Amid Stars and Darkness

by Chani Lynn Feener

  Strike that: The second her neck stopped burning, she was going after him.

  CHAPTER 10

  Her head was going to explode, she was sure of it, and tried to tell them as much, but she couldn’t get her teeth to unclench long enough to get a word out.

  “Hurry it up,” Ruckus growled. He was kneeling in front of her, one hand on her arm, the other on her bare thigh. When he wasn’t yelling at Gibus, he was whispering words of encouragement to her that she couldn’t process in her current state.

  Because her brain wasn’t used to having a foreign piece of machinery attached to it, her synapses were firing at random, trying to relay information that the rest of her brain couldn’t yet comprehend. One of the men had said something about that being the telepathic connection they were attempting to form, but she’d stopped listening when Gibus had pulled out a flat piece of glass similar to what Ruckus had used to show her the picture of Olena.

  He’d tapped a few buttons, and the next thing she knew: agony.

  “Why’s this taking so long?” Ruckus snapped for what felt like the hundredth time when she started to writhe. “Can you make the connection or not?!”

  “Almost,” Gibus assured him, though he was sweating and his voice shook a little at the end of the word. “Her human brain is rebelling. It’s going to take another minute.”

  “She can’t withstand this another minute!”

  Delaney would have agreed if her tongue hadn’t swollen in her mouth. Positive she was about to break a tooth with how tightly she was grinding her jaws, she was already plotting both of their murders when Gibus let out a cry of success and slammed his finger down on the screen a final time.

  “Her head’s going to explode,” a voice filtered through, panicked and rambling. “First I kidnap her; now I’m going to kill her! This was a bad idea. None of the other humans reacted this way. I’m going to end up—”

  “Driving me absolutely crazy if you keep up the yelling,” Delaney hissed through thin lips. She pressed her palms over her eyes and focused on evening out her breathing. The pounding in her head was still there, but it no longer felt like there was a vice squeezing it, which was something.

  Ruckus’s eyes widened. “Were you just—”

  “Hearing your thoughts?” she said, cutting him off again, and risked slitting her eyes open to glare at him. “And just because I thought the same thing about my head going boom, doesn’t mean I needed to hear you thinking it, too.”

  “I’m sorry.” He looked like the uncomfortable one now. “I hadn’t realized the connection had opened up.”

  “Does that mean it can be controlled?” Because that would be a plus. Already the thought of always being able to hear what he was thinking, and vice versa, gave her the creeps. It was hard enough being around him on an alien planet without his being able to read her mind.

  Right now it was easier for her to keep up a strong front because she knew he believed she was feeling strong. If he knew just how terrified she really was by all this … She didn’t need to know his opinion of her when that happened.

  “It won’t take long to adjust. For the next few hours you’ll feel warmth where the chip is right before I lock on to your frequency. The sensation will fade,” Ruckus explained. “You can prevent your thoughts from filtering into my head if you want, but anything I want to say to you, you can’t stop. I control my side of the connection; therefore, I’m the only one who can cut it. The same way you control your end of it.

  “If you don’t want me to hear you”—obviously he’d been paying attention—“erect a barrier. It’s different for everyone, but for me, picturing a glass box around my mind works. After a few times it’ll come naturally to you; the chip will learn your cues and adjust accordingly.”

  “It’s sort of like my iPhone,” she said in a poor attempt to mask how freaked out she still was. “Only instead of learning the word LOL, it’s learning how to mentally tell someone to fuck off.”

  He grunted, but the humor glimmering in his eyes gave him away. “Focus. You connected with me before because Gibus activated the chip and sent it my frequency. You’re not tapped into me anymore. To get it back, think of a thought, and imagine pushing it toward me. You’ll feel the burn again, signaling the chip activating; once it does, anything you think you can send directly to me. Understand?”

  “Not in the least.” She adjusted herself on the seat, getting more comfortable, and then clasped her hands in her lap. “All right, let’s do this.”

