Page 82 of Shielded in the Shadows

“I’m quite sure you didn’t want me brought here to discuss my hair.” I tilted my head. “But since we’re on the topic of appearances, you’re looking quite aged. The horn cap is a good addition, though. I always suspected the broken tip hurt.”

“It did. It does.” He shifted the rifle just enough to send adrenaline through my veins and make my fingers twitch, but he didn’t point it at me.

His infinitesimal nod was an acknowledgement of my decision to leave my weapons sheathed.

Orqiel’s lips drew back into an expression that was more grimace than grin. “I watched recordings of your departures from Daventi and Ghira Station. You had narrow escapes—much too narrow for someone with your skills. Still, you did well against the Altasians. Their deaths were mercifully quick. Their employer would have made them suffer for their failure to capture you.” His mouth twisted. “Pity you eliminated Vinian Ykottaran, though. He owed several of my acquaintances a great deal of credits.”

“Pity he stabbed me in the back and tried to steal my ship.” Out of habit, I flexed my hands to keep them loose. “Why am I here, Orqiel?”

Why did you send half the gods-damned galaxy after me? Why did your people kill N’vera?

Why didn’t you die in the arena fires like you should have?

He studied me for a long time—so long that my fingers twitched again and I wondered if I was going to get an answer.

“Two reasons,” he said finally. “Maybe three.”

Maybe three? How could he not know why he’d done this?

“There is a holo message for you,” he said before I could demand an explanation. “It is stored on a datacube hidden in my bathing chamber. If you will permit me to get it…” He gestured to his left, at an open door within his bedroom that led to an enormous pool.

I frowned. “Why is it hidden in your bathing chamber?”

His mouth twitched into the closest thing to a smile I’d ever seen him make. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.

“My quarters are subject to unannounced searches,” he said. “In all my years, I have never known anyone to examine a bathing pool looking for hidden caches of valuables or secrets. Have you?”

I had to admit I had not. I’d have to remember that the next time I needed to hide something well.

Who the hells would have recorded a holo message for me and given it to Orqiel unha’Feste, of all beings?

I’d come to Saistea looking for answers, and instead all I’d gotten so far was corrosive goo on my favorite boots and more questions.

With a flick of my wrist, I dropped my plasma gun into my right hand from the holster on my forearm. I aimed it squarely at his chest. “One wrong move,” I said. “Just one. There are no more warnings after this one.”

“Understood.” To my surprise, Orqiel set the rifle down against the wall, its barrel pointed toward the ceiling. “This way.”

My eyes almost went to Jarrix, but instead I kept my gaze locked on Orqiel and followed him as he made his way slowly toward his bathing chamber.

A warm touch on my shoulder signaled my mate was with us. In my peripheral vision, I watched him slip along the wall, keeping to the shadows, a deadly ally just feet away from his unsuspecting target. It was…surprisingly arousing.

What was even more surprising was that having backup didn’t make me feel less capable or strong. Jarrix’s presence made me feel more dangerous. Like I could take on the whole damn building if I had to, not just Orqiel and the other assholes on this level.

With a quiet grunt, Orqiel went to one knee next to the ostentatiously large bathing pool, which smelled fresh and clean and not at all like what I imagined the water available to ninety-nine percent of the planet’s inhabitants smelled like. Movement in the water indicated it was flowing constantly, not just when he was using the pool.

I thought of how the dirt and sand of the arena had caked my body, how it had always worked its way under my nails and into every crease of skin, and how ineffective our all-too-infrequent weak and tepid showers had been at getting us anything close to clean. The shower water had reeked too, as if it had barely been touched by the wastewater reclamation system before dripping onto our weary heads and scarred backs.

The first time I’d ever been truly clean in my life was after my first turn in the cleansing unit aboard the Wundi ship that had taken me off Ganai. My muffled sobs inside the unit were the first time I had cried in many years.

My fingers itched to kill Orqiel and shoot a dozen holes in the bottom of this bathing pool for making me remember that.

Orqiel moved aside a tile on the inside lip of the pool and withdrew a datacube from a small hollow before replacing the tile. Still on one knee, he extended his hand toward me, the cube on his palm.

Rather than come within his reach to take the cube, I gestured for him to rise by tipping up the barrel of my plasma gun.

His gaze flicked to his rifle and then back to me. With a sigh, he heaved himself to his feet. Had he wanted to use the rifle to steady himself as he stood?

“Play it,” I said.