by LC Morgans
“How is he?” she had to ask, and Thrayke frowned. He was used to this question by now, thanks to her having asked almost everyday since they’d evacuated her home and left it to die, but she knew Thrayke still hated her need to enquire after his leader’s wellbeing. Her memories of Kronus and the way he’d once been so affectionate and caring were still with her day and night though and she missed him, as both a friend and as the Thrak who she had idolized since he’d saved her life as a child. Although she loved Thrayke for all that he was and everything he’d done, Kyra simply couldn’t forget her affection for Kronus, no matter how much it pained her to think of him.
“He’s quiet, reclusive, grumpy, and he’s let his beard grow again. He still rubs it when he’s anxious, which seems to be a lot of the time—despite the success of his mission to Earth.” Thrayke left his food as well and watched Kyra with a sad look on his weary face. “He asked about you and your final days again. I think he misses you and grieves your death. I know he’d never say it, but I believe there’s a tremendous amount of regret hounding him for the way your life went in the end. And how he treated you.”
“How can you tell if he won’t say it though?” she asked, ignoring the iciness rolling off him.
“Because he looks like I know I would if I’d lost you that day. Like he’s left a part of himself behind, and whether he admits it or not, I know it’s the part of himself he gave to you.” Kyra’s heart pounded harder in her chest.
“Does it worry you?” she asked and Thrayke frowned.
“Yes, it terrifies me,” he told her, and Kyra got up out of her seat. She climbed straight into his lap and welcomed his powerful arms as they cradled her. It didn’t matter what Kronus did or didn’t mean to her, she loved Thrayke and was glad he believed it when she told him so. He kissed her temple. “In all honesty, I’d hoped he’d get over you and move on. If he discovered I’d stowed you aboard and tried to take you from me again I think I’d go mad with rage. I wonder if perhaps I’d even try and kill him. I let Kronus order me to give you up once and I know I couldn’t do it again.” He took a deep breath and kissed her, and while she hated the thought of things ever coming to blows between Thrayke and Kronus, Kyra couldn’t help but feel flattered that he’d fight even his closest friend if he tried to take her from him. She’d never let things get so far again though and had learned that lesson the hard way back on Earth. Even if she did want him, Kronus wasn’t ever going to change. He’d never choose her over his betrothed and she was done fighting him on the issue. Thrayke was the man for her, now and forever, and while she still cared for Kronus, it was as a friend and nothing more.
“I don’t want him, I want you,” she whispered.
“I know, Kyra,” he sighed. “I’m also glad I get to keep you to myself and we have this time together before we reach Thrakor, even though I know it’s hard on you being cooped up like this. When I first brought you here I wondered if I should sneak you into the cryo-chamber with the other Gentry. After all, you belong there so wouldn’t be denied a place in our regime and I wouldn’t have had to hide you. But, now the plans for those soldiers’ futures have been finalized, I’m glad I didn’t. They’ll be living and working in the new site of operations for the human refugees under the Chief of Defense and they’ll have nothing to live for, only their work and service to King Thrakor. It’s not a life I want for you, nor is it a life in which we could feasibly stay together. I’ll be stationed wherever Kronus goes, while you’d have to stay on Thrakor.”
“The highest regarded humans of the old regime will soon become the lowest of the classes on Thrakor. That’ll be a huge culture-shock to many of those pompous asses,” she mumbled against his chest and Thrayke agreed.
“The credit system has been abolished already so they’re all effectively worthless, but I’m told they will also be tracked and monitored via their microchips. I looked into your options, but discovered that I wouldn’t even be able to hide your identity if I wanted to because your DNA structure is already listed in the database. If I put you in one of those stasis chambers the system would immediately flag it. Kronus would figure it out, and regardless of what you and I might want, I believe he would make sure you were delivered to him when we reached Thrakor, not sent to the new Tower with the others. You’d become his prized memento. But it would be no real life. You’d be nothing more than a possession he wanted to keep for himself yet he would be forced to hide you away.”
