He nods. “I guessed.” His lips curl into a smile. “You kept your cover with everyone else but us,” he says. “Why?”
I feel my cheeks heat. “I liked you more,” I admit. Damn it. Now would be a great time to jump them, but too many things are going on, and we don’t really have time for sex. “Who are the two Draekons, and why are they prisoners? This is one of Dariux’s games, isn’t it?”
Liorax chuckles wryly. “Thank Caeron you like us, Olivia, because I shudder to think of you plotting against us.” He pulls me on his lap, and I feel the hard bar of his cock pressed up against my ass. Damn it again. Dariux has been cock-blocking the three of us from the start, and I’m getting pretty damn sick of it. “One of the two Draekons is Arax. Before his exile, he was the Firstborn of Zoraht. He’s Lenox’s older brother.”
My mouth falls open, and thoughts of sexy times are forgotten for the moment. “Hang on.” I turn around in Liorax’s lap to stare at him. “You guys are still pretty much bound by your rules and your titles and your blood status lunacy. People defer to you because you’re the Firstborn of Laris. And Arax is a bigger deal, right?”
“I love you, Olivia,” Zunix says affectionately. “Yes, you’re absolutely right. By the laws of the High Empire, Arax can demand our deaths. Dariux is playing a very dangerous game, but our hands are tied. For the moment. We promised him support in exchange for the med-kit.”
I love you, Olivia. My heart beats faster in my chest, and then the full weight of Zunix’s words sink in. They’re in this bind because Dariux healed my leg.
“It isn’t your fault,” Liorax says, correctly reading my expression. “This has nothing to do with you. Dariux has been searching for something ever since he was exiled here, and he thinks Arax might be the key to his quest. If not Arax, then Raiht’vi.”
I bite my lower lip. “What’s he looking for?”
“I don’t know,” Zunix replies. “He’s borrowed my copy of the ThoughtVault many times, but I can’t tell what he’s searching for. He’s looking at historical records from more than a thousand years ago. Ship logs, troop movements, citations of merit, that kind of thing. There’s definitely a common purpose to his searches, but I can’t make sense of it. Dariux has always been more of a historian than I have.”
If Zunix can’t solve this puzzle, with all the knowledge he already possesses, then I’m not even going to bother to try. “What happens now?” I ask them.
“I don’t know.” Zunix’s tone is frustrated.
Liorax wraps his hands around my waist. “The other women are safe,” he murmurs. “Arax is the most honorable man I’ve met. You don’t need to worry about that.”
I lean against his chest. “You’re right,” I agree, my voice muffled. “I just have a whole lot of new things to worry about.”
Zunix chuckles unexpectedly. “You really did fool everyone with your act,” he says. “Arax’s mate Viola evidently thinks you’re—what were his words?—not too bright.”
I start to grin. “I’m not surprised. I pretended I couldn’t figure out how to work the translator, and all the guys fell over themselves to help me out.” I glance down at my boobs. “The girls have magic powers. Guys look down my cleavage and do whatever I ask them to.”
“Not anymore,” Liorax growls possessively. His fingers brush against my taut nipples, clearly visible underneath my top. “These are ours, little human, and I don’t like to share.”
Irritation wars with pleasure. “You know, thumping your chest and acting like Tarzan isn’t going to get you very far.” Damn my traitorous body. My nipples are hardening in response to his touch, and my insides clench and twist.
Zunix’s eyes glitter with an amused warning as he gets to his feet and looms over me. “That’s not true, Olivia,” he breathes into my ear. He presses my hand against his cock. “Will you deny us, little human?”
Hell no. I can call them out on their caveman moves later on. Viola, Ryanna, Harper, and Sofia are safe, and there’s no reason to hold off any longer. Whatever cooperation I was hoping for among the exiles is gone, and there’s no need to indulge Dariux’s stupid contest anymore.
Right now, my body is demanding that I stop resisting and take what I want. Them.
“No,” I whisper. “I want you too much.”
A loud banging on the door interrupts us. “Zunix, Liorax,” Dariux calls out. “It’s time for us to confer.”
Fucking Dariux and his cliterference. The guy has the worst timing.
