by Anna Carven
“Sera.” His eyes softened then, turning the color of a fading sunset; amber shot through with streaks of tawny brown. “I’m not doing this alone. I have every faith in General Akkadian and the soldiers under his command. But I can’t predict the will of the Goddess. Sometimes she can be cruel. This time, I hope she’ll be kind to me. I have every intention of coming back to you, Sera. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
“Idiot. You have to come back, or I’ll kill you.” Sera forced herself to smile, even though she was worried. It just so had to happen that when she’d finally found a man who accepted her, scars and all, and didn’t give two shits about her family ties, he had to go off to save Earth from his own people.
The God of Irony was smiling down upon her.
To hell with going back to Earth. If Xal was going to be such a male about it and not tell her anything, she would have to use her powers as an investigative journalist and find out exactly what was going on.
The only problem was, she didn’t know where to start. She was good at blending in on Earth, but onboard a warship full of Kordolians, she kind of stood out.
Perhaps that’s where a little drone-cam or two might come in handy.
~~~
Xal watched in fascination as the nanite-infused tissue compound melted into the neat surgical wound the medic had made, knitting his damaged flesh together.
“Give it ten phases, then come back and see me for an epidermal patch. Don’t leave it too long otherwise you’ll start to form granulation tissue, and that might cause scarring. You’re lucky. There’s not so much of this stuff left. I’m down to my last batch.” The medic, Zyara, applied a clear dressing with her gloved hands.
Xal looked at the healing tissue in the underside of his arm. A long cut had been made and a tracking device had been inserted. According to the General, it was a highly sensitive piece of technology, designed to be picked up over ultra-long distances.
There would come a time when Xal would need to make a quick escape from the Fleet Station, and Tarak, who intended to follow behind in a small, cloaked craft called a stealth arrow, didn’t want him to get lost in the vastness of space. With the absence of gravity and so many forces involved, escape trajectories could become unpredictable.
Now he’d become just another blip in Tarak’s vast network of assets.
Xal flexed his arm experimentally, feeling no pain at all. Zyara had numbed the area with a few well-placed electrodes, temporarily stunning the nerve endings.
She raised a lilac eyebrow as she peered at her holoscreen, scanning over a bunch of data Xal didn’t understand.
The look she gave him was one-part astonishment, and two-parts amusement, her eyebrows lifting even higher. “You’ve been busy lately, Xalikian. I won’t ask you about the details, but whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. It’s working.”
“What are you talking about, Sirian?” He called her by her House name, causing her to frown. Zyara al Sirian was an oddity; a Kordolian female from a Noble House who had done the unthinkable and studied medicine. She was cool-headed in dangerous situations and had been hand-picked by Tarak to be the First Division’s combat medic, much to the collective outrage of the establishment.
But in those days, no-one had argued with Tarak when it came to recruitment for the First Division. The elite unit of enhanced soldiers was his and his alone.
Zyara winked at him. “Have you been getting headaches lately? Or have you felt angry for no reason? Your hormones are displaying the Zyllic pattern. Severe Mating Fever with recent rapid resolution. As I said, whatever you’re doing is working. I’ll bet you feel fantastic right about now.”
Xal stared at her in shock. “Mating Fever?”
“It’s real, my Prince. And you’ve got all the risk factors. Young, athletic build, active lifestyle, intact horns, abstinence. It isn’t really a disease. The modern classifications are all wrong. It’s just evolution. Without the hormonal overload, our ancestors would have died out.”
“So I’m not going insane?” Relief coursed through him.
“You don’t look insane to me.” Zyara shrugged and started to unhook the monitoring devices from his body. Xal shook his head in disbelief. The medic was right. He did feel fantastic, and it was because he had given in to his desire. Sera had been incredible. Even now, the memory of her scent lingered, and he longed for her warmth, the feel of her strong, sinuous body and the sound of her low, husky voice.
He’d loved the way she’d sounded, her voice melting him as she expressed her satisfaction. He’d loved the way she looked at him, with dark, burning desire in her brown eyes.
Zyara’s monitor started to beep gently, and she shot him a sidelong glance. “As I said, Mating Fever. And it seems you’ve found a cure. I’ll leave you to whatever you’re thinking about right now.” She looked slightly amused. “The monitors don’t lie.” She ripped the remaining electrodes from his bare chest.
Xal shrugged, not in the least embarrassed by her observations. Thinking about Sera made his heart beat faster; it was true. “As you said, it’s evolution.” He stood, rubbing the dressing on the inner side of his left upper arm. The area was numb and cold, and all he felt was a faint tingling as the nanites did their work. “I’ll be back in ten phases for the skin patch. I’m just relieved it’s not the royal madness.”
“Xalikian,” Zyara handed him his robes. “I don’t think that kind of madness is hereditary, and there are many who think your mother is totally sane. There’s no medical diagnosis for what she has, so stop looking over your shoulder for shadows that aren’t there.”
Xal stood and dressed. Level-headed Zyara, of course, was the epitome of common sense. So why were there still lingering doubts at the back of his mind?
He forced himself to shelve them.