Thrayke held onto her even tighter. “If that was the case and Mariah permitted him to openly care for you, she would perhaps allow you a room in their home for him to visit you with her consent, otherwise she’d be well within her rights to treat you like a slave and force him to see you in secret. No matter what, there would be no escape and he’d have to show no love towards you. Mariah and her ladies in waiting would despise you and Kronus would never be able to make up for what you were missing.”
“I don’t think he would even offer me a life in his care, only permanent solitude,” she replied. Kyra had to agree that Kronus had the potential to be selfish enough to force her into isolation at his behest if he discovered her alive and aboard his ship. “Actions speak louder than words and promises anyway. He gave me nothing while you saved my life over and over again, Thrayke. Don’t ever think I would choose him over you. Not today, not tomorrow, and certainly never in the future I have planned for us. There’s no one that could turn my head, not even him.”
***
Time dragged slowly and after months of isolation, Kyra felt like she’d lost sight of the ambitious and headstrong girl she’d once been. Instead of the routine and hard work that’d helped drive her towards her goal of a place in a society she’d never realized was doomed to fail, there was nothing but an empty void inside of her when she considered what she might do with the rest of her life. She had no idea what the future held for them, but knew one thing for sure. She had to trust in Thrayke to get her to some semblance of a normal, happy life safely. He was a Thrak who’d stood by every single one of his promises, and her heart filled more and more for him with every passing day.
“Can I see the human manifest?” Kyra asked early one morning when he was getting ready for his day at work. She’d wanted to ask him for a list of the humans aboard for a while, but wasn’t sure he’d be all that happy about her curiosity. Those safely stored below them on ice were as lost to her as the people who had died on Earth a couple months’ earlier and she knew it was no use knowing whether her friends or comrades had survived or not, but for some reason she still wanted to find out.
“I’ll see what I can do, but my domain isn’t the sciences or what’s in store for those humans aboard once we reach Thrakor. People will ask questions if I suddenly show an interest as to who’s in stasis.” She smiled and climbed up out of bed to give him a kiss, and Thrayke relaxed the moment their lips met. He sighed and let out a groan and she knew he was softening. Like always, despite all his training and experience of war and conflict, he couldn’t resist her womanly charms. “There are plenty of soldiers in there, though. I’m sure I can get away with asking after the status of my Gentry soldiers and perhaps I can even persuade Kronus to let me recruit some of them for a small team working directly beneath me to help tackle rogues. Gage is there, that I do know,” he added, and Kyra smiled. It was good to know the man whose career she’d put in jeopardy by getting him to participate in a covert mission with her hadn’t lost his position within the Gentry, but most importantly that he too was safely aboard.
“What about that police officer, McDermott?” she asked, but Thrayke shrugged.
“I’m not sure. There are well over twenty thousand humans on board. As well as the DNA sequenced candidates, each Division brought with them their finest soldiers and officers. The other sectors had allotted space for their superior human counterparts, so there might be some other civilians you know as well as soldiers.”
“And half-breeds?” she asked, thinking immediately of he
r childhood friend Samia and her family.
“They’re all accounted for, of course. They were some of the first aboard, along with the Thrakorian civilians. It pays to have our blood in your veins,” he replied with a dry laugh. “I have to go. I’ll do what I can.”
Thrayke gave Kyra one last lingering kiss before heading off out into his office. She watched as he gathered his things and straightened his clothes, and then she hid out of sight while he punched in his secret code to open the doors, which then shut behind him and sealed her back in.