  She didn’t know what to think about, so she just let a jumbled mess fill her head as she concentrated on the hot alien across from her. Shaking those thoughts from her mind until she could dissect them during a more private moment, she imagined a slew of words filling the air, trailing from her head to his. It would have been quite comical even, if it hadn’t felt like someone was putting out a cigarette on the back of her neck.

  She was glad that sensation wouldn’t last, at least.

  Ruckus scrunched up his face at her.

  “What?” she asked, worried she hadn’t covered up her trailing thoughts about his attractiveness fast enough.

  “What is a tamale?”

  She laughed, glancing between him and Gibus to see that the other Vakar was just as clueless.

  Meeting his gaze, she beamed. “My favorite food.”

  * * *

  “STOP.” SHE GRINNED over at him when he froze for the third time since leaving the lab. “Can you hear me now?”

  “Seriously, Delaney,” he said, and ground his teeth so hard, she heard the sound.

  “What?” She shrugged innocently. “I think it’s funny.”

  “That’s a phone commercial?” He started walking again, leading them through the castle. They’d already passed through the white portion of the place, clearly the science wing, and he’d brought them back to the fake wooden rooms. So far she had yet to see a guard, so they must not be in a popular area.

  Gibus had stayed behind to continue working on … whatever it was he was working on.

  “It was,” she told Ruckus out loud. Then, telepathically: “It’s not anymore.”

  “This isn’t a toy,” he scolded. “I didn’t get you fitted so you could play around.”

  “Oh, relax.” They turned another corner, and the flooring changed from hardwood to carpeting the color of cream. “I’m practicing. You said the chip had to be conditioned to pick up on my cues, right? Well, this is me conditioning. The last thing I want is you getting in my head and overhearing something you shouldn’t all because I didn’t know what I was doing.”

  His pace slowed down, and it took her a moment to realize. He was a few steps back when she finally turned to him, a questioning look in her eye.

  The place had clearly been built for Ruckus’s kind, with high ceilings and hallways wide enough to fit six of him shoulder to shoulder. There were no windows in this portion of the castle, so the only lighting came from a row of white lights strung up at the center directly above them. It smelled like a mixture of burned firewood and bleach, the first coming from him while the second was the hall itself.

  Not wanting to dwell on why she could smell him from a distance away, she angled her hips and sighed exasperatedly, laying it on a bit thick even in her own mind. A grin split across his handsome face, and she knew she’d made an error somewhere.

  “What don’t you want me to overhear?” he asked, voice dropping an octave, as if they were sharing a secret between them even though they were the only ones around. He pulled back his shoulders and tucked his hands into his front pockets, rocking back on his heels. The whole pose was too relaxed, the sudden change in him coming off almost cocky.

  “Pretty much everything,” she said cautiously. “Can we keep going now?”

  “Why? Are you already done concentrating on ‘the hot alien’?”

  She felt her face go red. “I hate mind reading.”

  His chuckle was warm, real, and his body seemed to ease even mor
e. “There’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

  “Oh? Because you’re so hot and you know it?”

  “I’ve never thought about it before.” He shrugged. “Appearance has never really mattered to me.”

  “That’s easy enough to say when you look like that.” She waved a hand, indicating all of him.

  His brow furrowed in an obvious mixture of confusion and surprise.

  “Olena!” The Basileus’s call carried down the hall, and they both turned in his direction.

  Guiltily, though not really having a reason to be, they both stepped away from each other, watching as he approached, Pettus and three other guards on his heels.

  “I heard about what happened.” Magnus reached them and came to a sudden stop, just short of reaching out to touch her arm. His hand hesitated in the air for another second or so before he dropped it back to his side. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes.” She wrung her hands and forced a small smile. “I’m fine, thank you.”

  “We’ve caught the men responsible,” he said, fury lacing his tone. “Don’t worry. They will be dealt with accordingly. If something had happened to you…” Magnus glanced over his shoulder at the three unknown guards and then waved them back down the hall.

