Devix’s eyes narrowed, his heart speeding in his chest.His blood brother?
“Who?” he bit out.
“A warrior called Pidixa.”
The air from his lungs rushed out at that familiar name.Old feelings of betrayal, of anger, of loss rushed him all at once until they constricted his breathing.
“What of him?” Devix rasped.
“A few of my scouts came across him off planet.”Devix doubted it was a random encounter.“It seems his tongue becomes loose with enough Brew.It becomes even looser with a few beatings as well.”
“What did he say?” Devix asked, his voice darkening.The sick part of him hoped that Sarkon’s scouts had made himbleed.
“You know what he said,” Sarkon’s voice becoming serious.Devix wasn’t surprised that Sarkon knew about his past, knew about the circumstances that led to his exile and not his execution.Sarkon had never asked and Devix had never offered the information.Yet, he knew that his employer had always known, perhaps even before he’d taken him off of Petrika.“He confessed to lying.He confessed that the mating he walked in on between you and his blood sister had been consensual and not forced.He confessed it all.”
Devix squeezed his eyes shut, his hand trembling when he smoothed it over his horn.After all that time…after the tribunal, the look on his blood brother’s face as he was sentenced to exile…Devix had begun to doubt his own innocence.He’d had his own people telling him that he’d raped Arvalla that perhaps a part of him had begun to believe that he had.It had sickened him.He’d become warped and twisted from the thought.
Hearing this now, it released something from him.But in its place, it brought the need for revenge.
“Is he still alive?”
“Of course,” Sarkon answered.His employer leaned forward so that the only thing Devix saw was his face.“And the moment you bring my human to me, he is yours, as is his confession.A parting gift, for all your hard work.A chance at clearing your name so that you may return to Luxiria, if you so wished.”
Devix’s breathing changed rapidly.Luxiria…his home.His home planet that had nourished his strength, made him into a proud warrior…that had turned its back when he’d professed his innocence in a heinous crime he hadn’t committed.
Devix straightened, looking at Sarkon steadily.Never had Devix wanted anything more…except perhaps the human female that resided on his ship at that very moment.
An impossible choice.
“Six spans, Luxirian,” Sarkon said.
And then the image line went dead.
FIVE
Cara decided on two things in the shower.
One: she would do everything in her power tolearn.To learn abouthim, his species, his ship, his skills.And she would try to learn where in the hell he was taking her and to whom.
Two: while learning about her alien captor, she would try to befriend him.In doing so, she would try to persuade himnotto take her wherever the hell they were going and to take her back home, or to someone who could get her back home, instead.Far-fetched, perhaps, but certainly worth a try if she played her cards right.She could be charming and nice if she needed to be, right?She literally had nothing to lose anyways.
Cara spent more time washing in that strange shower tube than she’d ever spent on washing before.She washed her hair three times with the black particles that rained down from the ceiling and scrubbed her body down until her skin was tender and raw.When she finally swiped her palm over the shower screen to turn off the water, she squeaked in surprise when a blast of hot air hit her body, whipping her hair.A built-in body blow-dryer it seemed.It evaporated every drop of water from her skin and left her wind-swept hair hanging around her shoulders.
No need for a towel, I guess, she thought, avoiding the cloak on the floor like a plague when she eventually stepped out.
She poked her head through the door that led into the bedroom just in case her alien decided to stick around.Now that she was clean, she was slightly embarrassed that she’d begun to undress in front of him.But when a girl went without a shower for God-only-knows how long, her eagerness wasn’t a surprise.
He was nowhere to be seen and she stepped towards the bed, fully naked, quickly snatching up the clean shirt.She caressed it between her fingertips, feeling the lightness and softness.Carefully, she pulled it over her head and smoothed it into place.It was large on her body, falling to just above her knees, made to fit someone three times her size, like her alien captor.Was this his shirt?she wondered.Was this his room?
There were no undergarments and she felt bare and slightly vulnerable without them.Perhaps she could make some from a shirt, if he gave her another one.And if he trusted her enough with some sort of needle and thread.She’d be on her best behavior for underwear, she decided.
Next, wanting to start on her plans, she stood in front of the door.When it didn’t open, she touched it with her palm, her heart beginning to beat harder in her chest.Then she tapped the screen next to the door, waving her palm in front of it like she’d done with the shower.And still, nothing.Everything she tried…nothing.
He’d locked her in there.
Another cage, another captor.Had she truly thought that he’d be any different?
Panic clogged her throat.She told herself to breathe.Breathe in, breathe out.Just like always.One moment to the next.
