Chapter 27

I didn’t feel much of anything when we left the cell. I had never been the gleeful type, but I thought I would have experienced some kind of satisfaction seeing the woman responsible for the two most miserable days of my life, but I didn’t. I didn’t feel sorry for her either.

Beside me, Daryus’s expression was determined, he ground his jaw and ordered Lady Natoi to be transferred to one of the imperial prison cells.

“Emperor, what is the meaning of this?” Lady Madeema accosted us in the middle of the hallway, followed by several of her guards.

“Ah, Lady Madeema, just the merrily I wanted to see,” Daryus said with barely contained disdain. “Follow me to my suite. We have a few things to discuss.”

“I think I’d rather stay where I am if I am to be scrutinized,” Lady Madeema retorted coolly.

“Suit yourself. Guards, arrest her!” Daryus pressed out.

At once, Lady Madeema’s guards took up a defensive stance behind her, hands hovering over the holsters of their blasters.

Daryus pushed me behind him. “You don’t want to do this,” he bit out.

Lady Madeema regarded him thoughtfully. “A pity. We would have made a glorious couple. Instead, you chose this… pathetic lifeform,” she tsked and shook her head. “I should have known better than to count on a male.”

She lifted her arm to signal her guards to get ready.

Daryus stood to his full height. “Careful, I am still your emperor!” he thundered at Lady Madeema’s guards.

Slowly, one by one, their hands retreated from their blasters, heads lowered. Daryus waved his guards forward who took a stoic Lady Madeema into custody. Her guards moved aside to let us pass.

I still threw nervous glances at them, expecting one or the other to pull their blaster and shoot us in the back. My fear wasn’t for myself though. I took Daryus’s arm, needing to feel his warmth and strength as a cold hand choked my heart in fear for him.

It seemed to take hours until we reached Daryus’s suite, passing people who stopped and stared at us after curtsies and bows. Whispered words reached my ears, but blood was rushing too hard through them to understand any of them. I didn’t breathe freely until we entered Daryus’s living room, where Garth and Silla still sat, rising at our approach.

I noticed Garth’s countenance turning guarded when he caught sight of Lady Madeema, while Silla looked more curious. Neither one of them spoke though.

The guards stayed outside and Lady Madeema strode into the middle of the room, commanding it with her presence. She splayed her palms up and in front of her, her eyes directed straight at Daryus. “What do you want to know?”

“Where is Sir Priough?”

That seemed to take her off guard, and frankly, me too. I would have thought he would have asked her about her involvement in my abduction and the reason behind it, but it seemed he already had his answers there.

“Sir Priough?” she stalled. “I told you, his ship was shot down.”

“Cut the frygging lying. You and I both know he’s still alive. Where is he?” Garth pulled Silla behind him, as if he worried about a physical confrontation and her getting in the middle. “If he was dead you would have known by now who did it.”

“The Cryons of course,” Lady Madeema replied, lifting her chin in defiance.

“The Cryons didn’t know he was in our possession,” Daryus thundered.

“Oh please, of course they did. Do you really think they bought this dryck of him getting lost in your palace?” Lady Madeema scoffed.

Daryus stepped right in front of her, and I took a step back. His face was a mask of sheer fury, the kind I had never seen on him. He looked angry as hell. “Where. Is. HE?”

A small shudder moved through Lady Madeema’s body, the only sign that his close presence unnerved her. “I will have you dunked in acid, merrily, until you tell me.”

“Daryus,” I exclaimed horrified. He didn’t look at me, anger poured from every single one of his pores. Garth stepped closer to me, Silla behind him, seemingly wanting to shield me from Daryus.

“You wouldn’t dare.” Lady Madeema’s words were brave, but her tone faltered.

“Try me,” Daryus replied. The veins on his neck stood out in barely contained rage and his voice had dropped dangerously. He kept balling and unballing his hands as if ready to strike her.

Garth’s hand grabbed my arm and I realized I had taken a step toward Daryus. Garth tried to pull me back, slowly shaking his head at me, while not taking his eyes from his friend.

I had heard about Daryus’s famous temper tantrums, had seen evidence of it, but I had never witnessed one, nothing like the cold fury coming off him in waves now.

“He’s down in the cells,” Lady Madeema finally conceded.

“You lying calleio.” Daryus’s fist hit the air next to Lady Madeema’s head. “You betrayed me.”

“I only had your best interests at heart,” she defended.

“My best interests?” Daryus railed. “How is it in my best interest to think our star witness dead? Do you have any idea how many mekarries are being killed right now on Earth? Do you even care?”

Lady Madeema’s entire posture said she didn’t, all that was missing was a shrug. “We’ve done quite well without a mekarry bond for centuries.”

Daryus threw one more withering glare at her, before he moved to his desk, kicking down a short pillar with some kind of bust atop it.

“Where the frygg are you?” he called to somebody unknown.

The hologram of a man in the imperial uniform appeared in front of Daryus. He looked to be the same age as him. I didn’t know anything about insignias, but I had an idea that this was Xandros Callicapos, the Superior Commander of the Imperial Forces.

“Still Earthbound, but ready to depart in the morning,” Xandros replied, curiously looking through the room, nodding at Garth and winking at Silla. His eyes rested on me for a moment in surprise, then glided over to Lady Madeema who still stood in the center of the room, looking stricken.

Xandros inclined his head in questioning, picking up on the mood in the room. “I can leave now if you need me to,” he offered.

