King of Eon by Anna Hackett ePUB)

Chapter Ten

Gayel was bored.

He sat in the Alqin Building. The stone structure was set aside for things like business meetings and dispute hearings.

He was used to boredom. Being king meant he often had to listen to people drone on.

A city official was standing at the front, projections in the air. Gayel tried to focus, but all he wanted was to be with Alea.

He’d been told that she was still sleeping, and that it was a normal part of her recovery. He sat back in his chair, his hands steepled. He’d sat beside her bed most of the night, watching her sleep.

He shifted in his seat and heard a yawn.

The Terran women were sitting off to one side of the room, present at the meeting to experience this part of royal life. They all looked glassy-eyed.

Well, Avril looked interested.

He wondered if Alea was awake.

Suddenly, he heard running footsteps. The guards by the door stiffened.

Alea sprinted in and skidded to a stop.

She was wearing the tiny shorts and the tank top she’d slept in, her feet bare, and her long sheet of dark hair was loose.

Gayel rose. “Alea?”

She swiveled, scanning the room.

His advisors spluttered.

“This is highly irregular,” Councilor Tann-Felis bellowed.

Adlyn strode to Alea. Gayel followed.

“I tracked a Kantos bug here,” Alea said. “I spotted it from my balcony. Brown. A sucker mouth.”

Adlyn frowned and drew in a deep breath. “I don’t sense anything.”

Alea’s jaw tightened. “I tracked it here. It left a faint trail, and disturbed some plants.”

“Maybe you’re hallucinating?” Councilor Tann-Felis suggested, condescension in his tone. “You are still recovering, after all.”

Alea stiffened and met Gayel’s gaze. “I didn’t make it up.”

“Your Highness, the Terran woman—”

“Killed a corrupted targon yesterday.” Gayel’s tone was unyielding. “If she saw a Kantos bug, she saw it.”

The Terran women looked worried, shifting uneasily in the seats.

“The women need to go back to the main palace,” Alea said. “I think—”

Her eyes went wide. Suddenly, she jumped at Gayel, slamming into him.

Screams echoed through the room.

Gayel staggered, catching Alea against him. He watched the bug land just beyond them.

He saw the black head, and sucker mouth, on the bulbous, brown body.

Cren, it would’ve hit him.

Its antennae vibrated. Who knew what it could do? He tensed.

“Adlyn!” Alea held out her hand.

Gayel’s sister yanked a sword off her belt and tossed it.

Alea caught it and Gayel formed his armor, the scales molding his body. With a screech, the bug leaped again.

Alea ducked and swung.

Her sword flashed and missed the bug by the barest amount. She spun around and Gayel rushed it.

The bug hissed, its mouth opening wide. A proboscis extended out as it leaped at him.

Gayel swung his sword hard.

The bug threw its body out of the way and skittered under some chairs.

“Dammit.” Alea stepped forward, scanning the floor. “Where did it go?”

The women were screaming, and standing on their chairs.

“Let’s find it.” Gayel looked at Alea’s bare feet and legs. “You should go. You’re not wearing armor.”

“Not until that thing is dead.”

“I second that,” Adlyn said.

They fanned out.

“It came right to this place,” Alea mused.

Gayel frowned and crouched to look under a chair. “Perhaps it’s after the Terran women.”

“Or you,” Alea said.

Cren. He straightened. “Well, it won’t succeed. I’m not easy prey.”

Alea’s gaze narrowed and she moved to where Gayel had been sitting.

She kicked his chair over.

The bug flew out. Under the chair, it had left a slimy smear of green fluid.

Alea threw her sword and clipped the bug. Droplets of green blood splattered on the floor.

It flipped over and ran.

“Follow it!” Gayel yelled.

Alea snatched up her sword and wiped it on one of the cushions.

The bug flew up some stone steps.

“Adlyn, wait at the bottom in case it comes back down,” Gayel ordered. “Guards, clear everyone out of here.”

His sister gave him a reluctant nod.

“Where does this go?” Alea asked as they pounded up the stairs.

“The clocktower.”

The stairs narrowed. Air was sawing in and out of Gayel’s lungs as they reached the top.

At the top, open arches offered glimpses of the beautiful view of the city below. The clock sat above, a large mechanism of moving gears and parts sliding soundlessly in perfect rhythm.

They weren’t all required, but this piece was part clock, part artwork.

Alea looked at the clock before scanning around. Under the clock was a clear void back to the lower floor.

“Where’s the bug?” She turned in a slow circle.

He felt a tickle on his senses. “Here somewhere.” Gayel walked through the space.

A drip of water fell on his shoulder.

He frowned and touched the fluid.

Not water, green slime.

