CHAPTER NINE

VESPER

K yrion and I trailed Asterin out of the antiques emporium. A horse-drawn carriage was waiting on the street. Asterin climbed into one side of the open-air carriage, while Kyrion and I slid into the opposite seat.

Asterin signaled the driver, who whistled softly. The horse bobbed its head in response, and the silver bells on its collar and harness jingled out a cheerful tune as the carriage rolled along the cobblestone street.

Asterin hit a button on the side of the door, and small metal tubes popped up around the perimeter of the carriage. The tubes were a little longer than my fingers and featured holes that made them look like old-fashioned flutes. A faint purr sounded, and warm air wafted out of the tubes, creating a cozy bubble over the three of us.

Asterin slumped back against her seat. "I'm so sorry. I was hoping if you came to my workshop first, you could avoid running into Siya. As soon as I got your message, I left my workshop, but of course, Rigel and I were too late to stop Siya from doing, well, what Siya always does."

"Trying to solve problems with her war hammer?" Kyrion drawled. "Believe me, I noticed."

Asterin's gaze flicked to his injured arm. Kyrion waved his hand, dismissing her concern, but guilt still creased her face.

"Who is she to you?" Kyrion asked. "And how much trouble is she going to cause us?"

Asterin's grimace deepened. "Siya is the daughter of my stepfather, Aldrich Collier. When we were children, Siya and I were the best of friends, until . . ."

Her voice trailed off, and a distant look filled her eyes as though she was seeing something far, far away. Asterin let out a long, tired sigh and focused on us again.

"Don't worry about Siya. My stepfather has the final say on House Collier matters, not her. Aldrich has seen the gossipcast footage of the Regal midnight ball, and he knows about the bounty Callus Holloway has offered for your capture. I'm sure once he meets you, he'll offer you sanctuary."

Kyrion and I glanced at each other. We could both hear the doubt in Asterin's voice, but all we could do now was hope for the best.

Asterin gave us a bright smile and assumed the role of tour guide, pointing out clothing shops, sweets stores, and more. Kyrion listened to her politely, although his gaze kept flicking from one side of the street to the other as he searched for threats. I couldn't fault the Arrow for his vigilance, but Asterin was clearly trying to take our minds off our troubles, so I played along and started asking her questions about the various landmarks.

In many ways, the city of Gewitter was similar to Corios—wide cobblestone streets, colorful buildings with quirky architecture, scores of luxury goods for sale. But unlike the chrome fa?ades and polyplastic coatings on many Corios structures, almost every building here was made of real stone, wood, and glass in a reflection of the raw resources the Erzton controlled. Add in the views of the surrounding mountains and the flakes of snow drifting down from the sky, and it all combined to give Gewitter a quaint, old-fashioned air, as though I had stepped into some long-ago holiday story.

The driver stopped to let another carriage cross in front of us, and my gaze snagged on a building at the end of a nearby side street. Unlike all the other shops with their immaculate, gleaming storefronts, a rusty metal fence cordoned off this building.

"What's that?" I asked.

"An old mining museum that sits atop a series of caverns, along with Stardrop Falls, an underground waterfall. It used to be a popular tourist attraction, but it's been closed for quite a while." Asterin's nose scrunched up in thought. "Years ago, there was an accident. I was off-planet at university at the time, but from what I remember, a young man fell off a bridge beside the waterfall and died. After that, the whole facility was shut down."

The other vehicle moved out of the way. The driver whistled to the horse, and our carriage rolled forward again. Asterin gestured at another building, pointing out the gargoyles on the stone structure, but I glanced over my shoulder at the closed museum.

For a moment, the barred windows glimmered with a silver sheen, winking at me like tall, skinny eyes. I squinted, but I couldn't tell if the glimmer was my seer magic flaring up or simply the afternoon sun glinting off the glass. Either way, a shiver skittered down my spine.

First, Kyrion and I had been attacked, and now, an abandoned building was giving me the creeps. I'd thought we might be able to relax on Sygnustern, but I had a funny feeling we were in just as much danger as before.

T he carriage rolled along a few more streets, then rounded a wide curve. The shops and other buildings thinned out, then disappeared altogether, replaced by thick stands of gray coniferous trees. Even through the warming shield, the sharp, sticky scent of sap tickled my nose, and I had to hold back a sneeze.

