by Layla Nash
He loved her eyes — as blue as the night sky after the first sun set on Xarav. Like mysteries and promises at the same time.
“What about this?” Frrar skidded over and tossed a small leather bag over to Maisy, then went back to search Nathan’s uniform for any other information or injectors.
Maisy tore apart the bag, muttering under her breath in what Trazzak suspected was prayer, and came up with three injector pens. She stared at Trazzak. “Which one?”
“How the fuck do I know? Are they labeled?”
She tossed aside one that matched what killed Nathan, but was left with two. She held the remain two identical injectors up, and waited, breathless.
Those had to be the antidotes. Two injectors of poison, two injectors of antidote. Trazzak held out his arm. “Try it on me.”
“It could kill you,” she whispered.
“She’s dying. We can’t wait.” Trazzak took one of the injectors from her and stuck it into the wound in his side, so the needle wouldn’t bend on his scales. And then he braced himself for death.
Nothing happened. The seconds ticked by and he waited for the convulsions and breathing problems that came with Jessalyn’s exposure to the toxin, but he didn’t feel any different than he had prior to injecting the strange fluid. Trazzak didn’t dare hope as he looked at Maisy. “It took a while for the toxin to affect her, but we don’t have any time. This has to be the antidote.”
The machine hooked to Jessalyn’s heart gave one last beep and then trailed off, and Maisy choked on another prayer as she jammed the second injector into Jessalyn’s chest, right over her heart.
The doctor kept working with more gadgets from her bag, putting an inhaler mask on Jessalyn and clipping more sensors onto her, but Trazzak kept his focus on Jessalyn’s eyes. He couldn’t look away. If he looked away, he might never see them again.
Frrar shouted and headed back toward the ship at a run, and Trazzak sincerely hoped they still had a ship to run back to. He couldn’t get Jessalyn back to the clinic without a spaceship. He rested his forehead against Jessalyn’s and took a deep breath, resting his fingers against the cool skin where her single heart tried to beat. “You have to stay with me.”
He didn’t care that Maisy was there. He needed Jessalyn to hear these things, if he never got the chance to say them to her on a clear morning in the desert on Xarav. “I need you to come back. You are chaos and light and everything I am missing in my life. My world was far too orderly before you crashed into it, and I have treasured every moment since. Well, almost every moment.”
He regretted some of the things they’d both said and done, but he didn’t want to waste time thinking of the bad things. She needed to hear all the good things, all the wonderful things about her that he thought he might love. He pulled the delicate bracelet out of his pocket, where he’d placed it for safekeeping on the cruiser, and linked it around her wrist once more so she would have her compass back. So she could find her way through the darkness and hopefully back to him.
Trazzak pressed his lips against hers, wanting to give her some of his breath, in case it might have helped. “I will follow you anywhere. Any mission, any planet, any ship. You should see the triple suns of Xarav, and the boiling lakes. There is so much to see and do. So much to hold on for.”
He might have imagined that her skin felt a little warmer, or that her fingers tightened against him, but it was enough to give him hope. Trazzak squeezed her hand and lowered his voice, hoping Maisy wouldn’t hear this part. “There is something between us, and we did not have enough time to discover what that is. We both deserve the time to see that. To… try it out.” He didn’t have the right words, fumbling over everything, but at least some warm color returned to Jessalyn’s cheeks. “I want to know the real you, and show you my real self. Everything. I want to know everything.”
It was all true, just inelegantly said. Trazzak’s scales rattled as the beeping of the heart machine returned, though it was still erratic and slow. A heartbeat. The room tilted around him and he struggled to stay upright so he wouldn’t crush Jessalyn, and then Maisy made an exasperated noise. “You have got to be kidding me.”
Trazzak scowled at her, gripping the front of her uniform as he fought the wooziness of blood loss and maybe even the antidote. “Does she live?”
“Yes,” Maisy said, though she still looked too afraid for his liking.
“Keep it that way,” he said, and rested his eyes. Frrar called out from farther away, and Trazzak managed to crack an eye open to tell Maisy, “He needs to arrest the Xaravian tied to a pipe. A traitor.”
