by L M Lacee
Five more times they went through the same scene, although Peyton did not care to speak other than to ask questions. Which the females had no answers for or declined to answer. The five females did not share in the remorse the first female had shown and shrugged away any concern for the deaths they may have caused. Jarrod recovered information from each of them before Peyton sent them to the afterlife. Finally, the only prisoners remaining were the Sene and the Master.
Peyton asked Sarn to collect the Sene, but before they returned with her, Avana appeared.
‘Star Daughter, I request to be present for the questioning of the Sene and Master.’
‘You know what the punishment will be, regardless of what they tell us.’
‘I do.’
‘Then so be it.’ Peyton said as Avana moved to stand next to Netta.
No one spoke while they waited for Sarn and Kent to return. Everyone knew the two remaining prisoners were the people sent to compromise Maikonia. Jarrod had told them the captured Sene and Master were the son and daughter of the High Elder of Yanarah.
Before they arrived back Peyton dismissed her glow and the flames died from her eyes, returning them to her normal soft green color. Earlier that night she had relieved Jarrod of the burden of dampening their powers.
Sarn and Kent showed the female in and indicated she take the only available seat. Peyton watched her as she walked to the table and thought she had a permanent haughty look of entitlement about her. There was no doubt she was beautiful in a pale imitation of Avana kind of way or perhaps that was how Peyton saw her. Critically she looked the female over, where Avana was nut brown this female was several shades lighter and her long nutmeg brown hair had what appeared to be natural red highlights, adding to her appeal. Her eyes unlike Avana’s soft brown were amber and along with a superior attitude held flecks of black.
Peyton knew the amber was supposed to denote a pure blood line. Which made sense, her father was the High Elder after all. No wonder Jarrod never made Elder status. Even Peyton could tell his blood lines would not meet the qualifications required. And for that she was eternally grateful as she hoped he was.
Yanarah was ruled by twelve Elders, thirteen if one counted the High Elder. They were the ultimate authority on the planet. Obedience was non- negotiable. Cemeru had been very forthcoming when he and his mate Kenera had taken up residency on Prime. Avana and her brother’s parents had made it clear to Peyton that if any Sene or Master left Yanarah without permission, they were placed in immediate danger. Death orders were an automatic response from the Elders. If someone like Avana who came from a prominent family left Yanarah. Then normally the parents were held as hostages until the children returned. This practice had ensured the Senes and Masters that left never rebelled against the Elders. No one was willing to place their parents and other siblings in danger. Cemeru and Kenera had stayed to protect Avana and their sons, as many parents did. If in the unlikely event a child or children helped their parents escape, then the Elders would send someone to follow and render their form of retribution. Peyton wondered now if the ones sent to Maikonia were hoping to kill Jarrod’s family as well as her.
She brought her thoughts back to the present as the tall female took her seat at the table. Reluctantly Peyton had to admire how she carried herself with poise and confidence, even in these circumstances. The female’s expression was one of icy disdain, and it suited her. Peyton could swear she saw icicles forming in the air as she sat across from her.
She wore a designer dress which dropped in folds to her ankles. Soft reds and golds swirled around her as she settled on her chair a small bolero jacket also red with gold edging covered her shoulders, gold high-heels graced her feet. Although her clothes were creased they fit her well-endowed frame nicely.
Peyton knew she had never met this female before on any of the trips to the other worlds. Nor had she missed the tension that entered Jarrod when she had entered the room.
‘I am the Star Daughter you will address me as such, do not think to disrespect me by using another derogatory name. My patience is short, as is my temper. So first, what is your name?’
‘Ask your puppet, he knows me well.’ She purred in a husky voice. ‘Do you not, Jarrod?’
She angled her voluptuous body toward him as she huskily said with a teasing look that did not quite hide the viper within. ‘You warmed my bed often enough, I am sure you remember my name.’
Jarrod tensed even more as Peyton looked from the smug female to him and back again, then swung around to Netta and Avana saying. ‘Eww! I am so not going there.’
The female demanded. ‘Where… what are you talking about?’
