by LC Morgans
Like Thrayke, Minic was incredibly good at his job. He had been the unyielding force of law and justice for the Thrakorian’s and their human servants whilst they’d been on Earth. He’d never once gone against the orders of their leaders and had become another of the cold and unsympathetic Thraks because of his so rigidly structured existence. Seeing him flustered was a shock and Thrayke hoped he might learn whatever secret had made Minic act so strangely. In fact, he’d make it his business to find out so that he might have something he could use against him if it came to it. Bribery wasn’t out of the question if it were necessary to keep Kyra safe, and Thrayke knew he would gladly throw someone else under Kronus’s nose for interrogation rather than either of them if it ever came to it. He certainly hoped he was wrong, but still filed his doubts about Minic away for future reference should he ever need to exploit them.
Chapter Two
Kyra turned over and stared at the small device on her bedside table. She’d barely slept again and knew part of it was because she was desperate to read through the list on that marvelous piece of tiny machinery Thrayke had gallantly procured for her. She had promised herself she’d wait until he’d gone to work for the day again before she dived in though. The cleaners were due in the morning so she would have to hide out in the air vent beneath his bedroom chamber for a few hours while they went about their work. As much as she loathed being cramped in there, it was also prime time for her to browse through the list to check on who she might know among the human icicles down in the belly of the gigantic ship, so didn’t mind this time around.
Thrayke slid an arm around her back, cradling her from behind, and he kissed her neck.
“Get some sleep, Kyra.” His voice was a sleepy groan and she envied him for being able to rest soundly. She would if she could, so leaned back into his grip so he spooned her. His warmth spread over her body, bringing with it the blessed haze of sleep. At first it was nice. She was safe and secure. However, before she knew it, she was dreaming of being trapped in a bed of roses while a tall man stood over her, but in this dream, he was without a face. He held his hand out for her and she took it—despite being terrified. The man’s features then morphed into faces she knew well. Her old friend from the bar, Blue and then her old boyfriend, Silas. Next, he was Thrayke who then transfigured into her secondary trainer Gron, and eventually the man turned into her original savior, Kronus. When he was himself again, she put her hands on his pale, wrinkled skin and sobbed at how sad he seemed.
“You’re dead, Kyra. I let you die because I was too wrapped up in my own wants and needs to let you live. Are you happier dead? Did it bring you peace?” Kronus’s apparition asked her and she nodded.
“I might not be free, but I’m free of you now and that’s all that matters. The thorns didn’t realize they were hurting me by holding on too tightly, but now they’ve let go and I can heal and move on,” she said, watching as his hands transformed, twisting into branches covered in the very thorns she had spoken of. Kronus was the rose bush and his thorns had cut her over and over again, whether either of them had wanted them to or not. She then reached up and touched the scar on her face as the truth dawned on her. No matter that it was a dream, the symbolism was spot on.
“A kiss on the cheek, and then goodbye.” Kronus leaned down and kissed the scar, and Kyra jumped awake gripping the cheek she was sure had to be red-hot with renewed lacerations. She was burning up, and threw off the covers in a bid to cool herself down, but it was no use. Only when she climbed up and pressed her face against the cool glass window did she settle, but it still took a few deep breaths to rid herself of the pain in her heart. Her dream signified something epic and Kyra knew it. While in her waking moments she’d resisted having to say a final goodbye to the feelings she’d held for Kronus for so long, but now there was no denying it. She was done with him, and looked back towards her sleeping lover in the bed. Thrayke was her everything. He had all of her heart now and Kyra vowed to spend everyday making sure he knew it.
When she snuggled back into his embrace, he stirred and pulled her close again. The heat radiating off him was welcome this time though, and she drifted back into a dreamless sleep in his protective arms.
The next morning, they ate breakfast together in comfortable quiet and then Thrayke left for work again. After he’d gone, Kyra grabbed herself a bottle of water and a power bar from the small stash he kept thankfully replenishing for her from the canteen and slid inside the small enclave where she would hide until the cleaners had been round and done their work. Kyra had been using Thrayke’s toiletries and had worn his combats each day since arriving on board so hadn’t many things of her own to hide, but the few items she did have had been safely tucked away behind his in the wardrobe and cabinets so all that remained was for her to stay silent and still until the cleaners had gone about their work and left.
She powered up the letter-sized device Thrayke had brought her the evening before and accessed the only data held on it—the list of souls aboard Kronus’s huge ship bound for Thrakor. Kyra fiddled with it for a few seconds and quickly got her head around the controls and setup, so then browsed the immediate information at hand. The King and his Guard service were all accounted for, as were the civilians and half-breeds. She smiled when she spotted her old friend Samia’s name there and opened the file attached with her photograph and basic details on. It turned out she was now married to another half-breed and was destined for a prestigious role in Kronus’s father’s government on Thrakor. She and her husband, another computer science geek, were reportedly heading off to work alongside a team of half-breeds and Thrakorian’s tasked with developing new technologies to be considered for future interest and investment. Kyra hadn’t seen Samia in almost ten years, but still had to wipe away a happy tear after reading about how she’d done so well for herself and was glad to read how she had a great future ahead of her.
