Deep Indigo: Orion, Book 4

by Cathryn Cade

  He bowed his head, feeling as if he was being slowly ripped in two. He had no choice. To save her and the Orion, he was going to have to risk her life, her sanity. And even if they succeeded, he was not sure she would ever forgive him, or if he could forgive himself.

  Nelah stirred slowly, frowning fretfully at having one arm strapped to the gurney. Navos stilled her with a touch and then stroked her petal-soft cheek until her eyes fluttered open. She gazed drowsily up at him and then smiled, a little hum of satisfaction in her throat at his touch.

  “Daron,” she whispered. Then she frowned. “I had such terrible dreams.”

  He said nothing, clenching his jaw against a swell of emotion. His hand tightened on her cheek and she opened her eyes again. “Daron? What’s wrong?”

  He drew her free hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss to it. He continued to stroke her face.

  “Flower…it wasn’t a dream.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Navos hated the dawning horror in Nelah’s lovely eyes as she realized her very brain now harbored an obscene parasite.

  “Help me,” she pleaded, clutching at him. “Daron, get it out! Please, don’t let it overtake me again. I—I remember now. I was going to do something terrible! And you know I could—I have the power to make someone do something—to wreck the ship, even.”

  Her eyes filled with tears and she pulled his hand to her face. “I was going to h-hurt you,” she wept. “You have to drug me—make me so I can’t hurt anyone.”

  He leaned over her, cradling her in his arms for a few precious moments. Then, bracing himself, he laid her carefully back in the air pillows.

  “Nelah,” he said. “You must listen to me. We have to stop Cyan now, or he will go on tormenting you and all of us. He’s too dangerous to be free.”

  “I know,” she said. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. He’ll make me hurt you—together, he and I are too powerful, even for you, Daron. You don’t know what he’s like!”

  “What if you knew he could not hurt me?” he said carefully. “What if there was a way to protect me and still vanquish him?”

  She eyed him doubtfully and his heart clenched. She was worried about him, not herself. When this was over, he swore fiercely, he was going to carry her around on a silk cushion and never let harm come to one sweet hair on her head. If he survived, that is.

  First, though, he must suborn every principal of his Indigon training. He must lie. He doubted very much that he really would survive a combined attack from her and Cyan. Especially if he was going to save her. But he had to make her believe he could. He was willing to die to save her and the Orion, but she would never go for it.

  “What the commander means,” said a deep smoky voice at the door. “Is that the two of you are not alone in this. I’m here. Dragolins are immune to your psychic powers.”

  Navos turned sharply. Slyde Dragolin walked into the room, his shoulders nearly filling the small space beside the gurney.

  “You are immune to our powers of suggestion?” Nelah asked, hope in her voice.

  He nodded majestically. “In our shifted state we’re impervious to suggestion, as well as being physically powerful. And able to breathe fire,” he added nonchalantly.

  “Then you could protect Commander Navos?”

  “Yes. And the ship.”

  “And you won’t let me do anything…terrible?”

  He shook his head silently. Navos glared at him. The great, quixotic fool. Had he forgotten that none, even an armor-plated dragon could stand against the power of Indigon mind control? He himself had used his powers on Slyde on the last voyage, to help him get off the ship before he shifted into his Dragolin form. He was lying, just as Navos had.

  Nelah gazed at him, hope in her eyes. “Then…I’ll do it.”

  “I’ll summon the others,” Slyde murmured. He turned his golden gaze on Navos and then very slowly, winked at him and was gone. Navos stared after him. Was it possible the Dragolin believed he could indeed withstand Indigon power in his shift? He hoped they would not have to find out. Better he himself should die.

  Nelah touched his face, bringing his gaze back to her. She tried to smile up at him, but her mouth trembled. “Daron, whatever happens, I want you to know one thing. I love you.”

  He stared at her, frozen. He could not speak, could not sort the vast emotions warring in him—the rage, the fear, the great swelling of tenderness in his chest. He heard footsteps behind them and bent swiftly to press his mouth to hers in a kiss. Her mouth was soft under his and wet with tears.

