“A threat has been made against Lady BreeAnna,” he said bluntly.
All three Falcorans instantly focused all of their attention on him. More than that, he could almost feel them vibrating with sudden tension. He wished he could come right out and ask them if his suspicions were correct, but he didn’t have a good enough reason to pry into their personal business.
“What sort of threat?” Zander demanded.
“Where is she?” Zach asked. Zain remained silent, but he was watching Kyrus as intently as his brothers.
“She’s in her stateroom, and she has Iffon to guard her.” The fact that the Falcorans relaxed told Kyrus that they understood just how dangerous Iffon could be. He only knew himself because High Prince Garen had warned him. That, and his bearenca’s senses.
Kyrus told them about the note and showed them an image of it. “She has her own training room?” Zain asked. Kyrus frowned. It was hardly relevant at the moment, but the man was his Commander so he answered.
“Yes, she does.”
“I apologize, Kyrus, that’s obviously not the most important issue.”
Kyrus dipped his head in a nod, then continued relating his conversation with Bean. When he told them that she suspected someone was jealous of the time they’d spent together, all three of them stiffened.
“Why would she suspect jealousy as a motive?” Zach asked cautiously.
“As she put it, there aren’t that many people on this ship, and she’s not deaf. She’s heard the rumors, naturally.” Kyrus considered mentioning Iffon’s comment about the Frisky Falcoran Fan Club, but decided it wasn’t necessary. “From her embarrassment, I’m guessing that while she heard the rumors, she hasn’t heard the explanation.”
“Why one and not the other?” Zach asked curiously.
“Because the first one had tongues wagging. The second didn’t.”
“What did you tell her about it?” Zain asked.
“Not a thing. All I told her was that I’d be telling you about the note. She wasn’t happy about that, and I don’t know why, but she conceded that it was necessary.”
Zander thought a few moments. “Let me guess,” he said with obvious distaste. “You want us to go through the personnel files and see if we recognize anyone.”
“Yes, Sir, I’m afraid so. I can see you’d rather not, and I don’t blame you, but I think it’s necessary and it’s obviously not something we can do for you.”
“Understood, Kyrus,” Zander said. “We’re about done with these messages. Another hour or two, at most. Then we’ll get started on the personnel files.”
Kyrus nodded. “Kasper has already changed the settings on the security cams for the corridor outside Bean’s room, and the rec deck. Any motion at all and they’ll record it.”
“Install a security cam inside her training room, too,” Zach said. “Tell her about it first, though. We don’t want her thinking we’re trying to spy on her.”
“We’ll do that,” Kyrus agreed, standing up. “I’ll go inspect the room now. I promised her I’d get it done as quickly as possible so she can use it. I’ll grab a couple of micro cams and put them up until we can get a security cam installed.”
“Kyrus,” Zander said, “one more thing. If anything else suspicious or unexplained happens, no matter what it is, place guards on her regardless of what she says. She’s to have a full male-set watching over her around the clock.”
Kyrus’s brows rose in surprise. “I agree her safety is important, Commander. Very important. But isn't that a bit much? Don’t forget about Iffon. He can be extremely formidable if necessary.”
“What’s your security level, Kyrus?”
“Three.”
“Good,” Zander said. “What I’m about to tell you stays between us and no one else except your brothers.”
“Certainly, Commander,” Kyrus said, not liking the sound of this.
“The primary objective of this mission isn’t to save the Kinahns, though it is a very close second. The primary objective is to get Lady BreeAnna Lobo and her guardian to Kinah alive and well.”
Kyrus knew that Bean was the true authority on the Askara, but he hadn’t known this. The knowledge both stunned and worried him. “Why?”
“That we don’t know,” Zander said. “Yet.”
“Yet?”
“It’s above our current security level. She’s been granted permission to share everything with us, if she wants to. All we have to do is convince her to trust us which, I’m sorry to say, isn’t going well.”
Kyrus nodded. “If I may, I’d like to make a small suggestion.”
“All right,” Zander said.
“I don’t know much about women, but I do know a thing or two about people. If you want her to trust you, you might have to make the first move by trusting her.”
“Trusting her in what way?” Zach asked.
“In your place, I think I’d start by explaining the reason behind those rumors she’s heard.” He shrugged. “It certainly changed my opinion about you.”
“Thank you, Kyrus,” Zander said. “We’ll consider that.”
After the door closed behind Kyrus the Falcorans could only look at each other in surprise and dismay. Surprise that they hadn’t considered the possibility that she’d heard the rumors, which was completely illogical once they thought about it. And dismay that they were going to have to tell her the truth.
“We should just give her one of those memory crystals,” Zain said. “Let her see it for herself.”
“I don’t know,” Zach said. “It seems a little cowardly.”
“Why?” Zain asked in surprise. “It wasn’t cowardly to let everyone else learn the truth that way. Why is she different?”
“Because she’s our berezi, obviously.”
Zain reminded himself to be careful. If he insulted her in any way, they’d get angry and then they wouldn’t listen to a word he said. And he really needed them to listen. “She hasn’t reacted to us as a true berezi would,” he pointed out in a neutral tone.
