Immersed: Interplanetary League, Book 2

by Liz Craven

  It took two tries to get the words past her dry throat. “What did you give me?”

  Karia swiveled in her seat, a malicious smile on her face. “Kahana root. It puts your mind into a trance-like state and as it wears off, it breaks down into a chemical that causes paralysis. Don’t worry, you won’t suffer long.”

  Ilexa didn’t hold much hope the woman meant the effects would wear off quickly. “Where are you taking me?”

  “We’re not taking you anywhere. You’ve been stolen by a member of the Quixivon tribe. You’ll fight him, slip and fall into a fast-moving water rise. You’ll drown, but your corpse will be found with Quixivon tribal beads. We’ll accuse the Quixivon. They’ll deny it. Blood feud begins again, undoing your interference.”

  “You’re going to murder me to restart the feud?”

  Karia snorted. “That’s just an added benefit.”

  “Be quiet, Karia. There’s no need to tell her anything.”

  Ilexa silently thanked Nytham’s high-handed arrogance. Nothing could have better guaranteed Karia would continue to talk than the patronizing instruction to be silent.

  Karia tossed her head. “Who’s she going to tell?”

  Nytham growled. “Bragging isn’t becoming of the mother of the next Malkine.”

  That would have had Ilexa’s mouth dropping open if her muscles were working correctly. Was Karia carrying Nytham’s child? And what did that have to do with her?

  True to form, Karia ignored the rebuke. “We’re killing you to free Thane. The Malkias came from the Msaka line almost exclusively until a few generations back when the preference switched to my line. With you gone, I’ll marry Thane and the child we create will be the Malkine.”

  The unholy gleam in Karia’s eye wasn’t religious fervor but a lust for power.

  Ilexa’s struggles to formulate a response ceased as the transport stopped and Nytham announced, “This is the best spot.”

  She heard a door open and the thundering rains before it slammed shut again. While Nytham exited the transport, Karia climbed out of her seat to kneel at Ilexa’s side.

  “You don’t know for certain that you will marry Thane, much less conceive the Malkine.”

  Fury contorted Karia’s features. “I know.”

  “You are committing murder. Will your Deity allow the Malkine to be born to one who committed such a sin?”

  Hope surged in Ilexa’s chest as doubt clouded Karia’s face. Then the cloud cleared and hope withered with the words, “Genetics are not driven by religion. I will be mother to the next Malkine.”

  The woman produced a set of intricately carved beads. She lifted Ilexa’s head with a none-too-gentle hand and wrapped the strand repeatedly around Ilexa’s neck. When she finished, Karia shoved a ripped piece of cloth in Quixivon colors up Ilexa’s sleeve.

  Desperate, Ilexa pointed out, “They’ll autopsy my body.”

  “They won’t find anything. Kahana root is undetectable.”

  The door opened. “I’ve found a ledge. Is she ready? Water’s rising.”

  “She’s ready.”

  Nytham grabbed her calves and hauled her up over the seat and out the door. As her body slammed against every surface inside the transport, Ilexa discovered that kahana root did nothing to deaden nerve endings.

  Nytham slung her over his shoulder and without a word, walked about thirty paces from the transport and jumped down. They only fell a meter, but unable to see, Ilexa screamed when her stomach plunged with the fall. They landed on what she assumed was the aforementioned ledge.

  The lights from the transport cut through some of the rain, giving her greater field of vision than she’d had at the cave, but hanging over his back she could only guess about their forward progress.

  With no warning, she found herself unceremoniously dumped off his shoulder, landing with a hard thump that rattled her teeth and sent pain ricocheting through her body. She sprawled across the ledge flat on her back in an undignified position. Her head lay propped on a wayward rock, angling her so she could see Karia on the slight ridge above.

  Icy rain sheeted down on her and she blinked rapidly against it, thrilled that the muscles controlling her eyelids still worked. After a moment, she found herself worrying that she’d drown from the deluge rather than the rising water. Somehow, that seemed less dignified, and for some reason ticked her off.

