Her grin was contagious, even though this situation was anything but funny. “You’re turning into a regular politician, Faith. Who knew you could be so sly?”
She was right. I was the bluntly honest one of the three of us. I said whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. It drove Destiny crazy and had made Trinity sigh and shake her head on more than one occasion. But for once, I was going to be a bit more like my sisters than I’d ever thought I could be.
Because Thor was mine. Sadly, nothing was going to bring back his parents. Nothing. But I could protect him, whether he wanted me to or not.
“Where’s the closest S-Gen machine? I need to get to work.”
“On what?”
“If I’m going to meet the people, I need to look like a princess.”
Trinity squeezed my hand and moved as if she intended to get up and leave me, so I held tight and made sure she saw the determination in my eyes. “Thor’s mine. Bring him here before he does something stupid, okay?”
“I’ll send Leo and Nix.”
“Send a whole battalion. Thor’s stubborn.”
That made my sister laugh, the sound the happiest I’d ever heard her. “My dear sister, you really haven’t spent much time with my mate. No problem. Trust me.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t know Thor. Tell Leo to take set his ion blaster to stun. Hell, take tranquilizer darts or something. He’s going to need them.”
Trinity was still laughing when she left me alone with the S-gen machine. I had two hours to get ready. After that, Trinity said she’d send in the hair stylist and makeup guru to help me look like a royal, like a woman who knew her place and power on this world.
In other words, like a complete stranger.
And by then, Thor should be in royal custody as well. Trinity assured me that Leo would make sure he looked his part.
I had a gown to make. And not just any gown, but a fucking badass, do-not-mess-with-me, princess gown.
Thor hadn’t seen me in full battle mode. Not yet. I didn’t need a uniform and body armor. No, I would fight in a killer dress with heels.
He might be a dumbass and leave me because of honor, but Thor was mine, and I would do whatever it took to protect him.
3
Thordis Jax, Jax Mountain Lodge
I made it three steps out the front door of the lodge when Leo stepped in front of me, blocking my path.
“Where the fuck do you think you’re going?” he asked.
“Get out of my way, Leo.” He might be bigger than me, but I had anger on my side.
“Not happening. Let’s go.” He thumbed over his shoulder.
“How did you find me?” I’d just sent the message with Pawl’s confession to Leo’s father a couple of minutes earlier. This lodge was remote, over an hour’s drive from the city. How had Leo arrived so quickly? It was impossible.
“You sent us directions along with Pawl’s confession. Thanks for that, by the way.”
“My pleasure.” And it was. Every threat to Faith would be dealt with one by one. “But I should have had an hour or more.”
Leo tapped a small item on his chest and I squinted, confused. “A transport beacon? How the hell did you get that?” The small buttons were very valuable, hard to come by, and monitored by the Interstellar Fleet. Finding one on Alera was damn near impossible.
Leo held up another button, clearly meant for me. “Trinity is personal friends with Prime Nial.”
Fuck. Of course, she was. Wasn’t that just fucking perfect. “I have business to attend to, Leo. Get out of my way.”
“Faith’s at the palace. She’s upset. Which means Trinity is upset. And that, Lord Jax, means you aren’t going anywhere.”