by Kali Argent
CHAPTER THREE
The human female wasn’t anything like Knox had expected. Dressed in a pale blue dress with a modest neckline, she looked more like a school teacher than a murderer. He knew as well as anyone that looks could be deceiving, but something about Isla Blevins intrigued him.
“She’s not going anywhere with you.” The pregnant female passed the child she held to Isla and drew herself up to her full height. “You know the way out.”
“Who are you?” Slade demanded with his usual lack of diplomacy.
“Vasera Ivy Blackthorn, ruler of this planet, so that kind of makes me a big deal around here.”
Clutching the child to her chest, Isla shrank back from them, her head bent, refusing to make eye contact. Her demure posture, as well as her clear protectiveness of the boy, stirred something inside Knox he hadn’t felt in a long time. Rather than shackle her and force her onto their vessel, he had the strangest urge to pull her into his arms and shield her from all the dangers of the universe.
“We’re not going to hurt you.” He didn’t realize his intention to speak until the words had left his mouth, but he knew he spoke the truth. Whatever happened next, they wouldn’t hurt her. “Please, don’t make this harder than it has to be.”
Slade growled, but Bastian grinned and nodded his approval. Sometimes, they were so different it was hard to imagine they had anything more in common than blood.
“Who the hell are you?” A large, imposing male stomped into the room and went to stand slightly in front of the one who had called herself Ivy. “You do not have kittens to be here.”
“Kittens?” Bastian stared at the king, then looked to his brothers, his mouth open and his brows furrowed. “Did he just call us kittens?”
Ivy snorted. “Permission. He said you don’t have permission to be here.” She motioned to the male with her right hand. “My mate, Vasili Kai Blackthorn, also ruler of the planet. Are you sensing a theme, yet?”
“A more pertinent question would be how you came to be here,” the female who had met them at the front gates interrupted before anyone else could speak. “The Vasili is correct. You do not have kittens to be here.”
Knox couldn’t help but laugh at the second instance of the mistranslation. If he had to spend a lengthy amount of time on the planet, it would probably drive him crazy, but right then, he just found the breakdown in communication humorous.
“Your security is shit,” he answered the female’s question. “We literally didn’t do anything more than land our ship in the field right outside the castle.”
She didn’t respond, and in fact, she looked to Ivy as if he hadn’t spoken at all.
After Ivy repeated what Knox had said, she waved a hand at the female beside her. “Captain Tira Meadowlark.”
“Why doesn’t she understand us?” Slade demanded as though the very idea was an affront to him. Of course, most things were.
Knox sighed.
“The Xenon don’t have language converters.” She taped a shiny metal clasp on her right earlobe. “Their linguistic translators are…incomplete. The Krytos language isn’t in the database.” She rested both hands atop her rounded belly and grinned. “So, clearly your threats aren’t going to work here.”
“He threatened you?” With a deep, rumbling growl, Kai lurched forward, his hand going to the dagger on his hip.
“Look.” Holding his hands out in a nonthreatening gesture, Knox took a measured step toward the group, hoping to diffuse the situation before it escalated further. “No one is threatening anyone. Tell him,” he added when Ivy just continued to grin at them. Once it became clear she had no intention of doing so, he took a deep breath and continued. “It’s nothing personal. We have a contract, that contract pays a bounty, and that bounty puts food in the stomachs of our crew. It’s just business.”
“I…I can pay you,” Isla said, her voice small and meek. “Whatever you were offered, I can double it.”
“Nice try.” Slade sneered. “Your accounts are frozen. You have nothing.”
“Harsh,” Bastian mumbled under his breath, and he shook his head at their brother. “Definitely not cool.”
Knox had to agree. Slade had a big heart, and he could be kind and compassionate. Unfortunately, few people ever had the opportunity to see that side of him. Mostly, he shut himself off, pushed people away, and used anger as a shield. He didn’t know what his brother was protecting himself from, but the male’s acerbic disposition wasn’t helping them at the moment.
