This would have been helpful information two years ago when Chandar was first entrusted to his keeping. “I was never told that you—” Her nails pushed deeper and he cried out as pain throbbed from the wounds.
“Don’t lie to me,” she sneered. “I know Quinton told you she was my daughter.”
Awkwardly licking his lips, he scrambled for a justification. Quinton had assured him that Chandar was his to play with as he wished. Why had Pyre waited so long to object? “You allowed the placement. I didn’t realize you had an interest in the girl.”
“She’s my daughter. Why wouldn’t I be interested in her treatment?”
If her dreams had only just warned her of Chandar’s mistreatment, Pyre wasn’t nearly as powerful as she wanted people to think. It was a fascinating realization, but Akim wasn’t sure how to use it to his advantage. “She will be treated with respect from this day forth.”
“Meaning she was not treated with respect during the past two years?” Her nails dug in again and blood trickled down his neck.
“She is extremely stubborn. At times certain motivations were necessary to gain her cooperation.”
For a long, tense moment she just glared at him. Then her grip eased, though she didn’t pull her hand back. “Harbingers are purified through fire. A time of testing is unavoidable. The intensity of the trials is different for everyone. However, if my dreams have engaged, Chandar’s time of testing is nearing its end.”
As long as Chandar told him how to find the Crusader before she returned to Rodymia, Akim could live with the outcome. For the most part, Chandar had been more trouble than she was worth. And if Pyre had only sketchy knowledge of the abuse Chandar had endured during her captivity, Akim would make damn sure it stayed that way. There were several ways to scrub memories. He just needed to find out which technique was least damaging to a harbinger.
Determined to deescalate the argument, he whispered, “I understand, mistress.”
She shoved him back, her expression still hostile. “If there is any lasting damage because of your carelessness, your life is forfeit.”
Before he could decide whether to assure or confront her, she simply disappeared.
* * * * *
Raina fidgeted on one of the padded benches in the contemplation cube, waiting for Ashley to begin her tale. “Just spit it out. We’re on a spaceship. What could be more unbelievable than that?”
Accepting the suggestion with a nod, Ashley began, “There are three inhabited planets in their star system, Rodymia, Bilarri and Ontariese.”
Raina shot to her feet and planted her fists on her hips, glaring at her soon-to-be-former best friend. “That’s not funny.”
“It wasn’t meant to be funny.” Ashley seemed genuinely confused, but Raina was too angry to care. She needed facts, not manipulative half-truths designed to placate her.
“I have no idea how you got a hold of Mimi’s journals, but using those names doesn’t make this easier to accept.”
Ashley pushed to her feet, confusion still twisting her expression. “What journals? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Seriously? You’re going to play dumb now? I don’t care how carefully Bandar and his buddies constructed this story. I’m not gullible enough to—”
“Raina.” Urgency snapped through Ashley’s voice, focusing Raina on Ashley’s face. “I don’t understand why you’re angry. Who is Mimi and what did I say that pissed you off?”
Uncertainty swept through Raina, speeding her pulse and weakening her knees. “You don’t have Mimi’s journals?”
“No. I don’t even know who Mimi is.”
Raina hesitated. Paranoia wasn’t usually one of her faults, but today was anything but usual. “Mimi is my grandmother.”
“And what made you think they have her journals?”
She saw no reason Ashley would play such a cruel trick on her. Still, if they didn’t have the journals, the implications were even harder to accept. “My grandmother was eccentric, to say the least. Her doctors said it was a form of dementia and encouraged Mom to have her moved to a supervised facility. But Mimi was harmless. She functioned perfectly except for the wild stories she told anyone who’d listen and the fact that she insisted every word of the stories was true.”
Tears filled Ashley’s eyes and she hurriedly blinked them back. “Let me guess, your grandmother thought she’d been visited by aliens?”
“Oh, she was much more creative than that. Mimi insisted she’d been kidnapped by an alien warrior who kept her prisoner for over a year. According to Mimi, this warrior was my grandfather.”
