“The Council wants to help us?”
“The Council wants an excuse to discredit the Crown. Having two heroes abducted from the palace would do just that.”
I sat down on the sofa and rubbed my forehead with my fingers. Rakesh arrived and dismissed Nedan almost immediately. He walked over to me, the smell of smoke on his breath. He must have been training the fledglings. Without a word he scooped me up in his arms and sat me on his lap. Once again, I leaned into the soothing warmth of his body, and stroked the fine fur along his forearms.
“We have been offered help from both the Crown and the Council,” I murmered.
“Hmm.”
“We are right back where we started. Trapped between two powers who want us to help them eliminate the other.”
I felt weary just thinking about it.
“This time, Little Flame, we may have to make a choice,” he said.
“How?”
“Who do you trust the least?”
“With the Crown, it’s all political. For at least one of the members of the Council, it’s still very personal,” I said.
“Then we stick to your plan. We negotiate, and we rob the Council blind.”
“Using the Council’s information? A double cross?”
“They are offering to help us; we will use that help to set them up for a fall. Once the Crown has the upper hand, we will pressure them to stick to the terms of our agreement.”
“What terms?” I turned over in his arms and pressed my ear against his chest, listening to the strong, steady beating there.
“Protected status for the Et’em, the Kearney and the humans, and a return to Earth.”
I looked up at his face.
“Really?”
“Little Flame, I have never for one moment forgotten what I have promised you.”
“Will you come with me?”
His face looked grim, and he remained silent. I felt a cold tendril of dread wrap around my heart.
“Rakesh?”
“Diem, I am needed here. I cannot leave these people, my people—”
“Our people,” I corrected.
“Our people,” he agreed. “I cannot leave our people without a leader, and without protection. If I can get you back home and fulfill my promise to you, it is worth it, Little Flame.”
I buried my face in his chest. What could I say? It was everything that I ever asked for, wrapped up in a pretty little bow. But it was heartbreaking. Not just the idea of leaving Rakesh, but the idea of leaving Thano Mountain made my chest ache. The thought of being separated from the fledglings and the youth who often came to ask me shy questions or to see me convince my nanites to make my fingertips glow made it hard to breathe. All the stories of persecution and triumph that I’d heard from Naini Ma would come to an end. Leaving this place felt like a betrayal, but it was everything that I had been working for since I decided not to die on the Chronos.
It was a chance to save my planet and protect the people who had only recently become family. All I had to do was travel thousands of lightyears away and leave my heart here in this mountain.
“You are leaking,” Rakesh said.
“I can’t help it. My heart is breaking,” I wept.
“Neither can I.”
For the first time I heard his heart stutter in his chest, and I knew that I wouldn’t be the only one miserable, alone on their home planet. But this is the risk run when a dragon falls in love with a star.
Chapter Seven
“There is something I want to show you.” Rakesh’s rumbling voice woke me from my sleep. We’d been training all night, every night for the past ten nights. I was exhausted. Even with the enhancements from my nanites, I was finding it hard to keep up with the Kearney.
“No, let me sleep.”
“Quickly, Diem. You must come with me now. We won’t have time later.”
I heard what he didn’t say. We may never have time again. Today was to be the official meeting between myself and the Queen. D-day. The day we let all hell break loose in the capital.
He lifted me easily from the bed, and I curled into his body, holding on to the familiar warmth. I didn’t want to open my eyes. I didn’t want to move from this place. Everything would change today, one way or another. Despite spending so much time preparing, I wasn’t ready for it.
“There is a place I found a while ago. I want you to see it,” he said, moving quickly through the corridors of the sleeping mountain. In just a few hours, well-wishers would line up at our door to see us off as we headed to the capital. I would go to the palace, and Rakesh would take a team of well-trained soldiers to rescue our men back.
Neither of us will know for sure if we’ve been successful until we return to Thano.
I felt the air become hotter and more humid as we descended levels, lower and lower into the mountain. Finally, we dropped lower than I had ever ventured. The air was full of steam, and it gathered on my skin as water droplets.
I turned and finally opened my eyes, only to be greeted by the sight of a volcanic hot spring. Unlike the sulfur smell that accompanied the hot springs on earth, this one smelled like a campfire. The chamber seemed to be constructed of naturally occurring crystals of various hues. Despite the darkness of the mountain, they somehow seemed to glow.
“I found this when I was training the fledglings. P’tah says that the minerals in the water are good for your body, and the smell is pleasant.”
“Where is the light coming from?” I scrambled down from his arms and walked around the chamber, trying to discern the source of the light.
“It's a microbe that lives in the water. It is like you. It glows.”
“Then the light isn’t coming from the water alone.” I looked up in wonder. Every surface seemed to be glowing.
“The air is humid. The water vapor is everywhere,” he said with a shrug.
I looked at him and grinned like a silly kid. He licked his lips, letting the length of his tongue sweep up over the front of his nose before disappearing into his mouth. That distinctly feline gesture was incredibly sexy. Nobody else in the universe could turn me on with just a flick of their tongue. It reminded me that I didn’t want to spend what might be our last hours together fully clothed and talking about science.