“If you’re innocent, you have nothing to worry about.” He took another step forward, placing himself in front of Slade while silently praying his brother would keep his damn mouth shut for once.
“I am innocent,” Isla insisted, her voice stronger. “No court will prove that, though. Everyone has decided I must be guilty, and that’s all anyone will see. I don’t have any evidence to prove otherwise.”
Isla had been around Krytos before. A few, she even considered friends. These males, however, gave new meaning to intimidating. Mercy, she’d never met anyone so massive, let alone three someones in the same room.
They had the same eyes—not just because of their color, but the same shape, and the same sharpness in their gazes. They dressed similarly, much like other Krytos she’d met, in leather pants, matching vests, and thick-soled boots. Each boasted inky black hair, though in differing lengths, with Slade’s being the shortest. Bastian’s locks cascaded down his back in a thick blanket, and Knox’s fell somewhere in between the two, haloed around his face in shaggy waves.
She noticed all of these things in just a few seconds, and yet, not one of her observations told her how to convince them to leave and never look back.
“Proving your innocence isn’t our concern,” Slade countered. “Now, you can come peacefully, or we can do this the hard way. The choice is really up to you.”
“Well, I’d say it’s been a pleasure, but we all know I’d be lying.” Ivy grinned pleasantly. “We’re late for a meeting. Again, you know the way out.”
The moment she finished speaking, the Krytos disappeared from the room, there one minute, gone the next.
“Kai,” Ivy sighed.
“What?” The king shrugged as he placed his hand at the small of her back and gave his mate a gentle push toward the leftmost corridor. “You talk too much, dove. My way was faster.”
“Yes, but where did you send them?”
“They’re fine.”
Pausing, Ivy looked over her shoulder and arched one perfectly manicured eyebrow. “You don’t know where you sent them, do you?”
An image of the brothers spliced together in a tangle of limbs and dumped into ocean came to mind, and Isla winced at the horrifying thought. True, they had come to take her back to Earth, but that didn’t mean she wanted to see them hurt.
“Are they okay?” she asked, much to everyone’s surprise, judging by their expressions.
“They’ll be fine,” Tira assured her with an uncharacteristic grin as she held her arms out for Cord. “Come here, leelan. It’s time for little ones to be in bed, yes?”
Cord rubbed his right eye with one hand while he reached for the captain with the other. “I’m not sleepy,” he muttered around a wide yawn. “I stay wif you.”
“Of course you’ll stay with me. Who else will listen to my bedtime stories?”
Isla’s heart swelled with joy to see the boy surrounded by so many people who loved him. Perhaps because of all the stress she’d been under, Isla hadn’t realized that Cord and Tira were actually related, cousins to be exact. Logically, she’d known that the captain and the elder shared the same surname, but she hadn’t put two and two together until Tira had spelled it out for her.
It did, however, explain the haunted expression in the female’s eyes every time she looked at the child. Isla recognized the combination of grief and guilt, because she saw the same thing in her own eyes every time she looked in the mirror. In Tira’s case, however, she couldn’t hav
e known about Cord. She couldn’t have known what a monster her uncle had become.
Isla, however, felt like she should have seen how heartless and self-serving her stepfathers were. Maybe then, her mother would still be alive.
Pitying and berating herself wouldn’t bring Katelyn back, and it damn sure wouldn’t get rid of the Krytos bounty hunters sent to retrieve her.
“If you have a meeting,” she told Tira, “I can take him.”
“I’ll be there shortly.” The captain had already started toward the staircase, poking Cord in the belly and making him giggle as she carried him up to the room he shared with Isla.
“That’s different,” Ivy commented. “I’ve never seen her like this.”
“She’s very good with him,” Isla commented. “I’m glad he has family here that cares about him.”
Ivy and Kai exchanged looks but didn’t comment as they led Isla through the winding corridors to the library that doubled as Kai’s office. In the week or so since she’d arrived on the planet, she’d learned that most important meetings took place in the cavernous room, and no one—absolutely no one—sat in the chair closest to the window except for Ivy.