“That sounds like code,” she said under her breath, then slapped a sensor on his chest as well before placing one of the wound-healers over his side to stitch up the knife-wound. “You big baby.”
Trazzak would have argued, but Jessalyn stirred, and he put all of his attention back on her as the room faded in and out of view. She breathed. Her heart beat. She lived.
Jess
Jess thought it would only be darkness and silence, in the end, but a bright heat collided with her heart and shocked some warmth into her. And there was the gentle pressure of scales against her palm, and a soft breath against her mouth. She knew it was Trazzak, even without opening her eyes, and that made it easier to wait. She wasn’t afraid with him right there. He’d come back to save her from Nathan. He believed her.
Her blood started to burn as the antidote spread through her; she could feel its progress through her body and down through her arms and legs. The pain built, but it was a healing pain, not the destructive pain of when she’d first been scratched. Everything around her felt blurry and surreal when she finally managed to open her eyes. Maisy loomed over her and Trazzak sat next to her, though he looked far grayer than a Xaravian should have.
Jess managed to clear her throat. “Okay?”
Maisy blinked rapidly and dashed at her cheeks. “He’s a stubborn ass, but yes, he’ll be okay. How do you feel?”
“Awful.” Jess struggled to breathe, trying to claw at the mask on her face, but Maisy shook her head and replaced it. “Where’s the Minister?”
“The Minister?” Trazzak dragged himself awake, though his eyes unfocused and he held tight to where blood surged out of his torn robes. “He was here?”
She nodded, though it felt like her neck would break, and willed herself to feel stronger. If only Maisy’s devices would work faster. “Have to… catch him.”
“Oh no you don’t,” Maisy said, and got that dangerous look in her eyes like when she meant to lay down the law. “Frrar is getting the ship ready, and then we’re all getting the hell out of here and back to the clinic.”
Jess thought it sounded like a reasonable plan, right up until the sound of a shootout reached them from the other side of the port. Trazzak groaned and shoved himself upright, almost falling on Jess, and found a weapon under the rubble and what looked like Nathan’s dead body. “Frrar. Have to help him. Let’s go.”
“Let’s go?” Maisy fumed, spitting curses at him in at least three languages, and Jess reached for her arm before she could say anything too unforgivable. Jess couldn’t speak, but managed to point at the gurney that the bounty hunter rolled her in on. It was covered in dust and what looked like part of the ceiling, but at least it would still work.
Trazzak helped Maisy lift her onto the gurney, and he squeezed Jess’s hand. She thought he’d been talking to her through the darkness, but she couldn’t quite remember what he’d said. Something about her true self. He limped into the corridor to clear it before he let Maisy float the gurney out of the nearly-destroyed room. They made slow progress, though Trazzak wanted to move faster, and he paused next to a limp body tied to a set of pipes.
Maisy made as if to render medical aid, but Trazzak shook his head and tore something from around the Xaravian’s neck. “He was a traitor. Leave him.”
It was only when Jess got a closer look that she recognized the bounty hunter who kidnapped her. He�
�d somehow strangled himself with the ropes binding him to the pipes, perhaps so he wouldn’t have to face Trazzak and his fellow barbarians again. Jess tried to find some sympathy, but there wasn’t much left in her heart after the last few days. As she was looking down, she caught a glimpse of her wrist and found her bracelet once more against her skin. It lit a fire in her heart. Trazzak found it. Of course he found it. The compass blurred and then came into sudden, sharp focus, and the needle pointed straight at him.
Maybe she’d found her true north.
But then more lasers and stunner fire flew by and Trazzak led the way into a small alcove that provided cover as well as a view of where Frrar defended the cutter from several of the Minister’s bodyguards and entourage. There was no telling how many had traveled with him. The engineer looked a little worse for wear, with a bloody face and torn uniform, and Trazzak started growling as the bodyguards tried to move in.
“Give me the relay,” Jess said, struggling to be heard over the noise and shouting. Maisy repeated what she said and Trazzak glanced back, dragging something out of his pocket to hand over to her.
