I couldn’t take my eyes off the planet outside my bedroom window. Deep blue oceans covered much of its surface, continents of brown and green breaking through swirling white cloud cover. From orbit, it looked so much like Earth that for a moment I almost believed I had returned home.

  But this world had another name, and it lay thousands of light-years from the planet where I had spent most of my life. This was Talion Proxi. Only twenty-three thousand colonists called it home, because beneath its serene appearance waited a far more perilous environment.

  Somewhere down there, amid verdant forests and azure lakes, was the answer to my latest research project. We needed a material capable of helping us track the Shixxaminti ship still missing in the Empire.

  Three months earlier, we had rescued King Rainus and cornered three invading Shixxaminti ships. Two had been destroyed. One had slipped away.

  And it had fallen to my research team to find a way past the Shixx’s ability to hide.

  That was why we had come to Talion Proxi.

  “The shuttle is ready,” Markus said from behind.

  I hadn’t heard him come in. The feelings and thoughts the planet had stirred within had completely distracted me. I shook off the sorrowful pang I felt every time I thought of the family and friends I had left behind on Earth, and turned to my new Protector. Bonded to me for just over three months. Yet I felt as though I had known him my whole life. In a way, I had. I had spent my first five years in his family’s home before I was taken from the Empire.

  “What about the others?”

  “Everyone is loaded up and ready to go, except for Habernax. He says it’s a waste of his time to go down there, and is requesting permission to keep on his current project.”

  I waved a hand, not at all surprised. Master Specialist Habernax had not been a team player from the moment he showed up on Darat to join my research team. As a xenobiologist, his task was to study and catalogue the Shixxaminti’s biological structure. Habernax’s research assignment was a separate, but important part of our team. If we were going to find effective ways to repel the enemy, we needed to know as much about them as possible.

  “Fine. Maybe it’s for the best. I’m not sure I want my afternoon ruined with his sullen mood,” I said.

  Markus smirked. “I can always tell him it’s an order. That he has to go.”

  I shook my head. “It’s not worth it, Markus. If he prefers spending his time with dead aliens, then let him. I think I’m done trying to persuade him to be more of a team player.”

  It was more than that, though. I suppose I was taking this Vanguard and Legion collaboration quite seriously. The Vanguard and Legion rarely worked side by side. I intended for this to succeed.

  “Let’s go then,” I said, turning away from the window and the blue-green planet that reminded me so much of the home of my previous life.

  Markus nodded and led the way. We traveled through the corridors of the battle cruiser that had become almost as familiar to me as River Palace over the last few months. Between the time on the Quortous spent rescuing Rainus and the trips I’d taken back and forth to Vega Prime and Darat, I felt confident I could find my way on my own. Though I knew that would never happen.

  My friend and Protector took my security very seriously, and when he wasn’t at my side, which was most of the time, then Protector Gayle Tau-mine was glued to me. Many times, Gayle came along anyway, especially if I was outside of River Palace. She was our fail-safe in case of trouble, since Markus’s life was now tied to my own through our double bond.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  I saw her now, waiting for us as we entered the landing bay. She stood just outside the shuttle with an impatient look on her face, though I had come to learn that was one of Gayle’s most common expressions. And when she wasn’t impatient, she went utterly still—a predator’s pause that meant someone was about to have a very bad day.

  “Gayle, you’re looking nice today,” I commented as we reached her. She turned immediately and walked at my side, but just a step behind as was customary for pretty much everyone below my station.

  She gave me a curt nod, her lips curving in what might have been a smile if she had allowed it to fully form. “Thank you,” she said, her tone formal as always.

  The Protector looked nice without her normal uniform on. I had insisted that the trip down to Talion Proxi be as informal as possible and had even told the colonists the same. I had been well-schooled in the proper way of presenting myself to a planet’s people by Dur-ele during our training sessions, but not only had I not yet officially become the Emperor’s Heir and so was not required to follow those protocols, this visit was part of a black operation. No one outside of a select few was supposed to know about our research team being here.

  So that meant no formalities, no uniforms, and in my case, I had to forgo my usual princely clothes. I was secretly pleased about this. I rather liked the soft brown pants and dark green shirt I wore. The coat was far shorter than I was used to. It fell about halfway to my knees, and the best part was I could leave it hanging open and not tightly hooked closed as was “the usual in proper dress,” as Dur-ele liked to say in a slightly scolding tone.

  Markus and Gayle also switched out of their Protectors uniforms. Markus wore his usual monochromatic grays when dressing casually, with a coat open as well. But his excuse was more strategic as it allowed everyone to see the blaster strapped to his upper thigh and hanging off the opposite hip was an executioner’s staff with the distinct dragon’s head at the top of the retracted weapon. It was clear just from that weapon that he was a Protector even without him wearing the iconic black uniform.

  Gayle was dressed in brighter colors. Her pants were khaki with a mauve coat that was decidedly more on the pink side. It was the first time I’d seen the woman in such a feminine color. Though her lethal body language and the hard glint in her eyes seemed slightly out of place with the color, it certainly complemented her skin tone and even her short and spiky blonde hair.

  “You told the local governor that this was an unofficial visit?” I asked Markus as we stepped into the shuttle.

  “He knows and says he’s keeping the delegation small.”

  My eyebrows raised at the word delegation.

  Markus must have sensed my skepticism through the bond, because he just shrugged. “His word, not mine. I guess we will see when we get down there.”

  I stifled a groan. There was no doubt about it; the people of Ethia were curious about me. I was the Emperor’s chosen Heir. I had vanished for twenty years and now everyone wanted to know where I had been. To know more about me. In the handful of times I had gone out in public since my return to the Empire, I had attracted quite the crowd.

  It looked like we were the last ones to arrive. The rest of the team was already seated and securely strapped in. The three of us took our seats as I gave a quick glance at the team I had worked closely with for the last three months.

  Leyva met my eyes with steady confidence. Dorn and Ferran flanked her, already strapped in.

  Across from them sat Quinton, whose mind could probably outfly the shuttle, and Lovet, who carried his accomplishments like armor.

  There were two others in the shuttle, and as soon as I saw them, I sent Markus a reproachful look. “Expecting trouble?” I asked my Protector.

  He didn’t seem the least bit put off by the admonition in my voice. “I’m always expecting trouble. And I’d like to add that if this were an official visit, you’d be surrounded by a dozen guards at the very least. I’d feel better if we had at least two more.”

  I wanted to say that these were colonists and that there was no reason to suspect any trouble at all, and that no one in the Empire except for King Rainus, my father, and Admiral Havoreat even knew we were here. But I chose to stay quiet. I had learned quickly that it was a waste of breath to argue with Markus when it came to my protection. So I settled into my seat and ignored the two Pledges clad in plain clothes.

  I sat back in my seat as I felt the hum of the shuttle beneath me, attempting to ignore everyone for a moment. I was about to step foot on yet another Ethian world, and I wanted to prepare myself for the experience. It was definitely one of the perks of coming back to this galaxy of my birth. I don’t think I’d ever tire of visiting new worlds.

  The large front window of the smaller ship showed our slow progression as it rose from the landing bay and made the trip through the wide-open doors into the black void of space beyond. The planet filled the viewport as the shuttle angled toward the mining colony waiting below.