Page 17 of Guardian's Destiny

He stared at it longingly. It was part of the reason I had to take his hand off. I had needed to remind him of its power.

"What do you want?" Possedion pressed, and finally, I detected a trace of fear in his eyes.

"How can we get on to Darlam without being shot down?"

"Only at least three Ohrurs can breach the forcefield." Possedion repeated what he had told the others. I had asked Hannah about what they knew before I entered the cell. According to Possedion, only a spaceship belonging to the Ohrurs and flown by at least three Ohrurs could go through the forcefield without being shut down.

"You know what?" Leaning forward, I got right in his face—closer than I was comfortable with at the moment. The stench of vomit clung to his breath, not to mention the mess at my feet. "I don't believe you."

Dramatically, I turned my back to him, looking at the five Space Guardians who stared at me as if I was an aberration. "I think I was wrong. Can you guys capture another one of his kind? Maybe one who will be more talkative."

"No problem," Raasla pushed himself off the wall. I liked him; his eyes gleamed with approval while Vraax stared at me… like a besotted poodle. Why couldn't he be more like Raasla?

I waved my hand in the air and sensed the men falling in step behind me. "Let's go, boys, no sense in watching this pathetic show of him slowly drowning himself."

One, two, three… I counted in my head and grinned when Possedion cried, "Wait!" right on cue.

I wiped the grin off my face and gave him a bored stare. "Why? You don't have anything to tell us."

"You can bring Darlams." Possedion spat out hurriedly. "At least three Ohrurs are required, but Darlams can be onboard."

I couldn't stop my triumphant grin from spreading over my face. Damn, I was good.

"Just to make sure you're not lying, you know you will be aboard too, right?" I reiterated, returning to Possedion and petting him on the head as if he was my new favorite pet. He glared up at me, filled with hate and fear.

By the door, I turned one more time theatrically, like my favorite detectives in old movies, remembering one last question. "Oh, one more thing, decode the encrypted Space Guardian's names."

I nodded at Zaarek, and he handed me a comm. Possedion took it from my hand with a loud, suffering sigh and entered the required codes.

"Now heal me," Possedion pleaded.

"We still need him," Vraax cautioned, and I rolled my eyes. Raasla chuckled; he had already seen through my lie. Vraax put his hand on my arm, making my flesh tingle.

"Oh, for the love of God." With an exasperated huff, I waved the wand up and down Possedion's body without bothering to activate it. Maybe Vraax was right; maybe I needed to keep this part of the lie going for as long as Possedion believed it. I hated the possibility, but for now, I needed the ugly Ohrur.

"You'll still feel some aftereffects, but you won't die," I told the Ohrur.

Outside, Noodar asked, "That wasn't poison, was it?"

Raasla was the only one who had seen through my little stunt. That was interesting. "Just something your… mate brewed up to make him sick."

"Nicely done," Vraax praised.

"I take it the females filled you in on everything?" Tharaax wanted to know

"Yap. They did."

"So you're going with us?" Zaarek asked. It was the same question I saw reflected in Vraax's eyes.

"Sorry, I hate to miss all the fun, but I have a mission of my own. If you guys could just drop me off on Astrionis, I'd appreciate it." I tried one more time.

"Astrionis is too far; we can't afford to waste so much time," Vraax objected.

I glared at him. I didn't like his condescending expression that screamedyour tea party can wait until mine is over. I ground my jaw and played another one of my cards, which I hated doing. But they needed to know that they weren't dealing with an idiot. "You need to get two or three more Ohrurs, right?" I waited for Vraax's nod.

"So you'll have to detour anyway," I stated. "Astrionis isn't that far from Ohrur."

"How do you know where the Ohrurs and Astrionis are?" Tharaax demanded suspiciously.

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