Too Long a Soldier (Kingdom Key Book 3)

by TylerRose.

  “I am sorry,” he said to the air for the fortieth time. “This is not what I wanted.”

  He’d expected an amusing little romp that would result in her being addicted. He could give what she needed if she would submit to his rule. Instead she was fighting for her life and he could do nothing about it other than punish the man responsible.

  The door hissed open. Boots entered with heavy thumps on the hard metal floor.

  “My Lord,” Curlein said.

  Solomon spun the chair and saw the object of his ire. “Reynolds. I told you to give her a nail-full of the Rovan powder and take the rest as your payment. Instead you dumped in the entire thing. Why?”

  “I had to work fast,” Reynolds lied. “Too much went in.”

  Solomon clucked his tongue. “Don’t try to lie to me, Reynolds. I know your thoughts before you do. You took revenge on her for your own stupidity in trying to pass a bad check at the video store.”

  “So what. Shove my dick up your ass!”

  “You’re not my type,” Solomon replied, and spent the better part of half an hour taking his anger out on the man.

  Not intended to kill, this was a beating to break bones, spill blood, and relieve stress. When he was done, Solomon went to change clothes. Unchaining a female from his bed, he dragged her by bound wrists up to the ship’s bridge and dropped her at Captain Osan’s feet.

  “Give her to the men. I don’t want her anymore.”

  “Bored with her already?” Osan sneered.

  “Expecting the arrival of one far superior and more worthy of my time and effort. Earth females are too fragile.”

  He went back to his command room, tossing a glance to the groaning Reynolds hunched in a corner. Tyler was ranting about people coming to find her and take her away.

  “They came before.”

  Damn it. Those fucking Earth Ambassadors never could mind their own damn business. He’d had to kill one of them in the other time line, to get them to back off. He’d probably have to do it again.

  Train of thought replaced by her scream and a hard thunk against a wall near the listening device, he clenched his jaw against his own regret.

  “No more!” Jerome roared.

  And then her voice shouted “SANCTUARY!”

  Solomon jerked upright in his chair, was on his feet pacing. Sanctuary was a myth. A mystery of the galaxy the same as the gods of Earth were a mystery to her inhabitants. Could it be the fabled place was real? If so, how did she have access to it? Could he use that to his own advantage?

  “Search index: Planet Sanctuary,” he said aloud.

  “Planet Sanctuary not found,” came the droned, androgynous reply.

  The ship’s memory was limited. Having been stolen, it was cut off from the Celestial Congress’ databanks and those of K’Tran.

  “How long were we gone?” Jerome’s voice asked.

  They were back already? He listened with a relief so sudden and profound that it sickened him. She would survive but would suffer the addiction.

  “Take him to a cell. I’ll deal with him further later in the day.”

  Curlein gave Ch’Wik a single nod to perform the task. Ch’Wik lifted the broken human over his shoulder and carried him down the corridor and into a lift. Down two levels and placed with more care than would have been expected of him.

  “If you can find a way, kill yourself rather than let him do it,” Chi whispered in the Earth English.

  He accidentally dropped Reynolds’ pocket knife on the way out.

  Chapter Thirty One

  Jerome drove for hours up and down the long rural roads, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Systematically scanning square after square for too many people in too small a place. Scanning for life forms not of Earth. He found nothing, but finding something was secondary to releasing the tensions of the night.

  The drive was calming, letting his mind release the strain and worry as mile after mile sped under the tires. He’d known she was strong…but damn! Grown men hadn’t thrown him into walls that hard. Adamantine hadn’t thrown him into the metal box that hard.

  Head cleared, he returned to the warehouse. Warren’s van was parked in its spot. The accountant was back a day early from his trip to Michigan. Pausing at the office door, he found Warren at work with the books.

  “Hey, man. How was your trip?” Jerome asked.

  “Not as eventful as your night, from what I gather. You look like hell.”

