Assassin's Bride

by C. J. Scarlett

  “That I liked being with you so much that no other drones can compare.”

  Smiling slightly, he responded warmly, “I enjoyed your company immensely, as well.”

  “I don’t suppose we’ll be seeing much of each other from here on out.”

  Haden asked the question that had been bearing on his mind. “What made you decide to join our military?”

  “The best memories I have so far are from living on the ship with you. I suppose this is my way of being productive and trying to recapture some of those feelings.”

  Haden never thought to capture the notice of a queen, much less a truly perfect one like Queen Venice. Her words were spoken with such tenderness. “You love me, do you not?”

  “I do, but I know you don’t feel the same way. I’ll just have to be happy with your friendship.”

  “I love you as well. I am just not appropriate to take a queen.”

  “You really care about me?”

  Glancing away, he sat the box of cookies on his floor. “I do.”

  Staring at him curiously, she asked softly, “How about we have one final night of love, before I go up to the battleship? It can be just like the night we spent together on the ship when you were in charge.”

  Trying unsuccessfully to throttle back an excited screech, Haden knew he was going to agree the moment the words came out of her mouth. Watching her move closer, he nodded. “We should eat first. You will need your strength.”

  “I can hardly wait. Quick, order some food.”

  Taking out his handheld, he ordered food from the dining hall. Haden already knew what his sweet queen liked eating from their time on the ship. She sat on his oversized settee, swinging her legs capriciously. His chest hurt to know her happiness relied upon him agreeing to love her. He suddenly felt selfish and ignoble at withholding something from a queen that she valued so highly. It was in times like this he doubted himself and his resolve to see her properly fitted with a mate. He’d thought it would tear a gigantic hole in his soul but now he was beginning to see the damage it was doing to the queen he loved. It was excruciatingly painful to know she suffered for lack of him.

  Scooting closer, he put one arm around her. She came to him willingly, lifting her face to his. Unable to control his needs, he made the human kiss with her. How long they sat together, enjoying each other’s kisses, he didn’t know. They stopped only when his delivery-chime sounded.

  Coming to his feet, he walked to the sliding doors leading to his balcony and took the boxes of food from the droid hovering there. The boxes were almost too hot to handle. After the droid flew away and back to the dining hall for its next delivery, Haden closed his door and motioned Venice over to his dining table.

  They quickly ate their food and chatted about current events. Queen Carolyn had announced one of their ships would be going to monitor the rift. They were as close to all-out war as they had been since settling on their new home world.

  Landing back on the settee they fell into old habits all too quickly.

  Chapter 17

  Insidious

  ~ Haden ~

  Music Mix

  Haden awoke the next morning to find that Venice had left without saying goodbye. Turning over, he pulled the cushion she slept on to his face and breathed in her light floral scent. The sleeping platform smelled strongly of all the mating they’d enjoyed the night before. Reluctant to rise on his day off, he snuggled under his bed coverings. Images of them flipping around his huge platform, mating in every conceivable position, filtered through his mind.

  His beautiful queen had been so desperate for his touch, his kisses and his cock. He’d remember how she looked giving him the reverse halabow the rest of his long life. She appeared to love sucking on him and giving him immense pleasure every single minute of the evening. Haden loved seeing her face flush with pleasure over and over again.

  His door chime sounded over and over again. Crawling out of bed he voice prompted it open, hoping it was Venice returning to him. Haden jerked on his undergarments and headed out to his main room.

  Standing in the middle of his floor were Raec and his brother. They both looked more disheveled that he could ever remember them being. “Are we under attack? What is going on?”

  Raec paced back and forth anxiously. Arac was pale and his eyes looked haunted. Finally, Raec spoke. “Remember when we thought it was something about us that brought out the worst in our queens?”

  Haden tilted his head, his antenna searching around to pick up shock, fear and disperse. “Yes. We determined that was not true, as our human queens are well.”

  Raec’s trembling voice whispered, “They are not. One by one, they are changing.”

  “What do you mean changing? They are growing lashes out of their back, like our queens of old?”

  “No, but they act like our old queens.”

  “I spoke to both your queens only two nights ago. They were well.”

  “My Helena has been having episodic problems for many weeks. She becomes angry, belligerent and physically violent at times. Then she is well. I was confused and did not know what to think. The episodes began increasing in intensity, frequency and duration.”

  “She woke up this morning in a fury, sounding so much like Kabelda that I knew not what to think. She has gone up to the battle cruiser and means to fly it through the rift.”

  Grabbing his com, he called Venice. After several tries, he gave up. “What do you think could be causing it?”

  “I would tell you if only I knew.”

  Arac dropped down into a chair. “My Tara does not simply sound like Kabelda. She is becoming our former queen.”

  Kneeling before his friend’s brother, Haden asked quietly, “What do you mean she is becoming Kabelda? Kabelda is long dead, you know this, Arac.”

  “My Tara told me things that only Kabelda ever did. She said even death could not separate us and she’s come back from the grave to claim me. How can my Tara know the words of a dead woman?”

