Chapter 14

Aramon

“Get dressed,” I ordered my woman, even though it was the last thing I wanted her to do. I wanted to keep her naked beneath the warm blankets, soft and sensual after our round of sex. If I could, I’d ignore that knock and get her to sleep in my lap, wrapped all warm and safe while I kept watch. She deserved all the rest she could get after that grueling day, but alas, it was not to be. This could be a threat to her safety, and I needed her ready at a moment’s notice.

I waited to see her nod before I turned for the sitting room and went to answer the door. It would have to be someone whom Jaxin was willing to allow entrance this late at night. Darkness had fallen outside the windows, a glittering sky of black studded with millions of stars. The empty expanses of the desert tempted me to go for a mind-clearing flight, but I would never leave my princess. Whatever Evie might say, she was still my princess, and I would continue to think of her that way. Mine.

“What do you want?” I barked, not caring how rude that sounded. I might have altered my tone if it was anyone but this guy, but I doubted it. I did not like the interruption, and truthfully, I would expect any Asrai noble to feel exactly the same. They were the rudest of all, and I didn’t give a Batan’s ass about upholding their good name; they didn’t have one to begin with. Today’s trio was a prime example of that.

Theronix’s expression grew tight, his dark brow lowering. Everything about this asshole was neat as a pin—military straight and regulation length. From the shaved hair on his head to the way he wore his sleeveless uniform, the golden markings along his arms glowed with luster and health over newly bulked-up muscle. I should admire the male for working so hard to get back in shape after his captivity at the hands of the former crimelord Batok, but that stick up his ass made it impossible.

“Where is the princess?” he asked, his mouth a tight bud in his sour face. He needed to unwind—this dickhead wasn’t even fun to poke anymore. Honestly, I just wanted him out of the way now because I knew how hard he was pressuring my Evie to do a job she never should have been forced to fulfill. These Xurtal bastards had made her a shield to kill for their princess since she was eight.

What royal bastards did that to a child? It was wrong in so many ways that it got my blood pumping with rage every single time I thought about it. Evie never had a choice, and she continued to do this out of a misguided sense of loyalty. Well, once she’d secured this blasted alliance, I was going to make damn sure she knew she did not have to keep up the charade.

“My betrothed is sleeping,” I drawled, crossing my arms over my chest and blocking his path into our suite. He was not welcome here, and I was going to remind him of the claim I had on her as often as I could. I saw him inhale deeply, his chest expanding, and I was reminded that the Xurtal had a great sense of smell—much better than mine. Did he know that Evie and I had sex? I hoped he did; that would rattle his cage and let him know that he had lost control over her.

He bared his teeth and hissed, but he did not back away. I could see Jaxin over his shoulder, and the Rummicaron looked amused—something he should not have been able to feel, by all accounts. Maybe Jaxin was good at faking that shit, but I was pretty sure he had failed his all-important Rummicaron conditioning and felt all the emotions he was supposed to suppress.

“I demand entrance,” Theronix said, jerking my attention from my superior officer back to his assholeness. I could feel the presence of Solear at the back of my mind, peering with intense dislike through my eyes into the Xurtal’s face. I knew he could sense that double glare; it was an impressive Asrai feat that most never considered.

“Blazing stars! Don't you ever stop to think, ‘Whoa, I’m being such a jerk. I should apologize for my behavior?’” I said, grinning. My words made Jaxin flinch in surprise, his grey features coloring with an emotion I couldn’t decipher. Theronix was caught off-guard as well; his mouth dropped open before he could snap it shut, growling in outrage.

I think he would have attacked me if not for Evie’s timely intervention. Too bad; I would have welcomed that fight. “Theronix, what do you want this late at night?” Her melodic voice sounded so posh and fancy when she pretended to be Evadne, and I was very tempted to say something to make her unravel that act so I could hear and see the real female—my woman.

I turned a little so I could get her in my sights and had to suppress the instincts that surged inside me. Even Solear agreed inside my head that it was starting to look very wrong to see her with the illusion device. He had given us privacy when I’d ravished her, but he was fully present as soon as I’d grown tense from the knock on the door.

