“Wait . . . what?” Hadrian’s jaw fell slack.

“Jinx Teivel. My grandmother was Mazel Scalera.”

Now it was Nero’s turn to gape. “Amita Mazie?”

He nodded and passed an amused grin at Hadrian. “Your father, Ashter, was my avunculus.”

Nero gaped at the disclosure. “I thought all of you were dead.”

“Apparently, we’re cockroaches. It tends to run in the family.”

Jayne shook her head. “I’m so confused.”

“Yeah. Politics.” Jinx holstered his blaster. “Confuses everybody. Like you and Eve, when you have any Trisani blood, you don’t go around letting anyone know it.”

“Are we related to her, too?”

Jayne’s stomach cramped at Nero’s question. Please tell me I didn’t kiss my cousin.

Jinx visibly cringed. “No. Jayne and Eve are Panteras.”

Nero cocked his head. “So, they are noble.”

“For all the good it never did any of us.” Jinx stepped back. “Except to ruin our lives and make us hunted.”

He had a point.

“But to answer your question, their branch of the Panteras fell out of favor with your royal house a full generation before the collapse of your empire . . . which is how they managed to survive the purge of your species.”

Jayne winced at a truth that still burned. Jinx’s branch had survived when his grandmother had married into the royal house of a different empire.

Sadly, Jinx’s line had ended when his uncle had killed his father and mother, then sold Jinx into slavery to the League. Now, his uncle ruled while Jinx had no hope of ever being free. Once the League owned an assassin, the only way out was death.

Hadrian frowned at Jinx. “So, if you’re not going to really kill me. How do you get Jayne out of this?”

“I’m still going to kill you. Just on paper. Much more permanently than what Syn did earlier.”

“He’s right,” Nero agreed. “If you’re alive, she’s hunted.”

“Exactly.” Jinx started typing on his arm. “So, she’s going to surrender you to a League agent . . . me. You’re going to be executed and then we’re going to hide you where the sun doesn’t shine.”

Hadrian shook his head. “I don’t like where the sun doesn’t shine.”

“Too bad. You’re too big, pardon the pun, a risk for us. Nero blends, but you . . .”

“I keep telling him that,” Nero said.

It was true. Nero could pass for any human race. But Hadrian held features that clearly marked him as Trisani if anyone were paying attention.

Jayne felt Hadrian’s pain, especially after what he’d told her about wanting his freedom. “Can’t you hide him with mix-bloods?” She swept her gaze over him. “He’s tall enough to pass for Andarion or Hyshian.” Those would also explain away his unusual eye color.

Jinx scoffed. “They’d treat him like shit. Andarions are extremely hostile to anything or anyone who isn’t one-hundred-percent pure blooded Andarion. You know this. Hyshians are hostile to males of any species. They wouldn’t even allow him to speak in public. If you hate him that much, I might as well shoot him in the head. It’d be kinder.”