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I slept through the night, the dreams of Deric consuming me from the inside out. His lips, his arms, the sent of pine that clung to his lightly stubbled face. It was easy to allow myself to enjoy these things about him, since I didn’t need to face the hard truth.
After being pulled into reality by my stupid alarm clock, I got out of bed and took a long, hot shower before changing into yoga pants and a T-shirt. Then I rushed into the kitchen and saw Mira sitting there with a tablet in front of her. I stood there like an idiot, my eyes studying the woman that Deric had broken every rule to marry. She was a beauty, any Hollywood Director would be thrilled to hand her a business card. Her dark eyes held intelligence that I would never possess. Out of the two of us, Jade was the smart one. Until that very moment, I had always accepted the fact that critical thinking wasn’t my strong suit. Maybe, that’s what Deric liked most, which meant that he would find me lacking.
“Your tablet is right there,” she said, pointing to the tablet across from hers. I stopped staring at her and sat down and tapped on the screen.
“The Janton sanitation plans?” I questioned. “What does that have to do with anything?” The screen changed, which made me realize that Mira had somehow gained control of the tablet. “Meeting agenda two hundred three.”
“That’s useful,” Mira said. “I was able to hack into the device of one of Emperor Tulda’s officers. The system is written in Nerth, which is one of the most common languages in this galaxy. But his notes are all in the Janton language.”
“Maybe we should start by reading the meeting agenda. At least than we’d understand what the priorities of the Janton are,” I suggested, which made Mira nod.
“Maybe we can find something about the Kigor Port, since Amber really wants to stop there. The Janton own the port.”
“Good plan,” I agreed as the screen shifted again.
“Want me to read this aloud?” I asked Mira.
“Sure. We’ll check out a couple of these, then I’ll continue my efforts in trying to find out information about Neretha. I can’t find much, but with the images that Deric gave me, I can probably find something.” Hope filled my gut, propelling the belief that we could find Jade. It all seemed possible all of a sudden, though I knew that I was being foolish. There were probably millions of people on the Nerethian planet, and we had no allies there. How in the hell could we get allies? I had no idea how to accomplish the feat, but I was sure that we could at least blackmail someone if Mira could come up with any dirt on a prominent member of the alien race’s society.
“Item one,” I read when Mira opened up the first agenda. “Emperor Tulda’s marriage to a Janton female of his choosing. Item two: The wedding date for Princess Shala and Prince Zamire. Item three: Should the king of Neretha be put under house arrest? Item four: The annex of Earth.” I paused upon reading that item. The Jantons would not intrude on our planet. They may have been a warrior race, but the caster’s guild wouldn’t allow this travesty to occur. Mira let out a curse that was so loud that Deric and Winston teleported into the room. Deric rested a hand on my shoulder, while Winston plopped down beside Mira.
“Did she threaten you?” Winston asked, which made me roll my eyes.
“No. The Jantons have the possible annexation of Earth on their meeting agenda,” I explained, having the feeling that we would have to assassinate Emperor Tulda, since the man was clearly a loose cannon.
“Oh,” Winston said. “So you can read the Janton language?”
“Sure can,” I said as Deric slid into the chair beside me. Winston arched a brow.
“Being that close to her could make her go into a rage,” Mira warned as the anger began brewing. I grabbed Deric’s hand and the negative emotions subsided.
“We need Amber and Angelo. This mission just got more complicated,” I announced. Deric nodded, then moments later Amber ran into the room, followed by Angelo.
“What’s going on?” Amber asked, her eyes wide with excitement. I had to remind myself that she was a knight. That type of caster enjoyed the thrill of combat.
“The Jantons are contemplating annexing Earth,” I replied, which made Amber let out a snort.
“Yeah, with all of the different governments. Good luck,” she sneered.
“Despite how passive King Rayon is, I doubt that he would let that happen,” Angelo added, his words causing Deric to scowl.
“Rayon is a good leader, who has the survival of his people on his shoulders,” my soulmate protested.
“Yeah, right. If Rayon was a good leader, then he would have taken the attack on his people more seriously. Sometimes leaders test boundaries, and if you don’t push back, they end up crossing the line,” Amber tossed out.
“Rayon has the Najorians on Neretha to think of,” Deric argued.
