Invaded (5 page)

He’d just begun to lead David to the guest suite when his com-sphere buzzed to life
in the signature frequency that told him Cara was calling. In that moment, the outside
world ceased to
exist. Aelyx rushed to his bedroom and locked the door behind him. He knelt beside
his expansive king-size bed and spoke his passkey, then rested the sphere atop his
comforter.

That first glimpse of her face warmed his blood and made his heart swell. She sat
cross-legged atop her cot in the Aegis, her fiery orange hair gathered in a low braid,
her blue eyes bright with
excitement to see him. If he leaned in close, he could barely detect the adorable
freckles that dotted her nose.

Sacred Mother, he missed her so fiercely he ached.

“Elire.”
Or
beautiful warrior
, as he’d nicknamed her. An automatic smile spread over his lips. “How did you know
I needed you today?” He
hadn’t even realized it himself.

She shrugged, then winced and rubbed her arm. “We’re on the same frequency, I guess.”
Then she rotated her shoulder, clearly in pain.

Aelyx tried to check her for injury. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“You could say that. I feel like I’ve been stuffed in a pillowcase and trampled by
elephants.” When he waited for her to go on, she rolled her head to the side in a
tentative
stretch. “I started your sadistic alien PE classes this week. I barfed twice today
on the novice course, and that was an improvement over yesterday. Maybe by next week
I’ll upgrade to
dry heaving.”

Aelyx tried not to laugh. He supposed the calisthenics routine would seem rigorous
to a human unaccustomed to high-intensity interval training. “Ask Elle to grind some
h’esha
root for your tea,” he said. “And soak in a hot jetted bath. It’ll help diffuse the
lactic acid in your muscles.”

“Maybe you missed the part about me being trampled by elephants.”

“Well, I know something that’ll make you feel better.” Aelyx stopped himself and glanced
at Cara’s hologram, making sure she was alone. “Is anyone with
you?”

“No, Elle’s still at supper.”

He lowered his voice and told her the newest development in the alliance negotiations.
“Stepha’s talking with The Way now. With any luck, I could be home before you graduate
to
vomiting on the intermediate course.”

“Really?” Her face lit up. “Fingers cross—” The
hiss
of her door interrupted her, and Cara’s gaze darted to the front of her room. She
lowered her
auburn brows and shouted, “Get out! Go on! You’d better hope I never catch you!”

What was that all about?

When she returned her attention to him, she huffed an angry sigh. “That was Vero.
The little monster’s been sneaking in here to pee on my pillow. He hates me.”

Vero.
Aelyx released a sigh of his own. He missed his house pet, a fiercely loyal animal,
though certainly not without quirks. “Vero’s breed is territorial,” Aelyx
explained. “Once he identifies you as part of the pack, he’ll stop marking your bedding.”
But in order for that to happen, the clones in the Aegis would need to accept Cara
as one
of their own. “Better tell the house caretaker to change the settings on your touchpad
so Vero can’t get inside.”

Cara nodded, but she didn’t recover her earlier cheer. She slouched and traced imaginary
patterns on her blanket. “I can tell the clones don’t want me here. Most of them
won’t look at me, and the others make this sign when I walk by.” In demonstration,
she touched her thumb and pinkie together. “What does it mean?”

“Uh…” He didn’t want to give her the literal translation—
fornicate with a
h’ava
beast and kill yourself with fire.
“It’s our
version of the middle finger.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

“Give it time,” he said. “You’re unfamiliar to the clones and they don’t understand
you yet.”

“I know.” She stared at her hands and shrugged. “My
Sh’ovah
is in a few days. Maybe that’ll help. I hear they’re supposed to think of me as a
sister
after that.”

Aelyx paused as a pang of guilt settled low in his belly. For a L’eihr, nothing was
more sacred than
Sh’ovah
. Younglings looked forward to that day for well over a decade,
until the Elders deemed them worthy. He should be there with Cara to celebrate her
union with the Sacred Mother, not here, stuck on Earth, squabbling with politicians.
“I’m sorry to
miss it. Who’s your sponsor?”

“Elle.”

“Good.” At least it wasn’t that
fasher
Jaxen. “She’ll take her duties seriously.”

Cara’s door hissed open again, and Elle’s voice called, “Come on. It’s our turn to
sanitize the kitchen.”

Aelyx missed a lot of things about home, but cleanup detail wasn’t one of them. “You’d
better hurry,” he told her. “If you’re late, they’ll add an extra
day.”

Cara didn’t need further convincing. After a wave and a quick “Love you,” she disconnected
and disappeared from view.

Aelyx remained kneeling for several seconds, as if to hold on to the warmth of her
smile. Only when he heard the echo of voices from the hallway did he relinquish Cara’s
ghost and rejoin
the others.