It didn’t look like any of the relays she’d ever used — more like a hillbilly version all patched together with random pieces and parts. It looked like a franken-relay. One of Frrar’s creations, no doubt. Jess struggled to focus her eyes as she opened the relay and entered an emergency override code that she wasn’t supposed to know.
She had to pause to breathe as her vision went patchy with stars and Maisy shouted at her to lie the hell down before she passed out, but Jess couldn’t let Frrar face the bodyguards on his own a second longer. Jess wished the antidote worked faster, but at least she was still breathing. She held up the relay and caught Trazzak’s expression, and forced each word out as clearly as possible. “In three. They’ll stop firing. Run.”
Trazzak nodded, then shoved Maisy onto the gurney with her and got ready to bolt.
Jess really hoped it worked like it was supposed to. She sent a “disregard and disperse” code to all the relays in the vicinity, a short blast of a message intended to cut through the chaos of any altercation in order to restore order. She’d only received one once and still remembered it vividly. The bootleg relay beeped and Jess counted to three. It had to work. It really had to work, or none of them would leave the port alive.
Four counts, then five. Nothing.
Then… silence. A stunned silence, a few questioning calls, and Jess motioned at Trazzak.
He took off running, pushing the gurney, and she held on for dear life as Maisy nearly pitched off the end. Trazzak fired at the bodyguards as they searched for direction, and Frrar ran out to help get the gurney into the cutter just as the bodyguards started firing back. Trazzak roared and hauled the bay door closed, locking it, and hit the control panel there in the bay to begin flying. The cutter shuddered as it pulled free of the dock. The whole balance of the ship felt off, although Jess couldn’t tell if that was in her head or not.
“We’re still towing the cruiser,” Frrar said, holding his shoulder. The engineer collapsed against the wall and slid to the floor, breathing hard. “I couldn’t get it disconnected fast enough. They came out of nowhere.”
Trazzak concentrated on the controls and the ship started gaining speed. “You did a good job. We want that ship with us. The bounty hunter left all his money on it.”
Jess exhaled and lay back on the gurney, her heart pumping stronger and faster. Maisy covered her face with her hands. “I don’t know how you do it.”
Jess closed her eyes. She didn’t know, either.
She tried to come up with a joke or something to lighten the mood as alarms went off and Trazzak muttered about the shields taking damage, but the relay in her hand jumped and let out an ear-piercing shriek. Jess went still, looking down at it. A familiar code flashed across the screen, then an equally familiar voice echoed inside the ship. “Jessalyn, I’m very disappointed in you. There is nowhere you can hide, and no barbarian you can hide behind, to escape us. You’ve betrayed us all, my dear. There will be a price to pay.”
She shivered. The Minister. The relay cut off as Trazzak scooped it up and threw it against the wall, shattering the thing into a thousand pieces. Jess hoped Frrar knew how to make another one.
Trazzak
He wanted to stay next to Jessalyn for every second of the flight, but Frrar couldn’t stay upright enough to handle both ships, since the cutter still dragged Yurik’s cruiser. It was a fight for Trazzak to manage it himself, particularly as the knife wound in his side tore open again after the race to the Heva.
The Minister’s bodyguards gave chase briefly, but gave up far too soon. Trazzak wondered why, but he wasn’t about to complain about a gift like that. Coupled with the ominous message from the Minister over the relay, it didn’t bode well for Jessalyn’s long and happy future. Trazzak growled in irritation as they approached the clinic again and the Galaxos arrived within hailing range. Everything moved at once, it seemed, with just barely controlled chaos on his heels no matter where he turned or what he did.
Trazzak limped along beside Maisy as she steered the gurney — carrying both Frrar and Jessalyn, since both faded in and out of consciousness — out of the Heva and into the corridors of the clinic. The doctors and nurses did not appear happy to see them, but they took over caring for the patients as soon as it became clear that Trazzak wouldn’t let them leave without saving Jessalyn.
