Bean's Heart (Hearts of ICARUS Book 7)

by Phillips, Laura Jo

  “How badly are they hurt?” Garen asked, keeping his voice gentle, Zander noticed.

  “I don’t know, but I saw Aunt Hope get a couple of men to carry them up to the clinic. I was just going to vox my Ata.”

  “You did very well, Bean, but there’s no need to call your fathers. I’ll handle this.” He studied the man hovering above the street, glaring at them.

  “I’m not sure I can hold him very much longer, Uncle Garen.”

  “That’s all right, Bean,” Garen said. “You can go ahead and release him now.”

  Bean focused on the man, lowering him much more gently than Zander thought he deserved. When his feet touched the ground, Bean released a sigh of relief, her face quite pale from the effort.

  “Are you all right?” Garen asked her with obvious concern.

  “Yes, I’m fine. I’ve never lifted anything so big or heavy before is all.”

  “Your hard work is obviously paying off,” Garen said with a proud smile. Then he turned to the stranger. The man was standing where Bean had set him down, both hands at his mouth as he attempted to remove whatever was stopping him from being able to speak.

  “I suppose I should hear what this person has to say for himself.” He gestured in the stranger’s direction, and the man immediately took full advantage of his restored ability to speak.

  “You will pay dearly for interfering with me,” he said haughtily. Then he pointed a finger at Bean. “You, filthy witch, will burn slowly for many days before I permit you the peace of death.”

  Zain growled deep and low, as did all the other males gathered around. Not loud enough to interrupt the Prince, but enough to make the stranger look around warily. For a moment.

  “How exactly do you plan to manage that?” Garen asked as though mildly curious.

  “I’m a very wealthy and respected man on my world,” he said, lifting his chin and straightening his shoulders. “I’m here to take back my son who was wrongly stolen from me by his worthless slut mother. I charge you with seeing that she is brought back here at once. She is to return with me and the boy so that I may see her pay for her crimes against me, as is my right. If you dare interfere further, I will see you burn with the witch.”

  “Bean, how did you manage to refrain from dropping this odious pile of offal on his head?”

  “I didn’t have time to attempt it.”

  “Too bad,” Garen said, waving toward the stranger again to silence him once more. “I suppose I must now decide what to do with him,” Garen said, tapping his chin lightly. “What do you think, Bean?”

  “I think you should begin by introducing yourself. It’s only polite.”

  “Yes, of course. You’re absolutely right, Bean. Manners matter, as your Aunt Lari is fond of saying.”

  Garen turned to face the man. “I am High Prince Garen Dracon,” he began, nearly smiling when the man’s eyes bulged even more than before. “I don’t care who you are, nor do I care how wealthy and respected you are on your world because, if you haven't noticed, this is not your world. I do care, however, that you’ve come to my world, spoken filth at the top of your lungs in front of small children on my world, deliberately injured a child and a woman who are now citizens of my world, threatened my life, and threatened to torture and murder a member of my family.

  “On Jasan, we take extreme exception to those who abuse women and children. It doesn’t matter in the least whether you consider them to be yours, or not. The penalties for the crimes you’ve committed thus far add up to a number of years on a prison planet plus two or three death penalties. We can’t actually kill you more than once, a limitation I sincerely regret at the moment. Therefore, it seems I have an interesting puzzle to solve.”

  “High Prince,” someone called from the sidewalk behind where Zander and his brothers stood. Garen turned toward the man, saw the expression on his face and nodded.

  “Excuse me,” he said to Bean, then waved a hand at the stranger, binding his feet to the ground where he stood. Satisfied the stranger wasn’t going anywhere, Prince Garen went to speak with the man on the sidewalk.

  Zander noticed that Bean’s worried gaze was torn between the stranger and Prince Garen. His eyes were fixed on Bean so when someone gasped in surprise, he saw her turn her head, then suddenly twist sideways for no apparent reason.

