by Tammy Walsh
“Foolish to who? No one knows about me or why I’m here.”
“Which is why it would be so easy to erase you from this place as if you had never existed,” Not George Clooney said, sneering. “You are on very uncertain ground. I have it on good authority you’re already close with the Titan lord. If you don’t speak up, perhaps it’s because you’re in league with him and his treachery.”
I blinked, not so much at the threat, but the revelation there was another spy in the castle.
But who?
A guard?
No. Someone close. They had to have known we kissed or maybe even that we had sex.
“We control the Titan empire now and no one can stop us,” Not George Clooney said. “And do you know what happens to those who rebel against us?”
I panicked.
“I’m not rebelling against you,” I said.
The Changeling chuckled and it sent shivers down my spine.
“Of course you’re not,” he said. “But the Titan lord would be. And there is only one form of punishment for such betrayal. He would be tossed into the belly of a sand serpent.”
The name held no meaning for me but it was clear from his tone it wasn’t anything good.
“It is a creature deep beneath the dunes of a distant world,” he said. “We feed it the worst of our prisoners. The betrayers. The liars. The thieves. The murderers. Perhaps even one day the Titan lord. Imagine a thousand years being slowly consumed piece by piece. A thousand years of agony before, finally, he’s given mercy and allowed to die.”
My fists grew tight at my sides.
“He’s nothing to me,” I said. “It doesn’t matter to me if you punish him.”
Not George Clooney looked uncertain. He wasn’t used to Titan emotions, never mind human ones. He couldn’t tell if I was being genuine or not.
“She’s lying.”
The voice came from a corner steeped in shadow. It was deep and commanding and I recognized it from somewhere…
The speaker stepped into the light, forcing a gasp from my throat.
“Zes?” I said.
“The one and only,” he said.
He looked different. He didn’t stoop over and he wasn’t wobbly or uncertain on his feet. His back was ramrod straight and he was even taller and broader across the chest than Kal. He was older but it had given his body an ease of movement and confidence in his abilities few possessed.
He did not look like the same Titan.
“She cares very much for Kal,” Zes said. “She has fallen for him just as he has fallen for her.”
I was too shocked to respond. This couldn’t be happening.
“She went into his bed-chamber,” he said. “They made love. Multiple times.”
I clenched my teeth and looked away. It made my skin crawl to think he had listened in on us.
My reaction was all the proof Not George Clooney needed.
“So, you have gotten closer to him,” he said with a grin.
“I tried but failed,” I said. “He told me nothing of where his loyalties lie.”
“It doesn’t matter what he says,” Zes said. “It matters only what he does. He will make a decision and it will condemn him.”
“I won’t help you betray him,” I said. “I refuse.”
“Then you and your friends will never return home,” Not George Clooney said.
“Whether she would do it or not for her friends is irrelevant,” Zes said. “She has feelings for Kal. She can ensure he doesn’t receive a fate worse than death at the hands of the sand serpent. That is why she will continue with her mission.”
Not George Clooney might not understand human emotions but Zes certainly did.
He must have seen from the look on my face that his words had struck home. He must have known I couldn’t betray Kal. Not after we’d already developed our powerful connection.
Surely it was a rouse? An act? He was a double agent sent in deep undercover? Zes wouldn’t betray the family he had been working to protect his entire life, would he?
But that would mean he knew about me all along. And that meant Kal did too. And if he did… why would he string me along and play with me like a kitten with a ball of yarn?
He wouldn’t do that. His emotions and feelings for me were real. You couldn’t fake that.
I didn’t believe it.
I couldn’t believe it.
And that could only mean one thing.
Zes really was working for the Changelings.
“Why are you doing this?” I said.
“When a Taw lord betrays the people, he betrays us all,” Zes said. “He doesn’t deserve to be the Lord of Taw.”
“He’s more honorable than you’ll ever be!” I spat. “Why don’t you just kill him? You must have had hundreds of opportunities over the years.”
And then I saw the reason in his eyes.
“You won’t kill him because the Taw name still means something to the people,” I said. “If you slay him in cold blood, the people will rise against the Changelings and drive them back.”
He smiled.
“Very astute for an undeveloped species,” he said. “Perhaps one day when I am lord I will have my own human female to please me. Perhaps even you.”
He raised a hand to touch me but I backed away.
“The time has come for you to make a choice,” Not George Clooney said. “Will you help yourself and your friends to return home and aid the Titan lord in avoiding a fate worse than death? Or will you allow everyone to die for your vanity?”
It was no choice at all. It made me sick to my stomach to admit that. I lowered my head in defeat.
“What do you want me to do?” I said.
Not George Clooney grinned in satisfaction. Zes’s smile was smaller but just as bent and corrupt.
“We know he’s been receiving messages,” Not George Clooney said, “but we don’t know-how. We thought they were coming electronically, but that’s proven not to be the case. We want you to discover how someone has been leaving messages on his desk without anyone else knowing.”
