Ari’d never heard royal-speak before. It made her smile. Everyone rose and bowed before filing out of the room. She felt the sonic shield drop as the door opened. Seaghdh left last, a tick in the muscles along his jaw letting her know he wasn’t at all happy. He glanced at her as she took another swallow of tea. The tension in his expression eased.
The barely audible hum of the sonic shield engaged the moment the door shut behind him. Ari leaned into the table and examined Eilod Saoyrse. The queen wore an assessing, distrustful expression.
“Are we done being polite?” Ari asked.
Eilod smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes. “I hadn’t realized I was sending him to retrieve a beautiful woman. Has your hair always been that blond?”
Thrown off balance, Ari blinked and fingered a curl. She was nodding.
“What are you, Captain?”
“What,” not “who.” Interesting.
“Seven months ago, I could have answered that question,” Ari said. “I can’t anymore. I don’t know. I do intend to find out.”
“Why did the Chekydran let you go?”
“Grand-prize question, isn’t it?” Ari pushed the tea away in favor of the soup mug and shook her head. “We all know they had a reason. Damned if I can work out what it was.”
“Is that why you lock yourself into your cabin each night aboard your father’s ship?”
Damn Seaghdh’s hide. He’d probably reported on her unusual medical technique, too. She deeply regretted not putting her fist in his throat when he’d crouched beside her. Ari pinned an angry glare on his prying cousin.
“Ever lie awake nights because you know damned well someone is using you? You just don’t know how or for what?”
Eilod pressed her lips thin and nodded.
“At least the ones using you are humanoid,” Ari said. Mentally, she added, not to mention that you have someone like Seaghdh watching your back. How many of the people trying to use you end up dead or missing?
Looking stricken, Eilod frowned. “You cannot ascribe human motivation to the Chekydran. Is it possible they sent you to kill us?”
“Absolutely,” Ari said. “Your cousin has tempted me a few times. More than once, I’ve regretted not following up on the impulse.”
“What have you done to him?” the queen demanded. The sharp edge in her voice told Ari they’d reached part of her real point.
“What have I done?” Ari boggled. “You send him after me. He hijacks my father’s ship, endangering my family and my friends, and you have the gall to ask what I’ve done? Lady, with all due respect, you and your precious cousin can roast in the lowest levels of hell. I’m sorry I answered any of your questions.”
Eilod grinned. The smile didn’t just reach her eyes this time. Amusement took over her entire countenance. “No, you’re not,” she retorted. “I sent a man I know and trust on a mission to recover you at any cost. I admit that may have been shortsighted. Captain Idylle, the man who returned is not the one I sent out.”
Ari’s anger stopped short. “Not the same how?”
The queen hesitated as though sorting through how much to confide. Did she mean for Ari to see that?
“He seems to have lost his objectivity, Captain,” she said.
The queen wasn’t sure she could trust him. Because of her? How could—Ari gasped. “You think I’ve done something to him telepathically?”
Discomfort shot into the woman’s expression, then disappeared. “Perhaps not consciously.”
“Serve him right if I had.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t think he hasn’t taken full advantage of that voice talent of his. If I did something to him telepathically, that’s only fair, wouldn’t you say?”
Eilod leaned forward, her eyes wide. “He’s used Nwyth Okkar in his dealings with you?”
“In varying shapes and sizes from the command that all but tossed everyone out of the room earlier,” Ari said, trusting “Nwyth Okkar” equaled “voice talent.”
Eilod sat back hard, drumming her fingers on the table and glared at her. “He has evaluated hundreds of subjects before you. He is a brilliant, cunning strategist and is ruthless regarding the safety of our people. Yet when he looks at you, the rational, almost cold man I know and trust evaporates.”
Stunned and gaping, Ari shook her head. “He’s playing a part! The part he’s been playing since he took my father’s ship! Why should he work at extracting information from me when he can charm it out of me?”
