- Ava -

Harper went pale. “He did what?!”

“That was my reaction, too. I couldn't believe it. But yeah. Stone dead. Cut into three pieces.”

Ava had given Harper the short version of the report, just so the queen of Acerex could know what to expect.

Then she told her the entire story that she had sent off to Space Expansion the evening before.

When she was done, Harper was still pale. “I'm not supposed to get mad when I'm this pregnant. But this is ... I don't know. It's too big to even get angry about. I just feel numb.”

Ava looked out of the huge window in Harper's and Vrax'ton's suite on the day side of Acerex. The planet hung outside, huge and quiet and unspeakably beautiful. “You and me both.”

“You had no idea he was going to do that? I mean, you know him pretty well ...”

“I don't know how well I knew him. I think now that he hitched on to me so I'd lead him to the guy who killed his friend. Groti'ax. And I did, deluded that there was more between us. He was only thinking of revenge. I was only thinking ... well, that he loved me, I guess.”

Ava couldn't quite keep some of the soreness she felt from coming through in her voice.

Harper scooted her pregnant body closer on the couch and grabbed her hand. “And then he goes and betrays you like that. That makes me even madder. Fuck!”

“It hurts a little,” Ava admitted, fighting tears again like she had done since the night before. “But I have only myself to blame. I wanted it to be true, and I fell for it. No, the major issue is the Kunuru. This will not endear us to them.”

“The Kunuru can wait,” Harper said with a decisive tone that she'd only acquired after she became queen. “Ava first. For a change. Tell me about you and him. Please.”

Ava took a deep breath and managed not to make it too trembling. “We had a relationship. I think. I asked him if I was his Mahan, and he said no. And I thought, okay, he can still feel the same thing any other man can. I mean, we don't expect Earth men to think we're their fated mates. He didn't care about the leg sleeve. He opened up to me. I opened up to him. Me, Ava. The ice queen made of iron. Opening up about something that's a little sore. Can you imagine? And I felt that he got me. You know? He got me. And he had this playful side. He was huge and so strong he could toss me around like a tennis ball. And so gentle, at the same time. And not the best with a sword, and you know, maybe that was the thing I liked the most about him. He was different. And I fell so fucking hard ...”

She couldn't keep it down anymore, and Harper got it, embracing her while she sobbed her heart out.

Finally Ava was able to cut it short. Harper was extremely pregnant, and that fetus just a few inches away might not appreciate hearing a woman weeping that close.

“The love we feel for these guys is special,” Harper said, stroking Ava's back. “I've talked to Charlotte and Lily about that many times. They do something to us that just totally fills us. I mean, loving an Earth man is fine. It fills your heart and your mind. But loving an Acerex warrior fills your liver and your elbow and your fingers, too. All of you. And you can feel it. He's in every damn part of you. Ava, I'm so sorry this happened. You deserved better.”

Ava wiped her eyes and straightened. “Yeah, maybe.”

“Meanwhile, Vrax'ton has to hear about this. He recommended Xark'ion, after all.”

“Yes, I'll tell him. Is he down there?” Ava pointed at Acerex outside the window.

“He's here, in fact,” a deep voice said behind them.

Vrax'ton strode into the room with a friendly smile in his lips. Ava hadn't seen him for a long time, but he looked as young as ever. “And I'm happy to see you, Ava. No one has done more to ensure a safe future for us.”

“Not as safe as we were hoping, Your Majesty.”

Vrax'ton laughed. “Always the diplomat. You know my name, Ava. You're a close friend of our family. What was it you wanted to tell me, my love?” He indicated a small device in his hand. Harper must have signalled him.

“Ava has bad news.”

Ava told Vrax'ton about the Kunuru, and the king's facial expression didn't change.

“I see,” he said when she finished. “That's serious.”

“Now I think there's reason to fear that the Kunuru will consider Earth their enemies,” Ava said.

“There is reason to fear that,” the king agreed. “Of course, they are already the enemy of Acerex.”

“But not directly,” Harper said. “They consider Acerex one of their weapons, the hammer they use to destroy lesser species. They've never actually tried to attack us directly with all their might.”

Vrax'ton walked over to the window and looked down on the planet he governed. “Remarkable. It never crossed my mind that we were just being used.”

“Did it cross your mind that the best warrior in your army would end up killing a Kunuru who was our best chance to secure peace?” Harper's voice was calm, but cold.

