TALON (RIBUS 7 Book 4)

by Shae Mills

  “Well, if you bond with Talon, as I said, then she can no longer be trouble. If you feel threatened, then as Empress, you could order her to the ends of the galaxy.”

  Chelan really didn’t want to order anyone to the ends of the galaxy, for any reason. She just wanted peace. Then her eyes lit up.

  Lethiason almost cringed. “Dare I ask what is going through your mind?”

  “If Talon and I marry, could he take her as his consort?”

  Lethiason recoiled. “Why, by the stars, pray tell, would you want that?”

  “Then I could have all the advantages of being by Talon’s side without the physical commitment.”

  Lethiason sighed. “Do you really think the man would go for that? He wants this marriage in its entirety. On and off the battlefield, Talon is an honorable man. He would never take a lover.”

  Chelan gave Lethiason a lopsided frown. “Well, it was worth the thought.”

  Lethiason shook his head at her. Then he touched her shoulder gently. “Anyway, my Lady, I must leave. I have my work cut out for me trying to somehow delay our good Lord’s presentation of you.”

  “I appreciate that, Lethiason. You have my undying gratitude.”

  Lethiason nodded to her and then took his leave. Chelan stood, suddenly rendered even more uneasy by her decision. Talon was not long on temper, and with her luck, she had just started out her new life on the wrong foot.

  *****

  Dinner hour arrived and ended, but Talon did not return. Finally, as evening merged into night, Chelan retired to her quarters, his continued absence unsettling her further. But there was nothing she could do about any of it now.

  She prepared for bed and then huddled down into the blankets, her mind weary. Suddenly, her doors opened, and she sat up, clutching a blanket to her chest. She took several faint breaths and tried to remain calm as she watched the ominous shroud approach her.

  When he reached the side of the bed, Talon removed his hood. “Why did you choose not to attend?” he asked sternly.

  Chelan’s mouth dried. “At first, I thought it was just a simple meal, but then Lethiason said you would present me. I was just not ready for that. Even after all this time, we hardly know each other on a personal level. I don’t even know your customs or expectations pertaining to our new arrangement. And through it all, I wanted our first night together to be quiet, one spent alone, speaking of our expectations of one another.”

  Talon’s brows rose, and Chelan continued quickly. “Besides, when I accepted your offers, you seemed less than enthused. I did not know what to make of the whole exchange.”

  Talon stared down at her for a moment longer. Then he whirled around and headed for the doors. Chelan’s jaw dropped. “Where are you going?”

  But he did not stop. Chelan jumped from the bed, ripping off a sheet and wrapping herself in it as she ran after him. She caught up to him at the door and stepped in front of him, blocking his retreat. “Where are you going?” she insisted.

  Talon glared down at her. “To my quarters.”

  Chelan looked side to side in confusion. “But… but why?”

  “Because, little one, if you are not willing to accept my role with my men, you are not ready or able to accept me. It is a matter of respect. My officers and my job are an integral part of who I am. We come as one.”

  Chelan hugged the sheet to her breasts. “I understand that. But you forced this introduction on me so fast. In essence, you also fail to respect me,” she whispered. “You failed to take my feelings into account.”

  He took several deep and restrained breaths. “Regardless, I cannot waste my time on any half-hearted, fickle allegiances or excuses you may have conjured up. I think you made your decision hastily and not because of the desire to be all you can be to me.” And he stepped around her.

  Chelan whirled about. “That is completely untrue! I have agonized over this decision for what seems like an eternity.”

  Talon turned and scowled at her. “So, it was such a distasteful decision to make that you had to agonize over it?”

  “That is not fair! You damn well know of my past devotions. And you damn well remember what you did to everyone I ever loved, all in the throes of war. If you think that I can simply sweep that all away and fly into your arms on a whim, you are a fool!”

  Talon approached her in a flurry of ebony. “I force nothing on you any longer! Not my officers, not my position, and certainly not my offer to be all to you. From this point on, you are free. Completely!”

