Page 59 of The Blind Hordesman

“Quiet, you,” Dad says. “I nearly died when my son stopped breathing. I’m taking a nap, so when you all decide what’s next, wake me up. I’ll be ready to go. Like new.”

A chair across from me scrapes the floor, and my brother sits and rattles. “Before she left, I overheard her saying you will kneel for him and hand him the gate. I’m unsure of the rest, but I am sure she said that.”

I lean my elbows on the desk. “You’re under the impression my Omega left voluntarily. This offends me, brother.”

“She left the dome, and when Swarm descended upon you, when she saw they were about to penetrate the dome, she left.”

“She initiated the protocol to protect me. Then she saw you were gonna die, and she left to protect you. That’s what Kiki did.”

“I would argue that the Omegas like winners,” Dreikx says. “You were losing.”

I slap my palm on the table. “I don’t need Omega advice from you, Telean. I need the gate.” I wiggle my fingers. Something drops onto the desk, and I feel the object. It’s a square, made of glass, and radiates warmth from the inside.

“What’s this?”

“Gate transport. One does not simply hold the gate. Be aware that the transport container cannot contain the energy indefinitely, so whatever you’re planning to do with it, make it fast and be sure I get it back. Just as fast.”

“Can the gate shut down his hive?” I ask.

“Be more specific. Shut down what?”

“Engines, tech, lights, everything.”

“Of course. However, I would presume he’s prepared backup, and if he sinks deep, the gate pulse might not reach him at all.”

“Still, he wants the gate, and he wants me to kneel and accept him as my king or Kiki wouldn’t have said it.”

“Don’t even think about it, boy,” Dad says. “You are the strongest Alpha in all the lands, and the strongest is king.”

“Iamthinking about it,” Arkin says and reaches for my hand. He squeezes it. “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you, brother. Nothing at all.”

“I know. Plus, there’s an Omega you lost. Twice.”

“There is that too.”

“Tell me what you’re thinking.”

“I’m gonna kneel.”

Protests erupt. My uncles shout at him and at each other. Dad’s up, and he’s arguing. Dreikx pitches in and makes it all worse while I drum my claws on the table. “Quiet,” I say. They shut up. “Arkin will kneel.”

Chapter 23

Kiki

The door to my cell opens, and I sit up from the bed, expecting Father, but a Swarm male appears. He says nothing but steps away, leaving the door wide open. I rise and follow him into the dim-lit narrow hallway, and we walk for what feels like a mile, then up the steps, through another hallway, and up more stairs until we reach a round heavy-duty door with a glass center showing a room where Teleans stand in front of various instruments.

The door hisses and clicks open, and the Swarm male moves aside for me to enter. He follows me inside, door hissing and clicking closed behind us. Three Teleans man the screens that show the beach and other landscapes I don’t recognize. In the middle of the room, back to me, Father sits on a large chair that can only be described as a throne. The Serpent winds around the entire thing, his massive head hanging over Father’s. Four Telean males and two Swarm males surround the throne, hovering over something, presumably a portable holo panel.

The large screen before the throne monitors the beach, and I step forward, hoping to catch sight of Seer. I narrow my one good eye to see better, then inhale sharply because I see my reflection on the screen. Swelling covers half my face, and I touch it, wincing at the fluid accumulated under my skin. But I’m not in pain. Maybe the nerves, likely adrenaline, but all I feel is numb throbbing.

One Telean turns from the screen. “The general is scrambling the sensors in this area.” He points at the area on the right before the trees that later become a forest.

“It is of little consequence,” Father says. “They’re exposed with no walls to hold me back, and I have my daughter. The Hordesman will kneel, and they will kneel with him, because if they don’t, he will execute them.”

“But my king, he would not execute his father or his brother.”

“For her, he would. For her, he would do anything. Isn’t that right, my girl?”

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