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“Don’t say his name here,” I hiss. “We don’t know who’s listening.”
Frankie widens her eyes. “Oh God—right,” she says. “But…anyway—our guy betrayed their guy, and their guy took our guy captive, and I guess that their whole thing is that they take new mates in battle, and it was…yeah, it was a lot.”
Malix swallows hard. “And can the Skoropi do this to anyone?”
“There are Lyran and human mates here on this planet, yes,” I say. “It’s not—it’s hard to explain. We call it inoculation, and if it is done by choice, then it is a safe and comfortable process. If the partner isn’t willing, though…” I shake my head. “This is why we’re trying to stop this madness. Because the universe our enemy wants is one where no one is given a choice as to who they will be.”
We walk a few more steps, deeper into a crowd. I stay at Frankie’s side, Malix on the other. While I know she can hold her own, she is uniquely vulnerable here as she is considered an inoculated female without a mate. If there are any Skoropi here in this market looking to build their household, they might try to stake their claim. Liatra may be beautiful and serene, but under its glittering surface is an underworld of trafficking and slavery.
Dalphox has turned our system into a sad and broken imitation of what it once was.
Frankie’s hand suddenly reaches out to grasp my wrist, squeezing gently. I hear Malix start at the same time, and realize that she’s touching us both.
“We’re being followed,” she whispers. “Veer off to the right?”
I nod my head as subtly as possible, though I fear my horns will give me away.
“On your lead,” I say.
She turns and pulls us both toward a street to our right, and I duck my head to try to hide my horns. Not as if it will work—I’m tall compared to many of those surrounding us, and Malix is even taller, andLyranat that. Frankie curses under her breath and pulls us closer to her, her white clothes billowing around her.
“Chingados!” she mutters. “I thought we would have at least alittletime before shit went sideways.”
“Jokahn’s base is close,” I say. “All we need to do is get there and his security will protect us—”
“Jokahn can’t save you now,” a voice says from behind us.
I freeze, my breath catching in my throat. Frankie is already reaching for her weapon, Malix doing the same. In slow motion, we turn, Frankie ready to strike.
A single Skoropi male stands at the end of the street, his hands raised in greeting. He wears a shimmering gold robe and tie-pants, his hair bound half-up in an intricate braided bun. His scales are the same blue as the sea, his teeth white.
“I was joking,” he says, his Skoropi heavily accented with the Liatran dialect. “I am Jokahn. And I’m here to take you to safety.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
??
FRANKIE
It’s always nice when the guy who holds your life in his hands enjoys fucking around.
“You’re Jokahn?” I ask, my hand never leaving my weapon. I have a Skoropi crossbow at my hip, carefully tucked away. “I thought we were supposed to meet you at your villa.”
“Plans changed,” he says. I realize he’s speaking a different dialect of Skoropi than the one I’m used to—something pretty and melodic, almost like Italian back on Earth. It muddles my translator a little, taking longer to process than usual. “Dalphox has been paranoid and has assigned extra personnel to navigate the streets, so I came to find you myself and take you another way.”
“Takte,” Taraven curses. “Ravik and Ikaray; it won’t be safe.”
“Already taken care of,” Jokahn says. “My people redirected your littlezephtanand its pilot to my personal docking bay up the coast. Second House forces won’t bother us there.”
“Why not?” Malix asks, his eyes narrowing. “Why should we trust you?”
“Because you have to,” Jokahn says, his lips tilting in a lazy smile. His tail twitches behind him, his bright blue scales gleaming in the sunlight as his eyes flare yellow. “Come with me, friends; we have no time to waste.”
I have no way of knowing if this is the guy we’re supposed to meet. I was supposed to go to a specific location, and I’m inclined to stick to that plan. Although, if we go there and are apprehended…
“You’ve put us in a bit of a predicament,” I say. “I don’t know that you’re trustworthy; you could be lying to us. So you’ll need to prove it.”
“I thought you might say that—and Nixeris did too.”