  “Thanks. I feel like hell. I’m going to be with Tyler all day if you need me.”

  “When are you going to admit to yourself—and her—that you love her?”

  Jerome had no reply, walked away to jog up the stairs. Gable and Tony were mixing pitchers of juice and protein drink at the island.

  “How is she?” he asked, removing his boots.

  “Asleep,” Gable yawned. “So are Roc and Star.”

  “Who’s with Ty?”

  “Chen and Landra,” Gable yawned again, pouring a tall glass. “Want some?”

  Jerome accepted the glass of pineapple orange and chugged it down before heading up the stairs to Tyler’s room.

  “You did not find Solomon,” Landra Ahr said.

  “I did not.”

  “It has been a long night for us all. I must go into rest mode. I will maintain my external sensors and be alerted if you call to me. I will remain here.” He crossed over to stand beside the bathroom door.

  Jerome held back his smart remark about a mechanoid needing to nap. Instead he sat on the end corner not already occupied. The room no longer looked like a war zone. The last of the shattered ceramic and glass had been swept away. Furniture broken in the melee could be replaced easily enough.

  She was alarmingly pale on the pillow, hair a disheveled, tangled mess. The sight of her tore at his heart.

  “How is she?” he asked.

  “Beginning to wake,” Chen replied. “If you had found him, what would you have done?”

  “I would have taken great pleasure in killing him.”

  With a thought, he went to look at the wall. Yep, there it was. A light black scorch perfectly outlining his own shape. An indentation where his upper back had hit. He ran his fingertips over the marks, glad he had chosen heavy duty wall materials. He still smelled burnt hair.

  “Water.”

  One word, spoken in a hoarse whisper with the effect of a lightning bolt. He was at her side to help her sit up a bit while Chen tilted the dish of water into her mouth. Three times before she let out a barely audible sigh. Jerome gently let her back down.

  “When do you think she’ll be coherent?” he asked his Sifu.

  “I cannot say. She is very weak. Utterly exhausted. We cannot expect much any time soon. We must wait.”

  “Waiting is not my strong suit.”

  “Sit in meditation until it is time for action. You must be calm for her when she is not,” Chen advised.

  That sounded too familiar. He went to his own room to shower and shave and change into fresh clothes first.

  Solomon nodded to the young K’Tran on duty. “Open it.”

  Code entered, the wall slid sideways to reveal a dead man in a puddle of his own blood that filled the entire four foot by four foot square and flowed out into the corridor. Pocket knife in one hand, both arms sliced from wrist halfway up to elbow. Eyes closed.

  “Fuck! Clean it up and bring him to the medical room.”

  He stomped away back to his room to change his shoes and have someone clean the ones now coated around the front with blood.

  Running.Running hard through a dense forest so much like home. Breath a fast pant, Roc felt the oxygen filling her lungs. She smelled the air of home, tried to exhale silently. It would hear if she breathed too loud.

  She leapt over fallen, moss-covered logs, trying to get home before it caught up to her. She heard the growling behind…so close. Reaching for her with tendril arms. Branches snapped and it crushed everything in its way, determined to catch he
r this time.

  She ran, never looking back, desperate to reach the clearing at the bottom of the hill. She would be safe there. It couldn’t come into the sunlight. Bare feet pounding the damp, hard ground. Cold ground. Her feet were ice cold, going numb, legs beginning to weigh her down.

  Must keep going!

  Low branches and bushes scratched at her as she scrambled down the suddenly too steep hill. The grassy slope was gone. This was a rocky cliff face with thorny scrub bushes she’d always disliked for the deep gouges they inflicted. Sliding and falling, she reached the bottom to find she was not in the grassy clearing but surrounded by dense, tall trees. So tall and thick she could not see the sky. There was no clearing. There was no sunlight. She could not climb into the shelter of the trees. There were no limbs low enough.

  Lost.

