Ria’s hair lay in a thick braid over one shoulder. There were thin splinters of glass from the shattered vid screen sprinkled on her face, chest and arms, some leaving small, shallow scratches, some penetrating her skin, though not deeply. A few had stuck into the plastic lenses of the goggles she wore. When Talon thought of what would have happened had she not been wearing the goggles, the ball of fear that had begun growing in his stomach rapidly expanded.
“She’s alive,” Tee said, his hands trembling as he held the scanner he’d just passed over her. “The worst injury is in her head.”
“I see no head injury,” Talon said.
“It’s on the back.”
“Is it safe to move her?” Thorn asked, his gravelly voice hoarse with tension.
“Yes,” Tee said after studying the scan once more. “No neck or back injuries, no broken bones, no internal injuries. It appears that she only has the one injury, but this scanner can’t penetrate deeply enough for me to see any detail from the front of her head.”
Talon nodded, grasped one shoulder and hip, then slowly and gently rolled Ria toward him until she was on her side, while Thorn supported her head. The moment they shifted her they were all hit with a cloud of scent consisting of pain, fear, and blood. Talon was stunned by the sensation of his mating fangs bursting through his gums, but was immediately distracted from that when Ria’s body rolled further toward him, revealing her back.
The back of her head, her neck, and the upper portion of her back and shoulders were all soaked in blood. Talon stared in horror at the sight, then threw his head back and roared. Tee and Thorn joined him, the three of them nearly mindless in that moment, their katrencas so close to the surface that they barely managed to withstand the need to shift.
So many years they’d dreamt of, prayed and yearned for their own Arima. Their own woman to love and cherish, and if the Creators were kind, children. Sons and daughters to love and teach and guide. They’d waited decades. Centuries. Were they to lose her the moment they found her? Why, after all these weeks, did they only react to her now?
The question shot through Talon’s mind like a sharp blade, cutting through his emotions in an instant. He closed his mouth and looked down at Ria, his thoughts racing.
“Cease,” he growled to his brothers, catching the sound of the air lock as it began running.
Thorn and Tee obeyed his order, both of them panting with the effort as they continued to stare down at the one woman meant just for them. “This is our secret,” Talon said hoarsely. “I’ll explain later. For now, we’re fighting a blood rage, nothing more. Understood?”
Thorn and Tee looked at him with burning eyes, stunned by his words. But they trusted him. Even though they didn't understand why he wanted them to do this, they trusted him. They nodded their agreement just as the air lock door opened.
“Talon?” Declan asked from behind him. A moment later he looked over Talon’s shoulder and whispered, “Zerua gainetik. Is she alive?”
“She is,” Talon said, gently rolling her back before slipping his hands beneath her. “I apologize for our loss of control. The sight of her injury took us by surprise.”
“No apology is necessary,” Declan said. He watched as Talon stood, Ria cradled with extraordinary care in his arms, Tee and Thorn crowding close.
“Who is the best physician?”
“For this type of injury, I would trust no one but Dr. Jula,” Declan said without hesitation. He didn't bother to offer to take Ria. He knew the offer would be refused. Then certain things would have to be said that Talon, for whatever reason, didn’t want to say as yet. A circumstance he could understand and would respect. For the time being.
He turned and led the way back to the air lock, but stopped outside of it. “We’ve already informed Vari that Ria’s been injured. If you three will transport to the Bihotza with Ria, we’ll inform Dr. Jula, and tell Vari to meet you in Transport and take you to the infirmary.”
“Thank you, Declan,” Talon said, understanding what Declan was offering, and appreciating the care in which he was offering it. But he couldn’t accept. Not and keep the secret he’d decided had to be kept for their sake, and for Ria’s.
Hating what he was about to do, but knowing he had to do it, he stepped forward and offered Ria’s limp body to Declan. Declan frowned, hesitated, then accepted the burden.