22
Zunix:
Dariux gives Olivia a sharp gaze, but waits for her to leave before turning to us. “What were you saying to the Firstborn this morning?” he snaps.
I give him a hard look. “Knowledge is power, my friend,” I reply, throwing his words back into his face. “And I don’t share my power with anyone.”
He grits his teeth. “Stay out of this matter,” he says, his hands clenching into fists. “It doesn’t concern you. If I were you, I’d focus on courting your mate, not interfering in my affairs.”
“You are holding the Firstborn of the High Empire hostage,” Liorax says icily. “Of course it concerns us. It concerns every single person in this camp, Draekon or human. Your recklessness could endanger us all.”
We follow him to the clearing. The other Draekons are already gathered there. “Remember,” Dariux says quietly. “You have promised me your cooperation in this matter. I am holding you to your word, Lord of Laris. Say nothing to oppose me.”
Liorax’s lips twist in distaste, but he nods curtly, as do I. Breaking my promise isn’t an option, and even if it were, it wouldn’t serve any purpose. As long as Dariux controls the six Draekons that can shift at will, we have to rely on subtlety, not brute force.
Dariux strides up to the center. “My fellow exiles,” he says. “I know you are all tense. By now, you have all learned that one of our honored guests is Arax, Firstborn of Zoraht.” His voice fills the clearing, soothing and calm. Herrix is capable of whipping people up in a blind frenzy, but I know from experience that Dariux is far more dangerous. “Yesterday, we made a grievous mistake. We believed that we were being attacked, and in our fear, we attacked the Firstborn.”
There’s a nervous murmur in the clearing. Dariux lets everyone’s anxiety build, and then he holds his hands up for quiet. “You know our laws. You know the price we must pay for attacking Arax.” He takes a deep breath. “Death.”
Luddux’s face whitens, but I will give him credit, he nods stoically. “I breathed fire on the other man,” he says quietly. “I will pay the price. Dariux, I beg you. Negotiate with the Firstborn to spare my mate. Felicity is innocent in this.”
So that’s his game. Dariux is going to pretend that Arax is demanding our deaths. That’s how he’s going to justify holding them hostage. At my side, Liorax stiffens and mutters a curse under his breath.
We have sworn an oath that we will hold our tongues, and we can say nothing. We can only watch as Dariux feeds on the fear in the camp to achieve his own twisted goals.
“But what if there is another way?” Dariux asks. “What if no one needs to die?”
Expressions of hope replace the despair on the men’s faces. “How?”
“We negotiate. Arax’s freedom for our lives.”
Voices fill the clearing. Some are angry. “These are our laws,” Rezzix says. “We attacked the Firstborn. We will face the consequences with honor, Dariux.”
“And what about your mate?” he asks pointedly. “Would you have her face the consequences of our action too?”
Silence falls over the gathering. “That’s right,” Dariux continues. “Arax is angry. Let us send word to his exile batch that he is safe, and let me continue to negotiate on your behalf. Are we agreed?”
I look around, and I notice something for the first time. Herrix and Belfox are nowhere to be seen.
And neither is Olivia.
I have a very bad feeling about this.
23
Olivia:
Come on. Of course I was going to follow Herrix and Belfox.
I’m not a complete idiot. I’m not going to be the too-stupid-to-live heroine who runs into the haunted house, ignoring all signs that it isn’t safe. Before I slip away, I grab Bryce’s elbow. “When Dariux is done,” I whisper. “Tell Liorax and Zunix to find me.”
She gives me a dubious look. “You know they don’t like you to be alone with Herrix and Belfox,” she murmurs.
She caught that? Bryce is far more observant that I’ve been giving her credit for. “I have to. Trust me. I have my reasons. Tell them I’m headed west of Lake Ang.”
She nods, and I slip away, my heart pounding in my throat.
The two Draekons seem unaware that they’re being followed, and I’m planning on keeping it that way. I stay well back and move as silently as I can.
In the tumult of the last day and a half, everyone’s forgotten about the spaceship, but as leverage goes, it’s a pretty valuable bargaining chip. I have a sneaking suspicion that whatever Dariux is searching for, it’s not as important as getting off the prison planet. If I tell him the location of a working spaceship, will he let the two prisoners leave?