by Nia Mars
He collapses on me, and somehow even that gives me pleasure.
Koah’s a fierce warrior, completely undone in my arms. He only allows me to see a moment of weakness, however, and then he rolls onto his back and takes me with him. The movement causes his cock to slide out.
When I make a displeased sound, his chest vibrates with laughter underneath me. “Let’s clean you up, my Ava.”
He carries me into the pool and washes away the mixture of my blood and his seed from my thighs. His gaze is fused to the V of my legs. He’s intensely focused on his work, as if he wants to memorize the image.
He’s hard again, but when he’s done cleaning us up, we dress. Then he catches me and kisses me, a slow, possessive, fierce kiss that melts my heart and chases the last of the lingering pain away.
“Thank you, my Ava.” His smile is at once content and adoring.
He picks me up and carries me back into the building. I can walk; I don’t need to be carried around, but I don’t tell him to put me down. Instead, I press myself as tightly against him as I can, because my worries about the hearing crash back.
“What if they don’t confirm me?” I ask as we enter my quarters, and he closes the door behind us. I can’t bear the thought of life on a mining planet without him, without the others.
He kisses me breathless as he finally sets me down. “Nobody is going to take you away from me, my Ava. I swear.”
Chapter Ten
I SPEND THE HOURS before my hearing with:
Rewatching Lily’s video.
Obsessing over the hearing.
Thinking about making love in the garden with Koah.
Kissing Koah.
Preparing for the hearing.
The rest of The Five are still out. Tiam has a computer lab on his orbiting flagship that’s better than anything in Merim, so he’s up there, trying to figure out who hacked into the display in my quarters. He checks in with me via my comm unit almost every hour.
Uthan is investigating the poison used in Taly’s death. He’s in some chem-lab on the other side of the city. He pops onto the display long enough to tell us that we’re dealing with an unknown natural substance.
“The paralyzing agent used on the unmanned pirate ship that captured us was also an unknown natural substance,” I tell him.
He nods. “The pirates have access to outlying planets the Federation hasn’t reached and catalogued yet.”
“So the pirates killed Taly?”
“At the very least, they likely supplied the poison.”
Shortly after Uthan goes back to his lab analysis, Roax checks in through the display screen.
“Have you considered the timing?”
“The timing of what?” Koah snaps at him.
“The confirmation committee arrived at Merim four days ago. The same day, the Oath Forger’s display is hacked for the first time, telling her to leave.”
“I doubt anyone on the committee hacked her.”
“They hired someone.”
“Couldn’t they do that remotely?” I ask him. “They don’t have to be here for that, right?”
Roax shakes his head. “Any electronic communication can be tracked. This is a move against the Oath Forger, the most revered position and most sacred office in the Federation. Whoever is moving against you would not want to leave a trail we could follow. The order to hack your system would have been given in person, so as to leave no trace.”
“The timing can also be a coincidence,” I tell him.
Koah puts a hand on my arm.
“What is it?” Roax demands.
“At the informal introduction, Senator Seke offered to return Ava to her sister on Earth, right?”
Roax stills on the screen. His gaze burns into mine. “She did.”
“And I refused to leave you,” I remind him before his head could blow up.
That does mollify him. After a couple of seconds, he tones down the death glare. “You refused to leave. And within hours, your assistant is poisoned.”
My insides grow cold. I wrap my arm around myself.
“So, a warning with that first hacking of her display, to tell her to leave,” Koah says. “Then an offer to return her home. Then an escalated warning through Taly’s death to show Ava how far they’re willing to go if she doesn’t leave.” He stops. “But then, why blow up her bedroom immediately after? Why didn’t they leave her time to heed the warning provided by Taly’s death?”
Roax shakes his head, scowling, looking ready for murder. Which is not that rare a look on him, actually.
I clear my throat. “Maybe they messed up with the bomb. It could have been faulty. Maybe it wasn’t even meant for me. The five of you are in my room all the time.” My heart races at the possibility. “Someone could have set the bomb for you, but it detonated prematurely.”
Roax growls. “We still don’t know how that explosion worked. None of the Federation experts have ever seen anything like it.”
“Pirate technology?” Koah suggests.
“I’ll look into that. I’ll meet you at the Onyx Tower.” And then Roax disappears from the screen as abruptly as he’d appeared.
Dason is interviewing palace staff and palace guards. He, too, checks in via his comm unit, but has little to report.
In the end, Koah and I are the only ones heading over to the Onyx Tower together. The rest of The Five are meeting us there.
This time, I’m wearing a formal ceremonial dress in the colors of my kreks, and over that, the crimson-gold, floor-length robe of the Oath Forger.
Koah tries to get me to sit on his lap in the pod on the way over, but I’m too nervous to snuggle. I sit across from him, but I do let him take my hands.
“Even if one or more people on the committee are behind what has been going on, you’ll be safe at the hearing,” he tells me. “They won’t openly attack you. Not physically, at least. At most, they’ll try to undermine you with their questions. They can’t do more than that. And from the way they question you, we’ll be able to see who is resisting your confirmation the most. That will give us a clue where to look further.”