Inside the library, she was pleasantly surprised to find Elder Torren Blue already waiting for them on the sofa in the cozy sitting area between two towering bookshelves. She’d only had the pleasure of meeting the elder once before, but she’d instantly liked him. She estimated his height to be right around six feet, a full six inches taller than her, but he was narrower in the shoulders and hips than the elites she was used to seeing back on Earth.
Elder Blue was always colorful, and she’d realized pretty quickly that he didn’t hold with traditions or norms. Instead of the standard tunic most of the Xenon wore, the elder had donned a pair of black, billowing pants and a white blouse with bell sleeves. The last time she’d seen him, his silver hair had been streaked with purple and teal, but today, the loose locks were adored with strips of red, black, and a glittering gold that glinted in the overhead lights.
“Lady Isla.” Beaming, he stood and held his hands out to her as she approached. “You look as lovely as ever.”
“Flatterer.” Taking the elder’s hands, she rose up on her toes to kiss his cheek. “What are you doing here, Elder?”
“Call me Torren.” With a wink, he released her hands and took a step back to greet Kai and Ivy. “This whole elder thing is antiquated, and in light of recent events, I’d say the title has been tainted.”
Everyone looked to Kai, who just shrugged. “Do I really have a choice?”
Torren just smiled. “No.” Then he clapped his hands and rubbed his palms together. “Okay, I dragged my ass here for this meeting, so let’s get on with it. I have places to be.”
“Oh?” Isla teased. “Have a hot date tonight?”
“That depends. What are you doing later?”
Of all the responses, that hadn’t been what she’d expected. Heat fanned across her cheeks, and she ducked her head as Ivy laughed right from her rounded belly. Whoever turned out to be Torren’s soulmate, Isla hoped she’d be a strong, patient woman, because she was definitely going to have her hands full.
“Where’s Cord?” Torren asked as if nothing had happened. “And the captain?”
“Tira is putting Cord to bed for the night,” Isla answered, happy that her voice sounded calm and even. “She’ll be here soon.”
“Why are we here?” Dropping down on the end of the sofa, Torren propped his feet up on the coffee table and looked to Ivy, practically daring her to say something.
Instead, the Vasera simply lowered into a squashy armchair on the other side of the table and propped her bare feet on the top of it as well with a crooked smirk. “We’re here to discuss who among us would be best suited to represent Xenthian at the Ministry of Nations meeting. We’re here to elect a chancellor.”
“Oh, uh, maybe I should go.” Since neither Kai nor Ivy had dismissed her, Isla hadn’t thought twice about following them into the library. Now, she just felt like an intruder. “I’ll go see if I can help Tira.”
“Nonsense,” Torren quipped, patting the cushion beside him on the sofa. “The idea is to choose someone strong enough to hold their own against a room full of leaders, but not so intimidating as to cause conflict by simply breathing. You and Ivy have lived among the other races your entire lives, so I see no one better suited to help make this decision.”
“Agreed.” Kai waited for Isla to reluctantly take her seat beside the elder before continuing. “Our initial choice had been Rya, but after what happened with the elder, and especially now that she’s with child, I’m not so sure.”
Ivy snorted as she watched her mate pace. “Yeah, I don’t see Sion letting her leave the planet any time soon.”
Isla tended to agree. She hadn’t seen the couple since the night she’d arrived on Xenthian, and the planet aside, she didn’t think Sion would be letting his mate leave their manor on the Eastern Isle for some time to come.
“Why not you?” she asked the king.
“Because Rya isn’t the only one not allowed to leave the planet,” Ivy answered with a note of bitterness. “Apparently, I’m too fragile to travel…or be left alone.”
“Dove, you were kidnapped and almost sacrificed,” Kai reminded her. “So, no, you are not leaving my side, nor I yours, and I will not have this conversation again.”
Leaning sideways, Ivy whispered out of the side of her mouth, “See what I have to put up with?”
