by Aileen Erin
And now he was probably dead.
“Why would you hope for your friend’s death?” Fynea was looking up from her tablet, appalled by the man.
I swiped away a tear. I hadn’t even realized I was crying, but I felt the wetness rolling down my cheek. “Because—” I answered before Caleb could. If Fynea was going to think awfully of the man for this, then she had to know I was thinking the exact same thing. “—if SpaceTech has him, then they’ll torture him until they’ve learned every single bit of information that he has about his operatives, about the resistance on Earth, about Lorne, and me, and the Aunare. Then, they’ll strip him of everything that he is and if he’s still somehow managed to survive through all of that, they’ll find a way to use him as a weapon against us. Most likely to lure us to some place so that we can be captured. Because everyone who knows anything about Lorne knows that Declan is the brother of his soul.”
Fynea seemed shocked that I knew so much, but this had been my life for so long. “When you’re locked behind enemy lines for thirteen years, you get to really understand them, their motives, and what they might do in any given situation.” I looked at Caleb. “I was horrified by what you’d done here—” I didn’t need to say it, he knew. “—but I get it.”
“I did it for a reason. Your life and my life or theirs. It’s not a contest. Especially not with these men.”
“I know.” Because I did know. I understood the necessity of it, even if I didn’t like it.
“No. You’re also a master strategist,” Fynea said. “That’s why you know. That’s why you survived. That’s how you understand all of this.”
Maybe. Maybe not. I wasn’t sure how I’d ever know, and it didn’t matter why I survived, just that I did. “I don’t know what being a master strategist really means, but I know I learned a lot about SpaceTech over the years. Capturing Declan would be a massive coup for them. The antidote would’ve been too big of a lure for him to ignore. I’m not sure if that’s a lie or not—if it exists or not—but if Declan was stupid enough to try to enter their HQ to steal it, then…” Shit. If that’s what happened, I truly hoped Declan was dead. “Using him as bait after bleeding him for information is a solid plan for SpaceTech. Absolute shit for Declan. But a good use of a single human. A human that could take down the Aunare.” I looked at Lorne. His skin was bright and I knew this had to be hard for him. Declan had been like a brother to him for most of his life.
“Jesmesha was right,” Lorne said, his voice was quiet and rough with grief. “It’s the three of us together. We either win the war as one or we lose.” Lorne looked at me with heartbreak in his eyes, and I knew what he was going to ask. I didn’t want him to ask it, but I knew he would.
“How do we get him back?”
Yep. That was the question, and he wasn’t going to like my answer.
It was the same answer that had been given to my father and Lorne when I’d disappeared on Earth, but that didn’t make it any easier. Especially since I had a chance at surviving. I hadn’t been caught. And I’d bet good money that Declan Murtagh was at his family’s mercy now. It was too late to try to help him now.
A familiar Earther frequency ran though the room, making my teeth ache. Caleb started waving his fingers through the air.
“I know what he’s doing, but it looks silly now,” Roan said.
I laughed, and glanced back at Roan. He gave me a grin, but it wasn’t his usual megawatt one but it was enough to ease some of the ache in my heart.
Caleb froze and looked at him. “Silly?”
“Yeah.” Roan dramatically rolled his eyes at me, and I couldn’t help but laugh again. “I mean you just drifted off there, and I know you got an alert on your implant and that you’re messaging someone back, but just standing here watching you, it’s… weird.”
“It’s no different than you zoning out to that tablet or wrist unit.” Caleb froze again.
No. No, it really wasn’t the same.
“They’re looking for me and trying to find out how it went.” He turned to the wall of guards blocking the door. “Just a few good punches. That’s all I need.”
I was confused for a second, but Ginu wasn’t. He quickly stepped forward and hit him so fast I didn’t understand what was happening until it was done.
Five hits. Two to his face, one on the arm, two in the gut. Caleb stumbled and gasped for air, and I wasn’t sure how much of that was fake or if he was actually hurt. I’d have to think hard about if I cared or not, and what that said about me.