  Nytham dusted his hands against each other as though he’d touched something filthy. He peered over the ledge behind her and gave a satisfied nod. “This will work. Water should crest the ledge in the next few minutes.” He turned back to Karia. “Let’s head back.”

  “We need to make certain she actually drowns.”

  “Water’s rising and we need to get back. The longer we’re gone, the greater the risk someone will realize we aren’t there. It might look suspicious later.”

  Karia looked behind her, tilting her head slightly up as though looking at something up a slope. She turned back to him. “We’ll have plenty of time before the water is a hindrance to the transport. We need to see this through. If something should happen, and she lives, our lives will be forfeit.”

  He studied Ilexa’s semi-prone form. “What could happen?”

  “Nothing I can think of, but it’s always the unthinkable that trips a person up.”

  “The risk of our being discovered missing is greater than the risk regarding Ilexa’s life.”

  Morbid humor at his word choice pierced her despair. Their definition of risk regarding her life diverged drastically from hers.

  While Nytham and Karia bickered, Ilexa considered using her gift to invade his body. He stood close enough that she could do it. Once she accessed his body, she could likely interrupt the electrical signals in his brain and trigger a seizure or even paralyze him.

  But doing so would mean forsaking her oath and she would not do that. Even if she did, it was no guarantee Karia would call for help. Instead, the warrior woman would be more apt to leave them both to die.

  “We’re going,” Nytham snapped and strode purposefully towards Karia.

  The rising water licked against Ilexa’s boots and calves.

  “The water’s rising faster than I expected. We’re going,” he repeated.

  Terror squeezed Ilexa’s chest and she fought to stay silent. She would not give them the satisfaction of hearing her scream.

  Nytham put a hand on the ridge, but before he could lever himself up, an orange glow bathed Karia and she crumpled to the ground. A figure appeared from behind the fallen woman. Though the rain obscured his features, she’d know that silhouette anywhere. Still, it took several heartbeats for her mind to process that Thane had come for her.

  And in the nick of time. The water covered her lower legs and climbed steadily upwards, lapping at the sides of her thighs and filling the hollow of her spine.

  “Pick her up and carry her to the transport,” Thane ordered with no inflection to his voice.

  “She’s ingested kahana root. Letting her die would be the merciful thing to do.”

  Until that moment, she hadn’t even considered the paralysis could be permanent. A soft whimper escaped her, drowned out by the rain and roaring water.

  “Pick her up and carry her to the transport.”

  “I won’t do that.” Nytham’s voice became as lacking in humanity as his son’s.

  Thane must have believed him, because he pulled the trigger. A faint yellow glow flashed at the barrel and the blaster began to beep the power-drained alert.

  “If you want a weapon to work, you have to keep it maintained,” Nytham sneered. “I taught you better than this.”

  “I’m taking Ilexa back to the keep.” Thane tossed the blaster aside and leapt down to stand toe-to-toe with his father.

  The cold water covered her from legs to waist and teased the underside of her breasts. She offered a blanket prayer to every god and goddess for herself and Thane. She couldn’t bring herself to include Karia and Nytham, even if it felt pett
y to exclude them.

  Nytham grabbed Thane’s shoulders. “Son, I’m doing this for you.”

  Thane knocked the hands from his shoulders and tried to step around the older man. Nytham blocked him and swept Thane’s leg out from under him. While the rising water rapidly covered Ilexa, it only reached mid-calf of the two men. Still, Thane landed with a splash.

  He shot back to his feet in an explosive movement, driving Nytham a few steps back. “I’m getting Ilexa, whether you agree or not.”

  “I can’t let you do that. You’ll thank me later.”

  Nytham rushed his son, but Thane sidestepped and drove a fist into his father’s stomach. Nytham recovered quickly, spinning to catch Thane under the chin with a right hook. Thane’s head snapped back, he countered with a left cross.

