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Chapter Thirty-Four

Z exx burst into Linnea's office, his heart pounding against his ribs with the urgency of what he needed to tell her. He’d meant to find K’Nar first, but he’d realized with some embarrassment that he did not know where the adjunct slept. His feeble wanderings looking for the Crestek during the night had been fruitless and frustrating, to say nothing of the curious glances he’d drawn from guards.

He'd fallen asleep planning what he’d tell Linnea as soon as light broke, but her office was empty. The morning light streamed through the high windows, illuminating the desk where just hours before they had lost themselves in each other. Her documents were arranged in neat stacks, her seal placed precisely at the edge, but there was no sign of Linnea herself. No sign of K’Nar either, who was typically at her side during the early hours, briefing her on the day's agenda.

"Chancellor?" he called, knowing it was futile. The stillness of the room made it clear no one would answer.

He tried to quell the panic rising in his chest. Perhaps she had slept in. Perhaps she was meeting with other officials elsewhere in the tower. There were countless innocent explanations for her absence.

Yet none of them felt right. Linnea was nothing if not predictable in her routine—a discipline born of years navigating the treacherous waters of Crestek politics.

He turned and strode from the office, his bare feet silent on the stone floor as he made his way to her private chambers. The corridors seemed unnaturally quiet, the usual bustle of attendants and officials reduced to the occasional guard who stiffened at his approach, their gazes following him with poorly concealed suspicion.

Without bothering to knock, he pushed open the door to her quarters, relief flooding through him when he saw no signs of struggle—no overturned furniture, no evidence of force. But his relief was short-lived. The room was empty, and the bed already made.

Real fear gripped him now, cold and sharp as the edge of a sand serpent's tooth. Where was she? And why did every instinct he possessed scream that something was deeply wrong?

He closed his eyes, centering himself as he'd been taught in warrior training, and sent his consciousness outward, searching for the now-familiar pulse of Linnea's mind. If she was in danger, he would sense it—he was certain of that much. Their connection had grown stronger with each passing day, each shared touch, each coupling.

At first, there was nothing—just the dull hum of numerous minds, too distant or too unfamiliar to read clearly. Then, faintly, he caught it: the slightest thread of determination, a steady resolve that could only belong to Linnea. Not fear, not pain, just…purpose.

She wasn't in immediate danger, then. But where was she? And what was she doing?

He couldn't read her mind clearly enough to know her location or to send his own thoughts to her, as he might with a fellow Dothvek. The connection between them was profound but still somehow limited—perhaps by her Crestek lineage that had abandoned empathic powers, perhaps by his own inexperience with this type of bond.

Frustration surged through him as he stormed from her quarters, nearly colliding with a figure rounding the corner at the same moment.

"Ambassador!" K’Nar stumbled back, steadying himself against the wall. "I've been looking for you."

He regarded the Crestek warily, even though he felt sure the adjunct was an ally. "Where is she?"

K’Nar glanced down the corridor, then took his arm with surprising boldness, pulling him back into Linnea’s quarters. "I'm the one on the inside," he said, his voice barely above a whisper. "The one they told you about in the city."

His eyes widened. He could only be referring to the resistance members he'd encountered in the alley—information no one else could possibly know unless...

Zexx’s hunch had been right. "You're part of the underground movement. You've been working against the traitors in the council all along."

K’Nar nodded, a grim smile briefly crossing his face. "For longer than you might imagine. But there's no time for that now. The chancellor has gone to send a message to the Dothveks."

"What? The oasis village is days away across the desert. She couldn't possibly—"

"Not those Dothveks," K’Nar cut in, his voice tight. "The ones on the bounty hunter ship. The ones with the human mates."

Zexx blinked, momentarily stunned. Of course—the Dothveks who had left the planet with their bounty hunters. The warriors who had found mates among the human and alien females and chosen to travel the stars with them. He had once looked askance at them, believing they had abandoned their ways for foreign pleasures. Now, he understood them all too well—and would be grateful for their presence if they could help protect Linnea.

But even as hope flickered, pragmatism doused it. "They might not be close enough to help," he said. "We can't count on them arriving in time."

"Which is why we need to get to the chancellor immediately," K’Nar agreed. "The communications hub is at the top of the northern tower, and she went alone—against my advice. I created a diversion to give her time, but she insisted on sending the transmission herself.”

"Take me to her," Zexx said, already moving from the room.

Instead of leading him to the ground level exit as he expected, K’Nar guided him down, past the exit and into the foundations of the tower itself. The air grew cooler and damper as they descended, the stone walls slick with moisture that gleamed in the light of the occasional torch.

"The old passageways," K’Nar explained as they entered a narrow tunnel. "Built when the city was first constructed, when the sandstorms raged and before the buildings grew so tall. The web of them extends beneath the city still, but few remember they are here.”

