Alien Penetration

by Kaitlyn O’Connor

  “Your men will want what is best for you and the babes, Simone. They were not happy that you decided to stay here with me.”

  Simone smiled a little wryly. “They’ll have to get used to me the way I am.”

  Lielani patted her cheek. “They love you the way you are.”

  Simone sat with her until Lielani had drank herself into a stupor and finally left to pace the sitting room. She didn’t honestly have a clue of what to do. She couldn’t think.

  The things she’d overheard kept rambling around and around in her mind and producing such anger and fear and disbelief that it was impossible to think.

  She was almost sorry Lielani had taught her their language, or at least helped her to perfect it well enough that she’d understood Arrek. She’d thought that it would be good to know what was going on. Now, she wasn’t so sure. Ignorance suddenly sounded like bliss compared to knowing what was planned and knowing there wasn’t a damned thing she could do about it.

  She was tempted to tell Zev so that he could carry the news to the prison, but there wasn’t anything they could do. What was the point in worrying Camryn and Kael and Ean with it?

  It wouldn’t hurt to tell Zev, though, she decided abruptly. The other women needed to know. The people hiding them needed to know.

  None of them were much better off than the women Arrek’s guards had managed to find and seize before they could escape. They would be the first to die, but once he’d gotten rid of them he would be on the hunt for everyone else and it wouldn’t be that hard to find them once they’d given birth.

  As far as she was concerned, regardless of what Lielani said or thought to the contrary, Arrek was crazy, but that certainly didn’t help them. If he was, the entire damned council was. They backed him whatever he decided to do—even the Emperor, himself, never opposed Arrek.

  Of course, she strongly suspected that the Emperor was senile and had been for a while. He wasn’t much more than a puppet. It was Arrek’s Empire, and he seemed determined to destroy it before he went to his grave.

  It was a pity that she hadn’t helped him get there faster while she’d had her chance. She hadn’t been able to bring herself to hurt Camryn by killing his father. Now, she wished she had regardless of the consequences.

  Hindsight—and it didn’t help!

  * * * *

  Lielani woke with a headache, and yet she discovered that her mind was far more clear than it had ever been. Sometime during the night her subconscious mind had finally given her the answers that she’d tried so hard to avoid.

  “I must go out,” she told Simone after they’d shared their meager breakfast—meager because she was afraid it might be noticed if she suddenly began to ask for twice the food she customarily did. It had been difficult for both of them. Poor Simone looked to be all eyes and belly, but she had some hope that she could finally bring an end to the tragedy that had been unfolding since long before Simone and the other women had been brought to Macedon.

  She didn’t know anything else to do.

  She still loved Arrek—beyond reason. Mayhap she was crazy herself, but she could not allow him to do what he meant to do if there was a way to stop him.

  The walk to the House of Tridan was an ordeal in itself. Her meeting with Mirtan was even worse. They both wept and then composed themselves and left the palace, heading for the House of Lara. They discovered that it was unusual enough to see two concubines together that they attracted far more attention than they wanted. When they’d spoken to Sheena, the three of them split up and went to speak with the other concubines.

  Simone was alarmed at Lielani’s appearance when she finally returned. “You look terrible! Are you alright?” She paused and then asked fearfully, “Has something happened?”

  Lielani waved her off. “I am just tired,” she said a little breathlessly. “I have not walked so much in a very long time! I had forgotten how exhausting it was.”

  Simone eyed her suspiciously. “What have you been up to? Don’t tell me you look so ill just from walking! You’ve been ‘servicing’ five men in this house. You should have a heart like a gorilla!”

  Lielani reddened, but chuckled dutifully. “I am not familiar with that beast.”

  “It’s sort of a cousin,” Simone said, smiling. “A very hairy cousin. And I still want to know.”

  Lielani shook her head. “I drank far too much camry last night! You shouldn’t have let me! My head is pounding today and I went to tell the news to the others—the other concubines—and it was … difficult. I am worn out from that.”