  She couldn’t hear the meaty sound of flesh hitting flesh over the roar of water. It had risen to cover her torso and to caress her neck and the sensitive skin beneath her chin. Panic, hope and guilt warred within her as she watched father and son try to tear each other apart over her.

  Nytham stumbled back and Thane advanced, carrying them out of her field of vision. She lay powerless to turn her head and follow them.

  The water covered her lips when she heard the high shrieking whine of metal scraping against metal. Thane shouted something that was lost in the metal clang. The water swallowed her, and the last thing she saw before the darkness took her was Nytham’s face flying at her.

  ***

  Her nose itched. She reached up to scratch it before realizing she shouldn’t be alive, much less able to move.

  Her eyes flew open and she discovered a familiar face hovering above her. “Tristan!”

  She sat up and flung her arms around her brother. He was handsome and dour—and she’d never seen a more welcome sight.

  He squeezed her so tightly she couldn’t draw breath. “By the Powers, brat. You scared the hell out of me.”

  When he released her, she pulled back enough to realize she lay in her bed at the Hakimu keep. “What—?”

  “Take it easy. You are still recovering.”

  “How—?”

  His sigh cut her off. “Marlus cleared the kahana root from your system. It did some damage, but with a little physical therapy, you’ll make a complete recovery.”

  “Marlus is here?”

  “And it’s a damned good thing he is. The Hakimu had you written off as untreatable.”

  Her mind spun with questions, but she focused on the most pressing. “Where’s Thane?”

  Tristan shifted to his right, revealing Thane in the chair behind him. Paler than she had ever seen him, he slouched down with his head tilted to the right and his eyes closed.

  Alarmed, she started shoving the covers off her legs, desperate to reach him.

  Tristan caught her arms. “He’s well. They slipped him something in his drink this morning so he’d sleep. He’s been awake for the three days you’ve been back.”

  “Three days?”

  “Fortunately, Marlus and I arrived shortly after Thane returned with you.”

  “Three days,” she breathed, stunned. “What happened?”

  “When Thane brought you in, they took you to the health center—”

  “Medical,” she corrected.

  “—and Marlus made them put you in here and set about removing the poison from your body.” Tristan grinned at her. “Wiped him out so bad it shut him up for a while.”

  She grinned back. Marlus would talk until a listener’s ears fell off—actually, he’d lecture until their ears fell off. Then he’d pick them up, reattach them and keep going.

  “He said the rest of your healing had to be done by your body.”

  She shook her head. “What are you doing here?”

  “We’ve been worried sick, so someone had to come check on you.”

  “Big Brother sent you.”

  A faint red stained his cheeks. “Not exactly.”

  She raised her brows. “You worried until you had to come check on me? Tristan, you are too sweet for words.”

  He glowered at her. “I am not. I’m a cold-hearted bastard and don’t you forget it.”

  “Of course you are,” she agreed with a chastened air, before ruining it by leaning up to kiss his cheek. “I’m so glad to see you.”

  He shook his head. “You are impossible.”

  “I try.” She glanced around the room. “Where is Marlus?”

  “He’s meeting with your friend Quatres. Looks like we’ll be taking him back to N’yota with us for training.”

  “I think he’ll enjoy that.”

  “What about you?”

  “Me? I’ve been trained,” she pointed out, confused.

  Tristan gave the annoyed-older-brother eye roll. “Will you be returning with us?”

  The question surprised her. “No. Didn’t Talon tell you? I’m marrying Thane.”

  “From what I understand, he married you, but you are still free.”

  “I’m marrying Thane,” she repeated quietly.

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I’m marrying him.” A thought crossed her mind. “Did Talon send you here to kidnap me from Thane?”

  Tristan barked a laugh. “No. I left N’yota a few days before your auspicious announcement. It takes time to get here, remember.”

  “He could have suggested it to you after you left.” She’d had a lifetime of dealing with meddlesome brothers to build a healthy level of suspicion when interacting with them.

