Page 34 of Champion (The Outlander Book Club… in Space! #6)

I held my mate.

I held her as she tearfully told me of Adtovar’s sacrifice and sobbed with regret and worry.

I held her through her reunion with Emmy.

I held her as we watched Nansar led away for interrogation, finally arrested for his many crimes.

I held her as Duke Ako bade me, Willa, Khaion, and Emmy to accompany him to observe Nansar’s questioning, while he set Pearl and Jutuk to check out the kitchens to make sure Nansar hadn’t tried to poison him again.

I held her tighter as we made our way through the catacombs in the lower levels of the citadel heading toward the dungeons.

Moisture slicked the dark stone walls and floor, causing my boots to squeak as I walked.

Chains hung from the walls, clinking softly as they swayed in the warm, stale puffs of air rising from the heated caverns below.

It was colder than I expected, especially knowing that the tunnels under the citadel housed numerous hot springs.

While few occupied the cells, the air was humid and thick with the scents of blood and decay.

This was not a place for the faint of heart, yet Willa strode purposefully at my side, head held high.

We came to a stop outside Nansar’s cell. He sat chained to a wooden chair, stripped of his royal finery and clad only in dirty leather pants. His long platinum hair tangled about his head, and deep purple blood dripped from his broken nose… courtesy of my mate.

Duke Ako and the Alliance Prime entered the cell, flanked by two guards, leaving Khaion and me, along with our mates, to linger outside as witness to the proceedings.

A long wooden bench sat opposite the cell, worn but sturdy.

Khaion seated himself on one end, settling Emmy beside him and drawing her close while I sat on the other end, pulling Willa onto my lap.

We’d been apart too long for me to let her out of my grasp just yet.

“I was so worried about you,” Willa whispered, letting her head drop onto my shoulder.

“I am sorry, my heart,” I murmured, letting my lips play over her hairline. “I will never forgive myself for not being at your side, but dealing with the Kerzak took much longer than I anticipated.”

A faint tremble ran through her body. “Was it a bloody battle?”

“It wasn’t a battle at all,” I issued a low chuckle, noticing how the Alliance Prime’s shoulders tensed as she heard the noise. “The Alliance requested that we deal with the Kerzak without bloodshed, if possible. That’s what took so long.”

“I thought the Kerzak were all kinds of vicious and bloodthirsty.” Willa’s deep blue eyes found mine and held.

“Some are, especially those that follow Ambassador Yaard. But since discovering that royal prince Alokar and his sister Vienda survived their parent’s massacre, we were able to enter negotiations with the Kerzak planetary council.

Once we made the council aware of Yaard’s crimes, they declared him a criminal and stripped him of his title and wealth. ”

“What about the Kerzak ship Nansar claimed was in orbit?”

“I wondered about that too,” I mused. “We found no ship. It is unknown if Yaard turned away when he heard of our negotiations with the council or whether he never intended to show up in the first place.”

Willa slid her arms around my waist, clinging, her face buried in my chest. “I had all these awful ideas of you engaged in battle with the Kerzak.” She shuddered again, deeper this time. “After what happened to Adtovar… I can’t lose you.”

Her voice broke and unshed sobs shook her shoulders.

The moment when sadness completely overtook her was too much for me to bear.

I cupped her face in my hands, kissing her gently.

“I’m here, my heart.” I kissed her again, just a brush of my lips to comfort and reassure her.

“Adtovar will be fine. Hakkar is the best healer in the universe.”

“So is Agnes.” Her faint smile was everything.

“Pay attention,” Khaion scolded in a hiss, but when my gaze found him, he wore a smile, as did his mate Emmy.

Still, I did as he bade, turning my attention to the cell where the Alliance Prime settled in a chair opposite Nansar while Duke Ako paced at her side.

“The Alliance accuses you, Nansar of Ajaxiun, of conspiracy to commit slavery, murder, and treachery. How do you plead?”

“Fuck you.” Nansar hissed, splitting a wad of blood at the Prime’s white shoes.

Willa jumped at his words and stifled a moan. “I guess he picked that up from me. I certainly said it to him enough.”

The Prime cast a glance at her purple-spattered shoes, giving no more than a raised brow in response.

“Is that your only response to the charges laid against you?”

“Fucking human lover.”

