Hotbloods 5: Traitors

I let out a tense sigh. “Sarrask, Kaido doesn’t have anywhere to live. His home—the one he’s lived in his entire life—is gone,” I said. “Show a little compassion! He’s lost everything.”


That shut him up real quick. “I just… I guess you’re right,” he mumbled.

Navan nodded. “Yeah, maybe you could compromise. Why don’t you give Kaido one of your rooms—a dedicated space for him to store his plants in?”

Sarrask scoffed, no longer cowed. “Why don’t you offer up space for him, instead of offering out my property. He’s your brother, too, though you seem to forget you belong to the same family as us.”

“I don’t have anywhere close by to put the plants. Otherwise, I would!” Navan snapped.

“Look, Sarrask, why don’t you just give him one of your rooms, temporarily, until we can all come up with another solution?” I suggested, watching Sarrask’s face soften. “Kaido, if you select the most important plants and put them in the designated room, then you can store the rest in your ship. Again, just as a temporary measure, until we can think of something else.”

Sarrask shrugged. “I guess that makes sense.”

Navan snorted. I looked up to see a disapproving look on his face and realized he didn’t like the way Sarrask and I interacted. I knew he was still bothered by the kiss, but it had nothing to do with me, and he needed to be the bigger man here. If I couldn’t allow myself to show jealousy when I had a lot more to be jealous about, then neither could he.

“But what about my—” Kaido started to protest, but I interjected.

“Kaido, it’s Sarrask’s house, and he’s being kind enough to offer you a room in it solely for your lab work,” I said. “I know you’ve lost your lab, and your home, but sometimes you have to compromise, even if you don’t want to.”

Kaido frowned. “I suppose I could choose the prime species and leave the lesser ones in the cargo hold. I can divert some of the systems to adjust the atmosphere and temperature, for optimum growth,” he mused, nodding.

I turned back. “So, are we all good? No more arguing?” The two Idrax brothers nodded like naughty schoolboys. “Excellent. Sarrask, give Kaido his plant back. I want to see the pair of you working together to move Kaido’s stuff into his new space.”

Reluctantly, Sarrask handed over the plant he’d been holding captive, much to Kaido’s evident delight. Admittedly, I was a little bit biased where Kaido was concerned, but he’d lost a lot, and he needed a win. And, secretly, there was a selfish aspect to my suggestions. Kaido had promised to continue developing a serum from the information he’d gained from my brain, and he couldn’t do that if he didn’t have the space to work.

The two of them chattered in the background as they started sorting Kaido’s things. There would probably be yelling soon enough, but, for now, there was an amicable calm.

“So, how did it go with Seraphina?” Ronad asked.

“We gave her the news, and the wedding preparations will be underway soon,” I replied.

Navan sighed. “I’ll be married in about a week.”

Ronad looked shocked. “A week?”

“Yeah, her parents are pretty desperate to see her married off,” I chimed in. “Anyway, it’s probably best to get it out of the way as quickly as possible so we can continue our search for allies.”

“I can’t wait until we can just get back to normal,” Navan agreed, slipping an arm around my waist as he filled Ronad in on the plan to keep Seraphina blameless, when we finally made our escape from Vysanthe. He seemed happy enough to go along with everything, but there was a lingering hesitation in his manner. As Navan came to the end of the explanation, Ronad shook his head.

“I can’t believe you guys are doing this, man,” he muttered.

“Me neither, but here we are,” Navan replied.

“We need to stop with all this moping—it doesn’t mean anything!” I said, with forced brightness. “It’s a favor for a friend. That’s it. I don’t want to hear any more about it.”

Ronad frowned. “It’s just that—”

I cut him off. “I said, I don’t want to hear it,” I warned. “Now, what are we going to do about Angie, Lauren, and Bashrik? Can you get in touch with them once the long-range signal is back up and running?”

Ronad nodded. “I’ll keep the black box on me, and as soon as long-range transmission services resume, I’ll try and get word to them. Did you want me to contact the Titans while I’m at it?”

Navan shook his head. “We should try sending them an offering instead, to get their attention. They’ve ignored every attempt I’ve made to communicate with them through traditional means, so that seems to be off the table.”

An idea popped into my mind. “I know just the person who can help us out!”

“Who?” the two guys asked in unison.

“Mort! As soon as we’re done at the palace, we should track him down, see if we can persuade him,” I said excitedly, glad to have something else to think about. All of this wedding talk was starting to drive me nuts.

“I guess that’s where you two are headed right now—Gianne’s palace?” Ronad asked.

Navan sighed. “I guess so.”

Gianne had demanded to meet with Navan as soon as he arrived back in the South, and though we’d put it off for as long as we could, the moment had arrived. If we waited any longer, we ran the risk of her coming to us. The palace beckoned.

“Well, good luck,” Ronad murmured.

“Thanks,” I replied.

I had a feeling we were going to need it.





Chapter Twenty-Seven





As we made our way to the palace, I froze on the winding road that led to the gates. It was the first time I’d seen the terrible adornments lining the battlements. The heads were all in various states of decay, the amber sap slowing the disintegration process. Some heads had huge chunks missing, exposing ashen holes; some were eyeless; some had entire jaws missing, while others were more or less intact.

“Ignore them,” Navan urged softly.

I gulped down the bile that rose up my throat. “I don’t know if I can.”

With his hand in mine, we pressed on, walking toward the palace gates, only to come face-to-face with two grizzled Impalers, their features slathered in red-and-black war paint, their pikes crossed in a defiant X. It had been a long time since I’d seen one of Queen Gianne’s renowned border guards, and I’d forgotten just how frightening they were. It seemed, since the border was already a mess, the queen had drafted her best warriors to protect the palace, too.

They stared down at us with derision as we approached. “State your business,” one said.

“We’re here to see Queen Gianne,” Navan said. “She’s expecting us.”

The other Impaler snorted. “And who might you be?”

“Navan Idrax.”

Frowns furrowed the guards’ foreheads as they leaned into one another, whispering. It was obvious they were discussing us, but I didn’t like the unexpected fear in their tones.

“The queen isn’t in the palace at present,” the right-hand Impaler said, “but if you’d like to come with me, I can take you to her. She is indeed expecting your arrival, Navan, though you will have to leave your pet here.”

Navan shook his head defiantly. “The queen knows my pet comes everywhere with me. She will be expecting both of us.”

“As you please, but if you land me in trouble for this, I’ll remember your name,” the soldier muttered, before leading us through the gates of the palace. Now that I could no longer see the decaying heads, I remembered just how beautiful this building was. Brisha had been envious of it for a reason. What made it more impressive was the fact that Bashrik had designed it all. With a war going on, I just hoped it would still be standing when the dust settled.