Kyra then moved onto the list of safely secured Thrakorian civilians, but only really knew one name, Marta Mayne, who’d been the principal of her old high school. Next were their soldiers, and she was surprised to discover that only eighty percent of their armed forces had made it off Earth safely. She scanned the list of the deceased first, but didn’t know any of them, and smiled broadly when she found that Sentinel Gron had made it aboard the ship along with the rest of the soldiers from Fort Angel.
Lieutenant Psy and many other names she knew well then appeared onscreen under their list of specially chosen human underlings, and Kyra breathed a sigh of relief. It appeared they had been invited onboard personally and each of the human soldiers was currently in stasis along with their half-breed peers. One named seemed to be missing though, and regardless of how badly things had ended, she was anxious to find Silas McDermott on the list of those recruited from Fort Angel. It wasn’t there.
“No,” she whispered, and covered her mouth with her hand. Could he really be dead? She flicked back to the main screen and accessed the alphabetical list of human refugees instead. She found his mother and father, as well as his older brothers and sister. The screen then froze for a second as it refreshed, but thankfully let her continue scrolling downwards, where she then found his name and breathed a deep sigh of relief. Kyra accessed his file and discovered that her ex-boyfriend had transferred to the police force a couple of years after she’d moved away to join the elite training program. Silas never had seemed sure of what he’d wanted from life and had even tried to hold her back because of his jealousy, but she was glad to see he’d received his coveted promotion to Lieutenant and had reportedly gotten married. Like Samia, he was also bound for Thrakor. There, he was due to begin service as a policeman and was tasked to act as governor over some of his human counterparts in the corps. He and his family had seemingly fallen on their feet once again thanks to their friends in high places and Kyra noticed how they had been aboard the mother ship for over a week before the retreat had even commenced. She couldn’t understand how they always did it, while people
like her with friends as high as they could be had been incredibly close to danger in those last days on Earth.
Shaking off her wave of envy at the McDermott fortune, Kyra continued on down through Silas’s file and had to reread the name of his wife over and over before she could be absolutely sure of what she’d seen. Brona McDermott. It appeared that somehow, her closest friend during training and the woman whose story of forced termination had haunted Kyra during her time with Tuka, had later gone on to marry her ex. They were both in stasis, bound for prestigious servitude. Brona was going to become a nurse tasked with caring for the human migrant community, and if their files were correct, they’d been married nearly two years already.
Kyra knew she shouldn’t be jealous, but couldn’t deny that she was shocked to discover that they’d gotten together after she and Silas had broken up. Brona and Silas never had a connection as far as she’d seen, but then again Kyra knew she was a very different person back then as well. Silas had fit into her life and influenced her because she’d allowed him to. It was only when he had quite forcefully held her back that she’d pulled away from him. Kyra understood now that regardless of what she’d thought at the time, she had spent her younger years being selfish and too ambitious to care or let anyone drag her down from the pedestal she’d believed she deserved. While it didn’t excuse the way Silas had acted, she couldn’t be angry for how he’d reacted towards the idea of losing her. He’d ruined everything by sabotaging her career the way he had, but then again, she had no doubt she would have gone on to break his heart by being so singularly minded anyway, rather than working towards their joint future as a team.
Things were so different now and Kyra shook her head at the memory of the immature woman she used to be. She’d told herself back then that she was a grown-up who knew where she was going with her life, but now Kyra wished she could go back and have a word with her younger self. She wished she could tell her not to be so reckless, or so naïve. Life would’ve been much simpler if she’d never let herself get close to Silas in the first place, but she also knew she should’ve never made him feel inferior to her just because she was intelligent and ambitious. It was no wonder he’d lashed out eventually.
Kyra realized she’d never learned to love, not really. It wasn’t until Thrayke had loved and taken care of her despite all her hang-ups that she’d learned what love truly was. He had worked hard for her every day, even when she’d left him behind temporarily and gone into the arms of another. He’d still cared for her when she’d betrayed them both by running off in search of truths she’d thought the rebels might offer her, but in a twist of fate had been given those answers only because Kronus had eventually given in and allowed it. Without his gift she would still be searching, or else nothing but a speck of dust amidst the stars along with the rest of her race.
With a deep sigh, Kyra wiped the tears from her cheeks and held the device to her chest. No one could’ve taught her these lessons her heart was forced to learn during her solitude, not even Thrayke. As hard as her life had been though, there wasn’t much she’d do differently. Kyra knew she had needed to learn all on her own, and was just glad she had, even if it had taken such a long time and a lot of heartache to get there.
***
Thrayke punched in his security code and checked the hall behind him before opening the door to his quarters. It was empty, but thanks to his insistence that they take precautions, Kyra remained hidden until the door was closed and locked again behind him.