“Damn it, Captain! You aren’t listening!” Eilod accused. “I can’t trust you! Yet I have to ask you to put your life on the line for me and for my people! Something about you has my Auhrnok Riorchjan acting like a schoolboy! What am I supposed to think?”
“Whatever you please,” Ari answered, clinging to the thought that it couldn’t be true. He was a dueling master. He was using her. Wasn’t he?
Staring witlessly at the queen like she was, Ari saw the flicker behind Eilod’s eyes and straightened. She was considering having Ari killed. Not today, but eventually. Ari could see the thought running through her head. The notion clearly repulsed the young queen, but she forced herself to examine it, to be logical and unfeeling about Ari’s eventual murder. It was something Ari could understand and even respect. Maybe their cultures weren’t so far apart, after all. She’d have considered the same option in the queen’s place. The fact that Eilod wanted Ari to risk her life on behalf of the Claugh Empire meant Ari could trust her. Briefly.
“I’m nothing more than a piece on a game board. It is increasingly clear that I have been for far longer than the six months of hell my life has been since my capture. If I’m going to find out why, I’ll need your help,” Ari told her.
That startled Eilod out of contemplating her death. “My help?”
“Get this transponder out of my head,” Ari said, nodding. “Armada can’t track me with it, but they can communicate through it and I can communicate with them. Using the unique ID associated with it, they can initiate a teleport. It hadn’t occurred to me until that conversation with my CO, but it is possible there’s functionality built into the unit that I’m not aware of.”
“Such as?”
“Record and report. Not remotely, or they’d know where I am and it’s clear they don’t. Auto-destruct is also possible.”
Eilod’s breath hissed between her teeth.
“I don’t know that it’s true,” Ari said, “but in my commander’s place, I’d have wanted the option. They don’t know why I was freed, either.”
The queen’s gaze sharpened. “They implanted this without your permission?”
“I’m a soldier. That was all the permission they needed.”
Eilod eyed Ari for several seconds, her expression thoughtful. “Captain Alexandria Idylle, what do you want?”
“I want my life back,” Ari blurted in response. “That doesn’t seem likely, so I’ll settle for my command. It’s the only thing I’ve ever had that was really mine.”
Folding her hands on the table, Eilod dropped her gaze. “Then perhaps cooperating with the Claugh nib Dovvyth is not in your best interest.”
“On the contrary,” Ari replied easily.
Eilod shot her a narrow-eyed look.
“Let’s call this what it is,” Ari suggested. “We’re talking about an alliance, temporary though it may be. My oath when I joined the military was to serve and protect all the citizens of Tagreth Federated, nothing about loyalty to a political body or an organization.”
“You believe that uncovering an alliance with the Chekydran will justify collaboration with the enemy?”
“We’re not at war.”
“You’re not at war with the Chekydran, either.”
Ari hesitated. It was a mistake.
The queen smiled and sat back. “I see.”
“It is more a sense of inevitability within the ranks and command structure of the Armada than a secret war.”
Eilod sighed. �
��More TFC doublespeak.”
“Someone in Armada Command saying one thing and doing another,” Ari said. “It’s military. I’m used to it.”
The queen laughed and rose.
Caught off guard, Ari struggled to her feet as Eilod touched a command screen and the sonic shield died.
“Captain Idylle,” Eilod said, that I’m-speaking-as-the-queen tone in her voice. “On behalf of the citizens of the Claugh nib Dovvyth, we thank you for your dedicated efforts against Chekydran incursion. We are pleased we could assist the Tagreth Federated Council in fending off the attack on its Kebgra outpost.
“At present, Captain, it would seem your goals and those of my people coincide. I offer a temporary alliance, a truce, if you will, in the best interests of both our peoples against a common enemy.”
Damn, she was good, not naming the enemy, even if she’d just pinned Ari between a black hole and a supernova. Ari grinned. “At present, I can’t speak as a representative of the Armada, ma’am, much less as an official of TFC. Inasmuch as I am still bound by my oath to the Council, however, I agree. It is an efficient use of resources to protect the citizens of our respective territories. I am, for the moment, at your service.”
