by Kali Argent
“Right.” Nell tapped the glass panel closest to her, minimizing the open report and enlarging another. “According to Lieutenant T’Kari’s report—”
“T’Kari?” Luke interrupted.
“Astrid Strong. She’s mated now.”
He settled back in his seat with a pinched expression. “No one tells me anything.” Then, he popped upright in his chair again, his mouth hanging open. “Kylir? She’s mated to Kylir T’Kari? When did this happen?”
“I don’t know who she’s mated to,” Nell answered, “but I guess it’s recent.”
Jael patted his hand in solidarity since she didn’t even know who they were talking about, let alone when the female had mated this Kylir person.
“Anyway.” Nell cleared her throat as she returned her attention to the screen. “The report states that all liquid samples had evaporated upon reaching the space station.” She blew out a frustrated breath and shook her head. “There wasn’t even condensation inside the tubes.”
“Regrettable,” Jael mused, “because it’s really the water that you want.”
“Come again?” Inching his chair closer, Luke eyed her with curiosity. “Pretend that I don’t understand any of this…because I don’t.”
“Don’t disparage.” He really couldn’t have known. “Until recently, even the Xenon believed the flowers that grew beneath our Adderstones were the true source of healing.”
“Okay, see? You lost me again. Back up. Start from the beginning.” When she tried to move farther away from him, he caught the bottom edge of her chair and laughed. “Sorry, beautiful. Not back away literally. I meant back up in the conversation. What is an Adderstone?”
“Oh. Right.” Heat infused her cheeks, and she bit down on her bottom lip until the embarrassment had passed. “The Adderstones are the five gems of Xenthian. Each is housed over a spring or fountain, and the flowers that grow in those waters are infused with healing magic.”
“So, the stones are like a battery.”
Jael thought it over for a moment but shook her head. “I think it’s more accurate to say that the waters on Xenthian are the battery, and the Adderstones are more like an amplifier.”
“That’s interesting and everything.” Swiveling toward them in her chair, Nell flipped her hair over her shoulder and sighed. “How does it help us, though?”
Honestly, it didn’t, but Luke had asked. If he wanted to know the entire history of Xenthian, Jael would make time to explain as much of it as she knew.
“What we’ve been doing isn’t working.” His tone held a hint of reproach, and his eyes had narrowed at the corners. “Jael is here to help us figure out where we went wrong and how to get back on track. That means learning everything we can, especially when it pertains to magic.”
Jael didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t stop the smile that stretched across her face. She’d seen a lot of sides of her mate since meeting him—scared, confused, clever, fun—but she liked this take-charge attitude from him best. It was, to borrow his phrasing, sexy.
“Yes, sir.” Nell caught her bottom lip between her teeth and dropped her head. “I apologize.”
Ancestors, she really was young. If Jael fell apart every time someone admonished her, she’d have never accomplished anything. On the other hand, she did feel a measure of sympathy for the female, so she took her mate’s hand and squeezed, drawing his attention to herself.
“From what you’ve told me, I see two primary problems that need attention.”
“The fever,” Luke said.
“Yes, the fever.” She nodded. “Also, figuring out why the flowers are disintegrating.”
“Should I get some of the samples?” Nell asked, clearly eager to be back in Luke’s good graces.
“Yeah, thanks, that would be great.”
His gaze never left Jael’s, and the way those clear blue eyes stared at her filled her with pride and anxiety in equal measure.
He looked at her as if she could move mountains and capture stars.
Like she could conquer any challenge, overcome any obstacle.
Like she alone was the answer to a question he had only now thought to ask.
She could only pray to the ancestors that his faith hadn’t been misplaced.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The next three days were filled with one disappointment after another. Tempers were tested, patience wore thin, and tension seemed to hover over the lab like a heavy, suffocating blanket. Every experiment failed. Hypotheses fell apart. Questions were posed, but never answered.
Then, there was the fact that Luke couldn’t seem to get within two feet of his mate without something blowing up in his face—sometimes literally. The previous day, it had been a coffee mug that he’d shattered into about a billion pieces. Worse, it had been Cami’s favorite, and even though Xi had put it back together with magic, he just knew she was never going to let him hear the end of it.
The day before that, he’d made all three hundred and eighty-four books fly off their respective shelves in the den. That time, it had been Jael who had repaired the damage with nothing more than a wave of her hand. It was getting stronger, though, this…ability. In the first day or so, it had only happened when he’d lost himself in lust, like when he kissed her. Lately, however, just being in the same room seemed to be enough to set him off.
He had no idea how he was even doing it. He couldn’t control it. Once or twice, he’d worried about what would happen if he ever inadvertently took too much of her magic. Even if that couldn’t or wouldn’t happen, he’d almost taken her head off with a copy of Treasure Island. If he didn’t learn some restraint and fast, he was definitely going to end up hurting someone.
“Good morning, neelum.” Jael greeted him with a nod and a smile from her seat at the workstation in the back of the lab. “Did you rest well?”
Honestly, he’d had a fitful night, tossing and turning until well into the morning hours while he thought about Jael sleeping in the room next door. “I’m fine. What about you?”
