“Could have what? Helped her?” Ellis said. “Yeah, right. Like you helped Tasha when her grandmother was dying?”
“That is different. It was too dangerous with the war,” I said. “We could not risk it. But with the peace treaty, perhaps Quill would have been convinced to allow Inara to go home.”
“That’s horseshit and you know it. I heard you and the king talking, Galan. He wouldn’t send any of his men to Earth, even with the peace treaty.”
I gritted my teeth. She was right, but still, it was incredibly dangerous of her to drag Inara into this mess and I told her exactly that.
“It was incredibly dangerous of you to drag Inara into this mess. Flying a simulator is different from flying an actual ship. You could have crashed it, killing you both. The Emirans could have simply sold you to the highest bidder instead of contacting us. Do you have any idea how much danger you put yourself and Inara in?”
“I do now,” she said. “I’m sorry, but I had to try. I can’t go to prison.”
“You should have talked to me,” I said. “You should have asked me to help you to convince the king that you should stay and -”
“Now who’s talking crazy.” She stood up, her tiny hands clenched into fists. “If the king even knew we were fucking, hell, if he even thought for a second that you wanted him to forget that I committed a crime, I’d be in your stupid Iron Gate before either of us could even blink, and you would lose your position as head of the King’s Guard. Is that what you want? Your whole life destroyed over a meaningless fling with a human?”
“Is that what this is? A meaningless fling?” I said. “I mean nothing to you.”
“I didn’t say that,” she snapped. “But even if it was something more, we’re both fucked in the head to think it could have worked. We can’t work, Galan.”
“You were not even willing to try,” I said. I was talking foolishly but knowing that she didn’t care enough about me to even consider a different solution, hurt me to the core. She’d abandoned me without a second thought, without even asking what it would do to me with her gone.
You know she had no choice. Quill will not break the treaty to save her and she will die in prison. You know that.
I ignored my inner voice. I wanted to stay angry, wanted to punish her for leaving me and frightening me and hurting me.
“You do not care about anyone but yourself,” I said.
“That isn’t true.” I could almost see the hurt radiating from her.
“It is. All you thought about was escaping your own fate, a fate you brought on yourself. You dragged Inara into this and did not even care that she might die. You thought only of yourself. You have no family or friends who love you because you are a selfish human who is incapable of loving anyone but yourself!”
I’d gone too far. I knew that immediately. I didn’t need to see the agony in Ellis’s face, hear the horrified gasp from Inara, watch the blood drain from both their faces, to know that.
Sick to my stomach, ashamed beyond belief for what I said, I reached for my sweet female. “Sadora, I should not have -”
There was a shout of warning from Krey, and the shrill whoop of the ship’s warning beacon drowned out my apology.
“Hang on!” Krey shouted.
The ship veered sharply to the right, making my stomach roll and knocking me off my feet. My tail shot out and wrapped around Ellis’s waist as she was flung sideways, catching her before she slammed into the side of the ship.
“Inara!” Ellis shouted as I used my tail to pull her against my body. I climbed to my feet as the ship veered to the right again.
I picked up Ellis and she pounded on my chest with her fists. “Inara! She’s hurt!”
Moving quickly, I strapped Ellis into one of the chairs and gripped her chin. “Stay here. I will get Inara.”
The ship was shaking and rattling, and I grabbed at the wall for support when Krey shouted out another warning. This time the ship veered to the left and Ellis cried out when Inara’s prone body rolled across the floor.
Holding onto the wall, I moved to the back of the room and crouched beside Inara. A large bruise had flowered across her temple and when I peeled back her eyelid, I could see nothing but the white of her eye.
I rested my hand on her chest, relief flooding through me when I felt the beat of her heart beneath my palm and the rising of her chest.
“Is she alive?” Ellis cried, clutching the bottom of her chair as she stared frantically at me.