Netta advised her. ‘Oh lady, you need to shut up right now.’
She sneered at Netta. ‘Who are you to tell me such things, scallut?’
Peyton raised one finger. ‘That was once.’
Disgusted, Netta asked. ‘Jarrod you tapped that?’
Peyton moaned. ‘Again I say eww!’
Jarrod hurriedly stated. ‘It was in my youth, a very long time ago. Please can we just move on?’
‘Sorry, of course you would not want to remember something like that.’ Peyton shuddered as she gave his arm a pat in sympathy.
Jarrod’s shoulders relaxed when he realized they were going to let this aspect of his relationship with the female pass. Peyton almost laughed at the annoyed look on the female’s face, obviously their reaction was not what she was hoping for.
Peyton smiled and said. ‘So we will call you scallup in place of a name.’
She said sharply. ‘My name is Sene Vexetta Uneveron.’
Peyton smiled again. ‘See, that was not so hard, was it? So let us get to why we are here. Now, Vexetta, what did you hope to accomplish by my death?’
‘I think that is self-evident.’
‘Really, I don’t.’
‘Well, maybe you can get your puppet to explain it or the little Sene over there?’
‘You are rather fixated on that whole puppet thing, is it a fetish or something? It is okay if it is, we are broad-minded… Well we are!’ Peyton swirled her finger around the room. ‘Kent are you and Sarn old enough to be broad-minded?’
‘Yes Star Daughter, for many yentas now.’
‘Mmmm, if you say so, now Darby, she is not broad-minded.’
‘I have not found that.’ Reeve stated in his deep voice.
Peyton murmured. ‘More than I think I wanted to know.’
‘Then why did you bring her up?’ Reeve asked, slightly bewildered.
Peyton shrugged. ‘You know, I do not know why myself. Anyway, where were we?’ She fixed her eyes on the Sene who did not look so composed now and asked. ‘So why are you here?’
‘Who is this Darbee, is she what you think a Higher Power is?’
Her eyes flicked around the room as she laughed a little. Vexetta was confused by the conversation, it all seemed normal but there were no smiles, no laughter. Except it felt like under the surface of their words these people were amused. She was at sea, drifting in an ocean of uncertainly which aroused her temper. This was not always of a benefit for her as it made her rash and speak without thinking first. Which in the predicament she found herself in could be detrimental to staying alive. Regardless she rushed into speech and stated. ‘You are insane.’
Peyton ignored her and asked Jarrod. ‘What does she mean by Higher Power… there are Higher Powers? Why have I not met them?’ She narrowed her eyes as she turned to Avana, who let go a near silent groan. ‘Have you met them?’
Hawk cleared his throat. ‘But Hawk?’ She whined. ‘Higher Powers.’
‘I understand but sometime later we can revisit this obvious oversight of Jarrod’s and Avana’s.’
‘Fine.’ She said to Jarrod. ‘We will and you can bet I will not forget.’
‘Of course you won’t.’ Jarrod agreed with her.
Netta looked at Harm and whispered. ‘I’ll take that bet.’
‘You are on
.’ He whispered back, Reeve and Hawk both signaled they were in, as did Kent and Sarn.
Peyton turned around once more and scowled at Netta. Then swiveled once more to focus on Vexetta as Jarrod made a signal behind her back to say he wanted in on the bet, causing Netta to grin.
Vexetta sat with her eyes wide and mouth opening and closing. Finally, she collected herself enough to ask. ‘What is happening?’
Peyton sighed. ‘I refuse to answer that question, it is beneath you and me because it is stupid. Now to your previous question. I will just say we may be crazy by some standards. You should hope I am not though, considering where you find yourself. Now you were ordered to kill me, why?’
‘Because!’ She burst out. ‘You and your puppets are a menace to the Universe. The Stars picked a furin idiot from an unknown planet on the edge of nowhere and made her the most powerful female in our Universe.’
Peyton threw her hands up, which made Vexetta flinch. ‘So all this is over jealousy. A. Friggin. Amazing! This is because someone was disappointed, well I cannot do much about that, but I think you are harsh in thinking I am an idiot, people say I am clever.’
