Page 25 of Heart's Keeper

"When I first found out, no, of course not," Elise said. "I was just like you. Ready to fight." She met Lana's eyes with an honest expression. "But he changed. He went against his boss and his mission to save us. He nearly died for us. He isn't that kind of hunter anymore."

Xilya tilted her head. "What makes you think it wasn't a ploy to some bigger scheme? Perhaps he only wishes to use you to find the human territories."

Nezka's expression darkened though his smile didn't fully fade. "I do know where they are," he said softly. "And I have no intention of telling anyone about it."

Elise rubbed at her neck, looking a little embarrassed as they stared at her accusingly. "He found me on one of the civilian worlds, and I left with him from there."

Lana rubbed at her temples. "And you've been here ever since?"

Elise nodded. "Yes. We were planning to just get as far away as we could. This was just a stop on a longer journey at first." Elise looked at the hunter, and Lana saw the admiration in her eyes. Lana knew that look, and her thoughts turned to Xerus with pained longing. Elise took Nezka's hand in hers and they knitted their fingers together. "But then we made the decision to stay for a while longer. Now with everything happening within Earth's territories, I thought it would be better to stick around and wait to see if we should go back and help.”

"What's happening in Earth's territories?" Lana asked, wondering if Elise knew something they didn't.

Elise frowned. "You really have been away for a long time, huh? We are preparing for war, obviously. Now that Earth knows about Xolis and the hunters looking for human women."

Lana knew she shouldn't be surprised. She turned to Xilya, who gazed back at her.

"Well, at least they know and are preparing as was predicted. Though a war wouldn't be good," Xilya commented.

"It's definitely bad," said Lana.

"Why?" Elise asked. "If we can fight, we should."

"Because Xolis has technology far more advanced than anything humans could possibly think up," Xilya stated. "They will blow any Earth ship into tiny pieces. The only thing that may be sparing humans now is that the Xolis empire is currently going through its own set of problems and resources are scarce or being hoarded by those preparing for a war within their own boundaries. What I'm saying is, a war would be devastating to either side as innocent lives would pay the price, whether by mass overtaking of worlds or loss of infrastructure."

"People have been fleeing Xolis for years," Nezka said. "Perhaps it's time the empire fell."

"But there are those who can't escape it. The nillium will force those into the war or into labor to try to keep the empire alive while fighting," Xilya countered. "And there are still human lives at stake. No, we should prevent this."

A few from the team voiced their agreement while others made their own suggestions and comments. Unconsciously, Lana reached her hand out beside her, expecting to feel Xerus' arm. When she touched nothing but air, she looked over at the empty space, and a dull ache throbbed in her chest. She dropped her hand and fell silent as the others debated, her head turning back toward her ship. She knew she should be concerning herself about the threat of war and all that regarded the two territories, but, despite her efforts, her mind began to wander, and all she could think of was Xerus. She had the sudden, awful urge to say “to hell with it, let them fight, let me go home and care only for my mate,” knowing it wasn't right, but she couldn't even feel guilty about it. Xerus needed her. If it wasn't for her duty as queen, she would have put Xilya in charge long ago. But as vrisha custom had it, she couldn't just hand over her leadership or her mission to someone else. To do so would strip her of her title as well as Xerus' rank. And though she told herself she didn't care about the consequences, she couldn't do such a thing to Xerus, knowing how hard he had worked for his position and to have her as queen. She couldn't take it away from him. Not without his consent.

So, better to have all the help she could get and to complete at least the bare minimum of what was needed for her mission. Yes, it wasn't very virtuous, but she couldn’t care less. They were only tasked to stop the oncoming ships from Xolis with the hunters aboard before they found a human settlement. They were never told to stay and fight a war. That was an entirely different mission. And, with Xerus sick, she didn't plan to stick around to fight in it.

Lana forced herself back into the scene and listened for a second longer before saying, "We are attempting to stop more Xolis hunters from taking humans. Will you join us or not?"

The others grew silent as they looked at the pair, waiting.

Elise locked eyes with Nezka. She whispered something to him, and he, in turn, brushed his knuckles across her cheek in a lover’s caress. He tapped at his ear and whispered something back, and Elise smiled, taking hold of his hand and kissing it before turning back to Lana.

"Yes, we will join you," she said. "Nezka knows a lot about Xolis and those hunters who are still searching. And he's a brilliant fighter. Unmatched by anyone."

Krel snorted. "He looked matched from what I saw earlier. If it weren't for our queen's command..."

Nezka's eyes drew over to him with both a challenging and amused expression. "I wasn't worried. Just a little off guard."

The others scoffed at his arrogance.

"You would have been torn to shreds, hunter," said Nix.

"You barely took on just one of us," said Dyrsa.

Nezka's eyes narrowed, and his smile widened. "I've taken on one of you before and succeeded."

Gyrix’s tail flicked with annoyance. "Ryxok was no true warrior. He probably fled like a tremblingmimniwith his tail between his legs."

"No, he fought well, actually. I just couldn't get the last blow before a building collapsed on him."

The others seemed to think that over and were satisfied that was one—though rare—way to kill a vrisha.

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