by Zoe Ashwood
They landed in a large hangar where dozens of small aircraft stood in neat rows. She had to wonder at the sheer size of the Rendian army if this was just one of its warehouses. How many soldiers did the regent command? What were they going up against?
The threat they were facing suddenly seemed more real.
Taron groaned at the sight of two Rendian soldiers approaching. “I’m really sorry about this,” he muttered as he handed her down through the door.
Adriana only had time to send him a questioning look before the soldiers were on them.
“Welcome back, sir,” the older one said. “Did you have a nice trip?”
The younger man sniggered and checked Adriana over. For the first time since landing on Rendu, she had to fight the urge to cover herself—even though she was wearing four layers of clothing.
Taron drew her to his side, his arm around her shoulders. “Yes, thank you. It was very pleasant.”
“I would imagine so!” The guards guffawed, and the first one slapped Taron on the back.
“She’s pretty,” the younger soldier added, stepping closer.
He lifted an arm to touch her hair, and Adriana recoiled away from him.
Taron moved so fast her eyes couldn’t track his movement. One moment, the guard was inches away from her, and the next, he was slammed against the hull of the ship, Taron’s elbow at his throat.
“You don’t touch her,” Taron growled through clenched teeth.
The young soldier’s eyes bulged, his face turning a mottled blue. “Stop, you’re—”
“Do. You. Understand?” Without so much as breathing hard, Taron hoisted the soldier higher, until his feet no longer touched the ground.
“Sir, he didn’t mean…” The older guard tried to intervene, but a furious glare from Taron stopped him in his tracks.
“Yes,” the soldier gasped. “Yes, sir!”
Taron stepped back, and the young man crumpled to the floor. Adriana stood rooted to the spot, her hand over her mouth, too stunned to speak. Taron grabbed her other hand and dragged her toward the exit, not even glancing back to where the soldier was coughing on the floor.
“Taron,” she yelped, failing to match his long strides. “Taron, stop.”
They were outside now, the brutal chill settling around them. The icy ground was slippery, and Adriana feared she would twist her ankle if they didn’t slow down.
He halted abruptly, hauling her to him, and crashed his lips over hers.
“Mmh,” she mumbled, holding on for dear life as he plundered her mouth, warming her insides with such effortless ease. She kissed him back, soothing, licking, until his rough breaths slowed and his grip on her hips relaxed from bruising to gentle.
“I couldn’t let him touch you.” His voice was still low, gravelly, rumbling through her like an avalanche. “No other man…” He stopped himself, closing his eyes.
She should have been appalled at his behavior. She would have dealt with that soldier on her own if he had persisted. But his protectiveness told her something he likely wasn’t aware of yet. He certainly wasn’t acting like he was at peace now.
“Thank you for helping me,” she said, smoothing her hands over his shoulders, up his neck, until she touched his skin.
He shivered; her hands were probably freezing cold even against his skin.
There was more he wanted to say, she was sure of it, but they were standing in a public square, with soldiers milling about and civilians casting curious gazes their way. And even though the white sun was rising over the rooftops, the day wasn’t getting any warmer.
So she took his hand and tugged him toward the palace, letting that kernel of truth heat her from the inside. She’d meant what she’d said earlier—she didn’t care one bit about his money, and she was prepared to live the rest of her life knowing she loved him, truly loved him, while his feelings for her were a lot less violent.
Now, she couldn’t help but hope. Maybe, just maybe, she could find out whether he loved her, too.
They walked into the palace through the main gate, pretending nothing was amiss: just a couple holding hands on a beautiful winter morning. Hurrying into the human delegation’s quarters, they were greeted by quiet, relieved exclamations and hugs. Lots of hugs.
They couldn’t risk a big meeting without alerting the palace guards that something was going on, so Taron grabbed his brothers and assured the others they would get all the information soon.
Mika and Hanne slipped into Taron’s room behind them, and Hanne stuck out her tongue at Lhett when he tried to get her to leave. Adriana lifted her eyebrows at this; Hanne was the most serious of their group. If Lhett’s thunderous expression was any indication, there was some serious chemistry between them.
