Ensnared Bride (6 page)

She felt like a hand reached into her chest and squeezed her heart.
 
All she could do was stare at him with her eyes open wide.
 

No.
 
Please no.

“I refused.
 
I said you were my bride.”

She took a deep breath.
 
“I don’t understand what’s going on.”
 

“The parasites you saw can’t be destroyed.
 
All we can do is trap them and send them black holes.
 
A herd is heading for a Hax-Rah world.
 
We need to trap them on one of the uninhabited planets before they get there or our people will get infected.
 
The Gen-lord uses slaves as bait.
 
I’m sick of doing it that way.
 
It’s…cruel.”

Monica swallowed.
 
The vision of the slaves getting their skulls melted was burned into her mind
’s eye.

“I built a squadron of robots who are disguised as sentient aliens and can give off carbon so they appear to be biological organisms.
 
I want to use them for bait instead of the slaves.”
 

She pursed her lips.
 
“That’s so much better.”

“He doesn’t want to risk failing to trap the parasites if my plan doesn’t work.”

Monica grimaced.
 
She hated to admit it was a valid concern.
 
Still—weren
’t those slaves lives worth just as much as the ones on the Hax-Rah planet?
 
Her chest began to ache.
 
How could such a horrifying thing be going on?
 
She wished she’d stayed ignorant.

“Are you saying the only way he’ll change his mind is if you give me to him?”

“Stop.”
 
His gaze turned stony.
 
“I’ll never give you to him.
 
I’ll find another way.”

She began to tear the skin at her cuticles.
 
“What if he just kills you and takes me?
 
I mean—I thought you two were going to start fighting up there.”

Javintore scoffed.
 
“He’d be insane to kill me.
 
I’m the only Mek-lord in the Empire.
 
He’s just the pathetic Gen-lord to a single battleship.
 
I could make a hundred armies the size of his battalion.
 
If he kills me he’ll face execution by tr’sark.
 
All 50,000 of his men will be ordered to commit suicide for his disgrace.”

Woah.

“If you have so much clout can’t you just go over his head?”

“High Command doesn’t give a damn about the lives of a few thousand slaves.
 
The Alliance already called the practice ‘a necessary sacrifice,’ and the Empire sees no point in changing a system that works.
 
My only chance was to get a Gen-lord to go along with my plan so I could prove we didn’t need to waste anymore slaves.”

Monica bundled her fists together.
 
His mission was noble—and yet it didn
’t look like he had a chance.
 
Slaves were going to die horrible deaths when it could probably be avoided.
 

She was a slave just like them only a few days ago.
 

Tears ran down both sides of her face.

Javintore wrapped a strong arm around her.
 
As always she became enshrouded by the strength he projected.
 
She nuzzled against his side.

“We’re waiting because his high-major said he was going to try to reason with him.”

Monica snuffled.
 
“You think he’ll get through to him?”

Javintore was silent.
 
When she peeked up at him he
’d turned away.

They waited for hours despite the lack of hope.
 
Eventually the Gen-lord and his men came out of the elevator behind them.
 
Javintore stood with her.
 
She didn
’t like the evil grin on the Gen-lord’s face.

When he approached he looked at her rather than Javintore.
 

“Monica…”
 
All she understood was her name, but his tone sounded chiding, as though he was scolding a child.

Javintore responded with sharp angry words.
 
His jaw clenched and his lower lip trembled.
 
The Gen-lord turned to him, continuing to smile cruelly.
 
He gestured to Monica as he spoke.
 
Javintore now barked his response to him.
 
The Gen-lord matched his shouting.
 
This went on for minutes, then Javintore grabbed her hand and marched to the elevator.
 
The Gen-lord gave a bellowing laugh as they went.
 
He shouted one final threatening sentence.
 
Javintore didn
’t look back.

Javintore gave the elevator a command in their language.
 
He said nothing more until they exited in the bay and were back on their shuttle.
 
After communicating through the console for a moment the craft jostled into movement.
 
Monica presumed they were returning to their ship.

Javintore dropped into the seat beside her.
 
His face had darkened.
 
She ached to know what was going on, but didn
’t dare speak.
 

An electronic voice said something in the Hax-Rah language (she
’d heard the same when they were first docking).
 
Whatever it indicated seemed to calm Javintore.
 
He exhaled a deep breath through is nostrils.

“He called High Command to find out how I’d gotten a human bride.”

Monica peeked at him.

“They said you were a wanted criminal—that they were looking for you.”

Her lips parted.

“We’re being tracked down by my superiors.
 
He would have held us on his ship—if he dared.
 
His rank is too low compared to mine.”
 
Javintore ground his teeth a moment.
 
“He says there’s a message waiting for me from High Command to remain in this space.
 
The Gen-lord said he’s going to guard us.”

She shook her head slowly.
 
The nightmarish implications had yet to permeate her mind.
 
“What about the…parasites?”

He went silent a few moments.
 
Then he tipped up his chin.
 
“I’m going to take care of both our problems.”

The shuttle docked back in their ship.
 
Monica felt relieved too see clean light gray tiles.
 
They went into their customary elevator.
 
When it opened at their destination Monica realized they were on the bridge.
 

Javintore shouted to his robot pilots in the Hax-Rah language.
 
