Page 26 of Touch the Stars
Red flashed in the emperor’s eyes.“It is not your place to understand my decisions.Bring her to me on Ghara so we may resolve this in person.”
Never had he questioned the grand emperor’s logic.Now doubts assailed him.Burrowed into his mind and polluted his thoughts.
“Warrior, consider the wellbeing of your family,” the emperor said in a low rumble.“To have a second son turn traitor would mean the diseased branch would be cut.Not even I could spare your parents or sisters from the executioner.”
Another truth.A lump lodged in his throat, and his legs trembled.Fatigue would soon overwhelm him unless he rested.
The emperor nodded as though satisfied his point had been made.“I see you understand.Good.I bid you farewell, for now.”
The hulking form of the chosen imperial leader of the Gharan Empire blinked out of existence.Finally, he could allow his knees to bend, let himself sink to the floor in a controlled fall until he sat next to Kaitlyn’s curled, trembling body.
He reached out and stroked his fingers over her silky, golden hair.Yes, he understood his options with unprecedented clarity.He either condemned her to death, or his family.
Chapter 9
Kaitlyn.
Awarenessstirredthroughher.Warmth surrounded her like a comforting blanket, protecting her.Safe.Safe from everything, including Rocky the Emperor.A shudder ran down her spine, and she opened her eyes.No Rocky and no command center, thank God.She was back in the same bed she’d been strapped to after her abduction.Only this time, it wasn’t safety straps holding her in place.
She allowed her gaze to travel over the familiar scarred arms around her.Baatar’s arms.He must have brought her back to her room, and stayed.Who wouldn’t feel secure in his embrace?With him around her, nothing could touch her again.Ever.She sure shouldn’t feel that way, not after what she’d done to him.But…
She leaned into the wall of muscle against her back.“Why am I not locked up?”
“Have you not been through enough?”His breath stirred the hair on top of her head.
Yeah, she had.That still didn’t explain why he wasn’t at least yelling at her.“Why did he hurt me, Baatar?Aren’t I supposed to be his heir?”
“You knew him to be the grand emperor?”
“I heard part of your conversation after he stopped making that awful noise.”Relief had flooded her when the searing pain had stopped, then again at the soothing sound of Baatar’s voice.“Figured it out.”
She shifted around until she faced him.Every time she saw his eyes, they seemed bluer than she remembered.“The command center door was locked.”
“My identification code automatically overrides all commands I did not give.I have voice control even over the ship’s artificial intelligence.”
Well, hell.How was she going to get around that?“So, why’d your emperor try to kill me?”
“I do not know.”He sighed and rolled onto his back, taking away the warmth of one arm.Goosebumps crept over her skin where his heat had been.“His claim was that he believed you had murdered me, making you unfit to be empress.”
“All I told him was that you’d gone pee.”
He frowned at the ceiling.“That could not be mistaken for murder in any language that I know.”
“Me neither.Why didn’t the sound bother you?”
“It is called tyucilla, and Ragatians use it to kill an enemy at close range, like hand-to-hand combat.The grand emperor had already focused it on you by the time I entered the command center.”
“So, he couldn’t just spread the love a little more?”
“No.Projecting tyucilla onto a wide group causes it to rebound on them.”
“You mean they can kill themselves with it?”
“Yes.Tight, focused control of the tyucillais much more efficient.”
“Oh.”
His frown deepened.“I did not know they could use it through a hologram transmission.”
