Blind Fate (Veredian Chronicles Book 2)

by Regine Abel

  The boy should never have been able to display so much power. Even though it wasn’t uncommon for Korlethean infants to show psi abilities often as early as days after their birth, such strength and control rarely manifested so early. Vahl’s little body wasn’t ready to exert that much energy. Until he could be taught to control his gift, his parents would need to find a way to leash it so he wouldn’t cause himself permanent harm.

  I wondered if his twin sister would also be this precocious.

  But Vahl’s parents weren’t simply looking after him. Amalia had wanted to wait until tomorrow to put our plan into motion as, on Friday evenings, only two guards remained onsite through the night. With Varrek’s desire to leave Xelix Prime as soon as possible, we needed to revise our plans. Chances were, they would relocate us, either by end of day today or sometime tomorrow.

  It was now or never.

  From what Amalia had managed to gather by spying on the guards using her foresight ability, the Guldans were out fixing the cloaking device on Varrek’s ship to accommodate the additional presence of Amalia and Lhor. Their technology couldn’t cloak the entire ship, only part of the passenger cabin. Hence the delay to try to stretch its capacity. Rosthan slept, having stayed awake through the night to make sure Vahl suffered no complications. Sheb was off on some errand. That gave us a three-hour window to act. As she lay next to Lhor, their son between them, Amalia was chain reading Ghil, going through scenarios hoping to find the one that would allow our plan to succeed.

  There would be little warning so we all stood at the ready.

  Zhul nuzzled my neck. I turned back to face him. He looked at me with the same incredibly tender gaze he’d been giving me since merging with his Gem. It made me feel cherished. But was it love or gratitude? At first, I feared the change in him. What if I no longer felt the same attraction? The new Zhul wasn’t better and certainly not worse, but definitely different.

  I liked him as much as ever.

  His softer edge now catered to another part of me. My Veredian need for physical contact thrived with this new version of him. Zhul also proved quite playful, whether trying to sneak-tickle me, building block mansions with Vahl, facing off with Amalia in a board game, or teasing Lhor. But what I enjoyed the most was playing footsies with him. It appeared Zhul had converted to my barefoot ways – and I loved it.

  The main difference, though, was during intimacy. Although Zhul still enjoyed a little roughness, like when I nipped or gently clawed at him, but he no longer craved pain. That relieved me. I liked being slightly brutal with him and asserting my dominance from time to time but I didn’t want to really hurt him. For a while, I feared he was a true masochist and would escalate our rougher plays into asking me to flat-out whip or beat him. That would have been a deal-breaker for me. The exchange of power remained, with us alternating between who led and who submitted. There was no plan to it, only a spur-of-the-moment decision based on how we felt.

  I ran my fingers through his hair then caressed his cheek. Palm resting on his shoulder, my thumb traced the line of his clavicle. He gently kissed my lips then leaned back to look at me once more with his gentle stare. I wanted to know what he was thinking and fought the urge to read him.

  “So, it’s been three days now since…”

  “My reunion with Rhal?” Zhul asked.

  I nodded. “Do you… I mean, has he talked to you again?”

  Zhul shook his head.

  “I told you, it’s not like that. Rhal is a part of me, but not a separate entity sharing my body. We effectively fused into one. I don’t hear voices. It’s not like before he died, when I could feel his emotions and knew they came from him. Whatever I feel now are my feelings – whether influenced by the essence of Rhal or not.”

  “Does that bother you?”

  Zhul pursed his lips, his eyes taking on a faraway look as he pondered it.

  “No, not exactly. I miss the companionship of Rhal being a separate entity. I loved knowing how he felt through our bond and being able to respond to it accordingly. But I doubt I would have loved having another voice in my head trying to take control of my body or thoughts.”

  “That’s good then.”

  “It’s very good. I’m no longer hollow, thanks to you.”

  My skin warmed and my heart fluttered at his loving gaze on me.

  “I love the way you look at me.”

