Kaijan didn’t need to look back. Klam made enough noise to be heard three time zones away. He’d have to work on that.

Kaijan was busy berating himself for accepting this chore. The Empire was under siege and the Heir had to be moved to safety. Well, he thought, duty is duty. No-one said I had to like the job.

What really had him doubting was a little known piece of information. When he’d been briefed on this mission, by the Emperor himself, he’d become the fifth person to know a secret. Kaijan was the Emperor’s bastard, sired on his mother, a Palace chambermaid. This loathsome child was his half brother.

All of this had him thinking, as well, about bloodlines. Why should Klam be heir to an empire while Kaijan might aspire only to NCO rank in the “Heir’s Own” regiment.

He forced himself to focus on his current situation. He had taken the Emperors Coin, and he’d soldier on. His job was to get one foppish, sniveling, whiny brat of an Emperor’s whelp to safety…not to question the kid’s worth.