It was a strange pulling inside her. A part of her wanted to scream, to make her fear and anger known.
Her head swam, suddenly dizzy. She lay down on the floor and when she was finally able to sleep, she dreamed that she’d been buried in the earth like Jaxor’s crops. And when the earth was uncovered, a crying newborn child, covered in soil, had taken her place.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jaxor sat on the soft bed, his head hanging between his shackled wrists. His claws—his dulled claws, since he kept them short for Erin—were curled into his shorn hair.
Vaxa’an had left him hours before. Jaxor couldn’t stop remembering the look on his face after he’d told him everything. From the beginning. He’d told him only the facts, however brutal they might have been. About seeking out theMevirax, about Tavar, about the crystals. About leaving theMevirax, and returning when Tavar sought him out with a proposition. He told him what he knew of the traitor in the command center—though he had no name—about how the male would make sure to be on duty whenever the Jetutians met with theMeviraxso he could shield their vessel’s signal as they entered the atmosphere.
Finally, he told his brother about Kossira—Tavar’s mate. The only pregnant Luxirian female in existence on their planet. He told him about the deal Tavar had made with Jaxor—that he would bring human females to the Caves ofPevrallixand in exchange, Jaxor would be the one to confront Po’grak, that he would have his chance at revenge.
“Why would Tavar betray Po’grak?” Vaxa’an had asked when Jaxor had first spoken of it. “It seems foolish.”
That was when Jaxor told him of the cure for the virus. Kossira had told them that the Jetutians only gave her a small vial—black in color and thick—injected into her bloodstream. Nothing more. The realization that the cure for their females was so simple was…rocking.
Vaxa’an had seemed dumbstruck by it as well. He’d shaken his head at first. “Privanax has worked tirelessly on a treatment. I cannot imagine that—”
“The Jetutians have one. One that works.”
“You have seen Kossira?” Vaxa’an had demanded, standing to pace.
“Tev,” Jaxor said. “Before I left for the Golden City, before I came for Erin and Crystal, she looked as if she was just two lunar cycles away from giving birth.”
“This vaccine…you were planning to steal it?” Vaxa’an had asked him, cutting him with a sharp look. “That is what you and Tavar plotted?”
“Tavar believed that you would bend your power to him if he brought you the cure for our females,” Jaxor had said quietly. “He seeks power. He still hates the Jetutians, but he was willing to work with them for one purpose only.”
“He wants to be Prime Leader,” Vaxa’an had said, his expression grim.
“He would have demanded nothing less once he had the vaccine,” Jaxor had said. “He would have made you choose between your position and your people. And I know you would have relinquished the title to him.”
“All while plotting to get it back,” Vaxa’an had finished for him. “And be assured, brother, Iwouldget it back.”
Jaxor had looked at his brother in that moment and realized that there were some aspects of Vaxa’an that Jaxor saw in himself. All of the bad of Vaxa’an, Jaxor saw in himself.
“I was going to bring it to you,” Jaxor had admitted softly. “I was going to take the vaccine and bring it to you instead.”
“Rebax?” Vaxa’an had asked quietly, stilling in his pacing.
“Tavar is dangerous,” Jaxor told him. “In some ways, he is worse than the Jetutians and I would not allow him near the throne our family’s blood has built.”
Vaxa’an had blown out a breath, but had asked, unflinchingly, “And what of the human females? In all of your plans, what of them?”
Jaxor had looked away from his brother’s gaze then. “I knew that it was always a possibility I would not be able to get them back after I killed Po’grak. The exchange was to take place on their vessel. We were to bring the Luxirian female of our choosing along with the human females we had taken so they could administer the treatment. There were many variables, many things that could go wrong.” His gaze had connected with Vaxa’an’s then. He’d forced himself to look him straight in the eye and say, “My priority was the cure, not the human females.”
“Not even Po’grak?” Vaxa’an had asked quietly.
Jaxor’s revenge had weighed heavily in his mind for ten rotations. But as he was looking into his brother’s identical eyes, Jaxor felt relief when he said, “I would have chosen the vaccine,” because he knew, without a shadow of a doubt, it was the truth.
Vaxa’an seemed to realize the same thing in that moment. Vaxa’an had then asked, “And how does Erin fit into all this?”
And that question was the one haunting him presently. Vaxa’an was gone now, left to speak with the council, and all Jaxor had was his thoughts, his regrets, and his dread.
Jaxor couldn’t stand the soft cot he sat on, so he rose, pacing the floor just as his brother had done during their conversation. His wrists were still shackled, but at least Jaxor wasn’t being kept in the dungeons below the command center. Instead, Vaxa’an had led him into one of the empty quarters—warrior barracks—and locked him in. The space was bare. There was a small washroom attached. But nothing that Jaxor could use to get the shackles off, which Vaxa’an had probably already thought of.
I should get used to them, Jaxor thought. Because after this, it was very likely he would be wearing them until his death.
Before Vaxa’an had left to meet with the council, he’d looked at Jaxor and said, “Even if we manage to get to Erin in time, even if we manage to take Tavar into our custody and kill Po’grak and get the vaccine…even if everything goes perfectly right,” Jaxor had closed his eyes, imagining that very situation, knowing that it was too good to be true, “you will still go to trial before the council and the elders. Even I will not be able to pardon you.”