  “I love looking at you. I love imagining all kinds of places to look at you even more. Like the one I’m thinking about right now.”

  Images of me lying naked on the ivory sand of a beautiful, deserted beach flooded my mind. The soothing sound of the pale purple waves tickled my ears. Zhul, also naked, kneeled by my side, his fingertips drawing slow, sensuous circles on my skin.

  “Kigamot Sek. I’ll take you there some day.”

  I snapped out of my reverie, realizing I’d been reading him. Ashamed, I tried to pull my hand away from him, but he grabbed it and placed it back against his skin, holding it there. My eyes snapped to his, worry making my breathing shallow.

  “I didn’t mean…”

  “Hush, love.” His gentle smile calmed me. “I baited you. I wanted you to see.”

  He lifted my palm to his lips and gently kissed it.

  “I know when you read me. Your touch makes my skin tingle when you do. I felt it before but didn’t understand what it meant, until now.”

  My eyes widened. I didn’t realize others could feel it. None of the females ever reported this to me. I wondered if he felt it because he was my soulmate. I would need to ask Amalia if she’d consent to let me test it on her.

  “I know you didn’t deliberately try to invade my privacy. What matters is that you stopped as soon as you realized you were doing it. I understand you don’t fully control your ability, constrained as you have been. We’ll work on it together.”

  “But you baited me,” I said with a slight pout.

  He chuckled and nipped my bottom lip.

  “As the humans say, all is fair in love and war. And I do love you.”

  My heart melted and so did my body in his embrace. Our lips found each other before our tongues explored, tasted, and caressed. My nipples hardened, and I pressed my chest against his. Strong fingers gently fisted my hair, tilting my head to the side as our kiss deepened. I didn’t understand how he could get me so hot and bothered this quickly. My season had ended a few days ago, but we still had to mate twice a day to submit samples. I should be sick of having sex, yet I couldn’t seem to get enough of him.

  Reluctantly, I pulled away. He didn’t question it. We needed to remain alert. The darkened silver of his eyes told me how much he also ached to take me to our cell and occlude the walls for some steamy private time.

  I cleared my throat as my fingers fiddled with the collar of his tunic.

  “I can’t wait for us to return home and go check up on those Bhirrats again. I want one.”

  Zhul chuckled, shaking his head. “I told you, they may be cute and fluffy, but they’re not sweet and cuddly.”

  I pursed my lips into an exaggerated pout. He burst into laughter.

  “If you really want fluffy and cute, I can get you one of those wretched neptions. Might do Pouki a bit of good and teach him he doesn’t own the property, or us for that matter.”

  His smile faltered slightly. I didn’t need to read his mind to know he worried about Zhenax. Amalia told us Lelah had confirmed they were able to save the cavas’ life but that he was in terrible shape. Zhul would never be able to ride him again. What I hadn’t told him was that Amalia promised to have a talk with her Nana once we were free to ask her if she would restore Zhenax to full health.

  I opened my mouth to say as much when we heard her cry out as if in terrible pain.

  It was our signal.

  Heart pounding, I rushed towards their cell while Zhul ran to the com system and called out the guard. I heard the secure door chime, shortly followed by Ghil’s voice ordering Zhul to step back behin
d the line. Seconds later, Ghil appeared in the doorframe, his blaster aimed at Lhor who held his unconscious son.

  “Get out,” Ghil was tense, his features strained. “Go stand behind the line.”

  Lhor pressed himself further into the corner, a stubborn look on his face. “I’m not going to do anything stupid while holding my son. Something is wrong with the fetus. Separating Vahl from his Gem will only make it worse.”

  Ghil’s bulging eyes flicked between Lhor and Amalia’s prone form. He seemed on the verge of panic, unable to decide what to do. Amalia cried out again, her hand catching my wrist in a death grip.

  “Do something!” I shouted at Ghil, then leaned over Amalia, my free hand stroking her hair while whispering encouraging words in her ear.

  Ghil, pearls of sweat beading on his forehead, tapped his com. “Where the fuck are you, Sheb?”