“Well, that’s a new use for the term,” Willa quipped.

“Why do you hate them so?” Duke Ako’s low voice seemed to echo. He moved from where he paced near cell bars to stand beside the Lady Prime. “Your mother was human.”

“Mommy issues,” Emmy whispered toward my mate, and Willa rolled her eyes.

“I hate them because of her.” Nansar barked at his father, rocking back and forth in his chair. “Ambassador Yaard told me what she did. How after I was born, she took one look at me and thought me so hideous she ran from the citadel, never to be seen again.”

“Big mommy issues,” Willa echoed in a murmur. Although her words didn’t capture as much of my attention as the strange glance shared between Duke Ako and the Alliance Prime.

The Duke seemed to crumple in on himself, shoulders slumped, and he buried his face in his hands. The Alliance Prime turned in her seat, laying a hand on the Duke’s arm. It was more than just a gesture of comfort. It was a sign of long-standing friendship between the two.

“This is not your fault, Ako.” Her voice was stern but laced with an undercurrent of emotion.

“It is.” Duke Ako drew a deep, trembling breath. “I’m sorry, my son. This is my fault.”

I didn’t know who looked more shocked, only that the Alliance Prime didn’t seem shocked at all. Her countenance was one of deep sadness.

“Of course, it’s your fault,” Nansar yelled, flailing against the bonds that tied him to the chair. “You always cared more about those fucking humans than you ever did for me.” His green eyes darted, finding my mate in the din. “Stupid, weak humans. The only thing they’re good for is slavery.”

Thankfully, with my mate cuddled in my lap, my urge to stomp into the cell and beat Nansar into compliance derailed somewhat. My Chieftain’s low growl reached my ears as he apparently pondered the same idea. At his side, Emmy ran a soothing hand up and down his arm.

Duke Ako didn’t seem ruffled by his son’s outburst. Instead, it seemed to coalesce something within him. He moved a few steps forward, kneeling by his son’s side, a gentle hand wiping the blood from Nansar’s face with his fingertips.

“Your mother was a wonderful female,” Ako began. Nansar twisted his head, fighting against his father’s touch, but the Duke cupped his son’s face gently, holding his gaze. “I should have told you more about her. But I was so heartbroken over losing Helene that to speak of her….”

Duke Ako shuddered; his expression so forlorn that it made his next words unsurprising.

“Your mother Helene was my true mate.”

Again, the only person who didn’t appear shocked by the information was the Alliance Prime. Her face was a study in placidity, save for the ticking of a small muscle along her jawline.

“You lie!” Nansar shouted. “Rmalda was your true mate. It’s why you hate the Kerzak… because they killed her.”

“Rmalda was a good female, but she was never my true mate. We mated for political reasons,” Duke Ako explained with a regretful shake of his head.

“It is true,” the Alliance Prime added in a soft voice.

“Then why were you so vengeful against the Kerzak for killing her?”

The Duke’s head snapped up at this, eyes hard. “Because she was a good female, and Ambassador Yaard killed her for nothing more than spite… he wanted me to cease my efforts to help the humans.”

“You lie,” Nansar snarled, but the conviction in his voice wavered slightly.

“After Rmalda died, I resolved to never mate again… not until the Alliance could find a way to quell Yaard’s influence on the Kerzak,” Duke Ako continued.

“But then I met your mother. Helene was one of many human females taken by the Trogvyk. She was sent her to me as a gift—a bribe, if you will, to stop my work against human slavery.”

“You would have never kept her.” Nansar seemed to recognize a crumb of deceit in his father’s story and pounced. “You would never have kept a slave.”

“Helene was never my slave.” Despite the sadness that lay heavy on his features, his lips quirked into a smile. “I took one look at her, and my horns began to itch and heat.”

The sign of an Aljani true mating.

“We were happy for a time. None more than when you came along. But when Ambassador Yaard discovered Helene wasn’t just my favored concubine… that she was my mate. He came for her.”

“What do you mean?” Nansar seemed shaken.

“He tried to have her killed several times.” Duke Ako’s pale blue gaze hardened.

“Isn’t that against Alliance law?” My Chieftain’s mate asked, watching Duke Ako’s confession with tears hovering in her eyes.

“Humans have no protection as yet under Alliance law.” The Prime answered her question.

