by Roxie Ray
“Take her,” he roared.
His minion came forward, and I cringed against his touch, assuming he was going to take me. But instead, he grabbed a hold of Sophia and pulled her to her feet and away from me.
I looked between Sophia and Bis’er in confusion. Bis’er walked towards Sophia and stared at me. “Give me the information I need,” he said, “or your friend is dead.”
My blood ran cold. I knew he wasn’t bluffing. He was desperate, and desperate men never lied. My hesitation brought a sneer to his lips; he turned, and I saw the dagger in his hand.
“No!” I screamed.
But it was too late. He plunged the dagger into Sophia’s stomach in one fluid motion. Sophia’s face paled visibly, but no sound escaped her as blood gushed from her wound.
Bis’er turned his sharp eyes on me. “You did this,” he said.
I could feel Philzar rooting around inside my head again. He was right — now that I wasn’t resisting anymore, it didn’t hurt at all. I didn’t have the strength to fight him, because I was staring at the life draining out of Sophia’s face.
“Got it,” Philzar said. “We have to get to Svante while there’s no one guarding it.”
Bis’er nodded with satisfaction. “Come.”
The three aliens made for the exit. Sophia fell to the ground the moment Bis’er’s minion let go of her, and I rushed to her side and cradled her head in my lap. Bis’er stopped at the threshold to the kitchen, turning to me with a cold smile.
“Thank you so much for the information.”
Then he bowed mockingly at me and disappeared. My insides felt hollow. I didn’t have room for rage because all I felt was sorrow. I looked down at Sophia and ran my fingers over her cheek. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly, like the wings of a butterfly. Her mouth was moving as though she wanted to say something, but no words came.
“Sophia,” I sobbed. “It’s okay, Brags is on his way. We’re going to get help. Sophia?”
She was staring at me, but it was clear that she was no longer seeing me or anything else. Her irises had turned glassy, and her eyelashes stopped fluttering. She was gone.
I don’t know how long I sat there like that, with Sophia’s body in my arms. It could have been a few minutes; it could have been hours.
Then I heard a voice calling my name. I didn’t look up, and I didn’t call out. I needed to stay there with Sophia. I needed to watch over her body until Brags came.
“Rosa?”
Had someone just entered the kitchen? Maybe it was another one of Bis’er’s minions; maybe he had come to kill me, too. That would be fair; after all, I had been the one to cause Sophia’s death.
“Rosa?”
A hand reached out and touched my shoulder. I flinched back violently, and the hand withdrew. A shadow fell across Sophia’s body. Whoever was standing over me bent down to his knees. His hand reached out again, this time towards Sophia.
“Don’t touch her,” I growled.
The hand froze. “Rosa?”
I knew that voice. I trusted that voice. I loved that voice.
I glanced up and saw ice blue eyes, washed over with sadness. “Quatix?” I whispered.
“My love,” Quatix replied, regret coloring each word.
“I’m sorry,” I said, looking back down at Sophia’s face. “I’m so sorry.”
20
Quatix
Rosa’s eyes misted over with a strange, detached anguish that worried me. It was like she was here, but not quite; her arms gripped Sophia’s body tightly, with an almost feral protectiveness that I had always sensed in her.
“Rosa, my love,” I said softly. “The others will be here soon… Brags will be among them. You need to let Sophia go —”
“No,” Rosa replied. Her tone was devoid of emotion, almost hollow.
I glanced at Sophia’s face. Her eyes were still open, and I longed to reach out and close them before Brags came. At least that would leave her looking peaceful, instead of the naked fear that was frozen across her otherwise beautiful features. My heart broke for my brother. Losing a mate was not something any Svantian got over easily, and Brags had already been through so much. He had only truly found happiness after meeting Sophia. I did not know if her death would plummet him back to the broken creature he had been before meeting her.
“Rosa,” I whispered, leaning in slightly. “My love, I know this is a shock —”
“I killed her,” Rosa said abruptly.