“Okay!” Torren said, raising his voice to interrupt Kai before the pair could start arguing. “So, Vasera Clearwater is out, as well as Your Highness.” He bowed his head, but his grin was sarcastic. “Unfortunately, I don’t think the other rulers have the temperament needed for peace negotiations.”
“What about your mom?” Ivy asked her mate. “She’d be great, and everyone would love her.”
Sadness shifted across Kai’s face. “I asked her. She said she wants to spend what time she has left here with the people she loves. She also wants to be here to help when the youngling is born.”
Melancholy blanketed the room, and even Isla felt a wave of despair. She’d met Kai’s mother, Ava, soon after her arrival, and she had been so sweet and welcoming to not only her, but to Cord as well. Ava hadn’t seemed sick when they’d met, and Isla didn’t fully understand the circumstances, but she understood that the female didn’t have much time left. Though she barely knew her, Isla would miss Ava when she was gone, and she imagined everyone who knew her felt the same.
“So,” she mused, “someone strong, but not too intimidating.” Shifting on the cushion, she turned to face Torren directly. “You should go.”
“I’ll have you know I’m very intimidating.”
That wasn’t a no. “I’m serious.”
“She’s right,” Ivy agreed. “You probably know more about the races than anyone else on the planet, and if anyone pisses you off, you can just turn them into a toad or something.”
“That’s not a terrible idea.” Pausing in his pacing, Kai looked up at the elder with a shallow nod. “You being chancellor,” he elaborated, “not turning people into toads.” Then he returned to his brooding and pacing.
“Why not you?” Isla pressed.
As casually as if they’d been discussing who would cook dinner, Torren folded his hands over his flat stomach and shrugged. “Then, I guess that’s settled. Good talk.”
They discussed the details of the pending summit for a few more minutes. Isla didn’t have much more to say on the matter, and she was glad when no one asked for her opinion again, leaving her free to think about the Cadell brothers. No matter how many times Kai sent them away, she doubted they’d just give up and go back to Earth, which meant her time on Xenthian was severely limited.
She wondered who had put out the bounty for her. In some ways, she was flattered that anyone would go to that much trouble to find her. Her stepfathers would be her primary suspects, but with the ba
cking of the Alliance, she doubted they’d have to resort to outsiders. Then again, she never knew quite what to expect from the two commanders.
Growing up, Jade City had been a beautiful and peaceful place, filled with life and opportunities. In recent years, since her stepfathers, Alan Covey and Harvey Fielding had taken over command of the city, it had fallen into despair, crawling with corruption and darkness. Criminals ran free, and everyone looked the other way. Where there had once been street fairs and weekend festivals, no one dared to step foot outside of their homes after nightfall.
Isla didn’t think it was a coincidence that the fall of her beloved city coincided with her stepfathers’ arrival, but of course, she couldn’t prove her suspicions.
“Ah,” Torren exclaimed when the library doors slid open and Tira strolled into the room. “The fair maiden has returned.”
Pausing, Tira leveled a glare on the elder. “I don’t like you.”
Torren just laughed. “Sticks and stones, my darling.”
Before the captain could respond, the library doors opened again, and none other than the Cadell brothers stomped into the library, followed by a frazzled female attendant with golden hair.
“I’m so sorry, Vasili,” she stammered. “I told them they’re not allowed here, but I don’t think they can understand me.”
“I’m sure they got the gist,” Ivy answered coolly as she rose to her feet. “Back for more? Didn’t work out so well for you last time.”
“Neat trick,” Slade answered, his tone laced with frost to match Ivy’s. “We just want the girl.”
“Yes, well, you can’t have her. So, go away.”
“And who are these gentlemen?” Torren asked, standing and striding forward to stand beside Ivy as Kai took his place on her other side. “I don’t think we’ve been introduced.”
“No need to learn their names.” Tira moved to stand beside the elder, presenting a united front and effectively blocking Isla from view. “They won’t be staying.”
“You can poof us back to our ship as many times as you want,” Knox said, though his tone lacked the conviction and anger of his brother’s. “We’ll just keep coming back.”