The carriage climbed a steep hill, and patches of snow appeared, covering the cobblestones. The driver hit a button, and the carriage sank lower to the ground. I leaned over the side, watching in fascination as the metal wheels collapsed, changed shape, and smoothly flattened out, turning into runners on an old-fashioned sleigh. An engine also hummed to life on the undercarriage, helping the horse pull the vehicle up the slope.

I let out a whistle of admiration. "I've seen transports that can go from land to water, and vice versa, but I've never seen one where the wheels changed into something else entirely."

"One of my father's inventions," Asterin replied, pride rippling through her voice. "A few years ago, I applied it to all the House Collier carriages since we often have snow year-round."

"I didn't realize your father was an engineer."

A wide smile stretched across her lips. "My father wasn't an engineer or an inventor, not like you are, Vesper. But if Urston needed a new tool or device for one of his mines, he usually made it himself. He was very good at figuring out how to solve problems." Her smile cracked, then vanished completely. "At least, before he died."

Asterin clearly didn't want to talk about her father anymore. My tongue itched with questions, but I swallowed them, sat back in my seat, and watched the passing scenery.

We rounded another curve and crested the steep slope, and a sprawling estate appeared. In many ways, it reminded me of the Regal castles that lined the Boulevard on Corios, but instead of being one building, this was a series of castles that rose and fell with the rocky mountainside.

Each structure was made of the same pretty pale green stone, and the smooth surface reflected the surrounding gray trees, making it seem as though the trees were encased in the castles' walls. Diamond-shaped windows studded each level of each castle, and the stone parapets were all shaped like coniferous trees, each one ending in a slender, wicked-looking spike. Not so much a pretty decoration as a defense mechanism.

In between the castles, dense green hedges that had been snipped into the shapes of wolves, foxes, rabbits, and other animals frolicked around flower beds that were still bright with blossoms, despite the chilly air. Instead of gondolas, all the buildings were connected by stone and glass bridges, along with a few of the metal swinging bridges I had seen around the spaceport. People hustled along all the bridges, even the swinging ones, going about their afternoon chores and duties. Emerald-green flags topped all the castles' towers, each one featuring a large gold cursive C with two hammers crossed in front of it.

I glanced over at Asterin, but the House Collier sigil wasn't on her gray coveralls, and she wasn't wearing it as a pendant around her neck as Siya had been. How odd. Why wasn't Asterin wearing the symbol and colors of her mother's House?

The carriage stopped beside a stone shack positioned at the end of a massive drawbridge that led into the front of the estate. A guard inside the shack peered through the permaglass window. He was clad in green polyplastic armor, and his hand curled around the blaster on his belt.

Look over there , Kyrion's voice whispered through my mind, and he jerked his chin to the side. More guards armed with blasters were posted just inside the tree line.

I frowned. Surely the Colliers don't think we're going to attack them?

Kyrion's eyes narrowed as he studied first one guard, then another. I don't think the guards are for us. Something else has them on alert.

Asterin waved at the guard inside the shack, who eyed Kyrion and me with suspicion. Asterin waved at the guard again, the motion sharper and more impatient. The guard hesitated a moment longer, then pulled a green lever, touched his ear, and murmured something into his comms device.

The driver whistled to the horse, and the carriage continued onward. A faint crackle of electricity sounded, and the air in front of us shimmered like a heat wave. The carriage rattled onto the drawbridge, and a tingling sensation swept over my body, as though someone was scrubbing my skin with a rough cloth. Beside me, Kyrion tensed, his hand clenching around his sword.

A few seconds later, the tingling sensation vanished, although the bitter tang of copper filled my mouth, as though I had licked an old-fashioned penny.

"A defensive shield," Asterin explained. "It covers the entire estate like an invisible bubble of static electricity. It won't harm people trying to leave, but no one can enter without authorization. Mostly, my stepfather uses it to keep the heat in and the cold out, although of course, it has other benefits."

"Like frying your enemies should they try to breach it?" I asked.

A rueful grin spread across Asterin's face. "Something like that."

The carriage rattled across the drawbridge, through an enormous stone archway, and into a massive courtyard. A ring of fountains bubbled in the courtyard, while several evergreen hedges shaped like hammers loomed over stone planters filled with blue-moon peonies. I drew in a breath, and the peonies' spearmint scent flooded my nose. At least something here was familiar.