“Nocc. I want you to blow the frygging Cryons out of the sky. Right now! I want you to free every single human on their ships.”

“Daryus?” Xandros appeared bewildered.

“Daryus, nocc. Calm down first. Think this over rationally,” Garth advised, taking a step forward, but keeping Silla and me behind his back. How bad did Daryus’s temper get if his friend feared it?

“Daryus?” I moved around Garth who tried to push me back, but I shook his hand off.

“I’m fully in control of my wit!” Daryus spat.

My heart hammered in my throat. I had never seen Daryus this furious before, his eyes were wild, all that was missing was him snarling through his teeth or foam coming out of his mouth. Yet, I wasn’t afraid of him. Deep down in my heart, I knew he wouldn’t hurt me. Never.

I reached his side.

“Heather,” Garth whispered warningly, coiled as if ready to throw himself at his friend.

I placed the palm of my hand on Daryus’s chest, who regarded me through unreadable eyes. Slowly, the tension ebbed from his body, his features relaxed, and he even gave me a smile, pulling me toward him, kissing the top of my head. “Cinna,” he whispered.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Xandros exclaimed. His head flew to Garth. “I’m not the only one who thought he’ll rip her head off, right?”

Garth shook his head. “Nocc. How is this possible?”

Daryus grinned at his friends. “She’s my mekarry.”

“Mekarry,” Lady Madeema sneered but shut up when Daryus’s glare turned to her.

“And she works magic?” Garth asked.

“I’ve never seen him calm down like this.” Xandros shook his head. “Not until he would have at least destroyed half the room.”

“The entire suite,” Garth corrected.

“She soothes me,” Daryus stated, looking lovingly at me.

“Congratulations.” Garth pounded on Daryus’s shoulder. “You deserve it.”

“Well, if everything is now—”

Daryus raised his hand, interrupting whatever Xandros was about to say. “My order still stands.”

Everybody stared openmouthed at him.

“Emperor, you can’t… The GTU will sanction us, they will—” Lady Madeema stepped forward.

“Let them.” Daryus shrugged. “I’m done bending to their will and watching thousands of mekarries for my people die. I will not stand by this another tick. I am the head of the Pandraxian Empire, the mightiest force in the universe, and I order you, Superior Commander Callicapos, to destroy the Cryon presence on Earth.”

There was a moment of stunned silence. It was Lady Madeema again who interrupted it. “The Cryons will ally themselves with the Moggadesh, the GTU will put sanctions on us. We cannot fight everyone at every front.”

“Nocc, you can’t”—Xandros gave her a derisive sneer—“but I will.”

He turned in a circle, staring at his friends, ignoring Lady Madeema. “The GTU will do nothing at first, just like they always do. The Cryons will come screaming at them, demanding retribution. I will offer the Cryons a place in my empire.”

“Nocc!” cried Garth and Xandros at the same time, while Lady Madeema remained quiet.

Daryus lifted his hand. “We will embrace our new friendship with King Crough and then we will confront him with Sir Priough’s testimony. As a member of the Pandraxian Empire, they’re bound to our laws, not the GTU’s, ours. And as such they will be in direct violation of so many codes it will make their heads spin. As King Crough’s overlord, I will send a delegation, led by my superior commander to Colynth to report all the atrocities they find, and free all the species they are unlawfully detaining.”

Tears formed in my eyes as silence fell over our group. Silla threw me a surprised glance, looking startled, pleased, filled with hope—all exactly how I felt.

“I will relay the orders straight away, Emperor.” Xandros bowed deeply, his holographic eyes shone with intensity and murderous intent to do just that. All that was missing was him rubbing his hands together and chuckling like a villain. But he wasn’t a villain, he would be like an avenging angel, finally taking the Cryons down, freeing whoever was left on Earth.

“That is sheer genius, Emperor.” Garth nodded his head in appreciation. “Sheer genius.”

“I am glad I could be of service,” Lady Madeema chimed in. “We will keep Sir Priough confined and—”

“We will do no such thing, Lady Madeema.” Daryus coldly turned to her. “You will have all the time in the universe to ponder your betrayal to me in your cell! While I will do what I should have done from the moment Garth reported having found his mekarry.”

“Mekarry.” Lady Madeema rolled her eyes. “You need me.”

“Nocc.” Daryus gave her a once-over. “I never needed you. You were an asset to me, but that wasn’t enough for you.”

“Why did you lie about Sir Priough having been shot down?” Xandros wanted to know.

“She would have used him to blackmail me to make her my empress,” Daryus stated dryly.

“You are too blind to see the value in that union,” Lady Madeema spat, raising her chin high into the air.

“Guards,” Daryus called out, “take her to a cell. Nobody is to talk to her besides me.”

“Vra, Emperor.”

Lady Madeema gave one more derisive snort at Daryus, and me a spiteful once-over, and followed the guards.

“Is it just me or did the air quality improve?” Xandros joked.

Which was funny because he was only a hologram, the only one in here who wasn’t able to smell anything.

“Don’t you have a job to do, Superior Commander?” Daryus asked.

“Vra, Emperor.” Xandros didn’t look contrite, he was too eager to fulfill his emperor’s orders.

“The council is gonna piss themselves,” Garth warned.

“Let them, What’s done is done, they’ll get over it.” Daryus grinned, then winked at Garth. “Sometimes it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission.”

I imagined there was a private joke between them that I didn’t get, but Silla winked at me as well, so she must have been in on it too.

“Garth said that when he took me from the Cryons,” she explained.