Defy

by Raine Thomas

  Ini-herit crossed his arms and looked to Clara Kate, who frowned.

  “Commander,” Tiege said, “we have to get to Tate. She’s still alive—”

  “We know,” Alexius interrupted, and the three beings they had tracked across the Estilorian plane all looked surprised—even the Corgloresti elder. “Commander Harold is even now tracking her. He expects to reach her within a couple of hours.” He watched the three exchange looks that ranged from wariness to relief. “Your fathers are also on the way. Your mothers had to remain behind with your siblings, but they all want to see you as soon as possible.”

  “I’m not going back until Tate’s okay,” Tiege argued. “There’s something going on right now…I don’t know exactly what, but she’s in trouble.”

  Alexius drew his brow in concern. “My orders are to bring you back home,” he said. “Archigos Uriel—”

  “Alexius,” Clara Kate interrupted, stepping forward. She reached out to touch his arm in a familiar gesture that effectively distracted him. “You’ve worked with us on our training all our lives. You know we’re capable of taking care of ourselves. You’ve helped see to it. We’ve come this far. Let us see this through.”

  “I can’t go against orders, Clara Kate,” he argued, though he could admit that her deep blue-green gaze made it harder to refuse than it might have with another being.

  “That is true,” Ini-herit said. “A Waresti does not go against his orders. Such an act defies his or her very nature.”

  Tiege’s eyes narrowed. “Well, I can damn well refuse. I’m going after Tate.”

  “I can’t—”

  “Alexius,” Clara Kate again interrupted, her grip on his upper arm tightening. He didn’t fail to notice that archigos Ini-herit’s gaze shifted to where she touched him. “Your orders are to bring us back home. But that doesn’t mean it has to be immediately.”

  Although his instinct was to argue, he found himself holding her gaze to hear her out.

  “Come with us to get Tate,” she said with a flash of her charming grin. “Or follow us at a discreet distance so that you can bring us back as soon as we get to her. We promised Tate we’d come and get her. We can’t back down from that promise any more than you can go against your orders. There must be a compromise here somewhere.”

  He realized she was right, and was on the verge of entertaining her suggestion when Harold’s thought came through. After processing the new information with a quick blink, he looked around the group standing around him.

  “Commander Harold just sent word,” he announced. “They’ve found evidence that there are two males, probably Mercesti, tracking Tate. I have new orders. If I find you, I’m to join you in the search for Tate.

  “And hope we get to her first.”

  Chapter 32

  Zachariah’s decision to brew the truth-inducing tea was spur-of-the-moment. He had been working very hard to ignore the unwanted feelings invoked by his last encounter with the bouncy-haired female. He told himself he didn’t care about the identity of this vague male who was supposedly on his way to “rescue” her. If she had some damn fool fantasy in her head and wound up getting herself killed because she was wrong, what did he care?

  After a couple hours of pretending he wasn’t thinking about her, he finally acknowledged his frustration that she refused to tell him who was coming after her. She refused to tell him a lot of things, he mentally grumbled. She had wound up in her current situation for a reason: she was impulsive and needed looking after. Damn it.

  And just how, he asked himself, could a being look after her if she wouldn’t provide essential information?

  His frustration continued to grow as the day lengthened and he followed in Nyx’s footsteps. He was only traveling in her direction to get closer to his kragen companion, he told himself. If his pace was rather brisk, well, the exercise was good for him.

  Although he considered the idea of projecting himself to her through meditation, he decided against it. She did things to him that—well, he couldn’t explain his reaction to her. In his millennia of existence, he’d never felt this way, a fact that added to his frustration. He couldn’t risk things turning down that path again. The last thing she needed was to experience these emotions toward him of all beings.

  When he stumbled upon the alitheia bush, the germ of an idea sprouted into a full-blown plan. If nothing else, the female who had so unexpectedly entered his life had taught him to explore concepts that defied logic. He figured he had nothing to lose in his attempt.

  He waited for the sun to begin setting before stopping for the night and starting the fire to boil the water he needed to make the tea. At first, he figured actually brewing the tea would be a waste of his time, as he planned on visiting her through her dreams. Then he decided that it couldn’t hurt to have as many specific details in place within the realm of consciousness as possible before he visited her.

  As the sunlight faded, he did something he had been attempting to avoid for days: he tapped into her consciousness so that he could sense when she was about to go to sleep. Then, timing it very carefully, he steeped the tea in his canteen and forced himself to merge with her consciousness as thoroughly as possible so that he slept as soon as she did.

  He also focused his thoughts in an effort to bring every possible detail into the dream state, including the brewed tea and its qualities. He tried to recapture whatever it was about himself that allowed him to touch her when he was meditating, hoping to gain more control of the dream. He relied on the power of suggestion and mental influence to bring his plan together.

  It worked perfectly.

  He was still amazed that she accepted the canteen from him without question. Even in their unusual, connected state, he figured she would at the very least ask him what he offered her. The female had no sense at all.

  Tate, he reminded himself. He now knew her name.

