Freed By the Alien Prince by Tori Kellett
Chapter Nine
N’ameth followed Cezar and Ro’man back toward the caves, along with two of the Ishtaan miners. They all had weapons—even the miners—because he didn’t trust Xar’ta one little bit. The vescht might not have had a blaster with him, but until N’ameth saw him dead, he wasn’t taking any chances.
He knew they had a solemn task, but in the midst of everything, his heart was a little lighter. Sascha had come to him. She’d been as scared for him as he’d been for her and it gave him hope. Hope that when this task was finished, they would be okay.
“My prince?” Ro’man pointed to a large area that looked like some sort of underground passage had caved in, and N’ameth walked carefully until he could see clearly. It was about eight feet deep and a good twenty across. He could see a bed and an open box with a communicator similar to the larger ones on the cruisers, except newer.
Ro’man eased himself to the edge and jumped down. He picked up the communicator. It had been smashed by the falling rocks. He bent and picked up a blaster, holding it up so N’ameth could see. “There are spare clothes, knives, protein bars.” He looked about, and then he swore and bent down. N’ameth took one look at the broken chain he was holding and met Ro’man’s gaze.
“He’s been here. Even if he is injured, he is walking.”
And can use a weapon.
“This blaster is functional, my prince. He couldn’t have missed it.”
Which meant Xar’ta already had a weapon and didn’t need the blaster. Sascha. Heart pounding, fear gripping him in icy talons, N’ameth whirled and ran down the hillside.
Sascha and the others passed the area she had been standing with Brey when the slide happened and saw the large rocks that had moved and uncovered yet another small opening. She was glad they had gotten out of the way. “It looks like there has been another slide since we were here.”
Brey glanced up at the rocks and nodded. “We were fortunate this daylight.” Then she stopped suddenly, and her eyes narrowed.
Every hair stood up on the back of Sascha’s neck, and her fingers closed around the grip of the blaster tucked into her belt. “What is it?”
But Brey took no notice and quickly scrambled up the hill to the cave. “Brey?” Voren called out. “What are you doing?”
But Brey carried on, and Voren cursed and took off after her. “Look, my prince.” Brey stopped and crouched down next to a small bush with what Sascha could see was a single white flower, the petals tipped with a pale yellow edge. They were partially hidden in the leaves, and the sun made the color hard to see. She hurried closer to get a better look.
Voren’s eyes widened. “Is that a ghost lily?” Brey nodded, tears obvious in her eyes.
“What’s a ghost lily?” Rachel asked.
“The rarest flower in our galaxy, and extinct as far as we knew,” Brey said. “They are said to bloom only for the pure of heart.” She wiped her eyes. “It is a legend, but each flower blooms for only one daylight and retreats back into the plant as if it was never there. As if it were a ghost.” She stood up. “It is said to be a sign of good fortune. Traditionally, a warrior would give his female one of these flowers in bloom when they mated to declare his love was pure.”
Sascha stepped closer to the cave entrance to see if she could find any more.
Brey touched the leaves softly. “The leaves, when crushed, are the base for many medicines as well. Sought out by healers.”
“Brey, it’s getting too hot for Sascha and Rachel,” Voren said evenly, and Brey started guiltily.
“Of course. I’m sorry.” She smiled and turned, but as if everything happened in slow motion, a figure sprang from the cave behind them. Before anyone had a chance to react, Xar’ta had Sascha by the throat, dragging her body back to shield his and pressing a blaster to her temple. “Anyone shoots, the kund gets it.”
Sascha closed her eyes for a second and went very still, but she opened them quickly when the grip around her throat tightened. She was standing about eight feet away from Rachel, Zurtak, and Voren, all of whom had their blasters trained on Xar’ta. Hers was still in the holster. He tightened his grip again, and she brought her hands up, struggling.
“Throw down the blasters and get on your knees.” Xar’ta glanced at her and leered. He inhaled her scent, and she nearly gagged as his arm eased a little. “I’m going to enjoy you. I saw the way you admired me when no one was looking.”