  Simone nodded, relieved, realizing that should’ve occurred to her immediately.

  “Zev came by. He brought extra food. I told him. Don’t worry! I told him not to tell Camryn and the others. It would just be something else for them to worry about that they couldn’t do anything about, but the other women and the people sheltering them needed to be warned. They aren’t warriors. They don’t know how to fight. They’d be massacred if they tried to protect the women. They need to keep a close watch on things and move the women to someplace else if necessary.”

  Lielani still looked upset. “I hope they do not strike again—or decide to riot. The city is beginning to look like we are at war. And it only makes the council angrier. The worse everyone behaves, the more the council does to stir them up. I begin to think there will be no end to it—or that the end will be worse than everything is now.”

  Simone stroked her rounded belly. “Change is never easy—for anyone,” she said finally. “We should’ve known better than to try. Not that I remember the riots we’ve had in our past, but I certainly knew about them. I just hadn’t experienced it myself. I didn’t realize just how bad things could get or that we would get everything so stirred up just because we wanted something they didn’t want us to have.”

  Lielani studied her thoughtfully. “Don’t regret what you have done, however it turns out. It needed to be done. It should have been done long ago. We should have done something. If we had tried, our world would not have come to this. If anyone is to blame, it is us—the women of Macedon. We allowed it to happen instead of trying to stop it.”

  Simone smiled wanly. “Maybe you didn’t try because you were satisfied?

  There’s nothing wrong with that.”

  Lielani thought it over. “I do not believe that I was ever satisfied. I accepted because I thought I could not make a difference. There is something wrong with accepting things that you know are wrong and doing nothing.” She paused. “I have never really regretted very much in my life in spite of that. In their way, the men of this House have been good to me and I grew to love them and became content.”

  Simone grimaced. “Until I came along.”

  Lielani smiled at her. “Yes, until you came along. Now, I have another regret. I regretted only the lost chance with my sons before. Now, I regret that I did not have a daughter.”

  Simone thought she would cry for several moments. She finally managed to master it. “I don’t know what to say—I’m glad?” she asked jokingly.

  “I did not say that to make you uncomfortable. I am glad that you came. I am glad that Camryn and Kael and Ean have you. They are good men, very good men!

  They deserve some happiness. And you are happiness to them so I could not regret your coming if it was only for their sake.”

  It was deeply disturbing, Simone reflected later, that Lielani had all but told her what she meant to do and it had gone right over her head.

  * * * *

  Simone was not comfortable when Bastian and Arrek visited Lielani, not in any way, but she thought that being forced to be a voyeur was probably the worst of it. She didn’t think she would’ve enjoyed it if she’d actually wanted to see Arrek in action, but it was worse when she couldn’t stand the man.

  She was rapidly outgrowing the hiding place Lielani had made for her besides that and it was miserably uncomfortable having to sit so long and remain motionless, knowing the slightest shift was liable
to give her away.

  Not that it took either man that long when they finally got down to business! But Lielani had, inadvertently, taught her a few things about entertaining. She always seemed to know just how to get them to talk, allowed them to unload on her about everything that had stressed them out during the day and when they’d finished, she knew how to soothe them. Coaxing them into the bedroom was the final act—not the main attraction. By the time she was done with them they both had sappy looks on their faces and were so relaxed they could barely make it out the door again.

  If she hadn’t seen Lielani in action, she wouldn’t have believed anyone could tame that beast—Arrek. Bastian was almost as bad. Although she hadn’t had a personal run-in with him, he looked and sounded so much like Arrek she wondered if they were actually twins—and she hated him by proxy just for being like Arrek.

  They rarely showed up at the same time on the same night, however, and when they did about a week after Arrek’s announcement it was a very unpleasant surprise that so thoroughly unnerved her that she didn’t have time to think about the fact that it was so unusual.