“Do you like it?”
“I love it,” I said, wrapping my arms around his hips. He buried his wide, flat nose in my hair and breathed deeply.
“I am glad,” was all he said, though it felt like it was much more profound. I wriggled away from him and pulled the lightweight shift I’d been wearing up over my head. I dropped it to the ground and stepped into the hot water. It was nearly scalding, but my body adjusted quickly, causing my skin to emit a pulsing glow.
“What’s this?” he said, watching my skin pulse with light.
“Just my little buddies doing their job. You said the water here was good for me. Maybe they are finding a way to get what they need through the pores of my skin?”
He scowled and watched as I waded through the water.
“Why don’t you take off your clothes and come to examine me more closely,” I said, gliding to the far side of the pool.
Unsurprisingly, he did just that, shedding his clothes and marching into the water. His body sliced through the water with almost reptilian precision. Almost as if the water itself parted to let him through. When he drew close enough, I wrapped my legs around his waist and leaned back, leaving only my face and the tips of my nipples exposed to the air.
“You are trying to seduce me,” he grunted.
“No, I am succeeding at seducing you. There’s a subtle difference,” I corrected.
“Is now the right time for this?”
I looked up at his face. The lines and planes of his face seemed deeper over the last few weeks. Even his normally carefree manner of command had withered into a quiet stoicism. He wasn’t the kind of male to unload his worries or discuss his woes. He didn’t seek comfort or accept sympathy. But he wa
sn’t yet immune to my touch. Seducing him was one of the few things that I could do.
“Do we have more time?”
Pain sliced across his face, but he quickly recovered, arranging his features in the same immovable set that he’d been sporting for weeks.
“Don’t do that,” I snapped.
His blank stare was painful even to watch.
“Don’t shut me out. Talk to me.”
“I have no words, Little Flame. There are many things that I want to say to you, but I have no words,” Rakesh admitted, grasping my body by the waist and pulling me against his body.
I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, clinging to him like a monkey, wanting to fit myself into his chest cavity, beneath his skin.
“We don’t have to talk. Just be here with me. Don’t think about what happens next.”
He held me against his body as he moved through the labyrinth of chambers, deeper and deeper into the heart of the mountain. Each sparkling chamber was more dazzling than the one that preceded it. Finally, we found a large chamber where the water seemed to feed on an external source. The water was cooler, and the air was fresher. Rakesh flicked the tip of his tongue against my lips and grinned. It was so unexpected I almost cried out.
I bit him for his trouble, sinking my teeth into the soft flesh on his chest. The skin gave way, and thick, sweet droplets of blood met my tongue. I jumped back, terrified by what I’d done. I’d never drawn blood before.
He caught me by the calf and pulled me back, his eyelids heavy with desire.
“You couldn’t hurt me, Little Flame. Not even if you wanted to,” he said softly. I pushed against him. The sight of my teeth marks on his skin made me sick to my stomach. More horrifying was the fact that I wasn’t grossed out by the taste of him on my tongue. The tip of it felt electric.
“I bit you,” I said weakly.
“I have been bitten by worse things than you,” he said, rubbing his face in my hair.
“I’ve never been able to break the skin like that.”
“You aren’t what you used to be.” His hands soothed the tension out of my body, his fingers dancing along my waist, hips, and thighs.
“I’m barely human anymore.” I still wasn’t sure how to feel about that fact. After longing to be back home, amongst my people again, I wasn’t even sure if I was still one of them.
“You are more than just that, Diem. You are the center of my universe,” he growled into my ear. The sound vibrated through my body. His breathing was heavy and ragged. His lips fluttered against my skin like a butterfly’s wings. It was the sweetest kind of torture.
I wrapped my legs around his hips as he slowly guided my body down the length of his shaft. I gasped as he filled me, slowly this time.
“You are my mate, Diem. There will never be another one like you. I will never sire a child without you.”
I clung to his shoulders, and he began to move strongly in my body. This time, there was no need for the stinging barbs along his thighs. His voice in my ear and his taste on my tongue were enough to ignite my fire.
The sound of my own muffled cries echoed strangely off of the crystals and seemed to amplify the lust racing in my veins. His cock skewered me like a hot iron rod, burning through my body repeatedly. I wept as the tightness in my chest and the pleasure in my body collided and swept me over the edge. I felt him spill his seed inside me; the warm fizzing sensation seemed anticlimactic this time. This time could very well be the last time for us. It was almost a shame that nothing could come of it.
By the time we left the caverns, the mountain was starting to rouse. He shifted into his dragon form, and we flew back to our home, letting the people of Thano Mountain catch one last glimpse of us before we departed. Meck, Detack, Nedan, and Puva were already assembled and waiting for us. Mora stood behind Puva, her eyes cast downward, the Kearney crest on her shoulder.
“Why is she here?”
“She will be our guide into the palace, Sava,” Puva said meekly.
“Why?”
“She—”
I held up my hand to silence Puva.
“Not you! I am asking her. Why would we trust you?”
