by Vi Voxley
When Faren met her eyes just briefly, his cold gaze seemed to strip her naked to her soul in an instant. His head inclined just slightly, then he turned back to Diego.
He knows. How does he always know?
Atren acknowledged her with a clear nod. From what Deliya had told her, Atren was the “follower general”. Elected to his position by his warriors, he displayed the battle prowess befitting a Brion general, but lacked Gawen’s unpredictable temper. Considering the fact Gawen had been an extraordinary fighter, Atren must never have dreamed of actually being a general himself, despite being Gawen’s second-in-command for a long time. Diego had removed the obstacle for him.
“He is young,” Deliya had told her, when Isolde asked for her impression of the new commander. “He’s tried to become like Diego and Faren his whole life. He will tumble over his own feet trying to prove himself to them.”
On Terra, Atren would have been a huge guy and handsome enough to make Isolde drool, but among the Brions, he was shorter than both the other generals and didn’t catch her eye for a moment when matched against Diego.
Her general didn’t bother introducing her to Deliya and Narath, still her guards, standing away from her at that moment to show they stood equal. Deliya still kept close to Isolde, but Narath stood by the couch of the only person sitting down, the only non-warrior in the room besides Isolde.
“This is Urenya,” Diego said simply.
Deliya had prepared Isolde for her as well. The general’s lifelong friend, the one who knew him better than anyone. A mere healer, no one questioned her presence. She was Narath’s gesha. She looked up at the huge warrior standing beside her – her petite build made even smaller by the fact she was sitting down, she must have looked like a doll in his hands in Isolde’s opinion. The look she gave her gerion was so gentle it wiped the smile off Isolde’s lips for a long moment before she remembered herself.
“And this is Aneya,” the general’s voice dragged her away from the jealousy she didn’t want to admit, much less feel. She wasn’t the type to hate seeing happy couples when she was miserable.
The Brions were great at one-upping, it seemed to Isolde. She’d thought Deliya was the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen, but even she paled next to the beauty appearing in one of the two holographic images. “Like his sister,” her guard had said and then shut up, hesitating before venturing on, “She will hate you. Hates you already. On Briolina, everyone thought she was going to be Diego’s gesha, but it didn’t happen.
“She adores him, but hates every other woman he’s even slightly close to – except Urenya, because she has her mate. Her family is powerful, half of them are on good terms with the senators or keep that office themselves. She’ll help.” Looking at the beauty, Isolde knew Deliya to be right – any Brion woman would have been glad for Diego, but this woman felt denied.
“Last but not least, this is our ally on the inside,” Diego said. Another Brion woman looked at Isolde, this one a warrior, clear from her valor squares, only in a senator’s robes.
Eleya. If Deliya is to be trusted, you will shoot us to pieces the minute we enter Briolina’s orbit.
A smile curled on the senator’s lips.
Oh shit. Not her too.
But it was obvious she wasn’t fooling this one either. When Diego motioned for Isolde to sit, she was thankful for the support it offered. Had she just given their lie away to a very potential enemy?
“Now, this is how we’ll win,” said Diego, and Isolde tried to focus her mind on her very first Brion war council.
When he was done, all eyes were on her.
They’re serious. They’re really serious. Only one woman can save them all – and that’s me.
Alright, Isolde thought, maybe she was being a bit over-dramatic, but not by a lot.
Long story short, they wanted her to save them. Nobody was volunteering to phrase it like that, but the message was pretty clear. They wanted her to save the people who had killed her research team and would have killed her as well, if not for some mitigating circumstances.
Ok, that wasn’t entirely fair.
They were not asking her to look the killers in the eye and forgive them. Instead, they were asking her to do the job she had been tasked with, and to somehow intertwine that with lying to the whole galaxy and save the Brions’ collective asses from rightful justice. Save the galaxy from civil war. It was already unavoidable that the Brions would have a civil war themselves, but Isolde suddenly found herself in a unique position to keep the bloodshed contained to just one species.