“Which means there is no law against enslaving or harming your species.” She turned her bright golden eyes to Nansar.

“Ambassador Yaard would have killed you as well, but the penalty for killing a royal is death.”

Ambassador Yaard would face death for his role in killing the Kerzak king and queen—when we found him.

Ako’s hand settled on Nansar’s shoulder, giving a squeeze.

“Your mother did not run from you. I sent her away to keep her safe… to keep you both safe.” Tears hovered in his pale blue eyes.

“The only thing she took with her from our time together was a drawing of you as a baby that she had inked into her skin.”

“I don’t believe you,” Nansar mumbled, his voice small.

“It is true.” The Alliance Prime moved to stand near the Duke, her hand on his shoulder, offering comfort. “Helene had been through the Garoot Healer. Returning her to Earth was forbidden. But I helped your father circumvent the law in order to keep her out of Yaard’s reach.”

Duke Ako’s hand mussed his son’s pale hair before touching his comm bracelet, his thick fingertips manipulating the controls.

A shimmer of light lifted from his wrist, showing the visage of a beautiful woman with deep green eyes—eyes her son shared—and wavy brown hair.

A single tear ran down her cheek. She lifted a hand to wipe it away, the tattoo of baby Nansar clearly visible on her forearm.

Nansar sucked in a breath, his eyes watering as he looked at the hologram. “She—she was beautiful.”

“Yes.” The despondency in Duke Ako’s voice was palpable. “And she loved you more than her own life, my son.”

“Yaard is the criminal we seek.” Khaion stood and approached the cell, Emmy at his side. “He is behind everything we’ve uncovered.”

“Not to mention he massacred the Kerzak king and queen,” Emmy added with a frown.

“Yaard swore to me that my mother had corrupted your ideals, father. He said she bewitched you into seeing humans as sentient, worthy beings,” Nansar said, as though he suddenly found the words unbelievable. “He promised to help me take your throne in order to punish the humans.”

“You are not the first being enticed by Yaard’s rhetoric, and I fear you will not be the last.” The female Vaktaire sighed heavily.

“Ambassador Yaard set you up to take the fall for his crimes. If things worked out as planned, the Zarpazian would have killed your father, and no doubt there would be evidence to implicate only you in the crime, leaving Ajaxiun unruled and vulnerable to annexation by the Kerzak.”

“Yaard was the one that sent the Zarpazian to me,” Nansar blurted, his pale eyes growing wide. “He was the one that set up the mumje mining and came up with the plan to test it on the humans on Tau Ceti.”

“We also know he was behind the assassination attempt on your father, facilitated by Baron Oappo,” Khaion added.

“Where is Ambassador Yaard?” Willa wriggled from my lap, slowly approaching the cell.

“We do not know.” For the first time, the Lady Prime seemed unsure of herself.

“We’ve been searching for Ambassador Yaard ever since they found Princess Vienda, her mate, and child on planet Arstan.

The last sighting anyone had of him was on the ship your Weapons Master Tarook disabled.

However, there was no sign of Yaard or anyone else when our troops arrived to seize the vessel. ”

“So, the Ambassador is just in the wind? Out there doing no telling what kind of mayhem?” Willa wrapped her hands around the cell bars, her gaze centered on Nansar.

The golden gaze of the Alliance Prime found my mate assessing and, dared I hoped, approving. “Rest assured, the Alliance will use all resources in our arsenal to find him and bring him to justice.”

“What about me?”

There was no hatefulness on the young Aljani’s face, not any longer. His green eyes darted first to his father, then to the Alliance Prime, his gaze awash with contrition.

“You will tell us all you know of Ambassador Yaard’s treachery.” It wasn’t a question, but Nansar nodded in agreement with the Lady Prime.

“Your crimes are substantial.” The Prime blew out a deep breath that ended with a faint growl. “You will, of course, be sent to the prison moon Paladyum, but the length of your time there will depend on how helpful you are in helping us find Yaard.”

“I understand,” Nansar said, penitence laying on his shoulders like a heavy cloak.

With that, the Lady Prime turned on her heel, departing the cell and motioning for us to follow. Willa paused once, looking back at Duke Ako and his son with a sad sigh as the two men conversed in low voices, trying to find a way forward.