She flopped on the bed, reopened her data-sharer and keyed in the code to initiate a non-traceable com-link. The image of Enrue’s meeting room in the Irnian palace flashed on screen, but no one was there to acknowledge her call request. “Ah.
Interesting.”
She rolled on her back and sent a call request to his flagship. “Are you heading home?” she asked the data-sharer. “Hiding from the Empire yet?” The screen flashed and a mousey-looking, gray-haired lady appeared.
“Shiemir Alonwei’s secretary. Can I help you?” Her eyes narrowed.
Melia sighed. “This is Cossia Dargon from the Empire. I need to speak to the Shiemir.”
“One moment.”
The secretary clicked off the sound and stepped away.
Melia twisted a lock of her hair round and round her finger, impatient. Soon the secretary returned
,
a curious smirk plastered across her wrinkled lips. She reached forward and clicked on the sound once more. “The Shiemir said you missed his formal greeting party at the Alga Dockport.”
Melia snickered. “Did he? Tell him I had other matters to attend to more worthy of my station than speaking with lowly Tarafian officers.”
The secretary snorted.
“Of course.”
She appeared to be filing data-cards, the tick-click of plastic hitting plastic familiar.
“Well, is he going to answer my com, or do I have to stare at you?”
“The Shiemir will be with you shortly,” she sputtered without bothering to look up.
Tapping her fingers against the edge of her data-sharer, Melia realized what the secretary was doing. “You can’t trace the com. It’s blocked. So stop trying, and stop wasting my time.”
The secretary frowned and stepped out of the camera’s view.
Moments later, the Shiemir’s face filled the screen. His hair appeared damp, and dark circles hung beneath his magnificent hazel eyes. His shirt wasn’t buttoned, the collar half open and revealing a nest of dark hairs across his skin.
Heat ran through Melia’s body. Disheveled as Enrue was, he no longer seemed as unapproachable. She studied his chest. “Did I wake you?” she asked.
He raked a hand through his hair and scowled. “It’s the middle of the night on this side of the planet. You know that well, I assume. Surely, they train you about time zones and etiquette when dealing with officials.”
“Yes, Shiemir, they do. Perhaps you’ve forgotten the etiquette required when the Empire sends an emissary to meet with you. I don’t recall sending police being considered polite or a sign of fellowship.”
“Fellowship?
Is that what the Empire desires?” His mouth twisted in an angry frown. “Rest assured, little Cossia, that I intend no fellowship with the Empire.”
“Our meeting—”
“As I said before, tell the Empire to send someone of higher rank. I’ve no desire to meet with you.” He leaned forward and Melia thought he might disconnect. Instead, his eyes fluttered over the screen, and shought decide he was trying to glean a clue as to her whereabouts.
“I will meet with you whether you desire it or not. You can count on that, Shiemir.” She forced a smile at him and reached to disconnect. Just before she did, he spoke.
“Are you threatening me?”
“I am merely doing my job. If you do not comply with the required meeting and agree to the proposition, I will be forced to report you to the authorities.”
“I wish you would, little Cossia. That’s my point. I see no reason to meet with you or to agree to the meaningless promises of loyalty and peace to the Empire, which I’m certain, is all you have to offer me. In case you haven’t noticed, the Empire is corrupt. It’s run by corporations rather than people. They care nothing for rights, or freedom, or quality of life, only the furthering of the Empire by way of settlement, acquiring resources—legally or not. They don’t care who they destroy in the process.”
His chest heaved, the dark hairs curled and enticing. She wished he was not so far away. He certainly spoke with conviction, but she’d seen many a politician and listened to the crap they liked to camouflage and dish up to the masses. “And you do care?”
He raised his forefinger, wagging it at her. “I’m not the only one.”
Melia gasped. She held the sharer closer to her face for emphasis. “Then you invite a quick death. You know that, don’t you, Enrue?”
His hand fell away and his look of confusion flickered before being replaced by determination, the statuesque glare he wore in all the old photos. “We will see.” He punched at the screen, disconnecting their com.
Melia snapped her sharer shut and tossed it to the other side of the bed. “Oh yes, we will see soon enough.” She curled up and pulled the blankets over her body, sighing at their clean scent. It would be a shame to leave Alga. Probably more difficult after the twin suns rose and she saw more of its natural beauty, but she knew what had to be done. “I wish you weren’t so stubborn, Shiemir.” She clutched a pillow to her chest and imagined killing him. There were many ways to do it, but she wanted to be close to him when he sighed out his last breath.
Chapter 6
Sash
Enrue left the com room and returned to his bed. He lay awake for some time in the dim light thinking about the Cossia messenger the Empire had sent. She was striking, her eyes like none he’d ever seen. “Probably a half-breed,” he mumbled under his breath. Not that he cared. He didn’t desire the attentions of a woman anymore, or so he tried to convince himself. There was only the war and an end to it in his favor. He didn’t have time to play games with Melia. Games wasted precious time.
If she made her way to Taraf and managed to get close enough, he’d have her detained, share a few words with her and either send her back to the Empire or have her executed. He closed his eyes, but the vision of her face would not leave his mind.
Was she in bed?
It was night in Alga, if that’s where she still was. It did look like a blanket and pillows behind her. In turn, he’d just showered and woken from a restless sleep.