He was delusional. Sascha looked helplessly at Voren. She didn’t want to blindly follow Xar’ta’s orders, but he held her effortlessly. Zurtak moved slightly, and Xar’ta noticed.
“Do it,” he snarled, and Sascha held her breath, terrified as the blaster pressed into her temple. Voren—very reluctantly—threw his weapon down and fell to his knees. Rachel and Zurtak followed suit.
“Pick them up,” he instructed Brey, “and bring them to me.” Quickly, Brey obeyed, and Xar’ta took each one including hers and tossed them behind him into the cave. “Back,” he ordered Brey, and glancing apologetically at Sascha, she joined the others.
He whispered in her ear. “Say goodbye. An Earth female is going to be a bargain where I’m going.”
Where he is going?
Sascha glanced to the side, praying that N’ameth had changed his mind and decided to follow them, and caught a glint of something in the trees as the sun caught it.
“Now move.”
Sascha stumbled, but Xar’ta held her tight. He didn’t even have N’ameth’s height, but she knew no one had a weapon to take a shot. He was heading back to the caves, and she knew if he got her in there, she might as well be dead. Sascha did the only thing she could think of, and just as Xar’ta took a step, she went limp, her body becoming dead weight. For a second, she slipped down a good few inches, then she heard a whine and the shot from a blaster jerked Xar’ta back, taking Sascha with him. She struggled and kicked out behind her, hearing a grunt, but then she was free. She opened her eyes in time to see Xar’ta stumbling back into the cave entrance, clutching his bleeding shoulder. She rolled away in panic and looked back, Lam’saak came running out of the trees, holstering his blaster, and then everything seemed to happen at once.
Rachel got to her first. “Fuck, Sascha. How did you know? Are you okay?”
Sascha closed her eyes as tears threatened, but then she heard a roar like there would be another rockslide just in time to see a very pissed-off Ishtaan warrior thundering down the track and leaping up the hill. Another moment and strong arms swept her up. She’d never been so damn pleased to see anyone in her entire life.
“My Sas’ka,” N’ameth muttered over and over again, holding her. She wasn’t in a hurry to be put down, and as soon as she’d stopped shaking, she would stand. Maybe.
“What happened,” N’ameth gritted out. He kept a tight hold of Sascha. She trembled once.
“We saw the flowers,” she whispered.
N’ameth swore and turned to Voren. “And you let her? Picking damn flowers,” he roared. Everybody stilled, and Voren bowed his head.
“No.” Sascha shoved with all her might against N’ameth’s side, and shocked, he let her go. “Don’t you dare pull that crap again. I am not Voren’s responsibility. He doesn’t let me do anything.” She practically stormed down the hillside with Brey and Rachel hurrying after her. N’ameth caught up to her.
“My Sascha—”
“No, I’m not,” she thundered. “I already had an asshole of a father that treated me like a possession for half my life, and I don’t want another one.”
“As did I.”
The quiet words stopped her in her tracks, and she turned back. They met each other’s gaze. N’ameth waited. He didn’t offer words of apology or explanations…because he didn’t have to. The same childhood dreams and expectations had been stripped from both of them. They both seemed to take a step at the same time, and Sascha was in his arms again, being kissed to within an inch of her life. Desperately, she clung on, wanting nothing more than to be held and never let go.
And Lam’saak picked a really bad moment to catch up with them. “Sascha? Are you hurt?”
Relief made her almost giddy, and she smiled against N’ameth’s lips. I mean, really? They were having a Hallmark moment here—was it too much to ask for a little privacy? N’ameth released her mouth but not her body and looked to Lam’saak.
“I am indebted. You just saved the life of the most important person in the world to me.”
“Are you unhurt?” Lam’saak demanded almost.
Regretfully, she focused on him. “Thanks to you.”
She saw him heave a satisfied breath but turned back to N’ameth. “How did you know he had survived?”
