"What do you think of the steak? You have permission to speak," Zendeval said later after our food was delivered. He'd ordered for both of us. I hated that.
"The marinade needs work," I said, cutting a small piece off and chewing.
"I was too impatient, hiring Crade," he sighed. "But Nedrizif was pressuring me to hire, because the others were coming for a meeting. They were planning the final stages of the takeover, and wanted something extraordinary for the meal. They didn't get it with the main course—they got it instead with the dessert. All the tourists are talking about the dessert, Reah. You have vindicated me in the eyes of my cousin the King."
I didn't get permission to speak, so I wasn't able to tell him that he wasn't getting any support from me and I didn't give a damn about Nedrizif, King or not. I had enough monarchy in my life—some good, some not. I wondered how Ry was faring and resolved not to send mindspeech. I didn't want him to know what my present situation was and idly considered taking Zendeval singy waRjjn by the throat and choking him as after-dinner entertainment.
If he expected me to believe him when he said the word love, then he needed to think again. I had an entire herd of mates who said it all the time and then followed it with practically no substance at all. Instead, I dutifully got up when Zendeval finished his meal and followed him back to his penthouse suite.
"So, the pretender King has come to bow down to us, my friend." Aklus smiled at Chimbl, who stood next to him, and then the twenty-seven witches and warlocks who'd sided with them at their backs. Ry and Erland stood before them, seemingly defenseless against so many.
"Go ahead, show Karathia what you can do," Rylend said, standing firmly before the worst that Karathia had to offer. He recognized the warlocks and witches behind Aklus—Wylend had searched for some of them for years. Yet here they were, like a flock of crows come to pick at the spoils Aklus offered. Chimbl was nothing more than an empty-headed thug, willing to lick Aklus' boots in order to gain a place in his kingdom.
Ry was certainly hoping it wouldn't come to that. He'd practiced diplomacy through the years, in addition to perfecting a very good poker face. If his mother knew what he was doing at the moment, she'd likely have a fit. But this was his war to fight—he was lucky that he had brothers—and a talented father—to help him fight it.
"Surrender now and I will spare your lives," Ry said calmly. "I give you ten ticks to decide."
"So little time?" Aklus laughed. Ry knew what Aklus was doing—he, Chimbl and the others behind them were pooling their strength to hurl it in a single blast at Ry and Erland.
Erland, more than six thousand years a warlock, neither blinked nor twitched. He was prepared to live or die at his son's side. Rylend was his son and a dream he'd had for a very long time—a child who would make a difference to Karathia. He would stand firm and offer his support at this pivotal moment. If they lived, Karathia was likely theirs—to rule as justly as they could. If they fell, Karathia would have to be dealt with.
Erland had already contacted Connegar, asking him to place a shield around the planet if it fell into the wrong hands. Karathia gone rogue could destroy both Alliances. Connegar had already received permission from the Larentii Council to place the shield. The Larentii homeworld stood to suffer if Karathia fell, as Karathia stood on the border between light and dark worlds. Few knew it, but the Larentii homeworld had once stood guard between the dark worlds and the light. For millennia, the Larentii kept their world hidden from all and had no desire to deal with Karathia gone rogue.
"Here's our answer," Aklus grinned and blasted the gathered power at Rylend Morphis and his father. The expended power, when it hit, could be seen light-years away, it was so bright and destructive in its force.
"Reah, come," Zendeval sighed. It was time, I suppose. I followed him to the elevator again and we rode it in silence. The door that we'd traveled through before, marked as a service entrance but coded to Zendeval, Perdil and few others, was our destination inside Galedaro's. Perdil waited outside that entrance, and walked with us down the long, narrow hall lined with electrical wiring and comp-boxes that ran lights, air-conditioning and such.
I kept my eyes on the floor beneath my feet—it was stone of some kind, kept clean s, ktioand polished by those controlled slaves who worked like ants in the bowels of Stellar Winds. Lendill was speaking in my mind. I ignored him. His words were the same ones I'd heard many times before; instructions on what to do in this situation or that. I had my own plans. Lendill could do what he wanted with me afterward. If there was an afterward. I kept walking, Zendeval before me, Perdil behind.
Another cage waited for me, just as there'd been before. At least the full moon was another two eight-days in coming. I hoped Zendeval and his race didn't turn often outside the full moon, else I'd have my hands full, Thifilatha or no.
"Reah, we are prepared to offer millions, but Nedrizif has greater resources," Perdil muttered as the cage door was shut, locking me inside. "If Dantel Schuul bids, he can pay more than Nedrizif. We will find a way to deal with that, should it happen." Perdil walked away, Zendeval close behind.
I gazed around me, at all the others inside cages. They were controlled and had no idea they should be frightened. I did. The lift hooked onto the first cage with a metallic clang, pulling the small prison with its inhabitant up and rolling toward the dock of a waiting transport. It had begun. I clenched my hands around bars and counted prisoners again.
Perdil and the others talked of bidding against one another. I could only imagine that the proceeds would be divided among all involved in the kidnappings, and was likely a status symbol as to who might offer the winning bid on a girl they all desired. It no longer mattered—once we arrived at the sale site, I intended to make this the last slave auction they would ever attend.
Chapter 13
"Are you getting the feed?" Norian and Lendill were both aboard the command ship. The captain had led their forces away from the binary system that included an older star and a white dwarf in the same sector as Stellar Winds. They'd been moving behind it; the star energy given out masking their gathering force.
"Yes," Norian said. He and Lendill were in the map room, watching Reah's camera feeds on one vid while another showed the dot indicating the ship carrying the human cargo.
"Where are they going?" The captain grimaced at the image. He couldn't think of any viable planets or planetoids in the rogue ship's direction.