But not tonight. Later.
Tonight, I was exhausted. So much for rest and food while we wait for Audrey.
Ginu took Caleb by the arm and led him out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
When the sounds of Caleb’s ship faded, I finally forced myself to think about the dead bodies in the other room. “So, do we turn in the bodies or make them go away?”
“If I know my men, they’ve already been destroyed by now.” Lorne’s tone was cold and angry. He was so beyond pissed, and I completely agreed.
There were so many reasons that his anger was justified. I was poisoned. Declan was missing, and at best giving away every secret we had. At worst, he was dead. And there were bioweapons on every Aunare owned or inhabited planet in the universe.
I only had one question to ask. “Where do we go from here?”
Chapter Thirty
AMIHANNA
There were no more threats—aside from the men already restrained—but I couldn’t stay in this house. Even in a safe room with enough guards to cover every inch of wall space and more to fill in the door. Even with more guards outside the room. Even if the entire Aunare military were outside this door, I’d still want to leave.
Now that Caleb was gone, I wanted my go-bag, and I wanted to run.
I’d never faced SpaceTech like this and stuck around to wait for another attack. They could come with reinforcements at any moment. The urge to run was beating hard in my heart.
Melina’s assistant—Beta Omo—might have only given approval for a few of SpaceTech’s ships to come down to refuel, but SpaceTech wasn’t known for following rules. Especially when those rules got between them and something they were hunting.
Right now, that something was me.
I kept staring at the floor, trying to know what to say or how to even wrap my head around what had just happened so that I could say something—anything—but I couldn’t. There was nothing.
I’d asked where we went from here, and no one had given me an answer. Which meant no one knew.
I was going to wait another thirty seconds, and then we were going to leave and—
Another alarm went off. The steady whomp-whomp-whomp was taunting me.
Another attack? Already?
I knew they’d come again, but already?
“No fucking way. No fucking way.” Roan said with outrage and anger and all kinds of things that I was also feeling but still couldn’t find the words to say. “What? They think that twenty-four men down is nothing? Why not send a couple more units? Or a couple more after that? All those SpaceTrash officers gonna get themselves dead, and it’s going to be their own damned fault. Can someone give me a gun? Because I’m not doing this again unarmed. That shit was fucked up.”
Roan was rambling all kinds of things that I’d been thinking, but he knew exactly why he didn’t have a gun. “We’re going to need our go-bags.” He could focus on that and forget about the stupid gun. “We should get the hell out of here. Right now.” That was the most important thing right now.
“No shit.” Roan was on his wrist unit. “I’m right there with you. This shit is deeply iced.” Roan moved toward the door, but froze when no one followed him. “You heard her. Let’s get the hell out of here. Shoulda already fuckin’ left.”
I was glad that I wasn’t the only one who was itching to run.
“We should wait here for more information,” Lorne said in a voice that was way too calm. “It’s n
ot the right alarm. It could be someone friendly approaching.”
“You’re crazy. Staying is a bad idea. Especially since it seems like we’ve got no friends here.” Sometimes Roan really got me. He glanced at his wrist unit again. “Wait. The readout says there’s no ship, but that alarm is still going off. What the fuck is up with that?”
“Your friend’s language really goes downhill under stress.” Fynea set down her tablet on the chair and walked to one of the guards surrounding the room. She held out a hand, and he passed her a weapon.
Oh no. She wasn’t really going to—
She walked to Roan. “It’s not an Earther gun. Be careful.”
Yep. She’d really done it. “Bad idea,” I murmured.
Fynea turned to me. “Why?”
“Ignore her. This is a good fucking idea. One hundred percent frost.” Roan took it and studied the gun in his hand. “What do I need to know?”
This wasn’t going to end well. There was a reason why Roan hadn’t really trained with any Aunare weapons.
