“I know it is hard to believe, but yes, having her full compassion is my wish,” Ralak said.
He bowed his head as Ania opened the door and left. The Pleiadian’s remarkable poise was still in place, but beneath it ran a fierceness that all creatures of good sense would naturally fear. He turned back to his future mate, wondering what he could possibly say to make her understand the uniqueness of the female sharing her son’s life.
“Whatever you think of Liam, you do not want to make Ania Looren your enemy, Zella. She is a different kind of warrior than any you’ve known.”
“Fine. Would you rather I feel sorry for the female because she mated a Synar? Even if that were the case, I still won’t want to sit and eat dinner with her.”
Ralak found Zella’s shrug as disheartening as her attitude. “I don’t know if I can live with you believing your spirit is as cold as your words.”
“You don’t have to live with me at all, Ralak. This mating was your idea, not mine,” Zella said. “If you’re not interested, I’ve had two other offers.”
Ralak sighed as he climbed back into his chair. “You’re lucky I recall what you’re really like. I knew you before Bogdan did, remember?”
Zella shook her head as she went back to the cleansing area. “That female is gone, Ralak Bartoff. Try not to fall out of the chair again.”
Chapter 28
Kefira sank to her knees on the Rylen meditation rug. She was mostly convinced now that her father wasn’t the orchestrating mind of the evil she had witnessed, but was his being a pawn in it any better?
Wasn’t that what she was each time she let her body be used without sharing responsibility for the outcome?
As illusions about her work shattered within her, the pain of failure caused hot, wretched tears to stream.
“Hear me, Creators. I am being corrupted by the difficulties of my service. Lies fall off my tongue now as often as the truth. Is this what you want for me? My heart refuses to accept such a fate. Know that I will not subjugate my will to any of your messengers again. They are still welcome in me, but I want to remain cognizant of all they do. I am amending my contract as your servant. Please honor my request.”
The Creators hear you, Kefira. We accept your new terms. One of us needs to come into you now. May we do so?
“Very well,” Kefira said, sniffling. “Don’t let anything bad happen to the people on this ship. It’s my fault they are involved in this deceit. I fear even my father may be trying to hurt them.”
When the searing light entered her through the mark on her chest, Kefira pushed back on the void that called her name. She knew better than to outright resist the emissary’s invasion. Instead, she felt around until she found a way to shove her energy aside but still remain aware of the spirit that had taken over her body. It was an odd experience. But no more so than all the rest.
When the emissary stood and headed toward Engineering, Kefira found herself wondering what the being intended to do there.
But she wasn’t the one controlling her body now.
All she could do was watch and wait to see.
***
Malachi was down to unwinding the last black scarf when his body froze and refused to obey his commands. Coming out of it in mist form, he scanned his room.
Angel? Is that you stopping time again?
When there was no answer to his query, Malachi headed out of the room and zipped to Synar’s quarters where Liam and Ania were frozen mid-sentence in what appeared to be an argument. Even Ania was frozen? That was most alarming.
He zipped again to Medical finding frozen crew everywhere he went. Meen’s body was also frozen. And his angel was definitely not in it any longer.
Scanning for her energy, which he could now readily identify, he found the trail leading to Engineering. He blazed through the hallways and then dove down the same stairwell they had used days before to get to the dock area quickly. On the way he passed over several crew members who were paused mid-step in their climb.
What he saw when he arrived was the most alarming thing of all. Kefira was standing over a com input station near a frozen Ji Warro. She was busily inputting information into the panel, or at least the being in her body was doing so. Malachi headed in her direction but was stopped short by an invisible wall flung up in front of him. He pushed along it looking for a weakness, surprised when it quivered against his energetic touch.
No, Malachi. Don’t stop her. The emissary in Kefira is freeing the ship. Warro will see the answer and tell the captain. This is the way it will work. All will be saved.
I don’t understand this, Malachi sent. Why bother with the ruse? We could tell Liam directly.
Explanations about the higher purpose are often confusing to those who can only view a small part of the whole. Is it necessary for you to know all the reasons this must be done this way?
Malachi thought for a few moments about Angel’s question. Was it? He had been used to his concerns being ignored before Ania. The real dilemma was how far he was willing to believe the energy in front of him.
You confuse me, Angel. I thought you leaving General Meen’s body would cause it to die. I also thought you were ignoring me because I had to kill Meen’s warriors.
He felt her energy waver along the sides, the equivalent of a shrug. He had done it many times himself.
I can leave General Meen’s body because actions that happen within time are being suspended. I generate this state but it cannot last long. I am here to help suspend it now until the task of another is complete. As for the rest, I admit I was pondering how you could do such horrible things and still feel no remorse. Yet I also saw no additional evil was added to your nature. Can you explain this contradiction to me?
Malachi pulled away from her energy reluctantly, finding he needed to put some space between them as they talked.
I’m not sure what to say to you. The beings on this ship have come to mean a great deal to me. I would give my essence to the care of them. It is a more pressing motivation than my sacred contract to the Synars, but just as binding to my spirit. I serve these creatures while they serve each other. This has resonated in me as a truth for quite some time.
