The Spider Queen (The Space Merchants Book 5)

by Wendie Nordgren

  I couldn’t feel Zared. It was like part of my soul had vanished. Xavier attached a vital signs regulator to Zared’s chest moments before a blaster missile launcher aimed at my head shimmered into view.

  “If he is not dead, he will be soon if you don’t hurry and get him out of here. Take the damn spider with you and go. Leave the bitch.”

  “Save my husband, Xavier. That’s an Imperial order,” I commanded telepathically.

  Xavier picked Zared up into his arms. “Come, Thunderdrop,” he said.

  “Force him to comply if you have to,” I told Xavier.

  Thunderdrop went to him. I watched as Xavier held Zared on his lap on the hover bike and sped away.

  “Toss the weapons slowly and put your hands up.”

  I reached down for my blaster. Instead of dropping it, I fired. My shot went wide as a second man hit me in the back of the head while kicking my blaster from my hand. Shaking off the blow, I reached for my knife just as Luca sent the man with the blaster missile launcher flying through the air. Luca grabbed my arm, threw me over his shoulder, and ran for the alley while firing shots at the missile just launched at us. The explosion whipped my hair around Luca’s hips as he ran.

  Putting me down on my feet, we ran together. “We drew them out! They all attacked at once! Each of us had ten Earth Loyalists attack as soon as their man was taken into custody. Hurry!” Luca said.

  A black transport screeched to a halt blocking our escape. The door opened, and an angry driver got out. “Get her in here, now!” the man ordered. His voice sounded familiar, but the hat he wore obscured his features. “Your uncle is furious. I found you by following the explosions.”

  Recognizing Ambassador Jiri, we hurried forward.

  “How did you get here? I thought you were on Arachne,” Luca asked.

  A knife flew out from Ambassador Jiri’s hand sinking deep into Luca’s stomach and through his silk protective shirt and vest. Then, it exploded. Surprise clouded Luca’s features as he fell in slow motion. I screamed and grabbed him as he fell, following him down to the wet hard ground where I held him to my chest. Luca opened his lips, and blood flowed from their corners and onto the arm I held across him.

  “Teagan, I love you. Always. I love you,” he said.

  “I love you, Luca. I need you. Please, don’t leave me. Just hold on for me. Luca!” He became still in my arms. Luca’s eyes looked at nothing. “Luca!” I could barely breathe with the pain. I was grabbed, and my upper arms were manacled behind my back. Luca fell to my thighs staring up at nothing as the rain hit his open eyes. “No!” I screamed. “No!”

  Ambassador Jiri glared down at me with contempt. “Put her in back,” he ordered.

  I was dragged up and watched in agony as Luca slid from my legs to the hard ground. Then, I was thrown into the back storage compartment of the transport, and the trunk was slammed shut.

  “Luca, no. Zared? Zared?” I called out, but they didn’t answer.

  In my mind, Jazon said, “Teagan, we have eyes on you. We are following. We will strike as soon as the transport is someplace less public.”

  “Jazon, find Luca. Ambassador Jiri stabbed him. He’s all alone,” I said out loud.

  Wrenching sobs escaped me as the pain within me grew too large for my body to hold. I pictured Luca in the Palace pool, naked and wet, as he let me slide down his hairy chest. I remembered how we had made love for the first time in the tent. I remembered how he had bravely protected Peter and the Eloneave.

  “No, no, no.”

  “He’s not alone, Teagan. Eli has him,” Jazon whispered. I felt the weight shift to the back of the transport. Jazon captured my mind. Instead of the total darkness of the trunk, I watched through his eyes as he followed through the air with a hover pack. I saw the transport I was in as it went into a parking garage and up. Jazon made eye contact with Drex, who flew a small shuttle around a building and out of sight.

  “Is Zared okay? I can’t sense him. Is he in surgery? Is Luca?”

  “One thing at a time, Teagan,” Jazon said.

  Cramps tore through my back, shoulders, and sides. My arms had been cinched so tightly behind me that my thumbs were pressing against my butt cheeks. The transport stopped, the trunk opened, and I was hauled out by my hair. The man threw me to the cement floor of the dark parking garage. A lift was to my left. We were on the top level, and a shuttle waited above us on the roof. Ambassador Jiri came into view.

