“So? What does this have to do with Oberon? Or you and that stupid doctor melting his skin off?” I didn’t care what Oberon said about them being weak. Torture was torture.
“Kayn and the others searched for three weeks. They found nothing, love. No trail. No hint of the missing females’ energies. Nothing.”
“I don’t understand. Why are you telling me this?”
“There is only one thing a Hunter cannot find. One type of individual capable of evading them. One, Willow. Only one.”
“What? A Hive Soldier? An animal?”
“A corpse.”
Oh, shit. “Doesn’t Oberon know this, too? About the Hunters?”
“Of course.”
“Then, I don’t understand. Are you telling me that you told him that you hadproof? From an Everian Hunter? And he still didn’t believe you?”
“Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you.” He moved as if to stand, but I held my hand in front of me, palm out, to stop him. He settled in his seat.
“You told Oberon the Hunters couldn’t find any trace of her? And you are sure, one hundred percent sure, that means she’s dead? Without doubt? Dead?”
“Yes. I am sorry. Believe what you will about me. She, and the others, are gone. I would not leave females to suffer at the hands of those monsters, Willow. Neither will I order good warriors to their deaths in an attempt to save prisoners who cannot be saved. I will not sacrifice the living for the dead, simply because one stubborn Prillon male refuses to accept the truth. I am an honorable male.”
“Then, why are we all here? Why did Prime Nial send all these people to help attack the Hive base?”
His sigh was deep. Tired. “Because Thomar Arcas sits on his war council. Because Bastion Arcas was fundamental in your rescue from the Hive prison ship. Because I did not inform Prime Nial, or the war council, of the base’s existence, nor about the failed hunt for Amalia and the others. I gain knowledge and make decisions on my own, perhaps far too often. I did not wish to burden them with something they could not change when I knew, beyond all doubt, Amalia is not a prisoner on that base.”
“Why were you melting his skin off?”
“He would not reveal the base’s location. It needs to be destroyed. A Hive facility of that size can wipe out an entire planet’s population in a matter of weeks. I could not take that risk.”
“But you were going to blow up the base, without even checking? What if there are other prisoners there?” Other females, maybe not Amalia, maybe humans?Like me.
“My love, what if a hundred warriors die trying to get inside, and we find nothing?” This time he did stand, but I backed away, moving toward the door as he kept talking. “What if we do not destroy the base and the Hive use that facility to invade and capture innocent civilians, take over an entire planet or star system? Annihilate billions?”
This was not happening. I couldn’t—no. Just no. Everything was wrong.
I moved close enough to activate the door’s sensor. The panel slid open so I could make my escape. I needed time to process all of this. I needed tothink.
I didn’t move fast enough. Before I could leave, Zarren stood before me. He didn’t block the exit, that would have just infuriated me. Worse, he stood to the side and waited for me to choose. Stay. Go. Believe him, or not.
Was Oberon so stubborn, so blindly devoted to his family, to his sister, that he would ignore Zarren’s warning and charge into that Hive deathtrap just to see the truth for himself? Was he willing to get all of these people killed because he refused to believe the word of an Elite Hunter? Not just any Hunter. Kayn.
Was he willing to risk entire planets full of people on the off chance the Hunters were wrong, and his sister was still alive? And even if she was alive, and the Atlans he’d been working with were right, and shewason that base, was her life worth more than the billions of people Zarren was supposed to protect?
Was one life worth the lives of all the people on this ship?
Would mine have been? If I’d been asked? What would I have said when I was lying, cold and naked, in that cell? When Nexus 5 taunted and tortured me?
I’d spent over ten years of my life as a police officer. Protect and serve. That’s what I tried to do. How was this any different? What was one life worth?
What wasmy lifeworth?
“Willow, please. I lied to you. I told you I would never love you. I was a fool. I have loved you from the moment I saw you. I love you still.”
I wanted to believe him, so badly, my longing like a fist trying to yank my heart out of my chest while it was still beating. Ithurt.
He leaned down. I knew what he was going to do. Kiss me. Kiss me and make me remember how much I loved him. How badly I’d wanted to believe in our happily-ever-after.
