“Where are you bound?” he asked, before she could terminate the communication. At her raised brow, he continued. “We could escort you …”
She smiled. “I understand what you want, Captain. And in your shoes I would want the same. However, I cannot accept your offer for many reasons. One of which is a disagreement with your goal, which I cannot over look.”
“Which would that be?”
Her smile fell away. “You seek to remove non-humans from the empire. Even the Spectrals are not permitted.” She shook her head. “If the Movement succeeded in its goals, the Soul Shadows would kill everything. You see,” she said, leaning forward, “your crew and mine are alive at this moment because of the bond between Spectral and corporeal being.” She paused, letting that fact sink in. “If I were you, I would rethink my allegiance to such an organization that has such a narrow view. And while you do that, I suggest that you flee this area by way of the Imperial System. That will get you out of Shadow Space the soonest.”
“We’ll be incarcerated,” he protested. If she had known where his allegiance lay, then he was sure that patrols in the Imperial System would know, as well.
Sinclair shrugged. “Better than being dead.” And she ended the transmission. A moment later, the strange ship before them vanished as if it had never been. The Atlas’s systems remained online. “Chart a course for the Imperial System,” he ordered grudgingly. His bridge crew didn’t like it either, but they agreed with the young captain. There was always hope while one was alive. There wasn’t any for this life being dead.
Chapter 25 – The True Rulers
Cassiana
Prime World Kinair
Kinair System
Spectral Empire
Life went from blessedly normal, where the most adventurous thing she did was let Sam and Tress talk her into going out for a late night treat when she should have been studying or sleeping, to a waking nightmare. There was no escape from the new truths of her life. Her best friends were gone. Though she tried to ignore it for the sake of her sanity, they were likely dead. The pitying looks she got from the maids suggested that they were. And if appearances were to be believed, with the collar and all, she was some new pet for the head of the house.
Cassiana shivered and hugged her knees to her chest. If her new babysitter saw her sitting in the gazebo like this, the old matron would probably throw a fit. Ms. Clessy, from what Cassiana had gathered from the woman when she introduced herself this morning, had been Alec’s nanny when he was a child. She seemed like a nice enough person except when she Cassiana caught sight of the older woman’s perusal. It furthered Cassi’s feeling that she was a pet because it seemed as if the woman couldn’t decide if Cassi was about to pee on the carpet or something.
Thankfully, Cassiana had given Ms. Clessy the slip when a servant had asked the older woman’s advice on something. Cassi had been staring out the hall windows at the lush garden in the court yard. An unlocked door had been right there. She slipped out into the sunlight and somehow walked like she had every right to be there. No one had stopped her walking across the short lawn to the garden proper. Tall trees and thick ornamental plants formed their own little world. A world that one could become immersed in by simply stepping onto a sandy path. The mystery of where it would go had given her something other than her current circumstances. That had lasted until after she had found the little pond with its own man-made waterfall tumbling into it. Enthralled by the peace in the scenery, she had sat in the gazebo and simply stared.
But not moving had given her memories time to hedge her in. The garden lost its tranquility as the memories of the maze came back to her. The constant running with possible, giggling death waiting around every corner. The blindness — Her mind shut down when she tried to consider what would have happened if Alec hadn’t told her about the blue path.
Which brought her to thoughts about to Alec. All of what had happened to her since she and her friends had entered the Sapphire Waters Hotel and Resort had all been because she had a stupid ‘gift’ that she had tinkered with in the wrong hotel. If she hadn’t played with the candle flames, she wouldn’t have attracted Alec’s attention in the first place. If she had avoided that, she and her missing friends would still be in their happy, yet ignorant, lives …
But Cassiana now knew that life was forever lost to her. In the place of her casual clothes were day dresses she doubted her parents could have afforded with a year’s salary. Cassiana winced and quickly put her feet where they should be (on the ground). Her hands smoothed over the Eelaisian silk. Until she had seen her chance to escape from Ms. Clessy, she had walked in fear that she would ruin the gown. When she had protested the dress that morning, Ms. Clessy had tsked and said that no woman who was near her favorite charge would wear something as common as sweatpants and a t-shirt.
Then there was this place that Ms. Clessy told her was now her new home. The place was a palace that the residents had the audacity to call a ‘manor.’ And while it fit the definition of a manor in that it was a landed estate, the main house was enormous. According to the maid who had brought Cassiana’s breakfast, the manor probably had at least seven hundred rooms. The building surrounded the courtyard.
Ms. Clessy had, before she got distracted, gushed that the manor was nearly as old as the Norighen family. The whole thing was housed in the palatal manor. Guess it makes family reunions easy, Cassiana thought mildly, if they even have family reunions. Maybe they don’t need them because they see everyone every day. What do they do when there is sibling rivalry? Cassiana shook her head. Why do I care? She had no intention of staying any longer than it took to discover a way out.
Displeasure radiated in cold waves from the golden collar around her neck. Cassiana hissed and touched the thing. She didn’t try to pull it off, but she did want to. Thankfully, because she didn’t physically do anything to remove it, the blasted thing didn’t shock her.