  Nelah opened her eyes with a gasp and her eyes darted around the bright space. She was in the infirmary. She lifted a hand to her head, wincing at the bright light.

  “Ah, you are awake,” said a cracked voice, and familiar eye stalks turned her way as a brown, wrinkled face appeared over her head.

  She sat up and swung her legs off the air bed, turning to the doctor. Tentaclar, that was his name.

  “What am I doing here?” she asked him distrustfully. Fear flicked at the edges of her mind. Something had happened…some bad thing. Hadn’t it?

  “Hmm, I was hoping you could tell me that,” he said. “You fainted in the passageway, outside the command center. Apparently you have been under some stress.”

  She rubbed the back of her hand, which had a tender bruise on a vein. “I don’t…remember.”

  “We gave you some fluids and some nutrition. Don’t forget to eat this time. You must take care of yourself.”

  “Thank you,” she said politely, sliding off the gurney.

  Outside in the hallway, Nelah stopped and looked both ways. She felt lost, alone.

  Two guards walked by. She watched them suspiciously. There was something in the way they looked at her. And that little surveillance holo-cam, why was it hovering so near her?

  As if aware of her alarm, the tiny winged ball turned and zinged off down the passageway. Nelah shook her head at herself. She was imagining things. She would go and… She should go to…

  It slammed into her without warning, an urge so powerful and driving her head went up, her body straightening with purpose.

  Navos. Where was he? Find him, now. It was time, it was past time, to finish him. No more delaying, no more indecision. Send power singing through the ship, searching for him.

  There—coming out of the command center. What was he up to? Secret Orion business, no doubt.

  Never mind, it was nearby and he was alone. That was good. They were running out of time, they would land on Frontiera—tonight and then they’d have to wait for the quarking ship to take off again. Better to make sure it never landed at all. And that it was all his fault.

  She glided along the passageways as if in a dream. Crew passed her, several guards in pairs or trios, their voices echoing from a great distance. They were unimportant. She would flick them away like insects if they dared to approach her. Her eyes were fixed on her goal and filled with deadly purpose.

  But wait—the guards were useful, after all. Turning to fix her eyes on a young Serpentian, she beckoned him with a wave of power. He paled and walked to her like a puppet on a string.

  She looked him up and down. Her eyes fastened on the laser weapon on his belt. Perfect.

  “Give me your weapon.”

  Slowly, the Serpentian unfastened the weapon from his belt and handed it to her.

  She took it and examined it with interest.

  “Thank you. Now go away.”

  The guard turned away without a backward look. She tucked the slim weapon under her jacket and turned her attention back to searching for Navos.

  There he is. Pacing an empty passageway, hands behind his back. Deep in contemplation, as usual. Probably dreaming up some new feat to place himself in higher glory. The great Daron Navos, hero of the galaxy. Until he died, screaming in the grip of power far, far greater than he could ever summon.

  “Daron,” she purred, strolling toward him. “Just the man for whom I’ve
been looking.”

  He turned to her and she blinked as his eyes met hers. They were so deep a blue, so beautiful. In their depths she saw something… The ghost of a memory fluttered just out of reach.

  “Ms. Cobalt. You wanted something?”

  His indifference hurt. She faltered.

  There, see? He doesn’t care a spent asteroid for you. He’s just been using you for sex. He’ll never change, never love you and never want more than your body. He doesn’t respect you, not for your power. Now is your chance to pay him back.

  The power rolled up through her in a great heady surge, so swiftly she flew up onto her tiptoes as she sent it slashing toward him. Navos paled and staggered back, then braced himself visibly, and with his eyes fixed on hers, so deep with power they were nearly black, he sent an answering wave to meet it.

  She cried out, reeling as if she’d been buffeted by a great wind. Then power jolted through her again and she straightened, heady with triumph as she met his power and equaled it.

  He backed away, into an open hatch. His stateroom.

