Truthbreaker

by Kelly Lucille

  Doc, the mild-mannered physician, pushed himself up from his place before shooting a hard glare at the head of the table. "I'll be in the infirmary if anyone needs me." Clearly from the look he shot Tyber he was even less happy about the order than Sera was. But no one was going to go against their Captain. She could not even blame them. This ship was their livelihood and home, and she was not worth risking that. She wondered if that was why Lore was once again on watch and realized it did not matter. None of it did.

  Trig had made a mistake, that was clear, maybe it had been so long since people treated her like a normal person as opposed to a Truthsayer that she had expected something. Thought that maybe things could be different. Expecting something was always a mistake. That was how you got hurt.

  She met Tyber’s eyes and raised her chin. His implacable eyes searched her face and she wondered how she had ever thought them warm. Well, another lesson learned.

  Without touching any of the food Trig stood up and turned her back on the silent crew of the Jezebel. Being on the outside was easier when it was all you knew. When you cared. She had not realized how many of her own walls had been down without her even realizing it. Not a mistake she would make again. Without a word passed between them, she walked out.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  By the time The Jezebel landed at PortSea Trig was more than happy to leave the ship. Even if what she was facing when she did was a Warrung. Since she had refused to subject herself or anyone else to her unwanted presence she had stuck to her room.

  She refused to think of it as Lore's room, and since he never bothered her it was easy to do. She had no doubt that they kept watch with their security feeds, but she gave them extraordinarily little to see. In the few days that were left of their journey she had passed her time quietly. To build up her walls again she meditated and went through her breathing and stretching discipline. It was an ancient technique that kept her limber and strong. It could also be used in defense and was one of the few things she had kept of her mother’s teachings, no matter how much time passed. Between that and the ritual fasting she was feeling barricaded safely inside her walls once again.

  So despite her fear of arriving at Port Sea and coming face to face with Lucan Warrung, she walked off the ship with a combination of relief and trepidation.

  Only to find that the crowd gathered to meet them was even more daunting than she expected. Her power flared hot and she almost gasped at the abundance of secrets and lies standing around waiting for her to disembark. There were almost as many secrets in this small gathering of three waiting for her, as there had been in the worst Alliance meeting she had witnessed, and that was saying something.

  Trig took one look at the three men waiting for her and stopped cold her first step onto the launch pad. She vaguely noticed the heat and the tropical feel of the place, the sand that stretched to beach just beyond the black tarmac beneath her feet, but really her eyes and all her senses were arrowed in on the waiting men. She did not need to feel the flare of her gifts to know that there were secrets here that could hurt her. She looked away from the three strangers only long enough to look at Tyber and Lore, who unlike the other three crew mates who had yet to leave the ship, had stopped on either side of her.

  "Where are Lara and Nori?" She did not even try to keep the accusation out of her voice.

  Lore moved just a step closer to her so that he stood with his chest just touching her back. Tyber stepped forward moving so that he partially blocked her from the greeting party. Before she could remind herself that she did not trust these men any more that the ones they were meeting, her body ignored her and relaxed back into Lore. Ridiculous, as if she could trust these two near strangers would keep her safe. Still, as much as she berated herself, she did not draw away. Quite frankly, at that moment, she needed the support.

  She didn’t think either men meant to make the protective move they did, but it was not lost on anyone that they had. Tyber stepped forward, away from her as if he had only meant to move forward, though he still, she noticed, kept himself between her and the other men.

  Lore didn't move away, if anything he seemed to meld into her back, the heat and strength of him giving her something to lean on in a situation that could go unbelievably bad. It was the first time that she could remember she felt as if someone was on her side. Even knowing she could not put her faith in anyone she could not help the feeling of connection it caused. She told herself to step away from Lore and face whatever came all on her own, as she always had, but for some reason, again her body didn't listen. Instead she stayed right where she was, leaning against a near stranger for strength as she fought against the wave of knowing power that swirled about them, almost too tempting in her current unsafe situation.

  Everyone ignored her question even as they stared at her. Tyber spoke before she could try again. "Where is Danika?"

  That drew the eyes from her. At least one pair. The dark-haired man with the coldest eyes she had ever seen stood just in front of two giants to either side of him. And they had to be giants, because the cold-eyed stranger stood taller than Tyber and Lore and they both had at least a foot of height on her.

  "Now why would you call for a truthsayer as soon as you step off your ship?" There was a lot of cold power in those few words, and absolutely no emotion.

  Trig took him in and knew without being told that this was Lucan Warrung. Brutally beautiful with his bronzed skin and precisely cut black hair and pronounced widows peak he had the kind of dangerous beauty that burned, even as his nearly black eyes seemed colder than anything else she had seen in her travels. He made no acknowledgment of the tropical heat. His black leather pants and knee boots expensive and meticulous as if he didn’t stand in sand like the rest of them. He wore both a dark tunic and leather gloves. She had no trouble imagining this man was the most dangerous she would ever meet, even if he was supposed to take a close second to his homicidal and insane brother.