He felt her flicker, felt her form shift. Then it righted itself, grew stronger if that was possible.
You are certainly not like you were when we met, Angel sent. You really have changed. I am still working on my trust of that.
Dread flooded him at her faint praise. It was such an odd reaction for him that he had to ask the obvious question no matter how much he feared the answer.
Why do I get the feeling you’re not talking about when you were in Rena Trax the first time? He felt her energy flicker again just before a great sadness crept over her normal sparkle and shine. What is it, Angel? You cannot have done anything worse than I have.
Angel turned her attention to Kefira, knowing he did the same. Malachi’s intuition was starting to shift to greater concerns than just his corporeal charges. The work is almost done, she sent.
I know. Now tell me how we met, Malachi ordered. He felt her waver, decide, and then concede.
I served the Creators long before you were born into corporeality. Your sire was much more evil than you. His spirit has had many lives since his first death, and still he does not understand the value of doing good.
You knew my father personally?
I knew your entire original family. I knew of the evil you all tried to spread that had to be stopped. After your sire was killed, the Creators sent me to convert you. I joined with a priestess on your planet to carry out the task. I converted many during that time, but I never forgot your absolute arrogance as you faced your conversion. You vowed you would find a way to subvert your punishment and use your power for personal gain. I completely believed you.
You? You were the one that set me on this path? Malachi felt her energy waver and right itself.
Yes. When you vowed to have your way, it made me angry. So I left you with you
r real name. I have made you carry the most powerful of all words throughout your punishment. Each time a master called you by name, it tightened the binding of your service. It was I who made you a demon, Zor Malachi Li’era. Now the Creators have linked my fate to yours again. They will not tell me why. It feels like a punishment as well as a chance to make amends.
Her explanation was so surreal that Malachi couldn’t absorb all the truth of it. He felt her energy shifting and flaring when she proclaimed the work on the ship was truly done. Kefira’s emissary-filled body glided away from the com input station and passed through their floating energies as if totally unaware of them.
He felt Angel preparing to go after her. Wait. Are you saying that you feel guilty about me?
Yes. You have taught me regret. I do not like the feeling.
If he had been corporeal, he would have smiled at her confession. Neither do I, Angel. So you really don’t hate me for killing those beings to save the ones on the ship?
His question was so inane given the horror of what she had shared that he didn’t blame Angel’s energy form for fluttering around in disbelief.
No. You are often unkind and it is hard to like you, but I admire the way you wrestle with your evil side. You are the only creature I have ever seen be truly redeemed, save your true host.
You mean Ania?
Yes. Ania Looren. Now I must go, demon. If you can accept that I feel some regret for creating your situation, I will work on accepting who you have become. Your sacred contract remains. Perhaps this will always cause conflict between our energies. This entire situation is far more challenging than I had foreseen.
I will echo that sentiment back to you, Angel. Normally I would seek your death for the harm you have brought to me. But that’s not how I feel about you. I crave your understanding, your acceptance. When you are gone, the darkness of my existence is worse than the void of the amulet. I want you to stay in my life. There is nothing of value in sentience if that cannot happen.
Malachi—I don’t know how to answer you. Time is too short now to discuss this further.
Go back to Meen, he sent. We can talk later.
Are we still of one accord?
Yes. If we were in our hosts, I would hug you to prove it.
He started to pull his mist form out of her way when a million particles of light shot through him. The energy shock wave created by their crashing together made it hard for him to maintain any shape. His mist wanted to disperse and flatten until each tiny exhausted spark rested on the floor. The after-effect of her essence permeating his had his energy form tingling in ways he’d never experienced before. He wanted to experience it again—experience her again.
But she was already streaking as fast as she could back to Meen.
Malachi’s mood was pensive as he trailed slowly behind her. No, pensive wasn’t the right word, he thought. How could he describe his sense of connection or the sense of calmness that permeated his essence?
Their brief energetic merging had changed him yet again.
And now more than ever before, he could hardly wait to try the corporeal version.
***
As Malachi was making his way back to his host body, he noticed time speeding up and returning to normal again. Suddenly, he heard Ania call to him. It was the first time in a while that his communication with her had been so clear. Since he was still in mist form, he went to her that way and found her pacing.
“Need help with something?” he asked reluctantly, amused when he had trouble forming words. His mist form still tingled from his merging with Angel. He would have preferred to dwell on that sensation instead of getting involved in Ania and Liam’s latest spat.
“Yes, Malachi. I need you. Why else would I have called? Tell me the rest of what you found out,” Ania demanded. “Speak to my mind if it’s easier. This ship seems to have a nullifying effect on higher forms of communication.”
Malachi thought the nullifying effect was probably the presence of so many emissaries buzzing around instead of being the ship itself, but he lacked the desire to debate the matter with an angry Ania. So he told her what she was waiting to hear.
As you suspected, it was Bogdan’s father who paid the men to abduct Zella. They were not supposed to hurt her. They were just supposed to prove to Bogdan that he lacked the necessary nerve to wield my power.