  His eyes flicked to the stranger who had a triumphant expression on his face. His eyes flashed back to Bean who was crumpling to the street with a knife protruding from one arm. Moving so fast he was no more than a blur, Zander leapt for Bean, barely catching her before she hit the ground. He cradled her gently in his arms, Zain and Zach forming a barrier that hid her from the surrounding crowd as much as possible.

  The relative quiet was shattered by a roar of fury that shook the ground beneath their feet. Zander, Zach, and Zain knew that a roar of that magnitude could only have come from High Prince Garen. They looked up in time to see flames shooting a hundred feet straight up into the clear lavender sky, silencing the crowd.

  “Hold him right there,” they heard Prince Garen growl a few moments later. Zander glanced back over his shoulder, relieved to see several males holding the stranger none too gently. He nodded approvingly when he saw a Katre standing behind the man, one hand transformed into a paw with a full set of curved, razor sharp claws extended, the tips pressed warningly against the man’s throat. He turned back in time to see a woman with pale blue eyes and dark hair approach with something in her hand. She glanced at Bean with concern, and held up a bag.

  “She dropped this,” the woman said, offering the bag.

  “Thank you,” Zach said, accepting it with a dip of his head.

  The woman smiled briefly, then stepped back as Prince Garen approached from the other direction. Zander’s tension rose when he saw the barely restrained fury in the prince’s eyes.

  “How is she?”

  “There’s a knife in her arm, Highness,” Zach replied, moving enough for the Prince to see.

  “Don’t remove it,” Garen said. “Take her up to the clinic. Tell Doc the knife may be poisoned at worse, filthy at best. Use Air. Wait, where is Iffon?”

  “We don’t know who that is, but we did see her coming out of the armory a few minutes ago, and she was alone,” Zander said. “What happened, Highness?” He frowned when he realized the prince seemed to be listening to something he couldn't hear. After a few seconds, he blinked, then focused on Zander.

  “I apologize, Zander, what did you ask me?”

  “I wondered what happened.”

  “The child died,” Garen said, his eyes flaring hotly. “Take Bean to Doc. Jareth is there, too. I’ll take care of this bit of trash and then I’ll find Bean’s parents. I imagine you’ll want to remain with her as she’s your berezi.”

  “Highness, we don’t…I mean, we feel…but we haven't…or maybe we can’t…,” Zander gave up in frustration.

  Garen’s golden eyes studied each of them in turn, including Bean who was still unconscious, his expression softening. “I understand, Zander. Take her to the clinic please, then leave before she awakens.”

  “Then she’s not…?”

  “Yes, she is your berezi,” Garen said with a brief smile. “But the time is not yet right for any of you. Soon, but not yet. Go now.”

  “Thank you, Highness.” Zander bowed his head in a nod, turned, and raced up the street to the clinic with his brothers guarding him and their berezi.

  ***

  “By the stars, that woman is stunning,” Zach said, breaking a thirty minute long silence between the three of them. “It’s hard to believe she’s truly our berezi. And the way she went after that man without even a weapon. Well, except for her telekinetic ability. I really like that she didn’t get angry, or swear back at him, or threaten him, or let him draw her down to his level. She was magnificent.”

  “She was,” Zander agreed. “Good thing she has fast reflexes. Otherwise, that knife would’ve struck something more critical than her a
rm, and that poison would have done more damage than it did.” Zach could only nod while trying not to remember the moment he’d seen the man throw the knife at her.

  “What about you, Zain?” Zander asked.

  “What about me?” Zain asked, looking up as though startled.

  “What do you think of the woman?”

  “She is…terrifying,” Zain said. “But I was thinking about the little boy. Trying to imagine how it’s even possible for a man to get angry enough to harm his own child. It just doesn’t make any kind of sense to me.”

  “That’s because there’s no sense to it,” Zander said.

  “Why do you think the woman, Bean, is terrifying?” Zach wondered.

  “Because I want her.”

  “That’s a good thing, Zain,” Zander said gently.

  “I hope so, but since we don’t know her, or anything about her, we can’t be sure of that. That’s what makes it terrifying.”