Stepha had finished conferring with The Way, and he rested opposite Director-General
Kendrick on a plush leather armchair while Colonel Rutter and David sat beside each
other on the sofa.
Tension clung to the air like mist, each man silent but speaking volumes through his
rigid posture. Aelyx dragged a dining room chair near the coffee table and took his
seat, then used Silent
Speech to ask the ambassador what he’d learned.

Did they approve the alliance?
he asked Stepha.
Can we return home?

When Stepha replied, a hint of confusion colored his thoughts.
No. Human deference isn’t enough. The Way wants the general population on Earth to
support the union between our
worlds.

But why?
Aelyx asked.
That doesn’t make sense.
The purpose behind the alliance was to recruit human colonists and integrate on L’eihr,
infusing fresh DNA into the
populace. Already, thousands of healthy young humans had submitted applications, eager
to begin life anew on the colony. It was just a matter of screening them for mental
wellness and superior IQ,
then finding willing matches among the clones. What did it matter whether or not the
rest of Earth’s population approved?

It is not our place to question The Way
, Stepha told him.
Only to follow—

Follow The Way to glorify Mother L’eihr
, Aelyx finished.
I understand.
Though he didn’t understand at all.

“On the first day of spring,” Stepha announced to the group, “as a symbol of rebirth,
The Way will join Earth’s leaders here in an alliance ceremony. Our scientists will
then provide you with the solution to neutralize the algae blooms burgeoning in your
oceans.” He pulled in a deep breath and clarified, “But this is contingent on your
control of human
violence. Any further attempts on our lives will terminate all relations between us.
Your people must support the partnership between our worlds in order for us to move
forward.”

So not only was Aelyx trapped here for another three months, but he had to avoid acts
of violence, too? It was impossible. Human extremists didn’t support the alliance—they
believed
L’eihrs had poisoned the water supply in an effort to enslave humanity. Not only were
they wrong, but they didn’t know about the algae blooms, nor that the problem was
spreading. The
only way to win them over was to tell the truth about their dying planet, which he’d
been expressly forbidden from doing.

The director-general rubbed his jaw. “Sounds like we have some serious public relations
work ahead of us.”

“That was the purpose of the student exchange,” Colonel Rutter said. “It was going
fine until…” He trailed off, and all eyes shifted to Aelyx.

Until the L’eihr students were caught tampering with the crops and one of them was
murdered for it.
Coincidentally, Syrine chose that moment to emerge from her bedroom and join
them.

Aelyx addressed the group. “What can we do to help?”

“How about a multicity PR tour?” the director-general suggested. “We can identify
the hot spots of extremist activity and send the L’eihrs there to do good deeds on
camera, then broadcast it nationwide.”

“I guess it’s worth a shot.” Colonel Rutter nodded in consideration. “With a constant
security detail, of course.”

“Of course,” the director-general agreed. “We’ll treat this like a presidential reelection
campaign—nobody without security clearance will get anywhere near the
L’eihrs. We’ll even screen the participants in each photo op to make sure no one poses
a threat. A few months of kissing babies and shaking hands should be all we need to
turn the
public’s opinion in our favor.”

Syrine drew back, curling her upper lip in disgust. “Kissing?” she screeched. “With
humans
? That’s a—”

The ambassador caught her eye and instantly silenced her with a stern private message.
Aelyx didn’t need Silent Speech to understand what was transpiring between the two
of them.
Stepha’s narrowed gaze and Syrine’s darkening cheeks said it all.

After a few moments, she forced a grin that wouldn’t fool a blind man. “A wonderful
idea. I will gladly participate.”

“Then we’re agreed,” said the director-general. “I’ll have my staff make the necessary
arrangements and book your first appearance. We’ll want to get the ball
rolling right away, so go ahead and pack a suitcase.”

“Cool,” David said with the only genuine smile in the room. “We’re going on tour!”

“We?” Syrine turned to Aelyx for clarification.

David is our personal bodyguard
, Aelyx told her.
He’ll be living with us for the rest of our stay on Earth.

Bleeding Mother.
Syrine didn’t bother disguising her distaste for the young man.
Why couldn’t The Way simply give us a dozen lashes with the
iphet
instead?

“How exciting,” she said aloud, then faced their new bodyguard. “I can hardly wait.”

“Psh,” Cara whispered. Getting naked in front of aliens wasn’t her idea of awesome,
but whatever.

She closed her laptop and crept to the door as quietly as possible to avoid waking
Elle, who snored softly from the top bunk. Eron had been right when he’d called the
sound
“endearing.” Elle slept on her tummy with both hands tucked beneath her chest, snuffling
like a child. It was such a cute contrast to the businesslike way she directed Cara
from class
to class during the daytime.