Ania rubbed her forehead. “This is going to make me feel sorry for her, isn’t it?”
Perhaps. The ruse was supposed to convince Bogdan to give me up. To help, Conor told his mother that his grandfather wanted to use the demon to save her. He told her Bogdan refused and had said he didn’t care. Neither of those were the truth, but Zella believed Conor.
“Conor. Was that male never good?”
Not really. Conor’s spirit was always dark, even as a child. Bogdan tried not to kill the abductors because he saw they were just scapegoats in the Synar power game. Liam has no idea about any of this. Because of your persistence, I went through a lot of ugly to find this information. You owe me, Ania Looren. I will collect one day.
“So much pain is left between son and mother, Malachi. None of the males responsible are here to hold accountable. My fury is engaged in this matter to a point of needing to act. Are you still willing to do what I command you to do?”
Within reason, Malachi sent. Why? What do you have in mind? I see Zella’s image in your thoughts.
“Yes,” Ania said, frowning at the door as she opened it. “We’re going to reprogram Synar’s mother to be a nicer person—if we can.”
Thwarting her will might not go over well with the Creators, but I will help so long as we don’t genuinely harm her. You know that I am still bound to protect the entire Synar family no matter whether I like them or not, Malachi sent.
“Don’t worry. If our task is successful, Zella will have a chance at a truly happy life at last,” Ania said. “Otherwise, I’ll have to cut out her insulting tongue. I tried to talk to her earlier. I can’t repeat her words about Liam because they make me too angry.”
Cutting out her tongue would probably help Ralak, but I prefer your original idea. When life settles down again, I’m looking for supplements to counter those violent mood swings you’re having. You can’t keep blaming them on the emissaries.
Ania snorted. “Your angel has you well under control, doesn’t she?”
I came when you called me, didn’t I?
Ania laughed at his instant rebuttal. “It matters not to me what your emissary says or does. I don’t fear her since I have the capacity to hurt her if she doesn’t behave.”
Ania, she’s telling me things that make her vulnerable to me. I’m starting to trust her, Malachi sent. Do you think that’s dangerous? Or wrong?
Ania considered it as they walked toward the quarters where Zella and Ralak were staying. She switched to thought speak as they passed by crew in the hallways.
It is normal to want to think well of the being who has your full compassion. But it is wise to see both the good and the bad in that creature, just as you do with any other. The emissaries ordered me to continue to seek balance in my life. While I resent their heavy-handed intrusion in directing my existence, I think their advice is sound. They do seem to be mostly good.
Malachi zipped around her to hover above her head as she knocked solidly on the door of the largest set of guest quarters on the Guardian 13.
Thank you. I will keep your advice in mind, he sent.
Zella Synar opened the door. It surprised Malachi how much aging she had done in the years he’d been off Norblade.
“Has Liam sent the demon to chastise me for speaking my truth to you? I do not fear him, Ania Looren. The Demon of Synar cannot directly harm me.”
“Hello, Zella. Brave words, considering you have yet to hold my gaze while you stare fearfully at the top of my head. If you had just talked to your son more civilly, this confrontation would not be necessary. Malachi, come inside me now.”
Doing as she
bid, Malachi disappeared inside Ania. It would give him a chance to check on the children anyway.
“May the Creators have mercy on us all. Liam has done the unforgivable. He has turned his mate into the demon’s host,” Zella said, putting her hand over her mouth in shock. She was too appalled to hide her great sympathy for the female who faced her. “I am genuinely sorry that you have been forced to share my son’s curse. Liam is an even worse demon master than Bogdan feared he would be.”
Ignoring Zella’s rant, Ania peered around Synar’s mother. “Is Ralak in?” She didn’t care. She just wanted to know how many creatures she was going to be battling.
“No. Ralak is in Medical getting some pain medication and a booster so he can be alert this evening. He insists we both accept your dinner invitation,” Zella admitted. “All my mates openly ignore my wishes.”
“Yes. You and I have that in common. May I come in, Zella? You can be polite and let me, or I can make you. I don’t know what tact to use,” Ania said.
“Since you carry the demon, what choice do I have? Enter at your convenience,” Zella said dully, stepping aside.
“It is not the demon in me you should fear, but the Khalsa warrior in me, Zella Synar. I was taught that you are either my friend or you are my enemy,” Ania said, stepping across the threshold.
“Khalsa? The demon has given you delusions. Tales of those mythical warriors are just rationalizations for modern assassins trying to justify their evil natures,” Zella exclaimed.
“Denying will not change the reality of who I am. I am Khalsa. I am also Malachi’s host. But most importantly, I am your son’s mate. I am here because of the life I have chosen to live at your son’s side.”
“The only son that matters to me is gone from my life,” Zella said.
Ania waited until the door had closed completely before rounding on the female. “You know—you’ve really got to stop saying that.” She hit her in the forehead and waited with pleasure as Zella Synar slid unconscious to the floor. Reaching down, she lifted Synar’s mother and carried her to the sleeping platform.
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