“It’s best if you take her to the Bihotza and see to her care,” Talon said roughly. “We’ll take care of matters here. It’s our responsibility. Please go now, Declan.”
Declan didn’t understand why Talon was doing this, but he did understand that it wasn’t easy. Questions would wait. For now, he simply turned and entered the air lock, keeping his back to the Katres for their sakes. When the doors opened into the lab he stepped through.
“Dr. Kannon is deceased, Captain Chou,” he said, then turned his attention to Jay and Kai. He waited for them to make the calls he asked them to make, then the three of them left the lab using Air. Within moments they were transporting back to the Bihotza and, moments after that, Declan laid Ria gently on a medi-cot.
Then all they could do was wait.
***
“Why did you do that, Brother?” Tee asked, unable to tear his eyes from Declan’s back even though he couldn’t see anything of Ria except her feet.
“Because no one else can know that Ria is our berezi. Not yet.”
“Why not?” Thorn growled.
“When we turned Ria over, what did you feel besides the near blood rage and mating fangs?”
“Anger, fear, sadness,” Tee said.
Thorn nodded. “The same. You?”
“The same,” Talon said. “I had no sexual reaction. All this time, all these weeks, we’ve been trying to understand our feelings about her, why we were drawn to her. The answer is as simple as it is obvious and yet it never occurred to us for a moment.”
“Pheromone suppressants,” Tee said softly. Talon nodded, but kept his eyes on Thorn, who looked shell shocked. After a few moments he shook his head and barked out a humorless laugh.
“This is rich,” he said bitterly. “We decide to wait for a berezi because no other female wants to mate with this face, and berezis are supposedly ruled by more than superficial appearances. Isn’t that what Prince Garen said?”
Talon nodded reluctantly, his heart hurting for his brother, but knowing nothing he could say right now would help. It was best to let him get it out. “Then we find the woman we waited so long for, only to discover that she’s no different than the rest. One look at my face and she’s popping pheromone suppressants before we’d been more than a day out from Jasan.”
“Thorn….”
“Don’t Tee,” Thorn said. “Not now. Please.”
Tee nodded reluctantly. He wondered how a moment they had waited so long for could’ve turned so bad, so fast.
“We have a serious situation here that we need to focus our attention on,” Talon said, hoping to tear Thorn’s thoughts from the path they were already traveling. “To do otherwise is an injustice to Dr. Kannon and to Lady Ria.” Talon paused, waiting until both Thorn and Tee nodded their agreement.
“I have several serious concerns about this incident, and I’m sure both of you do as well.”
“Dr. Kannon’s behavior on the vid seemed abnormally erratic and hyper excited to me,” Thorn said, using every ounce of will he possessed to pull himself together. He would save his emotions for behind the locked door of is stateroom. “We need to order a full toxicology screening done on her. I also want to pull the crystal drive in that cabinet. If one of those slivers managed to not shatter it, I should be able to review every button she pushed and every dial she turned. I want to know if the security messages didn’t go out because of a glitch, or if she bypassed them deliberately.”
“Agreed,” Talon said. “Tee?”
“Ria is a student. First question; why was a student assisting on an experiment with materials taken from an enemy debris f
ield rather than one or more of the dozens of qualified doctors and scientists on this vessel? Second question; why did Dr. Kannon conduct the experiment in here if it was as safe as she repeatedly told Ria that it was? Third question; why did Dr. Kannon activate only some of the required protocols, while excluding others?”
“That’s a good start,” Talon said. “I found Captain Chou’s behavior to be odd and out of character. I wish she hadn’t seen the vid yet, but that can’t be changed. I’ll interview her first. Thorn, I want that security vid copied and all copies secured. No one else is to watch it until further notice. I don’t want anyone else in here, not even to collect Dr. Kannon, until we have new cams set up first. Let’s post a guard at the door. An armed one.”
Thorn looked at him searchingly. “Are you thinking sabotage, Talon?”
