by Tana Stone
The admiral spun around. “Let’s say she miraculously learned to pilot a vessel and managed to fly it off the battleship.” The sneer on his face showed that he still thought this idea to be ludicrous. “Where is the ship now? Transports are not capable of light speed.”
The officer clasped his own hands behind his back. “There are a few possibilities, sir.” He drew in a breath. “She could have found a planet to hide behind—perhaps even Carlogia Prime. We know she didn’t go to the surface of that planet, though. We were monitoring all traffic during the battle, and a transport heading to the surface would have been noticed and most likely picked off by the Vandar.”
Kurmog ground his teeth together at the mention of the enemy. “If they killed my bride, I will be very upset.”
“We do not believe the transport was destroyed. One of our fighter pilots thinks he spotted it flying away from the planet and the battle.”
“Thinks?”
The officer cleared his throat. “The battle was chaotic, sir. He cannot be certain.”
Kurmog muttered a few curses under his breath. “Let us assume he is correct. My bride flew away from the battle.” He swept an arm wide, waving it at the glass overlooking space. “Where is she now? Surely, our long-range sensors can detect her? As long as our transport is flying, it should be transmitting an imperial signal.”
The officer’s gaze went to his feet. “The signal disappeared, sir.”
“Disappeared?” The admiral’s voice was barely audible. “Unless the ship was blown out of the sky, or is floating dead in the water, it is impossible for it to vanish.”
“Not if the transport was taken on board by another ship.”
Silence stretched between the two Zagrath.
“Do you mean the Vandar?”
The raspy sound of the admiral’s voice made the officer shiver and hesitate to meet his cold eyes. “It is possible that one of their hordes took the transport while they were using their invisibility shielding.” The words spilled from the officer, as if saying them fast would lessen their blow. “We would not be able to track our ship if it was disengaged and on a cloaked warbird.”
Kurmog walked slowly to stand behind his desk. He sat and steepled his fingers together. “Do you think this is what happened? You believe my human bride stole a transport and flew it away from this battleship into the arms of a waiting Vandar horde?”
“I would not put it like that, Admiral. I doubt the human knew she was flying into a horde.”
Kurmog tapped his fingers together rhythmically. “It is true that the Vandar sent more than one horde to battle us over Carlogia Prime, and it is also true that the cowards are fond of hiding in their invisible ships.” He laced his fingers, squeezing them until his knuckles were white. “If the Vandar have taken my bride, they will pay for it in blood.”
“Yes, Admiral.”
Kurmog stood and began to pace behind his desk. “It is clear that my bride was taken by force by the bloodthirsty and vengeful raiders as repayment for the many deaths I have bestowed upon them. This was obviously a plot by desperate brutes bent on striking a blow to me and to the empire.”
The officer opened his mouth, then thought better of it and clamped it shut. “Yes, Admiral.”
“An attack on my bride is an attack on me, and the empire, and we cannot let it stand.” Admiral Kurmog’s voice rose as he paced faster. “If they think they can take the female from me and not feel the full retribution of the empire, they are sorely mistaken. We will track my bride to the ends of the galaxy and hunt down the criminals who have snatched her from me. This insult will not go unpunished!”
“Does this mean we are changing our course, sir? Are we no longer joining the fleet at the outpost on Moravia II?”
The admiral flapped a hand dismissively. “Moravia II does not matter. The Vandar are the threat that continues to endanger the empire.” He pivoted to face the officer. “Send a transmission on all channels. I want the Vandar to know that we are coming for them.”
“Yes, Admiral.” The officer paused. “But how will we find ships that fly unseen?”
Kurmog smiled, his lips stretching across his wrinkled face. “We will draw them out. If it is true the raiders have secret colonies where they hide their people, then we will find those. Then all the hordes will come in a futile attempt to stop me from doing what we should have done centuries ago—exterminate their species.”
Chills went through the officer as he gave a sharp salute and left the admiral’s ready room. If the pretty human really had gotten away from Kurmog, part of him hoped they never found her.
Chapter Eight
Rachael
I rubbed my fingers across the coarse, brown fabric that almost reached my knees. The skirt had clearly been designed for someone taller than me, but I was so grateful to get out of my pinned-together wedding dress that I didn’t care what I changed into. The top was also roomy, but I’d tied the long hem up into a knot, so it didn’t blouse over the skirt. That meant I showed a strip of bare stomach, but I doubted the Raas would care, since he walked around with almost nothing covering his bare chest.
Raas Toraan had been true to his word, even though I had been less than honest with him. He’d sent clothes for me, as well as an impressive spread of food that now stretched across the ebony dining table, pewter domes covering the dishes to keep them warm. Even covered, the savory scents reached my nose, and made my stomach rumble.
I might be hungry, but I didn’t dare eat. The Vandar attendant who’d delivered the clothes and food—and who looked to be no more than a mere boy—had told me that Raas Toraan would be returning to his quarters to join me for dinner. I still wasn’t sure about Vandar protocol, but I was pretty sure that devouring a warlord’s dinner would be considered bad form. And as much as I hated hearing my mother’s instruction in my head all the time, I was nothing, if not well-trained in etiquette.
