Oath Breaker (Death of Empire Book 1) Read online

  As Si finished up the last of the cryo procedures, Nial stared at him. “And I hope you understand I’m not my uncle. I’m here because I think it’s right, not because I care anything for you.”

  “I know. You’re here for Yella and I’m glad she has you.” Si closed the casing and watched as the capsule’s glass iced over.

  “Are you sleeping with her?”

  It wasn’t a question that surprised Si, but he hadn’t expected it so soon.

  “If I was, or am, or plan to be, it’s none of your business.” Nial glared at him, clearly displeased with the answer.

  “But I will tell you right now, I honestly think I love her more than you could ever hope to, and that has nothing to do with how long I’ve known her, or what you feel.”

  The boy’s face soured, but before he could respond, Obie broke into their conversation.

  “Danielle is awake and asking for you, captain.”

  He didn’t look at Nial as he turned for the lift. That had to rankle the boy, but truth be told, it’s not as though she should expect him to be on the ship.

  To his great surprise, at the bottom of the stairs, Nial ducked under Si’s arm and helped him to the lift.

  “Like I said, don’t think I like you, but the faster you move, the faster I get to see Dani.”

  And what will you do if she pays more attention to me? This could get messy. He’d have to talk to Yella about it. Stugg’s reaction was too fresh in his mind.

  Nial let him cross the hatch tread into the medbay under his own power, and he wasn’t surprised when Yella met his eyes with a concerned frown. It morphed into confusion as Nial followed him in.

  Adi looked down at his leg and she too wore a frown. “Damn, with all the confusion, I forgot about your leg. I tend to just think of you as indestructible and call it a day.”

  “I’m far from that.” He moved to Yella’s bedside, ignoring Adi’s motion toward the closest gurney. “How are you? Any buzzing up there?”

  “Only a little, Adi told me what you did with Vôner. I don’t think it’ll work, but I’m willing to give it a try. And I keep telling her, yes, my brain seems to be running slowly and I feel rather fuzzy about things… but I’m not sure if that’s because Vôner’s in cryo, or because of the transferred shock.”

  Adi moved a wheelchair behind him and forced him to sit down. “Obie’s doing a full diagnostic on her as soon as we’ll let her, but she insisted on talking to you first. And as soon as you’re done, I’m dealing with that leg. I know I’m not the best with field med, but our doc is laid up, if you couldn’t tell.” She cast an oddly warm smile toward Yella and then she and Kiori left the room.

  Nial stayed a moment longer, moving barely closer and making sure she really was okay, and not just saying it, before he too stepped out. The disappointment on his face was almost painful.

  “Si, I thought you shot him.” She leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and he leaned his head down to rest on hers.

  “I couldn’t do that. If you told me an entire planet was going to be destroyed unless I shot you… well I’m a horrible person. I’m too selfish to let you go, and too stubborn to think there’s only one option.”

  “So you made your own way.” Yella smiled at him weakly.

  He took her hand in his, “Anything that keeps you with me.”

  “Nial’s not going to be happy about that.” Yella scrubbed a hand down her face. “Why is he even here? He should be… I don’t know. Somewhere else.”

  “He’s here, because like the rest of us, he cares too much about you. What is with that anyway? Adi, at least should still be a little against you.”

  “Oh, she is. She’s just waiting for me to be up and back on my feet… so that this whole Nial thing can play out.” Yella turned to look him square in the face. “I don’t blame her one bit.”

  “We need to talk about these nanites. We have to get them out of your head so I can vent Vôner and you can get on with your life. Lyz says you got a tech somewhere to get rid of them before. Is he still around?”

  She looked away, too sharply.

  “No… he’s.” Her mouth twisted into a grimace. “There was no tech. I died.”

  He tried to mold his face out of the horrified expression it’d taken and forced himself to nod for her to continue.

  “The nanites… they killed me because I got too far away from Vôner. The original nanites he used… they were ninety percent pain inducers, they increased their output the farther I got away from him… and he could trigger them if I was in the right range. I died because I was in so much pain, my body shut down. Luckily, José was with us and he managed to bring me back. It took long enough, the nanites couldn’t survive.”

  “I’m not suggesting we do, but was dying the only way you could get them out?”

  “We talked to nanite specialist techs. Lyz read so many manuals, I thought her head really was going to explode. There’s nothing we could find… there’s nothing anyone else could think to do. Vôner has access to special equipment in his position. My best guess is what he injected into me is classified tech… I mean, no one has the need to experiment on any tech that is controlled by a mind bot—there are so few of them still functioning.”

  “But if there is a way to get rid of them—excluding your death—it would most likely be in the Pääom central archives.”

  “Probably. But these ones are different than the last time. They’re… They allow him to get in my head. Literally. He whispers. The other nanites did it too, but only at the very end. I thought they were hallucinations, and maybe they were, maybe they still are. But I have no idea if these ones would die the same way the last ones did.”

  “Don’t worry, that’s not a risk I’m going to take. Ever.” He pushed up out of the chair and kissed her gently atop her forehead.