Ashley crossed her arms over her chest, looking sad and…guilty? How strange. Why would Mimi’s delusions upset Ashley? “Why didn’t you ever mention this to me?” Hidden meaning hung on every word, but Raina was too agitated to decode Ashley’s mood.
“Mimi died before I met you. Why would I air her dirty laundry? She had a heart of gold, but we all knew she was crazy.”
“Your grandmother wasn’t crazy.” Ashley motioned to the simulated forest surrounding them. “Aliens really do exist.”
Torn between excitement and dread, Raina returned to the bench and sat down. “You said the planets in their star system are Rodymia, Bilarri and Ontariese. Is that really true?”
“Yes.” She paused as if waiting for Raina to accept the fact. “The men on this ship are from Rodymia. They’re called Rodytes.”
“Do the rings in their eyes come in different colors?” It should have been a bizarre question, but Ashley didn’t seem surprised.
“Yes. Bandar’s are gold, but the most common color is blue.”
Raina shook her head, her heart aching for her grandmother. “Poor Mimi. Everyone loved her enough to indulge her, but no one believed a word she said.” Raina had only been eleven when Mimi passed away, but even she had dismissed Mimi’s stories. And her journals were even more fantastic. “Mimi claimed to be a ‘sanctioned historian’. She said her journals detailed crucial events for the past hundred years. She insisted that once the record was complete, she’d submit it to the Symposium so the information could be entered into the Wisdom of the Ages. If she wasn’t crazy, how much of that is true?”
“I don’t know.” Ashley finger-combed her hair back from her face. “We need Bandar.”
Mimi’s stories began to echo through Raina’s memory, odd details that had never made sense before. “She told me her warrior had long dark hair and a ring of blue fire in his eyes. I always pictured Conan the Barbarian. I can’t believe…” She shook her head, feeling horribly guilty. “No one believed her. No one. Mom’s a lawyer, so she doesn’t believe anything without tangible proof, but what about the rest of us? My aunt and cousin. Why didn’t anyone even consider that her stories might be true?”
Ashley reached over and squeezed her shoulder. “No one believed me either. I saw my father with Rodytes two different times and everyone said I was a hysterical teen. I spent years in therapy as people tried to convince me I hadn’t seen what I knew I’d seen.”
No wonder Ashley had responded to Mimi’s struggles. They were kindred spirits, burdened with the same unbelievable truth. “I wish she was still alive. She must have been so frustrated. And so alone.”
A portion of the forest scene parted and Bandar stood there, looking fierce and powerful in a black-and-gold uniform. Even in jeans and a pullover, he hadn’t looked quite human. He moved farther into the room and the door slid closed behind him, restoring the simulation. His hair was dark and wavy, like Kotto’s, but the rings in Bandar’s eyes were gold rather than purple. Did the color signify something or was it simple genetics like human eye color?
“What’s wrong?” His gaze swept over Ashley as he crossed the room. “I sensed your urgency.”
They could sense each other? Raina looked from Bandar to Ashley and back. Or was Bandar empathic?
“I don’t think this qualifies as wrong,” Ashley told him, “but it’s definitely strange.�
�
“I’d like you to answer a couple of questions before Ashley says any more.” Raina drew his attention, not wanting Ashley to coach him.
“All right.” He clasped his hands behind his back and pivoted to face her.
Damn the man was tall and handsome. It was easy to see why human females fell for these guys. “What is the ruler of your planet called?”
“The title or the current ruler’s name?”
“The title.”
“Rodymia is ruled by a crown stirate.”
Ashley smiled and hope shone in her eyes. “Was that the title your grandmother used?”
Raina nodded then looked at Bandar again. “Is there an organization that maintains information for your star system, a sort of central data base or archive?”
“Are you asking about the Symposium?”
“Unbelievable.” Raina rubbed her eyes before adding, “And they maintain the Wisdom of the Ages?”
“Yes.” He glanced at Ashley. “Did you tell her about this?”
Raina didn’t wait for Ashley’s reply. “Apparently my grandmother was a sanctioned historian.”
