"You've come from ground zero?" the soldier asked, his eyebrows almost meeting his hairline.
"Yes."
The soldier brought his wrist-com device to his lips and repeated what Malachiax had just told him to someone on the other side of the line. He received a reply Samiah couldn’t hear from the car, but a second later, the soldier let them through. It didn’t take long for Samiah to notice their vehicle now had a royal escort. They crossed Serenity Lake until the hover transport stood over a platform. There was a whooshing sound before they felt the car move upward from the gust of pressurized air that propelled the vehicle in the direction of the Royal Castle of Argamanx, a grandiose construction that stood on the tallest and largest elevated grounds in Arcadia. It was no wonder Argor was the hub of their planet. To think that Lord Droom deemed it necessary to acquire even more power…. The thought alone gave Samiah shivers of dread. She hoped Malachiax was right about his uncle and he had a good reason for taking the Spheres of Sharra.
Once the hover transport leveled with the upper ground, they were instructed by the soldiers to exit the vehicle and continue on foot toward the castle. Their group huddled together, and soon they found themselves surrounded by Nox Elite soldiers instead of Royal Guards as was customary. The soldiers didn't glance in their direction or show any emotion. They were the most skilled soldiers in Argor's army and answered to Commander Haarx. No wonder they looked like winter statues.
They were led to Lord Droom's private office. Samiah let out a sigh of relief when she didn’t see Commander Haarx among their sovereign’s advisors. He must be busy somewhere else overseeing the city’s security.
The conversation in the room ceased as soon as their small group was announced. Samiah couldn’t be one hundred percent sure, but it seemed Lord Droom actually looked relieved to see Malachiax alive and well. He opened his mouth to say something when his gaze landed on Lochiana. Samiah glanced at her friend and noticed the unmistakable tension in her body. Lochiana’s jaw was locked tight, and her hands had curled into fists by her side.
Lord Droom stood from his chair and walked around the table without taking his eyes off his former fiancée.
“It’s been a long time, Lochiana.”
“Yes,” she said not showing an ounce of emotion.
They kept staring at each other for a long time until Malachiax cleared his throat to catch his uncle’s attention.
“We have important information regarding the invasion.”
Lord Droom finally ended his staring contest with Lochiana and shifted his unnerving gray eyes in Mal’s direction. “Go on.”
Malachiax spent several minutes giving a detailed account of the events from the time the portal opened until they arrived at the castle. He also managed to include the information they had learned from the Draki without mentioning them. They had agreed beforehand that all knowledge about the Myserians had been extracted by Samiah in the brief moment a Myserian had invaded her mind. She knew how much it cost Malachiax to be deceitful, but he couldn’t ignore Chrysa’s demand.
Lord Droom and his advisors listened to everything in silence and with matching grim expressions on their faces.
“How can we stop this invasion? We must close the portal at once,” one of the advisors said.
Malachiax hesitated. He couldn’t ask Lord Droom to dismiss those men and women without raising suspicion.
“What is it, Malachiax?” Lord Droom asked.
Mal clenched his jaw, and Samiah could clearly see he didn’t want to ask his uncle about the spheres in front of his advisors. In the end, he relented. “There’s a way to do it. But we need the Spheres of Sharra.”
The advisors traded a look among themselves and started talking all at once. The common denominator of their concerns was how they were going to retrieve all the spheres from across the planet. Lord Droom remained silent, calmly staring at the mayhem without a shred of emotion. Samiah wasn’t surprised that his closest advisors weren’t aware the spheres were right under their noses, somewhere in the castle.
“I would like to have a private word with Lady Lochiana,” Lord Droom announced suddenly.
The loud chatter stopped, and the advisors all turned to stare at her. Samiah also looked at her friend, but she couldn’t tell by the woman’s expression what she was feeling. Her face was stony and impartial. Even her aura remained neutral.
The grand clock in the room chimed the late hour. Only after the gongs had come and gone did Lochiana reply. “As you wish, my lord.”
