AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I wanted to light the beacon today!” I said. “Come with me now and we can light it together!”
“Things have changed,” Zes said. “Sometimes, to do the right thing, you have to think long term. That’s something I learned from you.”
We were drawing closer to the main hall. We only had minutes before this situation couldn’t be reversed.
“The emperor,” I said, “when he returns, he’ll make you a lord. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?”
“I’m going to be made a lord anyway,” Zes said. “The most powerful lord in the land. And with the most beautiful bride too. That’s not something you or even the emperor—if he’s still alive—could ever give me.”
The most beautiful bride? My blood turned cold and I considered turning on him right then and there. To hell with dying. I refused to let a Titan like him have Sirena.
“She’ll bury a blade in your ribs before you get near her!” I said.
He chuckled.
“Yes,” he said. “She probably will. She’s always been a firecracker. But she’ll learn.”
Always? He’d only known her a few days. Unless…
The blood fell from my face.
“You thought I meant your little human female?” Zes said, curling up his lip as if he’d eaten an out-of-season glaxonberry. “She’s too bony. I prefer a woman with some heft to her.”
“Emana?” I said. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?” Zes snapped. “I’ve loved her since she became a young woman. But she never gave me the time of day. Well, she will now. If she wants to live.”
I wasn’t sure that was a strong enough threat. But there were ways to make her do as he asked… for a while at least.
“Left,” Zes ordered.
We drew closer to the main hall. I peered inside each room we passed and wished I could come across a gang of my guards. No such luck.
Soon, we would be face to face with the Changelings. It must have been Zes who betrayed me to them. I wasn’t sure how he found out I decided to light the beacon.
No, that didn’t sound right. When I told him about lighting the beacon in the passageway, he seemed genuinely surprised.
He hadn’t known.
Then how had they learned the truth?
They must have another spy in the castle.
Someone who could discover my secrets. The castle was easy to traverse at night. It could have been any of the guards when they weren’t on duty.
S’lec-Quos and his helpers stood waiting at the opposite end of the ballroom when we arrived. It made me sick to my stomach to see Sirena standing beside them. Her eyes faced at the ground. Emana stood resolutely with her chin firmly raised. Good luck trying to break her spirit, I thought.
One of the Changeling helpers ran his hands over me, checking for weapons. I had none.
Zes took his position on the Changelings’ side, blaster pistol still drawn and aimed at me.
“I must say, I am very… disappointed,” S’lec-Quos said. “We gave you the opportunity to prove yourself to your new overlords and instead you acted against us. Such betrayal cannot go unpunished.”
“What I did, I did for the good of my people,” I said.
“And what good would it have done them?” S’lec-Quos said. “You made a wise and prudent decision. And now you’re willing to throw it all away. If your people attacked, they would have all died. Good, honest, hardworking people. Their blood would have been on your hands. We did you a favor today.”
“Don’t punish them,” I said. “Or my family. They knew nothing about this. It was all me.”