N’ameth glanced at Voren. “We found an underground bunker where the slide had caved the roof in. Weapons, food. He had obviously been readying it for some time. In fact, I think the whole thing was planned. His chains were there, so we knew he had lived and had weapons.”
“Still survives,” Voren said bitterly.
N’ameth kissed Sascha’s head, then let go. He turned to Voren, and they clasped arms. Neither prince had to say anything. Sascha knew an apology when she saw it. N’ameth ordered the remaining warriors to search, but even Sascha knew the cave system would be too vast for the few warriors they had to follow.
“You were wise to trick him, Sascha,” Lam’saak said. “I would not have been able to risk a shot if you hadn’t gotten clear.” She lifted a hand to shield her eyes as the sun was now blazing, and he frowned. “You need to get out of the sun.”
N’ameth looked up, then turned to Sascha. “I will accompany you.”
But she shook her head. “You still have a job to do here.”
“We don’t have enough warriors.”
“My prince?”
It was one of the miners. He glanced apologetically at Sascha. “The slide has unearthed another entrance.” He hesitated, the distress on his face obvious. “I think you will want to see.”
Lam’saak glanced at N’ameth. “I have two teams. I need to get back to make sure the slide caused no problems underground since all the caves are linked to the mines, as you know. I can take Brey, Rachel, and Sascha with me.”
Sascha desperately wanted N’ameth to insist he would go with them, but it would have been wrong. She would try and talk to him later. Lam’saak nodded once, then directed Voren to accompany them and his men to follow the prince to retrieve the warrior’s body.
Lam’saak glanced at her admiringly after N’ameth and the miners had gone. “If you hadn’t ducked, I would not have dared risk a shot.”
“I saw the glint from your blaster,” Sascha explained. “Or that’s what I hoped it was. Either way, I had nothing to lose.” Rachel stepped up to join them, and Lam’saak fell back to speak to Voren.
“What I wouldn’t give for a swimming pool right now,” she muttered, but peeked at Voren as if she didn’t want him to hear her.
“I hear you,” Sascha agreed absently, her mind still running around in frustrated circles.
“Are you okay?”
Sascha eyed her warily. Rachel wasn’t given to outbursts of sympathy. “I think so. I just need to…” She shrugged, not sure how to express the way her heart warred with her head. She was half in love with N’ameth but terrified of being so. It should be simple, but it wasn’t.
Rachel didn’t scoff or tease; she just looked behind them to where Voren was bringing up the rear, looking everywhere for threats. His body language screamed dominance, and she knew Rachel would only respect strength. Power. “I’m not doing much better myself.”
Sascha nudged her shoulder in silent understanding. “I hear he won’t put his name forward to be considered by one of us because he can’t get anyone pregnant.”
“I know.” Her words were clipped, and after a moment, she shot an apologetic look at Sascha. As if to say she was supposed to be comforting her, not the other way around. Sascha was surprised. Voren must have told her because neither was given to gossip. “Is N’ameth who you want?”
Yes.
Sascha heaved a breath. “I just don’t want to lose me.”
Rachel didn’t question her, but Sascha thought of all the women, Rachel would understand what she meant. “What were the green berries that Brey collected?”
Sascha flushed. “Their version of a pregnancy test.”
Rachel lifted one eyebrow, but Sascha shook her head. “I think she just wants me to be prepared.” Then she huffed. “I’m so ready to go back to the palace. I don’t want to be a farmer.”
Rachel frowned. “But wasn’t this your idea?”
“As a diversion, but I don’t know anything about alien plants.” She grinned. “I’m not sure I want to know.”
“What did you do on Earth?”
Sascha paused. She noticed Rachel didn’t say “at home.” Maybe Rachel was finding her feet better than Sascha.
“I was a preschool teacher.” And she had thought she was going to get the head of department’s position. Boy had she been wrong.
Rachel’s eyes widened. “Then you know how to corral kids?”
Sascha scoffed. “If there were any here.”
Rachel shrugged. “Oh, they’re here. They just don’t know what to do with them. Ner’oh, the weapons master?”