  They did as ordered, stopping where they could keep an eye on him but could no longer overhear.

  Not that there was much to overhear, for the four of them stood around in an awkward silence for a long moment. Pettus and Ruckus both kept their arms in front of themselves, clasped, while the Basileus seemed to struggle with whether or not to speak and, if the former, what to say.

  Sick of the stalling, Delaney came right out with it. “Trystan was involved.”

  Magnus’s eyes went wide, and his mouth thinned. “That is not an accusation you should make lightly, or at all. Especially out loud.”

  “He was luring me to the tree,” she insisted, though she smartly kept her voice down.

  “Coincidence,” he stated. “He was in every bit as much danger there as you were, was he not?”

  Well … yes, actually. She hadn’t thought of that. She’d been so surprised and freaked out that she hadn’t really stopped to think about the fact that he’d been closer to the explosion than she had. He’d gotten to the ground quickly, sure, but she’d seen them move. Aliens were faster than humans.

  Perhaps she’d jumped to conclusions?

  “Besides,” Magnus added, seeing her internal struggle, “like I already told you, we caught the bombers. They’re Tars who hoped ruining the celebration would cause a panic. It seems like you were never actually their intended target; it just happened to work out that way. They’re more upset now knowing that they could have killed you, even accidentally, than they are that their plan failed. No one is panicking. We’re Vakar. We don’t scare lightly.”

  She couldn’t really argue with him, his being the Basileus and all. Not to mention, he was making valid points. What did she really know about their politics anyway? Hell, she hadn’t even known the Tars existed until yesterday.

  “I’m sorry you got mixed up in all this,” Magnus said, swiftly putting an end to the discussion.

  “If you were really sorry,” she couldn’t help but say, “you’d send me home.”

  The darkening of the blue in his irises was the only outward sign of his anger. His voice, while clipped, remained even, and his shoulders hadn’t so much as tensed. Being that he was a king, it shouldn’t have been surprising that he had such strong control over his body and its reactions.

  “Delaney,” Ruckus urged telepathically, but she didn’t look at him, keeping her attention on the Basileus.

  “The reason why that’s impossible has already been explained to you, Miss Grace. Please, don’t mistake my pity for stupidity. I won’t risk my people so that one human girl can go back to her bland life.”

  Okay … were all aliens assholes? Because she was seriously starting to get that vibe. Also, did they all have to look so … perfect? She’d been so nervous this morning at breakfast, she hadn’t really taken the time to observe just how vital the Basileus looked. In comparison to the Basilissa, he was a hard yet handsome man; on his own, however, the full extent of his attractiveness stood out.

  He was maybe an inch shorter than Ruckus, so probably around six four, and his inky black hair was thicker, and wavy. She’d peg him as a surfer back home with locks like those.

  “With all due respect”—she held tightly to her anger, making sure to only allow part of it to show—“you don’t know anything about me, or my life. Just because I’m not a Lissa back on Earth doesn’t mean that my day-to-day life is any less eventful.”

  “Yes.” He nodded snidely. “That’s right, isn’t it? Parasailing and bungee jumping, correct?”

  “You forgot about petting the lion,” she bit out.

  “Careful, Miss Grace,” he warned, and at her side Ruckus’s fists clenched. “If that’s true, you’ve already survived one encounter with a predator. Do you really want to try your luck at another?”

  “She’s not well, Basileus,” Ruckus said, coming to her defense. “Not only did she hit her head during the explosion, but we just came from her fitting.”

  “You had her fitted?” Magnus glanced between the two of them, wearing a deep frown.

  “She’s unaware of our customs and our policies,” Ruckus stated. This last part was said with more force and a pointed look her way. “Getting fitted was the best way to feed her information while concealing her identity.”

  “Hmm.” Satisfied with that, the Basileus moved to leave. “Smart decision, Ander. Keep up the good work. And you, Miss Grace”—there was clear warning all over his face—“watch your step. Remember, the Vakar aren’t the only ones who will suffer should the Kints discover what’s really going on here.”