Vrax'ton kept staring at his planet. “Not really.”

“What exactly did you and Xark'ion talk about before he agreed to go with Ava?”

Vrax'ton crossed his muscular arms across his chest. “We talked about many things. Old battles. His father and his uncle. His squad. The war. Warrior Groti'ax. Revenge. Our enemies.”

Harper cupped her huge belly with one hand. “You promised him revenge, I know that. Did you permit him to take his revenge at any cost? Was that his price for saying yes to the mission?”

Vrax'ton sighed. “Revenge is a difficult matter. Xark'ion had a claim on avenging Groti'ax. His tribesman and squad member and lifelong friend. Xark'ion didn't negotiate for that. He would have taken the mission anyway. But the topic came up, and I gave him permission to get his revenge if he were to come across that particular alien enemy on his travels. It never occurred to me that he actually would meet Groti'ax's killer. Nor to him, I think.”

“It was only a coincidence that he met Nur, the Kunuru who had killed his friend?”

“I believe so.”

The room fell silent.

Ava leaned back on the couch. Could it be a coincidence? Was it just an extremely unlucky throw of the dice that Groti'ax's murderer had turned out to be Nur? Had Xark'ion really not figured that out on his own, long before they met the Kunuru with the ammonia bath?

Stars, I wish that was true.

But wishful thinking had decided too many of her actions lately. Now she had to put her foot down for that childish nonsense. Hey, he'd said that she wasn't his Mahan. And still she had believed, deep down, that she just might be after all. Because she do desperately wanted to be.

Now she had to grow up and face the facts.

“I believe so, too,” Harper finally said. “But he still put both Earth and Acerex in terrible danger. Right when the alien attackers seemed to be backing off.”

“There have been no further reports of new attacks on us,” Vrax'ton said. “Possibly all he has done is kill one of the shadowy enemies for us. Reducing them to eighteen, if what the alien said was true.”

Harper wasn't happy. “Killing him during diplomatic talks, it should be added. Did you explain nothing to Xark'ion about the importance of this whole mission?”

“He needed no explanation. He understood the first briefing that you two gave him. He was fully aware of the importance.”

“And still he ruined everything. All of Ava's absolutely vital work for years. Maybe the future of our two worlds.”

“We don't know that, if I understand it correctly. But I agree that the consequences might be grave.”

“Do you? And that's fine? Xark'ion did nothing wrong in your eyes?”

Vrax'ton thought for a minute. “He did not disobey me, if that's what you mean. It is difficult for a warrior to suddenly find himself face to face with an enemy in a situation where he's not allowed to kill that enemy. I don't condone Xark'ion's actions. But I don't condemn them, either. I can only imagine the distress he must have felt.”

Harper took a deep breath, clearly trying to calm herself down. “Xark'ion agreed to undertake this mission. He agreed to do his best and to follow orders. He might not have disobeyed you, but he sure as hell let me down. He promised to do his best. At the most important moment, he ruins everything. And you will do nothing about him?”

“I would need to talk to him first, of course. He got revenge for Groti'ax. In the process, he sabotaged an important mission given to him by his queen. No warrior does that lightly. The way I know Captain Xark'ion, there's not much I can do to him that he's not doing to himself right now.”

Ava felt tears burning behind her eyes again. Shit, he was so great. Why did he have to trick her? She would have let him come along anyway, even if there was no spark between them.

Would I?

She cleared her voice. “During the battle on the Ysal homeworld, Why didn't Xark'ion fight his way through the Kunuru machines to save Groti'ax before he died?”

Vrax'ton turned around and lifted his eyebrows at the sudden change of topic. “He did.”

“He says he didn't, and he blames himself for it.”

“Then he remembers wrong,” Vrax'ton said mildly. “That happens in battle. The time aspect is confused and mangled. Especially when in extra distress. All the members of his squad say that he started fighting his way through the mass of enemy machines as soon as he saw that Groti'ax was isolated. Well before Groti'ax died. He almost made it, too. He was just a few seconds too late to save his friend. The enemy alien withdrew as fast as he had arrived because he saw Xark'ion coming for him. Swinging his sword clumsily, but with such ferocious energy that they were swept aside. 'Like a whirlwind through dry leaves,' one of the squad members said. At the time I thought that tells us everything we need to know about Captain Xark'ion.”