  “You stabbed Luca!” I screamed.

  “Yes, he would have told everyone my identity. I couldn’t have that,” Ambassador Jiri stated.

  “Why are you doing this? I married Fitz. You’re my uncle. I trusted you.” I tried to draw in shuddering breaths.

  “Yes, you are just as trusting as your poor mother. Luca didn’t have to die. All you had to do was break ties to Earth and get your mother back. My instructions were so simple that I thought even you could follow them,” Ambassador Jiri said.

  “What? It was you?” I asked.

  “Nathan hit you in the head too many times when you were little. Didn’t he?”

  “You were the man in the recording? You called Momma an it. How could you?”

  Ambassador Jiri squatted down to look into my eyes. His eyes were calm and calculating. “Your grandfather began making some changes. Those changes cost me millions of credits. Then, with Tavere’s encouragement, he chose my dear brother to rule Thalassa over me. Finn is a weak imbecile. I decided to punish Tavere for his interference. It was so simple. They were on Thalassa at the time. Neema trusted me just as you did. I drugged her, put her in a submarine, and then had her transported to Earth. She never learned who had taken her from Thalassa or how it had been accomplished. My Earth Loyalists have no idea that their leader is a Parvac citizen. I was grooming you to take your father’s place. He was going to die on Talpa, but you and your uncle ruined my plans. Tavere may have Neema, but losing you will kill them both. The beauty is that no one will ever know that I am responsible.”

  “You took my Momma away from Papa. You are the reason I grew up with Nathan Green as a father. Why?” Pain made my voice unrecognizable to my own ears.

  “You are slow. Aren’t you? War and expansion equals wealth. Thalassa may have been stolen from me, but through your son, I will rule the Empire.”

  The man holding the blaster missile launcher let it fall and clack to the cement. I turned my head and watched as his eyes took on a far-off look. Then, he began to shake. Blood ran from his nostrils, and his eyes rolled up into his head. Heavily, he fell.

  Then, I sensed them. Jazon, Walter, Tomaz, Vawn, Xander, Wyatt, Vic, Zack, Zergio, Rozz, Zam, Traviz, and Jezzie stood positioned around us. Like spokes around a wheel, their wills locked onto Ambassador Jiri, and his arms shot straight out to his sides. Then, Ambassador Jiri screamed at some vision or pain in his mind. He screamed again and again.

  I felt someone at my back. My arms were released but fell numb and useless to the cement. My Omnes Videntes were taking turns torturing Ambassador Jiri.

  “Teagan, come with me,” Drex said softly.

  “Papa will want him alive,” I choked out.

  Shuddering sobs and pain were all I knew until we boarded the vessel. Enough feeling had returned to my hands that I was able to fumble with the harness. Stumbling from the shuttle, I ran for the lift.

  “Teagan, wait!” Drex called out as he powered down the shuttle.

  I pressed the command that would take me to the small medical bay. I saw Luca and Zared laying on exam beds. Then, I noticed Izaac. He was crying. Luca and Zared came closer until I was between them. I realized that I had walked. The monitor above Luca was dark.

  “No!” I wailed. “No! Luca, no. Put him in a reanimation unit. Do something!” I screamed at the medical officers we had brought with us. “Luca, Luca, wake up. I need you to smile and flirt with me. We’ll try again, and this time I won’t lose our baby. I promise. Luca, please.”

  “Teagan, please come awa
y,” Eli said gently.

  “No, I’m not leaving my husbands. They need me.” I looked up at the blank monitor. “This equipment is crap. We need to get him to a hospital.”

  “Teagan, come with me,” Eli said as he took me by the wrist.

  I ripped my wrist free of his hold. Reaching down, I took Luca’s left hand in mine. Luca’s hand was cold. “Someone, get my husband some blankets. He was out in the rain. He’s freezing.” Putting my hands to his cheeks, I kissed him, but he remained still.

  Eli took me by the shoulders, but I wrenched free of him. I moved the blanket down from over Luca’s hairy chest, but it was gone. In its place was a bloody cavity. I screamed and screamed. I wanted to wake up. Eli took my hands and put himself between Luca and me. He started backing me away. A doctor covered Luca up.