“No,” he replied. “But something went on here that we don’t understand. Something besides the obvious. We have one woman deceased, and one seriously injured. I intend to get to the bottom of this mess and I don’t care how long it takes.”
Chapter 10
Declan, Jay, and Kai entered the master suite, wondering why Vari had asked them to come, and why she’d looked and sounded so tense on the vid screen. Afraid that Ria had taken a turn for the worse, they’d used Air to make the trip from the far end of the Bihotza in record time. When they entered the room, they found Vari sitting on a chair at the table, staring at something in the palm of her hand.
“Vari, what’s the matter?” Declan asked as they approached. “Is it Ria?”
When she looked up at them they were surprised to find that her expression was one of confusion rather than fear or grief. “Come sit, please.”
They each paused to give her a quick kiss, then took their seats around the table. “Please tell us what’s going on,” Kai said.
“When I saw Niri this morning she told me that yesterday, while prepping Ria for the procedure to remove the sliver from her head, she’d noticed she was wearing earrings. So she took them off and set them aside. She forgot about them until this morning, and gave them to me for safe-keeping.”
Vari carefully set the pair of opal earrings she’d been holding on the table. They all looked at the familiar earrings. In the months they’d known Ria, she’d never taken them off.
“What’s the problem with the earrings, Vari?” Jay asked. Just asking the question made something click and his eyebrows rose in surprise. “They’re psionic jammers?”
“Yes, they are,” Vari said. “See how thick the setting is behind the stone?” She slid one across the table to Jay, who’d inspected Vari’s jammers closely not so long ago.
He picked it up and took a look at it. “The post is the activator,” he said, pressing on it gently. He felt it move, feeling the tiny click more than hearing it.
“Are you saying Ria is telepathic?” Declan asked, confused.
“No,” Vari said, shaking her head slowly. “I really don’t think so. Ria never wore jewelry much before, and never for any period of time. I was a little surprised when I saw that she wears these constantly. I thought maybe they had some private sentimental value.”
“Why do you think she wears them?” Kai asked.
“I suspect she uses them to block me,” Vari said. “It’s the only answer that makes any sense.”
“Let’s test them,” Declan suggested, reaching for the second earring still on the table. He looked at it closely, then pressed on the post experimentally. Jay passed the earring he held over to Declan who looked at it closely.
“Press and hold the posts in for five seconds,” Vari said. “That will turn them off. Wait five seconds, then tap each one twice. Hold it next to your ear first though. You should hear each one click twice, indicating they’re on and working.”
Declan followed Vari’s instructions. “Now what?”
“Lower your shield, then hold the earrings close to your head.”
Moments later, Vari smiled sadly. “They work. I can’t get a thing from you.”
“Try projecting, Declan,” Jay suggested. Declan nodded, and did as Jay suggested. After that, they passed the earrings around the table, testing them thoroughly.
“They definitely block me,” Vari said. “What I don’t understand is, why? Does she not trust me anymore?”
“That’s not it,” Declan said, shaking his head. “There’s a deeper meaning here, Miraku.”
“Such as?”
“You’ve said yourself that Ria has been behaving in a manner inconsistent with what you normally would expect from her,” Jay said.
“You also wondered whether something bad happened to her,” Kai added.
“Yes, that’s true.” Vari stared at the earrings which were now back on the table in front of her. “You think there’s something she doesn’t want me to know about.”
“It seems a reasonable conclusion,” Jay said.
“But I’d never peek into her mind. I promised her and Bean that years ago, and I’d never break my promise.”
“Things get past the jammers sometimes,” Declan said. “You told us that. Presumably, Ria knows that too.”
Vari nodded, some of the tension leaving her shoulders. “You’re right, she does know that. I told her and Bean that right after I got the jammers. I was afraid that if something slipped through, they’d think I was breaking my promise so I wanted them to know they weren’t perfect.”
“Vari, where do you get your jammers?” Kai asked.
“Where do I get them?”
“Is there a shop that sells them or do you have to order them from somewhere?”