Intense interest gleamed in his eyes and he moved closer. “Do you have her journals? Information like that could be extremely important to us.”
She’d tossed the title out there, curious to see how he’d react. Mimi had referred to herself by the title, but it didn’t appear in the journals. If this was an elaborate hoax based on the journal entries, he wouldn’t have known what the title meant.
Which left one devastating alternative. Mimi’s stories were true and her journals documented actual events. Regret rushed through Raina, leaving her cold and shaken. Her grandmother had died knowing that no one in her life believed her and most thought she was a harmless lunatic. It was so damn sad Raina couldn’t even find the strength to cry. She just felt empty and cruel.
Bandar started to say something, but Ashley shook her head and placed her hand on his thick forearm. “Give her a minute.”
Raina couldn’t change the past, but Mimi had just earned herself a champion. Raina had been too young to defend her in life, which made Raina more determined to defend her now. If the information in Mimi’s journals was as important as Bandar said, Raina would need to know these Rodytes a whole lot better before she’d trust them with Mimi’s secrets.
“I don’t know if the journals are still around,” she lied as she pushed to her feet. She felt vulnerable with him looming over her. “Mom was torn between destroying them and preserving them for future generations. I’m not sure which side won out.”
“Were the entries forwarded to the Symposium?” Bandar asked, obviously disappointed by her answer.
“I don’t think so. Mimi’s death was sudden and Mom never took her seriously.” She shook her head and felt a fresh pang of guilt as she admitted, “None of us took her seriously.”
“Can you find out what happened to the journals?”
His persistency was understandable, but she refused to be pressured. “I can, but I’m not sure I will. Why does Earth need to be involved in your war? We have plenty of conflicts on our planet.” They faced off, so Ashley stood as well, standing at their sides like a referee.
“Sanctioned historian is a Bilarrian title,” Bandar told Raina. “Was your grandmother a war bride?”
“I don’t know what that is.”
“From what you told me earlier, it’s likely she was.” Ashley drew her attention away from Bandar. “What did Mimi tell you about the war?”
“Why don’t we sit down?” Bandar spoke several words Raina didn’t understand and the benches rearranged. They now formed small groupings that allowed visitors to face each other and interact. Bandar motioned to the grouping nearest them and Raina sat. He chose the bench across from her and, after a short hesitation, Ashley sat beside Raina.
Raina appreciated the gesture, but she wasn’t fooled. There was no doubt in her mind whose side Ashley was really on.
“What did she tell you about the war?” Ashley prompted after a moment of tense silence.
She’d always found Mimi’s stories imaginative and fascinating. It felt so strange to think of them as anything other than entertaining yarns. “It started over magic. Bilarrians had it and Rodytes didn’t. I never understood how blasting the hell out of each other would allow Rodytes to attain something they hadn’t had in the first place, but war as a whole makes little sense to me.”
“There’s no doubt she was Bilarrian,” Bandar muttered. “Or at least learned history from a Bilarrian.”
“Where’d she go wrong? Why don’t you explain it from the Rodyte perspective,” Raina suggested.
He seemed happy to oblige. “Rodymian life began on Bilarri. We were all one people before greed and the hunger for power tore our people in two.”
“If you guys debate every facet of ancient history, we’re going to be here for weeks,” Ashley cut in. “Can we agree that the primary focus of the war was the Rodyte struggle to regain magic?”
According to Mimi, the Rodytes had been attempting to gain magic not re-gain it, but Raina was willing to let the distinction slide. “Did kidnaping helpless women have something to do with that ‘struggle’?”
Bandar laughed, but his features were tense, his gaze smoldering with resentment. “Let me make a couple of things clear before we go any further. The battle born are repelled by the practice of war brides and the ultimate goal of our rebellion is to permanently defuse the conflict between Rodymia and Bilarri without further bloodshed. Despise my ancestors all you like, but judge me by my actions.”