  “I’m on my way,” Sheb’s voice responded through the com.

  Casting another wary look at Lhor, Ghil approached Amalia carefully. He tugged at the hand clutching her stomach to pull it away. Amalia held onto his hand, as if seeking comfort, but in fact keeping him within my reach. As soon as he raised his other hand to run the scanning wand over her stomach, Amalia released my wrist and I latched onto his instead.

  Submit to my will. Freeze.

  Ghil made a choked squeaking sound, his eyes snapping up to mine before slightly glazing over. As planned, in his panic, he hadn’t noticed I hadn’t put my gloves back on.

  “Release him,” I said to Amalia.

  She let go of his hand but remained lying down on the bed so he wouldn’t notice anything off once I released him and we resumed the pretense.

  Unlock her gloves.

  He complied and Amalia swiftly removed her gloves.

  Give her your com.

  Once again, he obeyed.

  Amalia wrapped her bare palm around it and closed her eyes. Blood rushed in my ears as I watched the intense look of concentration on her face. We had merely taken seconds but the Goddess only knew how long before Sheb reached us. Lhor and I exchanged a tense look, the same fear etched on his face.

  Amalia’s eyes snapped open. “Done.”

  I exhaled loudly in relief. She slipped her gloves back on.

  Put away your com and relock her gloves.

  He did as ordered.

  Put away the remote.

  Once done, Amalia grabbed his hand again as she had before.

  Two seconds after I let go of your wrist, resume your examination of her and forget anything that occurred from the moment I touched you.

  As soon as I released him, Amalia’s hand latched onto my wrist and she took on a pained expression again. I had to admit her performance deserved an award. But then, she’d had plenty of practice role-playing with all the pranks she pulled on her mates.

  A second later, Ghil blinked and resumed scanning her, casting furtive glances at Lhor from time to time. The scanner beeped, indicating it was done. Ghil stepped away pulling his hand from Amalia’s grasp. She placed it on her stomach and clutched at her tunic. Ghil cast a quick look at the scanner’s display.

  “It finds nothing wrong. Did she eat enough ryspak?”

  “She hasn’t eaten much today, actually,” Lhor said. “She’s been too worried about our son.”

  “Gharah’s teeth! Give her some food, and plenty of ryspak. You know better.”

  Ghil ran a nervous hand through his hair. The chime rang and Sheb came bursting into the room, his blaster on Zhul. Ghil’s shoulders sagged, some tension draining from him.

  “I will put an antihistamine hypospray in the tray you can inject her with. Then feed her. Nurse Rosthan will be back in a few hours.”

  Walking backwards, he exited the cell then left the holding area with Sheb. Zhul retrieved the hypospray from the little shelf by the door where he usually left his venom samples. Keeping up the charade, he came into the cell and pretended to inject Amalia with it. Although there were no cameras inside the private cells, the walls weren’t occluded and we didn’t want to take unnecessary risks.

  Moments later, Amalia stopped faking about having painful cramps in her stomach thanks to the antihistamines. Zhul took Vahl from Lhor so that he could carry his mate to the dining area. I went ahead to cut some ryspak. Amalia devoured them with a ravenous appetite. At first, I thought she was outperforming herself then realized her ryspak craving had truly kicked in. Zhul and I watched with morbid fascination as she gorged on half our reserves. Her belly threatening to burst forced her to stop. She eyed the remaining uncut fruits with something akin to sorrow.

  Lhor hid his laughter behind his hand.

  We huddled in the sitting area with little Vahl lying in his playpen. Only an hour had gone by since we put our plan into motion. Amalia felt confident her message had gone out and continued to be broadcast at regular intervals. She didn’t contact Khel directly – that would have been too easily detected. The guards would have moved us to a new location and we’d be back to square one. Instead, she’d encrypted a message, including our location, to ride the signal of Ghil’s com system’s geo-tracker. No one would track this ‘normal’ and apparently inoffensive two-way communication. But in effect, it would act as a beacon for Khel.

