Remy
When I was brought back to the palace and the Senator’s office, he remained standing and didn’t close the door all the way. I listened to the guard’s footsteps going back to the corner at the end of the hall.
I motioned to the door. “Should I . . .”
“No.” He sounded tired. Defeated even. This was not good.
“Navis,” I whispered.
He looked at me for one pained moment, and turned his head away. “This was a mistake.”
“No.” If he pushed me away, my entire plan to get a weapon and the gate code was ruined.
“I cannot allow it.” His voice was low, somber.
“So, I’m going back to Primo Town?”
He shook his head. “You will stay here. I want you near.”
No! Linette’s words kept coming back to me, telling me I had to get out of here. If he wanted me near, I had to try a different tactic. I took one careful step closer.
“Navis, I think being here, in this place, is stressing you out.” I was reaching, I knew, but I had to try. I inched forward. “Let’s go somewhere. Me and you. Drive away for just a couple hours. Nothing is happening here, right? You’re not working. We’ll be safe together. We need this. You work so hard. I promise to keep my hands to myself if that’s what you want.”
“Remy.” He sighed. At least he wasn’t calling me Ms. Haines. “I have obligations and responsibilities that are too important to endanger. And you are far too tempting. I need you to go.”
I lifted my chin. “Then please, if you care for me at all, send me back to town.”
He eyed me. “You’re not safe there with the human men when guards are fewer in number, and the feel of mating is in the air.”
My nostrils flared. “Your mating season is not affecting human men in that way. I can promise you that.”
He smacked a hand to his desk, making me jump as his eyes became fierce. “Why do you want to go so badly?”
“I . . . the kids, of course.” I stepped even closer now, desperate, and saw his chest inflate as he sucked in air. “But only if you insist on not being with me. I don’t want to be alone in my room.” I lowered my voice. “I’d rather be here, with you. I feel like this is our only chance.” Another step closer. “After tonight, I will never try to touch you again.” I pleaded with my eyes, willing him to look at me once more. The tendons in his neck were taut with the effort to keep his head turned.
“You will return to your room,” he said. “Now.”
Damn it! Every hope within me crumpled at the sound of his finality.
He called for the guard, as if afraid he’d give in. I took an ungraceful step back, losing my voice for a moment. Finally, I rasped one last plea.
“Come to me tonight, Navis. Please. We’ll be careful. Just come.”
When he didn’t respond, except to shut his eyes against my voice, I moved away from him. The male guard clicked to a stop and looked at the Senator.
“Her room,” he said thickly.
No, no, no! I was trembling.
The guard escorted me down the hall, and I took peripheral glances at his weapons. He kept a hand on the gun at his waist, as if expecting me to attack at any second. Panic made my heart thunder.
I went into my room, hearing the door close and the click of the lock. I stared at the walls. The fancy paintings of Parisian hills. My ornate bed. If Linette’s warning meant what I thought it did, this pretty room would be my grave.
God, was this it? Suddenly the walls seemed to be closing in like a tomb around me, and panic rose. I launched myself at the door, pounding with my fists, not caring what any of the guards thought.
“Senator Navis! Please!” I screamed, yanking the handle, banging and smacking the door until I felt hoarse and my hands throbbed. Nobody was coming. I spread my palms on the door and rested my forehead on it, catching my breath as reality crashed down, smothering, making me gasp for air.
Then I thought of everyone else in the building. The children. Little Milna, who wanted me to play with her hair. The tiny perfectionists with their brilliant minds. Did they deserve death, just because of what they were?
My heart ached. If spared, someday those Baelese children would be grown. Would they rise up to try and take over again? If they were raised differently than other Baelese, maybe they could learn compassion and empathy, like the Senator had.
Or had he? In my heart, I truly believed he had, but his sense of honor and loyalty to his people clouded his better judgment. He was too easily influenced by others. But not by me, it seemed. It figures the first time a guy turned down sex with me would be the one time it really mattered. Granted, I always went for the kind of jerks who didn’t care about anyone but themselves.