Chapter 25
It was with great effort that Lochiana managed to quell the rage inside her chest and keep an impartial face. She wouldn't let Lord Droom know how much being near him still affected her after all these years.
She followed him to a private room adjacent to his official office chambers, and when the door clicked shut behind her back, she tried not to wince. The last time she had been inside a room alone with him, he had shown his true colors. Those memories still assaulted her in her dreams—or nightmares, to be more precise.
She had been such a fool in love that she had dismissed the warning signs she glimpsed in his aura during their courtship. Or maybe Lord Droom's true prevailing power was deceit. It didn't surprise her that his advisors had no idea he possessed the Spheres of Sharra.
He strode toward a glass tray cart on the other side of the room and poured himself a drink. In true form, he didn't offer her one—not that she would have accepted anything from him anyway. He spun around and leveled her with an intense stare only he could master. Lesser Arcadians had cowered under that scrutinizing stare, but Lochiana wouldn't be one of them. In fact, she raised her chin in defiance and glared right back at him.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"I want the truth. I know my nephew well. He's a terrible liar."
"Unlike you, I suppose."
Lord Droom's lips twisted into an ugly grin. Lochiana couldn't believe she had once thought it sexy. "Dear Lochi, what could you possibly be talking about?"
"Don't call me that," Lochiana said through clenched teeth, losing control of her emotions. Two minutes with the hateful man, and he had already managed to get under her skin.
His smile grew.
"You have the Spheres of Sharra." She decided to go straight to the point.
Lord Droom's eyes narrowed before he stalked in her direction. "Who told you that?"
"It doesn't matter. I don't even want to get into why you took them in the first place. We need them to close the portal."
"Not that it’s any of your business, but I took them to keep them safe. The other nations were sloppy—so much so that, to this day, they still don't know their spheres are gone."
"You mean they don't know you stole the spheres from them. That's treason."
Lord Droom chuckled. "Treason? Don't be absurd. I'm the head of the Arcadian Council. I can do as I please."
Lochiana caught a flash of feral madness in his eyes. The same glint he had possessed when he'd beaten and raped her in her own room after she told him she wanted to postpone their bonding ceremony. Her blood turned ice cold, and her heartbeat accelerated. Lochiana's body became a coiled spring, ready to unfurl in case Lord Droom decided to attack her again.
"We need the spheres," she repeated.
"And you expect me to just hand over the most powerful objects in all of Arcadia to you based on the testimony of a low-born aura-reader?"
Lochiana’s nostrils flared. "Yes. It's either that or deal with what's coming, and trust me, you can't hope to survive the Myserians."
Lord Droom narrowed his eyes before invading her space and grabbing her forearm. He brought his lips close to her ear, and Lochiana froze on the spot as she cringed at his touch.
"I'll give you the spheres in exchange for another taste of you."
Lochiana managed to break free from the terror that had her locked in place, pulling her arm from his grasp as she took a gigantic step back. "You're despicable."
"Come on, Lochi. I know that deep down you loved it when I was rough."
Lochiana's pulse pounded in her ears as her heart felt like it was going to burst through her chest. "You come near me again, and I swear to the Sacred Powers, I will rip your balls off and feed them to the banshees.”
In a blur of movement, Lord Droom had Lochiana pinned against the door, his rough hands digging into the skin of her upper arms. "Your filthy mouth is giving me a hard-on." He thrust his pelvis against hers, and Lochiana wanted to throw up.
She struggled against his hold, but all she was doing was getting him more aroused. She head-butted him instead, hitting him square on the nose. He let out a shout before stepping back with a hand over his bloody extremity. Hatred emanated from his gaze, and now she feared for her life.
He took a menacing step her way but stopped abruptly when a side door to the room opened and a young man appeared on the threshold.
"Father, I—" The Argorian stopped in his tracks when he took in the scene, Lochiana with her back pressed against the main door and Lord Droom holding his bloody nose. "My apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt."
