Synopsis | Reviews | Excerpt
The past offers a treasure they never imagined.
What was hidden is now found.
A treasure beyond dreams is waiting.
It has been a decade since King Dare and the flashbow warrior Dax reunited to protect their world. The Coalition has been driven out, but they have never given up on regaining the jewel that is Trios, and the battle is ongoing. The constant threat of the Coalition is a heavy load to carry, but it is made easier for King Dare and Dax by the presence of their mates, Queen Shaylah and Califa, and brightened immeasurably by their children, Lyon and Shaina.
At the urging of the queen, the families steal one single day away from the pressure, a day of rest spent at one of the few pristine spots left on their beloved planet, a place full of Dare's family history—a place where they find hope in a treasure thought lost forever, and their children unexpectedly discover what could well be the miracle to keep Trios safe.
"Some people call me a writer, some an author, some a novelist. I just say I’m a storyteller.”
—Justine Dare Davis
Author of more than sixty books (she sold her first ten in less than two years), Justine Dare Davis is a four-time winner of the coveted RWA RITA Award, and has been inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame. Her books have appeared on national best-seller lists, including USA Today. She has been featured on CNN, taught at several national and international conferences, and at the UCLA writer’s program.
Find out more at her website and blog at justinedavis.com, Facebook at JustineDareDavis, or Twitter @Justine_D_Davis.
Coming soon!
"THERE’S GOT TO be a way,” Dare said,
reaching the far end of the common room and turning back to pace the other way.
"Paraclon’s working on it,” said Dax,
lounging with every appearance of indolence on the couch.
Shaylah wasn’t fooled. She knew him well
now, knew that he could—and would—erupt into swift, decisive action in a
fraction of a second, given the need.
Sometimes she wished Dare would even
pretend to relax like that. Perhaps some bit of it might become real. But he
took his duties as king beyond seriously, and she knew that he was half the
reason Trios was on her way to recovery. The other half of the reason for
Trios’s survival was the indomitable spirit of her people. They may have slept
too long, may have taken their freedom and safety for granted, but once
awakened they were as fierce and courageous as their ancestors, who had founded
this world that gave so much to all other worlds in the system.
"I’m weary of this balancing act,” Dare
said as he turned once more on his seemingly endless crossings of the room.
"There just isn’t enough power to do all
four at full strength,” Dax said reasonably. "We can have long range sensors,
shields, winter heat on full, and no fusion canons, or we can have half
shields, half the sensor range, no heat, and all fusion canons at the ready, or
everything on at one quarter, or any other combination that adds up. The total
never changes, you know that, Dare.”
"The winters are getting better as Trios
heals,” Dare said, still pacing. "But we need more power, and we can’t get to
enough nitron to refine for fuel. We have to do something, we can’t have people
choosing between staying warm or staying safe.”
His people. He didn’t say it, but Shaylah
knew he felt responsible for their welfare. His family had ruled Trios for
generations, but always at the will of those people, who had the power to make
a change at any time they didn’t feel well served. It had never happened.
And Trios herself was healing. The
destruction the Coalition had wrought on this beautiful planet had changed
everything, including the weather, but things were gradually righting. Still,
twice in the last decade the winters had been exceptionally harsh. The first
time they had still been in the caves, which were closed in and easier to heat.
Dare had seen to it that sufficient stores of food had been prepared so no one
went hungry, although the long season had shortened many tempers.
But last winter had been nearly as bad as
that legendary one, and they were back in Triotia now, in buildings that
required more to keep them livable. So they had opened this very room to all,
because through a trick of clever design and use of a certain Triotian stone,
it stayed warmer than most. It had become a shelter for nearly five weeks.
Toward the end tempers had again been a
bit on edge until Dax—of course Dax—had managed to turn it into a party of
sorts. He’d done something he rarely did publicly, and brought out the ancient
dulcetpipe to play all the classic songs of Trios he could remember. Those who
had never seen their rowdy, powerful Defense Minister—although he eschewed the
title and called himself merely the flashbow warrior—play the delicate
instrument were startled into silence. Those who had seen him play before broke
into smiles the moment they saw him carrying it. And Califa had sung to the
gathering, something rare enough—and beautiful enough—to calm them all.
"The shields draw a lot of power,” Califa
said now. "But we daren’t let them lapse. Coalition sensors could pick it up if
we lower them and if they happen to be close...”
"They could be here before we could
re-engage them. You’re right,” Dare said.
Shaylah stayed silent. There was nothing
she could add that they didn’t know; there wasn’t enough power to do
everything, not yet. So instead of speaking the obvious, she allowed herself a
moment to appreciate the small miracle the exchange had reminded her of. Dare
had truly and fully forgiven her dearest friend. Califa, who of all of them had
journeyed the farthest to become what she was now, a loved and accepted
Triotian. Accepted even by the man she had once, in Coalition eyes, owned.