He is so calm, so in control, so what I need.
I love you, I think without meaning to, the words simply bursting from my heart and taking flight in my mind.
He moves forward with a fierce look on his face and drops to one knee between my legs to put his arms around me. “I’m going to protect you, my Ava.”
He kisses me and keeps kissing me until the pod stops. He pulls away with reluctance. “We are here.”
Okay. Game face on. Time to channel my tough, inner Earth scavenger.
Through the one-way window of the pod, I can see the back of the building. Tiam, Uthan, Dason, and Roax are waiting for us by the back entrance. A tall wall surrounds the landing area to keep it private and secure.
The pod door opens, and Koah steps out first, reaching back to help me step to the ground. When I’m standing next to him, he moves to release my fingers, but I tighten mine and keep his hand.
His gaze cuts to me for an endless moment. He smiles, then brushes a kiss over my temple. “Let’s do it like this then.”
As we walk forward, the others are watching us, a mixture of emotions on each face: shock, jealousy, calculation, and more, in addition to a million unspoken questions we have no time to ask and answer.
The four kreks fall in step behind us in silence as we go in and head straight across the lobby to the meeting room in the back. I try to relax, but I can’t. I feel like I’m about to walk into a sandstorm.
Koah pauses with me at the door. Roax goes in first, then Tiam. Koah and I enter next—he’s still holding my hand—and then Uthan and Dason.
I draw a deep breath, filling my lungs. Here we go.
The committee is seated on a raised platform at one end of the room. There’s a chair in the middle, presumably for me. The Five have their own chairs against the far wall.
I don’t like that we’ll be separate
d, but I don’t want to start the hearing with protesting. So I let go of Koah’s hand and walk to my chair with my head held high.
“Greetings to the committee.”
“Greetings, Ava Smith of Earth,” says Senator Wortly, the leader of the committee. His beard is just as bushy as the last time I saw him, his expression impassive.
I sit, and there are no further pleasantries. I’m informed that the hearing will be recorded. The Five are informed that they are not allowed to comment or interfere in any way. Then the questions begin.
“When was the first time you became aware of your calling as an Oath Forger?” Senator Seke goes straight for the jugular.
If I’d hoped they would start with something easy, that hope is now crushed.
I consider making up the answer, but then my gaze meets Senator Wortly’s, and something in his eyes reminds me of Uthan, the way Uthan often seems to be able to look straight to my soul.
An uncomfortable possibility hits me.
Is Senator Wortly a mystic? Can he sense a lie? That would be a useful talent for the leader of this committee.
I tell them the truth. “I’m not sure.”
Triumph flares in Senator Seke’s eyes. Her earlobes swing back and forth with satisfaction.
“I’m not sure what being Oath Forger should feel like,” I tell them. “I’ve never been one before. Have you?” I ask her. “Can you describe the feeling?”
She shoots me a look of loathing—none of the fake friendship of the informal meeting now. As we all wait, she sits unmoving, just staring at me with disapproval like a gargoyle.
“Is it true that Krek Koah found you entirely by accident?” she shoots back finally.
“No.” I refuse to cower. I keep my voice strong and clear. “Krek Koah has the power of precognition. His precognition drew him to the particular hearing where I was appearing as a witness against piracy.”
The fury in Seke’s eyes gains even more heat. “And how long did it take for Krek Koah to recognize you?”
“No time at all. He recognized me instantly.” I catch the flash of pain in Senator Delza’s eyes. “So did the other kreks.”
I know from Tiam that supporting documentation testifying to this will be submitted immediately after the hearing.
Senator Wortly asks the next question. “How many of The Five have you accepted so far?”
“One. Krek Koah.”
Wortly’s gaze drills into mine.
I suddenly feel Koah’s presence in the back of the room, feel the invisible link tying us together as the air fills with a heavy, sticky tension.
From the way Wortly’s eyes flare, I can tell he can sense the link, too. His lips press tightly together.
“That’s one,” he says, as if not at all impressed. “One of five.”
Yes, I can count, thank you very much.
“There is no time-table for the Oath Forger,” Senator Delza speaks up unexpectedly.
I shoot a surprised look at her. Is she on my side?
“You have not introduced yourself to the public,” Senator Rane speaks next. “Nor have you made any public appearances in your official capacity.”
I fill my lungs. “I was scheduled for three.” Thank you, Olipha. “I wasn’t able to attend them, because there was an attempt on my life. I was incapacitated until this morning.”
“You appear fine now.”
“Krek Dason healed me.”
The senators look past me, presumably at Dason. Some look annoyed, others seem neutral, none of them appear particularly happy.
Senator Seke’s fingers are clasped tightly together in front of her on the table. Her knuckles are white. Red tinges her cheeks. Frustration is clearly ripping her up inside.
Senator Wortly, my other main adversary, remains calm.
He worries me more than she does, and with good reason; I find out the next second.
He draws a slow, long breath, giving me the most chilling smile ever, and I know he is about to play his trump card, about to lower the ax.
“None of that really matters,” he says. “You have no exceptional powers. You cannot be the Oath Forger. Your name might be similar to Smys’, but you don’t have any special shard of Smys in you. Therefore, you are an impostor.”