The carriage stopped in front of some wide, shallow steps that led up to two green frosted-glass doors boasting the House Collier sigil.

"Here we are," Asterin said. "Home sweet home."

Her words were light and pleasant, but a sad, bitter undertone rasped through her voice. Kyrion raised his eyebrows in a silent question. I shrugged back. I didn't know what to make of Asterin's obvious reluctance to be here.

Asterin hit a button. The warming shield vanished, and the metal pipes slid back into the body of the carriage. Kyrion and I grabbed our duffel bags, then followed Asterin up the stairs and stopped in front of the doors. Green lights shot out from the center of the hammers embedded in the frosted glass. I flinched, as did Kyrion, but the lights only scanned our faces before vanishing. A few seconds later, a soft chime sounded. Asterin strode forward, and the doors automatically opened as she approached them. Once again, Kyrion and I followed her.

We stepped into the main castle. Pale green stone rolled out in all directions, while gold bulbs dropped down from the vaulted ceilings, highlighting dark wooden tables, chairs, and other furniture.

Kyrion and I trailed Asterin up a curving staircase to the third floor. Several servants passed us, holding trays of food and drink, vases of fresh-cut flowers, baskets of clean laundry, and other household objects. Some of the servants bowed their heads to Asterin, but just as many ignored her completely. Not what I expected, given that her stepfather was the head of House Collier. What was going on here?

Asterin entered a corridor and stopped in front of another pair of frosted glass double doors. More green lights shot out, scanning our faces again. After several long seconds, a soft click sounded, and the doors opened. Asterin squared her shoulders, as if preparing for an unpleasant task.

We stepped into an enormous library that took up this corner of the castle. Dark wooden shelves filled with real paper books lined one long wall and stretched up to a second level that could be reached by a spiral staircase in the corner. Several wide, comfortable-looking settees with green cushions were scattered throughout the room, while polished stones of various shapes, sizes, and colors adorned many of the tables, casting rainbow prisms of light onto the floor, walls, and ceiling.

A table along another wall held red clay pots bristling with small topiary trees, along with pruning shears, gloves, and other gardening tools. Many of the topiary trees had already been sculpted into cats, dogs, birds, butterflies, and other small, whimsical shapes. The sharp tang of greenery perfumed the air, along with a pleasant hint of woodsmoke from the flames crackling in the fireplace.

The cozy space reminded me of Kyrion's library at Castle Caldaren. Wistful longing rippled through me, but I couldn't tell if it was my own feeling or Kyrion's emotion reverberating through the bond.

A man and a woman were sitting in matching chairs in front of a large picture window that offered a sweeping view of the lush garden and lawn that stretched out from the back of the estate.

Siya was standing off to the side, her hands clasped behind her back as she delivered some report. Rigel was also here, leaning one shoulder against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest, an unreadable expression on his face. Another man was sitting behind a small desk in the corner, typing notes on a tablet.

Siya stopped speaking, and everyone looked at us. Kyrion slowly set his duffel bag on the floor and straightened up. I did the same thing.

Asterin squared her shoulders again, then strode forward and stopped beside Siya, although she kept a healthy distance between herself and the other woman.

"May I present Lord Aldrich Collier and Lady Verona Collier," Asterin said in a formal voice.

The couple rose to their feet. Aldrich Collier looked to be in his mid-sixties, with iron-gray hair that jutted up from his head like a layer of spikes. He was on the short side, and an emerald-green jacket stretched across his stocky chest. Seams of gold piping ran down the jacket sleeves, as well as the legs of his matching pants, while his black wing tips were polished to a high gloss.

Aldrich had the same light brown skin, hazel eyes, and straight nose as Siya, and the resemblance between the father and daughter was obvious. A large gold pendant dangled from a thick chain around his neck, and the round disk featured a C made of glittering emeralds with two diamond hammers crossed in front of it.

Verona Collier was a few years younger than her husband, with long black hair and pale skin that made her look like an older version of Asterin. Her pantsuit was a pretty mint green, and she wore a smaller, more feminine version of the House Collier pendant. Her blue eyes were kind, and a welcoming smile creased her face.