  Lucan stood a half a foot shorter than the giants at his side and looking at them made her wonder where Mac was, because it was clear they both were around his seven-foot height. One she also recognized as the pirate Conall Barnos who was with the Lady Lara the last time they had run into each other. He had the look of a pirate with his flowing white shirt and leather pants tucked into over the knee nanite boots, flowing brown hair with a touch of red in the sun and a stunningly handsome face with a touch of scruff.

  The other giant wore something more along the lines of what she was used to with the space marines. Ship standard, over nanite armor and loaded with more weapons than she had the time to count. Unlike the scary man and the pirate beside him this man was not what you would call attractive. Craggy and immovable, she would bet a lot of platinum that he was some form of security for the island. His eyes never stopped looking for trouble.

  "Danika is not just a truthsayer," Tyber answered mildly enough, but something passed between them anyway, some suggestion that had Lucan Warrung turning those dark cold eyes back to her. The other two had never looked away.

  Trig did not like the feel of secrets being passed above her head. She already knew Tyber was suspicious of her, but what did that have to do with a truthsayer who was not just a truthsayer. With the way her instincts were buzzing away at her, she knew she had to take a chance. She opened herself to the wave of power that was trying to get past her guard and swallowed a few of the secrets riding the wave. It was painful to only take that much and no more, but if she really opened herself up to the truths around her at the moment she would be hard pressed to stop, and it would not just be the glow of her eyes that gave her away.

  The three men before her were Barnos, Lucan Warrung and his head of security Tor. She got a few other snippets with her one bite of truth, namely that Lucan had a Bruha mate he would kill to protect, and she was not just a truthsayer, but a reader as well.

  Trig finally understood. Tyber wanted the reader to suss out whether she was working with Cor Warrung, and how d
angerous she was to them.

  Well, isn't that simply perfect?

  As tempting as it was to open to the waves of power beating at her she could not chance another bite, not when there were so many secrets in the air. She had a feeling Tyber was not the only one on this beach who would see more than he should if she did that.

  But getting off the beach seemed to be the issue.

  "I'm not taking her to Danika until I know she is not a danger to her," she heard growled out.

  Tyber huffed in answer. "And how do you propose to find out if she is a danger if you won't let Danika read her?"

  Lucan Warrung shrugged, "There are other ways to make sure."

  This time Lore growled, and while the man Tuft did not so much as move a muscle in reaction the big auburn-haired giant on the other side of Warrung snorted. His voice boisterous and loud even across the open sands of the beach. "If I thought you actually meant that you intended to interrogate the little truthsayer I would be seriously worried about you."

  Lucan gave the man an unhappy look and Trig wondered if it were as much a threat against her or him just thinking out loud, in the hopes that she would get scared and tell all her secrets. They were a scary bunch, Warrung most of all, so it was not beyond the realm of possibility that it would work on some. Just not on her.

  Or on his big bearded friend who chuckled at the look before going on in that same loud voice. "Both Lara and Nori consider her a friend, and let's not forget that she is on loan from the High Ambassador of the bloody Alliance who is going to be angry enough that she was taken without you losing your ever loving mind and threatening the girl just on the off chance that Danika might be a target."

  "She was scanned for biological weapons when we brought her to the ship," Tyber growled out. His voice sending the usual chills up her spine.

  "And she has been cleared of any and all tracking devices or spyware," Lore added in his usual cool way. "Besides the usual Alliance issued gear, which was left behind, she was clear."

  Trig looked up and back at Lore at that. She had no idea when they had done the scans, it must have been when she was still unconscious after the stun. He met her eyes, and as usual with Lore, he gave little away. But as she had from nearly the first moment, she felt what she could not see on his face. The protective stance at her back was not a lie. He would not let Lucan Warrung hurt her, and as she looked around, she did not need to use her gifts to know that no one on that beach would.

  At least not until their reader told them exactly what she was capable of and she became less a threat and more something to be used.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  From the small bit she had gleaned with her bite of truth Trig expected someone truly ferocious when she was finally taken before the reader. And there was no mistake that was exactly what was happening. Moved from one beach through a series of interlocking ports and lifts Trig was lost before she found herself on yet another beach, this one at least felt more like an oasis with its giant palm fronds, and tropical flowers. She could hear the fluttering of wings in the distance, and a strange energy coated the air here, as if they had brought her to the seat of power on the island.

  Occasionally she saw the flit of blue wings and wondered at the chittering she could almost hear if she strained her senses, as if a hidden language was just beyond her reach. She was tempted to forgo the meet with the reader and explore this part of the island. The sound of the surf just beyond the greenery was almost as seductive as that chittering energy. But she did not fool herself that she had a choice in the matter. No one was going to let her wander about until she had been cleared by the reader, and she had a feeling her friends the Lady Lara and Queen Nori were being kept away until then as well.

  Then yet another lift, this one looking to be private opened across the courtyard and a woman stepped out. The closer she came the more Trig relaxed. This was not the fearsome reader she had imagined.

