Page 165 of Stars in Umbra
His navy silk shirt was untouched, his charcoal suit jacket draped over the back of the seat.
However, his eyes, those cold, aquamarine orbs, betrayed him with a flicker of fear lacing the smirk, underscored by the ticking in his jaw.
Rina stalked forward, touching a button on her HUD so it glimmered away from her face.
She rolled to a stop, studying him in the dim light, every polished edge of his groomed appearance, each smug crease of his grin.
Recognition and disgust flared hot in her gut.
‘Lucian Makori?’ she asked, her voice flat.
He gave a finger-gun salute. ‘The one and only.’
The bile rose in her throat.
She recognized him and the legacy his bloodline carved across worlds.
His father, Massimo Makori, was the architect of Dunia’s brutal takeover coup a few years ago.
He had shot Selene Sable’s father dead with malice.
The war for Dunia’s liberation had been vicious, with tens of thousands of lives ravaged by the Makori family.
It was this legacy of greed, arrogance, and death that Lucian Makori, the scion of the disgraced traitor Massimo, was born into.
For years, his face dominated holo magazines and news, the quintessential playboy, living a hard and fast life, burning through his family’s immense wealth. With a reckless abandon that was both legendary and expected.
After his father’s ignominious end, Lucian vanished from the public eye.
Most pundits, including Rina, believed he had gone into hiding, shamed into exile by his kin’s betrayal.
It appeared they’d all been fokkin’ wrong.
Rina’s voice dropped to ice. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
Lucian’s grin widened. ‘Oh, Caidan and I? We’re tight. Family-vacation-close.’
She took a step closer, her body electric with fury. ‘This is no freakin’ sojourn. So speak. Why target Mo? Why attack the Riders? What thefokkare you two trying to do?’
Lucian stood, slow and deliberate.
He adjusted his cuffs like he was bored with the question. ‘Revenge, of course. My father died in disgrace. You Riders saw to that. And Caidan? Well, his daddy, Lord Callum Thrall, was Klatsch royalty. After the Sable Riders gutted the Klatsch leadership, Callum was never the same. If you believe the gossip, he put a gun to his mouth. Blew out his honor with his brains.’
Lucian shrugged. ‘Caidan took it to heart. Swore he’d restore the family name. Reclaim the glory. And I? I just wanted to finish what my father started.’
‘Revenge, huh? So your disappearance was no shame-fueled retreat. Instead, you’ve been busy in the shadows, plotting a return.’
He grinned. ‘Well said. My self-imposed exile was a season of self-reflection as I planned my vengeance.’
Mirage spoke then, her voice quiet but iron-edged through speakers in their HQ that she’d hijacked. ‘I’ve found data in Thrall’s network that tells me more about why they experimented on Mo. Caidan studied him and spotted the divine pattern buried in his genome. He wasn’t just a meta. He was a celestial mutation. So Caidan built a neural node and inserted it surgically into Mo’s brain. Then he waited. When his plans aligned with Mo moving closer to the Riders, he activated him. Mo became the perfect weapon. He tested him with other paid assassinations and assignments, until it was time to go after the Riders.’
Mo’s body was still, but power rolled off him in waves.
His fists clenched and unclenched.
His voice was cold. ‘You turned me into your blade, and that’s all I was to you.’
Lucian cocked his head. ‘You are poetry in brutal motion, Molan. A god in armor. Fearless. Precise. The flawless killer. Caidan was thrilled to have you do his dirty work because you brought pure deific grace and beauty to it.’