“This Mating Fever,” he said. “Will it come back? Is there a permanent cure?”
“It’s unpredictable.” Zyara removed her gloves and entered some data. “Some get it worse than others. It usually fades over time as a male ages and his hormone levels drop. But as far as I know, the best way for you to keep it at bay is to have regular intercourse.”
An image of wet, hot, naked Sera flashed through his mind.
Xal shook his head, trying to curb his arousal. His fear of hereditary madness had been replaced with another kind of madness.
He was becoming obsessed with this Human, and he was certain now that it wasn’t just because she was one of the first few Human females he had encountered.
He was attracted to her inquisitiveness, her strength, and to the intelligence that gleamed in her dark eyes, not to mention her sinful, lithe body. She had jumped at the opportunity to come aboard Silence without hesitation or demands. She had asked questions and taken initiative.
And when it came to acting upon mutual attraction, she hadn’t been shy.
She’d been the first to make a move, and he’d loved that.
There had been concern in her eyes when he’d hinted at his plans. She was actually worried for him.
To a Human who didn’t understand the complexities of the Kordolian Empire, his plan would probably seem ridiculous and terrifying. He really didn’t know how to explain it all to her.
So he’d kept quiet.
Now he just had to pretend to betray his General, get onboard the enemy ship, and somehow convince them to leave Earth’s orbit.
Sera would resent him for leaving, but in time she would understand, because he would do everything in his power to return to her.
And then, without the imminent threat of the Imperium looming over them, they would be free to explore her fascinating planet, and each other.
CHAPTER NINE
After Xal slipped away to attend to some mysterious business, Sera munched on the cube-shaped goodies he’d retrieved for her, astounded at the complexity of flavor that had been packed into such tiny bite-sized morsels.
Veronian food, he’d called it, and he’d been so certain that she’d en
joy it.
He’d been right. Damn him.
She was back in her quarters, sitting on her bed, adjusting the settings on a tiny surveillance drone. She’d put it on night-vision mode, and she was about to let it fly off to find her target.
Of course, that was Xal.
He’d be mad if he figured out he was being followed, but her drones were designed for stealth and silence, unlike the standard models, which emitted a soft buzzing noise.
Something big was going down, and for some reason, Xal didn’t want to tell her much.
The big idiot thought he was doing her some sort of favor. She was starting to get the impression that despite being an Imperial Prince from an evil, technologically superior race of alien super-beings; a complicated guy with a complicated past, he was just a big softie at heart.
Oh, she still had questions, and lots of them; her journalistic brain never switched off. But didn’t think Xal had any ill intentions towards Humans.
Sera walked over to the door with the tiny drone in her hand. The door opened and she stuck her head out into the corridor, peering left and right. It was empty. Good.
She released the drone and it disappeared, drifting up into the darkness, its tiny, internal motors propelling it along the passageway.
Sera slipped back into her room, the door fusing shut behind her. That door and its weird technology creeped her out, but at least she knew no-one could enter her room without her permission. She retrieved her monitoring pad and peered at the screen, watching as footage from the drone appeared.
It sped down the corridor, keeping close to the ceiling.
The night-vision was awesome. Details she hadn’t noticed before came to life, and she realized that this giant, deadly structure the Kordolians called Silence was an intricate meshwork of black materials, fused and woven together without any visible bolts or welding.
Sera popped another little cube in her mouth as the drone showed her a dimly lit, cave-like entrance. She navigated it inside and realized it was some kind of medical facility. Various monitors and equipment were installed along the walls. There was a large chair in the centre, with tubes and wires alongside it. A large circular tank filled with liquid dominated the centre of the room, a soft glow emanating from it.
A Kordolian woman wearing long, white robes stood before a holoscreen, entering data. According to Xal, Kordolian females never went off-planet. So who was this statuesque beauty?
Beside her, Xal was fixing up his robes.
Huh? Why was he in the medical bay? Was he unwell?
The woman gave him a tube of something and Xal took it reluctantly, a stubborn expression crossing his face. Sera turned on the sound, and was grateful for the translator clipped to her ear.
“It’s fibrogel.” The woman, who Sera presumed was a medic, advised him. “Apply it to your cuts and scrapes every ten phases, especially the one on your horn there. Otherwise, they may fester. And in future, you might want to take it easy in the simulation room.”
Xal responded with a noncommittal grunt, taking the medicine. Sera rolled her eyes. Males. They thought they were invincible.
“You will use that medicine, you big idiot,” she said, more to herself, because he couldn’t hear her. One way or another, she would make sure of it.
Xal farewelled the female medic and left the room. Sera fumbled with her monitoring pad and commanded the drone to ‘lock’ onto him. She felt a little bad for spying on him in this way. It was a huge invasion of privacy. She had always tried to use the micro-drones as little as possible, and only when absolutely necessary.
But this time, the fate of Earth was at stake, so she felt justified enough in her decision.
Anyway, if something really sensitive came up, she could always shut it off. She’d already seen Xal naked, so she figured he didn’t have much more to hide.
Xal left the medical facility and veered off down a narrow passageway Sera didn’t even notice until he turned into it the last second. He walked for a while, the corridor seeming to go on forever. He didn’t pass a single soul.