Sascha looked blankly at her, but Rachel carried on. “He told me there are kids, younger kids. The older ones have private tutors, but the younger ones just run around like hellions because their dads are warriors and their moms are either sick or dead.”
“I’ve never seen them.”
Rachel grinned. “That’s because you have fair hair and white skin.” Sascha eyed her skeptically.
“Your skin still burns. It’s just not as obvious.”
Rachel shrugged. “How much time do you spend in the forest behind the palace?”
“Barely any. We’re not allowed outside the gates.”
Rachel scoffed. “Then when we get back, we’ll go for a walk.” She wanted to ask what Rachel knew, but they weren’t alone, and something else occurred to her. She glanced back to Zurtak.
“Zurtak, how wet is the Wet?”
He seemed to consider her question. “I have known it to rain for seven full daylights.”
“Then why can’t we collect rainwater and store it?” It seemed obvious to her. Zurtak flushed but glanced at Voren as if asking for permission.
“We used to,” Voren said, hearing the question. “We had huge containers on top of the palace that did just that and a filtration system.”
“And?” Sascha asked because if ever a sentence preceded a “but,” that was it.
He glanced at her. “Too many Ishtaans were forced to become warriors, and we didn’t have anyone with the engineering skills to replace them.” Zurtak opened his mouth but quickly thought better of it and closed it.
“You know someone who could do that, Zurtak?” she asked. He shot an agonized look at Voren, but Voren simply said, “Speak freely, warrior.”
Zurtak relaxed visibly. “My elder sire used to maintain the tanks. He died in battle, but I assisted him all the time.” He glanced at Voren. “I would be honored to look at them.”
Sascha beamed. “That would be great, and we need a simple system for the villages as well.”
Zurtak nodded. “My own village has one. It’s easily replicated.”
Rachel grinned. “Careful, they’re going to be electing you vice-queen or something.”
“Says Xena, Warrior Princess,” Sascha shot back. Rachel gaped.
“Who is this Xena?” Voren asked.
“Don’t you dare,” Rachel threatened, and Sascha grinned, glad she could forget the fear of that morning a little, even if her heart was still heavy with what had happened afterward.
“I’m open to bribes.” Sascha grinned, but let it drop. She warmed to her topic about the water. “Have you ever built irrigation systems?” Zurtak looked blankly at her, his translator clearly not understanding what she meant.
“Pipes that can be laid on the ground and can transport water to large areas of crops, plants. I know we need to save the water we have, but if there’s some way of harnessing what I think we have in this area, it means we can grow crops nearly all year round. I’ve been thinking of what we can grow with little water, but if we have a way of transporting it, then the Growth could be a much longer season.” She shrugged. “Farmers on my world do that all the time.”
Zurtak went from shy teenager to eager expert in a matter of seconds. Apparently he had skills and ideas, but no one had ever asked. Sascha met Voren’s gaze, and he nodded in acknowledgment. She needed to tell Callie at the earliest opportunity and get her on board. It seemed incredible to her that the Ishtaans hadn’t worked with what they had, but she understood that all the old ways had been abandoned in Zak’s sire’s race for power. Or in other words, why bother growing something when you could simply take it from others?
After returning to camp, they had a simple meal and retreated to the cabins to avoid the heat of the day. It was miserable. Stifling didn’t even come close, and Sascha couldn’t sleep even though the heat sapped her energy. There were no direct power sources for even something as simple as an electric fan.
When she went to bed a few hours later, the warriors still hadn’t returned and worry for N’ameth kept her awake this time. Rachel had found a cure for her own worry, sparring until she dropped from exhaustion. Brey was obviously used to it. But after gazing at the ceiling of the cabin for hours and listening for any sound of his return, Sascha gave up and quietly, so as not to wake the other two, slung a wrap over her pjs and went outside.
And instantly saw N’ameth. But she wasn’t looking at a prince this time. She was looking at someone so defeated, it was almost like they were broken. She moved toward him before she could decide if it was a good idea or not.
