"I didn't mean like that. Don't you keep track of what happens to your copies?"
"No. They are not me."
Interesting.
"Answer me one thing before I see you die once more."
The warrior bared his teeth at him in a snarl. "I don't have to say anything to you."
"And yet you keep doing so. Tell me, how does it make you feel to know that there are copies of you walking around right now?"
"I don't care," Prelen said, before realizing he'd responded again.
He dashed forward, but Corden blocked him easily, sending the man crashing into the wall. Watching him slump down, avoiding the wide arc of his spear, Corden carried on.
"Really? I would. There are men out there, looking like you, trying to fight like you. They wear the same valor squares because your general seems to think it resembles you. So they bear marks of glories they never won, enemies they never beat, victories that aren't theirs."
It was working. The flash of red he'd seen before was now a growing flame of fury, repressed anger surging to the surface. The warrior was trying to fight the feeling, clearly. It was admirable, but ultimately doomed to fail. Corden knew better. The man he was talking to was a Brion, and no warrior he had ever met could have tolerated seeing someone else wear their marks of honor.
He'd been wondering how Worgen had convinced his men it was anywhere within the realm of reason, let alone that it was okay.
"The general ordered this," Prelen said. "This is right."
"All you've said is that he wants it. I asked what you thought about it."
Prelen seemed to remember he wasn't supposed to talk to him and stubbornly shut up. He attacked from a low crouch, forcing Corden to block instead of answering. The general locked their spears together, forcing the tips of the blades to the ground and keeping them there. Prelen was now shoulder-to-shoulder with him, trying to pull his weapon free without letting go. Corden let go of his own spear with one hand, only to deliver a nasty blow to the warrior's nose with his elbow.
Prelen stumbled back, the valor squares on his neck dimming again as he regained control. Corden didn't care; he'd already gotten what he wanted. The originals hated their clones, that much was obvious, and predictable. Corden was dying to know what Worgen had told them to make real warriors agree to something so against everything they believed in.
Their little light show was starting to draw attention. Corden could hear footsteps approaching, wondering who was careless enough to approach a clear fight.
It meant he had to finish Prelen off quickly. A part of him felt sorry about that. The warrior had become familiar to him in an odd way. That didn't stop him from blocking the blow of his spear, striking back a wide blow, forcing Prelen to jump back to avoid getting cut in two.
The warrior held up surprisingly well, parrying some of his blows, but he was bleeding after a few seconds—a lifetime for a Brion warrior. Corden gave him one last look before dashing forward, sliding past Prelen, his spear cutting through the air to slice the warrior's tendons.
His opponent slumped to the ground with a grunt of pain. From there, they both knew it was over. The general had to give Prelen credit for not giving up, though. The warrior attempted to strike back, but fighting sitting down was impossible. Corden barely noticed twisting the spear out of the man's hands. It clattered to the floor a little distance from them, and then his own spear was at the warrior's throat.
"Go ahead," Prelen snarled. "Make it quick."
"I will," Corden promised.
Prelen had been a disappointment to him. He was nothing more than an average warrior, but he'd fought until the end and that deserved a swift death.
"No last words?" Corden asked, swinging the spear.
Prelen said nothing, only glared at him with hate as the blade cut down. The silence descended, heavy with the lack of words. Corden felt almost sad, although he'd known there was no reason to expect the dying words from an original.
Right then, somebody rounded the corner. It was one of the Palian scientists. Corden realized that the hallway was near the Palian lab. The general cursed himself for being too preoccupied with the dying warrior to so carelessly allow someone to walk in on them.#p#分页标题#e#
He considered killing the man, but the Palian's absence would be noted and it might cause Lana trouble. Corden approached the cowering man who didn't seem to be able to even beg, much less run.
A coward, he thought, the worst that could happen.
"One word about me," he said, low and menacing, "and I will tear your tongue out of your mouth myself. Do you understand?"