  She’d raced to the hiding spot as soon as they heard the tapping at the keypad and had barely gotten inside the cabinet when the outer door opened. She was still trying to adjust everything for a long, miserable wait when she heard their voices and discovered both men had arrived.

  Oh god! Not a three way!

  Lielani bowed respectfully when the men entered, lifting her head to smile at them fleetingly before she turned and gestured for them to make themselves comfortable.

  Arrek wasn’t happy and he didn’t attempt to hide his impatience. “What is this about?”

  Lielani smiled nervously. “It is only that I have been thinking a very great deal about the news you brought to me when last you visited and I thought that we should get together and celebrate.”

  Bastian and Arrek both beamed at her.

  “I knew you would be excited once you had had time to think it through,” Arrek said.

  “It will seem good to have little warriors tearing about the place again after so many years,” Bastian agreed. “Arrek and I have actually been considering the possibility of breeding another son ourselves.”

  “Truly?” Lielani gasped. “But … the laws of reproduction …?”

  “We are the High Council,” Arrek said with a laugh. “We make the laws. I have been thinking they should have been adjusted long ago. It is not as if we can not build another city if the population requires it.”

  “Arion is dead,” Bastian reminded her, and then added in irritation, “It was always considered of utmost importance that the leaders have at least two heirs when the life of a warrior is so uncertain. I have only one son now … not but what I am strongly considering disowning him. I never favored Kael and you see how he has become. It seems to me that my instincts were right about him.”

  “Which is what put me in mind of it,” Arrek said. “I have two, but they were wounded in the battle on Kylo. If they are both at risk, it seems important that I have another. Macedon cannot afford to lose its leaders.” He sobered. “In any case, I cannot continue to turn a blind eye to their behavior. I still have hope that their sojourn in prison will straighten them out, but they are not boys. They are men, and these things that they have done are not pranks. I fear that they have set themselves up as my enemies, and if I am right, then they are enemies of the Empire. I fear that it is only a matter of time before they cross the line and become true traitors to our people and I will not be able to stop the inevitable. It is difficult to reflect on such a thing, but it is my duty as a leader to face these things and take whatever steps necessary to protect the empire.”

  “I had not considered what this new science might … open to us in terms of opportunity,” Lielani said a little faintly. “Shall I bring you something to drink so that we can celebrate properly?”

  “I will have a glass of camry,” Arrek said promptly.

  “And you?”

  “I am not feeling particularly celebratory,” Bastian said petulantly. “We still have not found the other breeders. With less than half, we cannot do what we have planned—unless we send a new mission to collect more of those creatures—or at the very least to harvest their eggs.”

  “To soothe you then?” Lielani said a little hopefully, moving away before he could refuse again.

  Her hands were shaking so badly by the time she’d poured their drinks that she decided to have a small one herself to settle her nerves. She was still on edge, though, when she returned to the sitting area, enough that her hands were still trembling. It was too much to hope that Arrek wouldn’t notice.

  He took the glass and grasped her hand. “Your hands are cold. Have you taken a chill?”

  Lielani smiled at him a little shakily, trying to decide whether telling him she thought she might be coming down with something might convince him to leave. He had always been particularly leery of illness of any kind. “I am just shaky with excitement,” she said finally. “It seems … so incredible that we have found such a wonderful scientific breakthrough in our darkest days!”

  “A sign of the favor of the gods … if one still believed in such nonsense!” Arrek agreed.

  Bastian took his own glass. Despite his initial refusal, he tilted the glass up and swallowed the entire contents in one gulp. “Bring me another.”

  Lielani thought she would faint from sheer terror. She missed the glass when Bastian handed it to her and knelt quickly to pick it up. Arrek, she saw, was studying her assessingly when she rose.

  He hadn’t so much as taken a sip of his own drink and that terrified her more.

  Nothing was going as she had thought it would! “Would you like to finish yours so that I can get you another glass, as well?”