  “And the others are falling as well?”

  “Queen Carolyn is well, as are the other queens. It is only the queens of me and my spawn mates. Why is this happening, Haden? You are one of the smartest and strongest among us. You must have some inkling of why this is happening.”

  “I do not dare to speak what I think.”

  “My general demands we join with her aboard the battleship. She demands our other queens come. She calls them her sister queens, Tara, Alexis and even little Penny. Armon is beside himself with grief as are the other Golugua.”

  “What of the newest to your family, Queen Ember?”

  “They have elected to live in the city center along with the young Maruvian queen we rescued and her family. The general has not called for either of them.”

  “Alert your father to begin scanning for fragments of Kabelda’s parasite. I believe some of its genetic matter might have infected our queens. If we can find it and remove it early enough, perhaps they can be saved.”

  “Her body was taken to our property and burned.”

  “Did you encase her body in anything?”

  “The Golugua dragged her as she dropped. Gods of chaos, you are right. Small pieces of the parasite might have fallen off or become snagged on branches. It never occurred to us then that the lashes were not part of her normal biology, so we were not careful.”

  “I do not know for sure but this seems like the most likely explanation for the personality changes we are seeing.”

  Arac shuddered. “I believe you are correct, Haden. I have no wish for my Tara to suffer any longer than necessary under Kabelda’s control. We must rescue her and remove the parasite.”

  “I fear my storyteller is aboard that vessel with her and her newfound sisters. How difficult will it be for us to fight the ones we love?”

  Coming to his feet on one swift move, Arac spoke. “I will see to my Tara. If she cannot be saved, she will receive the
mercy of death at my hand, for I know she would never wish to survive only to maim and kill.”

  Raec stepped to his side. “Agreed. Shall we proceed?”

  With grim determination they headed to the landing strip and caught shuttles to the battleship. Haden noticed Raec whispering into his com device, informing his father of their suspicions. The older drone was their primary healer. If a way to neutralize the parasite could be found, Vraden was the drone to do it.

  Nothing could have prepared Haden for seeing their beloved queens snarling and hissing orders. Their expressions were contorted into a mask of haughty superiority and their normally kind demeanor was nowhere to be found. Arac and Raec fell into line alongside their queens. Haden broke off on his own to see if Venice was aboard this ship or the other. He prayed it was the other, but luck was not his friend today.

  Using the ships sensors, he discovered she was in an old utility room located on the lower deck, along with a small group of drones and Golugua. He hotfooted it down there and was once again shocked by what he saw.

  Venice and her Golugua friend were both working on a contraption of some sort. It looked like a cross between a medical scanner and a blaster, only it was huge.

  “You are doing that wrong, little human. You can’t bypass the coupler assembly that way.”

  “I’m not bypassing every single one. I’m bypassing every other one. Trust me, it will increase the yield by almost a full seven percent.”

  “Sure, if it does not blow up in your face when you trigger the mechanism.”

  “We need as much range and force as possible.”

  Haden stepped forward. “What are you doing, my queen?”

  Running to him, Venice jumped into his arms. “Thank God you’re here. The other women are bat shit crazy today. We scanned Helena earlier this morning. We think she picked up some kind of virus or something.”

  “And you hope to use this device to do what exactly?”

  “We hope to use low grade radiation to kill or remediate the virus. The drones have been assisting us and digging up parts. Right now we’re focusing our efforts on creating the beam to be wide enough to capture them in a tightly formed group. Our concern is—”

  “It’s not a virus. It’s a parasite from the fallen queen Kabelda. She taunts Arac so we know it is her. Where did you get this idea?”

  Venice looked sheepish. “On Earth they use radiation treatment to fight certain kinds of cancer. We were brainstorming solutions and the drones thought we could modify the idea to attack the strange viral or bacterial infection.”

  “It is a good idea. We need to create a functional prototype as soon as possible. The parasite is probably replicating and spreading, even as we speak.” Picking up the strange device, Haden began working on it. Making it strong enough to kill off the parasite but not the host was the trick. Donella was already building in filters to protect the human tissue from most of the damage. The Golugua was intelligent when it came to design and planning. Her talents were being wasted by being assigned to an engineering repair crew.

  Haden glanced up at Venice’s worried face. “I know what it feels like to be controlled by Kabelda. Though she used a mechanical device rather than infecting my body with her parasite, it is still dispiriting to have one’s free will superseded by another. I must save them or die trying, my queen. Please do not judge me too harshly for leaving you.”

  “That’s not happening. I’m staking my claim to you right damn now. As your queen, I command you to figure out a way to save the human women and survive.”

  Flicking through each system on the device, he murmured, “Perhaps if I can pull this off, I might actually feel like I deserve your love.”

  Reaching over, Venice pulled him down by the neck of his uniform. “You still aren’t listening to me. I don’t care if you think you deserve me. I’m one-hundred percent sure I deserve you, so don’t let me down.”

  “You wish is my command, my queen.”

  “Like hell it is. You’re you own person. Obey my commands only as they suit you.”