Mika saw her looking and winked—and Adriana was swamped with guilt, realizing she’d been so absorbed in her own problems, her relationship with Taron, that she hadn’t paid much attention to her friends.
Sidling closer to Hanne, she took her friend’s hand and squeezed. “I’m so happy to be back,” she whispered.
Hanne, taller by nearly a head, pulled her into a hug, her fragrance comforting and familiar. Mika joined the group hug, her slight body colliding with theirs, nearly toppling them over. Adriana laughed—this was her family, blood or no blood. These two would never care if she clung too hard.
“Enough with the hugging already.” At Lhett’s growl, they disentangled themselves and faced the three brothers.
Adriana had to admit the sight was impressive. The Naals brothers stood tall and proud, wearing similar expressions of exasperation, though Taron quirked his lips as he met her gaze.
“Sorry,” Adriana said. “I’m just glad to be here.”
“You should be glad you’re still alive,” Kol remarked mildly.
That sobered her. “I know. And I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
“It wasn’t all her fault,” Mika piped up from beside her. “We agreed that someone needed to investigate.”
Kol didn’t seem impressed. “Well, we’ve managed to keep the news of your disappearance contained because the regent is busy with an envoy of foreign dignitaries that arrived yesterday. You can all return to your work and pray nobody notices anything amiss.”
“Um.” Adriana glanced at Taron, then back at his brother. “Didn’t Steven tell you…?”
Lhett tensed at this. “Tell us what?”
“About the guards?”
Kol closed his eyes for a brief moment, then looked at his youngest brother. “What is she talking about, Taron?”
Hanne put her hand on Taron’s arm, earning herself another glare from Lhett. “Steven only managed to tell us Adriana was with you and safe before he was called in for a flight training with the royal guard. He had to leave; it would have raised suspicion if he hadn’t.”
Ah. That explained it.
Taron groaned, then faced his brothers, his shoulders straight and arms rigid at his sides, a soldier reporting to his superior officers. “The rescue of Adriana required me and Steven to kill six guards at the First Murrun Station.”
Kol’s jaw dropped. Lhett turned away and cursed so violently, Adriana flinched. She’d caused this with her damned curiosity. The human delegation was responsible for the death of six Rendians, horrible as they might have been, and if word got out, they would all be in big trouble.
Kol looked like he was about to start yelling, but Taron stepped forward and cut in.
“They would have raped her, Kol.” He swallowed, his throat bobbing. His skin turned a dark, dangerous blue. “They were…she was half naked when I got there.”
Hanne and Mika exclaimed and hugged Adriana again. She’d known there was something he wasn’t telling her, but with their night and morning so fraught, she hadn’t stopped long enough to ask him for the details. A tremor coursed through her, her chin wobbling, and she bit her lip to keep the tears from overflowing.
He’d saved her. Had she even thanked him for it? Their
gazes met across the small room, and for a moment, everyone faded, the connection between them undeniable. This man had risked his life and flew through an ice storm to protect her.
She would never let him go.
Reality rushed in again when Hanne released her and went to hug Taron. “Thank you,” she mumbled into his clothes. “Thank you for saving her.”
Lhett’s frown was dark as midnight. A vein pulsed in his temple, and Adriana thought he might explode if Hanne didn’t stop touching his brother.
Tugging at her friend’s sweater, she said, “I’m okay. But we could be in serious trouble if word gets out that Steven and I were there last night.”
“Or that the flight I took wasn’t just a pleasure cruise,” Taron added.
Yeah. She didn’t think the soldiers at the hangar would keep quiet if anyone came asking questions about Taron. He’d ruined his chances of that the moment he grabbed the young soldier.
“You’ve effectively forced our hand,” Kol was saying. “We have to act now.”
“You mean save the queen?” Hanne asked.
Mika hummed the first notes of God Save the Queen, and Adriana poked her in the ribs to stop. It was hardly a time for jokes, but she returned Mika’s mischievous smile. It was good to be back.