  She laughed. Fool! He couldn’t escape her with walls. Her power was greater than any physical wall. Perhaps he thought he could hide under his bed.

  Smiling, she followed him. The hatch slid shut behind her.

  “All guards are in place, Captain,” said Sirena crisply.

  “We have Navos’s quarters surrounded,” agreed Slyde. “And Panthar is sealed in the auto-nav, so no one can enter. Ogg has guards with him in the reactor. They’re also standing guard outside here.”

  Steve Craig looked at her and Tessa, who stood quietly at her side, then back at the holo-vid of Navos’s stateroom and the slender young woman walking into it.

  He nodded shortly. “All right. This had better work.”

  Sirena opened her mouth to reply, when her com-link beeped. “Yes?”

  “Commander, we’ve got problems,” said Izard’s voice, unusually tense. “Two Mauritanians are fighting in the mess hall. Quark, they’re big! I need to pull some guards before they wreck the whole place.”

  “I’ve got a domestic disturbance in the forward passenger lounge,” said a female voice, equally tense. “A young Chal trying to strangle her mother-in-law. I need backup, now!”

  “Commander, one of Ogg’s engine crew just tried to knock another one out with a gamma-gauge,” said Raile. “He’s a big one—requesting backup.”

  “Commander,” shouted another guard. “Problem in the arboretum! Passengers fighting—two males knocked each other into the pond, their wives jumped in after them—I can’t really see what’s going on, there’s so much splashing.”

  “What in the seven hells is going on?” Craig demanded, turning to Sirena.

  They stared at each other as the babble of Serpentian voices increased, along with a loud crash from outside the command center. Sirena looked at the holo-vid of Nelah and Navos, her emerald eyes narrowed dangerously.

  “I wonder if it’s coming from her?”

  Craig stared at the holo-vid. “You think she’s sending some sort of aggressive broadcast?”

  Sirena shook her head. “I can think of no other explanation for this sudden increase in violence.”

  “Well, we’d better do something, or the whole ship is going to be in riot!” Craig turned to the holo-vid. “Daron, you’ve got to move fast. Apparently she and this guy are so strong he’s using her to send to the whole ship.”

  “I could go, Steven.” Tessa stepped forward, her lovely face determined. “It sounds as if they need all of us out there.”

  He shook his head, implacable. “No. I want you in here, where I can keep an eye on you. And you know why, so don’t argue.”

  He put his hand on her still-flat belly and she laid her hand over his.

  “You’re right,” she said. “I will do what I can here, then.”

  “You’ll help me by staying safe,” he said.

  “I say we shoot the Indigon woman now and be done with it!” Sirena hissed, reaching for her weapon.

  Craig put one hand out in a warning gesture. “Not so fast, Commander. I think the Indigon effect is getting to you too.”

  She scowled, but loosed her weapon. “You’re right. But I can do nothing here. If I can’t shoot anyone, at least drop-kicking some of the troublemakers on board will be nice.”

  “Sirena, stay there,” Slyde growled over the com-link. “You could kill someone with one kick and I’ll be visiting you on Deep Six.”

  She hissed with displeasure, but stayed where she was.

  Craig rolled his eyes to himself. Serpentians made splendid guards, but they were fiery creatures.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Navos looked around his quiet, softly lit stateroom. An odd battlefield. But here, no passenger could see the conflict raging on board their ship, or be harmed, at least not directly.

  He turned, planting his feet and squaring his shoulders. He steeled himself against the unfamiliar fear and dread churning inside him.

  Nelah was already so powerful—so much raw, untrained power. Combined with Cyan, would she be too much for him? Would he be able to save her and Orion, or would routing Cyan destroy them all? Would her life and the Orion be the price of ridding the galaxy of a conscienceless scoundrel?

  “I’m in position, Daron,” said Slyde’s deep voice in his ear.

  “We’re ready as well,” said Sirena. “Although you’ve only two other guards left. The others were needed to break up these fights all over the ship.”

  Navos merely nodded, knowing they could see him. Slyde and the guards were ready to storm his room if necessary, to save him and Nelah.

