Page 47 of Victoria's Embrace

“Done,” Spar announced, standing and dropping the device to the floor.

“That… was fast.”

Spar winked. “What can I say? I’m good.”

Victoria shook her head at Spar’s oddly endearing cockiness, but the levity didn’t last. Gazing at the numerous bodies littering the lobby, she pulled in a breath. Turning to find Sindri, she waved her over.

“Will you gather up some people to help you and take everyone to the lab level for testing and observation, please? Let Cloud and Lilac know everyone needs to be checked for venom, and find out if they’ve made any progress on an antidote.”

“What about your mate?” Sindri asked softly, tipping her chin at Thegan.

Swallowing hard, she whispered, “Him, too.”

“I will see it done,” she assured, giving Victoria’s shoulder a sympathetic squeeze.

Chapter 28

Victoria let out a sigh as she collapsed into one of the chairs surrounding the large table in the meeting room to which Aria had ushered them. Vi’kail and Thorn took seats to either side of her, with Skaa, Sauran, and A’nu across the table. Aria, Tirox, Kix, Thrasin, and Rellik were seated together near the head while Spar and her covert team took the rest of the seats.

“So,” Aria started, looking at her. “What happened?”

“Right, uhh, where to start. I bumped into Salesh a few times and got a bad vibe from her. I dismissed it until I saw her meeting in secret with a guy Kix put on the watch list. I followed her one day. She was headed toward the security wing, but people came out and she left.”

Rellik made a sound of realization. “That was the female you asked me to investigate.”

Vi’kail nodded.

Aria turned to frown at Rellik. “You didn’t realize who she was?”

He grimaced. “I did not investigate her. It slipped my thoughts. My apologies, Queen.” His body was stiff, his gaze focused on the floor.

“Stop it.” Aria’s voice was soft and, yet, hard as steel at the same time. “Shit happens, and it’s done.” The barest of smiles quirked her lips as she added, “Though maybe look into sticky notes or a to-do list.”

Some of the tension left Rellik at seeing she wasn’t upset. “What is sticky notes?”

The humans in the room snickered.

Kix, frowning deeply, murmured, “How did I not feel their deceit?”

“We wondered that, too, but I think I have an answer,” Victoria announced. “Salesh is venomous. That’s how she got so many people to follow her. Lilac has a theory that the venom not only acts as a sort of mind-control or sway, but also changes the frequency of the person’s brainwaves. She thinks that would block some, if not all, of your ability from working on them.”

Rellik nodded. “I believe that to be true.”

Aria cut him a wry look. “You didn’t think to mention your females were capable of that?”

He winced. “My apologies. Again. I thought I killed her. And I did not anticipate any of my people leaving their territories.”

She gave him a look. “I want a full rundown of what else your people can do: their military capabilities, weaponry, and locations.”

“They are mostly good people.”

“I’m not saying they’re not. Everyone’s got their bad apples, and I’m not planning to attack them over this, but as we’re seeing here, we need to be prepared for anything.” He nodded. Gazing back at her, Aria waved for her to continue.

“Thegan went missing sometime before we were supposed to get cloned. Thorn, Vi’kail, Snitch, and I went looking for him and found him in a cage in the rooms where Salesh set up shop. We freed him, but Salesh and some of her henchmen walked in and tranqed us. We woke up on a cargo runner. Long story short, she’d sold us as slaves. We got free but had possibly explosive tags in our arms and needed to find a special extractor, so we decided to go to the closest slave market to find one. On the way there, we came across some slaves being taken into a recycling warehouse. We couldn’t leave them, so we rescued them.”

“What the hell is a recycling warehouse?” Aria cut in.

Vi’kail, looking uncomfortable, glanced at her before answering Aria. “Dead bodies, broken and outdated items, and living slaves that are deemed used up or have pissed off the wrong beings are sent there. They’re fed into a machine and converted into element cubes.”

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