Beyond the Shadows (28 page)

“Go, leave the prisoner to me.”

YARA KEPT HER PACE STEADY AND HER HEAD STILL AS SHE WALKED BACK OUT of the prison. Her heart beat so powerfully, she feared others could see the movement through her clothing and know her intentions. She wished she could have told him her plan, but Onali knew her too well, and the woman had eyes like a hawk. If Cyn showed anything but complete contempt for her, it could have blown their cover.

Oh, but it did. That was the problem. She was about to start something she couldn’t take back, and it could cost her her life.

When the Grand Sister struck Cyn, she had to fight the urge to draw her dagger. She loved him. She couldn’t deny it. Her gut reaction to seeing him in pain only proved what her heart already knew.

She would stand with him in victory, or in death.

Tuz followed obediently at her heels, though he watched her as he walked. He could sense her agitation, and he was ready for battle.

Good.

Yara nodded to the guards, then turned a corner out of sight, and locked herself in an empty interrogation room.

Furiously digging at her belt, she pulled Bug out from the items she’d confiscated from Cyn.

“Wake up,” she urged, tossing the disc in the air the way Cyn had back on his ship. The lifeless bot fell to the floor with a nerve-jarring clang.

Tuz pounced.

Bug’s aura flared to life, as blue charges shot out of his edge. Tuz puffed up into a ball of hissing and spitting fury.

“Enough,” Yara commanded. Bug shot up off the floor and bolted around the room so quickly his aura left a jagged trail of light through the air. He stopped centimeters from her face.

“We’re in the Halls of Honor. Cyn is in prison,” she explained. Bug let out a shrill alarm.

“Bug, listen to me,” she insisted. The edge of his disc glowed with a threatening blue charge. “I need your help. It was the only way to get him into the Elite complex so he could access the com array. I need you to help me break him out.”

The pink in Bug’s aura flared. “
Pip!
”

“All right,” she ran a shaking hand through her hair. “Here’s what I need you to do. Can you link into the com channels for Tuz’s collar?”

“
Pip!
”

“Good.” She lifted Tuz and held him close to her chest. “I need you to spy on Cyn’s cell through the ventilation gap.”

“
Brrrrrrrr,
” the bot insisted as he rose in an affirmative way.

“Have you done this before?”

“
Pip!
”

Yara placed the old Union eyepiece she’d pilfered from the supply room where she’d dressed on her face and turned the holo-screen on. “Okay, link through the channel and send any images to my eyepiece.”

The tiny screen broke up with static, then cleared, a perfect translucent image of her face. “Good work.” She didn’t have an ear set, so she set Tuz’s collar to project the audio feed from Bug.

“He’s in the third cell on the right side of the hallway to the north of us.” She stooped and lifted open a filigree plate exposing the ventilation shaft. “I need to know when the Grand Sister leaves.”

“
Pip!
” Bug flew into the tiny shaft, his aura illuminating the dark tunnel.

Yara’s anxiety pounded in her head as she sat at the edge of the simple table in the center of the room. She didn’t want to think about the weapons that usually lay on the table to intimidate prisoners, or torture them.

Cyn was in very real danger. The Grand Sister could do severe damage if she wanted, and Yara would have to watch.

By Fima, the thought made her sick. She felt so helpless. It had been bad enough knowing Cyn thought she’d betrayed him, but she couldn’t risk giving them away to Onali and Esalin. She trusted her allies but not enough to let them in on blatant treason. That, and she hoped Cyn’s anger would give him strength.

“You’re very crafty, Cyrus Smith.” Yara lifted her head and focused on the holo-screen as the Grand Sister’s cold voice filtered through Tuz’s collar.

The dark image in front of her wavered, and then she could see Cyn, at least everything from his mouth down, through the filigree of a second vent shaft. All she could see of the Grand Sister was the edge of the mantle of Azra and the tail of her whip. Cyn crossed his arms, displaying his Azralen coloring.

“I wondered if you recognized me,” he stated with the cool composure of someone sitting down for a mug of ale.