Lochiana saw that as her opportunity to escape. "It's no problem. Lord Droom and I are done here."
She opened the door behind her and stepped back into the private office chambers, schooling her face again, for she didn't wish to let anyone know how terrified she was. Samiah peered at her through slits, but Lochiana ignored the scrutinizing stare. The other aura-reader could look as long as she wanted; she wouldn't find any clue in Lochiana's aura that something was amiss. She had learned a long time ago to conceal her emotions.
Lord Droom came back into the room a moment later, bloody nose already cleaned up. He was followed by the young man who, unbeknownst to him, had saved Lochiana. Looking closely at him, she could see the resemblance. This must be Lord Droom's son, Malachiax's cousin.
Lord Droom ordered all his advisors to leave the room. They balked but none complained. Once they were gone, he pierced Malachiax with a hard stare.
"Lady Lochiana was kind enough to plead your case. Do you want the Spheres of Sharra? You may borrow them if you can break through the spells that protect them."
"Spells? What kind of spells?" Samiah asked.
"I don't know. When the spheres were brought together, some kind of magic was awakened. No one has been able to reach them ever since, which tells me I was right in bringing them to Argor," Lord Droom answered in a calm manner.
"What happened to those who tried?" Malachiax narrowed his eyes at his uncle.
From the corner of her eye, Lochiana noticed Lord Droom's son shift in an uneasy manner. She would have questioned him if his father hadn't spoken next.
"They all died."
Chapter 26
Samiah was beside herself. She couldn't believe Malachiax had agreed to face whatever traps the Spheres of Sharra had laid out for him. She wanted to beg him not to go, but one glance in his direction and she knew that no matter what she said, he wouldn't change his mind.
As soon as Malachiax left with Lord Droom and the door to his chambers closed, Samiah found a chair and sat down with her head in her hands. Lochiana sat next to her and squeezed her shoulder.
"It will be okay, Samiah."
She looked up and glared at her friend. "You don't know that." She turned to Durgin, Lord Droom’s son. "What kinds of traps await Mal?"
Durgin's jaw clenched and he shifted his focus to Ianox for a moment. Samiah had forgotten the idiot was there. She didn't understand when Durgin went to stand directly in front of her teammate and said, "You're hungry. Go find something to eat. Don't come back here."
Ianox did as Durgin commanded, and Samiah’s jaw dropped as he left the room without so much as uttering a single peep. She looked at Lochiana and found her staring at Durgin through slits.
“You have the compulsion gift.”
Durgin spun around and nodded. “Yes.”
“Does your father know?”
“No.”
Samiah was sick and tired of all the secrets and power plays. “Why did you send Ianox away?”
“He can’t be trusted, and what I’m about to say could get me executed for treason.”
Durgin’s expression matched his words. For the first time, Samiah saw him as more than a spoiled royal.
“We’re listening,” Lochiana said.
Durgin ran a hand through his long hair and stared at nothing. There was pain in his gaze, something Samiah had never noticed before. “My father has been doing shady things behind the council’s back.”
“You mean like stealing the Spheres of Sharra?” Lochiana crossed her arms.
“Among other things.”
“What other things?” Samiah narrowed her eyes.
“Experiments.”
“What kind of experiments?” Lochiana took a step forward, and Samiah suppressed the urge to shake the guy. Get on with it already.
Durgin stared hard at Lochiana for a few seconds before he replied. “Genetic mutation experiments. He’s playing creator, and I’m afraid he wants to use the Spheres of Sharra to produce an army of mutants.”
Samiah shook her head as her brain tried to process Durgin’s information.
“He can’t do that without the council’s approval,” Lochiana replied. “Without proper studies, such experiments could be devastating to our planet’s ecosystem.”
Durgin smiled without humor. “Do you think my father cares?”