  He took her heated threat in stride. If he had been in her position, he imagined he would be making much more creative threats himself. On top of that, he didn’t doubt her in the least. Archigos Gabriel probably would hunt him down.

  “And after Uncle Gabriel finishes with you,” she added, “my dad will probably kill you as painfully as possible.”

  As to that, he couldn’t say. Since she said it while under the mental influence of the tea, she certainly believed it to be true.

  Caleb was a young Gloresti. Just over the century mark by now, he figured. He remembered training him. Caleb had been particularly skilled in swordplay, hand-to-hand combat and throwing weapons. Now that Zachariah thought about it, she had the look of him in her height, taut musculature and coloring. He idly wondered if her twin brother, Tiege, did, too.

  He couldn’t believe how much he’d missed. The fulfillment of the Great Foretelling. Grolkinei’s destruction. The existence of half-human Estilorians. And, of course, their offspring, the Kynzesti.

  He had to admit it was rather fascinating. It also made him question for the first time in fifty years whether being isolated from the rest of Estilorian society was such a wise choice on his part.

  “Do you also have the ability to reproduce?” he asked, deliberately turning his thoughts.

  He ignored the tears that continued to flow from her eyes. It was only natural for her to resent his actions, he reasoned. She was fully realizing the error in her assessment of his character, after all.

  She shrugged in answer to his question.

  “You do not know?”

  “None of us has joined with anyone.”

  He watched her cheeks turn pink after the confession and told himself he wasn’t affected by the innocent reaction. “How old are you?”

  “Seventeen. I think.” Her brow furrowed.

  “You think? How could you not know?”

  “I don’t know how long I’ve been away from home. I was due to turn eighteen not too long after Nyx took me.”

  He thought about that for a moment. “Judging by your condition when Nyx
brought you to that cave, I would say you have been away from your home between one to two weeks.”

  She didn’t reply. Her deep blue-green eyes bored holes into him as she managed to push some of her pent-up anger through the effects of the tea. Her pupils were huge. Her normally expressive face was slack. He could see by her shaking hands and twitching arms that she was actively trying to fight the tea’s effects.

  He wasn’t feeling guilty, he assured himself, even as he reluctantly admired her will to fight. That was a trait she also shared with her father, he recalled. “Do you have the same reproductive organs as a human female?” he wondered.

  “Why are you asking these questions?”

  Surprised because she hadn’t just answered his question, he realized the effects of the single sip of tea were wearing off. He’d have to speed up the interrogation process if he wanted more answers.

  “I am only just learning about your class,” he said impatiently. “I want to learn more about you.”

  “Why?”

  “Do you have the same reproductive organs as a human female?” he pressed, ignoring her question since he wasn’t sure he could answer it.

  “Yes, but none of us has menstruated. Quincy doesn’t know why, since humans usually start by around the age of thirteen.”

  He considered this as he studied her. She had already mentioned Quincy when telling him about her family structure. She seemed particularly fond of the Corgloresti male, something that bothered him more than he cared to admit.

  “You said you cannot fly. When does a Kynzesti have this ability?”

  “Technically, when we turn eighteen.”

  “What does that mean?”

  There was a pause as she continued to try and fight the tea. He watched her efforts with an inexplicable mix of edginess and pride in her. Eventually, she replied, “Clara Kate was able to do it when she turned eighteen. As of the time Nyx snatched me at Sophia’s flying lesson, Soph hadn’t yet learned how to bring forth her wings.”

  “And you are all kept at the place you consider your home? No one at the Estilorian base has met you?”

  Another tear trailed down her cheek. This time, she reached up with one hand to wipe at her cheek. “I don’t like you asking me these questions,” she replied, evading the truth with another truth. Her response as well as her movements served as further signs that the effects of the tea were fading.

  “Have you been introduced to the rest of Estilorian society?” he asked.

  “No. Our parents felt it would be safer if we were fully trained to defend ourselves and had the ability to fly before leaving the safety of our home.”

  Her parents had obviously been right, he thought. “You have been trained to defend yourself?”

  “Yes.”

  “In what disciplines have you been trained?”

  She recited a list that made him realize her Uncle Gabriel had played a large part in planning her defensive training regimen, as had the other elders. It included everything from intense physical exercises for cardio and muscular strengthening to meditation and protection against mental intrusions. When she mentioned the weapons that had been created for her by the elders, his interest was again piqued.

  “Nunchucks?” He carefully looked her up and down, not having noticed the weapons before. If his gaze lingered a bit in certain places on her well-formed body, he was merely trying to determine where the weapons might be. “I want to see them.”

  “I don’t want to give them to you.” Her voice hitched and her body all but vibrated as she struggled to resist his request.

  He raised an eyebrow and moved closer. He scented the fresh, lemony essence of her hair and skin as he paused inches from her. When her eyes met his, he bent down closer to her ear. “Either you hand the weapons over to me, Beautiful,” he said, “or I shall find great pleasure in taking them from you.”

  Ariana didn’t know how a being could be so afraid and still function. She was pretty sure her heart was just going to stagger to a stop any moment now. In fact, she rather hoped it would.

