“I am anEarthlingwith Eki powers,” I quickly clarified. “Ziggy here is my stellar collision—my fated mate. So, yes, thereisa piece of him inside me, but I still have complete control, I swear!”
Most of the time…
But we’re gonna leave the kinky shit out of this.
My confession spilled out in a rush. “Pedro… the Trol came into our possession by accident. The Stellarians were hired by a mysterious client to rescue aneggfrom the Maroxians, and the egg hatched en route, but when we brought the creature back to Stellaria, the Irathians attacked out of nowhere. There was also a rogue Hydrassian on the planet, claiming they could ‘hear the call’ of the karnilian, which we didn’t realize was inside the Trol at the time. We still suspected Pedro was who everyone was after, so we decided to keep moving until we figured things out.”
Krunk looked a little dazed by the infodump, and rightfully so.
It’s kind of a hot mess.
“Listen…” I took a hesitant step toward theLacertus,which caused Ziggy to growl low in warning. “The misinformation between your species runs deep, and it goes both ways.” I pointedly looked at each of them in turn. “But I really hope we cantalkto each other and set the record straight.”
Please.
An insistentknockon my mental walls had me lowering my inner shields to let my stellar collision back in. I sent him an apologetic grimace, instantly realizing me shutting him out had probably made things worse, despite my good intentions.
“Are you sure you’re okay, sunshine? I was so worried…”
“I am, and I’m sorry, Zig. I just wanted to discuss a few things with the Lacertus before I left… and before you showed up like… Well, like this.”
Like always.
Ziggy removed his helmet, exhaling slowly and facing Krunk before speaking in the trade language again. “Very well. I am willing to listen.” He shotmean apologetic look.“Trulylisten this time.”
Thank you.
A moment of awkward silence passed before I took charge again. “So, Krunk here was about to explain why theLacertusactually havenointerest in Trols or karnilian… which will hopefully explain why Uuktar is imprisoned here.”
There’s no point in hiding my cluelessness now.
Krunk chuckled. “Lucky for you, little Earthling,it is all related.”
I laughed. “Yeah, I figured as much.”
TheLacertussighed, as if what they were about to share pained them. “Long ago, we were a warring species, single-mindedly focused on conquering other planets. I believe it was in response to our destructive actions that your recently fallen Astrum Force first came to power.” They nodded at Ziggy before continuing. “It quickly became clear that Stellarians were one of the only species who could challenge us, which meant we needed to find a way to turn the tide in our favor.”
“And that’s where the karnilian came in, hmm?“ Ziggy scoffed, crossing his arms as a deceptively cuddly Pedro draped themselves over his shoulders like a furry danger scarf.
Krunk growled, although I got the sense it wasn’t aimed at anyone present. “My kind still curse the day karnilian was suggested to us by a pair of Hydrassian seers—powerful siblings who claimed the stone ‘showed’ themproofof victory in a great battle against our greatest enemies.”
My heart sank at the clever deception. “Uuktar and Uulvin didn’t specifywhowould be victorious, did they?”
“No,” theLacertushuffed. “And we were too blinded by our own sense of superiority to consider we might lose.”
“Well, that sounds familiar doesn’t it, Zig?”
My stellar collision didn’t outwardly react, but I couldfeelhis signature loving exasperation wrap around me, like a warm, starry embrace.
Like Tendril Huggy Time.
I nodded and Krunk continued. “While Idobelieve Hydrassians are gifted with The Sight, they realized long ago that coin was more plentiful when the fates of entire planets were on the line.”
A chilling thought occurred to me. “Does karnilian even do what they claim it does?”
TheLacertus’gaze drifted to the purring Trol. “It is difficult to say, but with how skillfully they have twisted the truth about other matters, it would not surprise me to learn they fabricated the story about this supposedly powerful stone to line their own purses.”
Creating supply and demand…
