Page 90 of Home

Hours later, she awoke alone in the darkness of her room. She opened her eyes but remained perfectly still on her bed. With her mind clear from all the bombarding thoughts she’d had before falling asleep, she saw one seemingly innocent encounter clearly. In the memory that seemed to jump forward into her consciousness at random, she saw her brother’s gaze as it dropped from her face to focus on the passkey dangling from the slender silver chain she wore as a necklace. She took count of how many times she’d happened to run into him in the service hallways she used to traverse the palace — and that was strange in and of itself — he refused to traverse service entrances, seeing himself above any servant or employee. And finally, she saw a flash of the contract she’d completed upon being hired. When asked who would have access to her rooms, she’d listed his name. She’d always share anything she had with her brother — she loved him, he was the only family she had left, so she’d listed him to give him access, and they’d given her two keys to her rooms, and with her exemplary service, it didn’t take long before she’d achieved the title of Head of Staff. Though she now used the passkeys to enter her room, she’d never changed the security codes on the individual keys for her rooms, and her brother still had the key that gave him access. Sitting up slowly, she went over everything in her head again and again and again, trying to find any chink in the conveniences she herself had realized. But there were none. There was no other way to explain all that had happened. He’d done it. Her own brother had used her and her position to attack the royal family she was unshakably loyal to, and he’d left her to pick up the pieces if she’d not be able to explain it away. The additional heartbreak she felt was only momentary, as her anger at his betrayal began to fill her. The more she considered, the more she was convinced, this was all her brother’s doing, and he’d left her to face the accusations. He didn’t care if she paid the price for his treachery. All cried out,and desperation gone, she sat quietly on the edge of her bed, her eyes wide-open as she stared at the wall. Taking a deep, calming breath, she slowly stood up. No one would save her but herself, and she knew just where to start. “So be it,” she whispered.

Chapter 21

Xhin strode past the more than twenty-five males very carefully hidden around what appeared to be an abandoned home, sitting just across the property line from the palace. Its owner, an elderly male, sat patiently in a rocking chair overlooking his small patch of land. “Are you sure there’s been no word from Mir’ Ahn?” Xhin asked again.

“Not a word. None at all. But he’ll be here.”

“He should already be here,” Xhin growled.

The old male pinned him with a suspicious stare. “Are you doubting Mir’ Ahn? I’m not. He’s the only one brave enough to even take a stand against the new Sovereign. And here you are questioning him like you have a right to.”

“He’s deserted us, old male! Do you not see that?”

“He’s had to go back to the palace to make it all look right. He’s there right now making them all believe every one of y’all is out there hunting for the people that tried to steal that youngling.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Xhin said angrily as he stalked away, then through the male’s home and down into the basement.

Frustration and desperation rode him hard. He’d followed every single plan Mir’ Ahn had designed. He’d brought his mate into their plans, putting her at risk as well as himself, and for what? For nothing. And now Mir’ Ahn was missing. They’d lost track of him as soon as Zahn chased them down. Mir’ Ahn had ordered the warriors with them to kill Zahn, then told Xhin to take Adnea to safety, and presumably followed right behind Xhin, if what the other warriors said was to be believed. Obviously somewhere along the way he’d changed direction.

“We’ve been here almost an entire day! Where is he? We were to meet here!” Xhin demanded again, snarling ferociously.

“He’ll be here. He’s either been caught and will work his way out of it, or he’s making arrangements to get us off the planet,” the first warrior said.

“I still can’t believe she failed!” the second warrior growled.

“Do not blame my Ehlealah for the fact that their security is more effective than we were led to believe!” Xhin said.

“All she had to do was snatch a little, tiny youngling! How could she fail?!” the second warrior demanded.

“He wasn’t alone! I was attacked! I tried to hold onto the boy, but the female there attacked me! I was injured! She tried to pluck out my eyes! I had to let go and run for my life!”

“Your life? None of our lives are safe, because you let go! You are weak and useless! All you had to do was run while still holding him!” the first warrior yelled.

The female squealed and started bawling again.

“It’s alright, Adnea. He’s just upset. All will be well,” Xhin said.

“He’s so mean. And my eyes hurt,” she wailed, surely sounding more pitiful than the youngling himself could.

“Make her shut up or I’ll pluck them out myself!” the first warrior threatened.

“She’s really hurting though, and she’s scared, as should be you! If you’d done your job any who followed us would be killed! But did you kill the purple warrior? No! In fact, he killed two of our warriors, and would have killed you, too, had his friends not chased you away!” Xhin said.

“She’s fucked this entire operation beyond repair and all she’s worried about is herself! All she had to do is snatch the little bastard and bring him here! If we had him, everyone in that palace would bow to our demands!”

“No! They’d bow to Mir’ Ahn’s demands! We swore loyalty to him, not to you,” Xhin argued. “And we’ll get him! As soon as Mir’ Ahn returns, we’ll regroup and we’ll be successful next time.”

“You think we’ll have another chance? Are you so fucking stupid that you believe that we’ll have another chance?!” the second warrior demanded. “It will be years until we haveanother chance. They’re likely on the doorstep of this mold-filled, hovel now!”

“It’s not her fault! Two of us died! The youngling was not alone and was defended! Mir’ Ahn is missing! So many things went wrong!”

“Yes, they did. And I for one will not stay here to see what happens next,” the first warrior said. “I’m leaving. I will not wait for palace forces to find me.”

“You can’t honestly believe you can get off this planet? I have no doubt all the airfields are secured, no one gets in or out without every inch of an aircraft checked and double-checked. We can’t leave here,” Xhin said.

“What would you have us do? Just sit here and wait until either the palace finds us, or Mir’ Ahn bothers to come back?”

“Yes,” Xhin said. “He’ll be back. I know he will. We must be patient and he’ll return with a plan to save us all.”

---