I glanced at Eshrin who was still standing in front of the door, guarding it from anyone who might try to enter. He was watching Roan carefully as he moved the gun from hand to hand—wincing while he watched.
Roan had talked him into one lesson. It lasted for about ten minutes—give or take—before Eshrin called it. He said that I had enough guards and Roan was usually with me, which meant he was protected. Any more training was unnecessary. He’d been polite about it, but he’d realized what everyone else in the Crew knew—Roan and guns were a bad, bad idea.
It was unlikely that we’d get in another fight tonight, and even if we did, we had too many guards on alert. He’d never get a chance to fire that gun.
Tomorrow, I’d take it from him, and everything would be fine.
I shrugged, and Fynea started to give him the walk-through on how to use the weapon.
I reached inside my pockets for my faksano. I was feeling trapped, but Eshrin and Ginu were now discussing the alarm and what we’d be walking into if we left right now. Smart. Probably smarter than my instinct to run, but it didn’t make me feel better.
“I take back what I thought about this house.” I said the words to no one really, but they had to be said. “I hate it. I hate it so much.”
“I’m having the other assistants assess alternate lodging right now, but it would be best to head back to the warship.” Fynea stepped away from a now-armed Roan. “It would be the safest place for everyone.”
She wasn’t wrong. I’d come through one attack just fine, but the lucole in my body was active now. It was wearing on me—and would keep that up until it went back to its neutral state—but I wasn’t going to tell Lorne that. He’d flip. The best way to avoid another attack was heading to our ship. It was the best, safest option, and I wasn’t against it.
Eshrin gave a sign. It was one I’d just learned on the trip to Telnon.
Intruder.
My guards were still pressed against every wall in the room, but as one, they flicked their wrists, giving a loud snap as their faksanos lengthened. They hit them together—clack-clack—and then moved into a defensive posture, ready to strike anyone who entered the room.
Except it wasn’t anyone who came in first. It was a wisp of smoke.
It flowed under the door, between the legs of the guards blocking the entrance, weaving around them and into the room. And then it stopped right in front of me.
Damn it. I could fight a lot of things, but not smoke.
There was a loud pop and an explosion at my feet, and I jumped back.
“What the fuck was that?” I yelled.
“Sorry,” Roan said. “My bad.”
I turned to look at him, and then at Fynea. “Bad idea,” I mouthed to her.
I glanced at the smoke, which had now all pooled at my feet and was rising from the ground, growing tall—taller than me or Lorne.
It took about three heartbeats for the smoke to take the shape of a thin man. A very tall, thin man. Another five heartbeats and the form solidified into someone I recognized.
I lowered my faksano immediately, retracting them and slipping them into my pockets.
Vyic.
“Someone really knows how to make an entrance.” The alarm immediately shut off, and I relaxed a little. But I still wanted to leave this house.
“And someone here really knows how to slaughter people.” Vyic looked at me for a second as if it was me that killed the men.
“Thankfully, I haven’t slaughtered anyone today.”
He looked at me as if he wasn’t sure I was telling the truth.
This room hadn’t seen any action, but I knew the signs of the fight we’d left behind in the other room. Broken windows. No door. Furniture scattered. Blood.
I looked into his dark, flat eyes and felt like I was falling. It wasn’t uncomfortable to meet his gaze, but I could see how others might not like it. “How did you know to come here?” I asked, even if I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer.
He raised a snowy brow. “Please.” He looked a little disappointed in me, but I wasn’t sure why. “I was drawn to the sound of souls leaving this plane. So many near me and all at once. One right after the other. But I didn’t know who would be here when I arrived.”
He looked at Lorne. “Really?” I guessed since I didn’t confess to having killed them, he’d moved on to assuming Lorne had done it.
Did Vyic really not see all the guards with their weapons drawn? Any one of them could’ve done it?
And why was he assuming that only one person did the killing?
That question in my mind had me freezing and thinking it through again.
That was accurate. It had been only one person. But how the hell did he know that?