Mora lifted her head slowly. Nearly all the foolish arrogance and pride that she’d worn on her face when we first met had been drained away. So too was her buffed and polished appearance. I’d heard that Puva had set her lover to work with the young fledglings and in the agriculture levels. It was grueling and dirty work. But I knew that it was also satisfying. Watching things grow often had a way of shifting your perspective. Were a few weeks of caring for small children and harvesting fields enough to beat the elitist programming out of one such as her? And more importantly, was I willing to put that theory to the test on a day like today?
“I have found something nobler to serve.”
“And what is that?”
“Life, Sava. Unrestricted, uninhibited, unrepentant life. You have it here. We don’t know it and have no respect for it in the Empire. I am not turning against the Empire. I am fighting for it. I want every corner of the empire to have what you have here; a real life,” she said. The strength of her convictions flashed brightly in her eyes.
“Take her,” Rakesh added. “She will make getting into the palace easier.” I turned to meet his eyes and, as if I could hear his thoughts in my head, I understood his meaning.
Use her, but do not trust her.
Each one of us wore a bodysuit made of tiny, black, metal disks woven together. I was unsure of exactly how they worked, but they were designed to withstand fire and most forms of weaponry. Even blades would be nearly useless against them. It was heavy against my skin but didn’t impede my movement. I wore another long tunic and wide legged pants in the same brilliant green and blue that had become my signature style. The high collar hid the neck of the armor, and the customized holsters put my blades at my fingertips at all times. Rakesh gave me soft skin boots that he promised were not made of dragon scales, although they looked as though they were.
He would be leading the raids while I went into the palace to “negotiate.” I would take Puva and Nedan. He would take Meck and Detack. Somehow, I felt safer knowing that they were with him. That seemed stupid, but love had fully fried my brain long ago. I accepted that.
As we made our way through the levels of the mountain, many people came out to watch. Some wept. Some shouted encouraging words. On each level it seemed that we picked up members of the teams. As our numbers began to swell our footsteps began to sync, creating a soft thumping sound. By the time we reached the uppermost levels of the mountain, we had grown into an army, and our footfalls was a deathly drum beat.
Luminatas met us at the gates. She looked radiant and exhausted, as if she couldn’t sleep from excitement.
“Is there anything that you would like to say to the people?”
She looked back and forth between Rakesh and myself, her face hopeful and expectant. Rakesh remained silent and still. I understood him. There was nothing he could say that would transform this moment into anything but a tragedy for him. What could he say?
“Tell them that we will return,” I said softly.
Tears filled Luminatas’ eyes, and she nodded.
“Yes, Mother,” she said, sinking gracefully to the floor and prostrating herself in front of me. I still wasn’t okay with that gesture, but I didn’t stop her. Instead, I touched her head and walked past her.
I boarded the tiny transport ship that Puva was to pilot down the mountain. It was old, but like almost everything in Thano, it was repurposed into a fighter.
I watched silently as the bay doors opened and Puva maneuvered the tiny ship out of the mountain and into the brilliant red sky. I didn’t allow myself to look back at Rakesh. The sight of his strong back, standing tall as he inspected his soldiers, would be the last memory I would have of him until he returned to Thano. And I believed that he would. I had to. I couldn’t go on with this plan if I thought otherwise.
&nb
sp; Chapter Eight
Nothing about the palace had changed. The large gates were just as impressive as they were the first time I saw them. So too was the image of the palace’s spiraling spires in the sky at one end of the city, and the Council’s towers at the other. And yet, everything had changed. The last time, I was summoned as a subject of the Crown. Now I came as a guest, a spy, a saboteur. Where once, all I could think of was my weakness, I was now hoping to exploit theirs. That first visit seemed like a lifetime ago.
How many months had passed since my last visit? I couldn’t even recall.
“It's important to keep them talking without interruption for as long as you can,” Mora explained. “As long as the Queen is speaking, most of her aides won’t dare to barge in and interrupt, even if there is urgent news. You may only be able to hold the news back for a few minutes, but every minute counts.”
I grabbed Mora’s hand and looked her in the eyes.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because…” she hesitated.
I squeezed her arm tighter. She grimaced with pain and then touched the tip of her tongue to her lip before speaking.
“Because there is no place for me in the Empire as it is. What I feel,” she glanced at Puva, “could get me sent to a re-education camp. If I dared to live as I wanted, all my offspring would die. I know that you think we do not care for our offspring. Perhaps our familial bonds aren’t as strong as those on your planet. But they still matter to us.”
“So?”
“So, if I help you, perhaps there will be a place for me among the Kearney, and one day, hope for my offspring.”
I nodded and released her arm. She rubbed the spot softly but didn’t whimper about it. Far from it, he seemed relieved that I only went that far. It occurred to me that she might have seen much worse in the palace. I felt like an asshole. I was stronger than I thought, but that didn’t give me the right to go around hurting people.
“Okay, you lead the way.”
We departed the tiny shuttle and were met by a mostly silent party of guards. There was no fanfare or pleasantries aside from a curt “this way” from what looked like the Troitek equivalent of a butler. They led us into the palace and to the top of one of the towers that seemed to pierce the sky itself.
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