ACROSS STARS AND BLOOD (The Malaki Series Book 1)

by L. A. MARIE

  But my dad had come from across the sea. He had given up a life to be with us. We could do the same thing; we could start all over again. We could be as happy as he had been.

  “You said ‘we’ when you said that we are going to start a new life,” I pointed out.

  Thane glanced at me and nodded. “I did.”

  “Together?”

  Thane nodded again. “I don’t know if you noticed, but we are stuck with each other, now.”

  “Yeah, I noticed,” I said. “The connection… It’s real?”

  “You know the answer to that, too, don’t you?” he asked.

  I nodded again. Because even though I was asking all these questions, I did know the answers. I knew that we were connected, I knew it meant that we knew what each other felt and were aware where the other was when we were separated.

  It was why Thane had come back for me. And it was why I didn’t have the capacity to hate him, no matter how much he had hurt me.

  When I looked at Naira, she was watching both of us with an expression I didn’t quite understand. I took her hand and led her to the back of the ship, settling her into one of the bunks. She looked exhausted, despite being much better, and I wanted her to rest.

  “How could you settle for one of them?” she asked.

  “It wasn’t a choice, Naira.”

  “It’s always a choice.”

  I shook my head. “Remember when dad used to tell us that he only came to America as a tourist, but the moment he met Mom, that was it? He couldn’t help it, he had to see her again. And in the end, he couldn’t leave?”

  Naira nodded.

  “Well, it’s almost the same thing. I can’t help it.”

  “But he’s an alien, Emori. I know they’re helping and everything, but an alien…”

  I pulled up my shoulders. “I don’t know how to explain it. But the part about them helping us is wrong.”

  My sister frowned. “What do you mean?”

  I told her what had happened. I explained to her what I had heard when I had been kept in the cell, and how they had treated me. I explained to her that Enach, our generous leader, wasn’t such a nice guy after all. Nothing was as it seemed.

  “I don’t understand,” Naira said, shaking her head.

  “Soon, you will. For now, we are safe. I want you to rest, get better. And as soon as we land, we are going to start a new life together. You and me.”

  “And the alien.”

  “Thane.”

  “He scares me,” Naira admitted.

  I nodded. “He’s not quite like the others. But you’ll see that there is a lot more to him than it seems.”

  Naira looked reluctant to believe me, but I knew that she would come around. She thought the same way I did, and I had started to understand Thane in a way I never would have imagined when I had first met him.

  Naira closed her eyes and I was glad that she was going to rest. I still couldn’t believe that we had managed to save her. In a way, I had already said goodbye, made peace with the fact that I had lost my sister. To have her back now was a miracle. I couldn’t believe that we had done it, that somehow, I had succeeded in keeping what was left of my family together.

  After I was sure my sister was asleep, I walked back to the cockpit. I sat down next to Thane.

  “How is she?” he asked.

  “Better,” I said. “Its still a long road, but she’s okay.”

  Thane nodded. “I’m glad.”

  “Thank you,” I said to Thane. “For everything.”

  He looked at me, surprised that I was thanking him. But then his face split into a grin and he nodded.

  “It’s my pleasure.”

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Thane

  There were four Houses. My father was the Elder of the House Dacoi. He ruled the Americas. House Meren had taken over Europe, House Orsog ruled in the East, and the African countries were overseen by the House Lim. We headed to the House Meren. I knew Bimoll, the House Elder. I had met him when I was a child, just before we had invaded. The Elders had gotten together for a meeting before they were all tied to their own individual landmasses. Since then, they had only communicated via their equipment. None of them had been allowed to leave and see each other in person.

  Which meant that I was sure Bimoll wouldn’t know of my transgressions back home, and he would allow us onto his land.

  We would have safe refuge, there.

  Unlike the jump spots that were scattered all over the country to make travel easier, there were no jumps that took us from one landmass to another. We had to travel across the ocean, taking the time to fly there.

  But it was good that Emori’s sister had time to recover. And we had a bit of time to calm down and think about our next step. Coming to House Meren had been our best bet. I didn’t know the other Houses or their Elders, and I didn’t know how they would receive us.

  “I’ve never been to Europe before,” Emori said. We flew through the darkness, the two of us bathed in nothing but the moonlight.

  “Me either,” I said.

  Emori giggled. “You’ve been all over the galaxy, don’t make it sound like you haven’t traveled.”

  “Technically, so have you.”

  She giggled again and I liked the sound of her voice when she laughed. I wanted to hear her laugh all the time. I wanted her to be safe, to be happy, to never experience anything that took her laughter away.

  “This is a big deal for you, isn’t it?” Emori asked. “Being back on Earth?”

  I pulled up my shoulders. “It’s a sort of home, I guess.”

  “But not the home you wanted to make for yourself.”

  “Plans change,” I said.

  I had wanted to stay on Nolmilea and make a life for myself there. I had wanted to get away from my father and everything that he was planning, everything he had created for himself and the others here on Earth. Because there was still a global plan to enslave the humans and take them back to our home planet, creating a second colony here on Earth for the Malakus. The other Houses were involved, too. That was still a problem we would have to face.

