POV: Lyra
I couldn't sleep. The psychic bond with Orion hummed peacefully, telling me he was deep in rest, but something else kept nagging at my consciousness. A disturbance. Rage so potent it practically screamed across the city's neural network.
Sasha.
Through our earlier confrontations, I'd inadvertently formed a weak psychic tether to her—the kind that happens when someone directs intense emotion at you repeatedly. And right now, her fury was broadcasting like a beacon.
I sat up in my quarters, focusing on the sensation. Sometimes, when emotions ran high enough, even non-bonded consciousnesses could leak thoughts. And Sasha? She was practically hemorrhaging them.
The scene materialized in my mind like a holo-projection:
"You said you could get rid of her." Sasha glowered at someone across from her.
"As I have already explained the past five times, there were complications. Who knew that the Emperor and that void-spawn cousin of his would get there in time?" The voice belonged to Greg—Duke Greg, Orion's distant relative.
"Hmph! After getting rid of almost all the specialists to draw that little Specialist there, she still couldn't die." Sasha barked. "How is it that not even one of the three of them could stick a simple plasma blade into the body of a Kaelari who, from what I've been hearing from the people who heard the Emperor's speech, COULDN'T EVEN STAND?!! Are these people you got for the job even qualified?!"
They orchestrated the attack. They killed those eleven specialists just to get to me.
My hands clenched into fists, my skin shifting to angry red despite trying to control it.
Greg glared at her in the vision. "Do you have any alternative resources to do it, besides mine?"
Sasha crossed her arms, averting her glare to the wall, remaining silent. Greg looked smug. "Yeah, didn't think so."
"Besides," Greg began, "Why want to kill her? Why not just feed her something to drive her insane?" His tone was emotionless, but even through the psychic leak, I could sense an ulterior motive.
Sasha's death glare returned. "If you think the Emperor would leave her when we drive her insane, you've been living under an asteroid for longer than any Lyrokan in existence." She slouched back into her chair, glaring at the wall with glistening eyes of rage and jealousy. "The way he looks at her is just sickening. That speech tonight to make her feel good about herself and her ugly-looking friends is all a joke..."
"If you think that was a joke, you clearly don't know what my contacts have always been capable of doing without a trace, until this morning. As much as I hate them, I'm not blind. Those friends of hers really did the impossible today before the two cousins showed up." Greg retorted.
He doesn't know. One of his hired rogues survived. We have them in containment.
Sasha sat back up and spat, "I want her dead. She does not deserve to be Empress. I DO!" She slammed the table between them. "Get rid of her by all means necessary. She got lucky this time. Her friends were there to buy her time. Kill her friends if that's what it takes to get rid of her."
Greg snorted. "Hah! You really think we can eliminate every last Kaelari willing to protect the little Specialist before we get caught ourselves? Wow. You're definitely dumber than I remembered. Did you even feel the influence she has among her kind before you were kicked out?"
Greg pondered before suggesting, "We could always sedate and abduct her, sell her on some underground trade network."
"No. I want her DEAD! DEAD!" Sasha breathed heavily. A service android entered to place another drink on the table and left. Sasha then hissed, "Why are you so pinned on keeping her alive?!"
Greg tried masking his discomfort but failed.
"Oh, my stars." Sasha's voice turned light and taunting. "You like her. You like the Specialist."
When Greg didn't deny it and continued averting his eyes while sipping his drink, Sasha snorted with jealousy. "Even without the psychic bond, that good-for-nothing brother of mine wants her so badly that he would humiliate himself to win her back."
"Seb lost his chance." Greg stated simply.
Sasha cocked her head sarcastically. "Oh, and you haven't? Is that what you're trying to say? What do you want with that thing anyway? Just because the Emperor wants it?"
Greg's neural pathways flared with anger. "I couldn't care less what my cousin wants."
"Hah!" Sasha was wiping away tears from her rage. "Oh, stars. The infamous rake of a Duke wants to interface with a Kaelari. Running out of Lyrokans to sleep with?"
Greg growled, making Sasha flinch. His voice turned menacing. "Watch your mouth."
Sasha persisted. "Funny how you couldn't say that to the piece of dirt when she made fun of you."
"The only piece of dirt I see right now is you. And unlike you, the Kaelari made an indisputable point." He continued in a low voice, clearly recalling our exchange. 'Ignorance is blissful, your Grace, until it gets you killed.' He replayed my words in his head and muttered, "She's different."
Sasha emptied her glass and threw it at the wall. "Lyrokan men are going blind. Of so many beautiful creatures around them, they choose to have eyes for a stunted, bad-mouthed, disrespectful piece of void-scrap. Hmph!" She then smiled schemingly. "The most selfless thing I've ever done was to get her to walk in on my brother with a friend after drugging him. A Kaelari has no place with the esteemed Cummings family."
She drugged Sebastian. That's why he... And I believed he chose to...
Greg chuckled darkly. "You said I've been living under an asteroid. I'm thinking of an even bigger rock for you but I'm not getting anything. So, I'll just say you're living in a cave." His stern eyes locked with Sasha's. "Did you not notice that Alfred Cummings and Pierre Whitlaw have been in deep void-scrap since my cousins discovered the rogue Lyrokans we sent? And didn't I hear that your father had to beg the Emperor for forgiveness after you humiliated the Kaelari? Also, if I recall correctly, you told me yourself that your father had to apologize to a Commander, a Kaelari, in front of everyone. If anything, the Cummings are probably the worst name to be associated with this cycle."
Sasha was gritting her teeth, boiling with anger.
"Killing her by fighting her won't do," Greg said. "She's too strong. She has too many allies. And she clearly won't break with any verbal assault, even if we were in a public setting. This isn't like my distant cousin's match. That one was easy and useless. This one... she's different." His voice softened on the last part.
"So, what do you suggest? Poison her? Didn't you say that would be too traceable from your experience?" Sasha asked.
Greg spoke in a business-like manner. "Yes, it's too risky. We won't be doing that. It's not worth it. I've only managed to get away with it once. Even then, I was almost caught. The man I sent was called in as a suspect. I had to eliminate him myself and make his death look like a suicide before they traced the trail back to me."
"Once? How? When?" Sasha asked.
Greg grinned despicably. "Have you ever wondered why my distant cousin never had any offspring?"
The vision shattered as my rage peaked. My skin was cycling through colors so fast it probably looked like a malfunction. They'd orchestrated everything. The attacks. The deaths. And Greg... he'd killed before. Poisoned someone's ability to have children.
I needed to tell Orion. But through our bond, I could feel him deep in peaceful sleep for the first time in days.
Let him rest. Tomorrow, we deal with this.
But I memorized every word, every detail. Sasha Cummings and Duke Greg had just signed their own termination orders. They just didn't know it yet.
They want to play with poison and assassination? They have no idea what a mining colony girl had to survive just to eat. I didn't become the youngest Commander by playing nice.
This time, they've gone too far.