The man she herself owned in truth. Her
Wolf.
She smiled inwardly at the thought, and
of how often he had told her she did indeed own him, in ways the Coalition had
never thought of, could never in their cold-heartedness begin to imagine.
"Not forgotten,” Dare had told Califa on
the day he had healed enough to do it, "but forgiven. It no longer matters.”
And Shaylah had never been prouder of her
friend than in the moment she had stood tall and faced a king to say, "It
shouldn’t be forgotten. It is what we’re fighting against.”
Dare, still pacing the room restlessly,
looking for an answer they had yet to find, reached the far end. As he turned to
start back, he stepped into the shaft of sunlight that shot through the arched
window at the end of the room. It lit him up, made his Triotian hair and skin
gleam golden. There, she thought. There, like that, is how he should
pose for the official portrait he kept putting off. The master artist who had
painted the royal family for a century had been killed in a Coalition attack,
but there were others nearly as good. But still he had resisted having that
portrait done. He insisted he did not have time for such things. Which was one
of the reasons she persisted; to pose for a portrait he would at least have to
stop moving.
It had taken her a while to realize he
was resisting because he didn’t yet feel worthy, and would not until his
people’s lives were once again made as whole as possible. Perhaps she could
convince him that the ten year anniversary of his return, coming up soon, would
be the time. On a sunny day like today, no hint of shadow still hovered other
than the distant threat they all knew.
"The excavators are still trying,” Califa
said. "But moving that debris is a massive undertaking.”
"And they tell me blowing it out of the
way would fuse the nitron,” Dax added, sounding regretful.
Dare’s mouth quirked. Shaylah smiled
inwardly. Of course that would be Dax’s first thought. "Itching to blow
something up, are you?”
"Always,” Dax admitted with a grin.
"Like father like daughter,” Shaylah
said.
Califa rolled her eyes in mock
exasperation, her mouth twitching at the corners as Dax’s grin widened.
"That’s my girl,” he said.
She’d explained what had happened in
Paraclon’s lab, smiled when Califa said she’d gone too easy on them, grinned at
Dax’s ill-disguised laughter, and laughed in turn herself when Dare had dryly
pointed out he would expect no less from the offspring of the man who had
nearly destroyed half this very room as a boy.
"They seem to be in rare form of late,”
Dare said.
"Yes,” Dax agreed. "More so than usual.”
"I’m not sure why,” Shaylah said. "We’re
well into spring. They’ve had plenty of time to burn off what appetite for
mischief they built up during the winter.”
"I’m not sure they ever burn that off,”
Califa said, her tone wry. "Perhaps we should up their time with Denpar.”
"More gymnastics?” Dax lifted a brow.
"They’re already climbing the walls.”
"They’re frustrated.”
All four of them turned to look at the
young woman who had, until now, remained silent in a shadowy corner of the
room. Only the gleam of her short cap of golden hair was clearly visible.
"What do you mean, Rina?” Shaylah asked,
glad the girl had finally spoken. She’d been unusually somber lately, and
unwilling to discuss whatever was bothering her.
"They know you’re trying to protect them,
not just from what’s happening, but from even knowing about it.”
"They are but children,” Dare said
softly.
"We are at war. They can’t be only
children,” Rina said bluntly.
She rose, took a few steps toward them.
She looked around at them all. She was part of this family, they had all made
sure she knew that, but Shaylah wasn’t convinced she wouldn’t have faced them
down as intrepidly had she been a stranger in front of the highest seat of
power on Trios. In fact, she knew she would, for had the girl not done exactly
that when Dax had first brought her home, and he had been on trial for his
life? Rina Carbray was a lot of bold in a small package.
"They feel helpless to do anything about
what’s happening to them and around them. They want to help, they want to do
something. Anything. But they can’t. They just have to sit and watch those they
love do battle and pray they come back.” She glanced at Dax. "Trust me. I know
a lot about that feeling.”
"Rina,” Dax began, but then stopped.
Everyone in this room knew the story, knew how Dax had rescued her from
Coalition hands at no small risk to himself. And how, thinking Trios destroyed
and her people dead, he had kept her with him on his forays as the most hailed
and feared skypirate in the system. Shaylah could imagine how the child she’d
been had felt as the one solid presence in her life, the one person she felt
connected to, had risked his life time after time, leaving her behind to wonder
if he would come back alive.
"This wasn’t just mischief,” Rina said.
"Lyon’s a good talker, but he doesn’t lie. They wanted to strike a blow.”
