Coalition 02.5 - The Kingbird

The Kingbird

Coalition 02.5

Justine Davis

---

What was hidden is now found.

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.

---

SHAYLAH STARED at the destruction around her, trying for the sure and serene confidence that was expected of her as Queen of Trios, mate of a king and mother of a prince, reformed Captain and decorated pilot of the Coalition. She looked at
Paraclon
, the crusty old man who was standing amid the rubble, tugging at a blackened strand of gray hair. The eccentric inventor had paid a price for allowing two small rapscallions to experiment in his lab.

She had heard the explosion from the courtyard and had raced here, fearing the worst. Now, seeing no one had been truly hurt, she had to school her expression to sternness, battling the urge to smile, marveling that she finally could smile since the Coalition had been driven not only out of Trios, but her home world of
Arellia
as well.

Instead of an invading armada, she had only these two miscreants, the royal prince of Trios and the daughter of the Defense Minister, to be dealt with.

“And what,” she said, eyeing them both, “do you two have to say for yourselves?”

As usual, it was
Shaina
who answered first. Her son never answered quickly, preferring to think before he spoke in these situations. Which were frequent. The two of them together seemed explosive in and of themselves.

“It would have worked,” she insisted. “We just needed to adjust the fuel a little more.”

Again
Shaylah
had to bite back a smile. That the girl would answer with such bold assurance was just so very ...
Shaina
. More concerned with the goal than the damage incurred in trying to reach it.

“A little more and you would have destroyed my entire lab!”
Paraclon’s
indignation echoed in his voice.

“It only broke some of those crystals,”
Shaina
protested.

“And melted my central processing unit!”

Shaina
looked a little chagrinned at that. “Maybe we did have it aimed a bit wrong. But we didn’t think the flame would shoot out that far behind.”

“I believe ‘didn’t think’ is the phrase to be used for all of this,”
Shaylah
said sternly. “What in the stars were you trying to do?”

“We were trying to make a rocket,”
Shaina
said, her expression saying that should be obvious although she kept her voice respectful;
Shaylah
suspected more because of the closeness of their families than her royal status.

“I can see that,”
Shaylah
said dryly. “Perhaps I should have asked why?”

“To launch it at the Coalition.”

Her son had finally, quietly spoken, and she shifted her gaze. She knew that young face so well. She saw so much of his father in it, knew she was seeing what her beloved mate, Dare, had looked like as a boy. But the eyes were hers, and right now they were full of an earnestness that made her heart twist in her chest.

Her child had never known peace. The active rebellion against the conquering Coalition had begun before he was conceived, before she and his father had even met. And it had continued for every breath in his short life. It was no wonder the boy was so serious, so focused on protecting his planet. His father influenced more than his genetics, giving him that sense of responsibility and dedication, teaching him the priorities of a king and a loving father in the best possible way, by living, breathing—and often sacrificing—example.

True, the situation on Trios had quieted, limited for some time now to occasional attacks the
Triotian
forces turned back with small losses. But the Coalition was still strong elsewhere, still battling as the rebellion continued to spread to planets scattered across the galaxy.
Triotians
cheered that, for it spread the Coalition forces thin, but they never forgot that the Coalition still hoped to regain the jewel that was Trios. Their lives were lived in constant awareness that another of the sporadic attacks could come at any time. Dare and
Dax
—their dearest friend, greatest warrior, and former
skypirate
who also happened to be
Trios’s
Defense Minister—were ever on guard, the tension never abated, and it had been so ever since Dare had come home and led his people to a startling victory.

Because of that, even when she could finally smile again and see the future, she recognized that their children knew too much of war and too little of childhood. They all sheltered the two as much as they could, but both Lyon and
Shaina
were too smart not to notice the constant undercurrent of tension.

And now she knew just how much it affected them.

Strange to think that her own childhood, despite the crushing tyranny of the Coalition, had been relatively calm. Thought of fighting back had died long before she’d ever been born.
Arellia
had been well conquered; the Coalition had seemingly been there forever. She knew little of what life had been before, the Coalition simply was. And she’d thought little of it when the only way she could follow her greatest desire—to fly—was to join them. Her parents had encouraged her, saying it was the only way out from under the boot heel. And it would benefit them, to have an officer in the Coalition forces.

She’d been too young then to realize the irony that she had gotten out from under that heel by becoming part of it.

But now she crossed her arms and looked down at the two children before her. At eight and nine, they were still of the same height. That wouldn’t last much longer she thought, almost wistfully. Lyon would be tall, like his father, she could see it in the length of his legs. She found herself dreading that time even as she loved watching him grow and learn.

She put on her sternest face. Both children lowered their eyes, knowing judgment was coming.

“You will clean this up. Every shard, every splinter. You will clean this room until it glistens, including scrubbing the floor.”

Shaina’s
head came up. “But it wasn’t like that to begin with!”

“Then perhaps
Paraclon
won’t ban you forever, if he sees some benefit out of this.”

The girl’s head lowered once more.
Shaylah
knew the hours spent with the old man were precious to them, in part because he didn’t treat them any differently than anyone else. She thought that he probably forgot exactly who they were a lot of the time, which was likely half the draw.

“And,” she added, “you will replace or pay for what you’ve broken.”

Lyon’s head came up then. “We can get the crystals from the mountains, but how are we to replace his processing unit?”

She looked at the old man. “
Paraclon
?”

“
Hmpf
,” he muttered. “I’ll have to build a new one. But
Dax
wants all efforts focused on improving the efficiency of our shields, and it doesn’t do to keep the Defense Minister waiting.”

“Then this scamp can explain the delay to her father,”
Shaylah
said.
Shaina
groaned. “And these two will report to you daily after lessons, and take care of any chores they are capable of, to free your time for more important things.”

She wasn’t sure she was doing the old inventor any favor with that, but knew he would go along, just as she knew
Califa
and
Dax
would back her on meting out punishment for their daughter. Not because she was the queen but because they, all seven of them counting
Dax’s
ward
Rina
, were one family in all ways but blood. More than once it had been
Dax
or
Califa
reining them in, despite the fact that Lyon was the king’s son and the heir to the throne of Trios.

And that neither child ever questioned their right was an accomplishment they all treasured.

“What if he doesn’t want us here?”
Shaina
asked. “Sometimes he doesn’t, when he’s deep into something.”

“That’s for him to decide. He may dismiss you as he sees fit.”

“For how long?” the ever-practical Lyon asked.

“That is also up to him.”

“But what if he for—” Lyon stopped himself, flicked a glance at the old man, then back at her. “Never mind.”

Shaylah
knew he’d been going to say “What if he forgets?” Knew he understood
Paraclon
well enough to know that when he got involved in his work, when some new invention—that could turn out amazingly or disastrously—filled his mind, all else fled. He could quite literally forget where he was, let alone remember who else was there.

She also knew Lyon had not said the words for fear of hurting the old man’s feelings. And for that, she loved this boy even more. He wasn’t just her son, wasn’t just the living evidence of the incredible love between her and his father, he was rapidly becoming the kind of person his father was, and that was the finest thing she could ever wish for him.

* * *

“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.