Coldbloods (Hotbloods #2)

“You may go, Lazar. Thank you for fetching your nephew for me,” Orion said calmly, folding his arms across his vast barrel chest.

Evidently having been hoping he would be allowed to stay, Lazar’s expression sank as Orion spoke. With an awkward nod, he retreated without another word, disappearing into the hallway beyond, his footsteps fading into the distance.

“You’ve had a chance to think about my offer,” Orion began, skipping straight to business. His eyes were trained on Navan. “I met your... friend’s requirements. I have upheld my end of the bargain, and now I ask that you do the same for yours.” There was a warning look in the chief’s dark eyes, and I could tell he was the kind of man who didn’t like to lose.

“To be honest, Orion, it’s all been pretty vague,” Navan said, his mouth set in a grim line. “I hear these words—‘offer’, ‘agreement’, ‘bargain’—being thrown around, but without terms, I can’t possibly agree to anything. Not that you’ve put me in a particularly accommodating mood,” he sniped, gesturing to the bruises that had blossomed across his ashen skin. They were beginning to fade, thanks to the vials he’d taken, but they still dappled his strange flesh.

I reached out and rested my hand on Navan’s forearm, to calm him. Things wouldn’t end well if he lost his temper in front of Orion, not when our lives hung in the balance. I could tell Navan knew the power Orion held over us, but he’d been through so much—there was no telling how much more it would take for him to snap. I was determined for that not to happen, not if I could stop it. Besides, by the look of the thick-set, dark-eyed Vysanthean, I wasn’t confident Navan could even take him on. Navan was big and strong by any standard, but this guy looked like he could do some serious damage with just his little finger.

“I suppose that’s one way of seeing it,” said Orion, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Although, you’re not exactly in a position to argue, are you?” he baited, flashing his dark eyes at Navan. There was a clear taunt in the action, but my hand remained firm on Navan’s forearm.

“Don’t rise to it,” I breathed.

“You should take your friend’s advice.” Orion smirked. I cursed silently, forgetting that a breath no doubt sounded like a booming shout to the Vysantheans’ superior senses.

“What is it you want from me?” Navan asked, not falling for Orion’s taunt. “I might be more open to agreeing if you’d get on with it and tell me what I’m actually here for. I know you all have a bit of a thing for my dear old Pa, and think he’ll give you something in exchange for my safe return, but I don’t think he’d be up for paying the kind of price you guys might want. I wouldn’t be surprised if he left me to figure things out on my own, to be perfectly honest.” A flicker of something rippled across Navan’s eyes, but it wasn’t there long enough for me to scrutinize properly. It looked like a glimmer of hurt.

“It’s not your father I want, though his alchemy skills are far and above those of the meager alchemists I have working day and night here. His help might prove invaluable, but I know men like Jareth Idrax.” Orion sighed. “I think your judgment is likely correct. Jareth would never betray his position to save anyone, unless it was his own skin.”

“Can’t argue with you there,” Navan said tightly.

Orion smiled. “Well, we know of your troubles with Ianthan and Jethro, and we are just as eager to ensure that this young woman’s blood does not end up in the wrong hands. If either queen were to find the key to immortality, then this rebellion would be doomed before it even began.” A tight laugh escaped his throat. “As much as you might not like it, in order to retrieve that sample, you are going to have to play on our team for a little while. Who knows, you might end up liking it…” He winked, but Navan was clearly not amused.

“Do you have details, or are you just going to talk my ear off?” Navan asked.

Again, Orion laughed. He seemed to do a lot of laughing for a man in such a high-powered position. I had expected him to fall into a mask of stern seriousness, but there was an undeniable humor about him. He was more amused by himself than anyone else, but it was still surprising.

“If you do this, Navan, we both might get what we want,” Orion said. The smile that tugged at the corners of his lips made the deep scar that ran down the side of his face crinkle, curving it into almost an S-shape. “If you do what I ask—with no errant detours or foolhardy escape plans—there will be enough time for you to track down the pod Ianthan and Jethro sent to Queen Brisha. I don’t want it reaching her any more than you do. It would take the wind right out of my sails if she managed to synthesize that elixir before I got the concoction just right.”

Navan pulled a sour face. “So I’d be doing two favors for you, for the price of one.”

“Look, neither of us wants Vysanthe to find out about Earth, though my reasons are a little less beautiful than yours,” Orion continued, with a wink at me that made the veins in Navan’s temples bulge. “In return for letting you go, to track down this pod and save Earth from imminent discovery, all I want you to do is head back and meet with Queen Gianne. Explain to her what has happened on your latest little vacation to the far reaches of the universe. Tell her of Jethro and Ianthan’s betrayal—tell her you killed them, as punishment for their treason. You know, really butter her up. Tell her that they were planning to join Brisha’s side. Make up a reason for it.”

“Anything else?” Navan retorted. “Doesn’t sound too tricky, you know, just wander into the queen’s court and make up a bunch of lies to save the skins of some people I don’t care about.”

“But you do care about one person, don’t you?” Orion replied, gesturing toward me.

My insides twisted up in anger. How dare he put me in the center of all of this? How dare he use me as a pawn in his big plan? I felt a stab of guilt, too—I was fast becoming the chink in Navan’s armor, and I hated the idea of it, that what was growing between us could be exploited by anyone who cared to.

Navan fell silent.

“I thought so,” Orion mused. “Speaking of those people you don’t care about, however, I’m going to need you to feed Queen Gianne some more lies. I know she thinks there are rebels regrouping, somewhere beyond the rule of Vysanthe, and you are going to mislead her for us. She fears an uprising— both of them do. They know their hold on Vysanthe is tenuous at best, and you are going to bolster that fear. Tell her you found a rebel base on your travels, in some dusty corner of the universe, and we were few when you came across us, eking out the rest of our sad existence with our tails between our legs. Tell her you managed to win a small group of us over to your side, and you have brought them before her, with information she will be gagging to hear.”