He jerked his head up.

The bug dropped down on him.

Cren.

He caught it. The sucker mouth unfurled, the proboscis extending, and the stench was unbearable.

He pushed at it to keep it from clamping onto his face.

By Alqin’s axe, it was strong.

“Gayel!” Alea rushed to him and stabbed at the alien.

Her sword hit metal with a screech.

“It’s got metal parts!” she cried.

Green blood hit Gayel’s shirt. The bug screeched and twisted, then broke out of his hold.

It flopped on the floor, then leaped up at the clock gears.

For a second, he thought it would hit it, but it twisted and dropped down into the void below the clock.

“Hell.” Alea raced to the railing.

They both looked over. The bug had disappeared from view.

“Come on,” he said.

They pounded down the stairs.

They were both panting by the time they reached the bottom. The meeting room was quiet. Everyone had evacuated.

They lifted their weapons. He saw chairs tipped over and cushions strewn on the floor.

Then he spotted Adlyn’s legs on the floor, her boots drumming a panicked tattoo into the stone.

His body locked.

“Adlyn. Fuck.” Alea lunged forward.

The bug was clamped to Adlyn’s face.

“Adlyn!” Gayel roared.

He grabbed the bug and Alea gripped it as well.

“Pull,” she cried.

They heaved together. Adlyn’s body half lifted off the floor.

Alea and Gayel grunted, and pulled harder.

He wouldn’t lose his sister.

In a sudden rush, the bug came free. Alea and Gayel fell back and the bug jerked out of their hands.

“Adlyn.” Gayel crawled over to her.

His sister sat up, leaned over, and vomited. Her hair was wet with slime.

“I’m…okay.” She coughed, rubbing her throat.

He touched her back and hugged her.

She coughed again. Blood stained her lips and her face was red from where the bug had clamped onto her.

“Go,” he ordered. “Get to Medical. Alea and I will stop this cren-cursed abomination.”

His sister gave him a tight nod. He helped her up and she limped out.

Alea was already searching for the alien.

They heard a sound and both of them spun.

A chair tipped over. They strode to it.

The bug scuttled out, its body jerking and shaking.

What was wrong with it?

They shifted closer. The thing was starting to glow orange.

“Gayel?” Alea stared at the creature.

“Back up,” he said.

“No, we need—”

The bug turned red-orange and swelled.

Cren.

Gayel snatched Alea off her feet and ran.

But it was too late.

Boom.

The bug exploded. The room filled with blinding light and heat.

Gayel wrapped himself around Alea. The shockwave picked them up off their feet.

There was a loud crack and a groan from above.

They crashed into the floor, then the ceiling of the clocktower caved down on them.

Then there was only darkness.

* * *

Alea stirred,then coughed. She was in complete darkness, with a warmth behind her.

“Are you okay?”

Gayel’s deep voice. She realized it was his big body wrapped around her.

She blinked. There was faint light coming from somewhere, and she saw stone inches from her face.

Oh. God.

“What—?”

“The Kantos bug exploded. It brought the whole building down on top of us.”

Shit. She’d hoped he wasn’t going to say that.

“We’re safe for now.”

She heard the faint tremor in his voice.

“Are you all right?”

“Yes. We’re in a small pocket of space. My warriors will come for us.”

Alea blew out a breath. “Okay. So, the bug was some sort of bomb?”

“So it seems.” His tone was dark.

“It had metal in it. And I’m certain you were the target.”

He grunted.

“They want to assassinate you, Gayel. Kill you, and it would be a blow to the Eon.”

“I’m sick of the Kantos being one step ahead of us. Constantly.” Anger vibrated through him.

“Hey.” She reached back and touched his shoulder. “There is no way the Kantos will succeed.”

“No. Because when we get out of here, it’s time to go on the offensive.”

She shifted and realized her hip was hurting. She shifted again, bumping against him.

“Alea.”

She stilled. “Sorry.” Then she fidgeted again.

His hand gripped her hip, and she heard his low groan.

That’s when she felt the hard bulge against her ass. Oh.

“Now you’re still,” he said dryly.

“Sorry.”

“I’m not.”

She closed her eyes. She liked him. Was drawn to him.

But she couldn’t think about that right now. Right now, she needed a distraction from knowing that she was covered in tons of rubble.

“So… You come here often?” she asked.

That got a laugh out of him. “We won’t be here long.”

“Good.” She swallowed. “I have a confession to make. I hate small, dark spaces.”

“Why?”

She stared at the rock inches in front of her face. She didn’t want to share old, ugly memories.

But doing so might make him realize that there could never be anything between them.

“My mother would sometimes lock me in a closet. She’d leave me there for hours.”