“I’m well, thank you.”
Dressed in a long, silver tunic with emerald inlays and bell sleeves, she was an absolute vision. Soft, leather boots in a complementary shade of gray wrapped around her calves like an old lover, leaving only a few inches of skin visible between them and the hem of her tunic. She’d smoothed her hair back into a sleek knot at her nape, and her lips shined in the fluorescent lights, pink and wet from the layer of gloss that coated them.
Wearing a T-shirt depicting a half-eaten donut and a pair of decade-old sweats, Luke felt ridiculously underdressed.
“How long have you been awake?” Grabbing one of the newly repaired hover chairs, he dropped into it and maneuvered until he was seated beside her.
“Since sunrise.” She held a green and yellow petal up to the light, squinting at it as she turned it one way, then the other. “These flowers are dying.”
“What?” He hadn’t thought that possible. In fact, Ivy had assured him that because they were infused with magic, they would remain perfectly preserved indefinitely. “All of them?”
Jael glanced at the rows of clear baggies she had lined up on the tables, each containing a single sample. “No, not all. Too many of them, however.” Turning toward him, she tilted her head to the side and traced her finger along the curved, outer edge of the petal. “See the way the color fades here? It shouldn’t do that.”
Wanting a closer look, he held his right under the dispenser attached to the end of the table, wincing when it filled his palm with icy, pale yellow gel. It smelled terrible, like a mixture of rotten fruit and burnt hair, but the stuff was more effective than latex gloves. Of course, it had a long, fancy, scientific name, but everyone just called it eraser gel, because it essentially erased all manner of contaminants.
A dime-sized amount killed various forms of germs, bacteria, and viruses. It also created a thin, protective film over the skin, inhibiting the transference of genetic material and fingerprints. A dil
uted form of it was even used in the air filters, essentially making his underground lab the cleanest place in the entirety of Light City.
“May I?” he asked once the goo had dried on his hands. When she passed him the flower, he held it gingerly between thumb and forefinger as he brought it closer to examine it. “Yeah, right there. I see it.” Flipping it over, he shook his head at the thin, black veins that had started to flow out from the stem. “Do you know why this is happening?”
“No, I’m sorry. There is no reason the flowers should be dying. I don’t—oh, my stars.”
Before their eyes, the petal Luke held turned black and shriveled, collapsing in on itself before crumbling into a pile of ash in his palm.
“Let me see that.”
Too stunned to argue, Luke deposited the ashes into her waiting hand, then sat back while she made a fist and closed her eyes. Thankfully, she didn’t leave him in suspense for long, but the brilliant smile she gave him didn’t make a lot of sense given the situation.
“There’s no magic left in these ashes.”
Okay, now her expression made even less sense. It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened, and she looked like her birthday had come twice that year.
“Don’t you see?” She shoved her fist toward him and shook it when he just continued to stare at her. “There’s no magic!”
“Yeah, no, I heard you the first time.” She really was adorable when she was excited, and he couldn’t help but return her smile. “I just don’t understand why you’re so happy about it.”
“It’s you! Neelum, you’re syphoning the magic from the samples.”
So, he’d been wrong. That was the worst thing that could happen. All this time, and he’d been sabotaging his own progress. To add insult to injury, he didn’t even know how to fix it. He wasn’t sure what expression was on his face, but it must have been bad, because Jael leaned closer and began stroking his neck with her unoccupied hand.
“No, no, this is a good thing. We finally understand.” Her nose wrinkled, and she shook her head. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before. It seems so obvious now.” Without warning, she jumped up from her seat, placing a hand on Luke’s shoulder when he tried to follow. “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”
Luke just nodded as he watched her hurry toward the office.
Without the Xenon’s magic, there wouldn’t be the possibility of a cure for infertility. He knew that. He’d thought he’d accepted it. With everything going wrong, and a lot of it because of some power he didn’t even know he had, he kind of hated magic right then. Whatever was inside him, he’d never asked for it, and he sure as hell didn’t want it.
A part of him wondered if his parents had known. He doubted it. If they had, they would have probably tried to use it against him. Well, at least his father, Canaan, would have. Just like he’d used Cami’s gift to keep her imprisoned in her own home for almost a decade. Just like he’d used it to manipulate Luke for years.
At twenty-three, Luke had just been reassigned to Fort Nacht on the edge of the badlands. Less than five years out of the Academy, and he was already inching toward his first promotion. He’d like to say it was because he’d worked hard and earned it, but that would have been a lie. Any special treatment he’d received had been a byproduct of being born into the Brighton-Hart family.
Even when Derrek Brighton had gone off the deep end, murdered his chosen, then gotten himself killed, nothing much had changed. There were whispers, rumors, pitying stares directed at Luke whenever he was in public, but he’d still gotten that promotion, regardless if he deserved it or not.
At that point, though, he’d been done with all of it. He didn’t want to be treated differently. He didn’t want to return to Light City and work with Canaan at Hart Pharmaceuticals. He didn’t want people to look at him and see the son of a killer.
So, he’d left.
