by Frost Kay
“You didn’t like him?”
“Of course I didn’t like him! He forced me on that ship and then locked me to the chair!”
“Well that’s not very nice,” the blue one commented.
“I know, right? All I wanted to do was live a simple life in the country with my family, watch my nieces and nephews grow up, maybe have children of my own. But do you think that’s going to happen here?” She paused for a breath. “No, it’s like the men don’t know how to date. Do you know how many times I’ve been sniffed and offered weird gifts?”
“You’ve been courted?” the green one asked, his voice tight.
She snorted. “If you can call it that. Sniffing someone and then asking them to come live with your village is not courting in my book. It’s just darn creepy.” She stabbed a finger at them. “Even my friend Sid can’t help it. He says it will pass, but he still sniffs me every time I give him a hug. He’s stinking lucky I like him so much.”
“We’re getting off topic,” the blue one reminded, a handsome smile on his face. “What happened when you met the Lock again?”
She huffed and crossed her arms. “Well, I happened to stumble into him again, and I mean that literally. It was like walking into a wall of stone. Anyhow, I wanted to return the favor he granted me, so I gave him a sample of my family’s emerald moonshine.”
The males exchanged a look. “We’ve never heard of it.”
“And you never will.” She waved a hand, “It was supposed to be a new line of product, but the effects were messed up. All it did was make your belly sick.” An evil smile tugged at her lips. “I figured the good Lock deserved a little Southern justice.” She shrugged. “When you act like a knave, you get treated like one.”
Exhaustion pressed down on her as she finished her story. It seemed unfair to be so sore and tired while one was dead. “Now will you two leave me alone?”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but you’re not dead.” He tapped the table and a clear data sheet appeared. “Take a look at this.”
Allie pulled it toward herself and she clicked “play.” What she watched made her breath come faster. It was her entire life on fast-forward since she’d arrived on Sars. Then it switched to three videos. One of Jer, Sebastian, and Elijah, all of them in interrogation cells like hers. Jer was a little ruffled, but looked okay. It was Elijah and Sebastian who worried her. Both men were bruised and bloody.
She glared at the screen, her heart hurting for her friends. “What did you do to them?”
“Nothing they didn’t deserve.”
Her head snapped back, feeling like they’d struck her. No one deserved to be beaten like that unless they hurt children. She recovered and slowly leaned over the table. “Let them go.”
Cool green eyes met hers. “They assaulted Av Locks and attempted to help you in your escape. They’re also under arrest.”
“I wasn’t attempting anything! I just needed a quiet place to think, I swear.”
“Like you didn’t kill the Lock?” the blue one asked.
“I didn’t kill him! I just gave him the emerald moonshine.”
A smile spread across the blue Av’s face. “Thank you, Allie. That’s all we needed.” Both aliens stood and slipped out the door before she could say anything.
“What just happened?” she whispered to the air, staring at the wall the door had melded into. “It’s like I’ve entered an alternate reality.”
One thing was for sure. She should’ve kept her mouth shut.
6
Espionage the Sai way
If Allie squinted just right, the ceiling seemed to take on shapes. If someone had asked her what they were, she wouldn’t be able to say. As soon as she focused on one, it dissolved. What this a new form of torture? Were they trying to drive her mad? Or was she there already?
She shifted to the side, her lower back making its displeasure known. It’d long since gone numb on account of the metal chair bolted to the floor. She’d found that the invisible force fields were still intact, leaving her without the possibility of moving very far from her chair. There certainly wasn’t enough room to stretch out, so she was reduced to lying on the floor with her legs dropped over the chair just to alleviate the needles in her butt and back.
During the time that had passed, she’d had opportunity to reflect on her time with the two Avs who had visited her. Their appearance confused her and scared her. How was it possible for her to dream of two men that were real? She’d turned that question over in her mind numerous times and come up with two answers. One, she was crazy, and the stress from her mind was imposing her hallucinations over the men who looked similar. Or two, she’d actually experienced an attack on her ship.
The second was so farfetched, she’d chuckled when it popped into her mind. None of the other passengers remembered an attack. Even Jer said she’d been sleeping the whole time. Then there was the fact that the Avs didn’t recognize her at all. The first was most likely, but her mind still wouldn’t give up the second option, as unrealistic as it was. She smiled in amusement and twisted a finger in her blond hair. There’s no way she’d admit she was crazy before exhausting all options.
The door hissed. Two sets of black boots entered her vision, along with the hems of floor-length black coats. Lazily, she looked up at the two Avs who had arrested her. “What do y’all want?”
The dark one crossed his arms and frowned, and the one with teal hair grinned. “We’re here to offer you a deal.”
“A deal?” She barked out a laugh. “I’m not guilty of anything.”
The dark one pressed his wrist comm and her voice floated through the air with a soft drawl. “I wanted to return the favor he granted me, so I gave him a sample of my family’s emerald moonshine. I figured the good Lock deserved a little Southern justice. When you act like a knave, you get treated like one.” A corner of his mouth lifted after her voice cut off. “That’s a confession.”
Allie jerked her feet off the chair and stood on shaking legs. “You know I didn’t kill him.”
“That’s not what our report says. The Lock died from a foreign contaminant in his system. One that your moonshine carried.”
“No!” She shook her head. “My moonshine does not kill people. If there was a foreign contaminant in his system, it was not by my hand.”
The teal-haired Av shrugged. “That’s not what our scientists have found.”
