by Ravyn Fyre
I scoffed at his remark but didn’t want to give him any reason to change his mind. Turning to look at him over my shoulder, my gaze bounced between his eyes before I replied, “I won’t let you down, but as for promises . . . I only have one to give. From this day forward, I promise to spend eternity ensuring you have no reason to doubt me.”
Kalen gave me a small smile that didn’t touch his eyes before he answered, “I look forward to it. I’m sure you remember Rom and Kiso. They’ll be here as well as Tanen while you talk to your friends. I’ll be assisting Zarina as she interrogates the doppelganger.” Kalen replied. Pushing me toward Tanen while he addressed his second in command, “Guard this woman with your life because if she dies, I won’t hesitate to follow her.”
I stumbled forward ungracefully but managed to stop myself before I made a complete fool of myself. I should have been thinking of what I would say or ask the victims in front of me, but I couldn’t get over what Kalen said. He was talking about suicide if something were to happen to me. Heck, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that I was more than feeling territorial when Kalen mentioned working with a female that wasn’t me! Flipping around, I opened my mouth to ask him what he meant, only to find he had already flashed away.
Ten minutes earlier and I wouldn’t have been able to do anything about his abrupt departure, but I wasn’t a poor defenseless female now. Reaching out with my gift, I contemplated which power would suit my needs best. Not wanting to chance flashing too far into the room or not far enough, I opted on using someone’s ability to phase through anything except water instead. Marching forward, I passed through the soundproof wall undetected and stopped behind my mate. Tapping my foot in annoyance, I ignored the snarls coming from the doppelganger and waited until my mate turned around to face me before I blurted out how I was feeling. “Although I would prefer you live forever regardless of what happens to me, I accept your Thelma and Louise offer. Where you go, I go. Starting now.”
I smiled sweetly, squealing in surprise when Kalen swept me into his arms. He erected a bubble around us and growled, “I have no idea what you mean by your Thelma and Louise reference, but I can only assume it means where you go, I follow. And if indeed that’s what it means, then I accept.”
I giggled in response, finding it hard to be serious in his presence. I felt nothing but love and acceptance emanating from our bond. I wasn’t sure how he expected me to respond to his query.
“You are making it extremely hard for me to contain my animalistic nature. I want a mate that can rule beside me, but I also want to hide you away from anything and everything that could hurt you. It is a dichotomy I doubt I’ll ever master, but I’ll make an effort to try. Let’s start with finding out why you are mad. I thought you wanted to question Anolla and Castice?”
When he responded so rationally, it made me feel like a child throwing a temper tantrum. I needed to remember why I’d come in here in the first place and use my damn words. If there was any chance of us having a happily-ever-after, he needed my honesty first and foremost. Taking a deep breath, I ripped off the band-aid we’d managed to place on our mangled entanglement and admitted on a sigh, “I did . . . I do. I mean, it’s just that . . . Gah! Fine, you want to know what's wrong?” I paused for a moment while I searched his eyes, trying to gauge if he was interested in the truth.
When his gaze showed nothing but concern and curiosity, I dropped my head along with my pride and laid it all out on the line, “I thought we’d do all of this together. Talk to the victims, torture the prisoner or prisoners if need be, whatever it was . . . I envisioned us doing it together as a team. I didn’t anticipate feeling jealous of a female named Zarina, who would be working beside you. I didn’t foresee hating her before I even had the chance of meeting her.”
Kalen lifted my chin with his finger and wiped away a tear I didn’t realize had escaped before he replied with a sweet smile, “You’ll never know how much your confession soothes my soul. I only thought we would divide and conquer. You know the saying, kill two birds with one stone. You question your fellow trial participants while I secure the doppelganger during Zarina’s interrogations.”
I raised my eyebrow at how accommodating he was, and with a snicker, he reluctantly admitted, “Alright, the time constraint wasn’t my first concern. I wanted to keep you as far away from the assassin as possible but didn’t want to feel like a neanderthal. However, even you must feel the clock ticking. Anolla’s original time of death last time around is less than half an hour from now.”
Feeling cocky, I smirked, “Time is irrelevant when you can wield it. Instead, I’d like you to introduce me to Zarina. Perhaps you can explain to me what this interrogation will entail. I’d like to know where I could be of help. Afterward, if we are short on time, I’ll make more.”
“Are you sure you have that power? It doesn’t look like Natashia and Levi followed us here,” Kalen asked with a frown.
“I’m sure. They might not be here, but Natashia is still close enough. Regardless she’s not the only one with the power,” I replied, wondering where we were in retrospect to everyone else. If I had to guess, I’d say somewhere in the middle because I’d never felt so many different and unique gifts at my fingertips. It was almost overwhelming. There were plenty of people who had some version of time manipulation that I could rely on my power to use the most convenient and reliable one to get the job done.
“Interesting,” Kalen replied as he rubbed his lower lip in thought.
“Not to sound clueless…but why is that interesting?” I asked in confusion.
“Time-travelers are required to declare themselves. Natashia is one of two in our army, and Takhor is on a mission off-planet,” Kalen answered with an expression of worry.
