Thalina changed the magnification to focus on Acion’s face. His expression was bland, but his gaze was flicking. He had to be looking at the guard, the gate, the security measures. His eyes moved too quickly for a human.
Thalina felt a flutter of excitement.
Was his body augmented? Was he a cyborg?
Or was he another android?
Either way, Thalina wanted a better look at him and his functionality.
What was the gift he’d brought for her father? Could she meet him to collect it?
Thalina’s plan died quickly with the guard’s response to Acion.
“I am sorry, good visitor, but your credentials are incomplete. You will not be admitted to the palace, but you are welcome to leave any token intended for the king.”
Those eyes narrowed. They were dark, filled with mystery. “It will be given to him?”
“It will be examined and, if deemed fitting, will be presented to the king.”
Acion’s voice hardened. “Deemed fitting by whom?”
Thalina smiled at his correct grammar, which enforced her theory that he might be an android.
“By his majesty’s staff, of course.”
“I calculate a forty-seven per cent chance that the gift will not actually be delivered. That is too high.”
The sentry bristled. “Well, that depends upon what it is, doesn’t it? No one will deliver anything to his majesty that might be deemed perilous…”
“Even words can be perilous,” Acion declared, startling the guard to silence. “It is my instruction to deliver the gift to the king’s own hand. If I cannot pass to do so, then I will depart.”
“You will not pass.”
Acion bowed. “Then I wish you good day.” He pivoted and strode away, disappearing into the crowd. Thalina heard the sentry give a sigh of relief when Acion was out of sight.
She couldn’t believe he’d give up on his assignment as easily as that. He’d come from Cumae, which wasn’t an easy journey. Cumae was one of the planets closest to Incendium but there was a meteor cluster between the two.
“Come, Thalina,” her father said from behind her, clearly unaware of what she’d seen. “Let us leave the puzzle in capable hands.”
Thalina rose and blocked the view of the screen she was watching from her father. The more detail kept from Ouros the better, especially when she was launching a scheme. “I would linger a little longer, Father. You know how the Vault fascinates me.”
Ouros, perhaps predictably, wasn’t fooled. He eyed his daughter and she feared he could read her thoughts. “The others call you trustworthy because you keep their secrets close,” he rumbled. “But your mother and I both know that you keep your own secrets even closer.” He raised a hand when she might have argued. “Do not be foolish, Thalina, and I will be content.”
“Yes, Father. Thank you, Father.”
Ouros had barely left the Vault when Thalina spun back to the display. The three guards were determined to resolve the issue of the lock as quickly as possible. One was dispatched by Ector to check the mechanism again. The second ran a diagnostic test and Ector himself began to tap instructions into a console.
No one was watching Thalina.
Acion wouldn’t come back to the same gate, she reasoned. He wouldn’t go to another obvious gate, either, because he’d assume that they were all centrally monitored. He might even know that for sure. He might try to enter the palace through a window, but that wouldn’t be easily done either. Most of them were very high in the walls, higher than two men, for that very reason.
No, he’d use the river exit. She had to assume he had a means to remove the grate or would find one. Thalina put the display of the sewer grate on the largest display.
She didn’t have to wait long before a familiar figure came striding through the river water to the grill. The water was thigh-high for him and moving swiftly, but it presented no obstacle. She thrilled at the sight of his strength and purpose. He cut a direct path from the opposite bank to the grill. His gaze flicked upward, and Thalina guessed he had scheduled his emergence from the forest to coincide with the guards turning away. He was probably timing his progress.
His eyes glittered as he stepped into the shadow of the arch over the grill. Again, Thalina saw that his gaze was moving quickly as he gathered details. Too quickly. So, his vision was augmented like his left palm. What else? He surveyed the grill and its stone surround. She knew when he spotted the monitor because he seized it with his gloved hand. Thalina switched to the back-up feed to watch him pull the feed loose enough to disable it. An alarm might have rung but she overrode the system to ensure its silence.
It wouldn’t have been easy to rip the feed from the mortar where it was embedded. His strength in that arm had to be augmented, as well.
Unless he was completely manufactured. The thrilling possibility made Thalina watch him even more intently.
Acion waited, then arched a brow that there wasn’t an alarm. Thalina smiled as he waited a little longer, and guessed that he was calculating the best way to continue. He removed his left glove and flicked the end of his index finger with his thumb. The tip lifted, like a hinged lid, revealing a tiny hidden saw. Sparks flew as he cut the grill free from the rock around it. It must have been a powerful little saw, for it made quick work of the metal bars.
Thalina caught her breath at the sight of that improvement. With each revelation, her conviction that he was an android increased.
“Wait,” Ector said, but Thalina lifted a hand to silence him. She felt him and his companion come to stand behind her.
“I’ll take care of it,” she said with authority.
“But, princess…”
“He has a mission. I want to know what it is before he’s stopped.”
“But…”
“That is a command,” Thalina said, interrupting the Captain of the Guard as firmly as her father might do. “You will not tell my father until my investigation is complete.”
