Chapter 26

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

T he Meeting, Cappra

Ashlyn stopped several feet in front of the large double doors. This was it. The place she, or rather C’Nar, had arranged to meet someone. Or several ‘someones’. She had no idea who to expect, although she really did think Councilor Dur'vok was a scumbag and wouldn’t be at all surprised if he showed up. Her heart was beating faster than a hummingbird’s.

Earlier in the day, she and Zade landed in The Reaper and made their first official appearance on Cappra. Thousands of Capprans, of all sizes and species, came to the docking station to greet the new Councilor and her Caldorian mate. Dr. Kubro hadn’t lied. The people seemed genuinely happy to see her. They’d cheered and thrown flowers, following them to the official residence. Thanks to the translation mushroom Rachel had given her, she had no difficulty understanding and communicating with everyone. They’d made her feel like royalty.

Once inside the massive residence, they’d plead fatigue and retired to their sleeping chambers with instructions not to be disturbed for the rest of the night. Then, Bren transported them directly from their bedroom onto C’Nar’s warship, where they landed a second time. She and Aro, appearing as C’Nar and Ocliver, made a point of being seen. Ashlyn had fun acting like an asshole, smashing furniture and throwing C’Nar’s personal belongings around as the A.I. bots packed his belongings in preparation for the transfer of the estate to C’Bor’s widow, Councilor Faro. Her.

“Do you require anything else of me, my lord?” Ocliver asked from beside her. No, that’s Aro. Ocliver doesn’t exist. What the hell am I doing? Stop daydreaming.

Ashlyn cleared her throat. Cleared C’Nar’s throat. Shit. Think, damn it. What was she supposed to say? What had they rehearsed? “Stay here. Don’t let anyone in.”

“Of course, my lord.” Ocliver turned his back to the door, ready to guard the entrance, exactly as planned.

Ashlyn stiffened her spine. C’Nar was quite large, at least a foot taller than her, and the height difference was disorienting. It was like walking on stilts. Everything looked different from the higher vantage point.

Worse? C’Nar’s thing was uncomfortably squished inside his uniform. He was hot and sweaty. It was hot and sweaty, too. Gross. And one side was sticking to his leg. Just say it, Ash. Your dick is stuck to your leg. You’re a male. You have a dick. Perfectly natural. Nothing to see here. Don’t fidget. Do. Not. Fidget.

She looked to her left, then to her right. The hallway was empty. Not surprising, since they were in C’Nar’s private wing of the huge palatial residence. Ashlyn could see that everything was new. There were no dirt smudges, no marks on the floor. The old residence had burned to the ground and the Ubrions had spared no expense building a new one, as they had been expecting to occupy it.

She smirked at the irony. Here she was, in her new home for the first time, pretending to be the man who had lied to her, tricked her, tried to kill her, put chains of obedience on her and married her without her consent. Asshole. She was going to enjoy burning all his stuff.

With that happy thought in mind, she took a deep breath and strode the rest of the way to the door. She placed her hand on the scanner off to the side and waited while her handprint was analyzed. Next, she submitted to an ocular scan.

The door slid open with a satisfying ‘whoosh’. Where was Zade? She knew he was there. Somewhere. She didn’t want to enter the next room without him.

Almost as if reading her mind, a sudden heaviness settled on her shoulder. Zade’s hand. Cloaked. Relief flooded through her system.

The interior of the room was dark. She stepped forward, expecting the room to automatically light up. When it didn’t, she froze. All her senses flared. Was someone watching her?

“You’re late,” a voice said in the darkness. A male voice. Deep. Gravelly. “I dislike waiting.”

This was it. The true test. Could she fool whoever was there, in the dark? She didn’t recognize his voice, so it couldn’t be Councilor Dur'vok. One of the others, perhaps? Someone she hadn’t met yet? She wasn’t late, was she? What would that asshole, C’Nar, say if someone dared tell him he was late? Her lip curled. “Then leave.”

The male chuckled. “You are arrogant for someone who has been stripped of all his power.”

Ashlyn snarled, really getting into the role. “I’ve been stripped of nothing.”

“Oh? Did the human woman and her mate not just oust you from the Council? My contacts said you have lost everything. I will have to start over with someone who can get me what I want.”

“Your contacts are misinformed. I’ve lost time, nothing more. The human is merely an inconvenience. I am in an infinitely better position than I was before.”

The silence became oppressive, but Ashlyn refused to give in and talk first. Whoever was in the dark, he was well informed. She needed to find out who he was.

Finally, the man spoke. “Explain.”

Ashlyn smirked. “The female wears my chains of obedience. She’ll do whatever I tell her to do and then promptly forget why she did it.”

Again, silence. “And the Caldorian?”

“He’s distracted, too busy fucking his new toy to pay attention to what’s going on.”