“Save the queen, get rid of Gilmar,” Lhett answered. “But we still have no idea how to work around that fucking collar.”
“Has anyone asked Jean?” Adriana suggested. Their engineer was probably smarter than the rest of the delegation put together—and none of them were exactly average in that regard.
“You mean the silent one?” Kol seemed doubtful. “He hasn’t spoken three words since he came here.”
Adriana smirked. “Just wait and see.”
Hanne went in search of Jean, returning minutes later with the engineer and his Rendian guard, Lieutenant Anilla.
Jean Proulx, the six-foot-two French Canadian with the body of a professional hockey player, refused to meet anyone’s gaze. He wasn’t comfortable around people, but it wasn’t people they needed him to fix. He worked wonders with machines.
Hearing what they needed him to do, he stared at a wall above their heads, his jaw muscles jumping. But Adriana recognized the interested gleam in his eyes. This was a puzzle he couldn’t resist.
“I’ll need another collar like that,” he rumbled, his French translated through their little ear devices.
Taron nodded, hope shining in his face for the first time. “That can be arranged.”
Jean pursed his lips. “And a person willing to wear it.”
His declaration was met with shocked silence. Surely he didn’t mean…
“The person will get electrocuted. A lot. We will keep it set to a minimum charge, but it’s unavoidable.” Jean’s words were devoid of emotions, a simple statement of fact. “Does the device also have a location tracker?”
Lhett nodded mutely, his face pale, and stepped forward. “I’ll—”
But Lieutenant Anilla rolled her eyes, cutting him off. “Don’t worry, General, I volunteer. Come on, human, let’s do this.” She nudged Jean with her shoulder as she turned toward the door.
To Adriana’s surprise, Jean looked her straight in the eyes and asked, “Are you sure?”
The lieutenant smiled, her cheeks flushing a light blue. “No. So we need to start before I change my mind.”
They left, leaving stunned silence in their wake.
Then Taron said, “Well, that’s taken care of. Now we need an actual plan.”
They remained in Taron’s room, taking care to walk the corridors from time to time so nobody got suspicious of their absence. They claimed they were all resting up for the banquet the regent was preparing that evening—he had invited the entire human delegation to dinner at the great reception hall in the palace—and most of the Rendian guards were happy to have the afternoon off.
Hanne brought them food, a milky stew with fat, tender dumplings swimming on top, and Adriana slurped it up without even asking what it was made of. Since she decided to remain on Rendu, she would need to get over her culinary hang-ups.
She hadn’t mentioned that to her friends yet—this wasn’t the right time. But she would have to talk to them soon. Ask them to deliver a letter to her parents, to explain why she wasn’t returning to Earth.
Steven arrived during an intense discussion of their escape plan, and wrapped Adriana in a tight hug. She returned it until the soldier suddenly disappeared from her grip—Taron had grabbed him and flung him across the room where he landed in a heap, dazed but unharmed.
“Don’t push it, human,” Taron growled, pointing at Steven.
The SEAL nodded, eyes wide. “Not a problem. Message received.”
But he wasn’t happy with their plan, especially not the part during which Adriana and the queen herself would have to incapacitate the queen’s guards.
“We’ll stun them,” Adriana said. “Zeema can disarm one, and I can do the other. It’ll totally work. And all the Naals brothers need to remain elsewhere, surrounded by witnesses, so they won’t be implicated.”
The regent hadn’t invited Taron or his brothers to the dinner, a deliberate slight since the foreign emissaries would be present as well. Adriana and the rest of their research team would prepare an ambush in the bathrooms adjacent to the great hall, where Zeema would only be followed by two guards, not the entire contingent that seemed to trail her everywhere else.
Then Ben spoke up from where he was sitting on Taron’s chair. “You could sedate them.”
Lhett scoffed. “There aren’t very many substances capable of knocking out an adult Rendian, Doctor, and they’re tightly regulated. I doubt our trying to procure some for tonight would go unnoticed.”
