Chapter 25

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Z ade

“From the moment I met you, Ashlyn Faro, and you, Zade Miralos, I have been planning, setting the stage. Do you think C’Nar came here by chance?” she laughed. “Or that I just happened to have the antidote for the tandek blade with me?”

Zade scowled. “The Dark One? You brought him in?”

“No. I did not want C’Nar to set that up, but it was out of my hands. However, knowing what he was going to do allowed me to facilitate what happened afterwards.”

Ashlyn tilted her head, confused. “What do you mean?”

Aro sighed. “C’Nar is supposed to have a meeting in two days. A very important, secret meeting. He wouldn’t even tell me, his most loyal and trusted advisor, who was going to be there. If I wanted to have you ready to take his place at the meeting, I had to hurry things along.”

“I don’t understand. How could I take his place?”

“When I met you, I knew instantly that your gifts were like mine. All you needed was to activate them with maju paste. Then you needed to go through a yielding with Zade. Had I let things take their natural course, you two might have been denying your feelings for years to come.”

Ashlyn stiffened with growing anger. “But the only reason I risked going through any of that was to save him. He was in that weird stasis the Saltrec put themselves in. Lost in the veil, or whatever they call it.”

“Yes, and who do you think helped him get there?” Aro asked smugly. “Or helped him stay there long enough for Bren to reveal himself and present a solution? Go to Caldor. Let the Saltrec elders wake him from stasis.”

Bren rose to his feet angrily. “The elder was unable to help him. He nearly died, as did his mate. I don’t see how that was ‘helping’ or a good plan at all.”

Aro sobered. “I needed C’Nar to leave all his people on Cappra and take only me to challenge Zade, so that no one witnessed his death and subsequent replacement. Therefore, Ashlyn and Zade needed to go to Caldor in order to draw him there. The only way to get them to go to Caldor was if Zade needed to go there. What would that take? He was Saltrec. Raised by his father, in the palace. It stood to reason Zade wouldn’t know how to enter into stasis or come out of it. So, putting him into a situation where he would feel compelled to try it anyway was the only safe plan. I gave him a little mental ‘push’ into stasis, when he actually could have survived long enough for the medics to arrive. Ashlyn also needed her powers activated, which wasn’t going to happen without maju paste. I knew about Sasha, and assumed Ashlyn would be avoiding all contact with the paste, so she needed a reason to overcome her fear and try it. The only reason strong enough to make her risk her life, was to save the man she loved, yet another reason to put him in stasis. Once the microbes in the maju paste activated her abilities, she needed to complete a yielding, so she had an anchor for those powers. Only after that happened could I allow C’Nar to challenge Zade to a duel. I knew Zade would win, leaving Ashlyn free to take C’Nar’s place at the meeting. An excellent plan, I’d say, since here we are.”

Silence reigned. No one said a word. They all just looked at Aro, stunned. Lost in their own thoughts.

Frowning, Ashlyn was the first to recover. “Wait. Stop. Whatever the plan was, it has failed. I have no powers.”

“Nonsense.” Aro stood up and came around the table to where Ashlyn sat. She held out her hand and said, “Come. You, too, warrior. She’s going to need you.”

Fear and excitement warred within Ashlyn as she and Zade accompanied Aro to the center of the next room. Was she about to get superpowers? Was it going to hurt?

Aro waited while the others followed them in and made themselves comfortable, either standing against the walls or sitting on the sofas. “Ready?”

Taking a deep, cleansing breath, Ashlyn nodded.

“Good. Zade, take her hands in yours.”

Zade complied, his expression unreadable.

“Wonderful. Now Ashlyn, look into your lover’s eyes. What color are they?”

Ashlyn coughed, covering a startled laugh as she thought about the last time she’d been asked that question, right after Zade spanked her. “They’re gold.”

Zade’s lips twitched. Clearly, he, too, remembered. “That’s right, shenga . My eyes are gold, always and forever.”