“Yes.” I picked her up and carried her to the chair next to Ellis, propping her in the seat and buckling her in. Her body sagged sideways toward Ellis and Ellis put her arm around her, resting Inara’s head on her shoulder.
“She hit her head against that.” Ellis pointed to a large metal pipe that ran along the wall. “I saw it. She hit her head and then she just fell -”
The ship made a stomach-turning dive, nearly flinging me into Ellis’s lap. I grabbed onto the empty seat as Ellis stared at me with frightened eyes.
“Galan! Get up here!” Krey shouted.
“Stay here. It will be all right,” I said.
I staggered toward the cockpit.
“Galan!”
I turned, staring at Ellis as she returned my stare with wide and frightened eyes. “I – be careful.”
I nodded and opened the door to the cockpit, dropping into the seat next to Krey’s as the cockpit door slid shut. “What is happening?”
“The Cillades are attacking us,” Krey said grimly. He pushed a button on the control panel and a panel slid open in front of me. I stared at the weapon controls as Krey made another sharp right. “Do you even remember how to fire the ship’s guns?”
“Yes,” I said. “But it has been many years.”
“You can steer the ship, or you can fire the weapons. Your choice.”
“Fire the weapons,” I said.
Krey’s grin was fierce and way too cheerful considering we were most likely about to die. “Wise move, brother. I love you, but you are a shit pilot.”
I wrapped my hands around the controls and gave Krey my own not quite sane grin. “Are you ready, brother?”
Krey nodded. “To the end, Galan.”
“To the end, Krey.”
Chapter Twenty
Ellis
Krey had barely set the ship down on the landing pad outside the castle’s docking bay before I heard the cargo hold opening. Feet pounded on the floor and the door to the main cabin slid open. A wild looking Melu charged through and I squeezed the unconscious Inara a little closer.
I had survived a space battle with the Cillades only to be murdered by my boss. Super.
I tried not to cringe when Melu ran toward us.
“Melu, I’m sorry, I…”
I trailed off, watching silently as Melu dropped to his knees in front of Inara and cupped her face. “Inara? Inara, can you hear me?”
“She is unconscious,” Krey said. He and Galan had joined us in the main cabin.
“She needs gallberry juice,” Galan said. “I messaged Sigan before we arrived and asked -”
“I am here.”
Sigan hurried into the room followed by, I swallowed hard, the king and his advisor.
He knelt next to Melu and examined the bruise on Inara’s temple. “I will take her and Ellis to the infirmary.”
“No,” Teo said. “The thief is to be taken to the west wing.”
“She is bleeding and it is a nasty wound on her head.” Sigan glanced at me. “She could have a concussion or -”
“She will either live or she will not. Either way, she will not get another drop of gallberry juice from us. Adrix,” Teo turned to Adrix who had stepped into the room, “take her to an empty room and stand guard outside of it.”
“Yes, Teo,” Adrix said.
“My king,” Sigan said, “she needs juice.”
The king turned his silver gaze toward me. My throat went dry and goosebumps popped out all over my skin at the l
ook on his face. If Melu didn’t kill me, the king would. I was sure of it.
“Adrix,” the king said, “do as Teo commands.”
“Yes, my king.”
“Quill,” Galan said. “I know you are angry, but Ellis’s injury is severe and -”
“Enough, Galan,” Quill said. “Do not ask me to show mercy on her after she nearly got you and Krey killed.”
“Quill, she did not mean -”
“My head isn’t that bad,” I said quickly. “I don’t need juice.”
I was lying. My head was throbbing, and I felt sick to my stomach, and in the last twenty minutes or so my vision had gone blurry. I wasn’t even sure I would be able to stand let alone walk, but I didn’t want Galan and Quill’s friendship ruined because of me. Galan didn’t love me, but he was a good person. The kind of person who didn’t want to see anyone suffer, even someone he now hated.
“Melu, the female needs to go to the infirmary.” Sigan tugged on his arm. “You must move so that I can help her.”