Maisy, exhausted and pale, handed over the spent injectors with the toxin as well as the antidote, and slid quietly into a chair as soon as Jessalyn and Frrar were safely in the hands of the other medical personnel. Trazzak made a mental note to thank her, maybe send her some Earth flowers, but all of his attention stayed with Jessalyn.
She still breathed and her heart still beat. The doctors raced back and forth to a lab, muttering over the antidote, as Trazzak stood by her head and scowled every time they had to do something that caused her discomfort. One of the braver doctors finally faced him across the bed and blinked an array of five eyes as it studied the tablet full of results and charts. “The antidote appears to be working, although we cannot tell if it will reverse the effects already caused by the toxins. The sample you provided will assist us a great deal in working on longer-term therapies and treatments to address any lingering issues. She is very lucky you arrived when you did.”
Trazzak didn’t think he’d call anything that happened in the past few days “lucky.” But he didn’t want to scare the doctor too much, so he only gritted his teeth and nodded. “Some of my colleagues will be arriving. They may enter this room. No one else will.”
“Understood,” the doctor said, and rattled off on his long, graceful legs. He checked on Frrar on the way out, who seemed content to lay back and let a bevy of nurses attend to him.
Trazzak checked on the engineer as soon as they were alone, and shook his arm in the warrior’s grip. “Thank you for your help, brother. I am glad you saved the ship.”
“I have big plans for that cutter,” Frrar said. He winced as he adjusted how he lay in the hospital bed, and fiddled with some of the devices working on healing his wounds. “Maybe if I tweaked this a little I could...”
“Don’t break anything,” Trazzak said. The bill would be astronomical.
He went to sit with Jessalyn, holding her hand as he watched her face. The doctors believed she would recover, but none of them could say what those lingering effects might be. Trazzak exhaled and concentrated on linking his breathing to hers. It didn’t matter what the effects were. He would help her overcome them. They would adapt and adjust and overcome. Even if she wanted no romantic relationship with him, Trazzak would be her friend and support as long as she needed him. He’d felt Yurik’s betrayal as deeply as Witz’s must have burned, and knew they both needed time and work to trust again.
And to get vengeance.
Trazzak knew the moment the Galaxos arrived. Everything went quiet and the corridors cleared, and Trazzak cou
ld breathe out in relief. His side still ached — enough that he wondered if perhaps Yurik’s blade also carried the toxins that nearly killed Jessalyn — and the blood loss made his vision swim as chills raced through him. He couldn’t leave Jessalyn’s side until he was certain someone else was there who could guard her as well as him.
Griggs was the first one through the door, followed closely by Isla and Rowan, then Mrax and Vrix and Vaant. At least the chaos of their arrival remained quiet and efficient, so Trazzak didn’t bristle more than he normally would have as the Earthers swarmed Jessalyn’s bed. Vrix took one look at Trazzak and gently pulled Griggs back, and Vaant did the same with Isla.
Trazzak knew why they did it, even though the Earthers squalled in protest; he could see the colors in his scales and knew the over-protective drive showed through his fatigue and pain. Vaant and Vrix wouldn’t risk their mates, even though Trazzak knew he’d never hurt the women. He didn’t release his hold on Jessalyn’s hand. “It’s fine, Captain. It has been an eventful few days.”
“So I gather,” Vaant said. He still watched Trazzak closely as he released Isla, though he shooed his mate to check on Maisy instead. “Why is there a cruiser bolted to your ship?”
“Spoils of war,” Trazzak said. He tried to smile, but his hearts hurt too much to give it much effort. “Yurik betrayed us. He was working for the Ministry the whole time; he turned Jessalyn over to the Ministry and collected the bounty. It should still be in his ship. It belongs to Jessalyn now.”
Vrix’s scales flared immediately wine red, so dark they were almost black. “He betrayed us? Where is he?”
“Dead,” Trazzak said. “Left him in an alley on the port where they took Jessalyn. He killed himself rather than face the councils.” He pulled Yurik’s knife from his belt and let it fall to the floor. “We should notify his family and dispose of that. The rebellion needs to investigate whether he corrupted any of our other brothers.”