“Don’t say that. You did nothing. This was Bis’er’s work, this was the Sives.”
Rosa lifted her traumatized eyes to mine. The soft blue hues in them were muted with sadness.
“I could have prevented this,” she said, in a voice that was not her own. “She would be alive now if —”
“’If’ is not an option, my love,” I said fiercely. “Bis’er would have done this either way. He is a monster without a conscience. There is nothing you could have done to stop it.”
She raised her eyes; there were tears floating amidst her irises, turning the blue in her eyes an almost translucent grey. Seeing her that way made me ache, and I felt helpless to do anything about it.
“He got the information he needed from me,” she said, her head dipped down in confession. “He knows where the Gnosees are.”
My heart beat unevenly, but I would not let her see my worry. “It’s okay,” I said. “I will handle it. They will not get the Gnosees.”
“They’ve already left.”
“We can catch up to them,” I told her.
I didn’t even know if that were possible. Bis’er knew we were on his tail, and he would have taken measures to ensure we couldn’t follow him. But it didn’t matter. I needed Rosa to believe everything was going to be okay.
“Everything is going to be okay, Rosa.”
“How?” she asked as one crystal tear slipped onto her cheek. “Sophia is dead.”
“I know…”
“Brags,” Rosa said, and her voice broke on his name. “Quatix, what do we tell Brags?”
I could hear the sound of running footfalls. The Protectors would be here soon, and Brags would be with them.
“Rosa, please, you need to move away from her body,” I begged.
She wrinkled her brow in confusion. “I don’t want to leave Sophia alone.”
“She won’t be alone,” I assured her. “I just want you to let her go and take a few steps back. Brags will be here soon, and when he sees Sophia like this…”
I trailed off, uncertain of how to finish that sentence. “We might need to give him space,” I finished awkwardly.
I caught the sound of rushed breathing from behind me, and I turned to find Comadin and Brailin standing at the threshold to the kitchen. They stared at Sophia with naked shock, and then their shoulders hunched with grief.
“Brags?” I asked.
Neither Comadin nor Brailin replied. They moved forward slowly, their eyes taking in the brutal stab wound that had robbed Sophia of her life.
“Comadin,” I said.
“O-on his way. He’s with Terrox,” Comadin said in a soft voice.
I turned back to Rosa. “Take my hand, Rosa,” I said gently, trying not to rush her. “Let go of Sophia and take my hand. There’s nothing you can do for her now.”
For a second I thought she was going to refuse me. Then without a word, she slipped her shaking fingers into my palm. I gently removed Sophia’s hand from Rosa’s lap and pulled Rosa to her feet. The front of her garments were covered in blood, but Rosa didn’t even seem to notice.
I held her hand tightly just as Terrox and Brags turned the corner. Brags was mid-sentence, and Terrox saw Sophia’s body first.
“The bastards have left a fog field behind. We’ll have to —”
He stopped short, his words dying on his tongue as he noticed the body lying in the middle of the kitchen a few feet away from where he stood. His body language was enough to glean the anguish of what he was feeling, but the
psychic link that connected us made me want to keel over. The pain was so great, far too great for one being to bear alone.
“No,” Brags whispered. “No, this can’t be…”
Rosa shivered next to me, and I squeezed her hand a little tighter. Her eyes were fixed on Brags as he released an ear-shattering howl of agony. He dropped to his knees in front of Sophia’s body, staring at her as though his very presence might be able to bring her back to life.
Rosa was trembling like a leaf, now, and I realized she was sobbing silently. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and drew her into my chest so that she would not have to see Brags mourn his wife.
Brags touched Sophia’s face first, grazing the tips of his fingers against her cheek. Then he bent his head down so that his lips were at her right ear. He started whispering things to her that none of us could hear, and I turned my eyes away from them. It was too intimate a moment to be privy to. I noticed that all the Protectors looked away, as well.
I wished we could give him this moment, but the Sives were on their way to Svante, and we didn’t have time to waste.