  Familiar scent, familiar trees, but she did not know where she was. Did not know what direction to go, which way was safety. She was alone and the growling was coming closer. She gave a shriek and ran harder than she’d run in her life. Forest seemed never to end, mile after mile, and she could feel its hugeness behind her. She could feel the ground reverberate with its heavy, lumbering steps, could feel the heat of it yards then feet then inches away. She fell to her knees, legs heavy as lead and strength nearly gone.

  It grabbed her, the force of its taking propelling her forward into a blinding beam of light—

  Roc gasped awake, shaking so hard she couldn’t move. Heart pounding, sweating. The sun was shining through her windows, blinding her with harsh light.

  She turned away from it to lie on her side and recover from the power of the dream. When the shaking stopped, she went about her morning routine of bathroom and dressing and, still exhausted, stretched for several minutes. She was muscle sore in odd ways, with a bruise on her right hip from where she’d landed when Tyler had pushed her.

  Going through to Tyler’s room, dream still occupying her mind, she greeted Chen and Jerome. Both were in Lotus position on the foot corners of the bed and Landra Ahr was apparently in Rest Mode.

  “You alright?” Jerome asked her.

  “I am fine. Only tired,” she replied, sitting on the side of the bed.

  “Go back to bed. We’re fine,” Jerome told her, concerned about the dark circles under her eyes and the paleness of her skin.

  “I do not want to.”

  “We don’t need you getting sick, Roc. You may be in remission now but this is a lot of stress. Landra Ahr told you—“

  “Enough!” Roc cut him off sharply. “I am not a child.”

  Jerome blinked at so forceful a tone coming from so gentle a person. “What’s got you in such a bad mood?”

  “That is a stupid question.”

  Jerome’s brow went up and he exchanged a glance with Chen.

  The sound of water in the shower meant Starbird was up. Soon enough, she’d come in as well. A scene not all that dissimilar to when she’d first awakened after the battle against her Father. She’d never been left alone for a single second until she could manage the stairs by herself.

  “Has anyone eaten?” she asked.

  “No,” from Jerome and Roc together.

  “I’ll get sandwich stuff.”

  A minute after she left, Landra Ahr reactivated. “L’Roc-ai, as your protector, I order you to go back to bed this minute.”

  She grumbled and released a harsh sigh much the same way Tyler would, but she went. She’d get a stick in the arm if she didn’t and she knew it.

  “She’s more than tired. Something else is bothering her and it’s not all this,” Jerome said.

  “Dream,” Tyler mumbled.

  “What?” Jerome said, his enhanced hearing having not fully caught the word.

  Chen moved to the end table to mix another tea.

  “She had a bad dream,” she said.

  “Drink this,” Chen said, holding the dish to her lips.

  She pushed up to an elbow just enough to drink and fell back to the bed.

  “My head is killing me. What happened?”

  “Do you remember anything?” Jerome asked.

  “No.”

  “While you were at the restaurant, someone put an overdose of Rovan into your drink. You hallucinated really bad all night, tried to teleport yourself away.”

  “Stop,” she said, hand coming off her forehead. “Someone did what?”

  “Put about eleven doses of Rovan into your Jack and water. You drank about five doses.”

  Her eyes opened to bore through him like a laser as she grasped the severity of the situation. Fingertips rubbed her Third Eye. It was particularly uncomfortable and the pressure of her fingers made it feel better.

  “You called here shortly after eight and told me to come get you. Don’t you remember?”

  “No.”

  “You were hallucinating really badly. Tried to teleport several times. Smashed up a bunch of your stuff with psychokinesis. I used my Staff Power to stop what I could. Landra and I took you to Sanctuary.”

  “We were on Sanctuary?”

  “They assigned Yoshgaard as my Caretaker and I almost got my ass kicked off for not doing things their way. Jiogaard didn’t want us to leave. I don’t like him.”

  If he knew their names, then they had to have been there.

