She stuck out her hand to me, smiling widely. It was a very friendly smile, and there was something very sweet and charming about the way she tilted her head. “That’s a human greeting, right?” I nodded, reached out, and shook her hand. “I’m Koratalin. What’s your name?”
She neatly turned me back toward the hills, her arm hooked through mine, and urged us to start walking again. I went along with it; she seemed harmless and kind. “I’m Mariska. Are you sure you want to see my farm? It’s nicknamed Meteor Crater because it’s a bit of a mess…”
She gave me a wide smile, as if I’d said something adorable. “Oh, trust me, Mariska, I am quite sure.” That smile gave me chills all over, and suddenly I wondered if there was also such a thing as an Aderian with the polar opposite of an empathic gift. Did such a kind, peaceful race produce sociopaths? Oh, what a horrible thing to be thinking of when walking into the hills with a complete stranger.
Chapter 13
Mariska
I knew Koratalin was bad news within five minutes of our walk. When you didn’t grow up with the complete belief that everybody was an empath and good at heart, perhaps you learned to sense lies better. I sensed them because I was trusting my eyes to read her body language, not some strange sixth sense to tell me what she was feeling. Growing up in a neighborhood full of crooks and criminals of the worst kind might have also given me a leg up.
Koratalin wanted to kill me. This beautiful, smartly dressed Aderian woman wanted to see me dead in the dirt at her feet. I did not know her; I’d never done her any harm, but the desire to kill me was there in the duality of her body language: warm laughs, overt smiles, and a cold hand at my elbow urging me on with firm pressure. She had me trapped, and when I saw two figures come out from behind some bushes up ahead, I knew I was doomed.
Jeltom had only told me the basics of what had happened in the vineyard last night, but he’d told me enough to know it had been a Rhico and a Kertinal. This pair fit the bill, and in a town of almost exclusively Aderians, they stood out. Of course, we weren’t in town anymore, but almost halfway back to my farm—right in that twilight zone between two spots of safety. There was another farm between mine and the town, but we’d passed the dirt entrance road not long ago, and a hill obscured it from view. Nobody would see us here. They might hear me scream, but by then it would be too late.
I didn’t waste time begging for my life or trying to escape, because I knew my short legs, in this terrain, would never carry me fast enough. All I did was turn to Koratalin and ask, “Why? Why are you doing this?” Her smile was wide, and it was malicious, and if I’d felt cold before in her presence, that smile was like the air had literally dropped a few degrees. I’d never seen something that cruel before, and I’d seen plenty.
“Why not?” she asked, but she stepped closer as her goons came to flank me and block any chance of escape. Silly, perhaps, but I clutched my basket of flour and eggs closer to my chest, as if I were scared they’d break them. “Jeltom happens to be a close friend of someone who betrayed me. You’d think family would be loyal, wouldn’t you? But no, that blazing Batan thinks she’s better than me. So you’re my way to get back at her, at Jeltom, and at cursed Danitalin.”
Leave it to the bad guy to monologue when given the chance. Too bad I had no clue how to use that to my advantage. The last name, at least, had given me a clue as to what was going on. I didn’t know exactly how Jeltom knew Dani, but that was the Aderian doctor who had checked my health through the comm last night. She was definitely the epitome of a sweet, kind Aderian, and this woman was her polar opposite.
“Family doesn’t need to be blood,” I said faintly. It made little sense, because this was not at all about family for Koratalin, even if she said it was. I couldn’t see how it could be, unless Dani was somehow related to her. I was not touching that topic with a ten-foot pole.
Koratalin mouthed the words after me, then laughed loudly, full of mockery. “You know nothing, human. Which is fine, as longas you die sweetly.” She raised her hand, and those jewel-crusted gold fingernails suddenly didn’t seem all that pretty to me. They looked like dangerous weapons. I braced myself for the pain, but it never came.
A roaring sound made everyone look uphill. It was a sound of pure rage that echoed between the mountains. Koratalin cursed and snatched my arm, yanking me roughly back and forcing me in front of her like a shield. The pair of males who had been lying in wait for me along the path formed a protective barrier between us and the approaching threat. We couldn’t see who it was yet, but I knew.
Jeltom rounded a bend and came barreling down the path at high speed. The Kertinal was unsteady on one leg, and he dropped to his knee to take aim with his gun and fire. The Rhico lowered his head as if he were going to charge and gore my guy with his horn, but he, too, raised a gun. Leaning back into Koratalin for balance, I kicked out with my leg as hard as I could. I caught the Kertinal right in the base of his tail with the toe of my boot, and he jerked sideways—a stroke of luck that made both of their shots go wide.
My mechanic had his pistol out, too, and his shots were precise and deadly. He struck the Kertinal in the shoulder, but the second rapid shot hit the Rhico in the eye. They both went down, and victory already sang through my veins. Yes! I knew I could count on Jeltom. How he’d known where I was, I had no clue how, but he was here and I was saved.