“I should have seen through your little disguise. You’re the very image of your father.” The Grand Sister sounded bitter as she stepped completely out of the frame. Cyn’s lips quirked in his sardonic smile.

“Should I send your brother your regards?” he asked.

What?

The Grand Sister’s whip snapped across the shield, sending surges of energy radiating out. The holo-screen blurred with the surge, then returned to normal.

Her brother? That would make Cyn her nephew. Her blood. How?

“Where is Cyani?” the Grand Sister insisted.

“Beyond your reach.”

“Nothing is beyond my reach.” The Grand Sister began to pace. “You will contact her, you will tell her to return, or I will kill you.”

“We both know that isn’t going to happen. If you kill me, then you really have no hope of finding her, and I’m your last living blood.” Cyn shrugged.

“Then I’ll make you wish you were dead.”

“Too late for that.”

Yara felt the impact of his words deep in her heart. She just wanted to get him out, to let him know the truth. She hadn’t betrayed him.

“Cyani will sit on the throne of Azra. My blood will continue to reign. If she has been soiled by that sex slave, I’ll get rid of any whelps and use her shame to regain her allegiance.” Yara’s head reeled as she listened to the Grand Sister. By Fima, the woman was as merciless as her ancestor.

“We both know the Elite will never follow Cyani. They’re already looking to Yara to replace you. Cyani has nothing to do with the future of Azra.” Cyn leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees as he let his hands hang loose in front of him. “And Yara is too strong to control. That’s why you’ve never supported her ascension. Your reign will end. The line of the Just will resume the throne, and you’ll disappear into obscurity.”

Yara felt her heart expand at his words. He thought she was strong. She had to believe it. If she hesitated at all, the entire planet would fall to ruin.

“Ah, Yara,” the Grand Sister continued. “She’s very pretty, isn’t she?”

“I hadn’t noticed,” Cyn deflected. Yara felt herself blush.
Dirty liar.

“I had plans for her. I knew she’d have to be removed for the others to support Cyani.” Yara felt as if the Grand Sister had just slapped her in the face with the handle of her whip. “You didn’t think I was going to waste your genetic potential on someone unworthy of you.”

“You pulled this scheme before. I figured you’d try it again.” Cyn’s words held a bitterness he couldn’t hold back. “Was that why you chose her for the bloodhunt?” Yara focused on his face. She could see the burning hatred in his eyes.

“Perhaps all I need is a little modification of my original plan.” She paused, stepping in front of Cyn. The fraying hem of the mantle of power filled the small screen. “I intended to have Yara go to the ground to find you once Cyani was ready to ascend. She has a weakness for male flesh. Perhaps that’s my fault. I wanted her broken in young. I set up an Alkar ceremony for her and some of the others with talent. I find it’s best to hinder any ambitions toward the throne by ensuring I have blackmail material on each of the girls.”

Yara fought to breathe. The loss of her vow? It had all been a scheme. She’d been manipulated by the Grand Sister. She wanted to blame herself for not seeing it for what it was, but looking back, it all made perfect sense. She had been immortal, untouchable, until that day. After that, the lingering fear that others knew, that someone could use it against her, always remained in the back of her mind.

By Ona, the Grand Sister had no limits to her obsession with power.

“So you planned to drug me so I’d seduce Yara, the way you drugged my parents so they’d conceive your heirs?” Cyn’s dark voice broke Yara out of her thoughts and forced her to focus on what was happening now. The Grand Sister had drugged Cyori? By the Creator, all the pieces were beginning to fall together in her mind.

Cyori was the most talented warrior any generation had seen since the great Matriarchs. Fira was older. She couldn’t compete with Cyori’s strength and legendary agility in battle. So instead of getting rid of Cyori by challenging her, Fira drugged Cyori and her own brother so Cyori would be shamed, and Fira’s niece and nephew would be the offspring of the most skilled blood on the planet, the full bloodline of the Merciless and the Rebel.

According to Azralen law, Cyn’s father would have been able to keep and raise the babies in the high cities if he’d claimed them. Instead, he disappeared.
He followed the mother of his children to the ground.