“What about Malachiax? If what you say is true, then Lord Droom will never let Mal take the spheres.”
“You’re right. He has no intention of letting him take them.”
“So he’s using Mal to retrieve the spheres for himself. He’s risking my mate’s life for his nefarious purpose!”
“He’s not using Malachiax. He lied. The traps didn’t spring into place by some magical power. I set them up.”
“You? Why?” Samiah asked.
“Protection.”
She realized then what should have been clear to her from the start—Lord Droom intended to kill Malachiax. She stood suddenly, ready to burst out the door. "We must go after them."
"Stop!" Durgin's voice boomed in the room and Samiah felt compelled to obey. She spun around and watched him with wide eyes, her breathing inexplicably shallow. "If you go after him, my father will kill both of you without mercy."
"So what do you suggest, then?" Lochiana asked.
"I was the one who set up the traps. I’ll wait until Malachiax is inside the Heliex and out of my father's prying eyes to rescue him and get the spheres."
“The Heliex?” Lochiana frowned.
“It’s a secret chamber in the castle’s dungeons. Very few people know of its existence.”
"How do you plan to get there without your father knowing?" Samiah asked as she tried to break free from the compulsion that kept her in the room. Perspiration had already pooled on her hairline from the mental effort. She hadn’t felt so impotent when Lochiana compelled her. Durgin’s power was ten times worse.
"There's a hidden entrance to the Heliex he doesn't know about. You must leave the castle’s premises while I go after Malachiax. Head to the industrial area on the south side of Serenity Lake and search for warehouse number eighty-nine.”
“What’s in there?” Lochiana asked.
“It’s one of my father’s labs.” Durgin walked to his father’s desk and wrote something down. “Give this to the head technician there." He handled a piece of paper to Samiah. It was a note written on official royal paper, signed by Lord Droom. She raised her eyebrow at Durgin.
"I've been faking my father's signature for a very long time. It will work, trust me. She won’t accept anything but a written order."
Lochiana pulled the paper from Samiah's hand and grinned before looking up. "What exactly are H5s?"
"A successful project. You've been to Planet X-57, correct?"
"Yes."
"Then I believe you will re
cognize it. Now you must hurry. Meet me at the outskirts of the city by the Seven Sisters rest stop. We must leave within an hour."
"Why?" Lochiana asked, and Samiah could have guessed where her friend's thoughts had gone. She was probably concerned about Femror and if he would have the ability to travel.
"Before you arrived, my father had given the order to raise the protective dome around the city. If we’re caught inside it, we will never be able to leave."
Chapter 27
Lochiana couldn’t wait to get out of that forsaken castle. The effort to keep a calm façade after her private session with Lord Droom had worn her thin. Keeping Samiah from running after her mate had proved a good distraction, though. Despite Durgin’s assurances that he would get Malachiax out of the Heliex before the worst happened, Samiah wasn’t convinced.
Ten days ago, Lochiana wouldn’t have understood her friend’s level of anxiety, but she was beginning to feel a similar emotion toward Femror. In fact, despite their task, her heart was begging to forget the mission and run back to him. She shook her head. Nonsense.
They left Lord Droom’s private office and speed-walked down the wide, opulent corridor. Life-size portraits of the Argamanx royal family encased in gilded frames lined the walls. When they walked in front of Lord Droom’s, she shuddered. She had sat for the artist weeks before her bonding ceremony, and now a matching portrait of hers as well was somewhere in this castle. She doubted Lord Droom had destroyed it.
When they finally reached the double doors that would lead to the castle’s lifts, two Nox Elite soldiers blocked their escape route. Their closed-off expressions and hands over their electroshock rods didn’t bode well
“Good evening, soldiers,” Lochiana said with a fake smile. “Would you mind stepping out of the way?”
“I’m sorry, my lady. We have express orders to not let anyone out of the castle.”
“What is this nonsense now? Are we prisoners?” Samiah put her hands on her hips and glowered at the soldier.
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