3. Chapter 2

The others walked away down the passage and left Jasmine alone. She entered a bedroom out of a medieval fairy tale. She drank in the sight with greedy eyes. She never saw anything like it.

Another diagonal shaft let light stream into the room, and a window chiseled out of the stone wall gave Jasmine a sweeping view over the country outside the Keep. A few tapestries covered the walls, but the huge four-poster bed dominated the room.

The ornate brocade of Freya’s gown decorated the coverlet. Piles of pillows invited Jasmine to lie down and close her eyes. A table and chair flanked the window, and a gown like Freya’s hung over the chair back. Was Jasmine supposed to put that on?

She traced the fabric with her finger. What sort of person would she change into if she wore a dress like that? She would cease to be Jasmine Forsythe, biologist and Commanding Officer of the Allies research team. She would become…. well, she would become a woman of Kratak, wouldn’t she? She would become a mythical creature out of a storybook. She would become Freya.

Jasmine turned away from that dress. She wasn’t ready to turn into Freya just yet. Maybe she would never be ready for that. After all, she would return to the Allies after she completed this mission. A dress like that made no sense in her home world.

When she turned around, she noticed her door still standing open. Rex lounged in the doorway and grinned at her. “Do you like it?”

“What—the room? Sure. It’s incredible. Why aren’t you going to your own room?”

He slithered through the door. “I want to be in your room, with you.” He shut the door behind him.

Jasmine snorted. “Is that all you ever think about?”

He came up next to her. He stood close enough so she could hear his breath blowing through his nostrils. “When you’re around—yes. You know I can’t get enough of you. Come on. How about a little playtime before we join our friends for the afternoon meal?”

Jasmine moved away. “I’m too tired and I have a lot to do to get ready for carrying out my research. You shouldn’t even be here. You should be in your own room or down at the hall. If the Krataks found out about us….”

“What would the Krataks do if they found out about us? I’m sure they have relations with each other, just like we do. I’m sure they’ve seen it a million times. This sort of thing is nothing new to them.”

“This sort of thing! Is that what you call it?”

He crossed the room to stand in front of her. He slipped his hand behind her back and hugged her against his body. “Come on, Jasmine. I want you. I haven’t had you since we got here.”

“We just got here.”

“You know what I mean. You haven’t let me get close to you since we camped out in the forest. When are we going to pick up where we left off?”

She tore herself away. “Not now. Once we get something to eat, I want to go outside. I want to take some more notes on the vegetation before the Assan brothers get back.”

Rex started back. “The Assan brothers! Is that what interests you?”

“Why shouldn’t they interest? They’re fascinating. They must be the only people in the galaxy with those tattoos on their faces.”

He humphed. “All you ever think about is work. You have enough notes on the vegetation already. You can spend a few minutes alone with me before you take off somewhere on your biological meanderings.”

She paid no attention. “You have a job to do here, Rex. You should concentrate on that instead of on getting into my pants.”

He burst out laughing. “But getting into your pants is so much more interesting than anything else going on around here.”

Before she could protest, he rushed at her and knocked her off her feet. He pushed her down on the bed and covered her mouth with his lips. His bulk crushed her into the bed, and he screwed his hips between her legs.

Jasmine struggled to break free, but his warm presence confused her for a moment. She started to relax into that kiss. He took the hint and kneed one of her legs out of the way. He inched between her legs, and his lips prodded her mouth open to let his tongue slip inside.

A jet of excitement blasted through her. She wanted to let herself go, but his presumption annoyed her. She summoned the energy to shove him off and jump to her feet. “What are you doing? Get off me. Don’t mess with me like that again.”

He propped himself up on his elbow. “What’s the matter with you? Are we together or not?”

“We’re together on a mission on an alien planet. When are you going to understand that?”

“We might be, but we’re also a lot more than that. I shouldn’t have to wonder when you’re going to take the time to give me your attention.”

“I’ve given you too much of my attention already. I never should have brought you on this mission. You’ve undermined my authority too many times. I never should have come to this planet with someone I was personally involved with. Now go out there and do your job. That’s an order.”