“Doubt it,” Mira fired back. “He lost contact with that colony ages ago.”
“That’s just a rumor,” Deric argued. “The Najorians on that planet are widely left alone because they all have soulmates. Rayon doesn’t have a need to bother with forcing them to mingle with other colonies.”
“Lucky them,” Winston sarcastically said. “Sheena, don’t mind your soulmate. He’s definitely drank the Kool-Aid.” Despite my soul wanting to always side with Deric, my mind knew different. I took his hand, thinking of a logical compromise.
“We can check on the Nerethian colony after we rescue Jade,” I offered.
“And don’t forget the humans that may be stuck in cages,” Amber chimed in.
“Okay, let’s read the next agenda,” I offered. “It will give us an idea of how soon the Janton plan to invade earth.” Everyone nodded and I continued reading.
Three hours later, and we got the gist of things. Some of the advisors urged the emperor to leave Earth alone. The planet was way too overpopulated, and their technological capabilities were unknown. Besides, their infrastructure wasn’t made for people their size. But Emperor Tulda was on the high of the victory he earned when his empire battled Neretha and the king surrendered. He believed that he could annex such a primitive planet and make the earthlings slaves. Slavery was apparently a dishonorable act to most of the Janton warriors. At least the race believed in conquering a planet the honorable way, if there was such a thing.
Mira also found the schematics to the Kigor Space Port, and with my help, we were actually able to hack into the video feed. We clicked on one from one of the gambling rooms. Lord Peirc sat at a large table in what looked like a high chair. Across from him sat two giants. A different angle showed a group sitting on a massive couch. Mira switched to a different camera and I let out a gasp.
“That’s him,” I cried. “That’s the guy that killed Max!” Amber focused on her tablet, her icy glare telling me that the man in the shot was going to have his reckoning soon.
“That girl looks a lot like Jade,” Mira noted when the view changed to a girl with short hair and a bored expression on her face. We saw another girl around my age dressed in a gown that either had a corset, or she was wearing an effective waist trainer. When the camera images changed to a familiar face, my eyes bugged out. I’d recognize that girl anywhere, since Amber had a picture of her on her dresser. Amber’s step sister Gwen sat there with a determined expression on her face. Her mother, Rose, was sitting beside Max’s murderer, who held her on a leash. That image filled my soul with anger. That bastard would die for that.
“Can you try to get audio?” Winston asked, sounding intrigued.
“I can try,” Mira said, then she brought up a menu.
“The blue button says audio feed,” I told her. She clicked on it, and voices traveled to us.
“Nerethian,” Angelo clarified.
“I’ll translate,” I offered. Mira restarted the entire video and I began to translate.
***
“No, you jackhole!” Amber shouted when Lex knocked Gwen out. “She was trying to save Rose.”
“Thank you, Son, you’ll be greatly rewarded,” Lord Peirc said. “Anastacia, you can release your telekinetic hold on her.” The beauty with the suspected corset raised a hand and Gwen fell to the floor with a thud.
“Please don’t kill her,” Rose pleaded in English.
“It’s your life that you should be worried about,” the giant holding Rose’s leash said. Rose shook, tears beginning to fall down her face. Lord Peirc gestured to the door.
“Take her. Rose was always useless anyway. Don’t worry, Rose, I’ll make sure that Gwen will never see you again,” Max’s murderer taunted.
“I hate you,” Rose cried out.
“Kids, let’s leave the giants to their business,” the evil alien criminal snapped. Lex slung Gwen over his shoulder and left the room, followed by the telekinetic in a corset, the plain-looking girl, and the girl that resembled Jade. The other guy in the group shot Rose a sympathetic glance before leaving the room. Moments later, Rose glanced up at the camera, determination filling her face.
“Sheena, Lena told me that you would be watching,” Rose said in English. “Come and get me.” Moments later, Rose’s hands glowed, the Janton not even realizing that they had a knight among them. My heart sored when she disintegrated the giants with two blasts, then strolled out of the room.
“Holy crap!” Amber shrieked. “Rose is a knight? Why didn’t she ever say anything?”
“She didn’t want Lord Peirc knowing that she had that kind of power,” I said, knowing that I spoke the truth.
“I’ll speed up the ship. We’ve got to get to Rose. Maybe she can help us,” Winston said before getting to his feet.