Page 11 of Fractured Souls

Hers was already shattered.

Three

Present time: Kordolian Fleet Station - Undisclosed location in Sector Six

Nythian frowned as he stared at his boss, folding his arms and trying not to look as tense as he felt. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other, his impatience growing. They were standing in Tarak al Akkadian’s command room, a dark, minimalist space on the lower decks, where they were graced with an expansive view of the Universe.

The fact that Nythian had been temporarily relieved of his guard duty and summoned here might be a good thing, or it might not. With the General, it was always hard to tell. Secretly, he hoped he was being assigned to a different task; perhaps a mission in another sector with his offsider, Lodan. He always got antsy when he was stuck on the Fleet Station for too long. For a change, he wouldn’t mind visiting one of the wild border planets where the native inhabitants hadn’t had much contact with outsiders. Those places were always interesting.

Nythian craved action. There were only so many fight simulations one could work through in the training chamber, and these days, his brothers weren’t always free to slug it out with him in an impromptu sparring session.

“I have an assignment for you.” The General’s voice was soft, but it sliced through Nythian’s thoughts like a perfectly honed Callidum blade.

“Sir?”

“You will be the revenant’s minder. She is fragile, but also potentially dangerous.”

Nythian blinked. “Sir?” He stiffened, resisting the temptation to make the sign of the Goddess with his fingers. The situation with the human, Alexis… he’d be lying if he said it didn’t spook him a little. The woman had come back from the dead, for Kaiin’s sake. “I don’t think I’d be the best one for the job. Maybe one of the other guys would be—”

“Are you trying to argue with me, Nythian?” Tarak’s eyes narrowed dangerously.

Nythian knew that look.

Don’t push your luck.

He was one step away from getting a serious beat-down.

“Just stating the facts, Sir.” But he went there anyway, because right now he wouldn’t mind going up against the General in the training chamber. There was a longstanding bet amongst all the First Division brothers that one of them would eventually defeat Tarak in a sparring session, and Nythian wanted to be the one to do it. He could use the workout, anyway. “I’ve never been any good at babysitting, and the human’s shit-scared of me. Maybe you could assign one of the others; someone with a friendlier looking, uh, face.”

The General inclined his head, not buying into Nythian’s logic. “There are times when my mate is in there with her.” His voice grew soft. “You understand what that means, don’t you?”

“Yeah.” Shit. The mates of the First Division warriors were sacred, vulnerable, human. Nythian would guard Abbey as diligently and fiercely as he would his own mate. “When you put it that way…”

He couldn’t refuse such a responsibility. He knew it. Tarak knew it.

It was just how they were wired.

“The revenant is still an unknown quantity. We don’t know the long-term effects of the transfer. There has been no evidence of the Tharian symbiote since it left Enki’s body, but that does not mean that it won’t emerge at some point. Any time my mate is in the revenant’s presence, I expect you to observe her every move, every breath, every thought. If there is even the merest whisper of a suggestion of danger to Abbey, you will intervene before the idea even enters the revenant’s head.” The General’s crimson eyes gleamed in the starlight as his expression turned fierce. “Of course, if it were up to me, I would guard her myself, but the Nine Galaxies will not run themselves, and I may have to make an unexpected trip to Bartharra soon, so I am entrusting her safety to you.”

Tarak’s words sank deep as Nythian realized the magnitude of the task he’d been given. Still, he couldn’t help but ask the obvious. “Wouldn’t it just be safer if Abbey stays away from Alexis until we know exactly what’s going on with her?”

“Do you think I can tell my mate what to do?” A strange mixture of emotion crossed Tarak’s face—tension, pride, absolute devotion, and something Nythian couldn’t quite put his finger on. “Abbey sees this woman, Alexis, as one of her tribe, and it is in her nature to feel responsible for her. It would be so very easy for me to restrain my wife, Nythian, but then it would be very hard for me to earn back her trust. She is not helpless, and the reality is that we are only going to make progress with the revenant if she is able to interact with her fellow humans.”

“This new female is petrified of anything silver and fanged,” Nythian said dryly. “Stares a heck of a lot, but hasn’t said a word to me.”

“That is why Abbey and Layla are instrumental in her rehabilitation. Did you not wonder why Alexis is so afraid of our kind?” Tarak turned his head, glancing out across the stars as a small, sleek black cruiser drifted past the window. Nythian recognized it as one of their own—probably a passenger transport returning from its base ship. Once again, the Fleet Station had become a hive of activity, only this time they were far, far away from Kythia.

“Well, up until only recently, we were responsible for colonizing and plundering most of the Nine Galaxies, so she’s probably got this idea in her head that we’re murderous monsters.”

“No, her fear is rooted much deeper than that. Abbey tells me she is traumatized. She let slip that she was attacked by Kordolians on Earth, but she does not trust us enough to reveal the details. Tell me, Nythian. Are you not curious to find out exactly who attacked her?”

“Sounds a bit strange,” he agreed, “but I don’t think I’m going to have much luck asking her questions, if you know what I mean. Might be better to get Zharek to give her a truth serum.”

“I thought about it, but Zharek says it is too dangerous. Stripping her of her inhibitions while the Tharian lurks in her subconscious could have unintended consequences.”

“So how in Kaiin’s Hells do we get any answers out of her?”

“Her view of Kordolians needs to change.”

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