She fell into her chair. “Impossible,” she breathed. Her emerald bane had never killed anyone! Her own family had taken it at one time or another as test subjects to see if it got any better with the changes they made.
“Can you disprove our claims?”
She couldn’t, and they both knew that. They were toying with her.
Both Av Locks sat in front of her; the one with black hair tapped the table, then pushed the document to her. “Here’s the deal we can make you, and remember it’s not just your life in the balance, but that of your friends.”
Allie ran a hand over her face and held it over her mouth while she tried to make sense of the document.
“We will release your friends, and you will be allowed a certain amount of freedom once you complete this task for us.”
She blinked at the document and pushed it back. “What task?”
“We need you to create a moonshine that can make someone speak the truth. You would also need in infiltrate the home of a high-commanding Av and distribute it to him.”
“What?” Allie gaped. She dropped her hands to the table, not knowing where to even start. “You want me to spy? Me? The one that trips over everything and has anxiety? Not to mention, I’m not a scientist. I make drinks and brew terrible moonshine. I’ve no business trying to create anything of the sort. I’m liable to actually kill someone.”
“Your target doesn’t require seduction. Your very nature will lure him to you.”
“My nature?”
“You’re human.”
“Yes…” Allie drawled. “W
hat of it?”
“He has a fascination with your race. You won’t have to search for him. He’ll come to you.”
She crossed her arms. “What about the truth serum? I’m a mixologist, not a bloody magician.”
“We’ll make sure you have everything you need at your disposal.”
“I’m sure.” A bitter laugh escaped her, but she didn’t take her eyes from the pictures of her friends on the table. She couldn’t have them punished for her act of revenge. Her mama was right. Revenge wasn’t pretty, it was petty. She sucked in a breath, desperate to see a way out of this, but only one was visible.
Her nostrils flared as she sat back and glared at the Avs watching her. “I want someone to explain the document to me before I sign anything.” Her smile was sharp. “I may seem like a gullible human placed on your planet, but I’m not stupid. I assume release does not mean clear and free. I want all the charges dropped on my friends, and their lives to resume with nothing hindering that. For myself, I want freedom as well.”
“That all?” the dark one laughed.
She shrugged. “If I think of more, I’ll let you know. Now, when do we start?”
“You’ll start now.”
Thank you for reading Emerald Bane! Ready for the next installment of the Mixologists and Pirates Series?
Check out SCARLET VENOM
Curious what a Seren Brain Hemorrhage tastes like? Grab the cocktail recipe on the next page!
Seren Brain Hemorrhage
So, I searched high and low for intriguing alien drinks. Let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. Most of them were down-right nasty. BUT this one happens to be delicious, so enjoy, and don’t do anything Allie wouldn’t do!
Recipe:
¾ oz. of Peach Schnapps
¼ oz. Bailey’s Irish Cream
Few drops of Blue Curacao
Few drops of Grenadine
Mixologist Instructions:
Fill a shot glass with peach Schnapps
Pour Bailey’s Irish Cream on the top.
Add Blue Curacao.
Then finish it with dash a Grenadine Syrup to add an out of this world flare.
About the Author
USA Today Bestselling Author Frost Kay is a certified bookdragon with an excessive TBR, and a shoe obsession. Her goals in life include: Eating a five-pound bag of skittles in one sitting, creating worlds that sweep you away and leave you dazed, and preventing the cat from laying on top of her laptop.
If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage https://www.frostkay.net/, follow me on IG https://www.instagram.com/frost.kay.author/ . I’m a total Instagram whore. I can’t get enough bookstagram pics. Or like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Author-Frost-Kay
From bookworm to bookworm: reviews are important. Reviews can help readers find books, and I am grateful for all honest reviews. Thank you for taking the time to let others know what you’ve read, and what you thought.
Just remember, they don’t have to be long or epic, just honest❤
Prologue
Rebel’s Blade Snippet
Are you a Game of Thrones or Throne of Glass fan? Take a peek at the new fantasy series that you will lose sleep over.
This was it.
Escape was impossible and death inevitable.
Leering men surrounded her; the stench of their rotting teeth and filthy clothing assaulted her senses. Black spots dotted her vision as she struggled to maintain consciousness. She couldn’t let herself slip away, though, or think of what they’d do if she did.
Sage had been trained for this sort of thing, had been told pain was in the mind and, while she could push some of it away, her body was only so strong. It was impossible to remain unaffected. She blinked, clearing the tears and blood from her eyes, only to catch the dark, empty ones of her captor studying her with amusement, seeming to enjoy her every wince or whimper. Biting the inside of her cheek, she steeled herself; she would not give him the satisfaction.
If by some miracle she made it through this alive, he was on her list.
Her body screamed in pain as someone pushed her forward, her toes skimming the floor seeking purchase. Her hands, slick with sweat, slipped from the chains, shifting the entirety of her weight onto her manacled wrists. The metal bit into her abused flesh, though she had thankfully lost feeling in them some time ago. Tremors now wracked her nearly naked body.
How much longer could she hold on?
She peered at the ringleader, a sadistic man named Serge. He appeared to be moving his lips, yet all she heard was the high-pitched ringing in her ears. The edges of her vision blurred, and every sound seemed distorted—almost as if she was underwater. She would die here and her family would never know where to find her. Bitterness and regret then filled her. She should have killed the crown prince when she had the chance. This was his doing, she knew it. If she made it out alive, she would bring Aermia down around his ears.
Read Rebel’s Blade for FREE in KindleUnlimited!
