Instinctual (Rise of the Iliri Book 2)

by Auryn Hadley

  "Who?" she asked, getting right to the point.

  He smiled deviously. "They gave you options. King Jensen is leaning to Terric and we can't have that. You're to assassinate him and his son in Bysno. His cousin might be an option."

  "Or?"

  Ran chuckled. "You're good. The Marquis of Valmere, Sal. He's known to be intrigued by iliri. If the others prove to be unsuitable, Valmere is an option."

  Her white eyes met his, and he watched her take a long, deep breath. "You understand more than I thought," she admitted.

  Ran smiled back knowingly. "The Lord of Eriwald, the King's cousin, can be played easy. His wife cheated on him and ran off, supposedly with a Conglomerate man. Things are a lot different up there. That's a pretty heavy blow to a man's pride and political aspirations. He wouldn't serve well as King because of it, and we can make a good case for his hate of the CFC."

  "What does Parliament expect from me?"

  "Eriwald. They have no knowledge of his situation with his wife."

  "How do we know?"

  Ran smiled and glanced away. "I'm not sending one of my soldiers out without some better intel. I've had eyes in Anglia for a year."

  "Why are you telling me this now?" she asked. "Thought I got my orders in the morning."

  He gestured to the bathing room. "Sometimes things work out. I'm not sure I'd get the chance to warn you otherwise."

  "About?"

  "You already got the fourth shipment. I can't even breathe a word of that to anyone without first level clearance. Not sure why LT asked me to give you that, but I'm damned glad he did, now."

  "His idea? Not yours?" Ran nodded, making Sal smile. "Then that makes sense. You'll figure that out eventually; you're not that oblivious."

  He paused, his drink halfway to his mouth. "That was a hint, wasn't it?"

  She dipped her head. "Fair's fair."

  "Well, the point I was getting to," Ran continued, pushing that aside, "is that when you get the last shipment, you and Cyno are already part-way to Anglia. I highly suggest you take advantage of that."

  Sal thought about it before saying anything. Her eyes flicked around the room as her mind jumped from idea to idea. "What am I being court-martialed for?" she asked.

  Ran reached to the table beside him and tossed a newspaper at her. Across the top it read, "Salryc Luxx to Bring Back Pride to the Species."

  "I didn't ask them to print this, and," she smiled deviously, "I have an entire population willing to attest to that. Plenty of them with dull teeth."

  Ran nodded. "That's the backup plan, but it's easier if you simply follow orders. We can make the case in a Parliamentary hearing instead of a court-martial."

  "And you know Star Fall's compromised?"

  Again, he nodded. "Thought they were for a while. When Toth mentioned they'd be getting the fourth load, I knew it."

  "They're the eyes, I think," she said. "We're pretty sure they have orders to make problems for us."

  "We?"

  Sal looked at him blankly. "Don't ask and I won't lie to you."

  "Fair enough. Their orders come from above me?"

  "Toth," Sal said. "I'm not sure of that, not yet, but that's how it's looking."

  "I need to clean up this shit between you and Major Doll, Sal. Even if you're gone, he's going to keep pissing off the Blue Party. He'll end up busted back to Private."

  "Jase and I have that covered. Blaz Eason of the 112th, doesn't report to me, or me to him."

  Ran laughed, his whole belly shaking. "Does the poor boy know you're using him?"

  "It was his idea."

  His mirth vanished. "Shit. Jiesa?"

  She nodded. "I pinned my ears at the wrong time. I also just saved his horse." Sal held up her hand to stall his questions. "Long story, but we're just playing by Blaec's rules. Blaz has already started setting it up."

  "Is Cyno going to kill him?"

  "Why does everyone ask that?"

  "Because human or iliri, it's pretty obvious how he feels about you. If you haven't figured that out yet, you're a fool, girl."

  Sal grabbed her glass and took a long drink, Ran's eyes growing wide as she swallowed.

  "I don't know what to do with him, you know?"

  "Cyno?"

  She looked up, her eyes pleading, so like the daughter he should have had, then nodded. He reached over, offering his hand, and she took it, suddenly nothing more than a vulnerable girl.

  "I don't know who to talk to. My best friend is his best friend. Blaec is my lover. Shift doesn't understand why it's a problem."

