Narpok climbed to her feet, angling her body to stay out of Ket’s line of fire. She glared at Tasha.
Ket’s disgustingly merry voice asked, “Are you all right, Matara?”
The Kalquorian woman’s gaze bore into Tasha’s. “I’ve had better days. But I’ve also had better opponents.” With that, she moved like lightning, jerking the firewood from Tasha’s hand. She held it up over one shoulder, like a batter ready to hit a homerun. Tasha braced herself.
Ket laughed again, his eyes shifting to keep Tasha, Wekniz, Falinset, and Nur in view. “I told you we’d make a perfect pair, Matara. We could win the rebellion on our own, I think.”
A smile pulled one corner of Narpok’s mouth up. “You think so, huh? Duck, Tasha.”
With that note of warning, Narpok moved in a blur yet again. With a gasp, Tasha dropped to the floor as the other woman pivoted, swinging the chunk of wood. It whistled over Tasha’s head. Narpok kept turning, coming around with her reach extending. Ket’s eyes widened just a bit before the wood hit him on the side of the head, much as it had Narpok.
His blaster went off, the percussive blast making Tasha’s ears ring as Nur yelled a warning. There was a flash of movement, ending with Wekniz bowling Ket over.
The brute had lost hold of Noelle when Narpok hit him. The Kalquorian woman dropped the length of wood and leaped forward, catching the falling child before she could hit the floor. As Wekniz wrenched the blaster from his stunned opponent, Narpok rolled away, clutching Noelle to her chest. Falinset and Nur jumped on top of Ket, helping Wekniz overcome the battle-trained soldier.
Tasha saw it all happen though it was so fast she didn’t have time to immediately figure out what had happened. As her brain started to catch up, Narpok cradled Noelle, rocking the weeping child and kissing the top of her head.
“It’s all right, my princess. He won’t hurt you. No one will. I won’t let them.” She looked at the group, all of whom stared at her in shock. Narpok gave them a tight smile. “If you’ll secure that asshole, I think I can get Noelle home to her mother.”
Chapter 24
Beneath the three men holding him down, Ket groaned. Tasha looked at him and noted his head was bleeding where Narpok had whacked him. He looked dazed.
Wekniz shook off his astonishment and yanked his strap off his waist. He and the other two men rolled Ket over. Wekniz bound his hands behind his back. Falinset used his belt to tie his half-brother’s ankles together.
“Will that hold him?” Tasha asked. She knew Nobeks, particularly soldiers, were trained to escape all kinds of situations.
Narpok spoke up again. “I have sedatives. We could knock him out for several hours.”
Falinset bared his fangs. “I’d rather see his throat cut.”
Narpok stood, still holding onto Noelle who goggled at her. “For what I have in mind, we may need him yet. I hope not, but you never know. Besides, he might be worth keeping alive.”
Before anyone could answer her, Noelle piped up. “Did Mommy send you?”
Narpok smiled down at her, her strained face softening as she gazed at the little girl. “Not quite. She may know I’ve come here by now.”
“I don’t suppose you want to explain what’s going on?” Tasha asked. She was barely keeping herself from leaping at Narpok to snatch Noelle away. But the woman had taken Ket out … and saved Tasha’s life.
Narpok said, “When Sitrel took me shopping before we came here, I was able to slip away from him for about an hour. I gave a message to the Imperial Sister’s Imdiko … the one who owns the restaurant in the marketplace?”
“Vax?”
Narpok nodded. “I asked him to pass the message on to Emperor Bevau. The message contained information about who had taken me from the hospital and where I was headed … and that I hoped to somehow get in contact with the Basma and locate Noelle.”
“They know we’re here?” Tasha’s heart lit with hope.
Narpok shook her head. “I had no idea Maf was the Basma or that I’d find Noelle here on Lobam. I could only say that Maf might have ties to the rebellion and I would be visiting his son’s clan to find out more.” She glanced at the window vids worriedly. “Look, it’s a complex story. I’ll have to give you just the bare details because if Ket followed me here, his men might be right behind me.”