He counted the clicks of his antique clock. It hung over his bed ever reminding him of the day his wife had gifted it to him. Ruria was beautiful in a unique way. Her body was small and delicate, and her mind never ceased. They were not as close as a husband and wife should be. One night she’d returned from an extended holiday to Earth and brought back the clock. Moments of passion were few and far between in the years they shared. After he
unwrapped
the gift, she’d pressed her mouth to his and they’d made love, conceiving their only child. He wondered what possessed her then. Was it being parted for so long?
Enrue sighed. He blocked out the past and tried to sleep a little more.
* * * *
The metal crates arrived at midday. Enrue stood in the landing bay watching his servants load the monstrous containers onto air lifts. The two Unangi statues were to be put on display in the greeting room of his palace for a time, at least until he thought of a better use for them. He’d already sent guards into the mountains to find a leader of the tribal people in order to determine the statues’ value to the Unangi people.
He rubbed at his eyes, still tired from not sleeping. No matter how many times he tried to push the Cossia’s face from his thoughts, she kept returning.
“Then you invite a quick death. You know that, don’t you, Enrue?”
she had said. It wasn’t her threatening statement that bothered him, but the fact that she’d used his first name. It violated protocol.
If anything, my rank or surname was acceptable, but Enrue?
Grunting, he started away from the bay to adjourn to his office. He had more documents to complete, three treaties to sign and a virtual meeting with a leader from another system interested in joining the rebellion against Kyleena. The long walk to the upper level of his palace had his mind wandering right back to Melia. There was something about her he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Behind her obvious sex appeal, no doubt a reason Kyleena had hired
her,
he sensed a strength that reminded him of himself. A power held behind a great wall, a façade.
He tapped in the keycode, entered his dim office and slumped in his padded vinyl chair, not bothering to switch on the lights. His computer sprang to life. Reaching forward, he punched in a search for the name Dargon. Primarily, the surname was believed to have been originated after a gaming craze popularized it. Dargon was an adopted name, and not one originally passed on.
“Interesting,” he whispered, intrigued. “You’re not real, are you?” He ran a search on Kyleena’s files, the ones he had pirate access to through one of his many contacts. He searched through all Cossia rank listings, knowing it was futile.
The gold-eyed messenger is not a messenger at all.
Enrue tapped in a search for captains, undercover spies and a few other suspected ranks, all to no result.
His secretary beeped through on the com, interrupting him.
“My Shiemer.
Cossia Dargon wishes to speak to you.”
He sighed over the irony of her timing. “Send it through.”
The screen flashed and he found himself staring at her narrow face. She’d braided her black hair, and the thickness of it hung across her shoulder. Leaning forward, she seemed to assess him. “Enrue, you’re looking tired. Staying up too late?”
“What is your rank?” he pressed, ignoring her taunt and once more, the familiarity she used by calling him by his first name.
Her thin, black eyebrows rose, widening those feline eyes.
“Cossia.
Have you forgotten? I still need to meet with you to discuss—”
“There is no listing of a Cossia Melina Dargon. Dargon isn’t even a true surname. Did you make it up?”
Her mouth twitched. Those eyes narrowed. He knew he’d hit a nerve. “Dargon was not my birth name. I chose it. I fancied the game when I was a teen.”
“Your rank,” he repeated. “If you expect me to meet with you, I must know who you really are.”
“I have a message for you from the Kyleena Empire. That is all you need know.” She tapped at her data sharer, a smirk tightening her pert lips.
Enrue frowned, realizing he liked the shape of her face and more so that very expression. Melia seemed to be a woman who knew what she wanted. She acted sure of herself. “When can you be here?” he asked, ready to play her game now. He knew he could win this one, though he ought not to let her near him.
“Oh?” she stopped tapping at her sharer. “You’ll see me now?” She
laughed,
a tiny chortle in the back of her throat that lighted her odd eyes. “What has changed between us, Enrue?”
She’d done it again, called him by his first name. He leaned back in his chair, a little puzzled. “If you are not a Cossia, then you must be of some value. Perhaps, I merely want someone to ransom in order to get Kyleena’s attention.” He fingered the edge of his sash and watched her mouth twist in a strange grin.
Does she look this good in person?
His wandering thoughts irritated him. He clenched his teeth and tried to get his mind under control.
“You think you can hold me long enough to ransom me?” She moved closer, her face filling the screen. He stared into her eyes, put off by her amusement. She sucked in her lower lip and released it slowly, regarding him with a familiar coldness.
Enrue’s skin prickled, a sensation he hadn’t felt for what seemed like ages. Heat flared in his loins. He froze, startled by his growing arousal. Sucking in a deep breath, he glared at her. “When can I expect you to arrive?”
“Mm,” she said, taunting him by lowering her lashes and simply studying him. She didn’t answer. Melia sat back. She glanced away as if something nearby distracted her. Her inattention irritated him. It was…arrogant.
“What’s the matter, Cossia?” he taunted back. “Are my officers knocking at your door?”
She laughed once more and twisted her braid through her fingers when she returned her attention to him.
“Your officers.”
Hissing, she flipped the braid over her shoulder. “I walked right past them in the Alga Dockport. What a bunch of fools. Do they even know how to search properly? Did you even give them a description of me?” Her pupils became slits.