by Aileen Erin
Not my guards.
Not Lorne, Fynea, Roan, or Tyler.
And not Audrey.
There was an entryway just inside the door. It gave our guards enough room to form a wall around us. The Yhona led the way, staying visible and in front of us, giving us their backs even—which was a position of trust.
The inside of the capital building didn’t have much decoration. It wasn’t as cute or charming as anything that I’d seen on Telnon. Aside from the black market area. There were no pictures on the walls, just mortared bricks. There were no twinkle lights or lanterns. There were no knickknacks or chairs or rugs or even scented smoke meant to ease the tension of the visitors. There weren’t cameras on the walls or even a lot of tech, which maybe was the most shocking part to me.
This place made no sense as a capital. It didn’t represent the Yhona as I’d seen them anywhere else on Telnon.
We were led through a few different corridors—each the same as the last—and then the police leader stopped. He told his men to go ahead, and they entered the room.
As soon as the door swung shut, the police leader looked at us. “This is our main security room. Your people are inside, as well as those from other alliance members. For the most part, we’ve all been working together to disarm the bombs as quickly as we can find them. But Beta Omo showed up just before you arrived, and it’s not been going well since. If anyone is to blame for how this has gone wrong, it’s him. Be careful.” With that, he opened the door and stood back.
Inside was a security room that rivaled the one on my father’s estate. The vidscreen across the room from us showed every single corridor in the building.
I was wrong. There had been tech covering every inch of the hallway. It was just very well hidden.
The room was filled with various security staff from what appeared to be every member of the alliance. I noticed a group of Aunare in black shirts with Lorne’s red firedrake across the chest. Ashino signaled something to Lorne and then a group of our guards broke off, joining up with the other security staff on the other side of the room. They’d find out what was going on.
In the center of everyone was our favorite Yhonaian. Beta Omo himself.
He saw us and froze.
I did a little finger wave. “Hey.”
He looked around, but when he noticed that the Aunare security were now talking with some of our guards, he reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the detonators. It was the larger one—it could hit me from there.
I knew I didn’t like him when I first saw him on the vidscreen as we approached Telnon. I knew Lorne didn’t like him, but I didn’t know the specifics of why. I didn’t need to anymore.
Beta Omo was an asshole.
From the way Lorne had brightened beside me, I knew I wouldn’t have to worry about him for long.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
LORNE
The capital’s security room had a few desks—enough for four people—and then a wide open space in front of a tall vidscreen that was currently broken up into no less than twenty squares. There were groups of security hovering together from a few different peoples, but most of them were ours and none from SpaceTech.
There were only a few more Yhona security in here than there’d been on the roof, which was insane to me. When there were this many people meeting together—one which had declared war already—you added extra security, but this was a skeleton crew.
The lack of stations in the security room and people to work them showed how unprepared the Yhona were for any type of problem. They assumed anyone who visited would play by their rules of peace, but that wasn’t always the case. Especially today.
I’d spotted Beta Omo standing in front of the vidscreen talking with the leader from the roof as soon as we entered the room. Melina knew I hated that man, and that he was here—when she wasn’t—told me everything I needed to know.
She invited me. She wasn’t doing her part of keeping us safe. As one leader to another, she should’ve been aware of where I was at all times and met with me when I had concerns. But she hadn’t.
She was being held by SpaceTech or she was dead; either way, Melina wasn’t in charge of the Yhona anymore.
The second I spotted him, my skin brightened beyond the constant glow we used on Telnon.
I saw him freeze, and then his eyes drifted to me and then back to Amihanna. The thin facade he wore slipped, and I saw exactly what he was going to do.
I pulled on my power, gathering it to me, ready to attack the second he gave me the slightest provocation.
He moved his hand to his pocket and by the time he pulled out the device, I was already releasing a burst.
The device turned to ash in his hands. He started screaming, but I ignored him. He wasn’t hurt. Only scared and surprised and lucky I didn’t murder him on the spot.
He’d tried to kill Amihanna. Pulling that device was as good as attempted murder.
Ashino, Eshrin, and a few of our guards had been talking to our security team that had been in the capital building since yesterday, but they’d stopped to watch me when I’d started pulling power. The other groups of security stopped as well as they tried to figure out what had happened, but it’d been so fast.
Ashino signed to me. Enemies. Then pointed to a small section of the vidscreen on the bottom right.
Enemies. Other than Beta Oma?
The square he was pointing at was small. I stepped a little closer and then I knew what he meant and it was my turn to freeze.
No.
No. He wouldn’t come himself. I knew Caleb said he was here, but this was too easy. Too good. How long had he been here?
“Look,” I said to Amihanna and pointed to the screen.
I knew the second she’d seen what I’d seen. Her frequency went high and fast and I knew she was pulling too much power, too fast.
Eshrin ran from where he’d been standing with Ashino, pulling her bracelets from his pocket. He handed them to her, but she shook her head and put her hands behind her back.