  “Jiogaard summoned Julian,” Landra Ahr said. “You had a Widening, the event aggravated by the Rovan and spurred by Jerome’s Staff Power.”

  “I did what?”

  “You did.”

  The enormity of it all was too much to process at that moment.

  “Drink this,” Chen said, holding the dish to her again.

  “What is it?”

  “More herbs to help your headache go away.”

  She drank it down. “I wanna be alone for a while.”

  “Understandable but not possible,” Landra replied.

  “Why the fuck not?”

  “The withdrawal will be coming. You cannot be alone until the addiction is tolerable and you are fully in control again,” he replied.

  “I need to be alone. I need to think.”

  “You can think with us here,” Jerome said.

  “I don’t need you all fuckin’ staring at me,” she snapped with sudden growling fury.

  “No one is staring. We’re here to help you and you know it,” he said softly, holding her fingers and stretching out beside her.

  She squinted to see the clock across the room. It wasn’t there. “What time is it?”

  “Twelve forty five,” Jerome said, glancing to his watch.

  “Shit. I’m late. I gotta go,” she said, attempting to get up. Her arms and back were too weak and strained to push herself upright. “Help me up.”

  “You need to lie there and rest. If you can’t do it on your own, then you don’t need to get up.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Ain’t nothin’ so important you gotta get out of bed,” Jerome said.

  “I have to pee.”

  “Okay, except that.”

  He went around the bed to help her up from the side closer to the bathroom. Arm under her shoulders, he lifted until she was sitting up and braced on her hands. Her head swam with dizziness and she saw black spots. Grunting, closing her eyes against the sensation of falling.

  “Breathe, Ty. Breathe through it,” Jerome said, having anticipated that she would be dizzy at first.

  “That was a rush.”

  “Now the fun part. You get to spin sideways,” he said.

  “Just bring the toilet here.”

  “No can do, and we don’t have a bedpan,” Jerome said, folding the blanket away from her legs. “I suggest you don’t teleport for a few days.”

  He slid her legs off the bed so her toes touched the floor.

  “Man, I gotta go,” she muttered, the pressure in her bladder becoming painful.

  “We’ll be there in a minute. Dizzy again?”

  “Mmmmmhm. Gimme a minute.”

  “All th
e time you need, babe.”

  A few seconds of silence while she breathed, and her eyes opened once more.

  “Okay.”

  Jerome offered both arms to her and she grasped his wrists. He clenched his jaw and clamped his lips shut in anger that her hands had so little strength to them. She really was totally wiped. He did nearly all the work getting her onto her feet, pulling her up slowly and wrapping an arm around her back for support when her legs threatened to fail.

  “Talk to me, Ty. Still with me?” he asked, her head falling to his chest.

  Warm, comfy chest. She could stay there forever. She could sleep like this. He smelled good too, like he’d been in a fight. Safe and warm, protected in his arms. There was no harm here. An eternity passed before she could was aware enough to remember her purpose and lift her head.

  “Okay,” she said.

  Her legs were stiff, making tiny steps. He opened the bathroom door and Roc was standing there.

  “I will take it from here,” she said tartly.

  “That would be best,” Tyler agreed.

  “You are supposed to be sleeping,” Jerome said.

  “I knew she would need me when she woke,” Roc replied, and kicked the door shut. “How do you feel?”

  “That’s a rotten question. Feels like a steamroller had a party in my head. You’re going to have to leave while I do this,” Tyler said, leaning on the toilet tank to gear up for sitting.

  “You are too weak.”

  “I also get stage fright, as it were. I won’t be able to piss if you’re in here. I’ve never been able to do it in front of people.”

  “I think your bladder will override that psychological mechanism,” Roc said. “Do you need help getting your pants down?”

  “No!” Tyler snapped. “I want to be alone.”

  The bathroom door opened and an unseen, overwhelming force shoved her back into her own room. Roc ran around into Tyler’s room.

  “Why’d you leave her?” Jerome demanded.