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I hadn’t seen the set up by accident. When it came to the Changelings, nothing was by accident. They wanted me to see it, to dwell on it.
They ushered me into our great ballroom. Paltry compared to the finery of the palace perhaps but it was the most beautiful room in the castle.
S’lec-Quos was reading something when I entered. He handed the tablet computer back to his helper, who backed away with a bow. S’lec-Quos sat down in a throne-like chair that’d been brought in especially for him. He motioned with a single foot.
The guards pushed me forward. My feet strained against the restraints. I stumbled to the marble floor on my knees and hissed through my teeth.
“Now this looks familiar,” S’lec-Quos said. “You got to your knees before me at the palace. Do you remember? You made me an unbreakable pledge on your honor as a Titan that you would be loyal to me and no others. And you lied to me. Have you no honor?”
“The unbreakable pledge is used only between Titans,” I said, leaning back on my heels. “And it is Changelings that have no honor.”
“Insolence!” S’lec-Quos said, banging a foot on the arm of his chair. He nodded to a guard. “Not the face.”
The guard kicked me in the gut. It forced the wind from my lungs and I could barely breathe.
“The crowd is out there awaiting your execution,” S’lec-Quos said. “Did you know? Your people are excited to see your traitorous blood spill. They’re still angry for what you did to them, for stopping them from dying with honor on the battlefield.”
His eyes were black and small. Impossible for me to read much emotion into them. I could only guess at what he was feeling by the cadence of his voice. He was angry that I hadn’t sent our people in to die. He wanted to slaughter us. Not all—that would be counterproductive—but enough so it taught us a lesson—to never stand against them.
“You stood down…” S’lec-Quos said, “and now I see why. You intended on lighting that beacon atop the hill and bringing the Titans down on us. But it won’t work. We have you now and there’s no Taw to light it.”
“Someone will,” I said. “Even if it can’t be me.”
“It won’t be you,” S’lec-Quos said, nodding. “But there is still a way for you to save the honor of your family line, a way to save your sister, and Sirena.”
Sirena?
“She’s halfway across the galaxy by now,” I said. “Even you can’t touch her there.”
“No, but my soldiers transporting her can,” S’lec-Quos said. “One word from me and they’ll dispose of her.”
I searched the Changeling’s face for a sign he was lying, for a signal that he wasn’t telling the truth.
I couldn’t see it.
Changelings weren’t capable of mercy, not if it wasn’t in their interest.
“As for your sister, she’s tucked away safely upstairs,” S’lec-Quos said. “The moment the Titans get over your death, there will be a marriage between her and Zes.”
Zes stood to one side, thumbs tucked into the belt beneath his gut.
Betrayer.
“A union that will fuse the old Titan world and the new Changeling one,” S’lec-Quos said, “and usher in a new age of prosperity.”
“Then why aren’t I dead already?” I said. “Why are you telling me this?”
S’lec-Quos leaned down.
“Because there is still a way for you to keep your neck,” he said. “Even now, we Changelings are capable of forgiveness. You will tell the people you betrayed them. Tell them you were going to sell them out but we, the Changelings, saved them.”
“Why would I do something like that?” I said.
“Because if you don’t, Sirena will die and your sister will die shortly after the wedding,” S’lec-Quos said.
“And why would you keep your word?” I said.
S’lec-Quos chuckled like I’d made the funniest joke in the world.