“Thoughts of escape will upset it,” Alec said, intruding upon her place of quiet like he owned it. Which, sadly, he did. Cassiana startled and glared at him. To which he smiled, his dark eyes dancing.
The part of her that was attracted to him, despite what he had done to her last night or maybe the pull was made stronger because of it, she thought, blushing, wondering if those green flecks in his eyes had brightened with his amusement. She attempted to banish the thought by turning away from him. “Go away,” she demanded.
Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him shake his head. “The way you speak to me … no one else would have the nerve to.”
“You should have thought about that before you decided to set a trap,” Cassiana snapped. She was rather proud of her strong, defensive outward manner. He was a predator and any sign of weakness on her part would just add to his arsenal. He sat down next to her on the bench. As unobtrusively as she could, she tried to keep as much distance between them as possible. His nearness and her fascination with him made it more likely that she would lean into him. That would be a mistake.
He snorted. “Are your words making you feel stronger? More in control of your life?” he asked.
She called him something that would have impressed Tressarah and shocked her mother into grabbing a bar of soap if either had heard. Alec didn’t have the decency to react. “What do you want?” Cassiana muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Other than you?” Alec asked, stretching out his legs. Dressed in black slacks and a cream dress shirt, he looked like a carefree nobleman’s son. She glared at him and he smirked. “You scared Ms. Clessy. One moment you were with her, the next gone.” He said with a wave of his hand. When Cassiana didn’t respond, he continued, “You know, if she had been anyone else I would have had to punish her,” he drawled, a menacing undertone flavoring his otherwise calm voice.
“Does she get special leniency because she was your nanny?” Cassiana asked snidely.
“I did not think you were so bold. One night in my bed gave you confidence, e
h?” Blushing at his not-so-subtle reminder, she looked away toward the pond. Colorful fish gleamed in the water. “And the reminder has you turning shy,” he observed softly, as if making a case study of her.
That thought irritated Cassiana. Though why it did, she didn’t know. She strongly suspected it had something to do with that renegade attraction to him. “What am I to you?” she asked, figuring that she’d rather know where she stood then flounder in the unknown. Was she his mistress? Because they were definitely not married. No vows had been spoken, just the act … or was she his pet, like the collar and Ms. Clessy’s behavior suggested?
“Hmm, there is a simple answer and a more complicated one. Which would you like to hear?” he asked thoughtfully. She blinked at him. How could there be two answers? Apparently reading the question in her expression, Alec nodded and said “Very well, you’ll get both. Simply — you are mine.” He smirked at her narrowing gaze and continued, “The more complicated is that we are Bound.”
“I’m not married to you,” Cassiana interrupted.
Alec waved her protest away like a vaguely annoying gnat. “You’re right. We are not married. No spoken vows before a higher power. However …” He paused for a moment. Sitting as close as they were, she could see the green flecks in his eyes as he made sure she was listening to him. “We are Bound by power and intimacy. In some ways you are like my wife. No other man in this House would dare to touch you. But you do not hold authority, so many will see you as merely my possession that happens to walk and talk.”
Cassiana glowered. “That is disgusting.”
Alec shrugged. “Perhaps, but you were not born of the Pure Families. To many, you are an interesting fluke of chance. Most Kina these days can’t use majvolta even though they still have the potential for it. Because of that, we see them as less. They have no need for the energy they absorb but never put to use. So we take it and save a portion of each for my ancestor who taught us how to do so.”
“That was what the Collector was?” she asked, feeling her gorge rise.
He nodded. “Part of it, anyway.”
Not wanting to remember the horror of the creature again Cassiana turned her attention to a word he kept using. “What is ‘majvolta’?”
Alec relaxed again. “Majvolta is the skill to use the ambient energy that all life absorbs in some fashion.” He began to explain in a cadence that reminded Cassiana of a professor she had always enjoyed listening to. He had been one of those who had been born to teach and she always did well in his classes. Alec’s picture was probably next to the word ‘confusing’ in the dictionary. One second he repulsed her, the next she didn’t want to stop being around him. “The Ket’neiar, our ancestors, had developed the ability to use it to help them survive,” Alec continued, “and they thrived long before the humans came and began the Spectral Empire.”
“I have heard of them before,” Cassiana said when he paused. “I’ve never heard of majvolta before, though. But the histories do say that they had been a powerful people.” Cassiana frowned. “Then one day the leaders and their closest followers vanished. The name was lost and we started to call ourselves ‘Kina.’”
“Pronunciation shift,” Alec replied, nodding. “What the histories do not tell you is that one of the strongest Ket’neiar remained after the others … left. We call him ‘Master’ now because he taught his son and his son’s family how to harvest the energy around them. As thanks, a portion has always been set aside for him to collect the next time he visits. We also keep the Heart of Souls, one of his greatest inventions, safe here.”
“And you still ‘collect’ for him. A waste, isn’t it? Since he must have died ages ago??’ she added, when he frowned at her. She wasn’t sure what to make of that ‘Heart of Souls’ bit. Cassiana was sure she really didn’t want to know anything else about it. The other, she had more experience with.
His expression cleared and he grinned. “He isn’t dead. I met him a few years ago when I became the head of the family.”