  But, for now, we would be safe. Emori and Naira, too. My father had fast tracked the plans. I was pretty sure that the other Houses didn’t agree, and I was banking on that so that we could have refuge.

  Finally, after sitting in silence for quite some time, Emori announced that she was going to sleep. I was glad that she was going to rest, too. Before she left, she came to me and planted a kiss on my lips.

  “What was that for?” I asked.

  “For being you,” she said and disappeared.

  I thought about that for a long time after. For being me? No one had ever been happy with who I was. No one had ever been grateful for my existence. But I felt it through our bond – Emori really cared about me and who I was.

  It was a new sensation, one that I had never experienced before. At least, not since my mother passed away.

  It was another way to confirm that the bond between us was real, that our connection had been correct.

  Not that there was anything I could have done about that if it was wrong. Not that there was any way it could be wrong in the first place.

  But still.

  When dawn arrived and the sun rose above the horizon, we finally made it to the House of Meren. The land was splashed in gold as the only sun in this universe chased away the inky darkness of night. I braced myself for what was to come. They would know we were here, soon.

  I could feel it. I knew what the Malakus were like. They were suspicious and they were vigilant.

  We had barely flown over solid ground again when military crafts greeted us. Just as I had suspected. But instead of turning my blaster canons toward them like I had done at home, and in space, I powered them down so that the soldiers could see I came in peace. I wasn’t going to engage in fighting with them. I didn’t want any trouble.

  When they asked me to lower the craft to the ground, I did. />
  “Thane?” Emori said, appearing next to me. The rumbling sound from the ships around us must have awoken her. Naira was there, too. She looked better every moment. I was glad about that.

  “They’re here to escort us,” I said.

  “They look angry.”

  “They don’t know if we’re friendly or not. Just follow my lead.”

  Emori swallowed hard and nodded. Naira looked scared.

  I opened the craft’s door and stepped out first, with Emori and Naira following. The three of us disembarked, hands raised, showing that we weren’t here to fight.

  After noticing that we had no weapons, the soldiers that surrounded us put up their own guns, although they were still within reach. The soldiers parted and the House Elder stepped forward.

  “Thane,” Bimoll said, recognizing me. “What a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t expecting you.” The Malaki was almost a head taller than me, and thickset, with broad shoulders and a mean-looking face. But he wore a suit, his hair was short and combed to the side, and he his eyes were kind. I liked seeing kindness in a leader. It was a quality my father lacked, although he could put on a hell of an act.

  “I wasn’t expecting to come, either” I admitted. “I was hoping that my friends and I can find refuge in your House.”

  “Refuge?” Bimoll asked. “What are you fleeing from?”

  I glanced at the girls and stepped aside, speaking to Bimoll in private.

  “Enach is fast-tracking the slave trade. He’s already prepared the first load and I think they might have left for Nolmilea already.”

  “Really?” Bimoll seemed worried about the information. “I will have to investigate to see if it’s true, but until then, you know you are welcome in my House.”

  “Thank you,” I said, relieved. I was glad that they were welcoming us in. There had been a chance that they would reject us, and then, quite plainly, we would have been fucked.

  Bimoll turned to Emori and Naira, looking them over before he looked at his guards.

  “At ease,” he said. “They are our friends, honored guests of the House of Meren. They will do us no harm, and we will return the favor.”

  The guards put away their weapons and only then did Emori and Naira look like they could breathe easier. This had to be hard on them both – I had had grown up with soldiers all around me, and I had been trained in the military. Guns didn’t scare me. But from what I felt from Emori, her family, her entire tribe, were all very peaceful. The kind of violence I was accustomed to wasn’t something they knew at all.

  “You will be escorted by my men to a place to stay, until we can straighten this out” Bimoll said to all of us.

  “Thank you, Bimoll,” I said. “Your kindness means a lot to us.”

  Bimoll nodded and gestured to three soldiers to come forward. He gave them short, barking orders and they saluted before rushing to us.

  They led us to a ship that was a lot bigger and a lot more luxurious than any of the ships I had been in.

  “Where are we going?” Emori asked. She seemed nervous.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be safe,” I said.

  For the first time, I knew for a fact it was true. Until now, I had told Emori those exact words, but there had always been a chance that we would still be captured, that we would still be in danger. It had been for a peace of mind, but I hadn’t been convinced.

  This time, I was.

  We were taken to a house just as luxurious as the ship we had been on. It had so many rooms, I didn’t know what we were going to do with all of them. A large pool in the backyard, a tennis court, you name it. The house even had an indoor cinema.

  “This is like a palace,” Naira said, looking excited. It was exhausting for her to be so worked up, but she was just as excited as her sister was about where we were going to stay.

  Finally, we were going to be safe.

  The next couple of days were wonderful. We made ourselves at home in the luxurious house and blew off some steam. Naira and Emori both slept a lot. Most of the time, I didn’t know what to do with myself. So long, I had tried to escape, or tried to win over approval, that now that neither were necessary, I didn’t know what to do.

