Page 16 of Surrendering Her Heart (Red Planet Fated Mates #10)

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AVA

T he monitor flickers, casting an eerie glow over the room. It was decided to only have one person in the room with the Eye, which makes sense with the little bit of interrogation training I was given.

Zamis keeps his arm over my shoulders, comforting and close, but not too close. Viewing this has been kept to the most in the know, since we don’t know what we’re going to find out. No point in spreading panic. At least this time I’m in the inner circle.

Riley’s mate, Angota is the one chosen to be in the room, which automatically included her in the group along with Ziva and Rakstan and Nyanna and Shukach. There isn’t that much space in the monitoring room since it was never intended for this purpose, according to the Zmaj. They may say so but it’s turning out to be very effective. No one speaks, watching the screen and waiting.

Angota stands in the center of the interrogation chamber, his massive frame blocking part of the view, but there’s no mistaking the figure bound to the chair. The Eye. The Zmaj who orchestrated all of this. Who led the Order, who hunted us, who made our lives hell and worse for those who survived the Jungle.

He’s even smaller than I expected. Gaunt. But his eyes burn with something unnatural, something sharp and calculating. He knows he’s cornered, and yet he has a look as if he still has all the power in the room.

Ziva crosses her arms beside me, her gaze locked on the screen. Shukach and Rakstan stand like statues, unreadable, while Nyanna and Riley shift uncomfortably. Zamis is the only one who remains utterly still, watching without a word.

“I expected more of you,” the Eye says, voice smooth despite the situation. “A warrior, reduced to a mere interrogator.”

Angota doesn’t respond to the bait. His wings stay tucked, his tail motionless, a predator conserving energy.

“Why? Why did you attack now? We had an agreement,” he demands, his voice a low rumble that makes the speaker beside the monitor crackle.

The Eye tilts his head.

“Why now? Why not sooner?”

“Answer,” Angota demands, looming closer.

A slow smile curves his lips.

“The sky changed.”

A chill snakes down my spine. I exchange a glance with Ziva, who frowns.

“Clarify,” Angota orders.

The Eye exhales as if disappointed. He looks directly at the camera, which I thought was hidden, but as the former leader of the Order it figures that he’d know where it is.

“You were blind to it, weren’t you? So busy surviving, you forgot to look up.”

My fingers dig into my arms. What the hell is he talking about?

“You think we don’t watch the stars?” Angota counters. “We have always watched. You have always watched. What changed?”

He leans forward as much as his restraints allow.

“The ones who left returned.”

Who? Who left? Who returned? Left where?

My stomach drops. My mind races, trying to put the pieces together, but I don’t have enough of them yet. Angota doesn’t move, doesn’t react. He lets the silence stretch until the Eye finally exhales sharply through his nose.

“The ships will return,” he says. “They will come because they know now. Tajss is no longer left in the wake of the Devastation, no longer forgotten. Now it is a beacon. They will come again, making us into slaves and raping the planet for epis. I cannot let them take what is ours.”

I barely breathe. My heart is in my throat as fear swells. An invasion? Seriously? But he’s not saying it’s a possibility. He believes this. That it’s coming. Zamis shifts beside me, his tail brushing against my ankle which brings some comfort that I desperately need.

“How long?” Angota asks.

The Eye’s smile returns, but it’s sharper now, cruel.

“Not long enough. Not anymore.”

The air in the room turns suffocating. The weight of what he’s saying settles on my chest.

Angota’s tail twitches, rasping on the metal floor. He slowly tilts his head to one side then leans closer.

“This was the plan? Kidnapping the humans, forcing them to…” he chokes on the words, unable to say them. My stomach clenches so tight it hurts. “Your idea… crossbreeds… that was the way to stop them?”

“They are the only thing that will let us survive,” he says, his expression hardening.

Nyanna inhales sharply. I clench my jaw so hard it aches. Angota crouches, bringing himself eye level with the Eye. His voice drops, almost gentle.

“Your plan… it is evil. You know this. We could not... it is… wrong,” Angota says, the speed of his twitching tail accenting his agitation.

The Eye leans forward. The intensity on his face makes my blood run cold because I see a true zealot. Someone who thinks their ideas are so important as to override anyone and anything in their way.

“You have a better one?” he hisses. “The Devastation killed all of us. You think I like being the only one? All the tests failed. I can’t do my duty to Tajss. We say Tajss provides, but not on its own. We have to sacrifice for it. This price you say you can’t pay, it’s a small one. Do your duty, Angota. Set me free.”

What did he mean by that? I look at Zamis but he’s frowning every bit as deeply as I am.

“The only one?” Angota asks, latching onto it the same as I did. “What does that mean? There are lots of us surviving.”

“Lots of you ,” the Eye spits. “Not lots of me. ”

“You make no sense. You’re a Zmaj, what do you?—”

Angota stops mid-sentence and Zamis inhales sharply. Angota stumbles backwards until he is mostly out of view on the monitor, only the corner of his shoulder can be seen.

“It cannot be,” Angota says.

“What?” I ask, cold chills trailing down my spine.

The Zmaj, all of them look at one another and the range of emotions on their faces runs the gamut from anger to disbelief.

“No,” Zamis whispers. “How…”

Only Rakstan doesn’t seem surprised. He crosses his arms over his chest, shaking his head.

“You can’t believe it?” the Eye taunts. “You were blind because you wanted to be. None of you wanted to see even though I’ve been here, in front of you, this entire time.”

“What is he talking about?” Nyanna asks the question that’s on the front of my own mind.

“It cannot be. No. It is impossible, they all died,” Shukach says, then he looks at Rakstan. “Rakstan?”

“It is true,” Rakstan says, speaking so soft I barely hear it.

“What is true?” I ask, voice rising with frustration.

“The Eye is… a female…” Zamis says.

I blink, staring at each of the Zmaj in the room in turn.

“A, ahem, a what? I thought they all died,” I say.

“So did we.”

“Don’t be an idiot,” the Eye says over the speakers. “I’m barren. You think I want cross-breeds? The Devastation may not have killed me, but it might as well have. What purpose do I have if I cannot continue our species? My duty to Tajss is higher than my duty to you or anyone. The humans are a tool. A means to an end. We must protect Tajss.”

She is ranting. Fighting against her restraints. Her. The Eye is a girl. A woman.

It only takes one look to see that she’s insane, but not the kind of raving madness that I would have imagined. This is cold. Calculating. She stops fighting the restraints. Her eyes are clear and cold, knowing. Chills race down my spine. She is evil.

I don’t know what the Eye being a female means. On one hand it’s a distraction from the rest of what she said. On the other, it changes everything for the Zmaj. They believed that only males survived. If the Eye did, are there more?

“You never planned to save Tajss. You only planned to save yourself,” Angota says.

The Eye looks at him and sighs, shaking her head.

“You know nothing, Angota. You want to know how I deceived you? Because you wanted to believe. You were blind, but it doesn’t matter. We’re out of time.”

Her head drops and her shoulders slump. And right then I realize, cold and insane though she may be, she is also truly afraid.