Ket’s growl rose from the floor. “The Basma will not care you are pure Kalquorian, you witch. He will execute you with the rest of the Earther slime.”
Tasha’s heart leaped. At least some of the Earther abductees were still alive. She hadn’t failed them yet.
Meanwhile, Wekniz gave the back of the other Nobek’s head a hard slap. “Give me the sedative,” he told Narpok.
She dug into the pocket of her jacket and took out a medical injector. She passed it to Wekniz. “It’s got several doses of satedil,” she told him. “From my father Pwaldur’s supply that he kept on hand. Apparently investigators missed it when they searched the house after … after he turned traitor. It’s a few years old, so it may have lost some of its effectiveness.”
There was a coldness in her tone when she spoke her deceased father’s name. Ket growled threateningly, but Wekniz ignored him. The injector hissed against the prisoner’s neck and his head thumped to the floor. “It still works,” Wekniz said.
“Tell us what we need to know,” Falinset urged Narpok as he climbed to his feet and pulled the oxygen mask from his face. The other two followed suit. Everyone looked at Narpok expectantly.
She said, “Sitrel showed up during my recreational period in the hospital’s garden. When he hinted I was to recover my claim as empress, I thought he might have something to do with the revolt – and Princess Noelle’s disappearance. He brought me to Dramok Maf, who said he knew the Basma. Hoping to get a lead on Princess Noelle, I went along with his stupid scheme to make his son love him.”
Falinset snorted and shook his head.
Narpok chuckled but sobered again and continued. “I just found out that he himself is the Basma. I was stunned, to say the least. And I saw the women he’s keeping prisoner, Earthers he kidnapped from Kalquor.”
“But what led you here today?” Nur asked. “Why come back?”
“I knew Noelle was here. I first suspected it when I found one of her hairs on the lounger when I came yesterday. And I smelled Earther in this room, which made me think Tasha could be here too.”
Tasha flushed as she realized what Narpok might have scented.
“Then I overheard that I was supposed to be exchanged for Noelle. Ket was only half-lying when he said Maf had given up on the deal. Today was your last chance,” she told Falinset.
Tasha spoke up. “The Earther women at the compound. You saw some still alive?”
“Over a dozen, by my count. And only for a little while.” Narpok’s face was troubled and she hugged Noelle close. “An attack against the Empire is imminent, a week away at most. Maf wants to use Noelle as a distraction while he moves everything in place.”
Falinset said, “You said you think you can get her out of here?”
Narpok hesitated, then nodded. “One of us could. If we can get Ket’s shuttle—”
Nur interrupted. “No one can get off the moon without clearance from Maf’s men. He’s got this place sealed tight.”
Narpok grinned. “Not quite. Ket bragged to me that he’s one of the few who doesn’t have to go through any security protocols. He claims he can come and go as he pleases. And that little bug of a shuttle is space worthy, right?”
They stared at her, thunderstruck for what felt to Tasha like the hundredth time since Narpok had shown up. Hope tugged at her, but she had to be sure of the other woman.
She said, “You were never known for selflessness, Narpok. Not to be a bitch, but that’s what I’ve heard.”
Narpok’s brows lowered, but she nodded. “It’s true. Even now, part of my drive to do this is to make men like Maf, Sitrel, and this fool suffer.” She jerked her chin in the dire
ction of the senseless Ket. “My father Pwaldur and his friends are out of my reach now. I can’t avenge myself on the dead. So I’m indulging my less noble instincts by screwing over men like them.”
Tasha had nothing to say to that. She could understand all too well the kind of rage that drove such actions.
Narpok looked at Noelle, who smiled up at her. The Kalquorian woman’s face softened. A hint of wistfulness played about her expression.
She spoke directly to the child. “Mostly it’s for my princess and her mother that I am ready to do whatever I can to make things right. Noelle, do you know your wonderful laugh is the first thing I remember hearing after my breakdown?”
Noelle shook her head, not comprehending all that Narpok asked her. She beamed nevertheless. It was enough she’d done something good.
