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I thought she would be mine forever.
But she had other plans.
When I felt the ground shake and saw the Changeling frigate was on its way, I knew a spy must have whispered in their ears. Never in my wildest dreams would I have suspected there were two in my midst.
My closest ally and the woman I loved.
If I couldn’t even depend on them, what sort of lord was I?
I dusted off my knees and ambled over to the cot. I took a seat. The memories of the past few hours came back to haunt me.
When S’lec-Quos motioned to his left at my betrayer, my attention came first to Emana. The shock that rang in her eyes was true. I knew immediately it wasn’t her. Oh, there were ways to convince someone to betray a sibling, but I didn’t think any of them would have worked on Emana.
My eyes shifted to the figure standing next to her. Sirena’s long neck bent over and stared at the floor. She couldn’t even bring herself to look at me.
And I knew right away.
She was the other spy.
She was how the Changelings learned about my plan to light the beacon. That was how they knew to ride here as fast as they could.
Because the woman I loved had told them everything.
And now my species’ future was over.
“My, my, don’t you look a sorry sight,” the prisoner in the next cell hissed.
It was the prisoner clothed in rags who Zes had wrestled in my room. The Titan who’d brought secret messages to my study.
The Titan that carried a secret I felt certain only the two of us knew.
My dour mood cracked for a moment. I was relieved to see him, even cut up and scarred as he was.
It was still a much sight better than I expected.
“I see you got my message,” he said.
I snorted.
“Yeah,” I said. “Thanks a lot.”
“What do you want?” he said. “I was busy wrestling Zes and, let’s face it, I never had the best handwriting to begin with.”
“That’s true enough,” I said.
It felt good to see him. I couldn’t believe it was him in the flesh right now.
The ragged prisoner reached through the bars. I took his hand and we braced each other’s forearm.
“Little brother,” the ragged man said. “You look older.”
“Anybody would, having to clean up your messes. You look like you’ve been to hell and back.”
“I didn’t like the location. Too hot.”
We shared a grin. It’d taken some time for me to recognize him through the scars and scraggly beard he’d always worn clean-shaven in the past. His clothes were torn with holes. I wasn’t sure if they were his real clothes or if he wore them only as a disguise. Neither would have surprised me.
The cells ran along either side of the room with a causeway splitting them in half. Guards could enter and exit at the door on either end. The other cells were empty.