‘I am in a nightmare.’ Vexetta muttered as she looked at Peyton like she had grown two heads, then the people in the room. Not one of them she saw seemed to think this was anything other than a normal conversation. ‘You are all insane, quite insane.’ She turned to Jarrod and asked. ‘How did you and your family get pulled into this lunacy?’
With a small smile, Jarrod answered. ‘I could never explain it to you.’
Peyton looked at her and said. ‘See that is just rude calling us insane.’ She told Jarrod. ‘We did the test and it said we were all sane. Although we took it on girl’s night, so it may be corrupted as there was quite a lot of alcohol in our systems, which Heather said altered the results.’
‘I see.’
‘No need for tone.’
Not giving Jarrod time to reply, she said. ‘Now look Vexetta, it is not my fault your father was upset. I understand he was looking forward to being the next Star Son, then I came along and that all went to hayda.’ She thought a moment. ‘Did your father have someone foresee his ascension?’
She leaned nearer to Vexetta as though she was sharing a secret. ‘You know they are liars, right! He was never in line for it. He is a speck on the radar of the Star Child. They had no idea he was even in the Universe. You do see how I used the word, had, on purpose.’ Vexetta paled as Peyton nodded her head. ‘I would worry too, if I was you. The question is, who told him there was a prophecy or did he decide it all by himself.’
Peyton leaned back and drummed her fingers on the table. Each tap sounded like a blaster shot to Vexetta as she watched those fingers move to a beat she could not hear. Peyton without removing her eyes from the female asked. ‘Maybe Sevna Avana, you can enlighten us?’
Vexetta sucked in a breath when Peyton addressed Avana as Sevna, amused at her expression Peyton asked. ‘Oh Vexetta, did you not know that you were in the presence of the Sevna and Kail, are you saying your foresight did not reach that far?’ Then her voice hardened when she saw the derision enter Vexetta’s eyes. ‘Do not say what you are thinking. I will take the life from you here and now. Keep those thought of their worthiness to yourself and you have a chance at staying alive.’
Vexetta subsided in her chair, without turning her head, Peyton asked. ‘Sevna, your answer please?’
Avana replied, and her tone was unnaturally hard. ‘Sene Vexetta always foresees for the High Elder and Elders, she is their puppet.’
Vexetta’s top lip lifted in contempt, but she said nothing as her eyes spat hatred at Avana.
‘Ooh! You have upset my Sevna, she is never nasty, even when I vex her and I do often.’ Peyton nudged Jarrod. ‘See what I did there?’
He looked over at her, relaxed and amused now.
‘I did.’
‘See, that was clever!’ She told Vexetta, then asked. ‘So you are the Sene for the Elders?’ Before she could answer, Peyton frowned. ‘So are you a liar or are you just a terrible Sene? Considering where you are now, I am going with the latter. Anyway, enough of that, I need you to help me understand something.’ Her smile was cold as she said. ‘If you are the daughter of the High Elder and are the Sene for all the Elders, why are you here? It seems risky to me for the High Elder to send his children into my sphere of influence. What do you think, Commander Hawk, would you waste your most valuable resources and young on a suicide mission?’
‘No, Star Daughter, I would not, unless they had out lived their usefulness, or they were a diversion.’
‘But your own children?’
‘I would say he sees them as a rival.’ Harm gave his opinion.
Peyton nodded as she wiggled in her seat. ‘Yeah, that is what I think. Okay, let’s have the great Master join us. He may be able to enlighten us, seeing as Vexetta cannot or will not.’
Vexetta blurted out, her anger getting the better of her. ‘You stole our people, gave them sanctuary, did you think there would be no retaliation for that? They must have told you what happens to ones that run from our world, we do not accept betrayal. What would you have done in our Elder’s place? For thousands of yentas it has been our way and you come into our Universe and think to change everything.’
‘Oh I don’t know, what would I have done?’ Peyton tapped the table again. ‘I may have tried communicating or asked questions, thought about making friends, explained how things were run in this Universe. I can list many things I would have done other than try to kill the frigging Star Daughter who is the arm of Justice for the Star Child!’