Narpok blinked back the tears brightening her eyes. “That laugh is the happiest sound I’ve ever heard. When it came to me in the dark place I had gone, I had to know where it was coming from. I followed it to see you playing in my room at the hospital. I kept coming back to reality to see you again.”
Now it was Tasha’s eyes filling to see the tenderness in Narpok’s expression, along with the utter devotion shining in her wan face. It hadn’t been medicine or psychotherapy that had coaxed Narpok back to life. It had been the magic of a child’s joy.
“I became aware that your mother and grandmother came to see me every day. They showed me kindness even though I gave nothing back. I still don’t know why, except that they are good people. And you – every time you and your brother Wayne came with them, I remembered how it felt to be an innocent child. How it felt to look forward to things.”
Noelle looked at her wonderingly. “You never talked to us.”
“I couldn’t, not then. I saw you as if from far away, and when I was alone I went back to that place where I couldn’t see anyone. But I always listened to hear any of you return. When you did, I watched you, and I felt life could maybe be good again. You did that for me. That is why I came looking for you.”
Tasha’s tears overflowed. Nur looked as if he too teetered on the edge of great emotion. Falinset and Wekniz gazed at Narpok with compassion. “You certainly had us fooled,” Falinset murmured.
Tasha hesitantly approached Narpok. She’d never visited her in the hospital, had never thought twice about Jessica’s former rival. Guilt crowded in as she put a hand on Narpok’s arm. “Thank you. I know none of what you’ve done has been for me, but thank you anyway.”
Narpok smiled at her. “It’s for all of us who have ever been hurt by monsters devoted to power.” She drew in a breath, as if pulling herself together. Her gaze fell on the silent and trussed Ket, and her brows drew together. “But when this is over, I’ll cheer you on while you take off the head I dented.”
Tasha hoped that opportunity would come sooner rather than later.
They agreed Sitrel could come looking for Narpok at any moment. The guards might take it in their heads to investigate why Ket was staying so long in a place he was never welcome. The group made hurried plans.
What they came up with was shaky at best, downright deadly at worse. There was arguing as they discussed the best way to proceed. The dispute was settled only because they had to act fast. With Ket unconscious on the floor, they were out of time. They agreed as uncertain as their strategy was, they had no choice but to try.
While they schemed, Noelle fell asleep on the floor among her vid animals. The holographic creatures cuddled around her, purring and snoring as if they too required rest. Narpok watched her, her expression alternating between fierce protectiveness and adoration. Tasha thought perhaps Narpok would be as savage a protector as Wekniz when it came to Noelle.
Jessica and her mother Tara’s kindness had wrought an amazing change, as had the innocence of a child. Narpok was not the woman the empress had fought against for her clan and throne.
When their plans were settled, Narpok rose to leave. For a moment she wavered, as if overtaken by dizziness. “You wouldn’t have any stim tabs, would you?” she asked Nur as her face went pale. “I’m still not quite as strong as I’d like to be.”
He found her a couple. As they watched her take them and shake off whatever fatigue had struck Falinset asked, “Are you sure you’re up for this?”
She smiled, grim and proud and somehow splendid in her worn majesty, Tasha thought. Perhaps Narpok was not as physically pleasing to the eye as she had once been, but her spirit had attained a magnificence that mere beauty couldn’t match.
“I am ready,” she asserted. “If I am not back in under two hours and you hear nothing, forget me. Whatever else you had planned, do it.”
She didn’t say goodbye. She walked out of the house, her head high.
Wekniz followed her to the door and walked her to the edge of the property, heading back to Maf’s beach house. He returned quickly.
“Two guards detained her momentarily,” he reported. “They wanted to know why Ket hadn’t come out yet. She told them he took advantage of our impending clanship to get falling down drunk on our liquor.”
“A wholly believable scenario,” Falinset snickered, giving his sedated brother a kick in the ass.
“No one looked surprised. Narpok gave them that whole ‘I’m better than you’ act and dismissed them like they were nothing.” Wekniz grinned in obvious appreciation.
Tasha felt a twinge and told herself it wasn’t jealousy.