“What do you mean?” Zach asked in confusion. “She sensed how I felt during our last meeting, and I feel her so strongly now that I could point directly toward her.”
“That doesn’t mean she’s our berezi.”
“I don’t understand why you’re so certain that she’s not,” Zander said.
“Our pheromones might be messed up, but I can still smell just fine. A berezi reacts sexually to her male-set. If she’d reacted in that way, even just a little, we’d have scented it. And there’s also the rather obvious absence of mating fangs.”
“This is only the ninth day since we stopped taking our meds,” Zach said. “Doc said it could take two to three weeks.”
“In that case, there’s no sense in acting as though it’s already a foregone conclusion that she’s our berezi,” Zain said. “Wait until the three weeks are up, then we’ll all know the truth.”
“What do you have against her, Zain?” Zander asked.
“I don’t have anything against her, Zander. I just don’t believe she’s our berezi.”
Zander frowned. There was something going on with Zain that he didn’t understand. Something serious. He reached up absently and rubbed one temple with his fingers, then sighed, forgetting all about Zain.
“Let’s get this finished, then start going through the personnel files,” he said. “That shouldn’t take too long since there aren’t that many, and we can split them up. After that, we’ll address the matter of what, how, and when to tell Lady BreeAnna our personal history.”
Chapter 15
23 days to deadline
Bean sat cross legged in the middle of her bed, six brightly colored marbles turning in a slow circle in the air in front of her. She raised one hand, pointed a finger at the marbles, and turned it a bit faster than they were already moving. They sped up, all remaining in alignment with each other. She sped them up a little more, then a little more still. This was the fastest she’d been able
to make them move, and not once had she been able to make them go faster.
She clenched her hand in a fist, then pointed her finger at the marbles again and turned her finger in a faster circle. Three of the marbles flew across the room in different directions while the other three just dropped to the bed.
“Crumpet jam,” she muttered.
“I thought you left that at home.”
“I found extra in my suitcase,” she said with a half-hearted smile.
“Why so troubled?”
“I can’t seem to improve one tiny bit anymore and I don’t know why.”
“Improve?”
“The telekinesis, Iffon. I can’t make the marbles go faster, and I haven’t been able to add to their number, either. It’s the same with the bigger weights. Six five pound weights moving in a slow circle is the best I can do and that was two weeks ago. I can’t add one more weight, not even a small one. I can’t move them faster, or tilt the circle or change the shape. Nothing.”
“That’s odd.”
“I sort of noticed that,” she said with a huff. “From the first day I began working with Mom I’ve made progress. It was slow and gradual, but I still moved forward. Now, it’s like I’ve hit a wall and I can’t get past it.”
“You’ve been working very hard, Bean. On top of that, you’ve been under an enormous amount of stress. First with what happened to Captain Reynolds, and then dealing with the Falcorans. Perhaps you need to give yourself a bit of a break.”
“I gave myself a break, Iffon, remember? More than a week, in fact. Except for the one time Zander stopped by our table in the cafeteria four days ago, I haven’t spoken a word to any of them.”
“True, but you haven’t stopped worrying about them or the situation unless you're training. Then you’re worrying about training instead.
“You need to step back for a time. Find something to divert your mind, or at least occupy it with something different.”
“Maybe,” Bean said with a sigh before climbing off the bed to gather the errant marbles. “I don’t really know. I just I wish I understood what was happening. Then I could at least try to find a way to work around it.”
“Maybe you’re spreading yourself too thin. Pick one thing, weight or speed or manipulation, and focus on that.”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” she said, getting down on her hands and knees to grab the marble under a chair. “It’s worth a try. Maybe I’ll start with speed.”
“Any particular reason?”
“Remember when I sent that hair stick at the Nomen hybrid?”
“I doubt I’ll ever forget it.”
“Me neither. My point is that if I’d been able to make it move faster, I could have killed it without having to run right up to it, thereby giving it a chance to break me in half like a breadstick.”
“An interesting analogy that reminds me it’s dinnertime.”
“Me too,” Bean said. After gathering the remaining marbles and putting them away she put her shoes on and went into the bathroom where Iffon’s food and water dishes sat on the counter where she’d left them. She returned to the bedroom, pulled on a light jacket, and put the dishes in the pocket.
“Ready?”
“Yes,” he replied, flying to her shoulder.
Before she had a chance to open the door someone knocked on it. She was surprised to feel Zach and Zander outside the door. Zain was there too, she discovered when she opened it.
“Is there a problem?” she asked, wondering what they could possibly want.
“We have an important matter we’d like to discuss with you,” Zander said.
“Now?”
“Yes, if it’s not too inconvenient. If you like, we can do this in your room.”
“No, I do not like,” she said, stepping forward so that the door closed behind her. She hit the panel beside the door, locking it.
“Where are you going?” Zach asked.
“To have dinner.”
“All right, we’ll eat together and have our meeting at the same time,” Zander said.
