Sarazen's Betrayal : Sarazen Saga 1.2

by Isabel Wroth

  “Thank you, Zarak.” Cassie said with a hungry rumble.

  “Of course. We are ready to depart whenever you are, Commander.”

  Falken gave a jerk of his chin and shut the door. He was glad to see Cassie had wrapped herself back up in the blanket from the bed, but even with the assortment of food to satiate her, Cassie still didn’t speak to him.

  Not a single word, she just glared at him, tantalizing him with the scent of her anger and desire. He tried again to assure her he wasn’t keeping any secrets from her, but it did nothing to appease her. It wasn’t until he and the other warriors began to gather their weapons, Cassie asked where they were.

  “Are you speaking to me again, my heart?” Falken teased.

  She shot him a dirty look, shot her delicate little nose in the air and spoke a little louder. “Zarak, where are we?”

  A few of the warriors snickered as they engaged their armor, earning a glare from Falken. Zarak was the only one who didn’t wipe the smirk from his face.

  “We are on the outskirts of Market Bay in a secured hangar. We will take the smaller transport to our destination, less than one rev from our current position.”

  Cassie gave a small, ‘huh’ and let her gaze roll around each of the males. “I’ve never asked, but how exactly does your armor do that? Melt out over your bodies and then collapse back into that tiny little strip of metal?”

  Despite how she directed her question to everyone but him, Falken answered. “The torque does not supply the metal that covers us. It activates and hardens the electromagnetic field generated by our bodies.”

  Her eyes widened with fascination, getting right up in his space to run her fingers over the armor now covering his chest. Falken bit back a groan, not because he could feel her touch, but because the scent of her curiosity was almost as tantalizing as the scent of her desire.

  Falken loved how curious and how clever his mate was, every turn of the inquisitive wheel in her mind seemed to stimulate him to the point of rabid lust. Drove him to distraction at the worst possible times without fail.

  “That is so amazing! Are they made here on Saraz somewhere? Can I have one?”

  Falken cleared his throat and curled his hand around Cassie’s, bringing her fingertips to his mouth for a kiss. “Not at this time, my one. They are assigned to warriors once they have completed their training. And yes, we do make them here. They are fabricated in the same underwater facilities as our warships.”

  Cassie huffed with displeasure at being denied a torque of her own, but at least she was speaking to him. For now, anyway. He settled a thick cloak around her shoulders and took her hand to follow Zarak and Matem out of the shuttle. The sun was at its peak in the sky, shining down on the gleaming structures that made up the port side city.

  He did not look at the scenery before him, he watched Cassie’s face and looked at his world through her eyes. With all the wonder and awe as she took in the towering structures and the sparkling spear of the ocean that stretched up the very center of the city, both separating it and connecting it to the seaport.

  Cassie’s jaw dropped when a merchant ship rose up out of the green sea like a knife blade, creating waves and rainbows as the light refracted through the water that slid in sheets from the slick silver surface of the vessel. Market vendors lined either side of the canal, the colorful cloth of their stalls and tents waving in the brisk wind that came off the bay.

  “Wow,” Cassie rasped, “Why do you guys build long-houses made of wood and live inside giant caves, when you have the ability to build…that?” She flung her arm out to encompass the entirety of the metal and glass buildings of the city. “I mean, I know the citadel inside the cave is pretty much indestructible from aerial bombardment, but stars! Look at that! You grew up here?”

  Falken chuckled and drew her forward to board the smaller transport. “Not here, my one. Not in the city itself. And as for the differences in building styles, we build what is best for the surrounding terrain. The fortress is built for safety. The surrounding village beyond the exterior of the mountain is built with natural resources that do not negatively impact the environment.

  “If we built long-houses here by the sea, the water and salt would rot the wood and we would be constantly rebuilding. Also, if an enemy attempts to invade Market Bay or destroy it, we would only have to replace the glass. There are smaller warships ready to be deployed at a moment’s notice, waiting beneath the surface, deeper out in the water. The merchant vessels land on the surface of the ocean, their cargo is inspected and then brought ashore.”