Obviously, this wasn’t a thoroughfare so often travelled by the Kordolian personnel.
He walked and walked until he came to a small door which unraveled, admitting him into another room. This one had a port-hole with a view of the stars and the familiar blue-and-green outline of Earth. Sera realized he must be on the underside of the ship.
Xal sat in front of a holoscreen and activated it, entering a string of commands.
“Contact Ristval V,” he ordered, and the holoscreen came to life.
“Patching you through, Highness,” a gentle, mechanical voice said, as the Kordolians Sera had seen before came into view.
“You are alone this time, Prince Xalikian.” The gaudily dressed Kordolian with the rings and makeup smiled, his fangs peeking over his lower lip. It was a cold smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Does this mean you’ve finally come to your senses?”
“I have considered your request,” Xal said quietly. “You are right, Luron. This course of action we are taking is futile. I have observed the Humans, and they are nothing like us. I cannot live here.”
“Inter-species mating is an abomination,” Alerak spat. “A disgrace to the Kordolian race. We can’t allow our blood to mix with that of an inferior species. Humans will be useful to us in other ways, but not as mates.” A look of disgust crossed his features.
“You are right, of course.” Xal’s expression was so glacial that Sera shuddered. “I have come to realize that after spending a short time on Earth.” He shook his head. “It isn’t the way forward for the Empire.” Xal leaned back in his seat, steepling his fingers and returning Alerak’s glare with an implacable stare. “I cannot promise you everything you have asked for, Luron, however I am willing to offer you a deal. I have thought long and hard about mother’s offer, and I consider it fair. If she is willing to forgive my past crimes and allow me to return to the Court, I will forget past vendettas and return to my rightful place at her side. In exchange, I will give you the location of the stolen Fleet Station.”
Sera breathed in sharply. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. The Kordolian she saw through the tiny lens of her surveillance drone was a cold, terrifying stranger.
This wasn’t the Xal she knew.
What was he doing?
Alerak raised a manicured, silver eyebrow. “So the prodigal son wishes to return to mother’s embrace. I am tempted to believe you, Xalikian, but I need further proof of your loyalty. How do I know you’re not hatching a plan with the dreaded General? You can, of course, understand why I am being wary. Your past actions shook Noble society to its core.”
“I am coming to you with information that will get me killed if Akkadian finds out about my betrayal. You know how he is. Do you think I would risk my life if I were toying with you, Alerak?” Xal snorted in disdain. “However, I can understand your wariness, so I am willing to co-operate. What do you require of me, Luron?”
“Bring me the Human owned by Tarak al Akkadian as proof of your intentions. Even the General is not exempt from the rulings of the High Council. She has been claimed as the property of the Empire, and he will have to learn what happens when he tries to steal from the Empire. He seems quite fond of that female. We will destroy this thing he has fought so hard to keep.”
The Kordolian’s voice was devoid of any emotion, and a strange, fanatical light had entered his eyes. Sera’s skin crawled. He was talking about the General’s mate, Abbey, as if she were an insect he could easily crush. Humans were nothing to these Kordolians.
Xal’s expression was blank; he didn’t react in any way to Alerak’s cruel proclamation. “It will be difficult,” he said finally, his voice a bleak monotone. “You know how Akkadian gets. I am risking my life by coming to you with this information. I would think that someone in your position would consider my offer a most generous one. You wish to recover the Fleet Station, and I am dropping it into your open hands. Wou
ld you risk it all for one Human?”
Alerak managed to look slightly pained. “Your offer is fair, Prince. However, the Infinite Mother has specifically requested the Human, and I cannot disobey her. Find a way to bring her to me, show us where the Fleet Station is, and I will grant you passage back to Kythia.”
“You ask a lot, Luron.”
“You want to go back home? Then find a way to deliver what I ask. That is all.” The image of the Kordolian wavered and flickered, before disappearing.
Xal took a deep, shuddering breath and leaned forward, dropping his head into his hands.
From her hidden vantage point, Sera blinked in confusion. Her head was swirling with conflicting thoughts, and she couldn’t believe what she had just witnessed.
The Prince was conniving with the evil Kordolians to sell out the General and his people.
That couldn’t be right. Something didn’t add up here.
What had happened to the sweet, sensual male who had treated her with such tenderness and given her pleasure beyond her wildest dreams?
The Xal she had seen just now had seemed every bit as cruel and dispassionate as the Imperial Kordolians. He hadn’t flinched when Alerak had demanded Tarak’s mate.
Either he was a cold-hearted bastard, or he was a very, very good actor.
Either this was all part of some grand master-plan, or he really was going to sell the General out. The latter would spell disaster for Earth.
Sera had to find out for certain.
She would confront him and find out the truth. Because she couldn’t believe that the man she had just seen and the Xal she knew were one and the same.
Because no-one, alien or Human, could have faked what had happened between them.
~~~
Xal found the General training a group of young soldiers in the simulation chamber. Tarak was standing impassively behind an observation panel, watching them fight.
They were bruised and bloody, breathing heavily from exertion, their clothes disheveled and torn.