Page 10 of 3 Secrets to Love (Romance Tales from the Quadrants #2)

Xacalla

“Here, eat this.”

A large Arodian man handed me a bowl with some kind of bland-looking paste inside, the frills on his head laying back in a relaxed position.

“Thank you.”

I took it from him, trying not to gag at the sight of the strange food, even though his body language indicated he meant no harm.

Eating wasn’t a priority.

Though I was thankful at being reunited with the three Kalpierenes, I still worried where Phalon had ended up, if he’d made it out of the snow or was buried somewhere out in the vast expanse of the planet.

When I noticed the children nodding at me with wide eyes and excited smiles, I decided to give the goo a try.

I hadn’t been given any utensils to eat it, and it seemed too thick to slurp it out of the bowl, so I dipped a finger into the paste to test the temperature of it and get a tiny amount to taste.

The food was warm to the touch but not too hot.

It had no scent but had a hint of sweetness when I licked the sample from the tip of my finger.

I took a bigger helping next time, feeling more confident about the concoction.

Though with the mouthful, I got the full experience of the thick, gooey texture.

I quickly covered my mouth to avoid anyone seeing me gag.

I likely needed nourishment after going without anything to eat for so long, but I didn’t know how much I could handle, especially while worry still rolled through my stomach.

After a few smaller portions, I set the bowl down, unable to finish the rest.

“So, are you okay?”

I asked the triplets.

“How did you end up here?”

I likely should have asked them as soon as I saw them, but I hadn’t exactly been coherent, and they did seem unharmed.

“We are well, thank you.”

Igo folded their hands in their lap.

“Condor managed to find us before we froze to death in the crate our captors had stuffed us into. He helped us warm up and fed us just like he did with you.”

I glanced over to Condor, remembering the moment before I blacked out.

“Hey, did you hit me?”

He shook his head, his frills standing straight up.

“No, it was a ruggersh. It saw you at the same time as I did. If I hadn’t been there to scare it away, it would have dragged you off and ate you.”

I shuddered at the thought of how many times I could have died on Arodin.

With the children located, all I had to do was find Phalon before we could fly away from the planet and return to Eurebly to get them back in the care of their guards, if any survived.

And I wouldn’t have to worry about another three hundred ways that could end my life.

With the small amount of nourishment I’d consumed, I felt well enough to get back to the necessary tasks.

Rising to my feet, I zipped up my parka and located the rest of my snow gear.

“Well, I thank you for finding us.”

I nodded to Condor.

“But now we must locate our pilot, Phalon, before we head back to Eurebly.”

Though he was much more than just a pilot to me, and I still wasn’t sure why the triplets had wanted to meet him.

Condor rushed to stand in front of me.

“I can’t let you leave. There is another storm coming, and it is not safe to go out until morning. I can help you with your search then. Eat more if you like. And sleep. There’s nothing else to do right now.”

I hesitated, not wanting to give up on looking for Phalon, but we’d been warned about going out into the snowy landscape already, and that hadn’t turned out well. With much reluctance, I sat down again.

Ago, Igo, and Ogo didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking or finally telling me the whole story behind their request to meet Phalon. Instead, they lay down on the mat they’d been sitting on and pulled blankets over their bodies.

With an armload of split wood he’d gathered from somewhere deeper in the cave, Condor stoked the fire.

“You’d best get some more sleep, too. We’ll head out at first light. Storm should be through by then.”

I took his advice, though it had been easier to sleep when I’d been knocked out by the ruggersh than when my thoughts kept circling around the idea of locating my brother’s former teammate and leaving this cold and barren planet.

After drifting off a few times, I awoke to a commotion around me.

The triplets were bundled up in blankets and loading onto a sleigh near the entrance that I hadn’t seen when I’d closed my eyes.

Condor held the leash of a harnessed chantate, perhaps the same one that had taken the children deep into the snowy tundra before the Arodian had found them.

“Time to go, Miss Xacalla.”

Ogo waved at her from the sleigh.

“We must find Phalon and complete our mission.”

Their mission? I thought it was my mission to bring them together, and mine and Phalon’s mission to find the three of them after they’d been abducted. Grabbing my belongings, I rushed to join them, my curiosity peaked.

“What exactly is your mission?”

“Our mission is for Phalon only,” Ago said.

Igo nodded.

“You were only a catalyst to get us to him.”

Wow, children, no matter what planet they came from, really knew how to crush one’s sense of self. With my pride deflated, I faced the front of the sleigh, ready to get away from there and back to Eurebly.

“Don’t feel bad, Miss Xacalla,”

Ogo called from behind.

“You are important to Phalon. That’s why you are important to our mission as well. We believe you will be able to help us when the time comes.”

I closed my eyes and held in a sigh.

For beings who looked like children but were actually many star cycles older than me, they certainly knew how to make me feel juvenile.

Once Condor attached the chantate to the sleigh, he joined me on the front bench seat.

We wouldn’t move fast, but it was better than walking through the deep snow, and it was nice to finally see a clear sky.