  Speaking of, Falken could see the plume of lingering smoke to the far right of the city. His sire’s warehouse, presumably. And as though Cassie had been reading his thoughts, which perhaps she had, she wrapped both hands around his and tore her eyes away from the city to look up at him.

  “Do we need to go check out the warehouse?”

  “No, my one. We have a more important task to accomplish.”

  *****

  The tail end of winter by the sea was bitter. The cold wind whipped through her hair and sent chills racing up and down her spine, but it was glorious. The constant temperature of the fortress was nice, but there wasn’t anything like feeling the fresh wind on her face and the heat of the sun.

  It was freedom, and Cassie was greedy for every moment. The terrain was different in this sector of the planet, more open fields and rocky outcroppings, few trees, but it was undeniably beautiful. Tall grass waved in the wind, the slender stalks a deep sapphire blue, giving the illusion of water and rolling waves. The stones that jutted up from the plains glittered subtly in the sun, making them look wet.

  Large manors sat farther back in the distance, made of the same shiny stone, so it looked like something out of a fairy tale to Cassie. Sandcastles floating on an ocean of grass.

  Every time she left the fortress, Cassie saw something else that filled her with awe and amazement.

  ~To see my home through your eyes is a remarkable gift, my one.

  Falken’s voice filled every corner of her mind and made her shiver for a whole new reason. She tore her eyes off the rippling blue grass and looked at Falken, trying not to give in under the softness of his smile.

  He was keeping something from her, maybe not a secret, and maybe it was something to do with his being the head of an intelligence organization. All he had to say was that whatever he wasn’t saying was state business, or pride business, whatever, and she would let it go. Cassie didn’t expect that he would lay out for her all the movements of his operatives or give away top secret material that might endanger said operatives. But it didn’t feel like that kind of secret.

  It felt personal. Maybe it was something he couldn’t just say outright, something she needed to figure out on her own, like the usage for the pigmentation removal machine.

  -Whatever secret you’re keeping from me, you better just admit it now. Otherwise, I’ll just figure it out on my own. You know I will.

  Her warning didn’t have the effect she had hoped for. The smile that filled his eyes spread to his lips, tugging the corners up into an easy grin.

  ~I am keeping no secret from you, Cassie. But if I was, I have every confidence you would figure it out.

  Cassie gave a frustrated huff and scowled at him before turning back to look at the terrain. His response didn’t boost her confidence. Speaking through their mental link made it almost impossible for them to lie to one another. It was like hearing a discordant strain of music in an otherwise beautiful melody, and very obvious. Cassie didn’t hear that out of tune jangle, but it still didn’t feel right.

  There wasn’t a really good way for her to explain why or how it didn’t feel right. It just left her feeling uneasy and uncertain, and maybe it wasn’t a secret, but whatever it was, it nagged at her like the throb of a sore tooth. It made the excitement of seeing this new piece of her home dim a little.

  The wind pulled the sound of her sigh away, but it couldn’t pull those
feelings of uncertainty and inadequacy away. It made her tired, made her brain hurt, so for now she let the information fade into the river of data constantly flowing through her thoughts. Cassie decided when she had more evidence to support her feeling, she would go back after it. For now, she shut the door on her end of the mental link to keep her feelings from spreading and becoming a distraction to Falken.

  There was no hard proof to say that Amreet wasn’t part of the Original Council plot yet, by telling Falken about the data-cube and sending him on a hunt to retrieve it, Amreet could be sending them into a trap. Cassie doubted it, but again, she had no proof to say otherwise. She pulled her feet on the padded bench seat and wrapped her arms around her legs to set her chin on her knees, letting herself fall into watching the play of light and air through the grass.

  A short time later, the warrior piloting their shuttle turned down a long crushed stone pathway about twenty feet wide and headed through the tall grass towards what looked like a solid rock face.