The large shouldered automatons began flipping levers and pressing buttons.
 
Javintore quickly ushered her to one of the empty swivel chairs facing the ship
’s main screen.
 
He pulled out a seatbelt that went between her legs and over her shoulders.
 
He then took a seat next to her and buckled himself in.

“Tighten your muscles.”

Monica blinked at him.

“We’re running.
 
I’m using an experimental propulsion unit.
 
It’s…jarring.”

Her heart rate sped up.
 
“You’re going to run?”

She heard a robot pilot reciting what sounded like a count-down.

“Brace yourself!”

There was a humming noise, and then a high-pitched sound like a laser blast.
 
The screen went white from the trails of stars they were zipping past.
 
Monica
’s chair was bouncing.
 
It felt as though it had become detached from the floor.
 
Then she felt like she was sinking into the cushioning of the chair.
 
She felt pain in her back, then she saw what looked like seat back coming out of her stomach.
 
Her eyes bulged.
 
She gave a scream that was drowned out by the laser sound.
 

She thudded onto the floor.
 
For a moment she could only perceive the pain in her shoulder.
 
The main view screen had the blackness of space dotted with stationary stars an the round edge of a green planet.
 
She looked at the chair she
’d fallen from.
 
The seatbelt was still fastened.
 

It was as though she
’d phased through her seat.

Javintore knelt beside her.
 
“Are you hurt?”

Her mind was too addled to form a response quickly.
 
“Not…really.
 
Did I go through the—”

“There’s a fusing and displacement of atoms.
 
We jumped forward into time, as well as space.
 
Once we stopped everything became right again.”
 
He helped her to her feet.
 
“There’s just no way to secure someone as small as you.
 
It was dangerous, but it was the only way I could escape him.”

The gravity of their situation thudded onto her chest.
 
She looked at him with a face clenched in anguish.

“Are you sure that was the right thing to do?
 
To disobey your High Command?”

He eyed her a moment.
 
Then he turned back to his robot pilots and said something.
 
The responded with several phrases in their language.
 
Javintore gave them what sounded like commands.
 
One of the robots stood and left the bridge.

Javintore ushered her to the elevator.
 
“Let’s talk, Monica.”

Once back in their room he sat her on the cushioned bench she once used for her bed.
 
His large body set down beside her.
 
He draped an arm around her back.
 
She wanted to be comforted by this, but apprehension had her insides churning.
 
She gave a plaintive look into his eyes.

“Do you remember my first rule for you?”

She swallowed.
 
“Not to lie.”

“Yes.”
 
His yellow eyes penetrated her own.
 
“Now tell me what happened the day the bomb went off in the slave bunker.”

She nodded.
 
“I wanted to tell you right from the beginning.
 
No one believed anything I said.
 
They wouldn’t let me talk.”

“I’m letting you.”

She drew a deep breath.
 
“I knew some visitors were coming because Ducra told us to clean up our areas.
 
I didn’t really pay much attention though.
 
I just had to make my quota.
 
Then, on the day the bomb exploded, I woke up and these green aliens with stretched out faces were hovering around me.
 
They were chattering to each other and just staring at me.”

“What did they say to you, Monica?”

A dent formed between her brows.
 
He still thinks I was in on it.

“They told me they were going to lick me.”

He became confused.
 
“Lick you?”

She gestured with a turned up hand.
 
“Yes.
 
And that’s what one of them did.
 
This big long tongue fell out of its mouth and—”

“A big tongue?
 
How long?”

She indicated a foot and a half with her hands.
 

“What color was it?
 
The tongue.”

Monica concentrated a moment.
 
“Like, mauve?”

He looked away as though struck by something.

“So then you arrived and they went away with you.
 
And then later, I guess when your meeting was over, they came back and said I had to deliver their gift to you because it was against their customs to do it themselves.”

Javintore leaned forward and scrubbed his hand over his face.
 
She hoped he didn
’t think she was lying.

“So they gave me that egg thing and told me to bring it to you.
 
I didn’t want to.
 
They said if I didn’t they would tell Ducra and I’d get in trouble.
 
So I just did what they told me.
 
I didn’t know it was a bomb.
 
It looked like a glass egg, like a real gift.
 
I had no idea, Javintore.
 
I swear I didn’t.”

He reached over to collect her hand.
 
“I believe you.”

She gave a heaving sigh of relief.

“It was the Deekitee-ans.
 
Shape-shifters.
 
They read each other through the taste of their skin, and they wouldn’t have bothered to change their tongues.
 
They just went into those other slave camps to make it look like the bombs were set off by rebels.
 
I was their only real target.”

“Why you?”

“I’d been trading them robots and drones in exchange for resources we could use.
 
The Alliance Envoy told me they were committing space piracy with our technology.
 
He advised me to cut ties.
 
I did, even though the treaty didn’t require it.
 
They knew if they killed me my replacement might be willing to trade with them again.”

Monica let the revelation sink in.
 
“Do you think your commanders will believe you?”

He had to think about this.
 
Monica grew worried.

Javintore stood while still holding her hand.
 
“Let me succeed in my mission here.
 
They’ll be more willing to listen if I can give them a better way to deal with the parasites.”
 
He kissed her hand.
 
“Trust me.”

“I do,” she said softly.