Except Tater, who I failed.
My last words to him had been that we couldn’t be together. We couldn’t touch again. Why didn’t I just let myself love him? Why couldn’t those have been my last words to him?
I fell onto the bed face first and curled into a ball. My dress was too confining in the chest, suffocating me. I sat up and yanked it over my head, throwing it at the wall. Next I tore off my uncomfortable bra and thinning, stretched underwear before curling back into myself. This is how I would die. Naked. The same way I was born.
How exactly does a person fall asleep when they know they’re about to die? And not just a small doze, but a hard, dead-to-the-world, deep sleep? I don’t know, but when I heard my door open, I was groggy and confused, and I panicked.
I made an inhuman yelping sound as I leaped backward into the headboard, yanking the covers over my nakedness. For a few seconds I didn’t even know where I was.
And then the Senator slipped in, closing the door by leaning against it, filling my whole room with his presence.
Holy . . .
My life and situation came into clarity with a single realization: I was naked. And even with the blanket pulled up, he was staring, his eyes ravishing me. I immediately started panting, unable to look away. What time was it? We had to get out of here!
“Navis,” I whispered, too afraid to move. His eyes weren’t the way they were when I left him today. They now had laser beam focus. Had he been thinking about me all this time? Driven to distraction, as he called it? Because this was the look of a man with a woman on his mind.
His hands reached up and undid a button of his shirt. My entire body went slack with surprise. I couldn’t move as he slowly prowled forward, undoing buttons, pulling off his shirt. Damn.
When he made it to the side of my bed, we both stared. I wanted to ask what time it was, but I was afraid to bring attention to the fact that I didn’t have a clock.
So, instead, I whispered, “Navis, let’s leave.”
He reached for my hand, and placed it on his chest. He closed his eyes as I felt the warmth of his skin. I sensed his need—not just a physical need to be touched and satisfied, but a need for connection, for emotion, for something—and maybe it made me a bad person, but my heart hurt for him. I pushed that thought aside. In order for me to get what I wanted, he had to be under my control.
I scooted forward, dragging the blanket to keep myself covered, and I went up on my knees, placing my lips against his chest. His hands went into my hair, and the sound he made was of pure bliss.
With my heart pounding, I let the blanket drop so I could take his hands into mine, and lead them to my breasts. Aliens were not immune to the lure of boobs, apparently, because his laser beam focus turned to euphoria as he cupped my soft skin. I gasped when he ran his thumbs over my nipples.
“There are things,” he said in a seductively low voice, “that Baelese women do not allow. Many things.”
He gently pushed me down and pulled the blanket away, looking down my body until his gaze stopped at my core. His hands ran over my hips to my inner thighs, and my breathing hitched. This was crazy, and my thoughts were a mess. Everything that made me who I was, my morals and emotions, were unraveling and tangling. I was coming undone.
“Tell me what you want, Navis,” I breathed.
Instead, he showed me, lowering his face between my legs. When his hot lips touched me, I grasped his hair, fighting the moan that begged to escape my throat. There were surely guards nearby. He was taking a huge risk coming here.
Frantic fear swirled with my longing to be needed and touched, becoming a cyclone of confusion in my head. This was wrong.
I sat up and pulled him forward onto the bed, pushing him to sit against the headboard so I could take control. I straddled him, and his arms went behind my back, pulling my chest against his as our lips crashed together. The feel of him . . . physically, he could very much pass for a human. His slacks were rough against my softness as he jutted his strong hips up against mine. The growl that came out of him scared me. He was getting too far gone. Focus, Remy! I needed his help. If I let this go further, he would be of no use to me.
In the back of my mind were emotions of wrongness, thoughts of Tater, and the nagging question . . . what time was it? Why had Linette wanted me out of the building—what was going to happen? I knew what I had to do. His walkie-talkie was on his hip. He could give an order, and I would be taken back to Primo Town. Perhaps I could make a visit to his office for a weapon first. In his current frame of mind, I had no doubt he’d give me the code to his weapon case against the wall.