Scrunching my forehead, I tilted my head from side to side as I tried to come to terms with Kalen’s admission. I wasn’t one to rat people out, but I knew there were at least a dozen different Sixers with the capability of manipulating time in some way.
Licking my lips, I took a deep breath before I continued, “Don’t get me wrong, not everyone has the same power as Natashia, but she’s not the only one able to control time in some way or another. For instance, there is an elemental that can travel at the speed of light. Also, you should know there is someone made of light,” I answered reluctantly.
Kalen looked at me like I’d lost it before he replied, “The elemental you’re referring to would be Parthyn. He’s a councilman with the ability to control electricity. One of the perks of his gift would be his ability to travel at the speed of light. In contrast, the being of light you might be referencing is Zarina. The woman you wanted to meet. She’s a Sulnitian from the planet Sulnix in the One Galaxy. Regardless of their identities, though, I don’t see how their gifts have anything to do with time-travel.”
I cocked my head and thought about it as my power poked and prodded at the intricacies of each gift. At the surface, Parthyn’s ability to manipulate electrical energy made it appear he could do nothing besides wield electricity. Still, I knew without a doubt he was capable of so much more. I could almost see the abilities like levels in a video game. The Sixer couldn’t access their next ability until they’d mastered their current level, but my gift was like having the ultimate cheat code. I knew all the secrets and had access to every aspect of the gift without playing the game. I’d known announcing my prowess was somewhat of a death sentence, but if I wanted to be a queen, I needed to act like it.
Taking a second to dissect Parthyn’s gift, I smiled, disabled Kalen’s gravity bubble around us, and said, “If that were the case, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” Pulling on the elemental's ability, I sucked in a deep breath when my body started glowing. At first, it was subtle until it wasn’t, and my body shuttered as it transformed into a being of electrical energy. Not giving myself a chance to second guess myself, I opened a wormhole from one point in time to another and jumped through. I dropped the light-being persona as soon as I appeared beside m
y past self. I was beaming with pride, having timed it perfectly. My prior self had just finished saying the words, watch this, before she turned into a walking lightbulb and blinked away less than a second later, in essence catching up to the me who just arrived. If Kalen hadn’t been watching, he would have missed seeing two of me at once. As it was, the look of despair and then amazement on his face was priceless.
Looking at me with caution, he scanned the room a few times before he said, “How did you do that?”
“I accessed his gift of electricity and opened a wormhole between two points in time,” I answered with a frown. Not understanding the fuss, I asked, “What’s the big deal?”
“I’ve known Parthyn for thousands of years and traveling at the speed of light is a fairly recent discovery. If I’m correct, that only happened within the last one hundred years. Are you telling me you have more control over his power than him?”
“I don’t know about control or stamina, but I have complete confidence in the fact that I know every nuance of his gift—anybody’s gift, for that matter. Comes with the territory, I guess,” I explained with a shrug.
Kalen opened his mouth like he wanted to say more but was interrupted by a female voice.
“My lord, I don’t mean to interrupt, but I feel like I need to remind you of my presence. Normally I’m hard to ignore, seeing how bright I shine, but you seem a bit occupied. Would you like me to come back later?”
Turning around to face Zarina, I had to slam my eyes shut as a defensive measure. Calling her bright was an understatement and had me wondering how I didn’t notice her sooner. Throwing a hand up to block her brilliance, I looked over my shoulder, waiting for my mate to introduce us or, at a minimum, respond. When he continued to just stare at me, I cleared my throat and whispered, “Kalen . . . the nice lady is asking you a question.”
Kalen continued to look at me with awe before he shook his head and finally answered, “No, that’s ok, Zarina. We’re on a tight schedule. I’d like to get started right away with the interrogation, but before we do. Have you had a chance to meet my mate, Jade?”
“Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure,” Zarina replied with a bow of her head.
Using my hand as a shield, I faced her with a smile plastered on my face and said, “I’d say the pleasure is all mine, but to be honest, I need a welder’s mask to stand in your presence. Seriously do you have a dimmer switch?”
The brightness in the room dropped immediately. Dropping my arm, I gave Zarina a lopsided grin and said, “Thanks.”
“No reason to thank me. I should have done it as soon as you turned around. I love it when people dare to ask for what they want. I must say I’m looking forward to watching you put this Strix in his place. When needed, of course . . . Will anyone else be joining us, or should we get started?”
Kalen scoffed, cleared his throat, and answered, “Natashia and company are running late, but I see no reason why we should delay. Where do you want me?”
“Wherever you feel comfortable, to be honest. I know you know the drill, but here’s my standard spiel. Think of it as a precaution. I can’t guarantee the prisoner’s safety if they are allowed to move a single muscle. My leeches become aggressive if they feel threatened.”
Kalen nodded, braced his feet, and said, “I’m ready when you are. He won’t move a muscle.”
I looked between the Sixers and couldn’t help but ask, “What exactly will you be doing? I mean, don’t take this the wrong way, but the gift I can sense from you has nothing to do with torturing the truth out of this imposter.”
With a chuckle, Kalen leaned down and rasped, “I love your ability to read people's powers and capabilities, but Zarina is a package deal. As a being of light, she has a symbiotic relationship with a colony of mind-leeches. They’ll extract the information we need, and she’ll project the memories they obtain onto the wall behind us for all to see like a movie.”