  She nuzzled her face into his chest and he let himself relax a little more. “I should probably talk to Nial, shouldn’t I?”

  “You think I can trust him in here alone with you?”

  “If Nial comes in here hell bent on changing my alliances, he’s going to be facing an impossible battle.”

  “So if he kisses you, you’re telling me not to throw him out an airlock.”

  She laughed at him and he took that as a small victory. “Something like that.”

  He wheeled over to the hatch and opened it just far enough to yell for Adi and Nial.

  “Nurse, I believe I have a leg that needs patching up and I’d prefer it if you did it in the back room. I have my modesty to think of.”

  Adi shook her head and rolled her eyes at him as she took the chair’s handles and wheeled him away.

  She closed the door to the CMO’s office and turned him so his back was to Yella. “Don’t fret, if I think he’s going to hurt her, I’ll let you know.”

  “I wasn’t going to argue.”

  “Remember how I told you to try being human every once in a while for me? Jealousy is a normal reaction.”

  “And if it was anyone other than Yella, I’d be greener than a Perhonen meadow.”

  “It’s all going to work out, right?” Adi asked as she cut away the remains of his pants leg and sprayed the wound with anesthetic.

  “I’m not sure if I like this side of you, Adi. Caring for other people was never who you were.”

  She punched him squarely in his good shoulder. “I like her fine enough, but she’s someone important to you. You’re still my best friend. And let’s face it, some other dude’s nanites chilling in your woman’s brain…. not exactly what we all hope for in life.”

  With Nial Mandall on the other side of the soundproof glass trying to convince Yella he’s the better option, and with his ex-wife stabbing him with painkillers and punching staples in his leg, Osiris could see how someone might think he was ready to throw in the towel. On top of that, a new war was brewing, and they had a man belowdecks whose very life was tied to that of the woman he loved.

  “It
’ll work out.” He closed his eyes, and hoped to God it would.

  EPILOGUE

  Dani had her long chat with Nial. He hadn’t been happy, but he’d accepted the way things would be. And the ship seemed to be back to normal—the normal that didn’t involve a new crew member dropping off every time she turned around.

  With Osiris, Lyz and Mopeña working out ways to get back to the Abolitionists, and to increase Obie’s efficiency, and with Adi showing Nial the ropes down in the engine room, she had a lot of time to herself.

  She took to wandering the ship, paying attention to where her headache increased, where it lessened. When there was nowhere else to go, she made her way down to deck ten. She needed a break from the buzzing and proximity was the only way she could to achieve that.

  She shivered at the cold, hesitating as she traced the cryo tube’s blue light where it spilled across the floor. Swallowing her fear, she walked up the stairs anyway. He was locked away tight. Leaning back against the railing she stared at him as the pressure in her brain uncoiled. It reminded her of removing her boots after a day of trekking through a sweaty jungle.

  All that remained was the smallest of buzzes at the base of her brain. She leaned forward, trying to dispel it, her hand resting on the tube’s casing. Vôner’s eyes snapped open.

  You’ll never get away from me.

  She recoiled, her hand flying away from the cover. Her entire body went numb and tears gathered at the corner of her eyes. He didn’t move again, but she couldn’t run—no matter how strongly her urge to flee stabbed at her.

  Her eyes locked on his inside the cryo unit and though they were unmoving, she knew he was aware.

  She sucked in a cold breath of air and ran back to the lift. Sliding to the floor, her whole body shook. She’d never escape him.

  You’ll always be mine. Now, what does my girl say?”

  “Yes official.”

  Thank you!

  I hope you enjoyed reading Oath Breaker! Thank you for taking the time.

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  Oath Breaker is the first book in the Death of Empire series. It is followed by Debt Collector, available in 2017.

  If you’d like to know when my next book is available, join my newsletter, follow me on twitter at @abkeuser, like my facebook page, or check out my blog.

  Other Books by A. B. Keuser

  The Xyvar Series

  Windthrow

  Blowdown (OCT 2016)

  The Flynn Monroe Series

  Enemies of a Sort

  The Betrayal of Flynn Monroe

  The Reformation of Tyler Harris

  The Salvation of Rayna Castiq

  Quick and Painless

  The Escape of Joslyn Williams

  The Deception of Calliope Druthers

  Irreparable Damages

  The Lunar Colony VI Series

  Safety Zone

  Gravity Darkening

  Zero Proximity

  Terminal Shift

  Non-Passive Failure

  Omnibus Edition

  The Clockwork Fairytales

  Beauty & The Clockwork Beast

  Hazel & Gretel

  Iron Heinrich

  Jack & The Mechanical Beanstalks

  Short Stories

  Never Alone

  Pugilist Dreams

  About the Author

  When A. B. Keuser isn't trying to make sense of her own brain soup, she writes the "charmingly gritty" Flynn Monroe series and space operas that will keep you guessing. An Oregon native whose life has transplanted her in the Sonoran desert - where she's slowly desiccating - she writes to stay out of the sun and heat.

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright 2016 Amy Johnson

  http://www.abkeuser.com