Page 69

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

Visla

Ididn’t know what to expect when the Zarvixian ship landed in Dretis. Would I be captured? Killed on sight? Dragged into that dreadful underground prison again? Or would I return to find that bitch queen defeated? All I knew was that my gut instincts told me I needed to be here.

Huvos instructed the Zarvixian to land as far away from the capitol as possible to give us time to un-board the ship. Word traveled fast, and it would only be a matter of time before people found out that a foreign entity had landed. We covered ourselves in large overcoats before heading to Mesandreia’s podhouse. She, too, had left without a moment’s notice so much of her things and food were still inside. It didn’t take me long to find out what happened almost as soon as the moment we left.

Khol was captured.

His brother was killed.

And rogue queen Sanjit poisoned Khol—literally and to the point where all he could do was muster enough energy to breath.

The fact was, Visla was queen now. She had gotten what she wanted. This wasn’t the first time a king had been usurped in his kingdom and it almost certainly wouldn’t be the last. It was way of the Aurrakians, and if one couldn’t defend their territory, they were vulnerable and deserved to have their lands seized. It was their way. But I knew in my heart that Khol was no pushover. He could not have given up and given in. It had taken the betrayal of someone Khol trusted dearly to shatter his dreams. Khol never saw it coming, and neither did I. What had led Ghid to help the queen defeat his brother? Greed? Jealousy? Lust? Poison? Or perhaps, a combination of them all. The worse had already happened, hopefully, and I couldn’t delve on what was, but only what needed to happen next to set things right again.

The only communication between Khol and Thanu and the rest of his horde was a servant—a boy who had been living at the capitol as a messenger. Sanjit trusted the boy, thinking that she had instilled fear in his heart, threatening homelessness since both of the little ones parents were dead, but the courageous little boy was smart enough to figure out that the rogue queen was truly evil. Every morning just before sunrise, the boy would sneak into a trapdoor where Sanjit kept Khol chained to exchange messages.

Khol had explicitly commanded his horde to stand down and not attack the capitol or the queen in fear that I would be hunted and killed. He somehow thought my location was compromised and that the bounty hunter was still after me. And he’d been correct. As for Sanjit’s demand that Khol be a seed donor, it was the most disgusting thing that I’d ever heard. Even though I was wrought with malice, I understood Khol’s plan. I had faith in him. He believed that she needed to be tricked into thinking that he had given in and then attack when she was most vulnerable. It was the only way to be rid of her. The only crime she had committed worth writing to King Oderas about was the killing of Ghid’s brother.

“I know Thanu. Just months ago, he would never consider killing a female. His hands are tied,” Thanu said, shaking his head.

“Perhaps one of us will go and do it. One of us can kill her instead. We will take the fall for our king,” Huvos said.

“He would never allow that. One, he’s too honorable. He’d rather take the fall himself. And two, this is personal. As time fades, he regrets that he didn’t counsel his brother any better,” Thanu said.

“That is nonsense,” Canon stated. “Ghid did this to himself. He got himself killed. He’s the eldest of them. He should’ve known better. He should’ve been the one protecting his younger brother. Now look what’s happened.”

“Where is the boy? Uhred is his name, yes? We must get him the message that Visla is back here and safe,” Huvos said. Then he added, “I fear he will cut my throat for going against his commands, but I had no choice.” Huvos narrowed his gaze at me.

“You and I are the same, Huvos. We fight for what we want. This is my home and I refuse to run from it. I refuse to give up my happiness because of an imposter princess,” I shot back. “But I agree. How can we get in touch with Uhred?”

“We have not seen him for a couple days and he is nowhere in the colonies. There is talk at the merchant’s station that he’s linked to a stolen ground hopper. He may have decided this was too dangerous and fled.”

I sighed.

Canon shrugged. “So the boy stole a hopper. Wouldn’t he need transportation to be a messenger?”

“He would…” Thanu replied.

“Does Sanjit really think she can get away with this?” Mesandreia asked. “The people will hate her for it.”

“Many leaders are hated. Some are feared. There are leaders, kings even, in the galaxy that prefer it that way. So, it doesn’t matter if she’s hated. No one will test her claim. She has blood ties to this colony. Everyone knows it. Even King Oderas himself. The fact that she holds an unsettled proposition regarding a union of colonies over Khol’s head gives her leverage. She never just wanted the protection the Xihran brothers would have provided her and her Isles. She was looking for a blood union, plain and simple. She wants his seed to strengthen her bloodline and a horde army of her own,” Thanu said.

“No one in the horde would ever kneel to her,” Huvos spat.

“But if she secures a blood union with your king, then you’d have no choice,” Mesandreia offered.

Huvos folded his arms across his chest and said, “That’s not the way this works. We follow Khol because we want to and not because we have to. We do have a choice, but none of us will ever betray Khol. Whatever he decides becomes the law. We’re just waiting on his orders. I’m not the only one who wants to be rid of her so we can get on with our lives.”

“When will he give the orders for us to do something about that bitch? We don’t have to kill her. There are other ways to bring a bitch to her knees.” Canon paced the floor. “What exactly is he waiting for?”

“Khol always as a plan. We have to be patient,” Thanu exclaimed. “We all have to be patient.”

“Patience is not one of my strong suits. I wish he’d tell us what the plan is,” Huvos said.

“Don’t we all, Huvos. Don’t we all,” I finally chimed in.