Vexetta eyes widened at the intensity of Peyton’s voice. Releasing the tension that had crawled over her, Peyton relaxed her shoulders and stated. ‘I suppose that is just how I would have gone about it. Your way seems very extreme. I am just saying there were many things your Elders could have done, but it is all moot now.’
With her hands clenched and her jaw set against words that wanted to pour from her, Vexetta also took a calming breath and stated. ‘It is not our way and why is it moot now. What do you plan to do to me?’
Peyton looked surprised as she asked her. ‘You don’t know really, and you being a Sene and all. I am amazed.’ She smiled, and it matched the coldness in her eyes. ‘Try to forecast what happens next.’
The calm Vexetta had been striving for flew away at her derision. Anger ignited like a brush fire and swept through her as she fought to dismiss the shield placed around her abilities by Antono. If she could only reach her gifts she would make this insolent creature pay.
Peyton turned her head from the angry female. ‘Warrior Sarn, can you and Warrior Kent have the Master escorted here please?’
‘As you wish, Star Daughter.’
‘Jarrod how goes it?’
‘I have the information we desired, and more we did not know about!’
‘Oh good.’
Vexetta looked at them with a smirk and raised her thin eyebrows, having regained some of her earlier composure and attitude. Peyton thought it was probably because her brother was coming.
Vexetta stared at Jarrod and gave a small laugh, hoping he would believe she was unconcerned with what he had said. ‘You have nothing. I am protected. We knew you and your family were here, so measures were taken to keep you from us.’
Jarrod smiled. ‘Once I could never have gotten through the shields and protection placed on you, and your brother by the Elders. But then I am not the same as I once was.’
Peyton glowed softly, and she heard Netta whisper. ‘See gloating.’
Instantly her glow faded as Avana smothered a snort of laughter. Peyton was sure it was Hawk that sighed, although it could have been Rage.
FORTY-SEVEN:
When the Master entered and saw Peyton, his step hitched just a little, but enough to let everyone know he was not as confident as he appeared. A sneer graced his face as his eyes zeroed in on Avana, who stared blankly back at him.
The sneer became more pronounced as he gazed at Jarrod while straightening his clothes. Then smoothing his hair into place as he sauntered to the table where Sarn had placed a chair next to his sister.
He had a long narrow face, clean shaven with thin lips and high cheekbones; his eyebrows were arched like his sisters. Peyton judged him to be around thirty-five, and handsome in a pampered, boyish kind of way. He had the same eye shape and color as Vexetta’s. However, he had very few streaks of blond in his nut brown hair, it appeared he was nowhere near as powerful as Jarrod or his brothers. So the question begged why was he and Vexetta, the people sent to kill her. Peyton almost cracked a smile when she felt him search for an opening in their shields as he took his sister’s hand in his and asked. ‘You are well sister?’
Vexetta nodded as she gripped his hand in return, the only sign she was lying. Antono breathed out the fear he had been living with since the guards had taken Vexetta away. He had not been concerned his sister would be killed. No, he had worried she would lose her temper and give away too much information.
Antono liked to control these situations and if Vexetta had divulged too much as she was prone to do. He would have to work extra hard to get these people to where he wanted them.
Peyton raised her eyebrows at his solicitous attitude toward Vexetta. She would not have thought he was that kind of a male, to care how his sister fared. It seemed out of character for what she knew of the Yanarah Masters.
‘As I am sure you have already guessed, I am the Star Daughter. Please don’t be as obtuse as others have been and call me by another name or denounce my title.’
With a smirk, he inclined his head. ‘I am never trite.’
Peyton nodded. ‘Good to know, that will make this so much easier. I am led to believe you are Master Antono Uneveron. High Elder Uneveron’s only son. I already know she is his daughter, but he has several of those or so I have been told. But you are the only son, next in line to inherit the position of High Elder. He must be so proud!’
Antono inclined his head again, missing it seemed her sarcasm. ‘I am assured he is. I am the quintessential representative of a Yanarah Master, everything your puppet and his siblings are not.’