Protocol was one of the few things my mother had thought I needed to learn. I’d been endlessly drilled on how to eat, curtsy, and simper—skills she believed I’d need as the wife of someone important.
“Because selling me off to the highest bidder was always the plan,” I muttered bitterly to myself. Part of me hoped my parents were told that I was missing, and an even darker part of me wished they knew I was not married to the admiral, but was on a Vandar ship. I got a perverse sense of pleasure imagining my mother’s shocked face, if she knew I was in the sleeping chamber of a raider warlord. I could almost see her thin lips pursed in prim disapproval.
She’d worn that look of distaste when she’d been helping me pack to leave my home and join the admiral on his ship. It wasn’t my leaving, or the admiral, who provoked her disapproved. It was the last bit of instruction she felt she needed to impart to me that made her lips pucker and her brow furrow.
“It’s your duty as a wife to submit,” she’d said tightly. “Whatever he wants, even if it’s unpleasant, or you don’t wish it.”
I’d kept my face averted from her, my nod the only response. She believed she was giving sage advice to a virgin, that I had no idea what to expect from the marriage bed. It would have been a good assumption. She and my father had made sure none of my suitors had spent any time alone with me, and none of the local boys had been allowed near our mansion. Even at dances, my mother had watched me like a Horlian hawk.
But I’d known her and my father’s plan. I’d heard them talking about the admiral. I’d also picked up that he was not a young man, but my mother’s initial objection to his age and appearance had been silenced by my father.
I might not have had any power over my life, or have gotten to pick my husband, but I wasn’t about to have my first time be with some decrepit old Zagrath. My parents might keep out the other well-bred boys on Horl, but they did not think of the horse master’s assistant, who spent as much time in the stables as I did. It probably never occurred to them that I would take him up to the stable loft and ask him to fuck me, promising
him that I would never breathe a word of it, and assuring him that he would not lose his job.
I smiled as I thought back to our hurried coupling—his movements at first tentative and unsure, as if he wasn’t convinced I’d meant what I’d said. My initial yelp of pain had startled him, but I’d urged him on, craving his urgent thrusts. It hadn’t lasted long, and he’d pulled out at the last second, spilling his seed on my thigh and then collapsing next to me. He’d heaved in uneven breaths for a while, before apologizing for being so fast and asking if we could do it again. I’d eagerly agreed, knowing the dark-haired boy was my last chance, and I’d savored my afternoon in the hayloft with him thrusting eagerly between my legs.
So, when my mother had started in on her droning instruction about pleasing a male by lying prone and quiet, I’d tuned her out and smiled at my own memories of riding the horse master’s assistant until I’d had to hold my hands over his mouth to keep his screams from carrying out of the barn. I hadn’t loved him, or even known him very well, but he’d been sweet and attentive, and hell-bent on pleasing me in as many positions as possible. And by fucking him until I could barely walk, I’d taken something from the old man who thought he was buying a beautiful virgin. He would never be my first, and I would always know that I’d chosen a stable boy over him. A boy whose hair smelled of fresh hay and who would never command anything greater than a stable.
“Take that, asshole,” I whispered, smiling at my remembered rebellion.
“I hope that was not meant for me.”
Once again, Raas Toraan had entered the room without me noticing, although to be fair, I had been completely immersed in my memories.
“No,” I answered quickly. “I was thinking about… someone else.”
He nodded as he crossed to me without removing his shoulder armor. “I apologize for leaving so abruptly earlier. I needed to attend to matters on my command deck.” His gaze slid over me then returned to my face. “You received the clothes, I see.”
“Yes, thank you. They’re much more comfortable than a wedding dress filled with straight pins.”
His eyes lingered on me for a beat then he turned to the table and waved a hand at the benches on either side. “Sit.”
I took a seat on one side of the table and he took the bench on the other side, lifting domes off the plates and drawing in a deep breath. Although I had a metal plate in front of me, there was no silverware, so I watched as Raas Toraan served us both, then ripped small wedges of flat bread and started scooping the food with them. I followed suit, making triangular pockets of bread to hold chunks of the stew-like dishes.
After a few bites, I eagerly drank from my goblet. The food had strong flavors with unusual spices, and I was grateful for the kick of the wine to wash it away. The wine had its own different kind of kick, though, and I suspected I shouldn’t drink too much of it.
The Raas ate quickly, tossing back a full goblet of wine and then refilling it and downing that, as well. If I didn’t know that he was a Vandar warrior, I would have thought he was nervous. But why would a raider warlord be nervous? Maybe it wasn’t nerves, but agitation. Was he irritated at me because I hadn’t revealed any of the information I’d promised? I did not want the one person who could keep me from the admiral’s clutches to think I wasn’t holding up my end of the bargain.
He sat back, his gaze focused on me. “Rachael, I have— “
“It’s okay,” I said, cutting him off before he could tell me that he’d changed his mind about keeping me from the empire. “I’m ready.”
“What?”
“I’m ready to tell you what I know about the Zagrath plans. Isn’t that what you want?”