I thought back to when I was in his study, to the breeze I’d felt on my sweaty palm.
“The bookshelf,” I said. “I felt a cool breeze coming from it.”
“A secret passage?” Zes said. “We’ve mapped the passageways. None lead to the study.”
“Then there must be one you don’t know about,” I said.
Zes appraised me. I hated the way he looked at me—like a whipped dog. It was how I felt too.
“Is what she’s saying true?” Not George Clooney said.
“We have the blueprints from when the castle was built, and the various tunnels that were added later,” Zes said. “But it’s possible we don’t have all the plans. Some might have been stolen, lost, or deliberately burned.”
“Wonderful!” Not George Clooney said, clapping his hands. “Then I leave it to you to keep a close eye on this passageway. If we can discover who brings the messages, it will be all we need to set the trap.”
“Trap?” I said, feeling sick to my stomach. “What trap?”
“Oh yes,” Not George Clooney said. “We’ll force him to make a decision that will bring him into the light and make his true allegiance known to all. Then, your mission will be finished once and for all.”
Kal
I was in the middle of a long and pleasant dream. I was the newly minted Lord of Taw and the people bowed before me in reverence and respect—the same way they had for Qale when he ascended to the title.
The moment was spoiled by the approach of Changeling warships. They attacked and destroyed large swathes of the town. The people screamed. Not in fear but anger.
They looked to me, their new lord.
I didn’t hesitate.
I drew my sword and raised it above my head and aimed it at the heavens. I bellowed and tore through the onlookers and ran at the alien creatures laying waste to our homes, our history, our heritage.
And I wasn’t alone.
Powerful warrior Titans—from the humble baker to the muscular lawyer—took up arms with the nearest weapons to hand and added to my bellowing crying. They joined me in the attack and defense of our homes and our livelihoods.
Our way of life.
Many Titans fell but more survived, forcing the Changelings out like cancer from our homeworld and back into the darkness from whence they came.
We raised our bloodied weapons in the air and our voices rang out, singing victory over a conquered enemy.
When I opened my eyes, I brought those feelings of success with me into the waking world, a parting gift of my deepest desires.
At least in dreams I could have a happy ending. The real world was a much more difficult and complicated place.
Still, I hoped. I supposed I would never stop hoping. The Changelings were a temporary fixture, nothing more. A stumbling block on the journey to our destiny of peace and justice.
It was a warm and welcoming emotion, one I knew there was only one person I could thank for. The woman who would be lying next to me in bed right now.
I reached across for her without looking but couldn’t feel her there. I reached a little further and still couldn’t sense her smooth skin.
Had she left in the middle of the night? Gone back to her room to avoid having to face me in the morning?
Did she regret what we did together?
I opened my eyes and prepared myself for the worst. Instead, I got a welcome surprise.
She lay in the bed—barely. She perched right on its edge. She couldn’t have gotten any closer if she tried.
The bed was huge. She could have slept anywhere and decided to perch right on the fringes?
The sheet was wrapped tightly around her ass and her hair spilled over her shoulders. I growled at the back of my throat. She was a piece of cake that was simply too delicious to leave alone.
I had to sneak another piece…
It didn’t surprise me she was a fireball in the sack. She didn’t offer a word of complaint as I broke her down. Initially, I’d been afraid I might hurt her. She was not a Titan and wasn’t built the same way we were. But she turned out to be far tougher than I thought.
She took everything I dished out, and then, to my surprise, she took the initiative and rode me mercilessly. Seeing her on top, bouncing, and working so hard to satisfy herself…
I had never seen such a sexy sight my entire life.
She was right. She wasn’t my wife. She was a completely different being with very different mannerisms. My wife would never have acted the way Sirena had, never would have confronted me like that.
And yet, they both possessed the same indomitable spirit, the same desire to stand up for what they believed in and to hell what anyone else thought.
It made me smile.
So similar and yet so different.
I shuffled closer and wrapped my arms around her, enveloping her and gently nuzzling her neck. She smelled so good.
She murmured under her breath as she came awake. She peered over her shoulder at me and smiled. It was thick with sleep and she yawned wide.
“Did I wake you?” I said.
“Not really,” she said with a yawn. “I should get up and return to my room. We wouldn’t want everyone to know what we got up to last night, would we?”
“Why not?”
She frowned.
“I didn’t think you would want them to know about us,” she said.
She rolled over so her face was no more than a few inches from mine. She lay there, her breasts exposed and her leg rubbing against me.
“I would be proud to take you to any event, any party, anywhere,” I said. “I would be proud to have the most beautiful female on my arm.”
“Woman.”
“What?”
“I’m a woman, not a female. Well, I am, but woman is better.”
“Okay. My woman.”
I kissed her exposed shoulder.
“You don’t need to fear,” I said. “I’ll let them know. I’ll let the whole empire know. I never want you to leave me. Not ever.”
My hand was moving before I knew what it was doing. It formed a fist in front of my chest. It was the salute I usually shared with the guards.