Shaylah listened intently. Rina knew
their children better than almost anyone, since she was their chosen companion
whenever a third was allowed to share their amazing bond. She was closer to
them in age than the rest of their extended family, and she still had a spark—well,
more than a spark—of her old troublemaking skills herself.
"What would you suggest?” Califa asked.
Her voice was quietly encouraging. She
was as close to a mother as Rina had ever known since her own had been killed
by the Coalition long before Dax had found her. For all that Shaylah had found
it unlikely, becoming both an adoptive and biological mother had softened the
very core of the woman who had once been the coolest, most calculating officer
in the Coalition forces.
"Give them a job, a real job, that’s more
than just freeing Paraclon to work,” Rina said.
"Such as?” Dax asked, one brow arching
upward but his tone mild.
"There must be some annoying little thing
you or the king must do that’s crucial but simple and you’d be glad to be rid
of it.”
"There are countless things that fit that
description,” Dare said dryly, making them all laugh. "But I’m at a loss to
think of one this moment that would be... safe enough.”
"I think she’s right, and we shall have
to think of something,” Shaylah said. "Thank you, Rina.”
The girl—young woman now—smiled. And
Shaylah realized it had been a while since she’d seen that charming, impish
smile.
Shaylah brought it up in a quiet aside to
Califa as Rina went to refill her glass with the lingberry juice she loved.
"Is it my imagination, or is Rina a bit
glum of late?”
"It’s that time of year. It always takes
her that way.”
Shaylah felt remiss for forgetting, no
matter how busy her days had been since the last attack.
"I had forgotten how close the
anniversary was,” she said.
Califa nodded, glanced at the girl who
was like a daughter to her. "Hard to believe how long it’s been since he held
Galatin against all odds.”
"And since he went into the mountains and
never came back.”
"Yes. Fifty to one odds and it still took
them six days to kill him and the men he led.”
"I wish I had known him rather than of
him,” Shaylah said.
Califa shook her head. "Be thankful.” She
glanced at her mate, who was deep in conversation with Dare. "The loss is hard
enough for those who did.”
"Dax,” Shaylah said.
"I think he’d begun to think of him as a
younger brother. They were much alike. But for Rina, who adored him as only a
girl turning into a woman can, it is a wound that never heals.”
Shaylah sighed. This long, constant
battle against the Coalition had taken much from them. Family, friends, and
peace for their children.
"I think we need to take a day off,” she
announced abruptly to the room.
Dax and Dare turned, startled. Rina
cocked her head thoughtfully, looking more like one of the legendary pixies of
the Triotian woodlands than ever despite the fact that she was an adult now. In
truth, she’d grown up harder and faster than any of them. She’d had to.
"You have been working very hard,” Dare
said, walking toward her.
"And accomplishing a lot,” Califa put in.
"I saw that the school is nearly finished.”
Shaylah nodded but waved aside the
compliments. Administering the rebuilding after Coalition attacks had become
sadly routine. But it seemed too small a price to pay for the esteem and respect
and position these people had given her. They had accepted her at first for
Dare’s sake, but soon had warmed to the outworlder who had become their queen.
She’d vowed never to take that for granted, and so far she thought she had
succeeded.
"Don’t underestimate the importance,” Dax
said as he joined them. "I can’t tell you what the sight of their queen down in
the rubble working alongside them means to the people.”
"Throwing rocks seems to help my temper,”
she said.
"And that, my queen,” Dare added, "seeing
that you are as angry as they are, means even more to them.”
"But you, alive, strong, and returned to
lead them means the most,” she said, slipping her arm around him. "I still
think we need to take a day. Just for us, all of us, as a family.”
"Shaylah,” Dare began, and she could see
he was going to say he couldn’t.
"Our children have never known peace,”
she said before he could go on. "And while they have visited most of Trios as
part of their education, they have never gone anywhere, to any of the beautiful
places that survive, to simply enjoy being there.”
"It has not been safe enough,” Dax said.
"I know. But if they hold true to
form—and that’s something the Coalition excels at—they won’t be back for
another attack for at least ten days. The seven of us could slip out for just a
day, unnoticed, if we went alone.”
Rina made a small sound, but when Shaylah
looked at her she was studying the floor. The girl never seemed to get over
being amazed at how they all considered her one of their joined family. It was,
Shaylah thought, part of her considerable charm.
"It could be done,” Dare agreed, but he
still sounded reluctant. Duty claimed this man like no other she had ever
known. He was a leader in the finest sense, and she admired him nearly as much
as she adored him.
And worried about him.
"Think of it, Dare. Just the people you
love most, twenty-four hours with no demands, no decisions.”
He let out a breath and looked at the
ceiling of the room. Shaylah knew it was to keep her from seeing just how much
the idea appealed. She pressed her advantage, determined to see this man she so
loved free of the burden for at least this short time.