Falinset wasn’t one to waste the little bit of time they had. His tone all business, he said, “All right. We have a lot to do to get ready. Wekniz, let’s get the home prepared for attack. Then you can show Tasha what she needs to know to use your equipment against our enemies.”
The Nobek eyed her. “I’d like you to use Ket’s blaster. Do you have any training?”
It was Tasha’s turn to straighten her spine. “Yes, I do.” She silently thanked her friend Bifen for showing her a thing or two.
Falinset looked at her with pleasure. “Let’s move.”
The group followed him back to Wekniz’s private room, their faces set in grim purpose.
Chapter 25
Over an hour later, everything in the house was in readiness for Narpok’s return. The clan and Tasha gathered in Wekniz’s private room. They had their weapons, most of which consisted of Wekniz’s fire-fighting implements. Tasha had Ket’s blaster, which she took the time to familiarize herself with. It was too big for her hands to handle comfortably, but she thought she could manage. The biggest problem she had was the heaviness of the weapon.
She griped good-naturedly, trying to keep their spirits up. “If I live through this, I’m going to start doing upper body exercises.”
Wekniz winked at her. “As long as you can lift that blaster high enough to take out their legs, we’ll count it as a win.”
Falinset was all business. “Once Noelle is out of here, stick close to Tasha, Wekniz. No one else can protect her better.”
Tasha gave him the evil eye. “I can deal out plenty of punishment myself.”
He finally smiled. “I know. There is no doubt we need you to make this happen.” The momentary sparkle was extinguished as agony filled his face and voice. “Damn it, why won’t you go with Noelle?”
“Because Narpok is enough to get her to safety.” There was more to it than that though. Much more. The feelings she didn’t want warred within her, feelings that matched the looks on the men’s faces, feelings that she’d never intended to have.
How had it happened? She’d built walls of distrust, built them high and thick. While a part had always ached for something special with another man or even a clan, she’d felt far safer chancing nothing. ‘Fuck them and leave them’ had become her way of living. She allowed moments of physical closeness without chancing her heart. But worrying over Noelle, trying her best to find some way to save her cousin and the women in the prison camp, she’d forgotten to keep her guard up … to keep the walls impregnable.
Clan
Falinset had found a way in. When she wasn’t looking, they’d gotten over the walls.
Well, no sense in worrying about it, she told herself. She probably wouldn’t live to regret it anyway.
She said, “I can’t leave you. Don’t ask why, because I don’t want to talk about it. I have to stay with you no matter how it turns out.”
Falinset stared. Disbelief filled his face. Then hope. And then terrible loss before he rushed forward to grab her. Nur and Wekniz were there too, and she didn’t know whose mouth she kissed, whose hands tore at her clothing, whose body she was running her hands all over. With no time left to them, they battled to take what they could win.
Even as Tasha yanked violently at Falinset’s shirt, opening it down the front so she could touch the gorgeous chest and abdomen beneath it, she felt him and the other two shoving her clothes impatiently to one side or another. They weren’t bothering to undress her; it was all about getting to what they wanted.
Her body was tightening all over, getting excited about being taken quickly and hard. She’d gone wet when Falinset had raced to her, and her body felt inflamed with desire as her blouse opened, as her bra was pushed up and over her breasts, as her skirt was rumpled by the impatient hands shoving at it.
The insanity of the moment managed to impress itself a little on her; as she put her mouth and hands on the men surrounding her, Tasha gasped, “There’s no time for this shit.”
It was Wekniz, looking maddened on both sides of his face who said, “This is the only time we’ve got.”
He grabbed her and laid her on the floor. Not taking his eyes off her, he told the other two men, “Watch the window vids. Set them to scan so we can see if anything is coming.”
With that, the Nobek tore his pants open. His pricks leaped out, swollen and ready. Tasha grabbed at his hips and pulled at him. He didn’t need encouragement. Wekniz swooped down and buried himself within her body in one hard shove.
Tasha bit her lips together against the scream that rose up her throat. Mindful of Noelle sleeping down the hall, she choked off her cry of mingled pleasure and pain as best she could. Wekniz rode her hard, his groin battering against hers, taking her with violent passion.
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