His words are hard and cold, a sentence for exile.
I don’t know how to argue against his accusation. I have nothing. Panic and dread fill me. I want to run, but I know there’s no escape.
Except, without ever moving, I’m on Uthan’s island. Uthan is there with me, the two of us standing in the surf. The bottom of my dress is getting wet. I stare at the sudden change of scenery for a full second before I turn to Uthan.
“What’s happening? I have no time for a break. I need to be at the hearing.”
“I’m sorry, Ava,” he says.
Not my Ava, not Oath Forger.
My heart drops hard and bruises. My chest is so tight, I have to fight for air so I can ask, “They win?”
Uthan holds my gaze and says nothing. He can’t bring himself to say the words.
No! I’m not going to lose him! I’m not going to lose Koah. Or the others.
I’m theirs, and they’re mine.
Heavy pressure fills my chest. There’s a terrible crackling sound in my ears. It grows and grows until I’m nearly deaf. Then the island begins to shake—an earthquake. In my fury, I don’t care. Let it shake. Let it fall apart. Let me be torn apart here, instead of having my heart torn out back at the hearing.
I give myself to the cold and the dark.
I hear panicked voices around me.
“Stop it!”
“Somebody stop her!”
Uthan throws his arms around me. “Shh. You’re safe. We’re safe. Shh, my Ava. Come back to me, Oath Forger.”
As fast as I’d left it, I’m back at the hearing once again, and Uthan is right next to me, his arms folded tightly around me. Koah, Tiam, Dason, and Roax are surrounding us, facing out, all covered in dust. My head is spinning.
Confused, I glance toward the raised platform where the committee, just as dusty, stares at me. Some are standing, their chairs overturned. Senator Delza is at the edge of the platform, poised to flee. Senator Wortly is examining the ceiling, frowning so hard that his bushy eyebrows meet in the middle.
I follow his gaze and blink at the dozen cracks. What the hell?
“Has there been an earthquake?” I beg Uthan for the answer, images of his shaking island circling in my brain.
“Explain yourselves!” Senator Wortly shouts, his beard shaking with rage.
I have no explanations, so Uthan responds, without letting me go.
“Her power,” he says. “Or, rather, it’s Smys’ power in her. Untrained.”
The members of the committee freeze up on their platform, their faces going pale.
The Five hold their protective formation around me. They must be as confused as I am, but they show none of it. They stand tall and strong, ready to do whatever it takes to keep me safe.
“Why were we not informed before?” Senator Wortly keeps shouting.
“She didn’t know,” Uthan says calmly. “And I’ve only suspected.”
“You put all our lives at risk?”
“I didn’t think she could call forth her power on demand. It happens when she’s upset.”
“What if she couldn’t call it back on demand?”
“I was nearly certain I could help her.”
I’m shaking. I hope they can’t see it all the way from where they are staring at me, not when I’m surrounded by my kreks, but even if they do, there’s nothing I can do to stop.
Senator Wortly slams his palms on the table. “The committee is adjourned.”
They file out one by one. Some turn their heads to avoid meeting my gaze. Senator Seke shoots me a glare that drips with pure hate. If she had any powers, I’m pretty sure I’d be already dead.
We wait until they’re gone, leaving behind a million unspoken q
uestions floating in the air along with the dust. Then we, too, leave the building, my five closely surrounding me.
On the way back to the palace, we take a large pod because none of the kreks are willing to leave me, even for the short ride. All that is communicated in clipped, one-word questions and answers.
As the pod rises, I glance back at the stark, dark shape of the Onyx Tower. What in hell has just happened in there?
Chapter Eleven
I SIT BETWEEN DASON AND UTHAN in the pod, because I’m afraid if I sat next to Koah, he will try to pull me onto his lap, and I know that the others won’t be able to handle it.
We’d kind of sprung our connection, and the loss of my virginity, on them.
They’d held back during the hearing, and they’re still holding back because they can probably sense that I’m an inch from falling apart.
“What happens next?” I ask.
“You’ll be confirmed.” Roax’s voice holds no doubt.
“How can you know that?”
Uthan answers. “They can’t ignore your power.”
I’m still confused on that score. “What exactly is my power?”
Uthan takes a slow breath while he thinks about how to best put it. “You know how I told you that Smys was present at...what you call the Big Bang?”
I nod.
“Remember when the pirates kidnapped you and Olipha, and you were upset, my Ava, because you knew they were going to kill you? But then the pirates were killed in some kind of an explosion on the command deck?”
It’d be difficult to forget. “Their insides were liquefied.”
“Remember when Taly died, and you were upset, and your bedroom exploded?”
Disjointed thoughts swirl through my brain. Explosion. Me angered or threatened. Big Bang.
I have no idea what the connection is, so, as a joke, I say the most outrageous thing I can think of. “So I control some of the elemental power of the explosion of the Big Bang?”
Nobody is laughing.
If anything, the men look more worried.
The air whooshes out of my lungs. “No.”
Uthan takes my hand and nods. “Yes.”
“But the explosion in my bedroom was some kind of a gas bomb.”