AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I wanted to ask her how Wes had done it, or when he’d done it, or how she knew he’d done it, if they weren’t allowed to talk to each other, but none of that mattered. Not when our first priority had to be getting my friends free from that giant blue asshole.
Kaelum looked tortured, running a hand through his hair, slumping deep down into the other seat at the table. “When Crux first brought humans to Thorzan, we did not understand the ways you are different. Some were... hurt.” I knew from his scrunched-up expression that he was thinking about his mother, pressing his fingertip into a lofti spike like he was searching out a pain he could understand. “But we learned. There are laws now. Crux has agreed to them.”
“Crux lied.” My voice was more heated than I meant, and Kaelum flinched.
I was mad, sure, but not at him. At Crux and myself and—and I don’t know, the whole damn culture that valued strength and blamed wounds on victims.
I reached over to squeeze his hand.
Kaelum nodded. “Indeed. But duplicity is not in our code.”
“Maybe not for a warrior,” I suggested. “But Crux isn’t one, right?”
His frown only deepened, but then the door chime sounded, and Kaelum rose to let Jax in, and there was no more time to chat about it. We had to make a plan. We had to act, before Crux discovered Ree missing.
CHAPTER24
KAELUM
Jax had been waiting all his life for the opportunity to take Crux down. The only thing that would have pleased him more would be to take Vorian with him, and there was no telling the depth of loyalty Vorian felt toward his father.
Or anyone.
I’d have guessed very little.
As soon as I proposed rescuing the humans, Jax was on board. We would slip them out of Crux’s laboratory when he left for the night. He would take my ship on his own, fly boldly over the palace and draw attention to himself while Lucas and I sneaked the rest of the humans to a ship for long-distance travel.
Jax left in the evening to procure our vessels. We would meet him outside the palace and take a terrapad to the lab after midnight.
We planned take the humans back to Earth, and all day, I had not had the chance to ask Lucas if it was his intention to join them.
Now, Ree was asleep in the lounge inside the door. She’d pulled the chair into the corner and had hidden herself in blankets. I got the impression she was like a yakta—burrowing in the underbrush to avoid larger, more dangerous dangerous beasts. She did not lack for coziness, but safety.
When we left to rescue the other humans, we would leave her here, where she was safe—even if she did not feel it. I would call my mother and have her come and keep her company. We would not leave her in danger or unattended again. So long as any human was on Thorzan, I would see them guests of the palace until they chose to settle elsewhere.
Waiting to leave was torturous. I was not the only one who felt it. Lucas stood, his weight shifted to one side, his hand at his mouth as he nibbled at his fingertips.
I sat on the bed near him, and I reached out to pull his hand away. He stumbled between my parted legs, catching himself on my shoulders, and gave a nervous laugh.
“Sorry, I’m just worried about my people,” he said, that color rising in his cheeks again.
I fiddled with his fingers, kissing his bent knuckles as I lifted his hand to my mouth. “Our people.”
Confused, he cocked his head to the side, a pucker between his brows.
“I am half human,” I reminded him gently. “I do not want to forego that part of me to only be Thorzi. I desire both.”
“Oh, yeah.” He tipped into me, his fingers curling through my hair, sending blissful little tingles down the back of my neck. “That makes sense, Kaelum. But you do have both. Youareboth.”
His arms twined around my shoulders. I slid my hands up from the small of his back, sneaking under his vest to touch his skin. When I pulled him in, his mouth crashed into mine with a keening sound.
I kissed him, dragging my tongue across his clever, smooth one. He gasped and crawled into my lap, one leg after the other.
When I reached for his shoulders, to push his vest off, he sat back on my knees. His eyes flitted in the direction of his friend, and he bit his soft lip.
“So shy, my Lucas.” With my tongue, I coaxed his lip free and gave it a nibble of my own. “If you fear to take pleasure in the company of your Ree, I can wait. There will... be time later?”
My jaw clenched against the urge to ask him for more. His confusion returned with a wide-eyed blink.