  Grinning at her, he yelled over his shoulder. “I need twelve plasma packs and three strings of magnetite wiring that’s five triton in diameter.”

  “You’re going to do this, aren’t you?”

  “You better believe I am.”

  “God, I’m so glad you came.”

  “I’d never leave you on your own to deal with anything dangerous, much less something like this.”

  “We’re gonna get through this, right?”

  Leaning over, Haden gave her a quick kiss. “We are. Today is one of those days where we drones will pull together and partner with the Golugua to make sure every drone gets his queen back.”

  Unless he missed his guess, his lovely storyteller relaxed a little. A drone walked up and flopped the items he requested on the table. “Pass the word that all drones are to stand down their weapons upon my approach.”

  “Yes, sir. Do we have any idea when the device might be finished?”

  “Why do you ask?”

  “Arac is in chains and he is not reacting well.”

  Doubling down his effort, Haden mumbled under his breath, “As soon as possible. We need a test subject.”

  “I’ll gather some drones.”

  Venice spoke up. “Drones are not a good control group. Their physiology is totally different from humans.”

  “We’re not testing the device on you, my queen.”

  Reaching out, she grasped his arm. “You are going to test it on me. Don’t worry, I trust you to get the calibration right.”

  Chapter 18

  Mark My Words

  ~ Haden ~

  Music Mix

  Haden pointed the blaster at his beautiful queen. Even knowing that he had added extra filters and triple checked his calibration, he felt terror spiking through his body as he squeezed the trigger on the massive weapon.

  The wave blew right through her small body, pushing her back slightly and blowing through her short spikey hair. Donella was standing nearby with a handheld device. “The device is functioning within normal parameters.”

  Haden recalibrated the device. “Where are the queens?”

  “They have resurrected the throne room.”

  Hearing the fear in his insectoid brother’s voice sent a spasm of what hot fury through Haden’s gut. “Have you contacted the other drones?”

  “All except Raec, Arec and Drale. Their queens keep them close.”

  “I’ll bet they do. Come, let’s do this thing.”

  Haden’s queen sounded off. “I’m ready to help.”

  Drawing her closer, he ran one hand over the side of her face. Looking into her eyes, he could tell she was frightened, but trying to be strong and do her share. He’d prefer to leave her out of it, but forbidding her to help her kinswomen was not his call to make. “You know what to do. Stay behind the drones until the last minute. Trust in them to protect you.”

  “I promise to be careful. You promise the same.”

  “My word is all I have to offer right now, my queen.”

  “Your word is always good enough for me. I love you.”

  Kissing her on the forehead, he murmured, “You are my world.”

  Moments later their small group was converging on the throne room.

  The queens seemed to be waiting for them with a throng of drones milling about. Steeling himself, Haden strolled into the room, weapon in hand, praying to the goddess that he still had a trick or two they didn’t know about.

  “We have been expecting you, Haden. Come, show us this new weapon you have been fabricating. We’ve been watching you on the holographic imager. You’ve been hard at work.”

  Though it wasn’t possible to interfere with the security feed without tipping them off, they’d been able to mute the sound from the area they were working in. Clearly they thought the weapon was something to blast them to oblivion.

 
“Greetings, Kabelda.”

  “You will use my title.”

  “You are no longer my queen.”

  “Haden, I bend you to my will as easily as I do the weak human who normally inhabits this body. Much like you, she screams out for me to stop.”

  “You sit there inhabiting her body only because I was able to resist long enough for warriors to come to her rescue. I would not consider that a win.”

  “It matters not, for I have now spawned through many queens. You think that I would be foolish enough to allow you to walk in with your weapon and shoot me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you are more foolish than I took you for.”

  Looking at the queens closing rank around her, he pulled the weapon up and took aim.

  She growled, “Subdue him, you fools.”

  The youngest, Queen Penny, fell to her knees. Somehow she’d momentarily wrestled control back from her symbiont. Her eyes were wide with terror. “Shoot, you fool.”

  Haden wasted no time in pulling the trigger. A loud high pitched squeal sounded off, bringing most people to their knees.

  Venice stepped around a small cluster of drones and pulled out a tiny blaster and pulled the trigger over and over again, taking aim at each queen in turn. When she finished with the last one, Haden eased back on the noise making device.

  Tara was the first to open her eyes. She looked around to find Arac hanging in chains. Rushing to him, she wrapped herself around him in a protective pose. She held him so close that Haden couldn’t tell what she was whispering in his ear.

  Raec kneeled beside Helena and Drale picked up Alexia and held her in his lap. Penny stood, “What in the actual hell was that? Did we have transponders or something?”

  Haden wrapped an arm around Venice. “We believe stray pieces of Kabelda’s symbiont made its way into your system. We cobbled together a device to combat the effects with radiation. It is unclear if we killed off the parasite entirely or if we temporarily stunned it.”

  “Get us back down to the planet immediately. I want restraints on every single one of us until we figure out if we’re still infected and how in the hell it happened.”