My optimism slowly faded.

After what felt like forever, every muscle in my body ached as we seemed to crawl through the never-ending white landscape.

I was sure I could get out and walk faster, but I had no idea where to go when everything looked the same.

Just endless snow sparkling under a blue sky, with the occasional evergreen to give a momentary break from the monotony.

I didn’t think it would ever end.

Until I saw a dark figure ahead of us.

At first, I believed it to be another tree.

But it looked smaller and seemed to be moving in a way none of the others did, a constant back-and-forth instead of random shifts from the wind.

Then I wondered if I was perhaps imagining the whole thing, hoping to see something different just to change things up.

When the children behind me gasped, I knew the figure was real.

My heart sped up.

I hoped it was Phalon, but I didn’t want to believe it.

Not yet.

The disappointment would be too great if the being wasn’t him.

The closer we came to each other, the more my anticipation grew.

All at once, I knew it was him.

I recognized his snow gear.

We’d finally found each other.

Unable to wait for the chantate to reach him, I jumped from the sleigh, aiming to race to him.

But the snow was deeper than I expected, and my legs failed me from lack of use for so long.

My body lodged deep into the powdery wetness.

The impact caused me to fall forward onto my knees.

I stuck my hands out to stop any farther forward motion, but they punched through the snow, and I ended up with a face full of the stuff.

As much as I wanted to cry at the setback, I rolled onto my back then fumbled back onto my feet.

We had found Phalon and were one step closer to leaving this planet.

Plus, there was another part of me anxious to see him.

The same part of me that wanted to ignore all the warnings from my siblings and kiss him again.

Perhaps more.

The idea scared and thrilled me, but I couldn’t do anything about it on Arodin.

I managed to get ahead of the sleigh.

Not by much but enough to reach Phalon first and wrap my arms around him.

He swayed a bit, and I thought I’d caused him to lose his balance, but he held me back. Tight.

“Thank the universe you’re alive.”

“We’re okay,”

I wanted to assure him as I refused to let go.

“But I was so worried about you. Are you okay?”

He let go of me and held up his arm.

“Had to get a bone mended back together overnight, but other than that, I’m good. Especially now that I’ve found you.”

“And the Kalpierenes.”

After all, they were more concerned with Phalon than me.

“Yes, them, too.”

He waved over to them as they stayed in the sleigh.

“Let’s get back to the spaceport and out of here as soon as possible.”

I couldn’t have agreed more.

Condor dropped the five of us off at the back of the spaceport, not wanting to spook the chantate with all the flashing lights and moving parts at the main entrance.

There was a bit of a climb along the side of the building to reach the access doors, but nothing we couldn’t handle, all of us seemingly well rested and anxious to leave the planet.

We could see inside the structure, floor-to-ceiling windows all along the side we slogged past.

Though most of the view was blocked by storage crates I assumed they used to store goods for inhabitants until they arrived to pick them up.

The occasional space in between gave us a view of the emptiness of the rest of the building, Arodin a truly isolated planet.

Suddenly, through one of the spaces, I saw movement.

Then there was a flash.

When I looked inside again, there was a body on the floor.

It looked like the woman who had greeted us upon our arrival.

Then I was hit from behind, landing face-first in the snow.

I tried to push back up, spitting out a mouthful of the white stuff, but the force on my back remained.

“Stay down,”

Phalon whispered.

“Coddleswap, they found us.”

My heart pounded in my chest as I lifted my head only to search for the triplets, to ensure they were still with us.

They crouched in the snow, slightly ahead of us but even closer to the building and out of the view of whomever had murdered the Arodian spaceport clerk.

“What are we going to do?”

I asked Phalon. I didn’t like the idea of lying there until those hunting us down stumbled upon us before killing us like they did to the woman inside.

He peeked inside before returning to the ground.

“You’re going to stay here with the kids. Stay close to the building, as tight as you can against it. Their suits are white, so they’ll blend in, but I’ll cover your legs with snow, and they can block the rest of you from view.”

“No.”

I didn’t want the triplets hiding me. I was supposed to protect them.

“And what are you going to do? Abandon us?”

His gaze remained focused inside the spaceport as he walked in a crouch toward the front of the building.

“I’m going to find us a ride, so we can get out of here before they locate us.”

“And alert them to where you are while we’re still here?”

His plan made no sense.

“They’ll get you and then come after us.”

He pointed toward the runway.

“They’ve destroyed the ship that was at the spaceport when we arrived.”

Following his finger, I saw the flames licking across the jet. My stomach dropped, doubting we would ever make it off this planet.

“We’re doomed.”

With a quick shake of his head, he guided my gaze toward the craft behind ours.

“I’m going to claim their ride. It’s running, but that means there’s likely at least one being on board. I’ll take care of them, and when I’ve done that, I’ll send a signal for you all to join me.”

“Phalon, that’s—”

He had gone on his way to the other ship before I had a chance to object. And I was left like a free-floating planet, along with the triplets, hoping no one would discover us until Phalon had our escape vehicle ready.