  Flowing titian hair and shimmering green eyes aside, this woman wore a fortune in sparkling crystal pearls over a simple red silk sarong and bare feet. Her hair was braided and down her back and her smile as she caught sight of them was wide and open, reaching her eyes.

  But beyond her beauty and softness Trig sensed the woman, and while she had no doubts there were secrets behind those sparkling eyes and soft smile, there was a gentleness to her that reminded Trig of another beautiful woman she had met on her travels. The Lady Lara. And just as when she first met the empathic Heti, Trig knew she would find no danger here.

  Lady Danika was not what she had expected in any way, and she was not in her company more than a moment before she slumped back into Lore with profound relief. If she knew no other truth in her long life, it was that this woman would not hurt her.

  Lore gripped her arms as if he feared she would fall. She patted his hands assuredly. "I'm fine. Just relieved." After a small tug of war between them he finally dropped his hold and allowed her to move away from him. She stepped toward the Lady Danika and smiled. Putting her hand out for the lady to take.

  Two warning growls stopped her in her tracks and Lucan Warrung was suddenly standing between her and Danika. Then surprisingly Tyber was suddenly standing in the small space between her and the intimidating Warrung. Trig blinked in shock at the move. She would have thought he was protecting the lady Danika as well, but it was clear with the way he pulled her close to his back that it was her that he was protecting.

  Trig shook off her confusion at his actions. She also ignored that Lore had moved right up against her back again as well, so that she was cocooned between two hard bodies. To say these boys gave off mixed signals was an understatement.

  What happened to keeping their distance and all the suspicion? Trig shook that off too.

  "I'm just giving her my hand so she can read me," she said when neither of them would let her move from between them. It should have felt constricting, especially with everything that Tyber had accused her of. Somehow instead it made her feel safe.

  "She doesn't need it," Warrung said grimly, though she barely recognized his voice, and she could not see anything past the broad back of the man in front of her.

  "Fine," she finally said exasperated. "A little room?"

  Tyber moved about an inch to the side, so she could see Lucan Warrung, and a sliver of Danika peaking around him. When she rolled her eyes Trig could not stop the chuckle from leaving her lips, which got her a glare from the men between them, as if she was not taking this serious enough.

  She fought the need to roll her own eyes, it was just that as soon as she was close enough to sense Danika she knew the reader would not only keep her secrets but that she was possibly someone who could be a friend, if they gave it half the chance. Not being a reader herself, Trig did not know why she had that knowledge without taking in any of the power swirling around her, but she knew it just the same.

  Danika spoke while Trig was still shrugging her shoulders at the question in Tyber's eyes. "She's is no danger to me or anyone here." Danika said exasperation clear in her voice. “If you want to know more I will have to touch her." This time when Trig offered her arm Danika was allowed to take it. She held it loosely, her soft hands warm against hers, and Trig had to wonder at the feel of this woman’s power on her skin. And it was not just her exuding power like she had rarely seen, even her jewelry seemed to shimmer with power and life around her.

  Danika dropped her hand with a quick squeeze and smiled at her, though Trig caught both compassion and sadness behind her welcoming smile. "She has her own secrets and I can see why Warrung wants to get his hands on her, but she is not working with him, and frankly he would not be such a fool as to let her fall into our hands if she had ever been at his mercy."

  That was all she said, and Trig looked at her with questions in her eyes, knowing this stranger knew her secrets, and nearly laughed when she smiled and winked at Trig instead of giving them up.

  "She is no danger to us, and from what I saw of her, would never
want to be a danger to anybody." Danika smiled wider, a host of meaning behind her eyes when she finally said. This time to Trig. "You do not have to hide here."

  That silenced everyone.

  "What secrets?" Tyber asked turning to face Trig, even as Lucan turned to face Danika with a look that asked the same question.

  Danika smiled one more time in reassurance at Trig before turning to Lucan. "They are her secrets to share or not," Danika said softly. No one who heard that soft voice doubted the steel behind those deceptively soft words.

  "Danika," Lucan growled in warning. But all of Trigs attention was on Tyber who turned into her personal space as if he had the right. The look on his face was unguarded and she saw heat, curiosity, and an overwhelming relief in his eyes.

  Lore, still standing like a rock at her back didn't so much as twitch, as if he had never once doubted her guilt. But then why had he followed the same orders as everyone else to stay away from her if that were the case?

  Something she would have asked him before, maybe, no longer. As far as she was concerned she was done with The Jezebel and its crew.

  She shook her head at Tyber.

  "You're going to tell me everything eventually, might as well start now." The smirk was back in his voice and it made her want to smack it right off his face. Her usual reaction to that arrogant look of his. Only now seeing it, as if the time in between meant nothing made her just that much angrier.

  She was still shaking her head when she finally spoke. "Has anyone ever checked you for split personalities?"

  His hand went into her hair at the side of her face and pulled her head up just a little, making her have to bite a little gasp back at the dominating move.

  "I needed to be sure," he finally said, his eyes trapping hers with that heat he kept so closely guarded.

  Was that his idea of an apology?

  Trig raised her chin. "And if there had been no handy reader around to assure you of my innocence?"