare take my eyes off him, but I noticed Nathan moving back.

"Besides quanip and graff, what else did you sell them?"

Myles stopped in front of me, put his knuckles under my chin and lifted it up.

"Nothing, I swear," Nathan cried, "Please, leave my sister out of this. She had nothing to do with it. This was all my decision."

"Nathan no," I cried, swiveling away from Myles's fingers that elicited a strange warm feeling on my skin to grab my brother. "We're in this together," I reminded him.

"No, if somebody is to be punished, it's me," Nathan pressed out, sticking his chin forward. "It was my decision to trade with the Chrymphten."

"Hmm, was it now?" Myles stalked the two of us, his hand fell to the hilt of his sword and I could almost feel its warm metal against my throat before he would cut it.

"You are very protective of your sister." Myles observed mildly. "I wonder," he took hold of my elbow and pulled me toward him, "what you would do to protect her."

"Anything," Nathan pressed out .

"Well, that makes things more… interesting," Myles's voice was still hard, but he let go of me and paced the great hall, deep in thought.

Nathan and I gravitated toward each other, our hands intertwined. At least we were together in this.

"What did the Chrymphten want to know?" Myles finally asked, turning back to us.

"Where… where our atmospheric defenders are…" Nathan stuttered, before he pushed out, almost in one word, "I swear I didn't tell them anything."

"Yet," Myles's voice was hard and any pretense of being cool about this left his posture and expression, which turned just as hard as his voice.

"You do know treason is punishable by death?"

"Yes, my lord," Nathan lowered his head and a tremble moved through his body, so hard, I felt it all the way into his hand.

"Here is what we will do," Myles ordered. "When are you supposed to meet with them?"

"Next week," Nathan answered weakly.

"You will meet with them. I will give you a plan of our atmospheric defenders that you will hand over to them."

"Yes, Vissigroth," Nathan sounded all too eager to do anything.

"In the meantime," Myles returned to my side and wound his hand into my hair, "I will keep your sister with me, close by, to ensure you won't do anything… stupid."

"Please don't hurt her," Nathan begged.

"I would never hurt a seffy," Myles assured him.

"But I will hand her over to the sirens, if you fail me." He warned.

My knees shook, everybody knew that sirens despised humans, especially female humans. Drowning would be a more merciful death than anything the sirens would come up with.

"Please," Nathan reiterated, "don't hurt her."

"This is all up to you," Myles regarded Nathan. "You will hear from me."

And to me, "Come," not giving me a choice but starting to move and not relinquishing my hair. I threw a pensive, pleading glance at Nathan, who stood in the middle of the great hall, looking forlorn and frightened.