The little pixie's name destroyed the spa reception area's quiet with bomb-like efficiency, blasting Zaen from his complacent and somewhat prurient curiosity. Pulse hammering, it took him a moment to close his mouth. By the time he'd gathered himself, Doctor Cadwell—Caeryssa Cadwell—had disappeared.

"Did she say 'Caeryssa'?" Emmed murmured, joining Zaen in gawking at the empty hallway.

"Yeah. But her last name is Cadwell, not Hawke," Zaen reminded Emmed. She probably wasn't the daughter of that fucking assassin, right? No way could they be that lucky. Yet, Caeryssa wasn't a common name. At least, he'd never come across another and he'd met many women in his thirty-five cycles. His gut clenched. And those stormy grey eyes—the same eyes he'd seen in recordings of that stone-cold killer.

"Could be a married name."

"Maybe." But no rings graced Caeryssa's fingers, and she wore synthate gloves. She wasn't mated. Even as he tried to stay objective, he knew... knew the truth of who she was.

"We should check. Ping her data."

"Yeah."

Yet both men continued to stare down the white and silver patterned hallway with its navy wooden flooring.

Dhevun grunted from his position against the wall, keeping an eye on the exits. "Is she a threat? Do you want me to run her name through our security databases?"

Zaen shook his head. Serving vengeance on the spent-carbon assassin who'd killed his mother and sister was his vow to deal with, not his bodyguard's. Although the idea that a woman half his size could be a threat had him arching an eyebrow at Dhevun. It wasn't like she was the assassin.

Dhevun shrugged. "Just because she's small doesn't mean she can't be deadly."

Emmed had his wrist comp open to a slick company promotional page, and Zaen flicked a finger to increase the size of the projected holographic display.

"She didn't lie about being a xenobotanist, although she sure didn't mention she's the lead scientist at Aura Industries Medical and Agricultural Exploratory Division. I'm surprised she doesn't have security surrounding her. She's worth a fortune to them."

Zaen agreed as he perused the discoveries she'd made. It didn't make sense. Why was she travelling alone? AIMAED was based on Ankion, a four-day hyperboost from here. If she truly was Karzen's daughter, as Zaen's instincts insisted, surely her father would have hired a bodyguard for her, even if this was their home planet. Or did he treat his family as coldly as he treated his targets? Would he care if his daughter was at risk? Maybe she wouldn't be valuable as a hostage. Still, she'd know her father's location, at least. Could he be close by?

Emmed scrolled through her company biography. "Her planet of origin is Alcyone, another possibility on our list for that shitstain's home base."

"So if she's his daughter, Karzen probably isn't here with her." On his wrist comp, Zaen accessed his file on the assassin who'd murdered his mother and sister a decade ago. Despite constantly searching, Zaen had yet to find the man he'd sworn to kill. Karzen Hawke was a ghost, with long cycles passing before the master assassin was credited with another completed assignment. It left few clues to track him, and Zaen's attempts to hire and entrap him had failed.

But the prince was patient.

From a disgruntled former guild member, Zaen had discovered Karzen had a soulmate, Aya, and a daughter, Caeryssa, but his informant had ended up disembowelled, with his tongue, eyes, and ears removed, stuffed in the space station's recyclers before the prince could get more from him. The assassin's guild didn't suffer traitors, unfortunately.

Even with his father, King Xavix, enthusiastically backing their search to find the Queen's killer and questioning the rival lords who'd insisted they hadn't hired the assassin—yeah, no one believed that, not even the media—the trail had gone cold. The assassin had to pay, and Zaen needed to interrogate him to uncover who hired him so they could die, too.

It wasn't until Zaen and Emmed painstakingly tracked the travel around Karzen's few kills in the intervening cycles that they narrowed their prey to three space stations and twenty star systems, including Alcyone and Oenone. Still too many to find the murderous fucker amongst billions of people, but every crumb helped.

And Caeryssa was way more than a crumb.

"Oh, great stars," Emmed exclaimed, then lowered his voice to a staccato whisper. "We've got him! Caeryssa's mother is Aya Cadwell. No father listed, but he wouldn't want his name on her birth record, would he?"

Adrenaline surged, firing Zaen's veins and enhancing every hunting sense. "No, no he wouldn't." He blinked his ocular reader closed and focused on Emmed's display. Despite the pressure building in his chest—the rage he'd contained for ten long star cycles—a thread of amusement had him smiling. "Did you hack into Alcyone's secure planetary records?"

"Uh... maybe?" Emmed replied, flashing a sharp-edged grin.

Zaen shook his head, knowing better than to say anything more about his friend's hacking tendencies, and focused on the data projected above Emmed's wrist. Caeryssa was in her twenty-ninth cycle, born on the same stardate as his little sister. His fist clenched. Now, there was some fucking irony. 

But Sirah had died, engulfed in a fiery inferno when Karzen bombed the Queen's shuttle on planetary re-entry. In one explosion, Zaen lost his mother and sister, and Emmed lost his fiancée.

"Sarru Zaen? Zanin Emmed? Your treatment rooms are ready," interrupted the receptionist, shattering the remembered horror of that day.

Emmed's eyes met Zaen's in unspoken demand as he followed a waiting male spa technician. The prince knew what his friend wanted—confirmation they'd pursue their vengeance for the loss of Sirah and Haellen. Just before he entered his treatment room, he caught Emmed's gaze and nodded.

Yes, innocent of her father's crimes or not, Caeryssa wouldn't get a choice on whether she helped them. As Zaen disrobed and lay on the massage bed, he considered how to proceed. Too risky to hold her here. They'd have to take her to Penates, to his father's palace, where she couldn't escape until she helped them catch Karzen or he came to rescue her, allowing them to trap him on their home turf.

Rapidly considering and discarding ideas, the technician cleared his throat twice before Zaen noticed his massage was finished. Not that he was relaxed. No, anticipation surged. At last, after so many cycles, they had a way to capture Karzen. And then those back-stabbing snakes that smiled at him in his father's court would finally face consequences.

Nodding his thanks, he redressed and opened the treatment room door with such vigour that the wooden edge slammed into the wall. He stepped out and stopped short as a bundle of female energy plowed into him.

Far too slight to move him, he recovered from his surprise and caught her mid-fall, setting her on her feet. Familiar grey eyes stared up at him from a face that was—

He blinked, then blurted, "Why are you glowing blue?"

Tears welled, a storm building. Her hand flew to her mouth as Caeryssa Cadwell shoved past him. The sound of misery followed while he stared, gaping at her rapid departure.

"Was she blue?" Emmed asked, also gawking.

"Yeah," Zaen confirmed, the vision of silky sapphire skin contrasting against her silver dress and white-blond hair had him wondering if all of her was now that lovely, unusual shade. Stars, but he wanted to find out.

Blasted shards. No, that was not the objective. Karzen—they were after Karzen.

"That was Caeryssa, right? We need to go after her," Emmed said, starting down the hall.

Zaen put a hand on his shoulder, halting him. "Yes, but we need a plan."

(1262 words)