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LARIA
Jardun might not have followed me after our conversation on the terrace, but I’d discovered his trust, like mine, only went so far. Posted in the corridor outside the main door leading to the rooms where my friends and I would be spending the remainder of the evening were two ketaurran guards. They were dressed in matching dark brown vests and pants, the customary dress for the drezdarr’s soldiers. They were also armed with impressive swords, the length of the blades extending from their hips past their knees.
I couldn’t fault Jardun for being cautious. If our roles were reversed and I wanted to protect the people I cared about, I’d do the exact same thing.
Other than seeing the state of the drezdarr’s health for myself, I had no way of knowing if Jardun was telling me the truth. I wasn’t sure why I hadn’t pressed him for more details. Maybe I was inclined to believe him because of the anguish I’d glimpsed on his face when he spoke about the other male. Or the fact that he was concerned about the future of my people, not just his own.
Then there was the conversation I’d had with Burke. There’d been something in his demeanor as well. I knew there had to be money involved, because Burke rarely did anything without getting paid. I also knew he wasn’t one to give his loyalty easily, yet he was willing to risk his life, and ours, to help the ketaurrans. I couldn’t pinpoint what had changed my mind, but knew if I didn’t do something to help, I’d carry the regret with me forever.
I couldn’t deny that I felt a strong attraction to Jardun, but I wasn’t going to let my body’s reaction to the man influence my decisions. I’d never been one to be careless with my emotions and didn’t plan to start now. Unless my usually precise instincts had been affected by his dominating and extremely tantalizing presence, I hadn’t gotten any wary vibes from him.
What he was asking of me involved other lives. I might be willing to assist him, but it didn’t mean I was ready to trust him or follow him blindly into a dangerous situation.
Convincing my friends that helping the ketaurrans was the right thing to do went beyond difficult. After relaying Jardun’s explanation, I stood in the middle of the room waiting for their reaction, which happened a lot quicker than I’d expected.
My friends had been staring at me as if they thought I’d been hit in the head and lost my grasp on reality.
“Laria, you can’t be serious.” Celeste was the first one to express her opinion and in a voice loud enough to be heard through the closed door leading into the outside corridor. She stiffened her arms, clenched her fists, anger flickering in her cinnamon eyes. “Going after supplies and battling mercs is one thing, but you’re asking us to risk our lives to help the ketaurrans. After everything we’ve been through, the friends and family we’ve lost, I...” She dropped back onto the lounger, biting back a sob and blinking to keep the moisture from building in her eyes.
The whole conversation might have gone better, been a lot easier if Burke had told us everything from the start. It would have given Celeste time to process the situation. I wanted to believe what Jardun and Burke were asking us to do was for a good cause. It didn’t mean I was over being pissed at Burke for deceiving us, and I sure as hell wasn’t ready to forgive him yet.
No one could ever say Burke wasn’t smart. Sitting in a chair on the opposite side of the room, he knew better than to push the issue with me.
Or maybe his silence was the result of me shooting warning glares in his direction. Either way, he was comfortably seated, long legs stretched out in front of him, wearing a satisfied grin and listening without interjecting any comments.
I wanted my friends to support my decision, but accompanying the ketaurrans had to be their choice. “What if Jardun is right? What if their new drezdarr does care and wants to help our people as well as his own? Can you honestly say you wouldn’t do everything you could to make that happen?” I rubbed my forehead against the threatening headache. “Humans weren’t the only ones to suffer losses during the war. Sarus’s men didn’t discriminate when they attacked the cities and human outposts, then killed anyone who got in their way.”
I despised the old drezdarr’s younger brother, the selfish male who’d started the war and taken so many lives. Sarus might not have wielded the weapons that killed the people my friends and I cared about, but he’d given the orders and was responsible.
Things might have been different if we’d been able to contact Earth after the crash to request a rescue. The ship’s entire communication system had been destroyed. Any transmission devices created afterward didn’t have the ability to transmit past the atmosphere, leaving us stranded. Building a new home among the planet’s inhabitants had been our only choice if we wanted to survive.
The few years prior to the war weren’t easy, but they weren’t bad either. I’d been fascinated with the ketaurrans and spent a lot of my time learning about their culture and customs. The majority of the species welcomed us into their communities, and making friends was easy. Only a handful viewed us as unworthy of being on their planet, some striving to make our lives difficult. Others joined forces with Sarus and tried to remove us from existence permanently.
It hadn’t been our fight, but we’d been drawn into it nonetheless. I’d seen too many things, too many deaths, things I wish I could forget. It was hard not to blame all ketaurrans for what had happened. After speaking with Jardun, I knew helping them was the right thing to do. I carried enough guilt for the unpleasant things I’d had to do to survive. I didn’t want to add the drezdarr’s death to the list, not if there was something I could do to prevent it.
If saving the drezdarr’s life also meant an eventual end to the hardships and gave my people hope, I was willing to do whatever was necessary to make it happen. But I couldn’t do it alone and needed the help of my friends.