She was aware of their consternation but ignored it for the moment.
She was more interested in the way Acion bent half of the grill back, folding it against the other half as if it were more insubstantial than it was. Her companions gasped.
“That’s impossible,” said Ector.
“Not for him,” she said softly, watching so intently that she didn’t want to blink.
“Surely we should sound an alarm…”
“Surely you believe a dragon shifter can deter an intruder,” Thalina said, rising to her feet.
“You shouldn’t engage, princess. He might overpower you…”
“And I will fry him if he does.”
The guards fell silent at that.
Thalina tapped up a map of the lowest level of the palace. She indicated the secured barriers to the Vault and tapped the screen to have more barriers lowered silently into place. “You can see that I’ve isolated him into this warren of passages. It will take him a bit of time to realize that all the ends are blinds and that there’s no way to progress.”
“But the Hoard is there,” Ector protested.
“And more than adequately defended,” Thalina argued. “This region is the best choice, given his location. If he moves beyond it, others could be endangered.”
Ector’s lips thinned. “And once he realized he’s trapped? Look at his strength!”
“I’ll confront him before then.” Thalina indicated the largest chamber, which was an empty storeroom. “I will interrogate him here. You will listen for my command to secure the door once I have him inside, and will block all monitoring.”
She turned to face them, seeing rebellion in their eyes. She stood tall and used her most commanding voice. “He won’t surrender the secret of his mission easily. I suspect he may be an android.”
“Then he’ll be destroyed,” Ector said.
“But first, we should determine why he is here,” Thalina said. She spoke quickly, wanting to put her plan in motion before they thou
ght of many objections. This would likely be her only opportunity to investigate such a creature, whether he was cyborg or android, and she wasn’t going to miss it. “If I’m right, he’ll prefer to self-destruct rather than betray his maker. The interrogation may be brutal, so there must be no evidence of it. Do you understand?”
They glanced at each other, then bowed in unison. “Yes, princess.”
“You will secure the portals for one day and one night to allow for my interrogation. Then I will either deliver him or his remains to your custody.”
Ector cleared his throat. “And what shall we tell your father if asked about your whereabouts, princess?”
“That I’ve gone to solve a riddle, of course.” Thalina smiled, waited for their bow of agreement, then strode out of the Vault.
Fortunately, she’d dressed simply on this day. Acion might be convinced that she was just a serving maid. If he wasn’t certain, he might account any discrepancies to local variation. Thalina found a basket on her way to the lower storerooms and, even better, an abandoned apron. She braided her hair and rubbed some dirt on her face and hands, securing doors behind herself as she hastened downward. She lit a candle before entering the secured warren where Acion had been contained.
The door sealed behind her, just as planned. She stifled a shiver, knowing she was locked into a small maze with this powerful intruder.
Was he an android? How much would she be able to investigate?
The air had become colder as she descended and Thalina could smell the river. She couldn’t hear the activities of the palace any more, or the bustle of the town. There was only the silence of stone, and the faint sound of the flowing river. Her heart began to pound in anticipation of the challenge ahead.
That was before she approached the last corner, heard the stealthy step of the intruder, and smelled the Seed.
The Seed! The scent of it sent a surge through Thalina, one that weakened her knees with sexual desire and filled her very blood with longing. She leaned back against the wall, still out of sight, to recover from its assault. She then savored her body’s reaction to that scent. It was just as she had been told. Powerful. Intoxicating. Wonderful.
There was no one else at this level of the palace, which meant that the intruder was the Carrier of her Seed.
Thalina closed her eyes to savor that. The revelation changed everything.
Acion’s interrogation was going to be even more interesting than she’d anticipated.
The prospect was enough to make her dizzy. Her every fantasy come true.
Thalina doubted Acion knew that he carried the Seed.
She wasn’t even sure how it was possible, although its scent made it difficult for her to reason clearly. She supposed an android could only be a receptacle for the seed, or a delivery mechanism, while a cyborg could be a true Carrier of the Seed, depending upon the specifics of his nature. Could either be her HeartKeeper? Not an android, certainly. A cyborg? It would depend on what parts of him had been replaced.
That just gave her more to investigate and explore. Thalina would have a gift from Acion before he left Incendium, in addition to relieving him of whatever token he had brought the king.
* * *
Acion heard the woman before he saw her. There was a bend in the passageway ahead of him and she was around the corner but out of his view. A light shone around the corner, and it flickered, leading him to the conclusion that she carried a candle. By the sound of the step, he assessed the probability of her gender and affirmed his theory by her scent.
Young. Mortal. Female.
Aroused.
That detail was definitely against the probabilities. Perhaps she liked the darkness. Perhaps she came to meet a lover secretly. Acion found this probable until he discerned that there were no other persons within the vicinity.
She was perhaps twenty paces away.
She was alone, in the lowest level of the palace. He smelled dirt on her skin, as well as a trace of perspiration. She sighed audibly and put something down. It didn’t sound heavy.