“Are you sure, Ashlyn? Look closer,” Aro instructed. “Look deeper. What would it be like to have those eyes? To be him?”

Confused by Aro’s doubt and question, she nevertheless looked closer. Really stared. Molten gold swirled around the irises like warm honey. What would it be like to have eyes like his? They were amazing. Sexy. Alien. What would it be like? She leaned in a little closer. Gold. Gold. Gold. Swirling. Molten. Sparkling. Honey. Closer. Closer. Suddenly, she was falling into gold. Mesmerized. Captivated. So much gold.

Gasps all around the room pulled her out of the strange trance she’d fallen into. She blinked several times to clear her head. Why was Zade staring at her like she’d grown two heads?

“Oh..that’s incredible.” Rachel whispered.

Ashlyn looked at her sister in irritation. “Seriously?”

The deep baritone that came out of her mouth was so unexpected, she screamed, only what came out was a very masculine shout. What the hell?

Almost afraid to look, she peered down at her arm. It was huge. Dusted with hair. Dark brown hair. And her hands–they looked just like Zade’s hands. Exactly. Like. Them.

She looked at Zade again. “Oh. Fuck.” Then her eyes rolled back in her head and the whole world went dark.

When she woke, she was in Zade’s arms. Safe. Secure. She breathed a sigh of relief. “What happened?”

Zade looked down at her with a tender smile. “Welcome back.”

“Quick, who am I?”

Chuckling, he kissed her. “You’re my mate. My very attractive, smart-mouthed, red haired mate.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” She looked around. They were alone. Even better. She wiggled in his lap.

“Behave. We have much to discuss.”

Sighing, she settled in to talk. “That was really bizarre. What happened?”

“You, mate, are a chimera.”

At Ashlyn’s blank look, he explained, “You have two distinct sets of DNA. You have the set that makes you appear as you, Ashlyn Faro––small, human, with all your amazing attributes. Then there is a second set. Blank. Impressionable. Programmable, if you will. All you have to do is picture what you want in your mind. That is your gift. Your ability.”

Ashlyn scoffed. “That sounds like a fairytale. You’re basically saying I’m a shapeshifter.”

“I would not have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.”

Mind reeling, she closed her eyes, glad Zade hadn’t let her go. A short burst of laughter broke free. “You know, we’ve been through so much in the past week, this actually doesn’t seem that crazy. I glow. I have powers. I have the most incredible man in the world, and he loves me.”

Zade squeezed her gently. “While you were out, Aro explained what she wants us to do.”

Ashlyn’s eyes popped open. “Yes?”

He sighed. “This meeting C’Nar was to attend. She thinks if you show up there as C’Nar, we’ll find out who’s behind all this. Find out who’s been working with the Dark Ones, the A’Nua Na-KI, and their allies.”

“Isn’t it obvious? How about Councilor Dur'vok, for one?”

“Maybe. She thinks there will be players there who have been able to avoid detection. If we knew who they were, we’d be able to make a plan to stop them.”

Ashlyn blew out a long slow breath. “Whew. Wow. Okay. What do you think?”

“I think there won’t be a better opportunity to find out. Not before it’s too late.”

She nodded thoughtfully. “I think you’re right. Where would you be? I don’t want to go in there alone.”

“Aro gave me a suit like the Lumerians wear, only better. This one can’t be detected by the Council’s sensors.”

“Why doesn’t Aro do it? She’s like me, right?”

“C’Nar never goes anywhere without Ocliver, but then he leaves her outside to guard the door. Any deviation will cause suspicion and whoever C’Nar is meeting might get spooked and cancel.”

“Right. When do we leave?”

“Apparently changing forms for the first time is quite taxing.”

Ashlyn eyed her mate suspiciously. “What does that mean?”

“You’ve been asleep for two days. We’re already in Cappra’s orbit. C’Nar’s meeting is tonight.”

“What?!”