  When she was led from the mountain at sunset to begin the day’s hike with her captors, it had been to find the mountainside swarming with Mercesti. No longer was she traveling with less than fifty Mercesti. Oh, no. Their numbers were well into the hundreds now. Possibly even over a thousand.

  Once she pushed past her astonishment, she realized that Eirik had sent some of his primary band of Mercesti out to recruit others to his cause. He probably wanted as many of his class as possible to witness his anticipated ascension to greatness when she led him to the scroll and he used it.

  It was a thought that made her feel ill. Although she told herself she should refuse to cooperate with Eirik’s demands and just accept the death awaiting her, she hadn’t found it in her to do it.

  The bottom line was that she was a coward.

  Every time she started to get herself worked up to a point where she considered stopping, Deimos drifted closer to her. He had taken to flashing his fanged teeth and licking his lips when he was near, actions that repulsed and terrified her. Eirik also walked close to her, his eyes moving over her frequently and, she suspected, missing nothing. He had to growl commands at Deimos more than once to keep the creature from attacking her.

  “Why can we not have the female?” one of the newer recruits asked. His red and malevolent eyes scoured over her when he spoke.

  “Because I have so commanded it,” Eirik responded coldly. “She is needed for the moment and shall not be harmed.”

  For the moment…

  That phrase was what finally gave Ariana the strength to do what she needed to do. She realized she had been harboring some small, selfish hope that she could get out of this alive. But Eirik had just clearly said that she would remain unharmed only so long as she was needed. She imagined that the moment she located the scroll, he would unleash Deimos on her or turn her over to the many males now traveling with them. She never stood a chance.

  She thought of Tisha, her silly, wardrobe-obsessed friend whose only mistake had been in losing another friend’s necklace and wanting to find it. She thought of the many other Estilorians back at Central, many of whom she also considered friends. She thought of the brave daughters of Saraqael and their many children, all of whom represented hope for the future of all Estilorians.

  Would she be the one to bring a reign of terror, led by Eirik, down on their heads?

  Stopping in her tracks, Ariana made her decision. She would no longer be a part of this, no matter the consequences.

  Eirik approached her as the Mercesti troops all came to a stop. His eyes met hers as he stopped inches in front of her. Without a hint of lingering fear, she began unbuckling the uncomfortable harness they had crafted for her to carry the heavy broadsword on her back. Her gaze never left his.

  “What is it you think you are doing?” he asked.

  “I’m doing what I should have done in the first place. I’m quitting.”

  The harness finally came unbuckled and slid free of her shoulders. The sword clanked to the earth with a solid sound that made her decision feel more substantial.

  Lifting her chin, she said, “I’m ready to die.”

  Chapter 33

  An unwanted flush of pleasure raced through Tate at the sensation of Sparky’s warm breath drifting over the side of her neck. His lips rested mere inches from her skin. The heat from his body flowed easily to hers as he leaned even closer. As furious as she was at him for making her feel so stupid and helpless, she couldn’t deny her powerful attraction to him.

  “Please don’t,” she said when he threatened to take her weapons from her.

  She hated that she was reduced to begging. She sensed such good in him, and he was treating her like this? It was beyond her level of comprehension.

  “I just want to see them,” he countered, stepping back and catching her gaze. “It is your choice.”

  She swallowed, noting the fact that his eyes shifted briefly to
her throat at the action. She struggled to focus her thoughts so she could refuse him…all to no avail. With stiff and drug-influenced movements, she found herself reaching for the small of her back and producing one of her blessed nunchucks.

  Evidently impressed, he reached out and took it, ignoring her sound of dismay. She couldn’t do anything but stand and watch as he examined it.

  She knew her weapon as well as she knew herself. The handles were luminous to the point of appearing white, as was the deceptively thin chain that connected them. The handles of the weapon were marked with protective runes imbued by the elders, though she didn’t really know how to access their inherent power.

  He stepped away from her and executed a few forms using just the single nunchuck. Then he handed it back to her. She hadn’t dropped her outstretched hand since giving it to him.

  “It is too small and light,” he said.

  “It was crafted specifically for me,” she replied, putting the weapon back in her harness. “I’m big, but you’re bigger. Of course it seems smaller and lighter than you’d like.”

  “You think of yourself as big?”

  She wished with another flood of embarrassment that the tea would fully wear off so she could stop herself from talking. She supposed she would just find what relief she could in the fact that her tears had stopped.

  The moment she could, she fully intended to kick his ass.

  “I’m the biggest female Kynzesti so far,” she said, flushing over the words she couldn’t control.

  He gave her another thorough, head-to-toe examination that had her blood flashing with heat. Then, shaking his head, he said, “Who is coming for you?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “What?” His gaze narrowed. “You are sitting in the cold on the side of this godforsaken mountain without knowing who is coming for you?”

  “I only know a few of those coming for me.”

  “Who?”

  She wanted to choke herself just to keep the response from issuing forth, but she couldn’t control her arms enough to accomplish it. Still, she felt herself lifting her arms a bit, which pleased her. “Tiege, archigos Ini-herit and Clara Kate.”