So Cyori was shamed, and Fira assumed the throne, but she lost access to the babies she’d so carefully crafted through her deception. She lost her heirs, until Cyani returned to the high cities accused of murder.

No wonder the Grand Sister had shown Cyani
mercy.
She not only got her heir back, but she ensured Cyani would never betray her out of fear for her life and the life of her brother.

But Cyani did betray her. Cyn defied her even now.

“All I have to do is purge your blood of infertilizers, shoot you so full of Byralen stimulants you go mad, wait for the right time in her cycle for her to conceive a female, and then let you rape her, over and over.” The Grand Sister’s voice lowered, seething with hunger and malice. “Maybe this time I’ll watch.”

Cyn leapt at the shield, throwing his fists against it. “I will not!”

The Grand Sister threw her whip through the shield, catching him across the scar on his chest. He recoiled as an angry red welt rose on his skin.

“Oh you will, my nephew. Then, as soon as she conceives an heir, I’ll have you executed for rape, and I’ll keep the baby under my careful control this time. If Yara tries to rule Azra in a way I don’t approve, I’ll teach the child how to be strong through pain.”

Yara clenched the edge of the cold table, numb and sick with shock. Fira had to be stopped. She was the only one with the power to stop her.

“Yes,” Fira sneered. “I like that plan much better. Good-bye, Cyn.”

Yara stood, gathering her resolve. She no longer thought about her fear. She no longer thought about anything but her pure rage. The reign of deception would end before nightfall.

The Grand Sister’s footfalls clicked down the long hall. It was time to put her plan into motion.

“Tuz.” Her cat snapped to attention, his long whiskers pricked forward as he watched her with a war-hungry look in his eyes. “I need you to work with Bug. You two have to cause a distraction in two places at once.” She stroked his thick head as the cat grinned at her and purred. “A big one. Bug, when you hear Tuz’s signal, wait fifteen seconds and then make as much noise as you can on your end.”

“Yowwrrr,” Tuz called and ran out the door. The holoprojection dipped in affirmation. Good. Between the two of them, they should be able to cause enough havoc to cover her.

Yara grabbed two injection spikes filled with a potent tranquilizer. She removed the eyepiece and returned it to her pocket.

With stalking strides, she exited the interrogation room and crept back to the corner.

A sudden cacophony erupted down the far hall, followed by an urgent scream. Two of the four guards ran past her, leaving two behind at the archway. Perfect.

She readied the injectors and counted, three, two, one.

An ear-piercing whistle sounded from within Cyn’s cell.

Yara jumped out from around the corner. Both guards had turned their backs, looking toward the noise. Yara jabbed them simultaneously in the necks. They crumpled to the floor before they had the chance to turn around and see their attacker.

She didn’t have much time. Dragging them into the nearest cell, she locked them behind the shield, then ran to Cyn.

He stood at the shield, the whip burn across his chest still bleeding. He stared at her in shock.

“Yara?”

She punched the release, and the shield dissolved. He rushed forward and took her by the arms.

“I’m sorry,” she confessed. “It was the quickest way to get you into the Elite complex without suspicion so you could hack the com array. I couldn’t tell you, or—”

Yara couldn’t say another word before his mouth captured hers in a blistering kiss. He wrapped his arms around her, holding her so tightly she couldn’t breathe as his lips, his tongue tangled with hers in a frantic, passionate release.

She pushed her arms up, circling his neck, tangling her fingers in his shining hair. Her rush of relief and arousal sped through her body on the wings of her coursing blood.

He gripped her, his strong hands holding her body to his.

She pulled away enough to catch her breath. “We don’t have much time,” she gasped.

He kissed her again, smoothing his hands up her sides and capturing her face.

“I know,” he grunted, tipping his forehead against hers. “God, I love you.”

Yara pulled him back and kissed him. Her lips felt tender, raw, but she didn’t care. She nipped his lip then looked deep into his shining green eyes. “You’d better.”

Bug rattled up against the grate. Yara pulled out of Cyn’s embrace and opened the grate so he could fly out. He spun around Cyn’s head and landed on his shoulder.

Tuz ran into the room with the spastic control and enthusiasm of an untrained kitten.