***
Thrayke walked the long and winding hallways of the ship on autopilot, lost in his own thoughts. There were hundreds of reasons he could think that might require him to ask for a copy of the manifest, but each were traceable to him and ideally he wanted to gather the information Kyra wanted under the radar. The last thing he wanted was anybody asking questions, or worse, becoming suspicious of his motives. Kronus had stopped by his quarters that first day back aboard the ship and that’d been difficult enough to handle without giving away his unease. He was much happier dealing with his two lives by keeping them entirely separate. Kyra didn’t belong outside of his private quarters, just as the rest of the ships inhabitants didn’t belong inside with her and Thrayke had worked hard to keep it that way. So far, anytime one of his colleagues had asked to meet with him he’d managed to dissuade them from stopping by his office. His system was working and he felt as if the end might finally be in sight, despite the fear still lingering in his gut that Kyra would be discovered.
If she was, Kronus would never forgive his betrayal. That much Thrayke was sure about. He’d have him thrown in prison without so much as a backwards glance, while he took possession of the secret stowaway in his keep. He would care for her and love her in his own way, but she would never be free. Kronus would own her. Thrayke didn’t doubt it for a second, and hadn’t lied when he’d told Kyra his fears for if she ever found herself in his leader’s grasp again.
Thrayke sat through meeting after meeting with his fellow Kings Guard, and he quickly grew bored of the monotony. The Lawbringer, Minic was laying down more and more new laws to govern the humans with when they reached Thrakor, and while he was clearly passionate about his task, the ins and outs of the judicial system were none of Thrayke’s immediate concern. He agreed that they had to be monitored and kept within defined parameters rather than free to roam and live amongst the Thrakorian population, for the humans’ safety as well as the Thrakorian unease at having to accommodate the human refugees.
He began wondering how Kronus was doing. He’d locked himself away again, and hadn’t been seen in almost a week. It was just his way though, and Thrayke couldn’t begrudge him from going back to his old habits, regardless of how much being on Earth had seemingly changed him for the better. Despite their many adventures over the years, Kronus was an introvert and would always retreat to his seclusion after intense periods of war or the completion of hard assignments that’d been set for him by his father. Returning home was bound to be bittersweet as well. He’d lose the title he’d once seemed quick to dismiss, but also the freedom that’d come with it. King Thrakor would expect his son to marry the bride chosen for him since birth and he would have no choice but to adhere to his father’s ruling without delay or comment.
Once married, Mariah would be his one and only, in the eyes of their worlds if not in actual reality, and they would be expected to conceive an heir relatively soon after they were wed. Kronus had never spoken of Mariah in a way that made Thrayke believe he wanted her like that, despite her beauty and prestigious family line. The one and only woman he’d shown that sort of interest in had been Kyra, and jealousy consumed Thrayke at even the inkling that Kronus might truly love her despite all his reasons for pushing her away. It terrified him to so much as consider that his leader might still try to steal her from him, and that thought alone made Thrayke want to keep as far away from him as possible, regardless of their friendship.
At the end of his long work day, he stopped by the only person he thought he could trust not to make a big deal out of his request to view the manifest, one of the administrators and overseer of the humans’ safety while aboard the ship. Sylvana, a half-breed member of the Intelligence Division’s Gentry, was at her desk almost around the clock, and she peered up at Thrayke with a kind smile when he entered her small office on his way back to his quarters.
“Evening, Besieger Thrayke. What can I do for you?” she asked, and stood to shake his hand formally.
“No need for decorum, Sylvana,” he answered, and took the seat opposite from her. She beamed and sat back down; clearly impressed that he’d remembered her name. Sylvana had been a hardworking and important member of his staff back in The Tower, and he was glad she’d chosen to stay on as a civilian counterpart to their transforming army.
“Okay, formalities aside,” she conceded with a wink, and then offered him a shot of vodka from a flask she pulled out of a drawer to her right. He took it and enjoyed the burn as it hit his throat. It’d been a long time since he’d taken a stiff drink and it felt good to get a quick buzz.