"You deserve this. We all do. The
children most of all. Especially if we’re going to put them to work when we
return,” she added with a smile.
"Where were you thinking of going?”
Califa asked, and something in her old friend’s voice told her she had her
support in this. She felt a spark of relief; together, she and this premier
tactician could get this done. She focused on Dare.
"I had in mind someplace that has escaped
damage, despite it all, and continues to. And stands ready, with a dwelling
built by your father’s own hand.”
Dare’s gaze snapped back to her. "Lake
Geron.”
"Yes.”
"It’s only escaped damage because it’s
bedamned hard to get to,” Dax pointed out.
Shaylah turned on the man who had become
as a brother to her. "Are you saying you can’t do it, skypirate?”
Dare burst out laughing at Dax’s
expression. "Oh, you know him too well, my love.”
"I’m just saying I could do it,” Shaylah
retorted, hiding her joy at the rare sound of his laughter.
"As I well know,” Dare agreed.
For a moment their eyes locked, memories
flowing between them. Their connection grew stronger with every passing year,
until now, they barely had to speak if they were alone. They sensed each
other’s every mood, and communicated on some level Shaylah had never known. She
assumed it was part of bonding, and had been surprised to realize the old
Triotian tradition, mocked in the halls of Coalition power, went much deeper
than she’d ever realized. It was more than a physical and emotional connection;
it was a joining of spirits as much as bodies.
And now she sensed the full strength of
that duty pulling at him.
"I can’t leave the city,” he said. "If
something should happen, if the Coalition returned—”
"Perhaps,” Califa said, her tone
deceptively neutral as she interrupted the king without qualm, another measure
of how far they’d come, "it might be a good test run for a certain new ship?”
Dax’s head snapped around as he focused
on his mate. "The Star?”
Shaylah stifled a laugh; Califa, too,
knew her own mate well. Nothing could have brought him more swiftly to their
side than the temptation of a run in his new flagship, the latest incarnation
of the Evening Star.
"It is nearly ready, is it not? Surely a
small jaunt would be useful, for fine tuning.”
"Please, both of you,” Shaylah said. "Lay
down the crown, and the flashbow, for just this one day. For all of us.”
"Let’s do it, Dax,” Rina chimed in. "I’ve
barely had a chance to be aboard her, I’ve been stuck in Freylan’s classes so
long.”
"And doing wonderfully,” Califa said. The
girl had had a lot of catching up to do. Her life with the sector’s most
infamous skypirate had been wild and dangerous and no doubt exciting, but it
hadn’t run to basic education. Dax had done his best for the situation, making
her read what tomes he had available, and had assigned her to a sort of
apprenticeship to every crew member to learn their skills, but he was no
teacher.
As much as she complained, Shaylah had a
feeling she was soaking it all up eagerly still, years after Dax had brought
her home. Freylan had reported her to be a quick, smart learner, although he
had protested mightily when, in the middle of her lessons on Triotian history
Rina had insisted on accompanying Dax to Arellia when the rebellion had broken
out there and Dare had sent the flashbow warrior and his mate to help.
"The Evening Star is not flying without
me,” she’d said flatly. And given she had a unique talent that made her one of
the best weapons aboard any ship, she’d won that battle.
"It would be a good chance to see how she
handles,” Dax said now. "And to test out Paraclon’s water landing system.”
"Well, that ought to drown us all,” Dare
said. "You know how his first try at anything never works quite as expected.”
"But his next try is always amazing. And
I’ll let you all off on dry land first,” Dax added generously.
"Kind of you,” Dare said.
"Dare, listen,” Dax said. "Heating’s not
an issue now, so we can leave the long range sensors working with the shields
at half strength, and one cannon at the ready. If we take the Star and
something happens, I can get us back here before they’re within firing range.”
Shaylah felt the moment when the tide
shifted. This man was Dare’s most trusted friend—the brother he’d never had—and
his voice was the weight needed.
"All right,” Dare said at last. "If we go
now. In the morning.”
Bless you, Dax Silverbrake.
"Let’s tell the children,” Califa said.
"Rina, why don’t you tell them?” Shaylah
suggested.
The girl grinned widely. "My pleasure,
your highness.”
That quickly, she darted out of the room.
Califa looked at Shaylah. "Thank you for that.”
"None needed. It was worth it to see her
perk up.”
"Now let’s go pack.”
"Pack?” Dax looked puzzled. "We’re only
going overnight.”
"With two children,” Califa pointed out.
"Four, if you count them,” Shaylah
gestured at their mates.
Dax scowled, but Dare smiled. "Yes,
Captain,” he said softly. "You just may have four on your hands. I hope you
don’t regret this.”
