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CHAPTER1
Tense and silent, Cara sat on the luxury transport, hands clasped in her lap. She stared out the viewport, watching the strange orange and gray planet gradually decrease in size as the ship moved farther and farther away. Everyone claimed Altor was her planet of origin, but she’d spent twenty-two of her twenty-five years on Earth. Her name had been Aspen Hays then. She’d lived a very different life. She might go by Cara Slanar now, but she wasn’t sure who she was, much less where she belonged.
Her ‘parents’ sat facing her. Only she hadn’t known these people existed sixteen days ago. Cara, along with her two sisters, had been snatched from Earth and brought to this star system without their permission. According to these strangers, Cara and her sisters belonged to a powerful group of females called conduits. Odd that their magic had never revealed itself while they were on Earth. She still hadn’t seen any tangible evidence that magic existed.
“Are you going to sulk all the way to the Citadel?” Lezod Slanar, the man claiming to be her father, demanded. His cool, clipped tone made his disapproval obvious.
She glanced at him then back out the viewport. If she didn’t have anything nice to say, she wouldn’t say anything at all. The old adage had served her well for the past few days. When she first arrived on Altor, she had kicked and screamed. She refused to do anything she was told and barricaded herself inside her bedroom. The approach had earned long hours of solitude and a few missed meals. Maybe the silent treatment would finally convince these people to send her home. Probably not. She was too valuable.
Grinnel, Cara’s alleged mother, crossed the aisle and sat beside her. “Your attitude is childish. You need to stop—”
“You said that about my ‘temper tantrums.’” She accented the phrase with air quotes as she turned from the viewport. “I’m being docile now and you’re still upset. Make up your mind.”
Lezod and Grinnel were both dressed in tailored gray suits. Lezod’s was charcoal, while his wife’s was many shades lighter. The same could be said of their coloring. Lezod’s hair was coffee brown, eyes the color of honey. Grinnel’s blonde hair was so light it appeared silver in a certain light, and her eyes were powder blue. Cara wasn’t ready to admit it, but her own coloring seemed to blend theirs. Cara’s honey-blonde hair had always been naturally highlighted with strands of platinum, and subtle flecks of amber peppered her blue irises. Unlike the severe elegance of her parents’ clothing, she had been given a formfitting navy-blue sheath dress to wear that was so short it barely covered her rear end.
“We have done little to correct your behavior because young males of our species thrive on challenge.” Grinnel spoke quietly, hands folded in her lap. She always looked freshly pressed and serene, another indication that she wasn’t Cara’s mother. Most of Cara’s friends described her as lively with a fiery temper. “Taming a feral female will greatly appeal to many of them.”
“Feral?” Cara objected. Stray cats were feral. She was an educated, independent woman, not a wild animal. “I am not feral. I’m pissed off. There is a significant difference.”
“You are rude and disrespectful,” Lezod countered, glaring almost as intensely as Cara. His cold gaze shifted toward his wife and he switched to Altorian. Apparently, he didn’t know Cara had been injected with medi-bots and a nano-translator right after breakfast. “This should be the proudest day of our lives, but I am not sure this person can be deprogrammed. I will never forgive your mother for stealing our sweet, innocent Cara from us.”
He was right. She was no longer sweet and innocent. She was strong-willed and opinionated. On Earth strength and ambition were celebrated. Here they were considered character flaws.
Frustrated and demoralized, Cara turned back to the viewport and tried hard to ignore her parents. This had been the longest two weeks of her life, and it had all begun with a surreal nightmare. She’d been sitting in the parking lot of a restaurant in Juneau, Alaska arguing with her boyfriend. Bill had been so secretive, so dismissive lately that she was ready to end the relationship. Then the passenger door was jerked open and a strange-smelling mist filled the cab. Bill slumped over the steering wheel as a huge soldier in tactical gear pulled her out of the truck. Sudden weakness crept over her body and then everything faded to black.
