Page 77 of Venomous Heart
Ava’s very core trembled with horror at the way Prime Councilor Aav spoke so casually of the death of dozens of people.
“There are children in that group. Children who didn’t choose to rebel,” Ava argued despite her rising panic. “They don’t deserve to die for their parents’ mistakes.”
“It is not a matter of what they deserve.” Those two black eyes settled on Ava with purpose, but also with a sharp curiosity. A curiosity not devoid of danger. “Not punishing rebellion would weaken my position, would weaken the entire Ring’s authority. A few lives are nothing compared to that.”
Ava’s body trembled with fear as she refused to back down from her argument with Prime Councilor Aav. It was a stupid thing to do. Stupid, and more dangerous than anything she had ever done, especially now that the Mantrilla was drunk on violence and the corpse of her enemy.
“If it wasn’t for this boy’s mother, you would have never been warned that Knut had a thousand Ilarian guards still on Aveyn. Knut would have his negative particle bomb and you would lose your hold on power.” Ava spoke in an even voice, even though all she wanted to do was hide in a corner and weep. Prime Councilor Aav clicked her mandibles with displeasure in her direction, the sound threatening and controlled all at once. It made her all the more terrifying. “Derek’s mother sent you that warning. You owe a debt to her.”
Arlen cursed behind her and Prime Councilor Aav moved, advancing over Ava like a towering omen of death.
“You presume to judge my power?” Mandibles clicked inches from Ava’s face and black eyes peered down on her, cold and devoid of feeling. “You presume to tell me I owe a debt to one of these creatures?”
“Yes. Her name is Naomi and she’s probably dead right now. You owe her your Seat.” All she wanted to do was run, but Ava stood her ground, as steady as if she were set in concrete. “She betrayed everyone she cared about to save her son, because she loved him more than anything. So, yeah, you owe her to save that child.”
“Love.” Prime Councilor Aav spoke the word like she didn’t know the meaning of it. Or as though it left a bad taste in her mouth. “Your human love is nothing but a weakness with a nicer name to it.”
“You are wrong.” Ava’s voice was still steady, but she could feel her body betraying her, terror taking hold of her limbs despite her best efforts. “The Mantrilla revere strength above all else, isn’t that right?”
Ava stepped forward, ignoring Arlen’s snarl. She heard him drop to his knees behind her and it tore her heart apart, but she couldn’t back down now. Not when the Prime Councilor could decide to munch on her brains like candy. The Mantrilla’s black eyes were fixed on her and she knew she had Prime Councilor Aav’s attention.
“Humans are small and weak, you are right about that.” As Ava began to speak, terror released its grip. She was speaking with everything she had, and everything she’d ever cared about hung in the balance. She had nothing more to give. It gave her a calm kind of confidence. “We possess almost nothing. We barely clawed our way back from the brink of extinction. But we never stopped caring. We care so much that we fight even when we know we’ll lose. This is our strength. We can lose a battle, a war, be enslaved for generations, but we don’t stop caring. That doesn’t make us weak. It’s what makes humanity strong. And that’s why you have to let me save this child. His mother sacrificed her life to warn you about Knut’s negative particle bomb. It wasn’t for money, or to gain power. It was because she cared. She cared about that boy’s life more than her own. And thatisstrength.”
Ava stood in front of the monstrous creature as the Prime Councilor stared down at her, her mandibles clacking furiously, her black eyes revealing nothing of what went on behind that nightmarish facade.
“Take the boy with Commander Arlen and his bloodmate on my transport. They are both to receive treatments from my personal doctor.” Her metallic voice was harsh and cutting and Ava stared as if she didn’t understand her words.
The Eoks rushed toward Arlen’s slumped figure. But Prime Councilor Aav wasn’t finished with Ava yet. She leaned in, towering over her, mandibles clacking so close, Ava could see the bits of the Ilarian guard’s brains still stuck there.
“I do this because it is true that should the mother have chosen not to warn us, Knut would have been in possession of a weapon of far greater evil that I could ever be.”
The Mantrilla reached out faster than Ava’s eyes could see. A claw made of chitin wrapped behind Ava’s neck and she pulled Ava closer.
“But know this, hybrid, if you ever defy me again, I will chew on your skull.”
Prime Councilor Aav let go of Ava and she collapsed to the ground. The Mantrilla left, and somehow, someone grabbed hold of Ava. Then she was inside a transport vehicle without remembering how she got there, clutching the glass jar containing the Exo-Heart in one arm and, with the other, holding on to Arlen’s hand. She stared at the handsome face of her bloodmate, his features slack and his skin a pale powder blue.
Her hand ran over his arm, and she choked out a sob at the touch of his skin. It was cold, so cold. As the transport lifted off, Ava’s heart felt enclosed in ice.
Arlen was dying.
23
Ava
Her mind was hostage to terror as she ran breathlessly behind the gurney holding Arlen’s limp body. The Eoks, the same warriors who had been held prisoner in Facility Twenty-One, held the gurney carrying Arlen, hurtling down long, dark hallways made of black, polished metal. All those facts registered somewhere in the back of her mind as her eyes locked onto a hand, hanging by the side of the gurney. Those long, strong fingers, the same ones that had run over her body, lighting things inside her she hadn’t even known existed, were now limp and unresponsive.
Arlen can’t die. He can’t die.
She didn’t know where she was or where she was going, the only thing she knew for certain was that she was aboard the Mantrilla flagship, a monstrosity so big it cast a deep shadow over the land as far as the eye could see.
Finally, the Eok soldiers carrying Arlen stopped and a door rose into the ceiling, revealing a dizzyingly white room.
Mandibles clicked with impatience on the other side and the Eoks rushed inside. Ava stared as Arlen’s body was stripped, then lifted onto a cold metal table while the Mantrilla doctor ran instruments she didn’t recognize over his chest and along the gaping, horrid wound in his side.
Blood had stopped pouring from the mangled flesh, and only a trickle remained, but that was no consolation. Arlen’s life blood was almost gone, his body falling prey to shock.
Mandibles clicked again, this time with more urgency. Another Mantrilla entered the room, carrying bags of red liquid and strange items of medical equipment. Arlen began to shake uncontrollably, his long limbs convulsing as medical machinery beeped.
