Crusader (Battle Born Book 1) (6 page)

If they could scrub memories, they could likely strip information as well. She sank onto the chair, trying not to panic. Was this why he’d brought her here? How desperately did they need this information? “Can they…” Her mouth refused to utter the words.

“Yes. They can extract memories as well as erase them, but it’s painful and often damaging. Just answer honestly and this will all be over.”

Somehow she doubted it would be that simple, but she’d run out of other options. “My mother hired people to deal with my father’s belongings after he died. She had no desire to be subjected to such ‘unpleasantness’. They took his desktop and laptop computers, but Dad was fanatical about redundant backups and didn’t trust cloud storage. I know of a couple places he could have stashed an external hard drive or even a second laptop.”

His expression didn’t change. If he was pleased by her cooperation, he could have at least cracked a smile. “Where?”

“I won’t tell you until I know why you want his research. My father’s work was highly controversial because of all the horrible things that can be done with his techniques.”

Bandar lapsed into silence and he stared off into space, his expression suddenly blank. What was he doing? Then her imagination engaged and her eyes widened. Was he telepathic? Nazerel had obviously been expecting him, yet she’d never heard Bandar contact him and they had been in the same room the entire time.

“The others have agreed to let me explain the basic nature of our mission.”

There was no way she was letting this slide. “Were you just speaking to someone with your mind? What else can you do?”

“Many Rodytes are telepathic and anyone who joins the military is fitted with bio-integrated nanites that ensure we never lose contact with our comrades.”

He hadn’t told her which alternative applied to him, but the detail wasn’t important. And she hadn’t really expected him to rattle off his other abilities. He was way too secretive for that. “Why did ‘the others’ change their minds?”

“You were aware of our existence before your run-in with my shadow, so the damage was already done.”

The damage. Truer words had never been spoken. Her exposure to Rodytes had shaped her life in ways Bandar would never understand. “And they’re not going to wipe my memory when you’re finished?”

“No.” He looked as if he’d say more then glanced away.

It was easy to guess what he’d left unsaid. Everyone already thought she was crazy so no one would believe her even if she called a press conference. Sadly, he was probably right. “So convince me to help you. Why do you need my father’s research?”

“I mentioned the battle born earlier. Do you remember what the term means?”

“Your mother was basically a prisoner of war. I still don’t understand how abusing females will help anyone win a war, but I remember what you told me.”

“To understand fully, you must understand what caused the war.”

She’d asked for this, yet already she was regretting her persistence. The concept of war brides was so upsetting, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know more. “Go on. I’m listening.”

“There was an uprising on Bilarri many centuries ago. Those who couldn’t manipulate magic could no longer tolerate—”

“Hold on. You mentioned magic before. What sort of magic are you talking about?”

He smiled then rubbed his eyes. Were his contacts bothering him? She was still really curious to see his natural appearance. “It’s hard for humans to imagine, but Bilarrians can heal with a touch, shape change, and teleport from one planet to another, among many other abilities. They ruthlessly managed their bloodlines to maximize these powers. And anyone without significant abilities was deemed unworthy, flawed. My ancestors rebelled against the injustice and were exiled as a result. They were forced to colonize a primitive planet called Rodymia. Over the centuries that followed, they focused on creating technologies that could reproduce Bilarrian abilities.”

“Then we didn’t actually teleport. It was some sort of transportation machine?”

“Correct. We call it bio-streaming.”

He seemed hesitant to go on, which wasn’t surprising. She’d made her opinion about war brides more than obvious. “Who started the war?”

“Depends who you ask. My people consider the banishment the first act of aggression while Bilarrians claim we were the first to draw blood. Regardless, the war has dragged on for many generations and there is no end in sight.”

“Sorry, but I don’t see how this justifies taking war brides.”

“By forcing out every person who had no significant magic power, Bilarrians robbed us of any hope we had of regaining the abilities they take for granted.”

“What difference does that make if you have technologies that do the same thing?”

“A very common question. Technology, however sophisticated, is artificial and fallible. It’s an inferior substitute for what is rightfully ours. Magic is elemental; it’s part of our DNA. Or at least it was meant to be.”

“Then it’s all about magic. How does capturing Bilarrian females… They’re forced to have babies so the babies will inherit their mother’s powers.” She shuddered. This wasn’t making her any more sympathetic to the Rodyte cause. “Your father captured your mother and raped her repeatedly until she got pregnant, hoping you would be born with magic powers? Oh my God. This is even worse than I imagined.”

His hands fisted on his knees and a subtle flash of light erupted behind his contacts. “I’m not defending the practice. I’m explaining the society into which I was born. I did not choose this life. None of us did. I’m desperately trying to create a future where war brides are obsolete.”

She took a deep breath and focused on his last statement. Any child born of rape was as much a victim as the woman who had suffered the abuse. It wasn’t fair to lash out at Bandar. “Now that’s a cause I can get behind. Tell me more.”

“About sixty percent of battle born daughters are able to manipulate magic at least to some degree. Battle born sons, on the other hand, are all born latent. We have recently learned that the ability to manipulate magic has been reintroduced into our genetics. We are just unable to access it.”

“And that’s where my father comes in.” Her father’s work in genomic transcription had been visionary, and dangerous. His focus had been curing diseases, but other, less noble application quickly became apparent.

Bandar nodded. “We briefly believed that all it would take to drastically improve those statistics was to find mates among Earth’s population.”

Trepidation washed over her, chilling her skin and drying out her mouth. “You’re here to find human mates or to
take
them?”