I let go of Inara and Melu unbuckled her before picking her up. He cradled her in his arms. “I will carry her to the infirmary.”
He and Sigan left the ship and I didn’t object when Adrix unbuckled the strap across my lap. He stepped back, unsheathing his sword and holding it at his side. “Stand up, thief.”
“Adrix,” Galan said, “that is not necessary.”
I heaved myself to my feet. The world tilted and a wave of dizziness washed over me. I bent over, ignoring the steady patter of blood that dripped from my head onto the floor, and took a few deep breaths.
“Ellis, do you feel faint?”
“Galan, step back.” The king’s deep voice was right over top of me. I flinched when his hand gripped my arm and pulled me upright.
Swaying, trying not to vomit, I squinted up at the king. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I swear I didn’t mean to put Galan and Krey in danger.”
“But you did,” he said. “As well as Inara.”
He bent until his face was directly in front of mine. His silver eyes had gone a flint grey, and my knees trembled as he studied me. “You have used my generosity toward you as an opportunity to betray and lie and nearly kill both of my brothers. Tell me why I should not simply have your head removed from your body and be done with it, little thief.”
“You should do it,” I said. “I deserve it.”
“Ellis, be quiet,” Galan said sharply.
I could hear the alarm in his voice, but I felt only an odd sense of relief that I was about to die. Galan was lost to me forever, what was there left to live for?
What looked almost like a flicker of admiration crossed the king’s face before he straightened.
“She does not know what she says, Quill,” Galan said. “Obviously she has a head injury that needs treating. Let Sigan give her some juice.”
“Take the thief, Adrix,” Quill said.
Adrix took my arm and I stumbled after him, trying to stay on my feet as another wave of dizziness overtook me.
* * *
Ellis
“Hey, Sigan. Are you here to kill me?”
The kadana rolled his eyes and hurried across the room. “I see the head injury has not cured you of your tendency to talk like a froden.”
“What does froden mean anyway?” I said as Sigan crouched in front of me.
“Fool,” he said.
“Well if the shoe fits, right?” I said. “How is Inara?”
“She is still unconscious. She has swelling of her brain.”
“Oh my God,” I said.
Sigan was opening the bag he carried and bringing out a couple bottles of gallberry juice, the silver pen thing he’d used on my skull when I’d first arrived, and a cloth and bottle of pink tinged liquid.
“She will be fine,” he said. “She is receiving gallberry serum and it should relieve the swelling.”
“Should?” I said.
“Will,” he said. “She will wake in a day or two and be completely healed.” He wrinkled his nose. “It smells like vomit in here. Have you been throwing up?”
“Yeah,” I said. “A few times.”
He muttered something under his breath before standing and holding out his hand. “Stand up.”
“Better not,” I said. “That will definitely make me vomit.”
With another mutter, he lifted me to my feet then carried me into the small bathroom. His footsteps echoed in the empty apartment.
I still had double vision and I squinted at the two Sigans as he sat me down on the side of the tub. I’d lost all sense of time after Adrix had brought me here and closed the door. The apartment was small like mine, but it was completely empty of furniture. I’d sat on the floor, leaned against the wall, and waited to see if I would pass out, vomit, or die.
Vomiting repeatedly with a few possible instances of blacking out had won the war. I felt so fucking terrible, death would probably have been more kind.
Of course, the king could still take my head. Could and probably would.
“Yay for death by beheading,” I croaked out and then laughed.
“You are not being beheaded,” Sigan said.
“How long have I been in here?” I said.
“Only a few hours. I would have been here sooner, but Melu was in the infirmary and nearly lost his mind when I asked him to leave. It took a great deal of convincing from Krey that Inara would not die simply because Melu was not there to watch over her.”
“He likes her,” I said.
“Yes, I believe he does.” Sigan left the bathroom and returned with his supplies. “Drink this.”
My hand trembled too badly to hold the bottle of juice. Sigan held it to my mouth and I gulped down the sweet juice, breathing a sigh of relief when it helped the nausea almost immediately.