Ben chewed his lip, his pale cheeks going pink. “Well…”
Adriana raised her eyebrows at him, but he wouldn’t meet her gaze.
“Spit it out already.” Kol sighed. “We don’t have all day.”
“I’ve been studying Rendian blood,” the Dutch scientist blurted out. “I stole a couple of pouches from the hospital I visited last week, and I think I know what would work as a sedative.”
In the short time she’d been in contact with Rendians, Adriana had never seen one turn a shade of blue so dark as Lhett turned now. He was on Ben in a second, pinning him to the floor, his massive fist poised to strike him. Adriana didn’t doubt one hit from him would kill Ben.
“No,” Hanne screamed, throwing herself at Lhett, full-body tackling him from the side.
Lhett reacted a moment before she collided with him, catching her and tumbling back, rolling to take the weight of her. Then he put her on the floor and rose above her, still enraged.
“Lhett, stop,” she begged, her palms on his chest. “Let him explain.”
The general heaved a deep breath, his color slowly fading. “You defended him? I could have hurt you, and you chose to defend him?” His voice was hollow, seemingly devoid of emotion, but a cold fire burned in his blue eyes.
Adriana watched him, holding on to Taron’s hand; she’d grabbed it without thought, seeking comfort. He placed a palm between her shoulder blades and brushed her back to soothe her.
Danger still lingered in the room; Lhett stood abruptly and stalked into the bathroom, and Hanne, incredibly, followed him there. The low murmur of their conversation filtered through the door while everyone else waited, silent and shocked. Ben picked himself up from the floor, wincing as he rubbed the back of his head.
Finally, the bathroom door opened, and Hanne and Lhett emerged. The general fixed Ben with a murderous glare. “Explain yourself.”
The doctor’s face was still pink, whether with exertion or shame, it was hard to tell. “I’m sorry. But I asked a number of Rendians for blood samples, and you’ve all refused.”
“Did it occur to you that we don’t want to be studied?” Kol enquired mildly, though his lips curled with distaste.
Ben hung his head. “Yeah. And I know I fuck
ed up by stealing the blood. I’m sorry, and I’ll return the two pouches that I haven’t used yet. I stored them like in the hospital, so they should be completely intact.” He plopped onto the edge of the bed, his leg jiggling restlessly. “But I think you’ll want to know what I found.”
He looked from Adriana to Taron, his eyes shining with the light of discovery. “I’m pretty sure Rendians don’t produce their own adrenaline. Their fight or flight reflex is fueled by a completely different chemical. I don’t know how it’s produced because I haven’t had the chance to study their glands—” He cut himself off and cleared his throat. “Er, not that I’m planning on doing that. Anyway. Adrenaline might work as either a sedative for them, or it might overload their nervous system and send them into a shock of sorts.”
“So you don’t know this for sure?” Taron asked. “This is just a theory?”
Ben shrugged. “Yeah, but it’s an educated guess. I’d need someone…”
“To test it on?” Lhett interrupted, glowering at him. “Not happening.”
Adriana stared at her colleague, scrunching up her nose. “Ben, that was really uncool. But do you really think it could work?”
“I’m sorry. Really. But you understand how it is, right? We’re only here for another two months, and then I’ll have to return to Earth and…” Ben shook his head. “I’m never going to get another chance like this again. I could be the only human scientist ever to have this opportunity.”
Yeah, she understood. It was that impulse that had driven her to rent a hover sled and set out over the frozen plains to discover the villages at the Murrun lakes.
“I’m…ninety-five percent certain this will work,” Ben continued. “And if you could sedate the guards, you wouldn’t be in danger of getting overpowered. Adriana, you’re in good physical shape, but there’s just no way you’re a match for a fully grown Rendian soldier. I’m sorry.”
Steven nodded at that. “He’s not wrong. It’s why I don’t want you to go through with this plan. Even if the queen could incapacitate one of the guards, the other could seriously hurt you or sound the alarm before you kicked him in the nuts and stole his spear to stun him.”