But then what? He’d stay here, in the same building where all the Baelese kids were. If someone was coming to attack, they would all die. But they’re the enemy, right? I held Navis tighter, pressing my forehead to his as we panted for air. Oh, God, help me. I didn’t want them to die. If I could get them to safety, we could have a new reality. The Baelese were brilliant. The children could be raised the right way. They could help us rebuild, and we could work together, two species, the best of both worlds.
My words came out breathless. “Let’s take the children on one of the busses and leave. A night astronomy lesson.”
“Remy.” He growled again and took one of my nipples in his mouth, making me shudder and fight to think straight. He pressed his hips upward and I clenched my thighs to stop him.
“Look at me.” I took his face, lifting onto my knees so that our damned crotches couldn’t touch. His eyes were bleary. I started to shake as my mind cleared.
“We need to leave,” I said sternly. “I have a bad feeling, okay? There’s danger. Let’s get the kids out of here. Now.”
“Danger,” he whispered, eyes glazed.
“Yes.” I jumped off him and snatched up all of my clothes. “But we can’t tell anyone. It’s our secret.” I pulled my clothes on and rushed over to help him put his shirt on. It was like dealing with someone who’d had a few too many tequila shots. Blessedly, he wasn’t likely to puke.
My heart was slamming now. I patted his cheeks hard, trying to clear his eyes. I shouldn’t have let things go so far. I had to get him out of here. But the guards would not be okay with this. I looked up at the ceiling. What the heck was I going to do?
I backed away from where Navis sat sloppily on the edge of the bed.
“I need you to call your guard and tell him you decided to have a night lesson with the children. Tell them to pull a bus around and wake the kids. I’ll drive it.”
“I . . .” He pinched the skin between his eyes. “A bus?”
“Stand up.” I started to feel frantic. His hair was sticking straight out in all directions, and I quickly combed it down with my fingers, trying not to be seductive with my touches. “You need to be able to walk straight.”
“Yes.” He was slowly pushing to his feet when the door burst open and I screamed, hitting the wall.
Five Baelese guards rushed in, brandishing their rifles. Senator Navis blinked and stood, wavering slightly. Before he could say a word, a familiar woman marched through the center, and a chill fell over the room.
The Senator stared, taking far too long to process before whispering, “Vahni?”
She cocked her head with a morbid jerk. “Did you think we would let you play house with the human forever?”
My heart nearly stopped. She couldn’t talk to him like that. What was she doing here?
He stood taller, and I was proud to see how quickly he was snapping out of his stupor. “You have been banished from these headquarters. Guards, take her into custody.” None of them moved or took their rifles off of us. I leaned heavily against the wall as dread crawled over my skin.
Vahni merely blinked. “I am Bahntan now, Navis. It has been decided. You have dishonored yourself and our people. You served your purpose feigning to be a human leader, but you are not fit to rule our kind. You were never fit to rule.”
No, no, no, this couldn’t be happening!
Navis gave her a hard glare. “Your greed has gone too far. Do you know what humans call those like you? Narcissistic.”
“Do you know what they call those like you? Weak.” She lifted a handgun. “And dead.” A deafening shot rang out, echoing against the walls with my screams.
I covered my ears and slid down the wall as Navis fell back and crumbled into a heap.
“No.” I crawled toward him, but blood flowed faster than I thought possible. Before I could touch his still body, Vahni shouted in Baelese, and the guards converged. I screamed as they lifted me to my feet to face her.
“Each of these guest quarters was given an alarm clock,” she said. “How interesting that yours is missing, and that my soldiers came across a strange signal coming from Primo Town this evening.”
I shook my head, blood draining from my face as fast as it drained from the Senator’s chest. I couldn’t help but take one last look down at him, a sob rising from deep inside me. He was dead, a pawn of the Baelese.
“Apparently two executions was not enough to strike fear into human hearts this week,” she said. “We will have to make this one more memorable.”
She marched from the room, and the guards yanked me out, their fingers digging into my flesh.