Okay. Vyic was really starting to creep me out.
Lorne shrugged at Vyic’s assumption, but said nothing. He didn’t even give a hint at what had happened here. Not a single word. And he never met Vyic’s gaze.
Lorne didn’t kill anyone tonight—it was all Caleb—but he wasn’t telling Vyic, which was very interesting.
It meant that we couldn’t trust Vyic with the truth about Caleb and what had happened here—which was fine, whatever, I barely knew Vyic—but I thought Vyic was one of Lorne’s friends. I thought we could trust him.
Apparently friends was a stretch.
I watched Vyic to see what kind of read I could get off of him, but I didn’t have a clue what the man was thinking. I wasn’t sure anyone could ever know.
The man turned into smoke and knew when souls left this plane. I wasn’t sure what he saw when he looked into a person’s eyes, but I knew something happened.
What else could he do?
And did I really want to know the answer to that question?
“I was on the prowl tonight because I found someone so intriguing that I actually wanted to help her,” Vyic said, finally. He turned to me. “And I found myself at a nice little black market.”
“A black market?” Fynea said. “On Telnon?” Her voice grew higher in pitch as if she didn’t believe it.
There were tons of black markets on Earth, and I knew there were a couple on Sel’Ani. I’d never been, but I knew Roan had. He was too curious not to. But the point was—wherever there were banned goods, black markets popped up. It was almost a rule. What was so surprising about one being on Telnon?
I glanced at Roan to see if he knew why this was so confusing, but he shrugged. Good. Because if the guy that spent days quizzing me about all kinds of trivia about our allies didn’t know, then it wasn’t my fault that I was clueless.
“Explain,” I said to Fynea.
“The Yhona don’t have a lot of laws because they don’t like to have to hold anyone accountable,” Lorne answered before she could. “If they had more rules, they’d have to police more and have more confrontations, which goes against their supposedly peaceful, neutral nature. There are surprisingly few rules about what is and isn’t allowed h
ere. Which means there should be no need for a black market.”
“Actually, they do have one rule about goods being sold here,” Fynea said.
“What’s the rule?” I asked.
“Nothing harmful can ever be sold.” Fynea paused. “The only things illegal are things they’ve deemed harmful—which doesn’t cover as much as it should. Only the obvious things like weapons and—”
“Lucole poison,” I said. “Caleb said that some allies had them, and even if he thinks SpaceTech keeps close track on it, that might not be accurate. A black market during a meeting of allies might be our best shot at getting a sample.”
“No,” Fynea said. “That’s much too dangerous. We should hunt down the spies on our planet and—”
“But this is here and it’s easy enough to go check. It’s not like we don’t have the manpower to keep us safe.” I motioned to the four walls of guards surrounding us.
“I agree,” Lorne said. “It’s the quickest way to find a sample of the poison. If it’s on Telnon right now, it’ll be at a black market.” Lorne finally looked at Vyic. “Where is the black market exactly?”
“No. Absolutely not. This is a terrible idea,” Fynea said before Vyic could answer. “We’ve already had two run-ins with SpaceTech tonight. One that activated your lucole, and another here, just moments ago, that nearly activated it again. Not only that, but our future High Queen is involved in a scandal and—”
A scandal? What scandal?
Because of Grugitrg? If that’s what she was talking about, Fynea was being seriously dramatic. “I wouldn’t call finding a dead body a scandal.” It’d been a little more than just finding a dead body, but whatever. That’s essentially what it boiled down to.
“It’s a little scandalous.” Roan was still focused on the gun in his hand, but apparently he was still listening.
Roan was on Fynea’s side? “Seriously?” I hadn’t done anything wrong except maybe scare Grugitrg enough that he ran into an early death.
“You were talking to a guy who then tore out of the room, you chased after him, and then he blew the hell up.” Roan put the gun in his pocket, and I glanced at Eshrin. We were going to need to steal that back. Soon.