The man sitting at the small desk finished his typing and got to his feet. He also looked to be in his sixties, with light brown eyes and pale skin. Thick seams of silver ran through his wavy, dark brown hair, giving him a distinguished air. He was dressed in an emerald-green jacket, shirt, and pants just like Rigel, but the cut of his uniform was much sleeker and more tailored, and not a hint of a wrinkle or a speck of dirt marred his garments.

"This is Leland," Asterin said. "The House Collier chief of staff."

Leland tipped his head to us.

"And this is Lady Vesper Quill and Lord Kyrion Caldaren." Asterin finished the introductions.

We all murmured greetings, although an awkward silence quickly descended over the library.

The only other people I'd been around who had a truebond were Adria and Dargan Byrne, so I reached out with my seer magic and studied the Colliers a little more closely. The Byrnes' bond had looked like jagged gray veins of energy crackling between the siblings, but the Colliers' magic was softer and smoother, like pale green waves of power constantly flowing between them.

The married couple didn't have the raw force the Byrnes had possessed, but Aldrich and Verona were still powerful psions. Even more impressive, the Colliers' magic felt as warm, solid, and sturdy as the floor under my feet, and I couldn't help but contrast it to the icy walls, hard knots, and wide gaps that sprang up between Kyrion and me whenever we needed our power the most.

A bolt of envy punched deep into my heart. The Colliers' connection seemed so simple, so effortless, so easy . What did they know that Kyrion and I didn't?

"Once again, I will state my objection to this ridiculous plan." Siya crossed her arms over her chest. "We have no business offering sanctuary to Imperium fugitives. We should send them back to Corios at once, not let their unwanted presence drag House Collier into a galactic incident. Relations with Callus Holloway are already tricky enough without us openly courting disaster by harboring fugitives."

"Yes, everyone knows your stance on such things," Asterin said. "Which is exactly why I asked Vesper and Kyrion to come to my workshop first, instead of here to the estate."

"Please," Siya scoffed. "You just wanted to tuck your friends away with the rest of the projects in your dusty old workshop while you sweet-talked my father into your scheme, instead of risking them being immediately turned away."

"My workshop is not dusty," Asterin snapped back.

"The dirt on your face and coveralls suggests otherwise," Siya countered.

Asterin stiffened and swiped a hand across her cheek, smudging said dirt. "You're just pissed Vesper and Kyrion were getting the better of you. Exactly how many of your Hammers did my friends knock on their asses at the antiques emporium?"

Siya's glare burned even brighter than before, and fury surged off her, hot enough to warm my cheeks. "My Hammers and I were only trying to subdue the fugitives. If we'd wanted them dead, then dead they would be."

"Subdue us?" Kyrion let out a low, mirthless chuckle. "Funny how I distinctly remember you threatening to kill us where we stood."

Siya turned her angry glare to him. "I can still make that a reality, Arrow."

Kyrion stared down his nose at her. "As could I, Hammer."

"Enough!" Aldrich Collier said in a deep baritone voice. "Threatening each other is a waste of time, oxygen, and energy."

Siya fell silent, but she kept glaring at Asterin, Kyrion, and me in turn.

Aldrich strode forward and stopped in front of Kyrion, inspecting him from head to toe. Verona also moved forward, doing the same thing to me. The couple circled around us, moving in opposite directions, although their steps rang out at the same steady, measured pace.

Something soft brushed up against my body, like a feather tickling my skin. A shimmer of green caught my eye, and I reached out with my seer magic again. Waves of power were ebbing and flowing between Kyrion and me, but it wasn't our power. Somehow the Colliers were using their own truebond and telempathy to explore the similar connection between Kyrion and me.

I stiffened, as did Kyrion, and the sticky cobweb of him in my mind pulsed with wariness. The waves kept ebbing and flowing, as though Kyrion and I were caught in two different, but connected, ocean currents. I held my breath. Kyrion and I might be strong in our magic, but the Colliers had a level of finesse we didn't, which made them extremely dangerous.

The Colliers finished their slow, circling inspection and stopped in front of us. The invisible waves of their magic dropped away and vanished completely.

"Curious," Aldrich said in a thoughtful voice. "Their connection is quite powerful, one of the strongest bonds I've ever sensed, but it's . . . unstable."

I frowned. Unstable? What did that mean?