  He seemed to consider it and lifted the glass to his lips. Instead of downing the contents as Bastian had, however, he merely took a long drought and set it down. “I do not think I should overindulge,” he said, giving Bastian a disapproving look. “We are to review the prisoners’ petitions tomorrow.”

  Lielani settled weakly on the couch next to him. “You will consider releasing Camryn and Kael and Ean?”

  He picked his glass up and took another sip. “Theirs will not be reviewed for a while yet. I am disgraced by their behavior. I believe they should have time to consider the disgrace they have brought down upon me and the House of Jakaar!”

  Lielani eyed his glass, wondering if he’d drank enough. “It distresses me so!” she said hastily. “I have been so proud of them. I do not know what to think of their behavior of late!”

  Arrek glared angrily at his feet. Lifting his glass, he emptied it and handed it to her absently. Relief filled her. Rising on shaky legs, she went back to pour them a fresh drink.

  Bastian was already beginning to look uncomfortable when she returned. He was pulling at the neck of his robe. “Is it hot in here to you?”

  “I am not hot,” Arrek said.

  Bastian was sweating. Arrek stared at him for a long moment and turned accusing eyes on Lielani. “What have you done?”

  She took a step back. “What I needed to,” she said with as much bravado as she could muster.

  “What do mean, what you needed to do?” Bastian gasped, struggling for breath.

  “I could not allow you do what you have planned to do. I love you both. I had thought that I would take the poison myself, that you would perform shinku when I died and that would save Macedon from you and your machinations. But then I realized that neither of you would follow me to the afterlife. You are too consumed with your hate to love me as I have loved you these many years.”

  Arrek stared at her in disbelief and horror. “You poisoned us?”

  “I was told it would be quick and relatively painless,” she said, whimpering with fear.

  “You traitor! You fucking bitch! I will choke you to death with my own hands and see to it that you reach the afterlife first!” Arrek roared at
her.

  Simone, who’d been too horrified and frozen with disbelief to move up until that moment, scrambled out of her hiding place. Bastian, she saw, was already sinking toward oblivion, jerking and twitching in a way that made her stomach churn. Arrek had managed to heave himself off of the couch and catch Lielani. The two of them had fallen to the floor. Lielani was pinned beneath Arrek and he had both hands around her throat.

  She was too petrified at the scene she discovered to move for several moments.

  Finally, when she saw Lielani clawing at Arrek’s hands, she glanced around for something to use as a weapon. Grabbing a vase, she slammed it into the back of his skull.

  His hold loosened. He sprawled on top of Lielani lifelessly.

  “I think I killed him!” Simone gasped.

  “I killed him,” Lielani grunted in a hoarse whisper.

  Galvanized by the reminder that Lielani was still trapped beneath him, Simone began struggling to shove him off of her. When she realized he was too heavy for her to lift, she sat down on the floor and used her legs. Between the two of them, they finally managed it, though Simone was too weak with both exertion and terror to get back up when they’d finally managed to push him off. Lielani didn’t attempt to get up.

  “Oh god! You’re hurt! I need to get help!” she cried, rolling awkwardly to her knees and hovering over the other woman helplessly.

  Lielani caught her hand in a surprisingly strong grip. “You need to go before we are found,” she said shakily. “Go to Camryn’s apartment and hide yourself.”

  “I can’t leave you like this!”

  “I am dying. You cannot help me. I took the poison, as well.”

  “Oh god! Oh god!” Simone wailed. “Why did you do that? There’s got to be antidote! Let me help you into the bathroom to throw up.”

  “No. I am a stupid woman! I knew the only hope was to kill them and I could not face living without them. Just go. This is for the best.” She smiled with an effort.

  “My sisters and I have redeemed ourselves.”

  * * * *

  Camryn got off of his bunk with an effort and moved to the door of his cell when he heard the roar, trying to figure out, at first, what it was.