Page 68 of Guardian's Destiny

"And betrayed your people? You would have condemned them to death or slavery just so you could… what, live above ground?" Sloane's disgust with him was obvious now.

"It wasn't my finest hour," Craygh admitted. "Once I started down that path… I couldn't stop."

"Fucking coward. Now what?" Sloane turned to me.

That little development changed our plans. Not the main plan, we still had the required two Ohrurs in our possession, but now we had to keep an eye on two prisoners. Frygg.

"We'll keep watch. As soon as the traffic slows down, we'll make our way over to the hangars. Just not the way Craygh suggested." I formed a plan.

"Great, just great!" Sloane huffed and moved back to the peephole in the wall.

Craygh slowly rose, his hands out in defense, but I wasn't going to pounce on him again. The bastard would get what he deserved later. For now, it would be easier to pacify him and make him believe we might forgive and forget the entire incident.

"I'm sorry," he began his apology. "I lost my head, alright?"

From the wall, Sloane snorted.

"I understand that you won't trust me again, but… I will do what I can to prove to you?—"

I waved my hand to cut him off. "Spare your breath."

This mission was turning into a clustered nightmare. I couldn't wait for us to be away from here and on our way to Darlam and… frygg. My gaze moved to Sloane. She wanted to go to Astrionis. Damn as if this wasn't all bad enough already.

I would have to lock the two Ohrurs in separate quarters and let the drones bring them food, while I would sit alone in the cockpit or my room, with nothing to do for weeks besides thinking ofher.

A sharp intake of breath from Sloane made me slide to her side. "What's wrong?"

"Zapharos," she hissed.

"What?" I gripped her shoulder and moved her to the side. Out on the airfield, a new spaceship had landed. Right in the center. From it, four Space Guardians escorted a mountain of a male, the likes I had never seen before. He was taller by several handspans than the Space Guardians, more muscular as well. His skin was darker than mine, not silver, but in places, it shimmered silver. It took me a moment to realize that the shimmer came from scales that shone iridescently underneath the artificial light. It made him glow… like he wasn't a physical being but something else entirely. Whitish hair gleamed under the lights just like his skin. He turned his head, amber eyes piercing his surroundings, and for a moment, it felt as if he was seeing me on the other side of the field, inside an old ruin, as if he could look right through the small opening.

Frygg!

I took a step back. What was this creature?

His face looked angelic and demonic at the same time, creating a cold prickle that rippled down my spine. What in the name of the Black Abyss was he?

He strode between the Space Guardians like their master, not a prisoner as if they were his guards. I shook my head. My first impression had been he was a prisoner, but that didn't hold up to closer inspection. As he kept moving, one of the Space Guardians jabbed him in the side to make him change his direction. The male didn't falter. He barely turned to look down at the Space Guardian with an expression I had never seen before. Pity? A threat?

"Who or what is Zapharos?" I asked Sloane. "I've never seen his kind before."

"Nobody has." Her voice was so quiet that I had to strain to hear her. I had to force myself to stop looking at the male and turn my attention to her. I had never seen her this distraught before, and my heart squeezed in pain.

"This is my fault." The despondence in her voice tore at me.

"What do you mean?"

"I was supposed to warn him of the Moggadesh. They must have gotten to him sooner than I thought." She slammed her palm into the wall.

"Warned him? Moggadesh?" I still didn't quite get what she was saying.

"Fuck," she exhaled deeply, contemplating what to tell me. I gave her time to decide. When she looked up, determination filled her eyes. She must have decided to trust me, and somehow that made me feel even worse because obviously she hadn't before. Not fully.

"The discovery of Earth did something… set things in motion… I don't fully understand yet. The bottom line is, the Arkhevari came forward. They had?—"

"Arkhevari? The same the Ohrurs have been talking about? The same with the Archegene?" I stopped her. Who was this female? If she had kept this from me, what else was she hiding? Anger roiled in my gut, but I managed to swallow it down for now.

"Let me finish," she hissed, irritated. "Yes, the same. I couldn't tell you before because I was on a mission and sworn to secrecy, even from you. I wanted to tell you a few times, especially once the Arkhevari were mentioned, but… You have no idea what this means, Vraax."

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