Chapter Four

Seven months before capture…

“Are you sure this is the tree that I was standing under when you first saw me?” Ellora asked, resting her hands on the bark of the large fruit tree she was standing beneath and glancing back at Aegeus.

He smiled at her and nodded, walking toward her.

“I will never forget that moment,” he said. “This is the exact tree and that is where you were standing.”

“Reaching up for a piece of fruit,” she said.

She mimicked the gesture, though there was no fruit left in the branches.

“Yes,” Aegeus said, stepping up behind her so that he could wrap his arms around her. “And I helped you.”

“And you keep helping me,” she said. “Every day. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

“I would never be able to survive without you.” He took her hands and started guiding her through the orchard toward the sound of water trickling in the distance. “Which is why things didn’t stop between us after we picked the fruit,” he said.

They walked along until they reached the bank of the river where they had married years before. Aegeus released her hands and kissed her, grasping his shirt and pulling it off over his head as their lips parted. He undressed quickly and stepped down into the water. It rushed around him with a bracing chill and he longed for the warmth of Ellora’s body to soothe him. Moments later his desire was met when she stepped down into the water with him and pressed her lush body against his. He felt every inch of her sweet, naked body against his, taking the edge away from the cold.

The arousal in his mind and body flowed through him like the water and he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly so that she could feel the pressure of his rapidly hardening erection against her belly. She pressed against it, the softness of her skin stimulating him so his body responded even more. He said nothing to her as he guided her toward the side of the bank and rested her back against a large boulder. They didn’t need words. There was too much between them to need explanation or questions.

Aegeus kissed his wife with all the passion that he held within himself, wanting to give all of himself to her the way that he strove to with every moment that he spent with her. He sought to worship her, to meld with her so that they elevated one another beyond anything that they were able to achieve on their own. She offered herself to him lavishly, wrapping her legs around him to cradle him close to her as he sank into her. Ellora’s wet, eager body welcomed him and Aegeus moaned at the luscious feeling. It was more amazing, more impactful than even the first time that they had come together.

He knew her now. Making love to her was familiar and passionate and fueled by love much more intense after so many years of growing and loving. It was a love that wasn’t perfect. They had gone through difficult times before and even times when he felt that there were cracks forming between them. But those cracks were always repaired. Just as when a bone was broken and was stronger when it was healed, the repaired cracks were always there. But that was something that Aegeus appreciated and embraced. Each one of those healed breaks were reminders of their strength and what they had persevered through and still remained so much in love and tightly bonded together. They chose each other every day and he knew deep in his heart that he would continue to choose her for the rest of his life.

Six months before capture…

Aegeus scrambled to his feet, reaching out for the man rushing into the room, wanting to stabilize him. His face was high with color and sweat glided down his cheeks. His body shook so hard that Aegeus worried he was going to collapse.

“What is it?” he asked.

“I have more information about Nyx 23.”

Hearing mention of the mysterious group of humans that had built a complex and impressive settlement outside of the Kingdom was still somewhat unnerving to Aegeus. There were many in the Kingdom now who had started to doubt that they had ever existed, or believed that they had long since left to return to Earth. Aegeus knew the truth. He knew why the group that had for many years been in close cooperation with the Mikana had simply disappeared and none were ever able to find their settlement again. It had been his father who had arranged for that to happen. When he was just a child he learned that his father had joined with the peaceful, gentle Irisa to protect the people who lived within the settlement and had fallen victim to a grisly curse. They hid the settlement, cloaking it in a deep reflection of the open land around it so that anyone who was looking for it but was not completely positive exactly where it was located would not be able to find it. They hid them to guard them, to prevent any from harming them while the few select members of the Order who knew about it tried to figure out what happened to them.

That was a precious, closely hidden secret. Not even the Order knew about it. His father had made it extremely clear to him that what he knew of Nyx 23 was to remain within the close circle that his father had formed or approved of and that he was to keep it from any who asked. Though he didn’t fully understand why when he was younger, the older he got and the more he learned, the clearer this importance became. This left him feeling torn. His position within the Order had always been of the utmost importance to him. He admired the old Order and the original intention of the group. He was proud to serve them and to follow in the footsteps of his father and his father before him. It was thoughts of that original intention, the foundation of the Order when it was first devised, that kept Aegeus going on this path when he felt the hints of guilt that often came when he considered his secretiveness and the fractures within the Order.

He gestured toward a chair, but the man standing in front of him shook his head, continuing to pace back and forth in tight, fast passes.

“I think that someone is after me,” he said.

“What do you mean?” Aegeus asked.

“They found out. They know what’s happening. They know what you’re doing and want to stop me.”

“What have they learned?” He didn’t answer and Aegeus stepped up to him, grabbing him by his upper arms. “What have they learned, Martin?”

“Etan, the man who replaced me on the ship, died during the crash, but it wasn’t what it looked like.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was made to look as though Etan’s death was by his own hand, but that’s not what happened.”

“Why would someone want it to look like Etan killed himself?” Aegeus asked.

Martin seemed frantic, on the edge of being able to control himself.

“The members of the crew were chosen very carefully. This mission was the most clandestine and guarded that has ever been done and the team was selected to ensure that they were able to not only handle the actual elements of the mission but also be able to keep it completely secret and protected. But there was one who was chosen differently than the others. Even the crew didn’t know that this person was there. Its presence somehow fooled even the lifeforce monitors, either by making it seem like it was something else or by masking it completely.”

“How could it possibly do that?”

“I don’t know.”

“I don’t understand. Why was it even there if it wasn’t a part of the crew?”

Martin shook his head, lifting his hands to his sides as if in surrender and backing away from Aegeus a few steps.

“I can’t go into it anymore,” he said. “I have to leave. I know that I’m being followed. I don’t want any of them to find you or the rest of the group.”

He reached into the bag that he wore across his chest and withdrew a wrapped package. He held it out toward Aegeus.

“Take this,” he said. “Protect it until you see me again.”

Martin rushed out of the room, disappearing from the house and into the Kingdom beyond. Aegeus looked at the package in his hands, trying to process what had just happened. He didn’t fully understand what the human man had been trying to tell him, but he could see by the fire and desperation in his eyes that Martin had been very serious about his concerns. Whatever it was that was in this package held tremendous meaning to him and he had entrusted Aegeus to protect it. Aegeus felt he had no choice but to comply. He took the package and brought it through his house, down the stairs, and into the hidden lounge that held at its core his war room. Entering the war room, he went to work finding the ideal hiding place for the package where it would remain fully hidden and totally protected so it would be safe no matter what might happen.