Blood Crown (19 page)

The others mutter their agreement and it sounds as if the men are huddled together now, plotting to end Sera’s life. I lean against the wall, half listening to them, half filing through my thoughts and feelings about all that has happened.

And though I try to avoid it, my thoughts circle around to the moment with Serantha in the royal suite.

Her parents’ remains were right there—I am distracted momentarily by that thought. Why had the royal couple’s remains been left where they died, yet I had seen no other evidence of the many others who lost their lives here nine years ago. I don’t have to ask the ship to know it would have pleased the Mind to leave the king and queen as a reminder to any who might question their strength.

That is how Serantha found her parents. What must she be going through if she truly spent the last nine years ignorant of her identity?

I know she felt the connection between us—how could she not? I felt it—felt the tug between our symbiants, the promise of our Bond.

And yet I abandoned her. Just like everyone else.

I slip away from the men. I won’t abandon Serantha to their heartless revenge. I cannot reveal myself to her, but I will protect her. Whatever else I do, I will protect her.

After Nic is gone, I wander the rooms that had once been my own but now feel far lonelier than the kitchen. Everything is cold, unused, dead. Whatever joy I felt in learning who I was is stolen away in this death trap. I curl up on the wide, extravagant bed that had been mine as a girl.

The ship wakes me with a start. There are communication streams flying through the databank and we are approaching a vessel about one quarter our size.
New Oregon
. I scramble to my feet and run toward the transport, tapping my fingers against my thigh impatiently until I burst into the command center.

“Princess,” Nic says without looking up from the controls. His attention is focused, but it doesn’t seem like he is actually doing anything.

“Respond to their hail.” Frustration tinges my words—he knows we’ve come this far for the express purpose of finding a safe haven for my people. Why does he remain silent?

“I thought the honor should belong to you.” He swings around in his chair and looks up at me. He seems so condescending, like I can’t do a single thing for myself. I reach past him to the controls, not caring that my shoulder jams against his jaw.

“
New Oregon
, this is . . . we’re a . . .” I lean back and, though I hate myself for it, look to Nic for guidance. He shrugs, a smirk on his face. I decide to go with ignorance. “I don’t know the name of our ship. We’re just humble kitchen staff—our masters have left us. We need a safe haven.” I look back at Minn and Dillon who sit near one another on the floor against the wall. “We need a place we can call home.”

There is a long pause on the other end and then finally, “How many are there? We are small and life is hard here.”

“Life is hard everywhere. It’s the people that make a place a home,” I say. I don’t know if I believe that, but the words are there and out my mouth and I can’t take them back. Plus, if it helps
New Oregon
take my people, then they were the right words, whether I believe them or not.

This time the silence stretches long until I feel certain they won’t answer. I glance at Nic, but he has his head down so I can’t see his face.

“Your majesty?” The voice is choked with emotion. “Can it be?”

The very air prickles my skin and I feel everyone’s eyes on me. Minn gasps. Nic gazes at me, but I refuse to acknowledge either of them.

“No, our king and queen are dead.”

Another long silence follows. “And how many people are there, then?”

“Twelve,” I say.

“Sera, that’s—” Minn leaps to her feet, but I still ignore her.

“Just twelve.”

“You can dock, we will take your people. Sending the docking codes now.” The com ends with a chime, but I remain forward, my eyes glued to the looming shape of
New Oregon
—a utilitarian gray blob that fills half of the viewing window.

“Minn, Dillon? Can you please get the people ready?”

“But . . .” I feel Minn step closer. Feel her reach for me. But I keep my back stiff and straight and I don’t turn. “Okay,” she finally says as she turns away.

“You too, Dillon.”

“As you wish.”

They board the transport but I still don’t turn, don’t watch them leave. Don’t thank them for their help, their service, their belief in me. Before I lose my nerve, I open a new com.

“Calling all Mind Elite. This is—”

“Stop! What are you doing?”

“Serantha of the House of the West. I would like—”

“Stop!” Nic lurches to his feet and reaches around me to shut down the com.

But the ship is under my command, built to obey me. An electrical charge surges upward, burning his hand. He cries out and stumbles backward.

“I would like to negotiate the terms of my surrender.”

There is no response, but I know I’ve been heard. I end the com and finally face my once-betrothed.

He slumps down into the seat next to me. “What have you done?” His face is pale white and he trembles—with rage or fear, I don’t know.

“We should have just enough time to offload everyone before they come for me. You might want to consider hiding out on
New Oregon
for a while—unless you want the Mind to capture you, as well.”