  I kept expecting Zared to take me away to one of our secret mental constructs. Eli was trying to get me into the lift.

  “No,” I said. I dropped to the floor to get him to release his hold and scrambled across the floor to Zared. I went to him. My head began to feel bigger and then smaller, like it was a balloon that kept getting filled and emptied. “Zared?” I whispered. I reached down and took his hand into both of mine. Then, I moved my left hand to smooth his long, dove-grey hair. “Baby, are you alright?” I stared at his lips and kissed them. “Zared?” I reached for him through our bond. I could feel the others, but Zared was too faint. “Zared, can you hear me? Where are you? Why won’t you answer me?”

  In my mind, Izaac said, “He hasn’t regained consciousness. The doctors aren’t sure if he will.”

  I kissed his cold lips and held him. “No, no, no. I can’t lose you. I love you. I love you. Please, please, come back to me.”

  Zared didn’t wake up. I felt a sting in my arm. My right ear was against Zared’s chest. I had crawled on top of him. The broken mewling sounds I made began to slow from whatever I had been injected with. Eli picked me up from off of Zared and carried me away.

  Eli sat with me on his lap on the couch. His arms were around me. I felt the vessel lift up and speed away. My head was on Eli’s shoulder along with Luca’s blood. It was all I could do to breathe.

  “He killed my husband.”

  “I’m so sorry, Teagan. Jiri had us all fooled. For decades, we all trusted him. None of us suspected him. There was never any suspicion of his loyalty. His security checks always came back clean.”

  “He took away Luca and Momma. He was gonna take away my Papa. I want to wake up. I begged Luca to stay on Uncle Kagan’s ship. He wouldn’t. First, I lost his baby, and now I’ve lost him. Jiri didn’t have to kill Luca. There was no reason to kill Luca. He was so sweet and brave. Zared? Have they taken Puppy Petter from me, too? Zared is part of my soul. We didn’t even get to say goodbye. It happened so fast.”

  I heard Xavier say, “Zared was protecting the woman he loves. He would gladly give his life to save you. Your love and acceptance have been the center of his world. A woman never made a man happier than you have made my brother. We will all survive this together.”

  Xavier bent down and gently removed the recording device from my earlobe. Then, while Eli held me, he helped a medical officer tug off my boots and pants. Some of the blood on me was my own. The skin from my knees down to mid-leg was gone. I remembered skidding across the floor with Zared at my back.

  The next hours and days were a blur. The medical officers kept dosing me with strong tranquilizers. I wandered the ship in a daze. I got a cup of coffee and went to visit our prisoners. They had been caged like animals and bound.

  “This treatment is inhumane,” one of the Earth Loyalists yelled at me. All of their arms were bound behind their backs as mine had been.

  “We aren’t human.” I pulled a blaster from the waistband at my back and shot him in the guts. It wasn’t set to draw blood. I sipped my coffee and looked each one of them in the eyes. “It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it? That’s how my arms were bound after my husband died in them. Say, which one of you was it who fired the blaster missile that may kill my other husband?” I looked at their faces again.

  “Chirp chirp,” Thunderdrop said as he nuzzled my neck. The tears started again. The tranquilizers might trick my body, but they didn’t trick my soul.

  A man said, “He’s dead. That soldier with two different eyes hacked him to pieces.” The man sounded sorry, so I didn’t blast him.

  I pointed at Jiri. Some coffee spilled from my cup. “Did they tell you about him? Did they tell you that the leader of the Earth Loyalists is a Parvac?” The mood in the room changed. “Oh, you didn’t know.” I sat and watched them until my coffee was gone.

  “Tell them to give us comfort breaks,” Jiri said.

  “You have to go, but you’re helpless. That’s too bad. I was a helpless toddler. You left me with Nathan Green, the man who killed my mother. He tortured me for years. Then, you threw me a fancy ball on Arachne and smiled in my face. What’s even sicker is that had you offered yourself to me, I would have accepted you.” I started chuckling to myself.

  Eli came and took me away. They wouldn’t let me see Luca. They had placed my husband in a cold, small box in the medical section. I would sit for hours on the floor below it. Mumbling to myself that it was a bad dream didn’t change anything. When sitting on the floor made me ache, I would sit beside Zared’s medical bed and hold his hand. I talked and sang to him. I told him that I loved and needed him. Careful of Zared’s back, I slept beside him. I kept our fingers entwined, put my cheek against his shoulder, and slept. I couldn’t even find Zared in our dreams.