  “We’re not going to do anything until we get to know her, Zain, so there’s no need to worry,” Zander said.

  They all heard a sound and looked up, but it was just someone walking by. They’d been standing in between two buildings since Jareth healed Bean, just watching the clinic across the road. They’d seen the poor woman whose son had been killed leave earlier, helped along by friends. She was bruised and limping, but silent in her grief.

  They hadn’t seen any movement since then, but that didn’t mean much. So many Clan males could speed-travel now that fifty people could have come and gone from the clinic and they’d never know it.

  “I wonder who she is,” Zach said.

  “You were right, earlier,” Zain said. “When you guessed she was Lobo. She must be since she calls Prince Garen Uncle.”

  “The only Lobos who live on Dracon Ranch are the High Lord Protectors,” Zander said. “She must be one of their daughters, though I couldn’t begin to guess which one.”

  “She’s not the eldest, I know that much,” Zain said. Zander and Zach looked at him. “Don’t you remember the mission vid everyone was watching about eight or nine months ago? From the Leaper? The one where the woman tossed a weapon through an armored door at a Doftle she couldn't see. It sent every male who saw it rushing out to sign up for lessons in En Dairii.”

  “Yes, I remember,” Zach said. “Sort of. What about it?”

  “That was the eldest Lobo daughter. Vari.”

  Zander nearly smacked himself on the forehead. “That’s right. They’re the second set of Klanaren females ever born on Jasan, so we should remember. Varia, Maria, and BreeAnna are the girls’ names.”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  “Which one of the two younger sisters would be called Bean?” Zach asked.

  “Well,” Zain said slowly, “BreeAnna and Bean both start with the same letter. And BreeAnna is kind of a long name. Maybe it’s her.”

  “Maybe,” Zach said. “Seems to me if they wanted to shorten her name they’d call her Bree, not Bean.”

  A door opened and they all looked toward the clinic again, relieved to see Doc’s wife, Darlene, gesturing to them. Zander raised his hand to let her know they saw her, then turned to his brothers.

  “Looks like it’s our turn now,” he said nervously. Zain and Zach could only nod. Then they crossed the road and went inside.

  Chapter 7

  Five weeks later…

  The Hilgaria

  Ria looked around the table at her Rami, Vari and her men, then down to where Star was laying on her mat, eating her dinner, and sighed happily. After a lifetime of feeling like an outsider always looking in, she now felt as though she truly belonged with her family.

  Hearing the faint sounds of running paws, she looked toward the door connecting the master suite with Star’s room just in time to see a black and gray streak shoot through the doorway.

  “Lonato! That’s not fair!” Belle whined as she ran behind her bother. At five months of age, both cubs stood a couple of inches higher than Ria’s knees, but that didn’t mean they resembled adults. They looked exactly like what they were; enormous cubs with fuzzy fur, paws far too big for their size, and ears that still flopped over at the tips.

  “Lonato, did you steal your sister’s food again?” Star asked calmly while she ate her own dinner.

  “No, Momma,” Lonato replied, running around to the far side of the table.

  “He’s lying!” Belle cried, stopping in front of Star.

  “Lonato?” Star asked with just a hint of a warning growl.

  “She wasn’t eating it so that means it was leftovers.”

  “Lonato,” Thorn said sternly.

  “Yes, Uncle Thorn?” Lonato asked, his head and tail drooping instantly. Thorn merely stared at the cub who, after a moment, sighed. He walked the rest of the way around the table and stood in front of his sister. “I’m sorry Belle. That was a mean thing to do.” Belle put her nose and tail in the air and turned her head away.

  “Belle,” Ria said.

  “Yes, Auntie Ria?”

  “Your brother apologized to you. Are you really going to ignore that?”

  “He always says he’s sorry and he always does it again,” Belle complained.

  “Oh,” Ria said thoughtfully. “You mean like when you pull his tail when he’s sleeping? And then you say you’re sorry but still do it again?”

  Belle’s head and tail drooped just like Lonato’s. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “You guess?” Ria asked.