  The outcrop of stone was larger than the craft they had taken to get to Market Bay. About three stories high, the shimmer of the stones created a very clever illusion that hid the opening. The rock was staggered so that any craft entering had to turn right, then left and could easily have been blocked in by an enemy. Nature had provided the perfect place for an ambush. Cassie wasn’t ashamed to say she was relieved when they turned that left corner unharmed.

  Her relief turned to open mouthed astonishment when she saw what lay just beyond the towering stone gates. The stone continued to curve around to the right, stretching up from three stories high to ten stories at the highest point, creating a c-shaped bowl to protect the enormous building that looked to be created from a single block of stone.

  It sat about five or six stories high, right in the center of the C, protected on three sides with the face of the structure looking out on the sea of blue grass.

  The grass inside the natural walls had been cut short to look more like a blue carpet covering the ground. There were fruit laden trees planted in haphazard patterns and winding pathways carved around them for easy access. The tallest tree was a glorious magenta color, the leaves a shockingly vibrant orange and the oblong fruit that hung from the branches a neon yellow.

  She recognized the fruit, because it had been one of the first things Falken had fed her when they had arrived on Saraz. It was rubbery feeling on the outside and tangy like a grapefruit. The flesh inside was a deep pink, sweet and left a sugary feeling behind on the lips. It was the size of a football, but if you sliced it widthwise, you could see the star shaped pattern. It was called noba, and after one taste, it had become Cassie’s favorite.

  She hadn’t realized it grew like that on a tree.

  Amazed by the stunning beauty of the entire estate, Cassie forgot she was upset with Falken for a minute. “You grew up here?”

  “I did.” he confirmed from beside her. Not sounding very proud of that fact.

  “The fruit trees, they’re not native to Saraz, are they?”

  Falken grunted, looking around his childhood home with an air of anger and disdain. “No. My mother planted all of them. Farro apparently used to bring home seedlings from many of the different worlds he visited while on trading missions.”

  “It’s beautiful.” she ventured gently, knowing what it was like to be reminded of a parent’s betrayal.

  Her hand strayed under her cloak to where her star tattoos used to be. Every time she had looked at them, she remembered waking up from that particular procedure to discover the tattoos. Remembered having gone crying to her mother, trying to explain how angry and upset she was. Wanting out of the program so badly. The memory of her mother’s hand cracking across her cheek was still as sharp as it had been the day it happened. Her words still as shocking.

  Stop being such a selfish little bitch, Cassie! You are going to be one of the mothers of our next generation, you should be proud, not boo hooing about a stupid pair of tattoos.

  Taking a deep breath to pull away from that memory, Cassie looked around and noticed a pair of warriors waiting at the entrance of the building. “Are they yours?”

  Falken followed her gaze and nodded shortly, his mood having taken a serious nosedive.

  The shuttle stopped just shy of the front steps. Zarak and Matem disembarked first, then Falken, who reached back to lift her down. He kept her close as they climbed the stone steps and a quick glance up at his face showed his expression to be just as hard and unyielding as the stone beneath their feet.

  “A’tey, Vhis, stop staring at my mate and report.”

  It wasn’t often that Cassie got to see this fierce, hard, warrior commander side of Falken, but when she did it never failed to impress her. The two warriors he barked his orders at came sharply to attention, their gaze jerking from her general vicinity to a point well over her head.

  The warrior to their left gave a jerky nod. “There has been no activity here at your estate, commander. Scans have found no explosive devices, sonic devices, concussion charges, gas—”

  “Simplify, Vhis.” Zarak sighed, shaking his head in a way that made Cassie wonder if the two warriors were new recruits or something.

  “Yes, sir. All has been quiet and the scans revealed nothing to indicate danger within the manor.” Vhis gave his report to the air in a volume just shy of a shout. Eager to please, perhaps?