“All clear,” he called, as always, and like always, Kyra sprinted from the bedroom and into his arms. He loved how pleased she always was to see him a the end of each day and knew it was mostly down to the boredom of being stuck between the two rooms for hours alone, but he would happily take what he was given when it came to her affection. Seeing Kyra was always the highlight of Thrayke’s day, especially after having spent another afternoon listening to the Marshals of the Army, Navy, and Air Force drone on and on about their plans to restructure the Thrakorian armies based on some of the lessons learned while on Earth. They too would follow Kronus to his new home when King Thrakor designated him another planet to rule, and evidently had lots of ideas on how they could ensure complete and total compliance from any indigenous species they encountered when they got there.
Thrayke shook away his stuffiness from the day and took her in. He adored how his baggy black combats swamped her small body. Even with Kyra’s glorious curves, the huge pants and shirt had to be rolled up at the wrists and ankles and she had to wear a belt to stop them from falling down. Thrayke loved how she’d made the look somehow endearing. He wore the ensemble without a care for how they fit, only that they were comfortable, and while he admired her, he also couldn’t help but look forward to the day when they weren’t sharing everything—from his clothing to his toiletries.
Before he could ask Kyra about her day, a knock on the door to his quarters startled them both. Kyra immediately slid inside the nearby closet and only when she was safely tucked away did he open the door. Minic was on the other side and he looked just as fidgety as he had when Thrayke had encountered him the day before.
“Do you have a minute?” he asked, looking over Thrayke’s shoulder. His look suggested he was in search of something out of place, and the usually so stoic Besieger immediately bristled.
“What’s this about, Minic? You’re not yourself and I have to say, your behavior the last couple of days has been questionable to say the least,” he answered in a firm and demanding tone. In a bid to overcome his suspicion, he then stepped aside and let his comrade in. When Minic’s back was to him, Thrayke was sure to use their practiced sign language to give a quick warning to Kyra to stay put, regardless of anything she might hear.
“When you left Earth, you brought with you many of your favorite mementos, isn’t that right?” Minic said once the door was closed again. He leaned against Thrayke’s huge wooden desk and ran his hands over the antiques and fossils he’d kept for his private collection, but seemed distant and thoughtful, rather than inquisitive.
“I had a soft spot for the rarer or more obscure human artifacts, it’s true.” He was trying his best not to come across as rude, but everything inside of him was screaming out in panic. Minic knew something, Thrayke was sure of it, and he was desperate to know what.
“Did you bring anything else along with you? Perhaps something counterfeit, or something you don’t want to share with the rest of us?” His icy tone sent Thrayke’s senses reeling, and he knew he couldn’t lie. The Lawbringer was master in his field for a reason.
“What are you getting at?” he replied, refusing to answer. Minic took a few steps around the desk, looking at each and every item thoughtfully before placing it back carefully where it’d come from. He still seemed uneasy, but was hiding it beneath his well-trained guise. Those amber eyes of his as unreadable as empty glass. Minic was stalling, and Thrayke wanted to know why. “Perhaps you’re the one who brought something counterfeit aboard?” he asked, and in a rare moment of panic, Minic dropped the wooden carving he’d been holding. It didn’t break, but the sound it made as it hit the ground was deafening in the heavy silence and Thrayke knew without waiting for an answer that he was exactly right.
“For a man of the law, I’ve come to learn that not everything is as black and white as I’d once believed,” Minic answered cryptically.
“What is it? You must need some help otherwise you wouldn’t have come to me. Did you try Sylvana first and that’s why you’re here? You saw me leaving her office yesterday and assume you know why I went to her?” Minic’s eyes widened and Thrayke knew he was getting closer to discovering the truth.
“You’re right,” he replied. “Did you hide your mute in her care? Is she in stasis under another name? I know you loved her, but I need to know if you saved her life or whether you left her to die…”
“Why do you need to know? Tell me what’s going on, Minic, otherwise I’m gonna have to ask you to leav
e,” Thrayke demanded. He was starting to get angry now, but was also terrified that Kyra might be discovered when they had just a couple more months left aboard the ship to get through. All their hard work and her difficult solitude would mean nothing if it all fell apart now and he wasn’t going to let her get taken away from him without a fight.
“I ask because that’s what I tried to do for my lover. I went to Sylvana and asked her to help me when I stowed her away, but she couldn’t help us.” It all suddenly fell into place, and Thrayke peered at Minic open-mouthed. So, he’d brought his human partner aboard, just as Thrayke had done, and Minic was clearly hiding her in his quarters, exactly as he had been doing with Kyra.
“I didn’t know you had a female companion? I take it she’s human?”
“Yes. Her name’s Annabella and we met years ago when she came before me as witness to a crime. For her protection, I kept her in The Castle and we began our affair a few weeks later.” Minic’s eyes turned wistful as he clearly thought back to the beginning of their relationship, and Thrayke had to stop himself from looking over his shoulder towards the closet he knew Kyra was listening from.
He took a deep breath and tried to focus his thoughts. Minic had never been so open about his personal life like this before, and while he was glad to hear he wasn’t alone, Thrayke needed to be sure he could trust him. The Castle had been the Legal Division’s version of The Tower. Minic and his soldiers, both human and Thrakorian, had worked out of there in much the same way Thrayke had with his Gentry, but he had to guess this woman wasn’t a soldier, otherwise she would’ve been recruited and processed as one of their chosen migrant workers.