  Bimoll had arranged for me to work as one of the soldiers on his private property. I was going to start doing that, soon. I wanted to get started as soon as possible. I liked that I had a goal, something to keep busy with. He seemed okay with having me around all the time, and that only set me more at ease about whatever he might have learned from my father. It looked like my father hadn’t told him anything at all about what I had done. It was good to feel for a change like I could relax, breathe, enjoy myself.

  I had almost forgotten what that was like.

  On my first day at the Elder House, I was on duty patrolling the corridors of the big house, working in close quarters with Bimoll himself. It felt good to be treated like I mattered.

  Back home, my father had always made me feel like I was a waste of space. Here, I felt like I was being catered to. Like it was some kind of honor to have us around.

  I was excited to patrol and felt good in the new soldier’s uniform they had given me. I was ready to do my job and do it well.

  The first couple of hours were fun. I explored the house, admired the paintings, saw how different everything was from how I had been back home. After that, I started getting bored. Patrolling the corridors had seemed like an honor, but with nothing happening, I was getting bored as fuck.

  I wasn’t allowed to socialize with the other soldiers, either. And that was frustrating. If I wanted to build a new life, that would include meeting people.

  I had been more than happy being alone before, but everything had changed now that we were here, and we were all starting a new life. When I saw how close Emori and Naira were, it made me want a friend, someone I could be close to, someone I could talk to.

  I hadn’t had that in the longest time.

  But if I wasn’t going to be allowed to speak to anyone, it seemed like I was destined to be alone for at least a while longer.

  At least I still had Emori and Naira when I got home after patrols.

  I walked past the office where Bimoll kept himself busy most of the day. I wanted to knock and check in to see if he was okay – what were soldiers for, if not to check up on their wards? The door wasn’t completely closed, and before I could rap my knuckles against the door, I heard a familiar voice that made my blood run cold.

  It was my father’s voice. Enach.

  It took a moment to realize that I was listening to a video call. My father wasn’t really here. I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding. Instead of knocking, I stepped to the side so that it looked like I was guarding the office and listened to the conversation.

  Yeah, so I was eavesdropping. I could still be an ass, old habits died hard and I wanted to know what Enach was saying to Bimoll.

  The way that Bimoll talked to Enach bothered me. He was talking to Enach as if they were old friends. Brothers, even. The other houses had to communicate with each other often, but the conversation between the two of them was very different than what I had expected it to be.

  “So, Bimoll, now that things have settled, are you going to tell me what’s going on?” Enach asked. “You’ve kept me in the dark for too long. I’ve talked to the other Houses and they’re not there. Which only leads me to believe that you’re hiding them.”

  “They are here,” Bimoll said. “I had to make sure they didn’t suspect anything. What do you want me to do with them?”

  Before my father answered, a soldier walked past and I nodded at him.

  “All good here?” he asked.

  “ All good,” I answered. I was frustrated – the timing had been terrible.

  I couldn’t hear my father’s response.

  “And the slavery? He thinks that it’s ahead of schedule, but I think we are already overdue.” Bimoll was talking again. “He thought he might find refuge here. I didn’t let him
realize what we’re doing.”

  “Very good,” my fathet said. “The less he knows, the better. Thane is nothing but trouble and he’ll do everything he can to wreck the whole thing if he knows about it at all.”

  With a shock I realized that they were all in on it. They were all working together, weren’t they? Bimoll was talking to my father, they were communicating about who we were and what was happening. Bimoll probably knew everything about who I was and what crimes I had on my name, if he was talking to my father like this.

  I had brought us here for a reason. But it was slowly becoming clear my plan was blowing up in my face. Coming here hadn’t been a good idea – it hadn’t kept us safe as I had thought. We weren’t safe at all.

  I ran away from the office before listening to the rest of the conversation. I was ditching my post. I passed soldiers who looked alarmed and shouted things after me, but I just kept going. It wasn’t going to matter what would happen to my position here if they realized I ditched my position on the first day. I didn’t care. I needed to get back to the house, to collect the girls. We needed to get away as soon as possible.

  The flight back to the house felt like it was taking forever. There were no jump spots between here and the mansion Bimoll had put us up in. It was too close for that. But dammit, I wished now that there had been one so that I could get back sooner.

  Finally, I arrived. I landed the ship in the front yard and jumped out, leaving the engines running. They had offered us a ship and I was glad about that, now. If we had had nothing but a car, like the humans used all the time, we might not get away at all.

  “Emori!” I shouted as soon as I arrived at the house. I was screaming through the corridors as I ran, looking for the girls. “We have to leave! We have to leave right now!”

  A rumbling overhead told me it was too late.

  “We have to leave!” I shouted again.

  Emori and Naira came out of the same room, looking confused.

  “What’s going on?” Emori asked. Before I could answer, her eyes widened. She felt what I felt. Maybe she’d even picked up on flashes of the conversation, parts that would help her understand.