At that revelation, the doppelganger started changing his outer appearance while screaming in protest, “No! Offer me money. Offer me prestige. Offer me anything. At this point, I’m not picky! Let me keep my dignity!”
Chapter Twenty-Six
With every step Zarina took, the doppelganger changed the face he was wearing like he was hoping one of his impersonations would grant him leniency. The first was an old man, “You wouldn’t harm a defenseless blind man, would ya?” When that didn’t stop Zarina’s progression, the doppelganger morphed into a small, malnourished girl with dirty brown hair that begged, “Please. I’m innocent. Don’t hurt me. I’m scared! I want my mommy!”
It was hard to watch the trickery, but when she continued without faltering, my respect for her grew. She paid no attention to the child's pleading as she continued to march forward. If I needed to deal out torture or, for that matter, order it, then the least I could do was stomach the ordeal in front of me. Trying to ignore the punishment about to commence, I tried to focus on Zarina, but a familiar voice caught my attention, “Jade help me. I know you don’t know me and that I come off as a grade-A bitch, but if you’d lived even a fraction of my life, you’d understand why. I’ve had to harden myself against the world. Please stop this. I beg you!”
No matter how much I wanted to ignore her pleas, I found myself enraptured by the fiery siren strapped to a bed in the center of the room. She looked identical to the redhead with an attitude from my transport ship. Nudging Kalen, I whispered, “That’s Cynosis from Acelex. We arrived here together, but besides that, we had no connection. Why would it have her face?”
“I have no idea, but we are about to find out. I’ll send Tanen to fetch the siren and bring her back here. I have no doubt she’ll be easy to recognize. Not many people I know have her coloring,” Kalen replied while pointing towards the doppelganger for reference. I assumed Kalen’s silence meant he was communicating his order to his second via telepathy. My guess was confirmed when Tanen flashed away seconds later.
Zarina approached cautiously, nibbling on her bottom lip as the doppelganger continued to beg for mercy. It was fascinating to watch him flip through different faces as the doppel tried to work our sensitivities. Kalen brushed past me, cutting off any further complaints or face changes from the imposter with a flick of his hands. I could tell Zarina was still nervous as she stopped next to the doppelganger, who had taken on the appearance of a twenty-something man with Down Syndrome before Kalen cranked up the gravity surrounding him. I almost wished Kalen had waited for a second longer so I wouldn’t have to stare at the innocent face he was wearing. The young man’s look of acceptance and empathy was close to my undoing.
Averting my eyes as a last-ditch effort, I watched Zarina glance back at my mate one more time before she nodded and said, “We only need about a minute, maybe two, depending on how old he is.”
“He’s not going anywhere and won’t move a muscle. Take your time and be thorough. I don’t want to miss anything important besides the obvious of who hired him. I want to know why they hired him and the reason why they went after my mate,” Kalen growled.
Without knowing what to expect from Zarina’s gift or her pet mind-leeches, I almost choked on my saliva when she held her hands out, and glowing slug-like things dripped from her fingers. It was almost like watching someone making pasta with a Cuisinart. Cutting off pieces of dough as it squeezed through the machine. In total, six leeches dropped onto his chest—each one roughly the size of my pinky finger.
I heard Kalen swear as the doppelganger’s last disguise melted away to reveal what I could only assume was his true self. A grey face that resembled modeling clay with glowing, yellow eyes stared back at us. The look of terror on his face as they inched their way up to his head would haunt my nightmares.
“My lord? Do you have him?” Zarina pressed with a look of concern on her face.
“If I try any harder, he’ll implode. I have no idea how he’s moving!” Kalen hissed.
I could see sweat gathering on his forehead and wanting to hel
p; I borrowed the first gift that could assist us. It had to be something useful and foolproof in ensuring the doppel stayed still. Kalen, no doubt, wouldn’t like my next move, but seeing as I needed to be close to use my newly gained power, he’d have to get over it. Closing my hand into a fist, I approached the doppel’s head, and when I was close enough, I opened my hand in front of his face and blew. As expected, a cloud of fine dust covered his face. He’d have no choice but to follow my direction. When his face went blank and he ceased struggling, I told him not to move anything. When he stopped breathing, I realized I might have taken the command a bit too far.
I was about ready to amend my command but stopped as I watched the first leech dissolve into his eye, followed closely by the rest. I’m not going to lie; I have a phobia of things touching my eyes. The act made me shudder and had me taking a step back before I spoke up, “Um, not to put any pressure on you, Zarina, but . . . um . . . could you speed this up?”
“I’ll try, but no promises. My friends are working as fast as the speed of light. Think of a mind like a map with vast distances between memories. Even though they travel at the speed of light, it still takes time to reach their destination. Why do you ask?” Zarina replied, cocking her head to the side.
“Well, probably ‘cause I accidentally commanded him not to move anything. I didn’t realize it would cause him to stop all bodily functions. Guess I didn’t realize how powerful the pixie dust would be,” I answered in a higher voice than usual as I tried to play off my fuck up like it was no big deal.