She woke up in a small windowless room, disoriented yet terrified. It was only after one of the guards slipped a meal tray into her cell that she started to fear she was on a spaceship. The guard hadn’t been a lizard-skinned, bug-eyed alien, but he definitely wasn’t human. She’d been on the first ship a day, maybe two. Then Flora, the older of her two sisters, had stepped into the room. She gave Cara a hug and told her that everything was going to be all right. She promised that they would meet again soon and assured Cara that someone would explain what was going on when she reached her destination. That had been over two weeks ago, and she hadn’t seen Flora since.
When Cara was moved to the second ship, she’d been put into a cabin with her younger sister, Raina. They quickly determined that neither of them understood why they’d been kidnapped, but Flora seemed to know a lot more than they did. That wasn’t really helpful because Flora had been taken away before she could explain anything.
About an hour later, their grandmother walked into the cabin looking sad and regretful. Iris was in her mid-sixties. Her light brown hair was liberally threaded through with gray and her eyes were also light brown. “They’ve only allowed me fifteen minutes, so please let me finish before you start asking questions.”
Cara had been shocked to realize her entire family had been taken, so she sat quietly and listened while Iris spoke.
“You were born on a planet called Altor. That is where we are heading now. The people on this ship believe they are rescuing you, but Autumn and I had very good reasons for why we took you off world. My bloodline carries a very powerful… I guess you would call it magic. We are known as conduits, and without us other empowered people are unable to reach their full potential.”
Despite her intention to remain silent, Cara couldn’t help but ask, “If we have this powerful magic, why have we never seen you use it? Why have none of us even sensed it?”
“Autumn and I bound your abilities when we left Altor, but I was not strong enough to maintain the spell once Autumn died.”
Why did she keep referring to their mother by her first name? It was not her usual habit.
Before Cara could ask about the anomaly, Raina’s gold-green eyes narrowed and she asked, “What does a conduit do?”
“We are part of what is called a power triad. As the name suggests, there are three parts—a source, a controller, and a conduit. The other two gifts are relatively common, but conduits are rare. So rare in fact that we have been hunted and enslaved down through the ages. Laws were passed designed to protect us. Unfortunately, the policies weaponized our abilities and enabled those with wealth and authority to determine how our abilities would be used. Autumn and I didn’t want to subject you to an environment that seemed to value your abilities more than your thoughts and feelings, so we left.”
“Why is Mom suddenly Autumn?” Cara arched her brows. Her heart was racing and she wasn’t sure why she felt so agitated. “You’ve never referred to her like that before.”
“I gave birth to three daughters—Grinnel, Settari, and the woman you knew as Autumn. Each of my daughters also gave birth to at least one girl. You are my granddaughters, but only Flora was Autumn’s daughter.” Iris looked at Cara. “Your mother is Grinnel, my oldest daughter. Aspen is not your real name. Your Altorian name is Cara.” Her gaze shifted to Raina as she said, “My middle daughter Settari is your mother. Your Altorian name is—”
“Raina is the only name I have ever known,” she insisted hotly. “I’m not changing it now.”
Cara understood Raina’s decision, but she wasn’t sure she agreed. If Aspen Hays was a fabrication, she didn’t want to continue living a lie. The problem was she wasn’t sure if Iris had been lying then or if she was lying now. “You referred to Autumn in the past tense but not your other daughters. Are they still alive?”
She nodded. “Your parents and Raina’s are alive and anxious for your return. Raina has two younger sisters. You have three older brothers.”
Cara glanced at Raina, needing to see how she was reacting to this fantastical tale. Did it matter that they were cousins rather than sisters? They had been raised in the same house, slept in the same bed for the first six years of their lives. Cara wasn’t sure why, but it mattered to her. It all mattered. She would not perpetuate Iris’ lie!
Anger lit Raina’s gaze, making her eyes gleam with emerald fire. “So according to you, we aren’t ordinary humans scratching out a living in a secluded part of the U.S. We’re alien refugees with magic powers and our mother is really our aunt. Also, our long-lost families are waiting on Altor to welcome us home.” A soft scoff illustrated just how ridiculous Raina found the tale. “You should write for a soap opera.”