Bean took a deep breath and crossed her arms tightly. “Look,” she said, “this has been a difficult day for me. All I want right now is to go have dinner and try to relax. I do not want to sit with three men who get their jollies out of insulting me, baiting me, and bullying me.”
“That’s not very polite,” Zain said.
“Do you really think that knocking on my door and telling me you’re having dinner with me without even asking how I feel about it is polite?” she asked quietly. His yellow eyes glittered at her, sending a cold chill down her back.
She turned away from them, dropping her eyes to the floor to hide her fear, and started toward the elevator. Heart racing and appetite gone, she pressed the call button, holding her breath as she waited for the doors to open. When the Falcorans joined her she sighed and gave up. Her eyes still on the floor she turned around and started back up the corridor.
“Lady BreeAnna,” Zander said, his voice low and somehow pleading. As much as she wanted to ignore it, she couldn’t. She stopped walking, but she didn’t turn around.
“I’m sorry,” he said, coming to stand in front of her. “You’re right, it was impolite of us to do that. If you come to dinner with us, I give you my word that we will treat you with the respect and courtesy you deserve.”
“Since you and your brothers don’t appear to believe Lady BreeAnna is deserving of either courtesy or respect, that’s not very reassuring,” Iffon said stiffly.
“It’s best if I just order in, Commander.”
“Please,” he said. She looked up at the note of hope she heard in his voice before she could stop herself. When his eyes met hers they were warm, but in an instant they became icy. Before she had a chance to step back or react in any way, he reached up and brushed something from her cheek.
When he pulled his hand back she was mortified to see a tear on his finger. He looked at it for a long moment, and she wondered what he was thinking. Then he pressed the tear to his lips, and she was barely able to stop a gasp from escaping.
“I’d like you to do me a favor,” he said. “Will you?”
She hesitated, wariness returning. “What is it?”
“I’d be very grateful if you’d go up to the cafeteria and get a table for us. We won’t be but a couple of minutes behind you. I promise. I also promise that you will not be bullied, harassed, or treated with anything less than absolute courtesy and respect.”
She stared into his dark red eyes, and felt as though she were caught within them. Moth to flame. “All right,” she said, hoping she wasn’t making an enormous mistake. “I’ll hold you to your word, Commander.” She waited for him to dip his head in acknowledgment, then she turned toward the elevators again. She was surprised when he walked beside her, then waited for the elevator to arrive. When the doors opened, she stepped inside and pressed the correct button without looking up again.
“Are you sure this is wise, Bean?” Iffon asked as soon as they were alone.
“At what point did I ever indicate that I thought this was wise?”
“I assumed that agreement with the plan indicated your belief that it was a good one.”
“You assumed incorrectly,” Bean said. “I honestly don’t know why I’m doing this, if you want the truth. I just couldn’t refuse for some reason.”
“Maybe it’s because they’re your Rami.”
“Maybe.”
A couple of minutes later Bean stopped in the doorway of the cafeteria, looked around, and chose a corner table in the back. She headed for it, politely returning greetings from most of the people she passed which, as always, surprised her. She chose a chair that let her see most of the room and sat down.
She didn’t have to wait long for Rich to approach the table. “Good evening Bean, Iffon.”
“Hello Rich,” she said. “The Commanders will be joining us in a few minutes.”
“Would you like something to drink while yo
u wait?”
“Yes, please,” she replied. “Iced tea and water, no ice for Iffon.”
“Coming right up.”
Bean watched him walk away and leaned back in her chair with a sigh. “I wonder what they want to discuss with me?”
“My guess would be they want to fulfill their requirement to provide you with regular status updates.”
“They were supposed to do that over a week ago,” she said. “I figured they just decided not to do it. In fact, I’d planned on writing Uncle Garen tonight to ask for his advice on the matter.”
“Now I almost hope that’s not the reason they want to talk to you,” he said, watching the Falcorans step through the entrance.
Bean watched them as they walked toward her and couldn’t help liking what she saw. They were annoyingly good looking men. Tall, lean, and graceful, their black hair serving to make their already brightly colored eyes nearly glow. She had to constantly remind herself that beneath their good looks were three men she didn’t like very much, and who liked her even less.
Well, she amended silently to herself, I like Zach and Zander a lot more now that I can feel the emotions beneath the words that come out of their mouths. But not Zain.
Her eyes shifted to him for a brief moment, then away. He troubled her. A lot.
“Thanks for getting us a table,” Zander said as he took the chair opposite her. Zach took the seat to her right and Zain sat to her left. She felt as though she should say something in response to Zander, but she couldn’t think of anything. Luckily, Rich chose that moment to bring hers and Iffon’s drinks.
While he took drink orders for the men, she spread a paper napkin on the table to the right of her place setting and removed Iffon’s dishes from her pocket. She filled his water dish and set it on top of the napkin.
“Thank you, Bean,” he said, hopping down to the table for a drink.
“You’re welcome,” she replied. “Do you know what you want for dinner?”
“I’m still considering,” he said. “I’ll decide before Rich takes our orders.”
“He eats the same food we do?” Zain asked curiously as he watched Iffon.
Bean's Heart (Hearts of ICARUS Book 7) Page 22