  “You mean what your daughter’s done?” She quirked a brow, but before he could verbally—or worse, physically—attack her, she followed up with, “I know how important maintaining my cover is. For both of our people. I’ll do my job of convincing them, but I want your word that the second you get Olena back, I get to go home safely.”

  He eyed her, and she couldn’t tell if he was impressed or simply still annoyed by her boldness. The former must have won out, however, because he ended up giving her a half smile that appeared to be legitimate.

  “You’ve got my word, Miss Grace. Play your part, and in the end we’ll both get what we want.”

  “Good.” He could be lying, that was always a possibility, but there was no real reason for him to bother. He needed her cooperation, sure, yet that could be forced out of her any number of ways, and he didn’t come off like the type who lacked imagination.

  “I have prisoners to attend to.” He bowed his head to her and then acknowledged Ruckus and Pettus. “I’ll see you at dinner tonight, Miss Grace.” He didn’t stick around for a reply.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” Ruckus demanded once the Basileus had disappeared down the hall. He yanked on her arm until she glared back at him. He was pissed, nostrils flaring and everything. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

  “I’ll excuse myself, Ander.” Pettus sent her an apologetic look and then hastened away, heading toward the science wing.

  “He can’t hurt me,” she reminded him when they were alone. “He needs me.”

  “For now,” he snapped. “What about tomorrow? Or the day after? The second he finds his daughter, do you really think he’ll let you leave if you’ve insulted him? He’s a king, Delaney! There are rules here just as there are on Earth, the most important being: Don’t make an enemy of the man in charge.”

  She couldn’t help her grunt. If only he knew about her rebellious stage a few years ago, then he’d realize what he was saying fell on deaf ears. Her entire freshman summer of high school had been spent conducting ways to raise her father’s blood pressure whenever she was home on break. Mariana had even helped with a few of those ideas.

&nbs
p; At the thought of her best friend, her anger dwindled, leaving her empty. Wrapping her arms around herself, she took a shaky breath. She hated all these highs and lows, the way she’d feel like she’d finally gotten ahold of herself only for something to remind her that she was, in more ways than one, a prisoner here.

  “What’s a cycle?” she asked suddenly, recalling she’d never gotten an answer about that.

  Her change of subject confused him, but he answered anyway. “It’s our word for day.”

  Her eyes bugged. “Day? Back on the ship you said I’d been out for three cycles! I was unconscious for three days?!”

  This was not happening. First, she was kidnapped, then she was almost murdered right after breakfast. Next she gets a painful and terrifying alien computer-type chip installed into her brain, and now Ruckus was telling her that she’d been missing for not two days but five!

  “It’s almost been a week,” she said breathlessly, backpedaling so that she could lean against the brown metal wall for support. “They must be going crazy. Mariana probably thinks I’m dead.”

  “Delaney—”

  “I need to contact them.” She’d barely heard him call her name. “Mariana and my parents. They need to know that I’m all right.”

  “You can’t do that,” he told her.

  “Why not?” It wouldn’t affect what she was doing here. No one knew who Delaney Grace was; they’d never make the connection if she reached out to her friends and family.

  “You’re on another planet, for one.” He ran a hand through his brunette hair, leaving his heavy palm at the base of his skull. “You can’t just call them on the telephone, Delaney.”

  “So have them send an e-mail,” she said, scrambling to come up with a solution.

  He gave her a pointed stare. “We both know that would only exacerbate the situation. Even if the e-mail wasn’t somehow intercepted by the Kint, which is likely, if your roommate thinks something bad has happened to you—”

  “You mean like a kidnapping?”

  “Then she would have called the police,” he went on, the only sign he’d heard her a slight narrowing of his eyes. “Any contact you make now will be investigated. The bigger the investigation, the more news coverage. And the more news coverage—”