And all of them knew it.
Chapter Two
Planet Arak – Trek Mi Q’an Galaxy
6040Y.Y. (Yessat-Years)
The highspeed, floating conveyance abruptly slowed its gait. Dari’s stomach lurched a wee bit from the suddenness of the movement. She clutched her belly, but said nothing, her glowing blue gaze still studying her lap.
“Have a care!” Gio called out to the conveyance’s pilot. He obviously sensed her physical distress, though she’d fling herself into a gulch pit afore thanking him for as much. Leastways, he would never be more than a captor to her—and one she would be fleeing from the soonest. “You are escorting a Princess, not carting warriors to battle!”
“Aye, milord.”
Dari could feel Gio’s lavender gaze studying her, though she refused to look up from her lap to confirm it. He was quiet for a long while, though in truth he’d been silent for most of the trip. She supposed she was grateful for the fiveNuba-hoursrespite, though again she’d never admit to it.
“We’ve entered the airspace of Trader City,” Gio explained to the top of her head. “Floating conveyances abound from all o’er the galaxies so we needs be careful with our speed whilst passing through.”
Dari’s back stiffened. She had assumed that Trader Citywastheir final destination. This new, critical, and unwelcomed information would have to be conveyed to her sister and cousin somehow. Leastways, Trader City was known throughout Trek Mi Q’an so they’d all three assumed ‘twas also its principal seat.
“The palace—your new home—is but a short distance from here. It sits above Trader City on what we callArakia.”
Arakia—The Mountain of Gemstones. ‘Twould like as naught be more than passing fair in its beauty, yet Dari would not cede an inch. Calling it her new home didn’t make it thusly.
“Will you say nothing?” Gio asked softly. His voice sounded haggard. “I’m trying to make you feel as comfortable as possible.”
Her nostrils flared as her head slowly came up. She narrowed her blue gaze into meaningful if menacing slits. “What would you have me to say, my lord? Give you my thanks for imprisoning me on a mountain of gemstones?”
“I am not imprison—”
“Aye, you are. And because you are, it matters naught to me does your palace sit on a mountain of gems or a mountain of dung excreted by a hoard ofheeka-beasts.” She looked away from him, her glowing gaze absently surveying the skies of Trader City. “A gilded prison mayhap, but still just a prison.”
“Mayhap you should have thought of that afore humiliating me and my name,” Gio said pointedly. “Leastways, I’ve no desire to argue with you,ty’ka.”
“Mayhap you should have thought of that afore removing me from Ti Q’won,” Dari fired back. Her lips turned down. “And I am not yourty’ka,” she mumbled.
“Aye, you are. Icy tongue or no, you will always be my hearts.”
She said nothing to that, but then what could she say? She could but give him her nay again, which was meaningless under the current circumstances. Her captor clearly had the upper hand. Leastways, he did for now.
Silence ensued, yet the tension betwixt them remained palpable. ‘Twas clear in the extreme that Gio wished for the deuce of them to exchange words, yet equally clear that Dari did not. She was too busy pining for the familiar, familial life she’d lost to think on aught else. Already her hearts wrenched with grief every time an image of hermani, sire, or siblings entered her mind… and she had been removed from them scarcely fiveNuba-hours.
Would she have done things differently had she known her punishment for flirting with High Lord Death would be so extreme? For a certainty, she truly did not know. ‘Twas nigh unto easy to second guess one’s self, yet rarely accurate. Jana and Kara had needed a distraction whilst they soldqi’kasat the trading stall on Ti Q’won that they might barter them for the necessary credits to flee Tryston afore Kara and Dari could be claimed. Dari had chosen the handsomest of the warriors to flirt with, knowing it would distract her and Jana’s brother from her sister and cousin’s cunning venture—which it had. Leastways, Dari hadn’t seen High Lord Death for many aYessat-Yearwhen she espied him in the trading stalls and therefore had not realized she was literally flirting with trouble.
High Lord Death had trained Gio Z’an Tar in the warring arts so it was little wonder that her innocent escapade made it back to Gio’s ears. And yet…
She sighed. Nay, Dari decided, she’d never truly know if she’d have made a different decision using hindsight alone. Jana and Kara’s mission had been successful after all, their bartering having secured more credits than any of them had dreamt a royalqi’kawas worth.
Still, Dari had never dreamt that her punishment for flirting with Death would be aught more than the spanking her sire had given her. How was she to surmise that she’d not only endure a severe spanking, but be removed from hermaniand papa’s home?
Her tiny hands reflexively balled into equally tiny fists. Dari was aware there was no sense in dwelling on what might have been. She needed to reserve her strength for what was.
* * * * *
The warriors aboard thegastrolight-cruiserlooked to one another in shock. None of them had realized how far back the Q’ana Tal females’ plot first began. ‘Twould have been nigh unto impressive had their machinations not caused so much grief and anguish for so many.
“I was but a pawn,” High Lord Death mused. “’Tis irony, that.”
“’Tis a relief, that,” Gio returned. At Death’s raised brow Gio admitted, “I needs not be so jealous of you.”