Cassiana snorted. “What? He’s immortal?”
“As close to it as a corporeal being can be, yes,” Alec replied in a voice of calm conviction.
Cassiana stared at him, trying to figure out if he was playing her or not. But she couldn’t. “So, do you know how to use this skill?”
“Aye. It is how we are Bound.”
“You said that was done by power and intimacy.” She blushed again. “I can guess what you mean by ‘intimacy,’ but—um—how are we bound by energy? Is it just that we both use it to some level?”
“Not quite. Since you are mine, I pull part of the energy you gather from your environment. If you like, I can teach you how to use your ability,” He offered, once again flip-flopping between repulsive and alluring.
Cassiana slanted him a look before turning more fully toward him. “Aren’t you afraid that I’ll use what you teach me to escape?” she asked daringly.
He shook his head. “Why would I worry? There is nowhere you can go where I can’t find you. Especially not when you wear my friend here,” Alec said, touching the white gold collar encircling her neck. The darn thing warmed and almost seemed to purr. Cassiana wished it would just stop. “And if by some miracle you do manage to escape, who are you going to tell? How will you make them believe your story?” Alec challenged.
“I’ll find someone …” like her father, who would know who she should tell. “And if they don’t believe me at first, I’ll show them what I can do and teach them how to do it themselves,” Cassiana pointed out. Whatever confidence she had in her plan withered slightly in the face of Alec’s derision.
“Demonstrating your ability to them would likely backfire on you. Either they will think you got your hands on some special effects or that you are dangerous and need to be locked up. That and made into an experiment,” he added thoughtfully.
“And if I do find someone who will believe me?”
Doubtful, but I’ll humor you, his expression seemed to say before adopted a bored expression. “If you do, they’ll find themselves in the Maze before they could get too close to this place. You might as well just learn how to enjoy being here, because this is your new home,” he said, turning back to face her. “Now, would you like to learn how to do more with your gift then play with candles and ignite ropes?”
Cassiana tilted her head. She tried to wrap her mind around Alec’s motivation for wanting to teach her. She studied him, hoping for some clue. His expression was outwardly indifferent, but there was a tension in his body. The green flecks in his eyes were glowing, but she wasn’t sure which emotion fueled that light. “I would,” she answered him. It was the only way to discover his reasons.
He grinned and turned to face her. “Put your hands in mine,” he directed, holding his out to her, palm up. Eyeing him dubiously, she complied. “Good, now focus like you do for your candle flames.”
“But there is no candle … or do you want me to ignite something?” she asked.
“No. I just want you to focus. Though if you need something to focus on to start, your own body will do.” She did as he said and suddenly, she was aware of her body in a completely new way. With her eyes closed, she could see it as a lattice work of light. Much of it pulsed with her heartbeat … except... Cassiana frowned. There was a tiny spark that flickered to a different rythem.
Her eyes snapped open in shock. “What is that?” She asked, though she had an inkling. Alec’s eyes danced.
“Can’t you guess, Cassi?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. Before she could reply to that, a messenger arrived. He bowed when Alec noticed him. “What is it?”
“My lord, the Master has arrived.”
“Very well,” Alec said, standing. The messenger bowed and left. Alec turned back to Cassiana, offering her his hand. “Shall we?”
She let him lift her up. “Is this the ‘Master’ you were talking about before?” she asked.
“It is.”
Cassiana felt the old warning fr
om before start up again. She once again had something she was truly sure about: she did not want to meet this ‘Master’ of Alec’s family. But with her arm tucked securely through Alec’s, she didn’t have much choice …
Chapter 26 – Protective Instinct
Rylynn
SE Secret
Kinair System
We dropped out of hyperspace right in the midst of a fire fight. Westley raised the shields on instinct. He then jumped us a few minutes out from the fight. “Good work, Westley,” I said, before turning to Lassie, “I thought we passed the battle line?”
“The Zar’dakens must have had a lucky break,” she replied grimly. Until we heard the report, we could only guess that one of three things must had happened. The first was that the Zar’dakens had broken through the perimeter patrol and now patrol reinforcements were attempting to clean up the mess. Second, the battling LF patrol ships were part of the line. Perhaps, knowing that they were about to be over run, the patrol had tried to flee to a stronger position but the Zar’dakens had caught up to them before they could. The third possibility was that the Zar’dakens had taken out the hyperfield blockers (HBs), enabling them to jump into protected space as far as they wanted to. The HBs were programed to allow in only those ships that transmitted the loyalist’s signal. For everyone else, they disrupted the hyperfield exit point, forcing the incoming ship to find a different exit.
Ry, how they got here doesn’t matter at the moment, I thought with a shake of my head. They were here and our people were struggling to keep them from going any farther. “Anyone feel like playing ghost darts?” I asked, making it up on the spot.
I was amused by the varying responses I got to that. Lassie frowned in confusion. Carden and Mykio looked intrigued. My three closest friends were not only intrigued, but excited. Aunt Sylvie sighed. “I’ll go get the medical bay ready,” she said, standing up.
“Your confidence in us is reassuring,” Marius grumbled.
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