She had to go to Rhea and do what the Elders had – hopefully – intended. Share the rich planet with the rest of the galaxy, but hide the fact they’d used it for a while. As a researcher, she could make sure that the research team wouldn’t dig too deep, and that little, no, huge fucking lie never came out. Their report was all the majority of the galaxy were ever going to see or hear of Rhea, after all.
It made her dizzy. She hid not answering at once behind a look of fear, which wasn’t exactly a lie. Wherever she looked, the future held just bad and worse.
What wasn’t fair was that Diego had certainly known what they’d ask of her and had not warned her beforehand. Now she couldn’t say no.
He seems not to like that word from my mouth, she thought bitterly.
Not that she would. Isolde prided herself on few things, her professional skills being one of them and not wanting to be responsible for a war was another. She wasn’t the if-I-go-down-I’ll-take-you-all-with-me type.
“Will you do it?” Urenya asked when she’d been silent for too long.
Go to Rhea. Do her job. Cover up the great Brion lie. Or try, at least. All of that on top of the other lie.
She didn’t want to, by gods how she didn’t want to. The alternative, however, was to refuse. That would not only get her killed in all likelihood, as only being Diego’s gesha had kept her safe so far, it would get a lot of innocent people killed as well. Everything Diego was saying, in a slow and careful way as to make sure she understood it all, was correct. The Galactic Union would go to war for Rhea.
The peace they’d held since before Isolde was born would be history. Old feuds would awaken, the GU’s policy of peace would take a heavy hit, and whoever won in the end wouldn’t be a winner at all, because everyone would come off worse than they began.
There was no refusing. Not because she was afraid for her life or because they were pretty much threatening her, but Isolde Fenner wasn’t going to bring a galaxy to war if she could help it.
“Yes,” she said, standing. Avoiding Diego, who they assumed would know her mind anyway, she spoke mainly to Faren and Eleya. “I will do what you ask. I will try my best. But someone killed my research team. Someone is responsible for that. I want to see them punished for it.” She searched for words that would make sense to them. “I cannot forgive that crime.”
Faren, as much as she could read his expressions, seemed amused but said nothing. Eleya was smiling, for some reason reminding her of a viper ready to strike.
“We all knew, human,” she said languidly. “I did not personally give the kill order, but I approved it. In fact, I even told Diego to kill you. I am still not entirely convinced we should trust you. If it were the will of the Elders, none of us would be here objecting. Neither Faren, Atren or your gerion pulled the trigger, but they would have had they been ordered to do so. Would you punish us all?”
Isolde hesitated. She knew she was being provoked. The senator had a point, which was the problem. They all knew she had to hate them for what they were a part of.
She realized why Diego hadn’t warned her – this was not a meeting, this was a test. For her. If she could sell it to them, if she could convince these eight people that she was on their side, all of it might still work out.
Better the devil you know.
“You’re not actively trying to bring the galaxy to war. You’re trying to amend the damage that was done. You’re willin
g to share Rhea. Maybe you’re not fighting for the same reasons I am, but we have the same enemies. We can all keep our own motives.” And please let it all be true.
For a moment, she was afraid that it was not. They were Brions, after all. War was a natural state to them and Rhea was a jewel. Then Eleya smiled and Isolde thought she felt Diego relax, standing beside her.
“Well put,” the senator said. “However…”
Isolde’s blood ran cold. What now?
“As I said, I approved of the attacks and I do not exactly like sharing Rhea, although I will obey the Elders. It took some time for Diego to convince me that I was not following their orders. Do you understand that if your gerion is wrong, every last one of us would slay you where you stand?”
There was something vicious about her, so vicious that despite being among the Brions for more than a week now, Isolde feared for her life. Suddenly the overwhelming strength of the Brion generals seemed so very vivid to her. She was walking in a nest of vipers.
Sell it! You have to give the right answer.