It might be better to focus on the present. The events described in Mimi’s journals were complex and convoluted. And if Raina’s interaction with Bandar so far was any indication, he’d disagree with many of the details. “What does battle born mean? Commander Kotto used the title too, but his explanation didn’t make much sense.”
“It’s Commander Tarr,” Ashley told her. “Kotto is his first name and it’s probably best if you don’t use it unless he gives you permission.”
“He’s Bandar’s boss?” She wasn’t sure why she kept provoking him. It wasn’t like her at all and he hadn’t done anything to deserve her annoyance. Well, he was responsible for Ashley’s involvement in this mess, so he was ultimately responsible for her being dragged into it. Or was he? Hadn’t Mimi been involved long before Raina met Ashley?
“Kotto commands this ship,” Bandar admitted, “but I’m not part of his crew.”
“Bandar is on special assignment, so he answers directly to General Nox,” Ashley clarified.
Ashley’s tone made the general sound impressive. Still, rather than asking her to elaborate, Raina digressed. “What does battle born mean?”
“The offspring of a war bride and her captor is called battle born.” He still sounded grumpy, but his expression was starting to relax.
“If your grandmother was from Bilarri, as we suspect, then your mother is battle born.” Raina scooted forward on the bench and angled her body so she could more easily look at Ashley.
“I don’t think she was Bilarrian.” In fact, the journal entries confirmed that she was human and explained how she had become a sanctioned historian. Still, Raina wasn’t quite ready to share every detail she knew. “Why would Mimi tell everyone she’d been kidnapped by an alien, but not admit she was an alien herself?”
“If it was obvious no one believed her, she probably tried to minimize their ridicule.” If anyone could accurately guess Mimi’s motivation, it was Ashley.
“Did Mimi ever talk about her parents?” Bandar asked.
Raina shook her head. “And all Mom ever said was they lived on a farm.”
“Your grandmother’s history isn’t detailed in her journals?” Bandar sounded surprised.
“Not the ones I read.” It was utter nonsense. One entire volume was dedicated to Mimi’s life. It even detailed her capture and captivity. Raina was anxious to revisit the stories now that sh
e knew they weren’t just fanciful tales.
Bandar looked at Ashley as the conversation lapsed. Bird calls and the rustle of leaves drew Raina’s attention back to the simulation. It was easy to forget she wasn’t actually sitting in a secluded forest somewhere on Earth.
After a long pause, Bandar scooted to the edge of his bench and rested his forearm across his knee. The slightly bent position should have been awkward, but somehow he pulled it off. “We really need to see those journals.”
“And I really need to understand why the battle born have come to Earth. I will not do anything that endangers humans.”
“Neither would we,” Bandar stressed.
“I don’t know that. I don’t know you.”
“You know me,” Ashley pointed out, her expression almost pleading.
“Or I did before he got his hands on you. The Ashley I know would never turn her back on her life’s work, even for someone who looks like him. You’ve worked too hard and your work is too important to you.”
“My work was important and I enjoyed it immensely, but—”
“It’s all in the past now?” The more Ashley talked the more she sounded like a brainwashed groupie. “You’ve known him for a matter of weeks. How was he able to redefine your entire existence in less than a month?”
Before Ashley could respond the door opened and Kotto strode into the room. “Leave us.” His gaze was fixed on Raina, so the order must have been for the other two.
“I think it would be wiser—”
He turned on Bandar with fire in his eyes. “Raina is being recruited for my mission, which makes her my responsibility. Your involvement is no longer needed.”
Bandar stood, his expression every bit as fierce as Kotto’s “You asked my mate for assistance, so you’re stuck with me.”
My mate? Raina’s gaze flew to Ashley, but Ashley was looking at the men. Bandar considered Ashley his mate? Did Ashley feel the same?
“Your strategy was unsuccessful. Now leave. If you have a grievance regarding me, take it up with Raylon.”
Ashley’s panicked expression made Raina’s heart beat even faster. Would they really leave her at the mercy of this man? Bandar was intimidating but mostly civilized. Kotto seemed savage.
Forsaken Page 4