“They don’t want me. I’m just a soldier.” But his words lack conviction.

I know he can see the truth on my face. That I know exactly who he is, that he is certainly not just a rebel soldier.

“I need to dock the ship. You’d best join the others.” I turn away from him and stare at the controls. The ship doesn’t need me, it is perfectly capable of docking itself. But I concentrate on the commands flying across the monitors anyway, fighting the burn of tears in my eyes.

I feel Nic stand and move toward the transport. Every step he takes away from me fills my body with a new surge of sadness. But I don’t move, don’t tremble. I learned to hide my sorrow long ago.

The transport activates and shoots away and I let my shoulders slump forward, suddenly unable to hold back the rush of tears.

“Serantha.” He puts his hand on my shoulder. I jump to my feet, jerking away from his touch.

“I thought you left! You have to go.”

“No,” he says, pressing me against the console. His eyes are sharp as knives as he stares at me, glares at me. “I will not allow you to sacrifice yourself this way.”

“You can’t stop me.”

He steps closer still, his body touching mine. “You are being selfish. Can’t you see that? The future of humanity rests with you—and you’d throw it all away by giving yourself to them?” His voice has risen, and even though we stand face to face, he yells, his voice booming through the room.

“I’m saving them!”

“No, you’re not! Why are you so blind? Why do you refuse to see? If you give yourself to the Mind, they will kill you! If they kill you, everyone else will die, too.”

“You’re being crazy! They’ll be safe here.”

“Why can’t you see? It’s not just your death they want—they want the death of all humanity. We’re not talking about the people on this ship, Serantha. We’re talking about all of humanity.
Everyone
.”

I keep my gaze down, refusing to look at him, refusing to let him see the tears that fall despite my orders for them to stop. Now he places his hands on my cheeks. They spark feelings of warmth, of rightness and belonging that only force the tears to flow faster. He brings my face upward so I have no choice but to look him in the eye.

“Humanity is worth saving, Princess. There are millions of us, depending on uh—on you. You can’t let them down like this.” His voice falters and his eyes flick away. “You can’t,” he restates with more force.

We stand there, each of us refusing to admit the truth. He refuses to admit the truth.

His face burns with rage and his eyes are like electric sparks. I try to pull away, to free myself of his grip, but he only holds me tighter. And then he presses his lips to mine.

Every part of me explodes. I was nothing, but now I am everything. I feel it all with acute knowing. My ship,
New Oregon
and the communications shared between our docking interfaces. I feel the particles of the walls, the floor; feel the electrical currents zipping through the bodies of the people below as they ride the transport to the docking level.

Just before it is all too much, my awareness comes zipping back to me, through the lifeblood of the ship, through the very air around me, up my limbs and into my own heart, my own mind.

Then there is just this, Nic—his body pressed against mine, his lips moving against my own. He groans and I echo him. We grasp at each other, wanting, needing to be one, to be as close as we can possibly be.

My lips sizzle against his as pleasant and painful currents course from his lips to mine and back again. My cheeks feel damp and I know they aren’t only my tears, but his as well.

Because I know what he is feeling, know what he is thinking.

As he knows everything there is to know about me.

The currents race past our lips, upward on our faces, coursing mirror circles around our heads. I know what it means. And he knows as well. We
are
one.

The ship docks and Nic pushes himself away.

He has just felt all of me—taken more than just a kiss. I watch as the red threads winding across his forehead fade away until there is no indication they had ever been there. He swipes his hand across his lips, as if trying to wipe away any trace of me.

But I am good at protecting myself—I always have been and I won’t let that change now. I refuse to wipe away the tears, choosing to let them dry on my cheeks instead. I won’t give him the satisfaction. I pull myself straight. Shoving away from the console I say, in as cold a tone as I can manage, “I’m going to ensure my people offload safely and I expect you to leave with them.”

I move toward the transport, then stop just short of stepping inside it. “I don’t care where you go.
New Oregon
, or take a pod—there’s one left.” Now I turn fully around, letting my gaze cut into him. “Wherever you go, I don’t ever want to see you again.”

I think I see something in his eyes then, but as I steal myself, Nic does, too. I enter the transport, commanding it to take me to the docking bay.

At last we come to a stop and are released from our restraints. I stand sandwiched with my pod-mates as we await the moment we are free to perform our duty.

They—to secure the
Capital
and detain any survivors.

I—though my comrades are unaware of it—to find and protect Serantha from them.

Energy is fed to my body through the ship, building until it is almost impossible to contain.

And then the lights pulse green.