“I understand,” she said, though her voice shook. “But he is not wrong. I trust him.”
She felt his hand on her shoulder, letting her know she had done well. It sent pleasant vibrations all through her body, followed closely by regret.
Then the holoimage of Eleya visibly relaxed, her eyes becoming kinder up to the point Isolde could no longer imagine finding her scary. “Alright,” the senator said. “Then I am with you, Grothan.”
As they set to laying down the details of their plan, Isolde knew the reason she’d been able to convince Eleya was that she hadn’t, ultimately, lied. She did trust Diego, at least in that, but whatever she had said to keep their deception alive, she did not forgive. Not him, nor any of them. They were simply the lesser of two evils.
All throughout the meeting, Diego’s hands brushed against the curls of her hair or against her bare skin, half the time Isolde didn’t even realize she had lifted her own to respond to the touch or leaned against him. At regular intervals, increasing as the day went on, she looked to him to always find him watching, his eyes kind and loving. All lies.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Diego
Isolde did well.
Diego felt he should have been happier. It had taken days of convincing and all his diplomacy to get Eleya to even consider hearing him out. Given that he usually handled problems with the sharp edge of his spear and Eleya was more stubborn than all the Brion generals put together, that was a victory in itself, one he would receive no laurels for.
Not even bringing up Senator Eren’s hated name had immediately brought her on board. Generally, mentioning him seemed to set a lot of wheels in motion one way or another. Many supported him, but there were equally many who would gladly oppose him. Diego thought back to their last conversation about Isolde’s fate – he now held a personal vendetta against the senator.
But the day finally arrived when Eleya was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt and he got to explain what he’d already told Faren, and the senator’s face had been serious. All manner of bravado and boasting were gone when there was talk of the future of the Brions.
Eleya had agreed to give Isolde the same benefit of the doubt. She’d demanded the human come to the meeting, so she could see and judge her for herself. Diego had seldom felt such dread before a meeting. Without Eleya, they would have gone to Briolina practically blind and mute, with the senators lining up all their defenses. It was essential that Isolde play along.
She had done well. Diego doubted the binding lie passed Eleya’s perception, but she would hardly care. It was more important that Isolde had managed to convince her she would do her part. That, at least, made her safe with their allies.
Yes. Isolde had done… well, and he, escorting his gesha back to her rooms, was pulling off the act. It was like walking on coals, which he’d actually done.
Her scent was an aphrodisiac in a way that nearly overcame his self-control. Every look she sent him, coyly watching him from under those long eyelashes… there was no mistaking the lust, nor the need. The way her long silky hair felt under his fingers was driving him insane with desire to bury his hand in them, pull her close and kiss the air out of her lungs, bury himself in her warmth, have those eyes cloud over in pleasure as he drove deeper and deeper into her…
Coal. He would have preferred coal to holding Isolde in his arms like this, a mockery of what was supposed to be his, was his and denied to him. It would have been better if they’d been systems apart, with only her memory to sustain his needs. Much better than to act out the binding, to pretend to have everything you ever wanted but kept away from it.
It was physical torment. The moment the door closed behind them in Isolde’s quarters, he released her and stepped away. He had to get out of there, away, far away before he went completely insane. Yet he had to spend at least some time in her rooms not to arouse suspicion as to why they were avoiding each other. It was unnatural for a bound couple. Isolde was looking at him with that ever-cursed fear.
“Do not look at me like that,” he snarled, making her back away even further. “How many times do I have to repeat myself? I will never hurt you.”
“You can’t promise that,” she said, her voice trembling with something he couldn’t identify. He had tried to tune out every sign her body gave him, another torture to add to the ones already plaguing him.
He had noticed that when she was mad, or worse – upset, or worse – scared, her voice seemed to hurt him as well. It was as if when she was happy with him, her voice soothed his very soul, and when she was not, it literally hurt him. He could not bear it. Couldn’t bear the thought of being the cause of her pain.