“Splendid,” Eilod said, an answering twinkle of amusement in her eye. It did not show in her voice. “Allow me to extend the hospitality of the Empire, Captain.” She touched another button on her command console. “Auhrnok Riorchjan, enter.”
The doors opened. Seaghdh entered, strode to where Eilod stood, knelt, took her hand in both of his, and touched his forehead to the back of her hand.
“Auhrnok Riorchjan, my trusted advisor, I ask you to take up the mantle of ambassador,” Eilod intoned.
“By your will, Your Majesty,” he replied.
“Rise, Auhrnok. Captain Idylle will be our guest until we can arrange with officials of Tagreth Federated for a mutually acceptable meeting place with her ship, the Sen Ekir,” she went on as Seaghdh stood.
He shot a glance at Ari.
She raised an eyebrow.
“The results of your medical scan indicate a number of nutritional deficiencies, Captain,” Eilod said. “Dr. Annantra would be pleased to offer treatment. Copies of all files will be forwarded to your ship upon transfer.”
“Thank you,” Ari said.
“Thank you, Captain,” the queen replied. “Auhrnok, Captain, if you will pardon me? I am due in conference with the Councils.”
“By your will, Your Majesty,” Seaghdh said. He bowed.
Ari blinked, uncertain how to respond.
Eilod winked, but wiped the grin from her face by the time her cousin rose.
“Captain? If you will permit me,” he said, his tone remote and his expression chilly. “I will escort you to medical if you wish or to quarters if you prefer to rest.”
He didn’t say whose quarters. Cravuul dung, on two fronts. It occurred to Ari that since the queen had lowered the sonic shield, news of her whereabouts would reach Admiral Angelou sooner rather than later. She did not want to find out the hard way just what functions her CO had built into the transponder.
“Medical, please, Auhrnok Riorchjan,” she said as he ushered her out the door. “I understand you are the top-rated energy blade dueler in the Empire. I admit it is a hobby of mine. Perhaps after I’m in better physical condition, I could impose upon you for a few pointers?”
Her Majesty’s Auhrnok Riorchjan stared down at her. The cool mask cracked and a gleam of humor crept into his eyes.
“You wouldn’t be lulling me into a false sense of security, would you, Captain? Luring me onto the dueling floor in order to trounce me?”
“How could you think it of me?”
“How indeed.”
CHAPTER 18
SOMETHING warm and comforting stroked Ari’s bare arm. She couldn’t order her eyes open. She couldn’t move. She’d been drugged. Panic reared up within her. That gentle, persistent touch soothed her, assuring her frayed nerves that she had nothing to fear.
Consciousness returned piecemeal. A dull ache woke in her left cheekbone. Her head cleared and she remembered. The transponder. Not Chekydran. Seaghdh and the Claugh nib Dovvyth.
She’d asked for this. She groaned and opened her bleary eyes.
It was Seaghdh’s hand on her arms.
“Is my head still attached?” she rasped.
“Yes.”
“Stop petting me and fix that.”
He smiled. “I can do better than that.”
Something beeped. The ache faded.
Seaghdh resumed caressing his palm down her arms, first one, then the other.
“I am not a feral hiztap,” she mumbled, referring to a memory from childhood. She’d found a family of hiztaps, little furbearing carnivores prized for their ability to eradicate vermin, living behind her father’s labs. They’d been filching food from the university students. She’d found homes for the youngest hizzetts. The adult female, however, had been on her own too long. She would not warm to Ari or any other person.
The local animal practitioner had anesthetized the hiztap and sterilized her. He’d put Ari at her side and advised her to stroke the creature’s plush fur as she woke. Ari had. For hours. The animal had growled and flashed her teeth when she fully woke, but she didn’t actually bite. Ari didn’t know what changed that day, but while the hiztap never became a loving companion, she and Ari did reach an accord. She’d lived with Ari, sharing her quarters and warning her of prank-minded interlopers until she died of old age just after Ari’d entered the Armada Academy. She hadn’t thought of the hiztap in years. Why did Ari miss her so sharply and so suddenly?