“Better?” he said.
“Yeah. I don’t think I’m going to vomit again.”
“Good. Drink some more. Do you have blurred vision?”
“Yes.”
He frowned. “I suspected you had a concussion. You should be receiving serum.”
“Hey, I appreciate that the king is giving me juice,” I said.
Sigan didn’t reply and a large stone wedged itself in the pit of my stomach. “Did the king give you permission to give me juice?”
“He did not not give me permission,” Sigan said.
I immediately pushed the bottle of juice away. “What are you doing? You need to get out of here right now before Adrix tells the king that you’re trying to fix me up.”
“I told Adrix I was here to simply say goodbye before you go to Iron Gate, not to heal you,” Sigan said.
“Oh God,” I moaned. “Now you’re lying for me? Sigan, you gotta go, buddy.
“I will not leave you here to suffer,” Sigan said. “I am a kadana and it is my job to help those who need healing.”
“Not when the king might chop your head off for it,” I said. “I’m fine, okay?”
“You are not fine,” Sigan said. “You need juice for your concussion and your wound needs to be cleaned and closed. Tilt your head back.”
“No,” I said. “No one else is getting in trouble because of me.”
“You are tiny and weak,” Sigan said. “I will easily overpower you if you do not do as I say.”
“You’re the worst, Sigan. You know that, right?”
“Yes,” he said. “Tilt your head back.”
I tilted my head back and tried not to wince when Sigan poured the pink liquid over the wound in my head. It burned and Sigan squeezed my shoulder in sympathy. He used the cloth and more liquid to clean the wound then picked up the silver pen.
“Shit, no,” I said. “You’re not using that thing on me again. It was like my skin was on fire the last time. I’d rather have an open wound.”
“The wound needs to be closed and the turing carver will close it quickly and efficiently,” Sigan said.
“I’ll just drink a lot of ju
ice instead,” I said.
“I could not smuggle enough in my bag to heal you of both your concussion and the wound.”
“It can just heal naturally,” I said.
“If it does not become infected, you will still have a terrible scar,” Sigan said. “They will not give you juice in Iron Gate, human. You will be sent there in an hour or two, and it must be healed before then.”
I blew my breath out and drank the rest of the juice in the bottle before gripping the side of the tub. “Yeah, okay. Do it.”
He turned the carver on, and I grabbed his hand and squeezed it. “Hey, Sigan?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
“You are welcome, Ellis.”
* * *
Galan
“Why do you stop?” I scowled at Krey and lowered my sword.
“You are not paying close enough attention,” Krey said. “I have no wish to gut you.”
I bared my teeth at him. “The day you beat me in swords is the day I give up my position as head of the King’s Guard.”
Krey wiped the sweat from his face. “I see your mood has not improved.”
“My mood is fine. Let us fight.” I raised my sword again, biting back my urge to smack Krey with the flat side of it when he shook his head and kept his sword lowered.
“I am fine,” I insisted.
“You have not been fine since she was taken to Iron Gate two days ago,” Krey said.
My hand tightened around the handle of my sword. “I do not wish to speak of her.”
“I know you miss her.”
“So what if I do?” I said. “She is gone and there is nothing I can do about it. I cannot see her, I cannot talk to her, I cannot touch her. I can do nothing but sit and worry that she is alone, that she is afraid, that she is dying from her head injury, and -”
“Sigan healed her head injury,” Krey said.
I stared at Krey. “What?”
Krey grinned at me. “Sigan healed her before she was taken to Iron Gate.”
“When? How?”
“He told Adrix he wanted to say goodbye to Ellis. When Teo arranged to have her taken to Iron Gate a few hours later, she was healed. Sigan is denying it, of course.” Krey laughed. “Ellis told Teo she had always been a quick healer and then refused to say anything else.”
Rebel (The Draax Series Book 3) Page 27