Still, she looked stunning in a simple nightgown and a robe tied with a sash, the red being a favorite color for Xurtal females to wear. She stood with a hand against the doorjamb that separated the sitting room from the bedroom, and she looked so elegant like that. Her green hair lay in tousled waves over one shoulder, and her dress and robe clung to every sexy curve.

“We need to discuss the negotiations. I received word from Xurtal; you’ll need to hear this,” Theronix said. My attention snapped back to the jerk in uniform, and I wanted to grab him by his starched collar and toss him out the door. Evie was more impressed by his impertinent tone; she gestured him in with a graceful hand, and I had no choice but to step back and let the bastard in.

He strode past me with a triumphant look on his face that did not become a proper Xurtal warrior. I was very tempted to remind him of that, but Evie was already talking rapidly as she recapped today’s events. “What did Xurtal say? Did they have any news? How is Queen Ashcrao doing? Has she passed yet?” I recalled that this was the Queen currently part of the alliance, and with her passing, a very war-hungry crown princess would take her place. Xurtal and other Tarkan Queendoms heavily feared that she’d demand Xyraxin and start conquering others.

Theronix shook his head but waited to speak until Jaxin had closed the door behind him, giving us privacy to talk without anyone listening in. It was obvious, when he glared at me, that he expected me to leave the room too, but I made sure to go to Evie’s side and curl my arm around her shoulders. I was not going anywhere, and I wanted her to know she was not alone—she had me.

His expression darkened, flicking from me to Evie and taking in her state of dress and mine. "I see you've sunk to new lows: sleeping with the hired help. I expected better of you." His scathing tone immediately got my hackles up, and I was ready to bite his head off for that remark. "You do not talk to my fiancée that way," I snapped, reining in my desire for violence by the breadth of a hair. The male had no idea how close a call it was, but I knew Evie sensed it by the way she stiffened under my arm. This close, I could see her heartbeat racing in the pulse at her throat, and I didn't want my precious woman to feel lessened. Not because of this jerk, nor because of anyone else.

“She’s your fake fiancée,” Theronix drawled smugly, as if he held all the cards. I dipped my eyes to Evie to see if she’d dispute it. She knew she was my mate and could say that, claim the betrothal as true right this instant. She didn’t, and for a second I was the one feeling lesser, unworthy. But she didn’t mean that, she wanted me, I knew it. I couldn't let it bother me; she was simply unwilling to share that with this jerk. Really, he didn’t need to know.

Feeling like he had now sufficiently put me in my place, Theronix started talking—first to deny that the Queen had perished, but then adding that her demise was likely imminent. He then began berating my female about her role in the negotiations, reminding her repeatedly that she could not give away any rights to the Xyraxin. The longer it went on, the angrier I became, fuming silently at first, until my frustration morphed into a soft growl. Solear was pacing in the back of my mind like a mind-broken Ferai beast.

Evie listened silently, her poor heart pounding in tune with her anxiety, but she did not object to anything Theronix said. When he started to comment on her attire and her choices again—the ones regarding me—I had enough. He could whine about the negotiations, but he wasn’t going to be in that room, so he could jabber all he wanted. Evie could do it her way once he was gone. But us? Her choices? No, that was a line he did not get to cross.

“Enough,” I growled, and I stepped in front of Evie to block the bastard’s line of sight. “You are done. You have nothing constructive to say. You can get the fuck out of here.” I raised my hand to grab him by the shoulder and steer him away, and he turned with me, taking three steps toward the door. He was protesting loudly, but he was moving, and that’s why I didn’t expect the move. I should have, and Solear screamed in my mind as we both noticed it, but too late.

A blow struck me in the neck—not one of those cute, dainty ones Evie had laid on me, though the move was similar. He hit my vocal cords, silencing my growl, and a sharp pinch told me he’d struck me with an injection. Whatever it was, it acted fast, rolling over me like a tidal wave of heaviness. My body went limp; I sank to my knees and crashed heavily onto the fancy marble floor. That floor was hard, and I felt every bruise as I struck it with my head and shoulders, pain radiating through my kneecaps.