“Terrox,” I said, calling his attention to me. “Alert Vuks that the Sives are on their way. Tell him to prepare the remaining protectors, as well as the royal guard. The Gnosees must be protected at all costs.”
Terrox nodded wordlessly.
“We need to fly this ship back home as soon as possible.”
“They left behind the Imperial Destroyer, as well,” Terrox informed me.
I glanced at Brags. “Take two protectors and fly the Destroyer back to Svante. Comadin can handle the Zernike.”
Terrox nodded and left immediately, with Comadin on his heels. Brailin, Voxor, Coran, Galvanic, and Doran remained behind with Rosa and I.
We let Brags lament over his wife’s body. We stood there, hoping that our strength would flow into Brags and keep him going. His pain pierced through my core, reminding me of how close I had come to being in his position. I held Rosa close, breathing in her naturally perfumed scent, feeling extremely lucky that she had been spared and extremely guilty for thinking that at all while Brags lay in mourning in front of me. I was very relieved at that moment to be able to barricade my thoughts from my protectors.
I was vaguely aware of the Zernike’s engines humming into hyper speed. I spared a thought for the Gnosees, hoping our border security would be enough to keep the Sives at bay, at least until we showed up, but my hope was wearing thin.
Slowly, as the minutes ticked by, Brags’ breathing started to slow. His anguished sobs turned internal, and he just lay there with Sophia in his arms.
“She is cold,” he said, breaking the silence.
“My brother,” I said, stepping forward. “We will avenge her death. I promise you that.”
“Sophia was a great woman,” Brailin said. “We will avenge her death together.”
Brags lifted his head up, and his eyes landed on Rosa. I had not seen that expression in his eyes for more than a decade. “Were you with her when it happened?” he asked.
Rosa nodded slowly; her cheeks were drenched, and every now and again, a fresh tear came tumbling down. She left my side and sunk to her knees beside Sophia so that Brags was directly opposite her. She reached out over Sophia’s body and put her hand over Brags’.
“I promise you, she didn’t die alone.”
Brags’ eyes fell to the stab wound on her abdomen. “But she died in pain,” he hissed.
“It lasted seconds,” Rosa said, her voice shaking.
“Who did it?” Brags asked.
“Bis’er.”
Every protector growled low at the sound of his name, except for Brags. He remained silent, but I saw fire kindle in his eyes.
“Bis’er,” Brags repeated, in a voice so low I almost missed it.
“He will pay for this, Brags,” Rosa said, her gentle voice bolstered with strength. “They will all pay for this… we will track down every last Sives member in the galaxy, and we will kill them all.”
Her words awoke something in me. Her passion and the storm in her voice made me realize how personally she took this attack. She was no longer just an Earthling; she was truly Svantian, too.
Brags nodded as he placed his hand on top of Rosa’s. Slowly, he got to his feet, and Rosa did the same.
“We will place her body in the royal chambers,” I told Brags. “Until we reach Svante.”
“No, I want her kept in our chambers,” Brags said insistently. “I will take her there myself.”
We watched as Brags lifted Sophia in his arms. He handled her with the utmost care, as though she were merely sleeping and his every movement might wake her. He walked slowly out of the kitchen, and I nodded to Brailin and Voxor to follow after him.
“Make sure he’s all right,” I said quietly. “The rest of you, see to the ship.”
When we were alone, I turned to Rosa to find her staring at the dried blood that splattered across the floor in thick, crude waves.
“My love, let me take you back to our chambers,” I said gently. “You need to lie down.”
“I don’t want to lie down,” she said, staring at the blood.
“Rosa —”
“I have lost so many people,” she said, almost to herself. “I thought it was over…”
I took her hand and kissed it gently, but the action did not draw her focus. She remained fixated on the pattern of blood before us.
“It’s my fault, just like the first time.”
I frowned. “My love, what do you mean?”
Rosa turned to me, as more tears pooled in her eyes. “I should have just stayed on Earth,” she sobbed. “Wherever I go, death seems to follow me.”