  Chelan gasped. She watched as he strode through the Command Center and was gone. She stood stock-still for a long time, her thoughts plying through her options at light speed. She had made a terrible mistake, and that mistake was accepting him. Suddenly, everything fell into place with a clarity that made her smile. There was a solution to all that plagued her, and why she had not thought of it before baffled her.

  She turned and ran to her bedside, throwing on her uniform and shroud. Carefully, she sheathed Fremma’s knives. Then, as calmly as she could, she left the Command Center and entered Lethiason’s chambers. She had seen where he kept extra weapons, and she helped herself to two small lazguns. From the food dispensary, she took a large supply of dried nutrients and added that to her shroud too.

  Returning to the Command Center, she picked up a few other supplies and then strode to the consoles. She called up schedules for shuttles leaving the Palace, along with the rosters for security fly-bys. Finally, she checked the evening’s weather reports, filing away all the information she needed in her head. She had her freedom, and she was taking it. She looked at the time for the next shuttle, and she simply left.

  *****

  Chelan stepped off the transport in Satanya, thankful that Talon had been true to his word. Security had not impeded her departure. So much for Lethiason’s conjecture that she was Talon’s weak spot! Obviously, she was not as important to the man as the officer thought. And that suited her just fine.

  She took a brief look around the familiar port and struck out on her own. At the edge of the Dead Zone, she waited for the security fly-by to pass and then started out at a fast trot. A handheld coordinator directed her with pinpoint accuracy, while a special face shield protected her eyes and lungs from the cold. Minutes turned into hours, her pace slowing only long enough for her to drink and refuel. Finally, she stopped. She scanned the black horizon as she replenished her oxygen. Months in the pool had lifted her aerobic capacity to an all-time high, and her thirty-kilometer trek into the Dead Zone had been relatively effortless.

  Chelan looked at the sensors and then about her. Somewhere beneath her feet was the cavern entrance she knew so well. The cavern had been home before, and now it was going to be home again. “To hell with you, Talon, and your whole damn Empire!” she shouted to the obsidian sky. She glanced once again at the sensor, pointed her lazgun to the ground, and fired.

  After several tries, she detected an area where the thick ice reflected blue in the lazgun light. She blasted the area again and again, careful to adjust the setting every time, making sure that any accumulated water on the lens vaporized. Then, there it was—the opening. Chelan smiled and walked up to the edge of the small hole. Iceanean night was fully upon her, so with the aid of a small handheld light, she began her careful descent into the optically active tunnel.

  Chelan couldn’t tell if the lens had been breached over the years since she had been gone, but the notches she had painstakingly chipped out so long ago were still there, allowing her to descend in relative safety. Once at the base of the rock ice interface, she sat down to relax and wait for the morning light. She rested her head on her knees and smiled. “Home,” she whispered.

  *****

  Talon paced the Command Center. He had returned the following morning to talk things out with his little charge, realizing that he had allowed his irascible temperament to get in the way of logical thought processes, but she was gone.

  “She has vanished,” Leth
iason said as he continued to search the Palace perimeters.

  Talon rubbed his hands through his hair. “Damn,” he mumbled.

  Lethiason frowned. “I don’t know what you said to her, my Lord, but she is really gone.” Talon crossed his arms and hung his head. Lethiason studied him. “She simply wanted you to herself, my Lord. She still did not know you well. Knowing little of our marital customs, she had no idea that she was about to be presented. She wanted to experience you unrattled by public scrutiny.”

  Talon turned his back on his officer. “I know that now. I was just taken aback by her apparent rejection of the formalities surrounding our bond. She had accepted her role as Empress, yet it seemed like she was trying to stall her induction.”

  Lethiason stepped up to the Emperor. “She still knows little of our protocols and customs. Rejection was the last thing on her mind. She was simply overwhelmed.”

  Talon started to speak, but they were interrupted by another officer. “My Lord! Flight Deck One reports that she left last night. She headed straight for Satanya, but there is nothing more on her there.”

  Lethiason and Talon’s eyes met. Talon looked back at the reporting officer. “Get a battleship up now,” Talon ordered. “Set sensors for her. Find her immediately.”