“Neither. As I’m sure you know, if something sounds too good to be true, it usually is. One of Nazerel’s contacts gave him a computer file filled with information we believed to be extremely important. My brother had his people double check the information and they quickly determined that the claims were gross exaggerations and filled with inaccuracies.”

She had so many questions. Who was Nazerel’s contact and what were these men ultimately trying to accomplish? Humans couldn’t manipulate magic—at least none of the humans she knew could—so how would mating with humans restore magic to the battle born?

Rather than bombarding him with the questions twisting through her mind, she focused on one issue at a time. “Are you hoping to unlock your latent abilities or simply pass them on to your children?”

“Either, maybe both. We’re ready for significant change and we think Earth holds the key to unlocking our potential.”

“But why? No one on Earth can do magic. Sure, there are those who claim to be psychic, but I’ve never seen magic like you’ve described.”

He scooted to the edge of his seat and rested his hands on his thighs. “During the original exile there was a large group of rebels who escaped and settled on Earth rather than subjecting themselves to the brutality of life on Rodymia. Earth was primitive too. This was thousands of years ago, but these people knew the conflict would eventually escalate into civil war and they wanted nothing to do with slaughtering their own people.”

“So you’re looking for descendants of those refugees?”

“The refugees are one group among many. People from my star system have been visiting Earth for centuries. Many believe humans descend from one of our three planets. There are too many similarities for it all to be coincidental.”

She wasn’t sure what to make of that staggering revelation, so she just nodded. “I’m still not sure how this all ties together.”

Bandar echoed her nod. “I’m not a scientist, so it’s hard for me to explain, but something in the DNA of those descendants can unlock our latent abilities.”

“And how will that make life better? I still don’t understand why magic is so important to you? Billons of people on Earth survive just fine without it.”

He stilled, his expression hardened and his eyes looked especially flat. She wished he’d take off the stupid contacts so she’d have some hope of understanding what he was thinking. “It’s a sad irony, but history is repeating itself on Rodymia. My planet was founded by people who were persecuted and abused because of their inability to control magic. Those founders would be horrified if they saw the current treatment of the battle born. We’ve been forsaken, cast out for exactly the same reasons that originally motivated the founders to rebel.”

“Give me specific examples. This is a lot to take in.”

His tone grew mechanical, his expression even more distant. “If a battle born daughter is empowered she’s treated with respect, revered and treasured by her family. However, if she is unable to manipulate magic, she’s insignificant, worthy only of menial labor or worse. Powerless battle born daughters are often sold to brothels, others are treated like servants by their own families. And it’s even worse for battle born sons. None of us can control magic, so we’re all considered defective. Many are abandoned or sold to the military.”

“That’s horrible, but why is unleashing your magic the only option? Can’t you find a society that doesn’t care? Not being able to work magic wouldn’t be a stigma on Earth. As I said, the vast majority of humans are in the same boat.”

“It’s instinctive. My body knows that mystic energy should be flowing through every molecule I possess. It’s a hunger, no, a craving that cannot be ignored.”

She couldn’t pretend to understand what he meant. Magic had never been a part of her life. Still, it didn’t sound that different than the various forms of prejudice peppering human history. Demeaning an entire segment of the population because of something they couldn’t control was wrong, plain and simple. “You realize my father’s work is still theoretical, right? His processes have never been tested in a live host, much less a human being.”

He cleared his throat before he admitted, “We have strong indications that that’s not accurate. We know he was working with Rodyte scientists and they had moved well beyond simulations when Pern was killed.”

Pern? Wait he’d said that name before. “I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten. Who is Pern?”

“Was. Pern Keire was Crown Stirate during the years your father collaborated with Rodyte scientists.”

“And now they’re both dead.” She shivered. “My father’s death was ruled a suicide, but I never believed it. I think something he did or something he was about to do made him too dangerous to keep around.”

“Pern’s death was unrelated, but your suspicions about your father are likely right. He was dealing with some very dangerous people, both Rodyte and human.”

“This is so strange.” She rubbed her eyes and relaxed back in her chair. “I spent years in therapy trying to convince myself that none of this was real.”

“It’s real.” He paused for a surprisingly warm smile. “I am real.”

Awareness leapt between them again and Ashley fiddled with the hem of her T-shirt. She looked like she was ready to scrub the bathroom floor not entertain an alien. Why hadn’t she chosen a more flattering outfit?
Because none of your clothes are flattering
. She’d struggled with her weight since she was a teen and being surrounded by ultra-fit warriors wasn’t easing her self-consciousness. She sat up and adjusted the fall of her T-shirt, trying to hide the slight curve of her stomach.

“Have I answered all of your questions?” Bandar asked after a long pause.

She looked at him and felt another rush of warmth. Damn the man was gorgeous, so virile and masculine. She cleared her throat and resisted the urge to lick her lips. “Tell me about your brother. Is he battle born?”

He seemed surprised by the question, so his willingness to explain surprised her. “I have two brothers. Garin is older and he was born to Karli, our father’s
morautu
, his chosen mate. Zilor is younger, and like me, he is battle born.”

“How did your father’s chosen mate feel about her husband capturing war brides?”

“Karli died three hours after Garin was born. That’s what drove our father back to war. He had retired from the military when Karli agreed to bond with him.”

“I’m sorry. That must have been horrible for everyone.”

“I never knew my father before Karli’s death, but those who did say it really changed him.”

She sighed, not wanting to anger him, but unable to remain quiet. “So he took it out on a Bilarrian female?” Before he could respond to that question, another even more troubling thought occurred to her. “What happens to the war brides after they have their babies?”