“I could think of no other way for you to wake knowing you weren’t in a Chekydran cell,” he said.
“It worked,” she replied. “I’m awake. Why are you still doing it?”
“I like touching you.”
As the anesthetic cleared her system, the feel of his skin on hers strengthened her heart rate. Sensation seeped warm and tingling throughout her body. She sighed.
“It’s against regulations,” Ari murmured, “dueling a handicapped opponent.”
He smiled. She heard it in his voice when he answered, “A blade master takes every advantage. It worked. You’re not still mad at me.”
“I am,” she replied. “I just can’t do anything about it right now.”
“Now who’s dueling?”
She felt his heat a moment before he touched his lips to her left cheekbone. Her breath hissed in between her teeth. It wasn’t from pain.
He chuckled. “I take it you approve of my unusual medical technique?”
“I do,” she breathed, savoring the thrill racing across her nerve endings. She stared up into his face, so close to hers and frowned. Tension stood out in the crinkles at the corners of his mouth. Without thinking, she smoothed shaky fingers over the creases.
“Auhrnok!” Dr. Annantra exclaimed.
They both jumped. Ari hadn’t heard the door open. Apparently, neither had he. Seaghdh straightened. Her hand fell back to her side.
“You are disturbing my patient,” the doctor warned.
“I hope so,” he replied.
“You will desist,” the woman said, her voice shimmering with amusement, “or I will expel you from my medical bay and delete your clearance. Captain Idylle needs rest. Not distraction.”
Ari laughed and found the control to lift the head of the bed so she could sit up. She felt better. Far better than she should have after the kind of surgery she would have needed to remove that transponder. A chill moved through her. “Where is it?”
“Where is what?” Dr. Annantra asked, her smile bright.
“The transponder.”
The doctor’s grin disappeared.
Ari growled.
Seaghdh jerked his chin and the doctor fled. He secured the door before turning to meet Ari’s glare.
“You changed the codes,” she said. Of course they’d left the transponder in her head
. They’d reprogrammed it so that it would no longer respond to Armada Command orders, but it certainly would respond to theirs.
“Yes.”
She ground her teeth together until her jaw hurt. Without intending to do so, she’d just handed Eilod Saoyrse the means to kill her remotely. A few hours ago, she’d at least had the Armada code for her transponder. Now that was gone and she had nothing but an enemy that imagined they had the means to control her.
“Interesting,” she managed before the lines of tension returned to his face. She caught a hint of distress behind his carefully neutral mask.
He pressed his lips tight. Trying not to say anything? Rage slipped into his expression.
It dawned on her. He wasn’t furious with her. This was aimed elsewhere.
“Must have been a hell of a fight,” she said, “you and your cousin. Sorry I missed it.”
Seaghdh’s mask crumbled. Rage, bitterness, and fear shone in the tight muscles of his shoulders and the line along his clenched jaw.
“She pulled rank,” he grumbled. Shaking his head, he ventured toward her as if unsure of his reception at her bedside. “She’s made a mistake.”
“Yes. She has.” Sharp pain filled her chest, as if something was swelling within and trying to break free. Ari gasped and tasted it again. Hope. Damn it. Her eyes burned. “I miscalculated,” she admitted. “I ignored the fact that women define honor differently than most men. It didn’t occur to me she’d lie so naturally.”
“She didn’t. That’s my job.”
“She said one thing and did another, Seaghdh,” Ari countered. “There’s a word for that.”
He wouldn’t meet her eye. “Removing the transponder would have required extensive recovery time. Time we don’t have.”
The queen had put him in a tough spot, probably on purpose, testing his loyalty, forcing him to choose between the two of them. Ari nodded. “That makes it all right then, doesn’t it? Did you deactivate the destruct capability, Auhrnok?”
A moment of anguish clouded his features. His pain took the breath from her body. Of course they hadn’t disabled the destruct feature.
She took his hand.
He looked at her, then, his gaze searching and uncertain.
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