His charmed life. The expectations. The sympathetic smiles and the commiserative glances. He’d left it all behind to accept another assignment in space, and he hadn’t looked back. If he’d have known the shitstorm that would follow his decision, he would have taken it all back in a heartbeat.
He’d found out about his father’s manipulation by accident really. It had been a little over a year ago, at the end of his stint on Alpha Station: X1. During a meeting with the regents to discuss a new command assignment, someone—he couldn’t remember who now—had congratulated him on accomplishing so much after enduring such a great loss. Thinking they’d been speaking of Derrek and his mother, he had simply thanked him. Then, Regent Nicholas Chandler had spoken a single sentence that Luke didn’t think he’d ever forget.
“To lose a parent so young is a tragedy, but I can’t imagine the pain of losing a sibling.”
Panicked, convinced something had happened to Cami that he had yet to hear about, he’d stood up and walked right out of the meeting. All attempts to contact his father had failed, and by the time he had reached his quarters, he’d been damn close to hyperventilating.
A quick search of Alliance records had indeed provided a death certificate for one Camille Brighton, but it had been dated nearly ten years previously.
For ten fucking years, their father had convinced her that she was dangerous. That she would hurt someone if she ever left the house, just like Derrek had. Then, just to be sure she never tried to leave, he’d threatened her with a ghost, telling her Derrek was still alive and would one day come for her. Staying hidden was the only way for her stay protected.
And Luke hadn’t known any of it.
Oh, he’d known she didn’t leave the house, but he’d been repeatedly told it was because her gift was too powerful, that being around people and hearing their thoughts was too overwhelming. Wanting only to protect her, he hadn’t questioned it. He should have. He should have fought harder for her.
After learning the truth, he’d confronted his father, and he’d been a little surprised when Canaan hadn’t even tried to deny it. Without flinching, with no shame, he’d confirmed that he had bribed a medical official to falsify Cami’s records. Though it would be months later before Luke learned of the threats and lies Canaan had used to control his sister, Luke had heard enough.
So, he’d done what he should have done a long time ago. He’d gotten Cami the hell out of there.
Of course, only his sister could have ended up on the wrong station, gotten involved in a conspiracy—including murder—and fallen in love with a Helios.
“Luke?”
“Huh?” From the expression on Jael’s face, she’d been standing there for a while, and she’d probably called his name more than a few times. “I’m good. Sorry, just thinking.”
“Would you like to talk about it?”
One day, he’d tell her. Soon, he promised himself. Just not now.
“What do you have there?” Motioning to the black wooden box on the table, he met her gaze with a raised eyebrow.
Her bright, lavender eyes narrowed, but after a brief hesitation, she settled into the chair next to him. Obviously, he hadn’t fooled her, but he appreciated that she didn’t push the issue.
“These are the samples I brought from the Southern Isle.” Moving the box to the edge of the table, she unlatched it and flipped open the lid. “They’re zisa flowers that grow along the edge of the river by my home.” As she spoke, she pulled out a case of test tubes, a large, black cylinder, and several white, gauzy pouches filled with pink and black flower petals. “Now, these aren’t as powerful as the plants that grow beneath the Adderstones, but they still have magic.”
Luke wanted to laugh. Or cry. Or laugh until he cried. Instead, he grabbed his mate’s face between both hands and hauled her close to kiss her lips. As much as he wanted to, however, he didn’t linger, afraid of what might happen if he did.
“You’re brilliant!” Fuck, that sweet blush got to him every time. “What’s the rest of this?”
She lifted one of the cerulean test tubes an
d twirled it between her delicate fingers. “These are soil samples, leaves, sediment, and sap from a pocca tree.” Biting her bottom lip, she ducked her head and looked away. “I don’t know if they’ll be useful.”
Luke wanted to drag her into his arms and hold her there for the rest of their lives. He couldn’t risk it, though. She’d basically just saved their asses, and he wasn’t going to do anything to jeopardize that—like blowing up everything on the table because he’d lost control again.
“It’s useful,” he assured her. “Way useful. Like, I’m going to test the fuck out of this.”
Her button nose wrinkled, and lips fell open in a sexy pout. “I don’t know what that means exactly, but it sounds quite violent.”
Damn, it felt good to laugh. “Okay, beautiful, what other surprises do you have in the cylinder?”
“Nothing, actually.” She smacked the large tube with the back of her hand, knocking it over and sending it rolling off the edge of the table. It hit the floor with a surprisingly quiet thump, then bounced several times like a rubber ball. “I’d read the reports, but I thought transporting water samples in a pressurized container would at least decrease the amount of evaporation.” She scowled down at the object. “It didn’t.”
While Luke would love to have a real water sample from Xenthian to work with, he didn’t need it. She’d already given him far more than he’d expected and asking for anything else just felt greedy.
“I think it’s worth a try to test these zisa flowers.” Maybe they didn’t have the same amount of concentrated magic in them, but they could still be useful. “It’s also possible that the sap might prove effective as well.”
It was sort of a liquid. It was ingestible. They didn’t have to alter it in any way to administer it. Very possibly, the silvery sap could be even more useful than the plants.