  “Yes, my Lord.”

  Talon turned to Lethiason. “Why Satanya?”

  Lethiason shrugged. “No idea, Sire. Maybe she once knew of someone there.”

  Talon sat down heavily. He rubbed at his brow in silence. Then he looked up at Lethiason, his voice soft and low. “I treated her as a prisoner for so long that I never really knew how to treat her otherwise. Though I kept her captive here for well over one of her Earth years, I know so little about her and her ways.”

  Lethiason watched him carefully. “You must know her well enough to want her by your side.”

  Talon smiled weakly. “You do not have to know her very well, my good man, to be swept up by her intelligence, her beauty, and her gentle ways.”

  Lethiason’s eyes lit at his opportunity. “Gentle ways, hey? I understand she was not so gentle once.”

  Talon smiled as his hand rubbed over his arm. “She appears to have many hidden strengths and talents, her lethality one among many.” He sighed. “I sought to discover more, but it seems I may have forfeited my chance.”

  Lethiason took a deep and uneasy breath. “We will find her, my Lord. We have to.”

  *****

  The two men sat in the Command Center and watched the incoming data scroll by. But as the hours passed away, their spirits sank along with their hopes. When the last of the reports were in, the two sat in silence and stared at one another.

  Finally, Talon stood and resumed his pacing, his frustration festering. “This is inconceivable. She has no fighter training. And she could not have left the planet via a transport. Though I released her to Iceanea, I gave no order allowing her to leave the planet.”

  Lethiason’s finger tapped on the arm of the chair while he thought. “Could she simply be shielded?”

  Talon stared up at the ceiling. “Unlikely. Ice, maybe. If sensor angles missed—” He broke off, and his eyes widened. “Her destination was not Satanya. It was the Dead Zone!”

  Lethiason eyed him skeptically. “Why would she choose such a fate? That would be madness.”

  Talon sat down at the Command console. “Maybe not. Where are the Empire’s files pertaining to the Ticees incident?”

  Lethiason put his fingers in motion. “Buried in the archives, undoubtedly. But we will find them if they were not destroyed during the takeover.”

  Both men worked, breaking old codes and tracking down old data. Eventually, the reports were before them, and they sat back and began to read. Talon set his jaw. “Ticees deserved to die,” he commented dryly.

  Lethiason felt his blood run cold, but he read on. “She told us she lived in the Dead Zone for years, living off the Batex. Her life there was so primitive.”

  Talon nodded. “Here it is about Shan. Was he not with Toran? I seem to recall that association now.”

  Lethiason nodded. “He was good too. Pity about him and the child.”

  Talon had read enough. “Where are the coordinates of those bloody caverns? I need them now!”

  “They have to be in the documents somewhere. Here! Here they are. I will have a contingency of fighters ready within minutes, my Lord. We can—”

  “No!” interjected Talon forcefully as he stilled himself. “What am I thinking? I gave her all her options and her freedom. I will not obtrude upon her decision.”

  Lethiason’s mouth fell open. “But, Sire—”

  Talon jumped to his feet. “No! She has made her wishes clear. I refuse to interfere with that.”

  Lethiason scrambled to his feet and faced Talon directly. “But Sire, she may perish.”

  Talon sidestepped his man. “Then so be it.”

  Lethiason’s eyes widened. “Then, Sire, may I be permitted—”

  Talon whirled around in a rage. “No! You may not retrieve her for yourself! Nor may you check on her welfare. Her fate is in her hands alone.” His voice lowered. “Besides, she distracts me dangerously.”

  Lethiason was stunned. He wondered if he dare speak again and risk further inflaming the Emperor. Squaring his shoulders, he took a deep breath. “I thought you loved her.”

  A sinister grin crept across Talon’s face. “You assume much, my man. I have never professed such.”

  Lethiason ground his teeth. “You have just condemned her to a life of isolation and eternal hardship.”

  Talon’s eyes burned. “I accept no such responsibility! She left on her own accord. She chooses a life alone.”