  Cassie squeezed Falken’s hand, curling her other hand over his armored bicep. “Your, estate?”

  A muscle in his jaw flexed, “I am my sire’s only heir. Upon his arrest, the ownership of the property reverted to me.”

  Cassie didn’t need the link of their bond to realize it was not something Falken wanted to talk about right now. Without much more than a nod, Falken turned right around and led her down along one of the crushed stone pathways, out into Amreet’s orchard. His tension mounting as they approached the noba fruit tree. The roots grew in ribbon-like pieces above ground, creating a circular hollow for one to sit and rest in the cool shade of the tree.

  Cassie watched Falken studying the tree, his gaze stroking over every inch of it as though he hadn’t seen it before. She didn’t press him to share his thoughts with her, waiting patiently beside him until he decided he was ready to say something.

  “My mother planted this tree the year I was born.” He reached out to touch the brightly colored tree. The smooth bark made a soft hissing sound under his fingers. “I haven’t seen it since the day I left. I never imagined it would have grown so large.”

  “How long has it been?”

  Falken gave a shrug, pulling his hand back from the tree. “I was age two hundred and fifty three of your human years when I left here to join the advanced training program. So perhaps one thousand years?”

  Cassie always internally goggled when Falken spoke of his age. She was thirty two. Yet neither Falken or any of the other mated Sarazens spoke down to her or the other humans, lording their age and experience over the hybrid’s heads.

  “So, a long time.” she managed to say.

  Falken glanced at her and gave a quick little smile. “A long time.” he agreed.

  “Noba fruit was the first thing you brought me to eat when we first got here.”

  Falken looked at her askance for a moment, like he couldn’t believe she remembered.

  “It was.”

  He took a deep breath and Cassie watched the tension visibly drain out of him.

  He looked around at his home and shook his head.

  “I remember chasing my mother as a cub around and around this tree. Hiding in its branches when she wanted me to bathe before dinner. She must have known I was up there the whole time, but she would walk around and around, checking under every root as she called for me before finally looking upwards.”

  Cassie looked up with him, trying to imagine a smaller version of Falken hiding up in the tree, giggling when his mother couldn’t find him. Her stomach flipped and flopped with emotion, imagining herself do
ing the same thing with one of the babies she wasn’t ever going to know. Shaking off the sadness as quickly as she could, she smiled up at Falken.

  “So this is your special place?”

  “It is.” He rolled his lips together, his gaze tracking up through the branches, making her squeal in surprise when he leapt straight up in the air and caught a branch about fifteen feet up, swinging himself up into the crook of the tree. Completely disappearing into the foliage for a moment, the orange leaves falling down around her like confetti.

  Falken grunted up there, and a few moments later jumped down to land soundlessly beside her with a small black box in his hand.

  “Right where she said it would be. Ready to go?” Cassie asked brightly.

  She didn’t really want to leave, or admit to Falken that this place made her feel for the first time since arriving on Saraz, like she was home. There was just something about it, something she couldn’t put her finger on, but even her beast had risen and perked with interest. Looking out through her eyes and giving a consistent hum of appreciation for the space.

  Falken tilted his head, rolling the data-cube around in his hand while he stared at her with a thoughtful expression. “You like it here.”

  If not for the tiniest hint of accusation in his tone, Cassie would have readily admitted she did. Trying for tact, she looked around with a shrug. “It’s just different.”

  Her response made him sigh with enough force to make her think maybe she wasn’t as good at being tactful as she thought. So she tried again. “I’m ready to go when you are.”

  Falken didn’t say a word as he held his hand out to her, wrapping his long fingers around hers when she set her palm in his. Thinking they were going back to load up in the shuttle, Cassie took one last look around, wondering if Amreet would share her secret for growing alien plants with such success. Heck, forget the teething rings for the babies Cassie had been thinking about. Clary would go bananas for a single cutting from one of these trees. Though, Cassie figured Clary had enough things on her plate that needed tending to at the moment.