I was telling her my heart belonged to her.
It took her a moment to recall the gesture and what it meant between a male and a female.
She performed the same motion back to me. She even remembered to lower her head as she did it.
I held her hands in mine and kissed the tips of her fingers.
“I pledge my life and soul to you, my love,” I said. “Everything I am belongs to you.”
She smiled at the words. She blinked and tears shimmered in her eyes. She turned to bury her face in the pillow.
“I finally understand what you meant when you said it was better to live without honor than to die with it,” I said. “I would not give you up, not for all the honor in the empire. So long as you feel honor for me, it’s enough.”
Her smile grew broader and it dislodged the tears that pooled in her eyes.
“There’s something I need to tell you,” she said. “But I’m afraid of what might happen if I do.”
She was upset about something. But what?
“I haven’t been completely honest with—”
A knock at the door cut her off. It was heavy, harsh, and rushed.
I ground my teeth in irritation. I wanted Sirena to open her heart to me.
“Come back later!” I barked.
“I’m sorry, my lord,” Zes said on the other side of the door. “This can’t wait. It’s urgent.”
I sighed and looked at Sirena. I held her delicate face in my hand and rubbed her smooth skin.
“Forgive me, my love,” I said. “Duty calls.”
She wiped the tears from her cheeks and eyes.
“It’s fine,” she said. “It can wait.”
I handed her a spare robe. When she pulled it on, it drowned her in fabric. She tied it shut but I could still make out the soft contours of her body underneath. She truly was a feast for the eyes.
She entered the bathroom. She didn’t need to do that. I was happy for her to see whatever was about to happen. I would discuss everything with her later to get her opinion.
“Come,” I said.
The door burst open and Zes wrestled a large Titan bound in torn rags. He might have once been a powerful male but with the heavy scars across his face and body, he must have had a rough life.
As he struggled against Zes, a pair of guards took position between me and the match taking place.
They slammed into my writing desk, knocking the papers to the floor. Zes got the better of the man and pressed him against the tabletop.
The man continued to fight but he couldn’t find the same purchase he had earlier.
I extended a hand to one of the guards and pointed at his knife. He handed it to me. At least now I wasn’t defenseless. If this large Titan rushed me with his powerful hands, I wanted to be ready in case the guards failed to hold him back.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Let him up.”
“My lord?” Zes said, refusing to ease his weight off the man. “He’s dangerous. You shouldn’t get too close.”
“Only a fool would attack me with three guards in the room,” I said. “Especially since he’s unarmed.”
Zes hesitated before letting the man straighten up. Yes, he was a physically powerful specimen. Broad across the chest and with a thick square chin, he would have fit perfectly well in the elite military unit. His hands and wrists were clasped in irons but he still looked like he could take down ten men.
I shifted my feet and changed position, adopting a more defensive stance. Maybe Zes was right and I had made a mistake. I clutched the stiletto tightly.
“Who are you?” I said. “Why are you here?”
The man glanced at me and then focused on the floor. His scraggly beard did little to
conceal the dark network of scars across his face, neck, and chest. They reached under his dirty breeches and the torn holes in his pants.
“I’m not sure he can speak, my lord,” Zes said, perched and poised to attack at a moment’s notice. “He didn’t speak the whole time we apprehended him.”
“Why is he here?” I said.
“He’s an assassin,” Zes said. “He crept through secret passageways—tunnels we didn’t even know existed. It was blind luck we stumbled into him. He could have entered and slit your throat in the middle of the night.”
The man’s eyes drifted up in the direction of the bathroom. There but for a fraction of a second, Sirena caught the man looking, and immediately leaped back.
Or he might have slit Sirena’s neck. The thought of that made me angrier than my own death.
“I don’t know how he discovered the passageways,” Zes said, leaning in close to the man. “Give me time and I’ll figure out how.”
“What is your name?” I said to the unfortunate wretch.
The Titan didn’t look at me and only stared at the floor.
“Why did you come here?” I said.
Again, he wouldn’t respond.
Zes leaned in close to the man’s ear.
“Your lord is asking you a question,” he said. “Answer him.”
The man still wouldn’t respond.
Strange, I thought, considering the energy he had entered the room with. Or maybe he’d only been defending himself. Zes did have a history of pushing prisoners too hard.
Could he be the maid’s little boy we used to play with at a young age? The little one that disappeared the moment we were sent to the capital to continue our studies?
I often thought of him when I was alone and without friends in the emperor’s palace. He was the only member of the townsfolk I knew. The others I only saw from a distance. When I returned home a young man, I looked for the maid’s son but found the entire family had moved on.
The only person I knew in the area and he was no longer there.
That was when I began to build my little model town—to feel a part of them, to the men and women I was meant to help rule over.
If he was the maid’s boy, time had not been kind to him. He was a regular little boy when we played, with no scars or marks on his body. Looking at him now, I couldn’t reconcile the little boy I had known with the full-grown man I saw before my eyes.