The scientist nodded in a hurry, running away as soon as Corden allowed him to. The general returned to the captain's quarters, alerting the Torons about the body he needed to disappear.
Lana was still sleeping, blissfully unaware of the world around her. Corden dearly wished he could keep her looking like that, happy and carefree, after she woke up, but that was not going to happen. He gathered her into his arms again and waited for her to return to cruel reality.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Lana
Lana woke in a sweet and loving embrace, a luxury she hadn't realized she'd been missing. With a smile, she cuddled nearer to Corden, feeling him wrap his arms more tightly around her with a chuckle.
"How long was I out?" she asked sleepily, wanting to keep the happy bubble around her. But reality was returning to her anyway, whether she wanted it to or not. A part of Lana wanted to hold onto that illusion of peace, but she needed to be more informed.
"That depends," said a deep voice against her ear. "Are you rested?"
"I am," Lana admitted.
"Then just about enough."
She laughed, idly tracing her fingers over the general's body. It took her almost a minute of doing that without thinking before she realized he was dressed.
"You were gone for a while," she said, sitting up. "Did something happen? Is Worgen here? What did I miss—"
"Relax," Corden said, smiling. "He is on the Abysmal. Everything is all right."
That is definitely a lie, but I could almost believe it when you say it.
For some reason, that brought reality crashing back down upon Lana. She'd been very content waking up next to a gorgeous man, who was unfortunately no longer naked, but still. In one heartbeat, all Lana could think about was that she was looking at her gerion.
She'd done it. No turning back. They'd bonded now and as far as she knew, Brions didn't even have a word for divorce.
It didn't make her feel half as bad as it could have. Lana was seriously surprised that her better judgment hadn't made an appearance. Then again, seeing her gerion sit inches away from her, regarding her with a lazy sort of desire, perhaps it had. Maybe it had said yes too, but Lana hadn't heard it over—
Oh God did I actually say all that?
She would have been embarrassed if the look on Corden's face hadn't been so approving. Lana thought it was usually the guy who fell asleep right after fucking, but in this case it had been her. It was her first moment seeing Corden after he'd literally pulled out of her. That image sent a shiver through her body, remembering how it felt to be fucked so hard she saw stars.
Corden's grin was wider now and his eyes flicked to her pussy, a knowing look telling Lana everything she needed to know about the accursed Brion senses.
"You need to stop doing that to me," she said, pulling a sheet over herself as though it covered anything.
Or as though she didn't want him.
"I can't turn it off," the general said with a shrug, still smiling. "Why does it bother you if I know how much you want me?"
"For one," Lana said, standing to go look for her clothes, only to realize she was wearing what remained of them.
Great. Definitely one of those ideas that only works in the heat of the moment.
Lana climbed back under the sheets with a sigh. "For one," she began again. "I can't do the same to you. I can't read you in that way, so it's unfair."
"It's what I am," Corden said, but his attention was clearly on her half-naked body.
"And secondly," Lana went on, pulling a sheet up to her chin. "It gives you way too much information."
"I like it," Corden growled and by God if that didn't go straight to her pussy. "I like knowing you ache for my cock to fill you again."
"Okay," Lana said, trying very hard to convince herself she wasn't blushing. Damn the Brions and their brutal honesty. "That's very nice and all, but like I said. It's unfair."
Corden moved so quickly that the next thing she registered was him on top of her, pressing his body against hers.#p#分页标题#e#
"Let me make this fairer, then," he whispered against her lips. "I want your pussy as much as you want me. I'm saying this to you now and I'll tell you when I stop wanting you, not that a day like that would ever come."
Lana had no protests about that, arching up to meet him in a fierce kiss, moaning when Corden bit her lip. Her body whined in protest when they had to part for air after minutes of being locked together, lips swollen from the passionate play.
"My clothes," Lana forced herself to say instead of fuck me right now, reminding herself that she still had duties.
And that it would all be so much better if she no longer feared for her life and the lives of everyone around her.