  He himself would die without hesitation, to save her. He knew that now, with a soul-deep certainty. The fear and dread he felt were for her—that he wouldn’t be adequate to the task. If he was not, the guards would be forced to kill them both.

  “She’s taken a laser weapon from Tarle,” Sirena said sharply. “Commander, should we abort? We can shoot her.”

  “No!” Navos rapped. “You will leave her to me.”

  His hatch opened again and Nelah sauntered in. Oddly enough, the sight of the weapon in her hand calmed him, steadied him. If Cyan thought he might need a laser to win, then he must not believe he was strong enough to take Navos, even with Nelah’s help. Good, perhaps he could be intimidated, instead of holding the upper hand as he had so far.

  “You need such primitive weapons?” he asked, raising a cool brow at her.

  “Don’t goad an armed assailant!” Sirena hissed.

  Nelah raised a brow back at him, casually pointed the laser gun at him and fired. He reeled sideways as heat sliced across his shoulder, followed by a searing agony.

  Clenching his jaw against the cry of pain that rose in his throat, Navos forced himself to straighten, facing her. Something trickled down his hand, dripping onto the floor. He clamped his other hand to the wound to staunch the bleeding. It was only a flesh wound, across the outside of his biceps.

  The woman he loved stood watching him, her face pale as ice, eyes dark as space.

  “What can I say, Commander? I cheat. Anything to gain an edge, you know.” The voice was hers and yet not hers. Cyan!

  “I agree,” he answered. “So you won’t mind if I use the weapon I have, will you?”

  “Nelah,” he said aloud, his voice raw with pain. “Help me. I’m injured.”

  She blinked, as if awaking. The weapon dropped to the floor with a thunk.

  “Daron!” She ran to him, hands outstretched to his injured arm.

  “No! Fool, I see what you’re up to. You won’t play me.”

  She glared at him and dug her fingers into the shallow wound across his upper bicep.

  “Augh!” He let out a hoarse cry as pain lanced through him again. He staggered, his knees nearly buckling. Gritting his teeth, he manacled her hands in his good one and jerked her toward him, so their lower bodies met.

  She was panting, her horrified gaze on
their hands. His blood smeared them, bright against their pale skin. She shook her head, her lips drawing back in a silent cry of denial.

  Then her lips curved upward, in a horrible parody of a smile and she leaned against him, rubbing herself on him like a cat, her body lissome.

  “So sorry, Commander. Just couldn’t resist toying with you a bit more, before we begin the final contest. Really, you’re so gullible. As if the mere sound of your voice could vanquish my power.”

  “You’ll destroy her,” Navos raged. “Is that what you want?”

  “Of course. But you first. Never say I’m not a gentleman.”

  A great wave of power began to build. He could feel the pressure building, like ozone before a huge thunderstorm. When it rushed over them, Navos was afraid it would drown both of them. He could not fight it head-on, he perceived now. Cyan’s power combined with Nelah’s was too powerful. He might battle them both back, might even win, but she would be trampled in the process. He fought back the despair that threatened.

  “I won’t let you have her,” Navos vowed fiercely. He kissed her.

  Her mouth was sweet and soft under his, but he didn’t linger. Instead, he forced his injured arm up, about her waist, and held her hands against his chest as he pressed a line of kisses to her ear. His face pressed against her cheek, he began to speak—aloud.

  For the first time in a very long time, he had no idea what he was doing. He knew only that he had to reach her somehow, had to reach the real Nelah.

  Instinct drove him—he who never behaved according to such base impulses. Human impulses.

  “Nelah, listen to me,” he murmured. “You love me. I understand now. You’d never let yourself go the way you have in my arms, unless you loved. Never let me into your mind, let me experience every part of our lovemaking with you. Never let me share how my every touch, every kiss, every inch of me felt inside you.”

  Her hands stilled in his. She was listening. He pressed a kiss to the shell of her ear and went on. At any nanosecond, the huge, dark wave Cyan was building would crash over them.