“No. I won’t put them on. Not today. Not now.” She met my gaze. “I need to get to that room.”
I understood, I really did, but we needed information first. “As soon as we know what we’re walking into, we go. Just give me a moment.”
I glanced at the vidscreen again, and my anger grew.
The meeting was already taking place. Only a small section of the vidscreen on the bottom right corner showed it. I glanced at my watch, and even though we’d been busy since Amihanna woke up and not paying attention to the time, we still had hours before it was supposed to start.
Our allies were meeting without us, which meant that they weren’t our allies anymore. The final doubts I had about that fact burned to nothing in an instant.
I signaled to Ashino. How long? I pointed to the screen. How long had they been here and why hadn’t our security team notified us?
One moment, he signaled back, then talked quickly to the team leader. He nodded and walked back to me. “The security team has been defusing bombs since they’ve arrived—forty-seven in all.”
“Forty-seven?” Amihanna half yelled. “That’s insanity.” She huffed as she shook her head. “That’s a grade-A distraction right there.”
“Agreed, your majesty,” Ashino said. “A few of them were lucole-based, but mostly not. Locations for the bombs were scattered throughout the rooms of the capital building, and most recently three bombs in a neighboring building to the south. Our team made it back to this room just moments before we arrived. They were coming to confer with the other security teams—they were going to make the suggestion to you that the meeting be called off due to the extreme number of bombs—and then they saw that SpaceTech was present and the meeting was currently in process without us. They were on their way out to tell us when they saw us enter the building heading this way.”
I nodded. That explained why we hadn’t heard from them. “How long has this meeting been going on?”
“That is unclear. The security team left to defuse the three bombs in the neighboring building a little over an hour and a half ago. When they left, there was no meeting happening. So, sometime in the last hour and a half, SpaceTech showed up, along with the other alliance members, and started this meeting.”
The bombs were a distraction, and a comical one at that. Forty-seven? That was insanity.
A fight broke out between Beta Omo and the leader from the unit that met us outside—whose name I still didn’t know.
Beta was shoved to the ground and cuffed by the rooftop leader.
Good. This was very good.
The leader yelled some orders to his men and then made his way back to us. He was breathing hard, as if he hadn’t been in a fight before. “I apologize for Beta Omo. I didn’t know that he…” He wiped a hand against his forehead. “When I saw what you showed me on the roof, I realized only Beta Omo could keep us in the dark. Well, he and Melina, but she went on vacation three weeks ago, but no one has been able to contact her.”
“Is that unusual?” It would be for me, but the Yhona prided themselves on their vacations.
“Yes. Extremely.” He put his hands on his hips and took a steadying breath. “Beta Omo says she’s having a rest, but she would’ve been back for this meeting, especially since she’s the only one authorized to call the alliance to session. But suddenly Beta Omo is giving orders by proxy, Melina is still away, attacks are happening in our city with no one notifying me, and now he’s trying to kill a visiting leader.”
“Who’s in charge if your Supreme Leader goes missing?” I asked.
“Beta Omo was, but not anymore. Now, I am.”
I’d met a lot of leaders from Telnon before, but not this man. “And who are you?”
“I am Tek Ze Eta Yhona, Melina’s eldest and heir.” He bowed. “I am not of age to inherit yet but now I see the treachery of Beta Omo and I must not stay quiet. You have my deepest apology for everything that has happened since your arrival and for what Beta Omo has set in motion.”
This I could work with. “I need three things from you.”
Tek nodded. “Of course. I will work with anything you need. I know the Yhona cannot make this right, but we will strive to fix what we can.”
Good. “First, I need to find Audrey Paris, former High Councilwoman Yneia ni Shanam, and two other Aunare that were taken with them. Immediately. I assume you have access to the city’s surveillance.”
“I’m not the official leader yet, but I will be. As the heir apparent, I have access to everything you might need.”
“They arrived at the house we’d rented for our stay—” I glanced at my watch. “—just shy of five hours ago. I need to know who took them and where they went.”
Tek turned to one of his men and started rattling off orders. The policeman ran to one of the stations and started working on it.
Tek turned back to us. “The second thing?”
“I need to get to that room.” I pointed to the screen.
“I’ll send you with my best man to lead the way.” He took a breath. “The third?”
“If you become leader, you’re going to need Aunare backing to get SpaceTech’s corruption out of your people. Which means you now need us as an ally. But you won’t be getting our help unless you immediately call SpaceTech your enemy.”
Tek looked between us. “There is no way to have a peaceful resolution?”
“Are you seriously asking that right now?” Amihanna’s skin was painfully bright as she stepped toward him. “I’ve been attacked multiple times on your planet. A planet that was supposed to bring peace, but I’ve found none here. So, no. I won’t stand back and let someone else kill me and my people. I fight.”
“And I fight with her.” I didn’t yell at him, but the threat was there in my voice.
Tek flinched.