  Months ago, as part of their ‘overprotective security measures’ as Amalia called it, Khel had Ghan setup various secure methods for her to call for help should she ever get in trouble with specific frequencies that the First Division constantly monitored.

  According to her, Khel would have received the message within seconds of her sending it out the first time. Depending on how far they were, it could be up to six hours before they reached us, not counting the time required to organize a rescue mission.

  So we waited, struggling to keep our mounting excitement hidden.

  Watching the news, we were relieved to hear that very few negative incidents had occurred thus far with the Tuurean scouts. And those that did, fortunately, weren’t tragic. As for bad news, Whil Dervhen was on the offensive again. Campaigning in preparation for the next public Council session, he tried to raise support on the grounds that, had the Praghans been in a secure lab as he’d previously suggested, the Guldans couldn’t have abducted them.

  The longer they remained missing, the more people rallied behind him.

  Another half hour or so went by when Lhor’s head jerked up. He gave Amalia an intense look, and a broad smile stretched his face.

  Her eyes sparkled. “You can feel him!” she whispered.

  Lhor nodded. He closed his eyes, his face taking on an expression of deep concentration. I grabbed Zhul’s hand and he squeezed mine. Goddess, this could finally be it. At long last, I wouldn’t be left behind. We would all be free.

  Lhor’s eyes snapped open and he beamed. “Khel’s elated. He knows I can feel him. It’s getting stronger. They’re close.”

  As if to confirm Lhor’s words, the alarm went off. We all jumped to our feet, the same excitement on our faces. Amalia turned her back to the cameras and her face went slack. She was locking onto someone to look into their future.

  Reinforced duralium walls closed in front of the secured glass doors of our holding area. I remembered the many secured doors along the long corridor leading to the lab. Without Amalia to bypass the system, it would take the General a long time to break through each one of them, even with a good hacker.

  Unless the Tuureans had some tricks of their own.

  Amalia came out of her vision. “They’re going to try to sneak us out through a different exit. We need to create a delay.”

  She grabbed a chair in the play area and gestured for us to bring the table. Following her instructions, we dropped it beneath the camera. She placed the chair on top of the table before climbing as well. Standing up on the chair, she stretched to her full length to rip off the camera. Lhor held her legs in case she fell.

  They repeated the process with the other two cameras on that side of the wall while Zhul and I tackled the o
nes on the opposite side.

  “Now we need to block those doors,” Amalia said as soon as we were done.

  She made a beeline for the couches in the sitting area.

  “That will never hold,” I said.

  “No, but it will be enough for Khel to get here.”

  I didn’t see how he could get through the lab’s defenses this quickly, but I had no reason to doubt her. Grabbing every piece of movable furniture and objects we could get our hands on, we stacked them in front of the door. Once we finished, Amalia locked again onto a target while the rest of us occluded the walls to all the cells.

  “Ten minutes,” she said.

  And so, we waited.

  CHAPTER 25

  Valena

  Time hadn’t just slowed but felt as if it had stopped altogether. My heart beat with such ferocity I could feel it thudding through my skin and every nerve ending. Lhor laid Vahl in the middle of the bed in the furthest cell from the door. Although Amalia was a strong fighter, they agreed she would stay back with Vahl and me. She couldn’t risk putting her unborn child in danger. But should our captors somehow make it to us, between her combat skills and my ability we could hold our own.

  Right on cue, the loud clang of the reinforced door opening ricocheted around the room. My knees felt watery. Zhul gave me a hard kiss. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes spoke volumes.

  “I love you,” I whispered, blinking to hold in the tears.

  “And I you, my mate.”

  He caressed my cheek and walked out of the cell. Lhor pulled away from the kiss he exchanged with his own mate before following in Zhul’s wake. The chime of the secure door rang before it swished open.

  “What the fuck is this shit?” a voice with a thick Guldan accent shouted.

  I couldn’t make out the reply from another Guldan, his voice muffled by the distance.