  “He probably would have, but Bastian now outranks you on Big Brother’s shit list.”

  “Bastian’s a free spirit. Talon needs to accept that.”

  “Our free-spirited brother just registered ownership of a slave.”

  Ilexa gaped. “Slavery is illegal in the League. And even if it weren’t, Bastian would never own a slave.”

  “He does now.”

  “Never. Never. Never.”

  “And several of the oldest members of the League are grandfathered in on the slavery provision. Rykaya, Voltra, the Central Alliance—”

  “There’s no slavery in the Central Alliance.”

  “No, but technically it is on the books.”

  Her blood boiled. She and Thane were going to have a talk about changing “the books”. Then she and the Malkia. Then she and the entire Intertribal Council if it were necessary.

  “Lex, we don’t want you stuck here, married against your will.”

  She had to forcibly drag her thoughts away from the slavery issue and back to her brother. It took a moment to process the subject change. “I’m not stuck and I’m very willing.”

  A cloud passed over Tristan’s face and he glanced back at Thane.

  “What aren’t you telling me?”

  Her brother hesitated.

  “Tristan,” she warned.

  “Thane’s father…”

  She’d been trying very hard to not think about her abductors. “I assume he and Karia are under arrest.”

  “That bitch was, but she’s been sentenced. They branded her face with a T for traitor and threw her out. Apparently, the brands ensure no other tribe takes her in. Banishment means no one with speak to her or offer her shelter or aid until the day she dies.”

  The harshness of the punishment didn’t bother Ilexa. She knew it should, but she could still feel the water rising around her and it drowned out her sympathy. “What about Nytham?”

  “There’s no easy…” Tristan squared his shoulders, before saying starkly, “Thane decapitated him.”

  Ilexa leaned over the side of the bed and dry heaved.

  Tristan rubbed her back in soothing circles. “Nytham refused to allow Thane to save you. When the water covered you, Thane had no recourse.”

  Grateful that she’d had no food in her stomach, she pushed back into a sitting position. Tears flowed down her face. “He’ll never forgive me.”

  “There’s nothing to forgive, Lex. You didn’t do anything wrong.�
�

  She stared at him, knowing he believed it. But emotions weren’t logical. Because of her, Thane had been forced to kill his father.

  “There’s more.”

  “More?” she whispered, starting to feel a strange numbness.

  “Thane’s renounced his family name. Something no one has done in over a thousand years.” Tristan patted her hand in an awkward gesture of comfort and glanced back at Thane. “Without a family, he has no place in the tribe. He’s lost his position as a warrior leader.”

  “He’s not the Knife of the Hakimu?”

  “Maybe you should lie down. You look really bad.”

  “Tristan!”

  “He’ll get it all back when he obtains a family name, and he’s been offered hundreds.”

  “But…” She tried to articulate the visceral understanding that didn’t translate well to words. “He’s Thane Msaka.”

  Tristan’s eyes shone with an unusual light of sympathy. A memory ambled across her mind from childhood. She saw Tristan laughing and tossing her into the air. What had happened to make her brother so dour and unhappy?

  “Now, he’s just Thane,” Tristan said.

  She studied the man passed out in the chair making strange, snuffling noises through his nose. In her heart, he’d always been just Thane. “I can’t believe he did that.”

  “Close to eight hundred tribe members belonged to the Msaka family. They’ve all renounced their name.”

  “Because Nytham tried to kill me?”

  “Because of how Nytham tried to kill you. If you weren’t exempted from fighting, he could have challenged you to a duel and killed you.” Tristan gave a disbelieving shake of his head. “That would have been acceptable.”

  “So all those people are…nameless?”

  “Yep. Apparently, they renounced Msaka now to show support for Thane rather than wait until Thane found a new family and renouncing when they could obtain a name immediately.”

  “Why hasn’t he accepted a new family?”

  “The name he wants hasn’t been offered yet.”

  Ilexa began to get angry. “Anyone would be lucky to have him in their family. What family hasn’t offered?”