She collapsed into my arms, and all I could do was hold her and pray that my world would not break her like it had broken my mother.
21
Rosa
I was craving.
I felt the need deep inside me, that inexorable pull that told me I could not get through this on my own. I needed help; I needed something more than words. I needed something strong, something hard.
“Rosa.” Quatix’s voice was soft as we stopped at the main observation deck. “You’re still shaking.”
I looked at my hand with interest. He was right. I was still shaking, and I was pretty sure I knew a way to make that stop.
“I want you to go and see how Brags is doing,” I said, taking his hand. “Please.”
“I don’t want to leave you.” Quatix’s eyes were steeped in worry. He kept looking at me as though I were about to break.
I don’t want you to leave me either, but I don’t want you to see me at my worst. I lifted his hand to my lips and kissed his palm tenderly.
“Please?” I said. “It’ll make me feel better. I need to know that he’s all right.”
“I’m sure one of the Protectors will be with him —”
“But I’m sure it will mean a lot to him to have you there.”
I could see the conflict in his eyes, but in the end he couldn’t deny me. He nodded in resignation and leaned in to kiss my forehead.
“Will you be okay?” he asked.
“I just need to be alone right now,” I admitted.
His eyes clouded over, and I wondered if I’d just hurt him by saying that. He kissed me again, and then headed in the direction of Brags’ chambers. I stood there watching his retreating form. His clothes were half covered in blood and sweat and were ripped around the arms to reveal his broad shoulders and powerfully muscled arms. That was my one consolation: Quatix was alive and safe.
Once he had disappeared from view, I changed course and turned back toward the kitchens. The blood on my clothes had dried completely, and it gave off a stale scent, like milk that had passed its expiration date. I heard voices as I approached the kitchen and slowed my pace as I turned the corner.
“Voxor, Doreno,” I said.
Before I could ask them why they were there, I already had my answer. They had washe
d away Sophia’s blood and scrubbed the kitchen floors clean. I knew this typically wouldn’t be a job for a protector, but I recognized it for the mark of respect that it was.
“Queen Rosa,” Voxor said, bowing to me. “Is there something you needed?”
My eyes darted past him to the cabinets in the back of the kitchen where I knew the wines were stored.
“I just… I wanted to spend some time here alone.”
Voxor and Doreno exchanged a glance and looked at me with concern. “Perhaps we can accompany you to your chambers?” Voxor asked politely.
“I’m perfectly capable of getting to my chambers on my own,” I said. “I just need a moment to myself. You can leave.”
They exchanged another glance, and I sighed noisily. “I promise you, I’m fine. Now go.”
They left the kitchens hesitantly, and I went straight for the shelves laden with bottles upon bottles of wine. There were barrels, too, but I wasn’t sure how to maneuver those, so I turned my attention to the display case before me.
The bottles themselves were works of art. Some were encased in what looked like intricate steel mesh, and others had been painted with soft blues and bright greens. Even their corks were decorative. I wasn’t sure which wines were the strongest, so I ended up picking four different bottles. I would gladly have taken more, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to carry them all.
With my hands full and my heart beating fast, I stole through the halls of the Zernike like a thief in the night. I stumbled across one protector, but I managed to hide until he had passed. I reached the royal chambers without running into anyone else, and when I stepped inside the solar, I sighed in relief.
I walked to the table and set down all four bottles. My arms ached from the strain of carrying them, but I welcomed the discomfort. It distracted me from the ache in my soul.
I stared at the four tall bottles before me and wondered if I had picked that number coincidentally or if there was a deeper reason. Maybe my subconscious was taunting me, reminding me of the four lives I had destroyed.
I looked at the first bottle and saw the heavy features and crooked nose of my father. I looked at the second bottle and saw the depressed hunch and sad eyes of my mother. I looked at the third bottle and saw the open smile and loose curls of my sister. I looked at the fourth bottle and saw Sophia, strong and powerful, as she had been in life.