Whatever he’d injected me with, it was a paralytic, but it did not dull my mind or my nerves. I continued to feel and hear everything that happened around me. First, I heard Evie’s shocked squeak and an angry demand for Theronix to explain himself. I could not see her, but I could see the bastard’s boots as he stood over me.

“They don’t see the danger!” Theronix spat. “But if you are killed, the delegates will know. They will fear for their lives and surrender to our terms. Pelarios will have this treaty written and signed before noon. This is how you can serve the Xurtal Kingdom. Prepare yourself for your final act.” Then the bastard had the nerve to add, “This is a great honor. Now kneel and receive your fate.”

I howled in my mind, but I could not make my vocal cords obey. No, I couldn’t do anything—I couldn’t even breathe. Ah, stars, what had he dosed me with? Evie—where was she? I couldn’t see her, and now my vision was growing dim, spots dancing in front of my eyes in dizzying patterns as the world went gray around the edges.

“Honor? Fuck you, Theronix! If you want to kill me, you can try, but you won’t succeed!” Ah, brave woman, I loved those fighting words, but I feared the worst. I knew my Evie, knew her strengths and weaknesses from the way she moved, but I’d seen the Xurtal spar in the gym. I knew he was formidable and almost completely back in shape by now. She did not stand a chance.

I saw only a pinprick now, with everything else black except for a narrow spot of gray. The foot of a table leg, the edge of a rug, that was all I could see. I heard everything though, and it sounded awful. Fighting was supposed to be fun, but this wasn't fun at all. Listening to Evie as she struggled with that man, it was the worst thing I’d ever gone through. I’d sat with Solear in his mind while he starved and the rubble pressed down on him for days and days. To feel so helpless while my woman fought for her life? That was a fate worse than death.

First, I heard her scream and Theronix curse. I could hear them trade blows and the clatter of something as it crashed to the floor and broke. Then, I heard thudding and a muffled sound I could not place, and I vividly pictured the bastard with his hands around my female’s throat. No. Enough! I couldn’t take this. I would not lie here and do nothing while she lay dying. It did not even cross my mind that I was dying as well, my lungs as paralyzed as the rest of me, unable to draw in breath.

Solear, I said in my mind, reaching out to the raging, terrified presence of my oldest ally, my best friend, my beloved brother. I need you right now. Calm down. You will save us. Understand? Come. NOW. The raging, fearful shape of my brother shifted where he rode in the back of my skull. My words reached him in that deep place of fear—the fear of abandonment, of being alone, of losing those he loved. And he knew what I was asking of him: a practice both thought impossible and cursed by my kind.

Solear did not hesitate, not for a moment. His presence surged inside my brain, filling me, swelling along the pathways that threaded through my mind and my flesh, knitting us together as Asrai twins. For one second, I could see through his eyes—vividly and in bright color. He was on the bridge and had suddenly risen to his feet, startling those around him: the Tarkan grunt at the helm, the Rummicaron at the weapons station, and Sineater in the Captain’s seat.

“Something is happening to Aramon,” I heard the second-in-command say as my brother’s body thudded heavily to the floor, echoing what had happened to me. And then I was back in my own skin, but I wasn’t alone—Solear was with me. We surged to our feet together: heart pumping, lungs heaving, and vision flaring back to life. Neither of us had to think about what to do; we moved as a single unit, one entity.

There she was, on her back on the cold floor with Theronix on top of her, his hands around her slender neck. We leaped together, flooded with rage, and crashed into the bastard. Rolling along the floor, we traded blows—the Xurtal male caught completely by surprise and unprepared for the strength of a doubling Asrai. This power came at great cost, and that was soon apparent, but it was all we had needed to win this round.

Blood dripped from our nose, and our head felt like it was ready to burst, filled to overflowing with two minds instead of one. Fire raced through our veins and made our heart ache in our chest. Theronix fell from a final blow, and then we, too, collapsed with agony bursting along our nerves. It was a pain so awful, so indescribable, that we knew why this was cursed. And yet, we did not regret it—not when we saw Evie rise, gasping and panting. She made it.