Page 123 of Star Claimed Omega
Everything within Santo jolted, lurched, and freakin’ tilted as all the disparate pieces came crashing together in shallow breathing truth.
Soleil.
The woman he held. The woman he rocked to sleep at night.
The woman had begun to dream of a future with him.
She was the daughter of Varnok Gage, the Butcher of Vael’Na’ra, AKA the Mad Wolf King.
The man who glassed three moons in retaliation, to avenge a rival, killing millions.
The man whose legacy was etched in blood across the moons of the Thren system.
His crimes were so numerous and grotesque that they didn’t even fit in one tribunal archive.
Santi’s breath caught as the old warlord smirked.
A vile slash that stretched his cracked lips.
His reign of terror and violence across the Wildlight was off the charts; thus, the need to keep him caged away from any living soul.
Now his woman wasThe Red Queen, his acolyte.
Santi stared at her, his mouth dry. ‘I met you first at the -.’
‘The munitions depot,naam,’ she finished for him.
He shook with disbelief and growing rage. ‘You were pulling strings, bombing and pillaging at will, before disappearing a few months back, and now you are about to detonate a bomb on my ship to free him?Fokk, what a freakin’ nightmare.’
Her chin lifted, and he caught a sheen of tears in her eyes despite her defiance. ‘He and my uncle command me. I didn’t have a choice.’
His heart hammered. ‘You had choices. Otherwise, I’ll have to believe you lied to me and used me to break your father out ofThe Sombra? You always had alternatives.’
‘I’m so sorry, Santi.’ Her voice cracked, stammering over her words. ‘I thought if I just gave them what they wanted, I could spare you. Vern is always listening. He’ll kill us both if I don’t do as he says. He’ll also destroy someone close to me. He ransomed my will, my freakin’ life.’
With that, she turned and placed her hand on the cage latch. He caught a flash of energy from her wrist to the door.
The lock disengaged with a long hiss.
Varnok floated toward the door like a revenant.
‘Don’t!’ Santi growled, drawing his pulse blade. ‘Don’t move, Gage. Stay where you are.’
Soleil stepped in front of him, tears streaking her cheeks, raising her hands to stop him.
He growled when he saw a silver cuff formed of nanites rise out of her left wrist.
‘Stand back, Santi. This, this device is linked to my uncle, who’s calling the shots here. If I don’t complete the modulation sequence on the bomb and attach it to the outer wall, we’re done for. All of us.’
He stared at her, shaking, his rage unraveling into grief. ‘You really came here to save him.’
‘Nada,’ she whispered. ‘Not to save him, to save you and your ship, because what they planned was much worse.’
‘What can I say to stop you?’ he rasped through clenched teeth.
‘Nada. I have no choice, but I’ll try to lessen the impact.’
She breathed the last few words, her utterance soaked in despair, pleading, and laced with defiance.
