It was cold and dark on the planet’s surface. How many of these planets were we going to go to that were so harsh? Beings had adapted to all sorts of planets, but I honestly got Captain’s desire to retire to a quiet, warm planet. Something with a lot of sun.
“You okay?” Captain asked. He lead the way, while I lagged a step behind instead of walking beside him.
“Fine.” I didn’t like the lack of people in the port. It was good to keep others clear of the shuttle, but it made blending in harder.
Not that there were any humans out and about. Everyone on the planet we encountered was an alien being—we were definitely standing out.
We stopped at a few shops to trade, making it seem as if we were assessing the potential of adding this planet to a route. I knew from listening to others, though, that it was a flimsy cover. It was just too far out to be worth the cost and risk to run goods, even at the prices these merchants were willing to pay.
Marvil led the way out of the last shop, and I followed. He abruptly halted, and I ran into his back. “What are you doing—”
A contingent of guards stood outside the shop on either side of the doors of a hovering conveyance. Captain pushed forward to stand in front of me, and Deke stood beside him. I was behind the wall of muscles in no time flat, a guard behind me and two flanking me.
“That is not necessary.” The being who descended from the vehicle was calm, but his men tensed when he stepped closer to Captain, eyeing him up and down. “I would not hurt the hidden one.”
“And you are?”
“The one you are looking for, no matter what you are trying to prove with this display. I believe you already know my name.”
Deke glanced over his shoulder. It’d been some time; how long, I wasn’t quite sure. My years in the cell had stretched longer than the years Captain and Deke told me I’d been in there, each day the same nothingness and pain. But the punishment for failing to kill this being had been harsh.
I thought it’d been for taking comfort in his touch, for the weakness of feeling.
Either way, his face was blazoned in my memory still. This was definitely Anyas Ober-Candro. I nodded.
“This public display is not seemly. I would speak you with you, since you are obviously seeking an audience with me, if only to remove you from my planet.”
“It’s not that simple,” Captain said darkly.
Anyas sighed. “It never is.” He waved an elegant hand toward the conveyance. “There is enough room inside for everyone.”
There was enough room for our group and his guards, though some of them stayed on the outside of the vehicle. We trundled off through the deepening gloom. I thought it’d been dark before, but the windows showed how dark it could really get.
“It will soon be too cold to be outside as the full sun fades. At least for outworlders,” Anyas said. “I thought it best to collect you before you froze to statues in the boulevard.”
“We have climate suits.”
“Not good enough, especially for the young ones.” Anyas looked at me. “If I had known what you were before, I would have done more. You were good, very good.”
Captain growled and leaned forward, blocking Anyas’s view of me. “Excuse me?”
“Not what I meant. I would never be so crass.” Anyas waved one long-fingered hand. His dark skin gleamed against the pale cream of the vehicle’s interior, the low lights reflecting off his shiny skin. “He never revealed his true purpose, never let on his intent to harm me. The guard who warned me thought the spy’s data was in error but would not risk my life and his position by failing to secure me immediately. You let me go.”
I nodded once. “I did.”
“Afterward, I researched you. Found what you did.”
Panic struck me. I didn’t want him to reveal it, to say what I’d done in front of the others even if I was pretty damn sure they were getting the picture already. “Prisoners aren’t given a choice.”
“No, and the kind of training my kind is capable of is impossible to counter. That is why I am so surprised you have. Both of you.” He looked at Danie, his arched eyebrows rising. “Very surprising.”
“That is partly why we’re here,” Captain said. “You’re an Elite. Most of the universe thinks your kind is a myth, but we’ve found out you’re not. No, your kind is sitting back, pulling strings, starting wars and trying to control everything.”
“Trying to?” Anyas arched that brow again. “We’ve been doing it for millennia. Manipulating lesser beings is simple, for the most part.”
“Until humans spread across the universe,” Danie said. “Humans never do what is expected.”
“No, they do not.” Anyas again looked at me.
“That’s why we came—for help. You owe me. You wouldn’t like those assholes creating a new order by using what they stuck in me and in Danie anyway.” I was done being vague. Obviously Anyas knew why we were there. He was willing to talk in front of his men. Everyone with us knew exactly what was going on.
“Exactly what I meant.” Anyas’s smile widened. “How delightful. You surprise everyone.”
Captain glanced at me and then at the Elite staring at me. He was tense, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t because of what I was saying. “He doesn’t surprise me. Kohen has the ability to get to the heart of a matter, and he is always focused on doing what is right.”
Pride swept through me along with a warm surge of love. I’d made him doubt me for a few seconds, maybe, but we were still in sync.
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