* * * * *
Meanwhile, also in Zyrus Galaxy…
The self-loathing Gio had experienced sank to unchartered depths. He had feared Dari had been faithless… with a boy-child. This Bazi was naught but innocence who had lost his grand-sire to the depravity of his own sire’s outright evil machinations, yet he’d once believed his Dari had been unfaithful with him. He felt lower than aheeka-beast.
Whilst Gio wished Dari had confided all that she’d been through to him, he also understood that ‘twould have been nigh unto difficult to believe much of it. Though Gio likely would have believed Dari regarding his sire’s killings, the thought of a bedamned tree with silver-ice leaves causing the changes that had occurred within him would have seemed like the imaginings of a young princess with too much time on her hands.
He would never doubt her again—never.
“If they get their long range transmitters working,” King Kil pointed out, “then ‘twill make it easier to teleport onto thatgastrolight-cruiser.”
“Aye,” the Emperor acknowledged. “Yet we still are burning too muchgastrolightin catching up to them. We will be lucky to teleport Gio, much less two or more of us.”
“Let us hope there is more to that bedamned planet than silver-ice trees and predators. Mayhap an intelligent species dwells within it.” Kil slashed a hand through the air. “If we needs must make war with them to recharge our cruisers then so be it.”
“Agreed,” Zor returned. “We are prepared for any eventuality.”
Gio couldn’t help but to notice King Dak’s pensive expression. He wondered at it. “She will be more than passing fair,” he assured him. “We are nigh unto close enough to teleport.”
Dak inclined his head. “I would give anything to hold my Dari, yet do I know you will guard her with your life.” His eyes, so much like his future Sacred Mate’s, were unblinking. “’Tis no longer Dari I fear for the most.”
That announcement garnered everyone’s attention. “What are you saying?” Zor asked. “You make no sense.”
The king of Ti Q’won tensed up. “’Tis my eldest hatchling. She needs me.”
“Jana?” Kil asked. “Dak, what are you talking about?”
“I do not know for a certainty.”
“Well that clears everything up.”
Dak threw his brother an acerbic look. “What I know in my hearts is that she is crying out for me! The closer we get to this wretched planet, the stronger I feel it!”
Silence.
“Was Jana kidnapped from Galis?” High Lord Death asked.
“She must have been,” Dak insisted. “I would that we could send warriors to The Gy’at Li. If Jana is missing, Klykka will know of it.”
“I’ll get right on it.” This from King Rem.
Gio took a deep breath. He couldn’t help but to feel a sorrow for King Dak. The warlord had not one hatchling to fret o’er, but two. ‘Twould be enough to drive any warrior daft. “If she is here, we will find her. I vow to join in your search after the claiming.” He would not chance Dari running from him again. He would claim her as his Sacred Mate and only then would he look for Jana.
“Concentrate on my most headstrong hatchling,” Dak told him. “We’ve plenty of warriors to search for my Jana.”
* * * * *
Meanwhile, on Khan-Gor…
She wanted hermaniand papa, she thought wildly. She cared not of any recriminations that might stem from having fled all those years back. She would gladly take any of them did it mean she would feel hermani’shand upon her brow once again, or feel her sire’s arms clasped about her.
Jana cried out in mental anguish, wondering if ‘twas possible they might reject her when they learned of the species she had become. She was no longer like a Trystonni, she thought in horror. She could do—things. Bizarre, frightening things. And the way she drank of Yorin whilst they mated—good goddess it didn’t bear dwelling o’er.
She put her bad thoughts from her mind, concentrating once again on the mission at hand. She had to escape. ‘Twas now or ‘twas never. She had done the unthinkable and thwarted the warriors of Tryston once before. So too could she thwart the Khan-Goris, making them believe she’d died.
Jana was sharp enough to realize that her only hope of successfully fleeing her mate was in finding aholo-portthat would transport her to her own galaxy. She refused to consider the fact that in her sennight on Khan-Gor, she had seen not even oneholo-portdotting the landscape.
Yorin had firmly told her that there was no sense in running from him for ‘twas impossible to leave Khan-Gor without a ship, yet she refused to give up hope that mayhap he had lied to her. Even if he had been telling her naught but truths, she was a warrior woman now, and a warrior woman would simply find another method of escape.