She heard Gayel’s harsh intake of breath.

“My parents would do drug deals, and have other drug dealers and users over, and they wouldn’t want me in the way.”

She felt his hand on the back of her neck, strong and comforting.

She closed her eyes. “Sometimes they’d get high and forget about me.”

“Alea—”

“I was nothing to them. Less than nothing.”

“You escaped. You’ve made something of your life. That’s what counts. Your actions, not theirs.”

“It’s easy to forget that in the dark.” She pulled in a breath. “Then one time, I was able to sneak out. I realized the door hadn’t properly latched.” She heard the remembered echoes of gunshots and screams. “I interrupted a deal. My mom screamed at me. Dad was usually nicer than her, when he remembered me. The deal went bad—”

Gayel squeezed her neck again.

“There were so many bullets and so much blood. My mom tried to run, to save herself, but my father pulled me down to the floor. I saw the bullets hit him, covering me in his blood. I watched him die.”

“No child should have to endure that.”

She blew out a breath. “Life isn’t always kind or easy.”

Gayel shifted—making her notice just how big and hard that warrior body of his was. His mouth brushed her ear.

“That’s why when you find someone you connect with, it’s special.”

“Gayel, you’re the king of an empire.”

“Yes. So?”

So damn stubborn. “And you’ve got a bunch of attractive, well-bred, accomplished women who want to be your bride.”

“I don’t want them.”

“But—”

Faint sounds above them interrupted her words.

“Finally. My warriors are getting us out. It shouldn’t…be too long,” he said, before he slumped against her.

“Gayel? Gayel?” Oh, God. “Gayel!”

Tamping down her panic, she awkwardly rolled over to face him, banging her elbow in the process.

“Gayel?” He must be hurt. She patted him down. Chest, arms, legs. Nothing.

She reached around him.

“Come on, warrior, talk to me.”

That got her a groan.

There. Wetness on her fingers. Blood.

She probed his lower back and her heart stopped. A large piece of metal was lodged in him. His back was covered in smaller scratches and wounds.

God. She swallowed and realization hit her. He’d shielded her when the building fell. He’d used his body to protect her.

She checked the wound. He groaned again. “I know. I’m sorry.”

She gripped the jagged, metal shard and leaned half over him. Then she pulled it out.

His low groan of pain speared through her.

“I know, babe. Hang in there.” She put her hand on the wound and pressed down. She needed to stop the bleeding and give his helian a chance to heal him.

“Just hang on.” She pressed into him. “You saved me, now it’s my turn.”

He pressed his face against hers, breathed in, and seemed to relax a little.

“Alea,” he mumbled.

“Yes, I’m here.”

“Don’t…leave me.”

“I won’t. I promise.”

Come on.She willed their rescuers to hurry up.

She wasn’t sure how long she lay there, her hand on his wound, his blood on her fingers.

It felt like an eternity.

She started to sing quietly. A song about a woman in love with a man she couldn’t have, and her heart bleeding love.

His breathing evened out more.

Then, dust trickled down from above and she blinked. Suddenly, rubble shifted, and light poured in through the gap.

“Help!” she yelled. “Gayel’s hurt.”

“They’re over here!” a warrior shouted.

Warriors swarmed around them. Soon, several lifted Gayel’s prone body out of the hole.

Someone helped Alea out. She was covered in dust, blood, and grime.

“He needs Medical,” a warrior barked.

Gayel was loaded onto a stretcher and carried off by four warriors.

As they set off, Alea followed.

“Alea?” Ryphen appeared, frowning at her.

She nodded. “I’m fine, but Gayel’s hurt.”

The guard took her arm. “He’s strong.”

They reached the palace. Gayel was carried into Medical and the medical team burst into action. He was carried through another doorway.

Alea moved to follow.

But warriors blocked her way. They all wore the sash of the palace guards.

“No one is allowed in the Royal medical suite when the king is injured,” the guard said.

Alea gritted her teeth. They’d just survived the building collapse. She wasn’t leaving him. “Let me in.”

She was met with stone-faced looks.

Suddenly, Councilor Tann-Felis swished in. He glared at her like she’d collapsed the building on Gayel herself.

“It’s Royal protocol. No outsiders near the king when he’s injured.”

Ryphen took her arm. “Come on, you. Let’s get you checked over and cleaned up.”

She felt tears threaten. What if Gayel didn’t make it? “I promised him that I wouldn’t leave him.”

“You saved him. Come now.”

She looked back through the doorway, hoping for one last view of him. She bit her lip and looked at her blood-stained hands. She already knew that life was too damn short. That people could be yanked away in the blink of an eye.

Live, Gayel.

Then she let Ryphen lead her away.