  Lethiason clenched his fists. “Probably a better life than one here with you,” he seethed under his breath.

  Talon stepped toward him, his anger barely confinable. “You dare to question my intentions toward her?”

  “Yes,” Lethiason stated defiantly. “You offer her your hand one minute, and the next, you toss her away like so much garbage!”

  Talon became very still, his voice deep and dangerous. “I have an Empire to command. I cannot afford the time or the effort to second-guess an alien and her capricious whims! I offered her what any woman in the galaxy would jump at, yet she chose otherwise. Therefore, she leaves me no choice but to abide by her wish.”

  “She does not know what she wants!”

  “Then leave her alone to figure it out!”

  “She may not live long enough to figure it out!”

  Talon took a step backward, his muscles betraying his tumultuous state. “You will remain within the confines of the Palace indefinitely. Should you disobey any of my orders and attempt to contact her, it will be your life that is short. Do you understand?”

  Lethiason set his jaw. “Yes, my Lord.”

  Talon turned away and left the Command Center. Winded, Lethiason slumped into his seat and held his head in his hands. Things were going neither well nor as planned. He needed to get Chelan back, but now he was confined to the Palace and, undoubtedly, relieved of his duties. If he disobeyed, his death was assured, and with that, all would be lost. He could only wait, but for how long, he did not know.

  Chapter 17

  Chelan awoke to the dim morning light. She looked around the rock ice interface, its familiarity tugging at her heart. Here, so many years ago, a storm had mercifully deposited her bruised and broken body in this cavern, sheltering and healing her. It was also here that she had tended Shan, bringing his lifeless body back to its former majesty. And it was here that Korba had rescued her from the jaws of death. All of it was so long ago.

  Chelan felt tears well in her eyes. The caverns were of the old Empire alone, untouched and uncontaminated by the new. Here, she had always been safe. Here, she had been loved by Shan, comforted in his arms and shielded by his body. And now it was here she would begin again, alone but safe—as safe from Talon as she had been from Ticees.

  Ch
elan shuddered as a pit formed in her stomach. She instantly regretted her last thought. Her perception of the two men had changed over time, coming almost full circle. Now, she understood that Talon was nothing like Ticees. Talon, though a tyrant in the beginning, had become her savior. Ticees had always been a demon, and he had acted in his capacity as her superior, manipulating her and inevitably raping her brutally, an act never contemplated by Talon.

  Chelan took a deep and shaky breath. She squinted into the blackness of her shroud. She had actually begun to care for the man, and maybe that was the real reason she had left. Guilt, in the end, had probably solidified her final choice—guilt over caring for the man who had killed her beloved Warlords and her precious child. Though she knew that she was being unfair to herself in the long run, somehow seeking a life alone gave her solace. While Fremma, Dar, Korba, and her son floated in oblivion, it was neither appropriate nor honorable for her to languish in the company of their executioner.

  Chelan closed her eyes and nearly choked on her tears, shaken by sobs rooted in sorrow so deep over her lost loves that she feared drowning. Isolation would be her comforting salvation. Besides, it was fitting that she remain alone. She had lost all who had touched and nurtured her, and in a way, leaving Talon and Lethiason seemed almost preordained.

  Chelan curled up in a tight ball of anguish, and as time dragged on, a deep and healing sleep overtook her. It was pity’s way of calming her and preparing her for an eternity on her own.

  *****

  When Chelan next awoke, she was shivering, and she scampered to her feet. She scolded herself for resting so close to the surface, and she scuttled quickly down into the cavern. Sitting against the rock wall, she rubbed herself vigorously and began to warm. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the cavern air, the scent infused with mineral-laden memories. Then she looked around her and smiled at the beauty that abounded. It was as she had left it, untouched by time or intrusion. The shimmering pool lapped at the crusted rock edges, its healing warmth beckoning to her. But Chelan resisted. As before, she could not remain in the cavern where she had shared Shan’s love so long ago. This cavern and its memories were sacred, and she would leave.