He didn’t move. “I can talk to the Krataks anytime. I’m in no rush. We’re here for a year.”

“Not if General Duncan has her way. She could recall us at anytime.”

“Then I don’t have any job to do, do I?”

Jasmine stopped in the act of straightening up the already perfect room. She regarded him reclining on her bed. Of everyone on this team, maybe she could explain her misgivings to him. He, of all people, might just understand them. “Do you think something weird is going on?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean General Duncan coming down here to pick us up after only a few days on the planet. Don’t you think there’s something odd about that?”

“I still don’t know what you mean.”

She waved her hand. “Aw, come on, Rex. You’re the Allies rep on this team. If anybody knows what the Allies are capable of, it’s you. Why would General Duncan abort our mission so fast?”

“She already explained that. They want to move ahead with diplomatic protocols.”

“I know that,” Jasmine snapped. “My question is why they want to move ahead with diplomatic protocols. They must have some reason to escalate their plans for this planet.”

Rex cocked his head. “So, what are you trying to say?”

Jasmine looked around the room. “Don’t you find it a little curious the Allies would throw our mission in the trash so fast in favor of serious diplomatic efforts? The only reason they would do that is if they didn’t really value our mission in the first place. They must have seen our mission as a preliminary overture. They wanted to get the Krataks to open the door so the Allies could stick their toe inside.”

Rex’s face cracked into a raw grin. “Did you just figure that out right now? Did you just now come to the fact that the Allies wanted to invade this planet all along? I thought you understood these things better than that.”

Jasmine stared at him. “Are you seriously telling me you knew about this all along?”

“Of course! Why do you think the Allies included a political representative on both teams? That’s what I’m here for, to make sure the Allies’ agenda gets carried out.”

Jasmine gasped. “How could you keep this from me? How could you make out with me and... everything else, when you knew all along our mission was just a charade?”

“It’s hardly a charade. I’m certain the Allies would find your research most useful when the time came to negotiate a settlement with these people.”

“Negotiate a settlement! Is that what you call coercing the Krataks to join the Alliance against their own interests?”

“Now you’re making things up, Jasmine. You know the Allies never coerced anybody into doing anything.”

“Don’t pull that jargon on me,” she shot back. “You know as well as I do the Allies never took no for an answer when they decided to include a planet in the Alliance. They won’t do it here, either. They want Kratak to join, and the Allies won’t quit until they do.”

“You don’t have to worry about the Allies coercing the Krataks to do anything. The Krataks are far too distracted by this stupid little war against the Ulasso. They’ll send their best fighters and their strongest people out there—wherever it is—and leave the Keep unprotected. The Allies will walk right in, and that will be that.”

Jasmine whirled away. She walked back and forth from one side of the room to the other, but she couldn’t get her mind to settle down. “I can’t believe what I’m hearing. All this time, all these years, I gave my life to the Allies. I thought I was betraying my own people by even talking to you about it, and now I find out you already knew. You’re one of them. You’re one of the people who will conquer this planet.”

He sat up on the bed, but his grin only got wider. “I never thought you would figure it out. You’ve always been so concerned about doing the right thing. You never questioned before. Now I can respect you.”

She whirled around to confront him. “Respect me! Now you can respect me?”

“You’re not a mindless dupe anymore.”

“Is that what I was to you before?”

He put out his hand to her. “I still loved you. I never stopped loving you.”

“You fink!” She spun away from him. She couldn’t even look at him. “I never want to see you again.”

He jumped off the bed and headed for the door. “You’re going to see me again whether you want to or not. You better get used to it, because you and I are the only two on this team who know the truth. I almost wish Sheena was still here. She knew what was what.”

“You never should have kept this secret from me,” Jasmine cried. “How could you say you loved me with this between us?”

“Well, now it isn’t between us anymore. Now I can say I love you, and you have no reason to hold me at arm’s length.”

She rushed at him and shoved him toward the door. “Get out of here. You’re a snake. I’ve known it all along, and I’ve been too blind to see it until now. Get out and don’t come back.”

She flung the door open and pushed him into the passage. She slammed the door in his face and threw herself down on the bed.