"My assessment exactly," Verona murmured. "Kyrion's power is a cold blue moon, while Vesper's is a white-hot star. Complementary and close together but not truly connected—yet."

The married couple shared a look, although I couldn't hear what thoughts they were whispering to each other with their telepathy. More soft green waves of power flowed between them, but their magic was now distant and self-contained, as though I was peering at it through a sheet of permaglass.

Seeing and feeling the Colliers' magic was nothing like my experience with Callus Holloway. The siphon's power had stabbed into my body like enormous needles plunging all the way down into my bones, then ruthlessly retracted, sucking out my life, energy, and magic. But even when the Colliers had been testing Kyrion's and my connection, their magic had remained smooth and fluid, touching but not taking anything in return.

Kyrion shifted on his feet, his gaze flicking back and forth between the Colliers. A shadow passed over his face, and I didn't need to feel his sadness rippling through the bond to know he was thinking about his parents. I wondered if the Caldarens' truebond had felt the same to him as the Colliers' connection did.

"We will offer you sanctuary, as Asterin has requested," Aldrich said.

Siya's arms plummeted to her sides. "But Father—"

Aldrich waved his hand, cutting off her protest. "They have a truebond, Siya, and thus, we must honor our own laws. Plus, Lady Vesper and Lord Kyrion helped Asterin save a great many Erztonian lives when they thwarted the Techwave attack at the Regenwald Resort on Tropics 33."

Siya bit her lip, but after a few seconds, she dipped her head in agreement.

Aldrich turned back to Kyrion and me. "For now, the two of you may stay at the estate as our guests. You can come and go as you like in House Collier territory, but I would advise you to be cautious, given your notoriety."

I snorted. "You mean you won't interfere if some bounty hunters come after us."

"I have little control over bounty hunters," Aldrich replied.

"And what about Callus Holloway?" Kyrion asked.

Aldrich shrugged. "I have even less control over the Imperium ruler. Holloway can lodge a complaint and try to revoke your sanctuary status through the proper Erzton channels, but that will take quite some time."

Kyrion let out a bitter laugh. "Holloway doesn't care about proper channels . Sooner or later, he'll send people to try to capture us, no matter how many Imperium and Erzton treaties it violates."

Aldrich shrugged again. "Which is why I suggest you be cautious."

I could hear what he wasn't saying. The Erzton lord wouldn't turn us over to bounty hunters or Holloway, but he wouldn't help us defeat our enemies either.

Aldrich's thoughtful gaze hardened into a stern expression. "The two of you might have a truebond, but it has not fully solidified. That makes it a danger to everyone in House Collier, and it could be deadly to the two of you."

How could our bond not be solidified? Kyrion and I had tapped into our collective power to escape from Crownpoint, and since then, we'd spent practically every waking moment of the last few weeks together. We'd trained and sparred and tried to use each other's abilities dozens of times. Not to mention all the thoughts and feelings we'd shared, along with our bodies. We'd solidified plenty of things in that time.

And what made the bond unstable? My fumbling with my magic? Or something else?

"What do you mean, deadly ?" Kyrion asked in a sharp voice. "I thought the only danger to a truebonded pair was if one person died."

Aldrich clasped his hands behind his back. "That is often true. If one person in a bond dies, then the other usually soon follows." His gaze cut to Verona for a moment. "Once a truebond is formed, severing it has devastating consequences for everyone involved."

Everyone involved? He was making it sound like it was possible for more than two people to share a truebond, to share a psionic connection, but I had never heard of such a thing. The Regal gossipcasts concentrated almost exclusively on romantic truebonds, and none of the books I'd read about psionic theory mentioned more than two people being involved in any kind of bond, whether it was between lovers, siblings, friends, or strangers.

"As long as your truebond is unstable, you will never have full control of your power," Aldrich continued. "And you will never be able to protect yourselves from other psions, especially siphons like Callus Holloway."

"So you know what Holloway does to truebonded couples," Kyrion said. "How he takes their power over and over again like they're his own personal batteries."

"Oh, yes. The members of the Erzton ruling council, myself included, have our spies in the Imperium, just as Holloway has his spies in the Erzton," Aldrich replied. "We have been aware of Holloway's actions for quite some time—ever since he started taking your parents' power roughly thirty years ago."

