“Wait.” I faced him. “Are they ok? Tatiana and Jaron?”
He barely spared me a glance. “Prisoners do not have the privilege of getting their questions answered.”
I curled my hands into fists until my nails bit into my palms, grounding me. “If they’re already hurt or…” I could barely get the words out, “or worse, then there’s no reason for me to cooperate with you. I need to know they’re ok.” I tried to keep my tone reasonable and calm, but a tremor belied me.
“Sit, we will know soon enough what the Vorazyrdesires to tell you.”
I walked to the chair slowly, looking around for anything that I might be able to use to escape. The whisper of his movements made my stomach tighten as he followed me.
“Who are you in all of this? Are you royalty?” Any tidbit of information, including their hierarchy, could be useful, and I guessed he would be more accommodating than the harsh Vorazyr.
His red eyes, made even more eerie by the deep shadows in the room, flashed to me. “You are not the one asking the questions.” Despite his words, his voice was calm.
“I am only trying to understand. That’s my job, I learn about different cultures, and I teach others about them as well.” Knowing it was no use, I sat in the strange chair. It had a normal seat, but the back was thin and tall, located directly in the middle, supporting the spine but giving enough room for large wings on either side.
The door slid open and closed and I had to blink as flashes of light in my vision swam against the darkness of the room.
The low voice of the Vorazyr announced it was him before I could see normally again. He spoke rapidly with the other, and I strained to catch the words, to see if there were any I would recognize. Axar. He said the name twice in the conversation. Worry made my chest ache. Had the young vorpyr gotten into trouble by being near me? What did this Vorazyrdo to his own that angered him? Or were the children his and I would be punished worse for interacting with them?
The male in questioned stepped over to me. I licked my dry lips and instantly regretted it as his gaze tracked the motion. It was possible that lips weren’t sexual to the vorpyr like they were to humans, but I didn’t want to do anything that even got near that line. He braced his hands on the wall on either side of my head and crouched so our eyes were level.
When he said nothing, the words tumbled from me. “You didn’t…” I took a breath and steadied myself. “You didn’t do anything to the little vorpyr, did you? They didn’t know any better.”
His eyes narrowed dangerously. “You think I would harm a small one?”
My first impression of you makes me think you’re a sadistic bully.“I don’t know you.”
“Is this a thing humans would do?”
“No. Abusing children isn’t allowed.” But it still happened, more than one would think. Despite biting my tongue, he seemed to hear what went unsaid.
“Wedo not harm our own,” he snapped. “You would do well to worry about yourself right now.”
“Are my companions safe?” I asked, again.
“No suffering has to come to your brother or the young female. If you cooperate, I can assure their safety.” His voice was low andgravelly, sending tendrils of frisson tingling up my neck and to my scalp.
When I said nothing, he put a finger under my jaw. His claw pricked my skin as he tilted my head up. “Tell me the true purpose of why you came here. I know your Consortium isn’t foolish enough to send their people to a planet that belongs to their enemy just to satisfy curiosity about our burial practices.”
“Consortium officers approached me to see if I would be interested in studying abandoned ruins. After losing my work to them a year and a half earlier, I jumped at the chance.”
His eyes were hard and cold, pinning me in place as a snarl rippled through his chest, his fangs in full view. “You think that I will not punish you for your continued lies? You are a fool if you believe that you and those with you will not endure severe punishment as repayment for your trespass and the death of the guardians of the shrine.”
Frustration bubbled up in me. “I’m telling you the truth! Your unwillingness to hear me is the problem. I can’t be anything more than I am. I’m a university professor.” And how I wished I was still there, teaching a class to bored trust fund students.
He drew back and said something to the red eyed one. The other male left. Fear continued to thread through me, pulsing worse with each beat of my heart. What was he going to do?
“If you don’t believe me, maybe there’s a way to prove who I am. If you have access to an interstellar network, we might be able to find information about me from my government that would prove who I am.”
He smirked. “You think I’ll give you access to an intergalactic connected device?”
My shoulders sagged. Nothing I said or did would convince him and my chance of escapeandgetting both Jaron and Tatiana out was nil. I closed my eyes against the rising panic.
The sliding of the door announced the other vorpyr had come back. I kept my eyes closed, trying to focus on my breaths, sure that physical pain was only a moment away. No one spoke, but movement made me tense. The Vorazyr’s scent, fresh, softly spicy but with almost a sweet undertone, circled around me, and I opened my eyes. He tugged me to my feet. I sighed heavily. What now?
He brought me to a window where he tapped the shutter and it slid into a pocket in the wall. My stomach dropped at the sight outside. Jaron. The fading light illuminated him being held by two vorpyr, one gripping each arm, flapping their wings. They were far enough away from the buildings that hugged the cliff wall that if they dropped him, he would fall directly to the canyon floor dozens of feet below.
A powerful body pressed in behind me as I stared in horror. “The next lie you tell me will have a more significant outcome.” His warm breath caressed my ear and neck and a violent shiver took hold of me as goosebumps crawled over my skin.
