Moments later, Aunt Ann came storming into the galley, her face red clear up to her hairline. I wondered what had made her so angry, but before I could ask—in English or Xalanite—she plopped down in a chair on T’raat’s other side and started speaking the alien language.
“T’raat, I must speak with you. X’nit has woken, and the news he brings is grave.”
I leaned over to see her around my fiancé.“What is wrong?”I asked, slipping into Xalanite without even realizing it until Ann’s eyes grew wide. She slowly turned back to T’raat, and if looks could kill, she’d have made me a widow before my wedding day.
“Did you shoot my niece in the head?”
Chapter 21
Leigh
“Aunt Ann, calm down! I asked him to do it.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at me. “You asked him to shoot you in the head?”
I shrugged. “It’s how the nanites are administered. Besides, you and Timber have had it done. I knew it couldn’t be all that bad.”
“Our nanites were ‘administered’ by trained Xalanite medical professionals, not by pilots.”
Touché. “Look, I’m fine. No side effects, no pain, no fuss, no muss.”
She groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I swear, Harry’s gonna kill me when this is all over.”
Mention of my dad only served to remind me of the way he abandoned me when I begged to go to the intake center with T’raat. I snorted and leaned back in my chair, trying to act likeit didn’t bother me as much as it did. “I doubt Dad would even care. He just walked off before we left the farm, remember?”
My aunt’s expression softened. “Leigh, honey, that’s not fair. His only daughter had just declared that she was leaving him to follow a strange alien halfway across the country. You can’t blame him for being upset.”
“He still could’ve said goodbye.” Time for a change of subject. “What did X’nit say, anyway? What’s the big scoop?”
The look she gave me before answering informed me that we weren’t done talking about Dad. “Remember the radicalistic human purist group that Timber encountered earlier this year at the Detroit Comic Con? The Anti-Xalanite League?”
“Sure.”
T’raat nodded. “Yes, I am familiar with them as well. Prince N’kal aided Agent Timber in apprehending some of them, if I recall. The news reached Xalan after the capture of the offenders.”
Aunt Ann sighed. “Yeah, well, apparently several of these offenders have infiltrated the AARO. It’s been going on for months, from what X’nit’s captors told him, and some of them are even agents that I vetted myself.” She shook her head. “I guess their endgame is to wipe out the Xalanites that are on Earth through the agency. Use their stolen positions of power to arrest and accost Xalanites, even killing some. Like the one who attended our wedding.”
Jesus! Maybe it would be safer to marry T’raat on Xalan …
“But Aunt Ann, that’s just one agency in one country on Earth. Surely they haven’t gotten any further than that.”
“Honey, right now almost all of the Xalanites on Earth are located at the intake center. With one well-placed bomb, AXL could kill every one of them. We had security measures in place to prevent that, but with me gone and an AXL spy taking charge in my absence, that could happen any day now. Or they could getmore creative. Germ warfare could wipe out the Xalanites just as easily. I don’t suppose you ever learned about the smallpox infected blankets handed to the indigenous Americans by the British?”
My blood ran cold at the thought. Though most of the Xalanite visitors on Earth were retired military, like T’raat, there were some dignitaries and wealthy families in the mix. Civilians. One Xalanite litter had already been born on Earth, even. Babies! How could the members of AXL justify something like that?
“Don’t worry, Leigh. You and T’raat are about to arrive safely on Xalan, and besides, you’ve been responsible and using thezi’in.”
Her words startled and confused me, until I realized I’d been absentmindedly rubbing my abdomen while thinking about the babies. Shit.
Thankfully, our conversation was interrupted by H’rran, who had finished cooking our dinner. She set plates in front of T’raat and me and offered her own plate to Aunt Ann, stating that she’d cook herself anotherssolpwhile we ate.
The food smelled amazing. I loved fish, but Dad rarely bought it because beef was so plentiful on the farm. Why shell out for something else when we had tons of meat already?
I rolled my eyes and moaned with the first bite.Ssolpwas delicious! It was as if someone had taken the best catch on the planet, slathered it in butter and spices, and seared it to perfection.
I felt almost guilty at enjoying it, though, after the news we’d just received. If we didn’t do something, there would be a ton of Xalanites who’d never get to eatssolpagain. The thought sobered me, and I put my fork down. How could I enjoy this meal knowing that time could be running out for the unsuspecting Xalanites back on Earth?
T’raat seemed to notice my sudden distress, and he frowned at the abundance of leftovers on my plate. “My love, do you not enjoy the taste? I can prepare something else for you if thessolpis not to your liking.”