Kyrion jerked back as though the other lord had just punched him in the throat. A muscle twitched in Kyrion's jaw, and his hands clenched into fists. Siya drifted closer to Aldrich, her hand dropping to the hammer hanging off her belt. Rigel remained along the wall, although his eyes narrowed, like he was calculating whether he could tackle Kyrion before the Arrow attacked the lord.

Kyrion ignored the other warriors, his icy gaze squarely on Aldrich. "You knew what Holloway was doing to my parents?"

The lord nodded. "I did."

Kyrion's fists curled a little tighter, his knuckles standing out like white knots against his skin. His cold, dark fury vibrated through the bond, stealing my breath and chilling me to the bone.

"You could have offered my parents sanctuary. You could have offered them the same chance you are giving Vesper and me. You could have given them some bloody hope ."

Even though he was much shorter, Aldrich still managed to peer down his nose at Kyrion. "Hope has nothing to do with truebonds, and it has absolutely no place in politics. Business is business, and it's a mistake to attach personal feelings to such things. The Erzton does not get involved in Imperium matters, and vice versa."

"And yet here you are, offering us sanctuary," I cut in. "So what's changed between then and now?"

Aldrich looked at me. "You helped my stepdaughter save Erztonian lives and property. The Caldarens did none of those things. You are also standing here before me, on Sygnustern, not halfway across the galaxy on Corios."

"So what you're really saying is if we hadn't helped Asterin defend the Regenwald Resort, you wouldn't be offering us shelter now?" Kyrion laughed, but it was a low, ugly sound. "Funny how Erzton law is so very flexible."

Aldrich's eyes narrowed, but Kyrion glared right back at him.

"What happened to your parents was a tragedy, Lord Kyrion. Truly," Verona said in a serious voice.

"But?" he growled again, turning his icy glower to her.

"But don't compound it by refusing our help now. The past is the past. We cannot change it, no matter how much we might wish to." Verona's face softened with sympathy. "All we can do is move forward together into a brighter future, but the choice is yours."

"And what is this choice going to cost us?" I asked.

Verona arched an eyebrow at my snide tone. "We don't charge credits, if that's what you're asking." She paused. "But future favors are always appreciated."

I huffed. In other words, the Colliers would help us now, with the true cost to be determined later as they saw fit.

Kyrion looked at me. I don't trust the Colliers.

I don't trust them either. I hesitated, but I finally gave voice to the thought that had been haunting me for the last few weeks. But we both know something is wrong with our bond. We need help if we're to have any chance of stabilizing our connection. If we don't master our magic, we'll never be able to stop running.

Some of the icy fury trickled out of the bond. Kyrion's fists loosened, but his stance remained tense and watchful. Together we faced the Colliers again.

"Excellent," Verona chirped in a bright voice. "I'm glad all that unpleasantness is settled. The two of you must be exhausted after your long journey. I'll show you to the guest wing, and you can get something to eat and rest up. You are both also invited to attend the marriage mart House Collier is hosting tomorrow night."

"What's a marriage mart?" I asked.

"A long-standing Erzton tradition, although this year, my father is hoping to bribe someone from another House to marry Asterin," Siya said in a snide voice. "Since my stepsister didn't manage to snare a husband while she was flitting about all those Regal balls on Corios."

Asterin bristled, and a hot blush scalded her cheeks, although I couldn't tell if it was from anger, embarrassment, or both.

Verona ignored the tension between her daughter and her stepdaughter and turned to Leland. "Has everything been prepared for our guests?"

The chief of staff nodded. "Yes, my lady."

"Good." Verona gestured at us. "Lady Vesper, Lord Kyrion, please follow me."

The Erzton lady swept out of the library. Asterin glared at Siya a moment longer, then followed her mother. Siya remained behind, along with Leland and Aldrich, and the three of them huddled together and started speaking in soft voices. Rigel also remained behind, still leaning against the wall. He hadn't moved or said a word the entire time we'd been in the library.

Kyrion grabbed his duffel bag off the floor, spun around, and headed after Verona and Asterin. I picked up my own bag and followed him, trying to tamp down my growing sense of dread.

Bounty hunters, corporate mercenaries, Zane Zimmer, Callus Holloway, and a whole host of other enemies might be waiting outside the Collier estate, but I had a sinking feeling that just as many dangers were lurking inside this bright, glittering castle.