  Chapter Nineteen

  How we had caught up to Uncle Kagan’s fleet, I didn’t know. He was waiting for us in the docking bay of his ship. Rushing to me, Uncle Kagan held me close to his chest. Desperately, he tried to comfort me through our familial bond. “Hush. Don’t try to tell me. I already have seen all that you saw. It’s going to be okay.”

  “No, it’s not,” I whispered. It would never be okay. Luca was dead, and Zared might soon follow. Uncle Kagan shifted as though he intended to pick me up. “No, you just had part of your liver removed. I can walk. It gives me something on which to concentrate. He took Luca away from me.”

  “Yes, and he took you and Neema from all of us for many years.” The ruthless fury in his voice soothed me more than his empathic efforts.

  “I haven’t told Luca’s mother and father.” The words didn’t come out all of the way.

  “I have shared everything with Lucius. His son died a hero. He died protecting you. He helped expose the vilest traitor in the history of the Empire. The man you loved will not be forgotten.” It appeared as though the entire crew was present and in full dress uniform. Eli, Drex, Xavier, and Jazon walked to the sides of Luca’s coffin. “Stay strong. You and your men accomplished what the entire might of the Parvac Empire could not. We searched for decades, all while telling our very enemy all of our plans.”

  In my mind, Xavier said, “We keep asking ourselves the same questions. Why? How? There is no answer. Even telepaths, empaths, and inquisitors are mortal. We share your grief, sister.”

  Feeling the combined comfort of my Ponidi brothers, I was able to stay on my feet. Lorca came forward and slid my wedding band back onto my finger. Thunderdrop jumped to him. I saw an image of a can of spider food.

  “Oh, no. Why didn’t you tell me?” I hadn’t fed Thunderdrop. “Lorca, please feed Thunderdrop.”

  “I will on one condition,” Lorca said. I looked at him and waited. “Please, go to the infirmary and make certain you can nurse Peter. He has lost two pounds during your absence.”

  Horrified, I rushed away. After an embarrassing procedure that left me feeling like a cow, the chief medical officer assured me that the tranquilizers were out of my system, and stimulated my milk production. I had begun to dry up. Momma looked the same in her chamber. I kissed the plasti-glass over her cheek before leaving for the Imperial quarters.

  “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” Neema
yelled happily as she ran and jumped.

  I picked her up and held her. Closing my eyes, I inhaled. The bond between us strengthened. I heard a huffing noise and met Niklos halfway. I sat and held onto him as he crawled onto my lap. Neema kissed my cheek.

  “Oh, no. Mommy still sick,” Neema said as she frowned at my black hair.

  “You and Niklos make me feel better.”

  “Oh, Mommy. Peter cried. Peter wants Mommy. Niklos minded Neema and didn’t cry.” She kissed her brother’s cheek.

  “Well, let’s go and get him.”

  “Okay. I walk. I big girl. Come, on.”

  I stood with my sweet boy in my arms and followed her. Niklos wanted down to play with transports with Neema. Gently, I touched Peter’s stomach to wake him before picking him up. When he saw me, he made desperate squeaks. I held him and nursed him. Peter stared at my face to reassure himself that I was really there. He did not allow me to put him down again.

  Uncle Kagan came to our quarters and slipped off his shoes. “Where is my favorite doll, Neema?” he asked. He sat on the carpet and waited while she dug through her pile.

  “Here,” she said as she put a doll with lavender hair in his hand.

  He reached over and took a light-weight play brush from her stockpile of toys. Slowly, Uncle Kagan brushed the doll’s hair. Neema copied his actions with a blue-haired doll. Peter was content to stay on my shoulder while Niklos and I played with blocks.

  The vid-screen signaled, and Pierce answered it.

  “Hi, Daddy and Coco,” Neema said as she played with her doll. I looked up at Yukihyo and Nico which was a mistake. “Mommy, don’t cry. Neema give you kisses. Brother, give kisses like this.” Neema showed him.

  Niklos laughed and grabbed my hair to pull me down for kisses.