  "Why is it a problem, Sal? I thought iliri accepted you having as many lovers as you want?"

  "But I don't!"

  "Why not?" he asked her gently, squeezing her hand. "Do you love him?"

  "Blaec, yeah," she said. "Jase? Ran, we're berserkers. That's why Blaec paired us, so we take it out on each other. I mean, the sex is great, but right now, that's all it is."

  "But you know him better than that, Sal. You've been his partner for months now. What's his hobby?"

  "He reads iliran histories. He is intrigued by the old Kaisaes."

  "He ever tell you about his family?"

  "Yeah, he has a mom here in Guttertown. Inessi Cynortas."

  "She know he's a Blade?"

  Sal shook her head. "He got conscripted and hasn't seen her since."

  "He could mail her a letter, you know," Ran pointed out.

  "Actually, no. She speaks little Glish and reads none. Our mail tends to get lost if it's not in your language."

  "Yeah. I can see that." He rubbed her fingers, hoping the gesture meant the same to her as it did to him. "But it sounds to me like you know quite a bit about him."

  Sal chuckled, admitting he was right. "He's a good guy. I mean he has an honesty and a dedication to him that I can't help but admire."

  "So what's the problem?"

  "Would you accept that?" she asked. "If you were my lover, would you just ignore me spending half my time with someone else?"

  "I'm human, Sal. You remind me of that pretty regularly. Is Blaec jealous?"

  "No," she whispered. "Not at all. Jase is."

  "I can see why. You keep sleeping with him and then ignoring him for your commanding officer. There's a lot of things there that hit a man's pride pretty hard. I can only guess an iliri's isn't that much different. Only thing worse, would be if Blaec was more pure than, Jase is it?"

  Sal nodded. "Yeah. Cyno's real name is Jassant. It's a bit of a mouthful, so I shortened it."

  "I think I'd be worried if Jase wasn't jealous. How do you feel about him, though?"

  "It's nothing like how I feel about Blaec."

  "That's not what I asked, and you of all people know to listen to a question better than that."

  "He scares me a bit. I feel like he was made for me. Everything about Jase is perfect, and it's terrifying. Everything, Ran. I get jacked in Escea and he's there before I even hit the ground, setting off the maast just enough to keep the fear away, but not so much that I'd go feral. I have a bad day and he throws a sparring match to make me laugh. He looks at me like I'm beautiful and he is so patient with everything I don't know. How can he be like this and be real?"

  "Oh, he's real enough. He's also not as perfect to the rest of the world as he is to you. Sal, sometimes we just meet people who fulfill our own needs, and that's ok. When it happens, you shouldn't run away from it."

  "But Blaec..."

  He held up a hand, stopping her mid-sentence. "Blaec Doll is a grown man, able to tell you when things upset him. If he hasn't said it yet, then he's not going to. He keeps things pretty damned close, but he'll tell you before you cross the line. Stop over-thinking this. It's not espionage. Sometimes it really is this simple."

  "I told Blaec I'm spending a few days with Jase. Both to quiet some rumors and to see where we stand, you know?"

  "Very practical," he teased.

  Sal nodded, biting at her lower lip. "I can't believe I'm t
alking to you like this. I can't believe I'm telling you all this!"

  "It's just a drink between friends, Sal."

  "I know, but," Sal laughed suddenly. "Remember when I told you I had no clue about my instincts?"

  Ran nodded. "Remember when I told you that I wanted to be your friend as well as your commanding officer?"

  She paused. "You read my entire file?"

  He knew where she was going. "Yeah, I did. Men paid a lot of money to spend time with you."

  She nodded. "That's all I know how to do. That and kill, and the killing part's natural."

  "So's falling in love. It's not always easy, but it's kinda the most natural thing any animal – human, iliri, dog, swan, or whatever – can do."

  "So I should just go with it?"

  "I'm going to tell you something that not a lot of people know. When I was a few years older than you, I met a girl. I had my unit making headlines and we were the darling of the military. I thought I had it all going for me, and this girl..." He chuckled, remembering.