  Belle sighed. “I accept your ‘pology, Lonato.”

  “Thanks Belle,” Lonato said, immediately perking up. “Hey, wanna go watch that vid from Tonka again?”

  “Okay,” Belle said brightly. “I like him. And Jinjie, too.”

  “I can’t wait until we get to see Dracon Ranch for real,” Lonato said. “I wonder if we’ll get to chase those coos.”

  “Coos? What’s a coo, Lonato?”

  “You know silly, those big black and white animals Tonka showed us on the vid.”

  “Oh. Well, maybe we can ask him when Auntie Ria helps us record a message back.”

  Ria shook her head as the cubs went back to their room. She loved both of them with all of her heart, but they were a handful at times.

  “Coos?” Star asked.

  “Cows,” Ria replied.

  “Ah,” Star said with laughter in her mind.

  “They’re so cute it’s hard not to laugh at them even when they’re being naughty,” Vari said.

  “Tell me about it,” Ria said, rolling her eyes with a grin. “You should have seen them yesterday, it was hilarious…,” Ria stopped talking when Vari suddenly turned her head to her left.

  “Really?” she said with obvious excitement. Since no one could see who she was talking to, they all knew it was Nia. “All right, we’ll go now.”

  Vari turned to look at her dinner companions, her eyes sparkling. “We’ve just found Kinah.”

  ***

  Fifteen minutes later they were all on the Hilgaria’s bridge. A sensor drone had been launched immediately and a couple of minutes after that, a scout ship had followed. It would be a few minutes before images from the scout ship came in, but Vari was already checking the bio readings from the sensor drone.

  “This isn’t good,” she said, scrolling through them.

  “No, it isn’t,” Declan agreed. “Are there any people alive down there?”

  “I don’t know,” Vari said. “The scout ship should be able to give us that information fairly soon though, right?”

  “Yes, it’ll be the first thing scanned for,” Kai replied. “Have you seen Nia yet?”

  “No,” Vari replied. “She said she was going to try…,” she trailed off and turned her head to see Nia’s face, her expression sadder than Vari had ever seen it.

  “What is it, Nia?” she asked softly.

  “Do you remember what you told me of Garza?”

  “Yes,” Vari replied. “They did the same thing here, didn’t they?
”

  “Yes, they did,” Nia replied, silver tears tracking down her cheeks. “There are so few left, Vari. And those are not at all well. They are hungry, and cold, and exhausted. Everything on the entire planet has been poisoned, and they are nearly out of the food and water they managed to salvage. They are without hope.”

  “We’ll help them, Nia,” Vari said. “One way or another, we will save what’s left of your people.”

  Nia pressed her palms together and bowed her head over them for a long moment. When she straightened, there was a small, regretful smile on her face. “Vari, my purpose here is complete. It is time for me to move to the next plane now.”

  Vari blinked away sudden tears, then pressed her palms together as Nia had, and returned her bow. “We’re grateful for your aid, Nia, and we’ll never forget you. I promise, we’ll do all we can to save what’s left of your people.”

  “I know you will, Vari,” Nia said. “I thank you for all you’ve done, and all you will do. The Light shines upon you, and will continue to do so. Farewell.”

  “May your journey to the Light be swift, Nia, and filled with the peace and joy you have earned.” She bowed again, and when she straightened, Nia was gone.

  “She’s not going to be able to help us any more, is she?” Ria asked.

  “No, but there isn’t any more she could have done anyway,” Vari said. “She’s done enough, and deserves her reward. The rest is on us.”

  “What did she tell you?” Declan asked.

  “It’s so much worse than we thought,” she said. “It seems the Doftle have done to Kinah what they did to Garza. There are survivors, but they are at the end of the supplies they were able to salvage before the poison killed everything on the planet. They need food, water, shelter, and probably most of all, hope.”

  “Do you know how many of them still live?” Jay asked. Vari shook her head.

  “Not many, from what Nia said, but I don’t know if that means a hundred or a thousand.”

  “There are two choices,” Jay said. “And neither of them is ours to make.”