A servant? That was the most likely scenario.
Acion eased closer and peeked around the corner. She was pretty and slender, with fair skin and brown hair pulled back in a braid. She sighed as if tired and looked about herself with a futility that Acion associated with those compelled to perform menial tasks. Her basket was empty and he calculated the probability to be very high—eighty-six per cent—that these rooms were used for storage.
If she’d been sent to fetch something, why was she aroused? The juxtaposition couldn’t be resolved to Acion’s satisfaction so he attributed the detail to some irrational quirk in her nature. Perhaps she found cellars exciting. Desire was often irrational in his experience.
The important detail was that she would have free rein to at least part of the palace and a knowledge of its design.
He would take advantage of the opportunity presented. She would be his assistant, willing or not.
She turned her back upon him, as unaware of his presence as he expected, and opened a door. Her candle didn’t cast much light within the room, which meant it might be large. She bent to pick up the basket before entering the room and Acion took advantage of her inattention.
He moved like a flash of lightning, grabbing her and locking a hand over her mouth. She made a little cry of surprise and dropped both candle and basket. The candle rolled on the ground and Acion stepped on it, extinguishing the flame. She fought him, so Acion carried her into the storeroom, pinning her against the wall as he kicked the door closed, sealing them in darkness.
She was slender but sweetly curved, and his body responded to having her in his embrace. Acion frowned, because the complication of a physical reaction at this time was unnecessary, unprecedented, and illogical.
His mission was of greatest importance.
“You will help me reach the king,” he whispered into her ear. “Or I will break your neck. The chance of you dying after sustaining such an injury is high, but it increases to one hundred per cent if I abandon you and you aren’t found. I will abandon you, and I will ensure you aren’t found. Do you understand?”
She caught her breath, then nodded. The sign of her vulnerability made him want to recant his threat, which made no sense.
Acion knew he sounded more stern when he continued. “And you will not reveal me. Do you understand?”
She nodded again.
There was a risk that she might trick him, but Acion calculated it to be so small as to be irrelevant. She was at a serious disadvantage. They were alone and he was both larger and stronger than her. He did not find it likely that anyone would hear her, even if she screamed, he could not sense the presence of another person, and he could certainly fulfill his threat to her and be prepared for an assault before it could arrive. If she was meeting a lover and that individual wasn’t nearby, that person had to arrive, to find her and to battle Acion, which surely was a losing proposition.
The situation was almost ideal.
So, Acion released the serving maid—which is what she had to be—only to discover that his calculations had omitted one very important variable.
Chapter Two
The maid didn’t scream or surrender meekly.
She fought.
And she fought well.
In fact, she battled Acion with a strength disproportionate to her size.
Acion took a strike to the face before he could evade her quick fist. He grabbed at her, but she ducked, spinning into the darkened chamber like a whirlwind. She was either bold or foolish to move in such darkness! Or perhaps she was familiar with the room’s contents. He tapped his right temple, turning on the light embedded in his brow, and something quickened within him at the sight of her.
She was crouched, her eyes glittering, her hands raised. Her hair was coming loose from her braid, as if it moved of its own volition. If he’d been more fanciful than it was possible for an android to be, he might have seen flames light in her eyes.
But that was impossible, so he knew it had to be a trick.
The chamber, to his surprise, was empty. Why had she entered it? Acion could find no reasonable explanation.
Even as he considered this, he moved swiftly, striking three blows in rapid succession, but pulling back slightly before connecting with her. He needed to capture her, not injure or incapacitate her. She was no good to him dead. She was smaller than him, female, and undoubtedly more fragile, yet blocked his blows with unexpected ease. In fact, she attacked him, with no regard for ensuring that he wasn’t injured. He defended himself, a little less easily than might have been ideal, and recognized that he was hampered by his need to avoid hurting her.
She took advantage of his choice, kicking him hard in the gut, then striking at his brow so hard with the heel of her hand that the light was smashed. Acion stumbled backward, amazed that she could hit with such power.
She struck like a warrior, as well, not slapping or scratching as women without military training often did. Her moves were decisive and clean, so forceful that it took him a moment to realize that she meant to disable but not kill him. Acion took a kick to the gut and dropped to one knee, assessing.
She was absurdly fast.
The conclusion was inevitable: she was an android, as well.
His processors spun, drawing data from his brief and comparing it with the furious fighting skills of the woman. There were officially no androids on Incendium, which was an odd detail, but that didn’t mean there weren’t any secretly on the planet.
Like himself.
If there were androids being developed and trained secretly, learning more about her would provide useful information to the Hive.
If there were androids infiltrating Incendium society for some other purpose, learning more about this one would provide useful information to the Hive.
Acion existed to serve.
He immediately decided to let her win. She wanted to subdue him, which meant she had a plan—and learning the details of that plan would tell Acion a great deal about her programming. She lunged at him, driving two fingers hard into his throat, a point of vulnerability for men, and he was assured that she didn’t know the truth of his nature.