“There’s a shop in Badia,” Vari said. “They carry and service them. Why?”
“I’m just remembering that your Ata told us Ria stayed an extra night in Badia after the Leaper docked. To do some shopping.”
Vari nodded. “The pieces fit. All that’s missing is why? What happened to her? Why is it so important to her that I not know about it?”
“The only one who knows that is Ria, and you can’t ask her,” Kai said.
“Why not?”
“It hasn’t escaped our attention that Ria maintains very strict control over herself, and her emotions,” Kai said. “Whatever’s going on with her, those earrings are her safety net. If you tell her that you know about the jammers, it’ll be like pulling that net out from beneath her. That could be very dangerous for her.”
Vari nodded. “You’re right. She’s not even conscious yet, and when she does wake up, Niri believes she’ll either be blind, or have severely limited vision. Pressure and questions are the last things she needs from me.”
“Exactly,” Kai said. “Give her time, babe. We have lots to spare.”
“That’s the truth,” Vari said. “I’ll put these in the nightstand next to her bed. I suspect she’ll want them soon after she wakes up.”
***
Ria awoke suddenly, instantly knowing that she was not in her own bed, in her own room, or even at home. She didn’t move, open her eyes, change her breathing, or give any sign that she was awake as she sifted through the scents and sounds around.
It took only a few seconds to figure out where she was. She’d worked many long hours in the Bihotza’s infirmary during the past four months, so she was familiar with the voices of the staff, the soft hums and beeps of the equipment, the overall pulse of the place. Knowing where she was helped. She just didn’t know why she was there.
She opened her eyes slowly, then frowned at the absolute darkness that surrounded her. She blinked a few times, but the darkness remained. Her heart began to race, but before she reached full-blown panic she heard the soft whooshing sound of a door sliding open.
She turned her head toward the sound but, despite the fact that she clearly heard footsteps approaching, she still couldn’t see anything at all. A warm hand touched her shoulder.
“Ria, calm down.”
“Vari?” she asked hoarsely, suddenly realizing she was gasping for air.
&nb
sp; “Yes Txikreba, it’s me. You need to focus on your breathing or you’re going to hyperventilate.”
Ria tried, but couldn’t do as Vari asked. She couldn’t seem to think past the unrelieved darkness that surrounded her.
“Close your eyes, Ria,” Vari said firmly. “Close them right now.”
Ria closed her eyes tightly and within moments her panic began to subside. She was able to focus on Vari’s voice and, a few minutes later, her breathing had calmed enough that it was almost normal.
“Feeling better?” Vari asked, squeezing her shoulder gently.
“Yes,” Ria answered, suddenly exhausted from her near panic, and the effort to quell it. “What’s going on, Vari?”
“Do you remember the explosion?”
“Explosion?”
“You were in the science lab with Dr. Kannon on the Beacon.” When Ria’s confusion didn’t clear, Vari continued. “She was testing a container of liquid metal collected after the Doftle ship was destroyed.”
Ria’s eyes flew open, the utter blackness startling her all over again. She squeezed them shut as memories started coming back to her. “She aimed an electro-magnetic pulse at the container. She had me press the button, but she was right next to it. Her face was right next to it.”
“Yes, we’ve seen the security vid.”
“How is Dr. Kannon?”
“I’m sorry, Ria, but she didn’t survive the explosion.”
“What?” Ria gasped. “She died?”
“Yes, I’m afraid so.”
“But…how? Why? What happened?” She reached up and began rubbing her temples. “I don’t understand, Vari. Why can’t I remember?”
“I want you to calm down, Ria,” Vari said as she reached out to gently tug her sister’s hands away from her head. “You’ll remember, but you need to give yourself time. When you do, then we can discuss it, all right?”
Ria hesitated, but she had to know. “Vari, was it my fault?” she asked hoarsely. “Did I do something to cause this?”
Ria's Visions (Hearts of ICARUS Book 6) Page 13