The Raas straightened, taking another gulp of wine and dragging the back of his hand across his mouth. “Of course.”
I followed his lead and took a sip of wine. “I didn’t always pay attention to what the admiral said to his officers. He did talk a lot, and most of it was boring.”
The Raas inclined his head as if telling me to continue.
“But he did seem obsessed with you guys, the Vandar, that is. He’s convinced you’re hiding some big secret, and if he finds that then he’ll be able to wipe you all out for good.”
The Raas went still. “Secret?”
“I know. It’s a little crazy-sounding, but Kurmog thinks you have colonies of your people stashed someplace so the empire can’t find them. He told his officers that he wants to find them and finish what the Zagrath should have a long time ago.”
Toraan stood so quickly he bumped the table, and the dishes and goblets shook from the impact. His jaw was tight, and his pupils had widened so that his eyes looked almost black.
“Are you okay? Did I say something wrong?”
He gave his head a brusque shake. “Thank you for the meal and the information. I need to return to my command deck.”
“So, you won’t turn me over to the empire?” I asked as he walked to the door.
His gaze held me as he pressed his hand to a panel and the arched door slid open. “I have no intention of giving you to the empire—not now and not ever. You belong to the Vandar.”
Chapter 9
Toraan
I stormed through the ship, my heart hammering as relentlessly as my boots pounding the floor. The Zagrath knew about our colonies? It was impossible. We’d kept them secret for centuries, protecting the last of our people from the reach of our enemy. The only thought that kept me from breaking into a run was that they did not know the locations. Without the coordinates, the imperial admiral had nothing but suspicions.
“Which is how it will stay,” I growled, as I reached my destination.
Stepping into the warriors’ canteen, I raked my eyes across the narrow room until I spotted my majak. Rolan leaned against the long, iron bar with a glass of murky, green liquid in one hand. Karvolian gin. A sure indicator my most trusted officer was drinking the day’s events away, much as I wished to do.
Heads swiveled and heels clicked together in salute as warriors spotted me. I did not often join in the drinking after a shift, preferring to pore over star charts and revise strategy, but my presence was also not completely unusual. I nodded to acknowledge the salutes and made my way to Rolan.
He straightened as I approached. “Raas?” The word was both a greeting and a question. He knew I’d gone to dine with the human female, and yet here I was, not long after I’d left him.
“Zaiva,” I said, loud enough for all the warriors around me to hear the Vandar word for “at ease” and go back to their drinking without fear of committing offense. Then I waved for the Vandar pouring drinks and pointed to my majak’s glass. “Another one.”
“I take it your suggestion was not taken well?” Rolan asked.
I’d almost forgotten my plan to claim the female and give her mating marks, although the thought of it now made my pulse quicken and my cock twitch. “I did not bring it up.”
I lifted the glass of Karvolian gin that was poured for me, and took a long drink of the bitter liquid. I welcomed the burn that scorched my throat, and instantly numbed my frantic thoughts. “But she did share some intelligence with me.”
Rolan remained silent, his gaze locked on me. One of his great skills as a majak was his patience.
I let my voice drop and leaned my head close to his. “She says the Zagrath admiral knows about our colonies. At least, he thinks he does.”
Although he didn’t respond, I noticed a muscle tick in his jaw.
“He does not know locations or coordinates, so his suspicions are just that.”
Rolan took a drink of his own gin. “Do you believe her?”
“I believe that is what the admiral said. Otherwise, how would a human female from Horl know anything about the colonies, or even about us?”
Rolan nodded slowly, as if acknowledging the truth in my logical assumption. “That does not rule out this information being fed to her intentionally. If she is a spy, this could be what they want us to thi
nk.”
Irritation flared within me at the suggestion that she was working for the enemy. Rolan had not looked into her eyes and seen the fear in them. No, she had escaped from the empire because she was running from someone and something she couldn’t bear.
Then again, I could not fully discount the possibility that she was being used by our enemy. They were sinister enough to use a female as bait and not think twice, even a female engaged to an admiral. I would not have been surprised to discover that the Zagrath admiral had sacrificed her himself. “If she is a spy, she is an unwitting one. She believes every word she told me.”
My majak inclined his head at me. We’d both been trained by my uncle in the art of detecting deception. It was one of the many reasons we trusted each other with our lives. We were both too skilled at sensing lies to ever deceive each other. Then again, I’d been fooled by a female before, and knew better than to let my head be clouded by one so intriguing.
I slammed back what was left of my drink. “I do not believe the Zagrath let her go. The admiral paid too much for her.” I did not add that she was too beautiful to be relinquished, unless the admiral no longer felt the hot rush of desire.
“There you are.” Viken’s voice made us both turn, as he pushed through the growing crush of warriors to join us, his face set in a scowl.
“What is it?” Rolan asked when my battle chief reached us.
“I went to your quarters, Raas.” His face flushed. “The human said you had rushed out.”
I peered into my empty glass. “She shared unsettling information.” I jerked my head toward Rolan. “We are trying to determine if it is valid, or if she is being used by the empire to scare us into a false move.”