The pair moved quickly through the passage, which eventually connected to another tunnel leading upward. The climb was steep, the light fading to blackness and the air growing thinner as they ascended what felt like hundreds of steps carved directly into the stone.

“For the first time, I miss those infernal ramps,” Zexx grumbled.

“This is a hidden stairwell that runs up the back of the tower. Do not fear. This tower also contains a ramp.”

Zexx smothered a dark laugh as he pressed his hands to the walls to guide himself up in the pitch blackness. If he survived long enough to reach the sands, he swore he would never take the open skies for granted again.

By the time they emerged, pushing a heavy stone door to exit the cramped stairwell, they were both breathing heavily. K’Nar motioned up and they walked the last of the interior ramp until they were at the very top of what he realized must be the northern tower, facing a doorway guarded by two Cresteks in gray robes.

The guards straightened at their approach, their brows furrowing in confusion, likely because they hadn’t heard the pair walking up the ram pfrom the bottom of the tower.

"The ambassador wishes to speak with the chancellor," K’Nar said smoothly. "A matter of diplomatic importance."

"The chancellor insisted on privacy for her transmission," one of the guards replied, his gaze darting suspiciously between them. "She said she was not to be disturbed for any reason."

The other guard was staring at him with undisguised hostility. "What's the Dothvek doing here anyway? I thought he was—”

The first guard cut him off with a sharply cleared throat then glanced uneasily at the door. “Perhaps we should check on the Chancellor.”

Something in their tone, in the way their hands tightened on their weapons, set his nerves on edge. These weren't merely dutiful guards—they were decidedly unfriendly to his presence and seemed startled to see him walking freely.

The guards exchanged a look, then both moved toward the door, clearly intending to interrupt whatever Linnea was doing inside. Zexx tensed, ready to stop them, when the door swung open. Linnea stepped out.

She was every inch the chancellor—spine straight, silver robes immaculate, expression composed and authoritative. Not a single ebony hair out of place, not a flicker of worry in her clear eyes.

"Thank you for your vigilance,” she said to the guards, her tone crisp and professional. "The transmission requested by the council has been completed successfully."

Her gaze landed on him, and she smiled with diplomatic distance that revealed nothing of their true relationship. "Ambassador Zexx, what brings you to the communications hub? Is there a matter requiring attention?"

"I wished to speak with you, Chancellor," he replied, matching her formal tone and quickly devising a plan. “About my imminent departure.”

"Of course." Her tone was even and unsurprised, as if she understood instantly what he was doing. "We can discuss it as we walk. K’Nar, you'll join us?"

Her adjunct bowed slightly. "As you wish, Chancellor."

They moved toward the stairway, Linnea between them, her pace measured and unhurried despite the tension he could feel thrumming from her. Only when they had descended several levels, well out of earshot of the guards, did she speak freely.

"The bounty hunter ship and your Dothvek brethren are on their way, but it will still be at least a full rotation before they arrive."

"You're certain the communications officers believed you?" K’Nar asked, equally quiet.

“That I was on a mission from the council? I don’t know,” she admitted. "They're almost certainly in league with Vellen and Taal. I could sense their suspicion the moment I requested privacy.”

“Your comment about leaving was clever,” K’Nar said. “It will confuse the guards enough to slow any thoughts of pursuit. If they are in on the conspiracy, they will believe the council was successful in forcing out the ambassador.”

Zexx gave the adjunct a grateful nod.

Linnea glanced between the two. "How did you two become allies?” her gaze alighted on Zexx. “How did you know he could be trusted?”

"Because he knew about my meeting with the rebels in the city alleyways. They told me that they had members closely placed to you.”

"I've been working with the underground resistance since before the peace accord was signed,” K’Nar said. “We've been monitoring the council members who oppose reform policies, gathering evidence of their conspiracy."

“I wish you’d told me sooner,” Linnea said.

"The fewer who knew, the safer you were," K’Nar told her. "Or so we believed. We underestimated how quickly they would move against you."

Before Linnea could respond, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed from above, accompanied by shouted commands that grew louder with each passing moment. Simultaneously, a dull roar rose from outside the tower—the unmistakable sound of a large crowd.

Zexx moved to one of the narrow windows cut into the stone wall, peering out at the square below. People were gathering in numbers he hadn't seen since he’d been in the city, but their faces were twisted with anger rather than curiosity, their voices raised in chants he couldn't quite make out from this height.

"The protest," he said, turning back to Linnea and K’Nar. "The one I overheard Vellen and Taal planning last night. They're moving against you now."

"And the communications officers are coming for us," Linnea added, glancing up toward the sounds of pursuit. "They must have reported my transmission and discovered that the council did not request a transmission be sent.”

Zexx scowled. “Or that I had announced my departure.”

K’Nar's usually calm face was tight with urgency. "We need to move. Now."

Zexx grabbed Linnea’s hand, abandoning any pretense and began to run.