The claws around my neck warned me I shouldn’t celebrate too early. She dragged me backward with an angry shout, and then something cold was pressed against my temple. “Any closerand I’ll blow her brains out. You want to be responsible for her death?” Jeltom raised his hands into the air immediately in surrender, and I winced, that meant whatever was pressed to my head was bad, a gun, even if it felt very small.
“Don’t shoot,” he said, and his face shifted from Koratalin to mine, his eyes big and worried. “Let her go. It’s me you want, isn’t it?” he added. When he moved his hand just slightly, the woman hissed, and the barrel of her weapon pressed more tightly into my skin.
“What I want is to wring my sister’s skinny neck,” the woman holding me said. She was deceptively strong, but that was just one of those differences in species. All Aderians were just a little bigger and stronger than a human, and that included this snazzily dressed lady. We weren’t saved at all; as long as she held that weapon to my head, Jeltom wouldn’t lift a finger.
“You’re going to have to do it in her place for now. Get on your knees. Ta’par, shoot him.” Jeltom didn’t move to do as she said, his muscles twitching as he fought to hold himself back. His reticence made Koratalin very angry, and she hissed, her gun digging into my skin. The Kertinal clawed himself back upright with a furious growl, clutching at the wound on his shoulder. He growled something in a voice I could barely understand, his strange subharmonic tones vibrating in the air with something that sounded very much like “Gladly!”
Jeltom’s expression grew even tighter, his eyes flicking from the dead Rhico sprawled in the dirt to the furious Kertinal. Then they locked on my face, and a calmness seemed to settle over him. “If I let you kill me, you’ll let her go?” he asked. Koratalin laughed with something that sounded very much like disbelief.“You want to kill me to punish your sister? You’re going to have to let her go, Koratalin. You’re a nothing now, your empire in shambles. It’s my only offer. Let her go now, and I’ll surrender for your vengeance.”
He meant it. Every single word. My beautiful, handsome mechanic with the bold, romantic gestures was willing to give up his life to save mine. My eyes filled with tears, and agony at the thought of losing him overwhelmed me. “No, don’t,” I objected. “Don’t do that, Jeltom. Please, I can’t go on without you.” I’d never allowed myself to need anyone to exist—to live. Everything I’d done all my life had been about survival. But going on after Jeltom made that kind of sacrifice? It felt impossible.
His expression hardened. “Yes, you can, and you will, Mariska. You will. Promise me.” Mutinously, I pressed my lips together. I would have shaken my head, too, but I really didn’t want to make Koratalin twitch when her finger was on the trigger of a gun aimed straight at my head.
“Please,” she laughed. “Like I believe that. The moment I release her, you’re going to attack. Nice try, but no deal. I’ll shoot her, and then I’ll shoot you. How’s that?” She seemed to think she had the upper hand and, for a short moment, lifted the gun from my head to wave it at Jeltom.
I braced myself to jerk out of her grip, but Jeltom’s next words stunned me, and I lost the window. “She is my true mate; I’d do anything for her. My word is bond.”True mate.It echoed through me, vibrated as it settled into my bones. Yes, somehow, thatwastrue. I wanted to believe it so badly I could taste the hope on my tongue.
“Really? Isn’t that a myth?” she drawled. “What makes this stupid human so special?” She asked the question, but she did not care about the answer. Not even a little. It was enough to convince her that Jeltom really would sacrifice himself for me. She nodded, gestured with her gun, and my guy lowered himself to his knees, hands out at his sides.
He looked so beautiful and so proud like that, that it made the breath stall in my chest. His shoulders were wide, the dark gray tunic stretched tight over his muscled frame, and his chin was raised. All that anthracite skin on display gleamed in the Llykhe sun, and his braid was a thick rope of black with highlights of gold and silver. His all-black eyes were locked on my face; I could feel it. They were calm, resigned, willing. Damn it, how could I find that one guy who fit, and then be forced to lose him this way?
The Kertinal picked up his gun and aimed it at Jeltom, blood staining both the front and back of his shoulder wound. Ice filled my veins—I was so scared, I thought I was about to see him die. With a shove, Koratalin pushed me away from her, her claws cutting into my arm. “You’re in luck, human. Run.” I looked from Jeltom to her, a denial rising in my throat, my legs tensing as I prepared to throw myself at the bitch and wrestle that damn peashooter from her hand.
I didn’t need to. Avertom rose behind her so suddenly that I had no time to do anything but blink. Like a wraith, a shadow of shimmering anthracite and shiny waves of black hair, he appeared behind her shoulder. His hand slashed through the air and struck the woman in the throat, and she collapsed into the dirt. Avertom swayed on unsteady feet but kicked the gun from her hand and into the underbrush beside the path.
It was over just like that. At the same time that Avertom had appeared out of nowhere and taken out Koratalin, Jeltom had leaped for the Kertinal. With a wrench and a crack, the male was dead. Blinking at the abrupt change in our circumstances, I stood in the middle of the road, staring.