  "I kept running into her. We had a few wild nights but I was too busy thinking of my fame and fortune to stop and pay attention. She was everything I'd ever wanted: smart, pretty, and about as spunky as they come. I was entranced, but I kept thinking that she was always trying to be what I wanted, just because of that fame and fortune I'd been chasing. When she said she wanted to spend the rest of her life with me, I laughed it off. When we got back from the next mission, she was gone."

  "What happened?" Sal asked, hanging on his words.

  "I thought too much about it. She left me a letter, said she didn't want to just be my play thing. She wanted to be loved back, and she'd waited long enough for a hint or a sign from me. Said she had to give up eventually and live her own life." Ran chuckled and wiped at the corner of his eye. "I've never seen her again. I lost the best thing in my life because I tried to think too much."

  "I'm sorry," Sal said gently.

  "Me too. Don't be like me, ok? There's more to life than being a soldier."

  "Ran?" She looked up at him with a sad smile.

  "Yeah, kid?"

  "You're not like the rest of them, you know that?"

  "Humans?"

  She nodded. "You're like Zep. I think you get it."

  "Then just let me know when you trust me, ok?"

  "I'm trying," she told him. "I respect you, sir, but trust is a lot harder to get. I kinda want to, though."

  Chapter 25

  The sky was lined in pinks and oranges when Sal finally made her way to check on Blaz's horse. The interior of the barn was dim, the lights still unlit, and the horses were content with munching on their hay. Sal walked past Arden's empty stall, suddenly missing her mare even though she knew she was fine, and she continued down the alley until she found the large black horse. Rax wasn't even polite enough to lift his head from the manger, so Sal slipped inside his stall.

  He flicked his head at her, worried she'd pull him away from his dinner, but Sal just patted his shoulder. She checked his legs, looking for a hint that he would be anything other than sound, and found nothing.

  "Hey," she heard behind her, and turned, seeing Tilso looking through the bars. He nodded. "Ok, it's you. He's looking good for having," Tilso shook his head, smothering the laugh, "a dislocated carpus."

  "Shift's work," Sal said. "You get a chance to check him yet?"

  "Nah. I'll lunge him tomorrow and make sure there's nothing else out. You know how he got hurt?"

  Sal shrugged. "Combat?"

  "I'm guessing he fell, though?"

  "Probably."

  Tilso leaned against the stall and watched Sal for a moment before he asked, "Why are we working so hard on someone else's horse?"

  "Because I'm about to be in Blaz's debt. That doesn't make sense now, but trust me?"

  "Always. I just didn't know how much effort you wanted me to put into him."

  "It's going to be a real big debt." She flicked her ear back at a noise in the barn. "And we have company."

  Tilso nodded, stepping back into the aisle as he struck up a false conversation. "Yeah, I mean, he seems to be sound on it. I bet it was a mess when it happened, though. You sure he's going to take good care of Arden?"

  "Tilso, if you'd seen him with Rax, you wouldn't ask me that," she replied, catching sight of a group of three recruits.

  "Yeah," he said, seeing them, too. "Already told LT, but I know you were speaking with Sturmgren earlier. Had a bit of a problem when you all weren't back for today's trial."

  "Seriously?" Sal growled.

  "It's fine now. I saw them gathering and told them the trials were postponed a day due to an emergency that required the Blades. The entire compound was empty, so it was pretty obvious."

  "And the problem?" she asked softly.

  "Calon doesn't like listening to anyone that doesn't outrank him."

  Sal nodded, leaning against the front of Rax's stall, one ear listening to the men at the far end of the barn. "So I guess someone's heading over to talk to them?"

  "Yeah, and I'm not getting close to that fuck again."

  Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him. "He hit you?"

  "Put my ass in the ground without warning. I'm not a soldier, but I work with horses enough that I'm not exactly slow. He would have done more than put me in the dirt if it wasn't for that cocky bastard, and the pale one."

  Somehow she knew exactly who he was talking about. "Tane Geoni and Zyrn Audgan?"

  "Geoni, yes. I don't know the other one's name, but he fought Cyno."

  "Yeah, that's the one. So why are those three here?"

  "Because they were the only ones who actually got involved," Tilso explained. "Who's that walking up from the arena?"

  Sal turned and looked. The First Officer stormed across the sand, making his way into the barn. "It's Arctic. Gimme a sec, and I'll find out what's up." She reached out with her mind to the First Officer and asked, Tilso told me what happened. What're we doing with them?