The smell made him think of the mess he’d found Kyra in back on Earth, though. Part of him wondered if she could ever be a social drinker or if she’d always binge. She’d turned to alcohol as a coping mechanism during her darker days, rather than for fun, so associated it as such now. It hadn’t been a nice thing to watch, seeing her come undone like that, and Thrayke had begun to wonder if she had the potential for alcoholism if she wasn’t careful. Kyra enjoyed their small glasses of wine the odd evening, but he’d known for a while that they might not be able to enjoy having a proper drink together once they were settled in wherever was to be their new home. Being Thrakorian, the alcohol affected him differently to humans. The booze was widely known to open up their emotions and sensitive side, but he didn’t mind revealing all to her. Kyra deserved to see him, warts and all, and Thrayke had learned early on in their relationship not to lie to her. While the truth had often hurt, he knew she’d always take it over being lied to. “How are you? It’s been a long time since we caught up.” Sylvana’s voice cut through his reverie.
“It’s been tough, I won’t deny it. I’m adjusting back into normal routine again though, and wondered of you might be able to help me with something?” Thrayke asked, passing the flask back over to her.
“Anything, you know that,” she answered, and he did. When they’d first arrived on board and he had considered putting Kyra in stasis for the journey, Sylvana had been the only one Thrayke would’ve trusted with her care during both her sedation and the journey. Every human had to be monitored and their vitals checked daily so there would have been no hiding her, but he knew Sylvana would’ve kept his secrets if he’d asked her to.
“I need a copy of the ships manifest,” he said, before turning serious for a moment when she was clearly about to ask why he didn’t just access it himself. “Off the record,” Thrayke added and she nodded.
“I might have a copy here somewhere, but if anyone asks—you didn’t get it from me,” she told him. After digging around in a drawer to her side, Sylvana handed him a small tablet device he trusted to have an electronic register of every soul on board. He thanked her, asking if she might like anything in return, and she grinned. “As you can tell, I enjoy a sup of quality liquor every now and again. If you want to thank me, you know what’ll do it nicely.” Sylvana then shooed him away, and Thrayke didn’t hang around for any more small talk or secretive chatter. He had what he wanted and left after stashing the device in the inside pocket of his jacket.
On his way back towards the main living areas of the Kings Guard, he was met by a surprisingly flustered Minic. Thrayke had never seen the Lawbringer act out of sorts before and was immediately on edge at finding him so uneasy. Did he suspect something? He was the Lawbringer, of course he had to, but there was something else off about him. Minic was the one acting uneasily rather than the other way around.
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“Where did you just come from, Thrayke? Who did you go and see?” Minic asked, and his tone made Thrayke’s heart race. Perhaps he did suspect something. Even if he did, Thrayke wondered why he would be questioning him in the hallway instead of in an interrogation room with an Inquisitor present. After taking him in for a few seconds, Thrayke began to wonder if his unease wasn’t about him or his actions at all, but for his own reasons.
“I was checking on the status of my Gentry officers in stasis, Minic. What’s the problem?” he asked, and his comrade peered over his shoulder to the doorway Thrayke had just left from. Minic clearly knew where he had been and with whom he was talking to, but rather than get into a discussion over things he didn’t want to be drawn into, Thrayke simply carried on his way. Minic didn’t follow him or question him further and it all struck Thrayke as strange.
His actions puzzled him so much that all the way back to his quarters, Thrayke was looking back over his shoulder while also trying to fathom why his colleague had seemed so unsettled. There had to be a reason, but he doubted he’d find out until Minic was ready to explain himself, if ever. Thrakorian’s were well known to be a private race and those in positions of power were even more so thanks to their knowledge and skill in areas that quite often left them social outcasts in certain instances. Inquisitors more often than not made for lousy friends and even worse adversaries in a game of poker. Their skill at reading people made them unreadable themselves, but too good at figuring out the intentions of others, so the games were fruitless against even one in training. Minic was the leader of their Division, so was more adept than any of them at hiding his true feelings. As the Besieger, Thrayke was also top of his game. He could easily sniff out a mole or something out of sorts in his surroundings and had to admit, he had often given Kyra the opportunity to crack codes he himself had already worked out just to marvel at how similarly her brain worked to his.