Tap. Tap. Tap. Ashlyn strained to see who was making the noise. Whoever was making it was too far back, hidden deep in the shadows, away from the light streaming through the open door.

“My requirements have changed.”

Ashlyn frowned. Was she supposed to know what that meant? Maybe. “I’m not prepared to change the terms of our agreement.”

“Hmm. That’s what your partners said, too.”

Suddenly, light from a small corner lamp flooded one side of the room. There, sitting in three of the five chairs around a medium sized conference table, were Councilor Thal'kor of Zephyria, with yellow reptilian eyes and emerald skin, Councilor Seraphina from the Lorian Alliance with her silvery hair and iridescent wings, and Councilor Jorax of Ventri Prime, his tentacled mouth gone still. Lifeless. All three were dead, their eyes removed from their bodies. Blood, dark and thick, had coagulated in their mouths, where their tongues used to be.

Ashlyn kept herself from reacting by sheer dint of will and the belief that if she showed the slightest weakness, a hint of fear, or disgust, she would be next. She yawned with feigned boredom and turned toward the area where she’d heard the male’s voice.

Seated casually in a chair, a man with silvery gray hair, and eyes colder than any living creature’s had a right to be, watched her with a single minded focus that was unnerving. His skin was a pale gray, his lips slightly blue, as if he lacked oxygen, and his smile was marred only by four overly large, pointy, upper canines––two on each side.

His charcoal gray suit was obviously tailored, expensive, and looked like it came straight out of Gentlemen’s Quarterly. Weird . Kinda looks like really good vampire makeup, too. Don’t the undead have dark circles under their eyes, though? Oh. Fuck. No. He. Isn’t. Think, Ashlyn, think––preferably before he eats you. Is he one of the undead, for real? The A’Nua Na-KI? No. That’s crazy. Zade said they rarely showed themselves. This asshole might be one of their servants. Yeah, I’d buy that.

She looked back at the three dead Councilors. She had so many questions and didn’t dare ask any of them. She had no idea what C’Nar knew and didn’t know, including how familiar she should be with the man in front of her. Go for snarky. That was C’Nar’s default, wasn’t it? “If you intended to kill me, I would already be in one of those chairs, so what do you want?”

“There are a few artifacts you will procure for me.”

Ashlyn’s brow rose in surprise. Wisely, she stayed silent.

The male’s lip curled in derision. “These artifacts are rare.”

She nodded in understanding. Rare meant they wouldn’t be easy to acquire. Make that damn near impossible. “Which artifacts?”

“First, you will find and retrieve a Lumerian orb.”

“And the next?”

“An ancient device. It’s called the Black Star.”

“Where will I find these treasures?”

The man’s smile failed to reach his dead eyes. “Earth.”

“That might be difficult. The Caldorians are protecting Earth.”

“Don’t worry about them,” he smirked. “They are too busy scouring the galaxies for their missing commander and preparing for war against the Dark Ones to worry about what’s happening on one obscure little planet.”

How could she have forgotten about Commander Bashall? She’d been so busy with her own mess, she hadn’t been focused on the missing Caldorian at all. No wonder Bone Crusher had revealed they were holding him prisoner. They wanted everyone to see he was being tortured and already half dead. They’d literally been dangling him like the proverbially carrot. Bait. A cold chill ran down her spine. She used all of her acting skills not to react, nodded like they were discussing the weather and asked casually, “What about the humans?”

“We will continue to pay premium prices for the females, provided they are of breeding age. So far, your stock has been excellent.”

“Time frame?”

“You have until the winter solstice. If you don’t have the Black Star by then and we are forced to delay our plans, you will suffer the same fate as your partners. We will not tolerate failure.”

“Anything else?”

The gray man tapped one nail, dried with blood, on the table. “You are certain you have control over Councilor Faro?”

Ashlyn took a moment to answer. Who was this man? What did he know about the challenge she and Zade went through? Had he been there, watching? Was he one of the many Councilors? She’d only met a few. He seemed well informed, whether he was actually there or not. Assume he knows everything that happened. “She ran straight for the Dark One like a bitch in heat, didn’t she?”

The man’s cold eyes took on a calculating look. “If you were responsible for that, perhaps she can be more useful than we thought.”

Ashlyn smirked. “As I said, I’ve lost nothing.”

Smiling dangerously, the asshole said, “We’ll see. Command her to negotiate a new trade agreement between Cappra and Earth.”

“Why would I want to do that? They’re primitive.”

“No particular reason. A simple test of your control over her.”

“What do you want her to trade?”

He shrugged. “Offer that fungus your people are so proud of.”

“In exchange for?”

“Something easy for now. Simple. Something they have in abundance and will never miss. Laborers, perhaps.”

“And if Earth declines?”

“Get creative.”

Fear skittered down her spine. She glanced at the dead Councilors. “Very well. A Lumerian Orb, Black Star, human females, and a trade agreement.” Before she was done reciting the list, the man was gone.