Now that it appeared Celeste was over her rant and I’d made my final plea, I glanced at Sloane, trying to gauge her reaction. Her actions were unpredictable, and I wasn’t always sure how she’d respond. Of the three of us, she was more easygoing and readily accepted a challenge no matter how dangerous.
She stared at the floor, twirling the end of her brown braid, her nose wrinkled in deep thought. When she finally glanced in my direction, an enthusiastic gleam lit her blue eyes. A gleam which no doubt would eventually lead to trouble.
Sloane settled on the edge of the lounger next to Celeste, then gently squeezed her hand. “Celeste, honey, I know how hard this is for you. But think about the orphans and the others back at the settlement. If saving this guy’s life helps make a difference for them, then I agree with Laria. We need to do this—together.”
“I...” Celeste turned her head and swiped at a tear before it could trickle down her face. “Fine.” She pushed to her feet, smoothing the front of her pants as she stood. “If we do this and I find out afterward they lied to us, or used us for some”—she waved her hand through the air—“nefarious purpose, I’ll personally make Jardun and his precious drezdarr pay for it.”
Grinning, Sloane got to her feet, then slung her arm over Celeste’s shoulders. “And I’ll help you.” She bobbed her head in my direction, a sign she wanted me to chime in.
“And I’ll come along to make sure you two don’t get into any trouble or do anything we’ll all regret.”
I blew out a relieved breath. This was one time I hoped my instincts were right, that Jardun hadn’t lied, didn’t have a hidden agenda he was keeping from me. I was drawn to him in a way I couldn’t explain, and I’d hate to have to make him pay for betraying us.
Jardun
Shortly after speaking with Burke and learning that Laria and her friends had agreed, if not reluctantly, to assist us, I’d gone to Khyron’s quarters to update him on the progress of the plan to rescue Vurell and find a cure. As usual, he was sitting in a chair behind a sandstone desk, reviewing documents.
After listening to me describe the events leading up to and including the encounter Laria and I had had with the luzardees, he said, “Interesting. Burke actually sent females to help you.” His grin was filled with curiosity and amusement, not the disbelief I had expected.
“Yes.” I nodded.
“And you are sure the females are trained to fight?”
Since I had not witnessed their combat abilities, I did not know the extent of Celeste’s and Sloane’s skills. I did, however, have a deep appreciation for the precise and graceful way Laria handled a knife. “Burke assures me that all three females possess exceptional skills with a blade, even better than some of the males he commands.”
“And what about finding Vurell and the cure?” he asked.
“Burke is confident that with the female’s help, he will be able to locate Vurell and the antidote. I have recently learned that her sire was a scientist and she is familiar with the layout of the area we need to access on the ship.” Once I was certain the physician was safe and we had the cure for Khyron, I planned to destroy everything in the lab that could be used to create other toxins.
Khyron furrowed his brows. “Are the females aware that entering the Quaddrien is dangerous? Or that Doyle has turned the remains of the human ship into a fortress?”
“They are.”
“And yet they are still willing to accompany you. Impressive.” Khyron shifted in his seat, his movements slower than they were several days ago. His attempt to disguise his cringing by rubbing his chin did not go unnoticed.
Though he did his best to conceal the extent of his condition by wearing clothes that covered the majority of his body, it pained me to see the dull ash shade to his exposed skin. The intense sparkle in his deep blue eyes had faded. His scales no longer held their vibrant blue luster.
Before Vurell had been abducted, he had concocted a liquid that would temporarily slow down the toxin’s effects and hopefully give Khyron more time until an antidote could be developed. Even though the physician had assured me that my friend had weeks, not days, I still feared we were running out of time to save him.
I’d known Khyron since we were younglings. We had fought side by side during the war and would give our life if it meant saving the other. Telling Khyron he should be in bed resting until his health improved or let someone else handle the day-to-day issues that came with his leadership role was moot. He was a proud male and believed that showing weakness of any kind would undermine all he was trying to achieve.
“I assume Zaedon and Garyck will be going with you.” Khyron coughed, then leaned back in his chair, clamping his jaw against the pain.
“Yes, we will leave during the first rays in the morning. Thrayn and Raytan will remain behind.” I did not voice my concerns about the possibility of another attack on his life, or that I feared his ill health would hinder his ability to protect himself.
The traitor, the person who had infected Khyron, had to be someone who could get close to him. Until I discovered their identity, I would not trust anyone outside my close circle of friends to protect him.
“Then you should see to the needs of our guests,” Khyron said, and focused his attention on the documents spread out before him.
“Of course.” His dismissal was not meant to be rude, merely my friend’s way of preventing me from lecturing him about taking better care of himself. A conversation we had had on several occasions.
Had I not wished to see Laria and thank her personally, I would have ignored his directive and voiced my opinion anyway. Instead, I left him to seek out the female who enticed me in ways I had yet to understand.
