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"Probably for the best, Princess, but remember you need to eat regularly."
"I will wake her at lunchtime, Ellery," Hartwin assured. He came back into the room without a shred of evidence that he'd just showed the most emotion I'd ever seen from a Cyran.
When Ellery and Nyla packed up their equipment and left, Hartwin tucked me in, assuring me he'd have me woken to eat a late lunch. Despite my usual unease of sleeping here, I fell into a deep exhaustive sleep.
ChapterTwenty-Five
Utz was sitting on the end of my bed when I woke up. “Is it lunchtime already?”
“Yes, Princess.” He stood up as I sat up and threw the sheet back, ready to stand. The dagger in his hand caught my attention and froze me in place. “Normally, I would have just killed you in your sleep. A cowardly thing for a Cyran, but I like you, Princess, and I would have considered it mercy. However, you are the last of a royal bloodline. I could not very well substantiate saving the bloodline of my own people from pollution and destroy that of your own peoples. So it forced me to make other arrangements.”
“With the Barbarian?” I cringed.
“No, actually. I know what he did to you, and he is also not pure-blooded. Others would align themselves with the royal womb to see peace and a child of pure blood seated on the throne.”
“You know they will kill me as soon as they have their heirs, Elite Utz, and their method of getting the much-wanted heirs may make me wish for death sooner? And then there is the issue of me being joined already.”
“Well, luckily for you, Princess, your people are not too concerned with legitimacy. As for Prince Saboa, it will take him a few years to move on anyway. By which time, as you just stated, you will more than likely be dead, and he will be free to take a new wife of Cyran blood to breed with.”
“You think your Prince and King will stand by and let me be raped and murdered at the whim of a purist?”
“I think King Saboa will force his son to obedience when the odds of war are weighed for its worth.”
“Then you are wrong. Even if I wasn’t with child, Luther would drag Cyra to war for me, but with his son in my womb, he will drag every world to war.”
Smirking, Utz shook his head. “If you were with child, Prince Saboa would have announced it to his father.”
“The King knows and agreed with us that it was best to keep it quiet for as long as possible. Anberon, Hartwin, and the medics all know. It’s why Medic Nyla was moved into the palace in the first place. Luther got me pregnant the night I killed his would-be assassin in the throne room. Not exactly the thanks I was looking for, I assure you.”
There was hesitation in Utz’s face now. The dagger trembled in his hand a moment before he steeled his resolve and reached forward to grab my elbow. “I am sorry, Princess. It is too late. Arrangements have been made. In truth, what grows inside you is impure. Your people will know how to kill it without harming your womb of future children.”
“I’m sorry too, Utz.” As his hand closed on my elbow, the symbols for air and sharp flash-burned on my spine, and I snapped my wrist to wrap my razor ribbons around Utz’s throat. Slicing at the air ribbon with his blade, my ribbon disintegrated. Shocked, I stared at him open-mouthed.
Taking two steps back, Utz touched the fresh wounds from the razor wire at his throat as he held up the blade. “A gift from the mercs waiting to take you to your new husband. Apparently, they had to rob a sacred temple in the far reaches of Avalonia to find a weapon that could counter your ability to ribbon.”
Recovering from my surprise, I tucked my feet beneath me, ready to pounce. Utz shook his head. “You do not want to do that, Princess. If you fight me, I may accidentally kill you.”
“If you think I’m going to let you hand me over for my children to be murdered while they still grow inside me, you are greatly mistaken.”
Throwing out my sonic repulsion, Utz smashed through the bathroom wall. Leaping off the bed for the bedroom doors, I flung them open. Hartwin was unconscious on the sofa, and Chas was out to it at the table. “No!” Hesitating only a moment, I ran past them to the outer quarters only to find the remainder of my Elite in the same state.
“It was my turn to bring up the lunches.” Utz’s voice followed me into the outer quarters. As he stepped towards me, I turned to face him. “They will be out long enough for me to dispose of you and return to feign unconsciousness with them. They will never know who took you.” He ran at me, dodging the ball of sonic repulsion I threw at him this time.
Moving quickly, I twisted out of the way as he made a grab for my waist. The teleportation channels buzzed around him. With them activated, ready to transport, all he had to do was get hold of me for a second. Having not eaten, I didn’t have the energy to fight this out, or more if he got me out of the palats. This had to end now.
The symbol for sound flash-burned on my spine. The noise of running footsteps approaching the doors was overwhelming. “No!” Gritting his teeth, Utz turned to look towards the approaching doors. Air flash-burned, and my ribbon snapped out, wrapping around the wrist holding the bespelled blade. Blinking wide eyes at my ribbon, Utz turned his angry eyes on me.
“Never show your hand in a battle with an Avalonian, Utz, or you just may lose it.” Sharp flash-burned. Utz roared his rage as I severed his hand from his body.
Using the ribbon to pull the dagger to me, I took it in my hand seconds before Utz rushed me again. His body slammed into mine, and I drove the blade into his chest. The breath rushed from my body as I hit the floor with his weight above mine.
Lying there, the transportation channels still buzzed with life, letting me know Utz wasn’t dead yet. Gazing at my unconscious Elite, I knew I couldn’t trust them now. I wasn’t safe here, had never been safe here. Putting my hand over Utz’s still-intact wrist where the teleportation chip was buried, I thought of a deserted piece of land I knew.
It didn’t work. I was still stuck under his body. Crying out in frustration, I cursed the suns of every planet in our system. Groaning, Utz lifted his pale face to look at me. “I am sorry, Princess,” he whispered as green Cyran blood started to dribble from his lips.
“Look at me!” I demanded. When Utz met my eyes, I used his need for forgiveness to create a psionic link. Giving him the address, I made him think of that place. Lightning cracked above our heads.
We were on the banks of a forgotten reserve overgrown with weeds and swamp damp. Trying to push Utz’s body from me, I couldn’t budge him, and he was dead weight now. Sonic repulsion flash-burned, and he went sailing into the air. Rolling to the side before his body crashed back to earth, I sucked in a large breath and cringed over the ache from having been slammed by a brick wall like Utz.