“Of course I can,” he snapped, a bit harsher than he’d intended, but the anger was becoming harder to control. Not anger at her, exactly – he couldn’t bring himself to be angry with her – the situation in general, rather. “My word is my pledge. I will never lay a hand on you.”
“Not what I meant,” Isolde said then, very quietly, her eyes still wide with… fear? Diego wasn’t suddenly so sure.
Isolde’s beautiful green eyes were big, focusing entirely on him – he’d thought it signified fear, did it not? Yet she approached him with caution, reaching out to lay one gentle hand on his arm.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to make anyone suffer like this.”
In hindsight, as Diego thought over the rushing emotions and Isolde’s voice ringing softly in his ears, he should have known better. He could fool most anyone. After all, they were meant for each other, the pretense came easily, if not without a cost. But he should have known that the one he most certainly could not fool was Isolde. She had to have seen through him without even trying, must have seen the pain she was causing him.
She did not fear him. It was obvious to him that Isolde saw him hurt and suffered because of it. That just proved the binding was real, but how could he make Isolde understand that? Frustration rose to the surface again, washing away all the calm her touch had brought. He moved a step closer, to try and find words with which to explain, only to have her back away, the message clear in her eyes – don’t.
He changed the topic to take his mind off the fact things were about to get so much worse. “Did you understand everything that is expected of you on Briolina and on Rhea?”
Isolde nodded, visibly relaxing a bit. It hurt him on a level he couldn’t even discern. She paced around the room, removing the jewels she apparently found uncomfortable to wear in her own time from her hair. Diego’s eyes clung to her curves as she walked, gorgeous in the dim light of the room now that Isolde’s eyes were slowly getting used to the light settings on Brion ships. She shone like a star, the way the dress flowed over her ass making his mouth water.
He swallowed hard, his cock straining against the tight armor he wore, a constant reminder of his need to claim her, pound himself into her soft, wet heat, feel her flesh throb in
pleasure against him. He was on the verge of asking Isolde to stay still and stop her maddening teasing, but caught himself. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, not to mention he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to stop when he found even the torture so deliciously exciting.
“I think I do, yes,” Isolde was saying. “I… I will worry about Rhea when we get there. I’m much more concerned about Briolina. The senators, they…”
She caught his eyes and now there was concern in them. “Are you sure we can trust Senator Eleya?”
Diego found he was still able to grin, at least. Not all life had been drained from him, it seemed. “Generally, I wouldn’t trust that one if I held her at gunpoint, but I will trust her in this, yes.”
“Why?” Isolde asked.
“She has her reasons. Trust me.”
When Isolde remained suspicious, reality crashed back like a bucket of ice cold water. It should have been, no, it could have been so easy. A gesha trusted her gerion and his judgment and vice versa. Yet here he was, having to prove his every word to her.
“Does she hope to be a general again if she helps you?” Isolde ventured.
Clever girl. At least you have a friend on the ship, if you will not trust me. But no. Lie.
“Perhaps,” he allowed, twisting the truth instead. “Among other things. But you heard her, she believes, as I do, that the senators are acting in their own interests.”
“She is a senator.”
Another grin – Diego hated it as much as he loved it. She was so amazingly stubborn. He would have liked nothing better than to hold her against him, laugh with her, ease her worries, and make her smile in return. “Not truly. Not like the others.”
She seemed to accept that, at least.
“Things will be expected of us on Briolina,” Diego took the opportunity to say. “Not all bound couples are the same, and no two act alike, but we have to remain close to each other while we are there. All eyes will be on us. Not just the Brions, but the galaxy will take interest as well, as soon as this gets out. There are the GU’s ambassadors on Briolina. If it looks for a moment that I am…” he took a breath to calm himself, “holding you against your will, they will report it to the Council. Those who hate us will do it anyway. The more honest ones will look for an excuse first. The humans will be shocked and the Palians will suspect foul play.”