That’s right. He was catching on. He couldn’t undo what the Yhona had done by drawing us here and letting SpaceTech attack. He was going to have to make this right or he would be left alone to fight SpaceTech.
He knew what that meant—the end of the Yhona.
“You have a choice to make very soon,” I said. “Choose wisely.” I turned to Ashino. “Leave a team here to find out where Audrey and the others were taken, but we have to go to that meeting.”
Ashino bowed, fist to his heart. “Of course, your majesty.”
I turned to Tyler. “You stay with them because you’ll recognize Audrey the best. As soon as you have an answer, they’ll tell us and we’ll meet at the ships.”
Tyler’s eyes went glassy and he tried to say something but stopped.
I knew that feeling—that panic that you might never see the person that you love again. I’d felt that before. He needed hope, and I prayed that I’d given that to him with clear commands and a confident voice.
I turned to Fynea. “Coming or staying?”
She took a breath. “Goddess take it. Staying. I want to go with you and watch you take that bastard down, but I can do more good here. If you need to finish up in that meeting, I can handle taking care of getting Audrey, Yneia, and the others back.”
Good point. She might’ve been my assistant, but she was a former royal guard and a princess in her own right. She had the power and ability to lead that mission. “Good. I’ll leave you to it.”
I turned to Roan. “Coming or staying?”
“Coming. I have that gun, and—”
Amihanna turned to him slowly. “You have another gun?” She spun to Eshrin. “Did you give him a gun?”
“No. I’m not an idiot.”
Roan started to argue, and I wanted to laugh, but I couldn’t. I just couldn’t. Not right now.
Because in that meeting room was every single ally I thought we had, and they were all plotting with Jason Murtagh. I didn’t need to listen to see the holo maps around them. Aunare trade routes. Aunare leaders to be killed. Aunare ports and supply lines. Borders and spots where our defenses were deemed weaker.
I’d spent weeks trying to get the alliance members to see reason, when I was the idiot. They would never agree with me because they’d already made their decision.
Too bad for them they’d chosen the wrong side.
I put my right pointer finger in the air and waved it in a circle. We were heading out.
We were going to see Jason Murtagh.
I turned to Tek. “Give us someone you trust that will take us directly to that room.”
He gave a whistle, and one of his men moved quickly to his side. “Lead them to the meeting.”
If the man wanted to question the order, he didn’t show it.
Good. “We’ll be back,” I said to Fynea and Tyler. “Find her. Work on getting coms restored. I want contact with our ships in orbit.” I had a feeling that they were about to be attacked. “If you can’t reach them, send someone outside to make contact. Then send them to me.”
I turned to my wife, who had been mostly quiet during all of this. It wasn’t like her. She was staring at the vidscreen, her skin flashing dangerously.
I would’ve forced the bracelets on her if I knew it wouldn’t push her over the edge, but it would’ve. It truly would’ve.
She wanted death.
She deserved her revenge. Who was I to take that from her?
“Let’s go.”
She nodded at me, but she wasn’t seeing me.
She moved ahead, out the door, and had the officer chasing to get ahead of her.
I made a promise to myself in that moment. No matter what happened in that meeting room, I was going to support Amihanna.
If she killed everyone, fine.
If she let Jason live, I would arrest him and make him pay—slowly—for his sins.
All I knew was that I’d do anything for her, and so I followed her because her demons were mine.
Where she walked, I walked.
When she fought, I fought.
Forever until we went to the great beyond.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
AMIHANNA
I was walking, but I wasn’t seeing anything.
I didn’t see the corridors or the hallways or the building.
I didn’t see my guards or the Yhona leading us or Lorne.
All I had was my anger.
All I had was the hate filling my veins.
All I knew was that when I saw Jason, something bad was going to happen, but in the end, I was going to take him down.
Maybe that made me just as bad as Caleb and would become stain on my soul. Lorne might even think I was awful after this, but I hoped not. I hoped he’d understand why I had to do this.
We stopped in front of a door, and I tried to push through. Lorne put his hand in front of me, and only because it was him did I stop. “What?”
“You’re not listening to us and you’re not hearing us. We are going in there, and we’re going to talk—”
I narrowed my gaze. “Kill.” He was using the wrong word.
Lorne tilted his head. “Fine. But we need to be a team, and to be a team, you have to be listening.”
I closed my eyes, trying to get control of my anger, but I’d lost sight of everything except that I wanted blood.
There was only one time I’d been this angry before. It’d been the moment Jason stuck his hand inside my underwear. That bright spark of fury that pushed me to smash his face, covering me in blood, was back. Except this time it was worse. It was more. Because that one assault hadn’t been the end.
I’d been angry before, but not like this. Never like this. Not to the point when I thought my heart might explode if I didn’t get some of this anger out of me immediately.
I wasn’t prepared for the level of hate I felt, but I also never thought I’d really see Jason face-to-face again, and now it was here, now I was about to see him.
I wanted him dead.
I wanted to feel his blood—
Lorne gripped my face and pressed his nose against mine. “Are you with me?”