  Cutting Calon and making it a pretty public deal. LT's on his way. Ran let you go?

  Yep. I need both of you when we're done here. He gave me some good stuff, she told him.

  Can do. And Tilso wanted to thank the other two, and so does LT. Glad you could make this, Sal. LT wants to gut the fucker. Arctic's anger was clear in his mental voice.

  "You wanted to thank someone?" Sal asked Tilso softly.

  He nodded.

  "Well, stick around."

  He chuckled and patted her shoulder. "Useful. No wonder Risk always had meetings that he forgot to mention, and they were always in five minutes."

  Sal smothered her laugh and nodded. "Welcome to the family, little brother."

  "Why do I get to be the little brother?" he asked. "I'm taller than you."

  Sal shrugged. "Someone has to be my little brother. Might as well be you. Besides, you're younger."

  "A year," Tilso grumbled.

  "Attention!" Arctic yelled as his feet hit the inside of the barn.

  Sal stood straight and the three recruits snapped into place quickly. Arctic glanced at her as he passed and she fell in at his side, wiping all emotion from her face. When they reached the three men, Blaec entered behind them. Sal and Arctic halted in unison, falling to an easy parade rest.

  "At ease," Blaec growled, stepping around the men. "Would any one of you like to explain to me what happened today?"

  The three men said nothing, they simply stared ahead stoically.

  Glad you could make this, Blaec thought to Sal. You want the first chance to rip them?

  Sure. Sal stepped forward and snarled. "That was not a rhetorical question. Someone start talking. Now!"

  "Sir," Audgan and Geoni said at the same time.

  "You first," Sal told the darker man.

  Geoni nodded. "Sir, we all arrived for the scheduled trial, unaware that the elites had left before dawn. Your stable man, there," he pointed behind her at Tilso, "came out, and informed us that tod
ay's trial would be postponed."

  "I see," Sal said, interrupting him. She turned to Audgan. "Is that how it was?"

  "Yes, sir," Audgan said, his voice more confident than she'd expected. "He dismissed us and told us to meet at the same place and time tomorrow unless we received orders before then. Calon wasn't happy with that answer."

  "Not happy?" Geoni interrupted. "He grounded the man!"

  Audgan nodded. "So he attacked the civilian," he continued as if Geoni hadn't spoken. "We managed to pull him off and an off-duty officer broke up the disturbance."

  Sal turned to Geoni and raised an eyebrow.

  "Audgan got to him first and knocked him off the stableman – I didn't know his position, but I know he's a civilian. Calon wouldn't stop fighting, so the two of us decided to make him stop, and we were throwing some pretty good hits around when the officer interrupted."

  "I see," Arctic said, and Sal stepped back. "And were you two trying to injure a superior officer? Are the two of you aware that Corporal Calon out ranks you both?"

  "Court-martial me," Geoni said, "but yeah. I don't give a fuck who it is. We don't beat civilians."

  "Technically," Audgan said, "we were simply attempting to protect the civilian, as is our first duty as soldiers of the CFC, sirs. While Corporal Calon is a superior officer, he violated the first oath we all take, which grants both Geoni and myself the authorization to use whatever force is necessary."

  Arctic nodded.

  "Who else assisted you?" Blaec asked, glancing once at the human beside them.

  "No one, sir," Audgan answered. Geoni simply nodded in agreement, realizing his temper would do him little good.

  "Corporal?" Blaec asked, turning to Calon, finally. "Would you like to clarify anything they said?"

  Sal could smell the anger simmering from the human even before he spoke.

  "Yes. Their story is designed to discredit me," Calon said calmly and professionally. "Sir, I admit, I did knock the Stablemaster to the ground, but it was simply an accident. My intention was to step toward him, when I misjudged the depth of the sand, causing me to lurch forward."

  "Horse shit," Sal heard behind her. "I don't even know what the fuck you're talking about, boy, and I know that's nothing but a pile of horse shit deeper than the compost heap." Both Sal and Arctic ducked their heads as Ran Sturmgren strode beside them. "Came to see how the 112th's horse was doing, to see if we'll need a replacement. Good work on that, by the way. He's worth a small fortune."