Warlord's Mercy - Cynthia Sax Page 0,66

survive it, would heal. “You’re skilled.”

“You’re strong.” Berke bounced on the balls of his booted feet. “Is that another enhancement?”

Tolui dipped his head.

“You can’t sense other Chameles.” The male walked around the makeshift ring. “I noticed that during the last confrontation.”

“I can sense you.” Tolui maintained the same distance from his foe. “That ability lessens with each generation of clones.”

“Hmmm…” Berke eyed him. “The clones on Carinae E have fixed the degradation issue.” The male surprised Tolui by relaying that information.

“You’ve looked into cloning?” Tolui lifted his eyebrows. When he and his brothers had arrived in the sector, any clones and any beings responsible for cloning were put to death. Those laws had been changed, but he didn’t expect a Chamele to have proactively learned about his kind.

“I seek to learn about every being in the sector.” Slashes of red pigment formed high on the male’s face.

“Then you’ll learn about almost every species in the universe.” Tolui found that prospect humorous. “They all reside on Chamele 4.”

Berke groaned. “My gerel was correct. The planet does have squatters.”

“Those squatters are under my protection now.” They were important to his gerel, and that made them important to him.

“We’ll see about that.” It was the Chamele’s turn to attack.

Their claws caught and released, caught and released. Their arms moved faster than Tolui suspected his little human’s gaze could follow. Sweat streamed down his spine. All his senses were engaged, his focus on his opponent.

The veins lifted on Berke’s forehead. His grunts were labored. The Chamele was fighting at his top form also.

They orbited the space, testing angles and tactics, trying to outwit, outmaneuver each other.

Their gerels cheered, their voices a blur of sound in the background. Tolui was aware Lea was there but was concentrating too hard to decipher her words.

Berke was the first to break away. They drifted to the edge of the makeshift ring, panting, rolling their shoulders back, rotating their wrists.

“You’re good.” The Chamele Warlord gifted him with that praise.

“That’s why I remain alive.” If he wasn’t good, he would have died many solar cycles ago. “My clone brothers and I fought many wars before we were able to escape.”

“I honed my skills on the battlefield also.” Berke nodded. “The Succession Wars were long and bloody. I killed aunts, uncles, beings I believed to be friends. They all wanted to rule. We tried to negotiate with some of them…in the early planet rotations. And they betrayed us. They wanted everything or nothing.”

That information was relayed without emotion, but that it was relayed at all was telling.

It was an apology…of sorts. “Then I arrived, another being who wanted to negotiate, another being who wanted to rule.”

Berke winced. “We thought you were no different from the rest.”

“I am different.” His gerel had taught him that.

Determined to end this bout, to return to her side, he surged forward.

Berke braced his booted feet and raised his hands, preparing to defend himself.

At the last moment, Tolui tilted his claws downward. Their natural weapons connected and locked. He leveraged that base, pushing off it. His body launched high into the air.

He flipped over and landed behind Berke, lightly swiped over the Chamele’s back once, twice, leaving shallow trails of crimson on his opponent’s skin.

“Fuck, he’s fast.” Berke’s gerel gasped.

Tolui’s gerel beamed. “He’s mine.”

He was hers. Tolui spread his claws.

Berke turned. “You got lucky.”

“It wasn’t luck.” Tolui lifted his chin.

“Prove it.” The Chamele lowered his head and barreled toward him.

Tolui leaped into the air. Berke did also, swiping his claws over Tolui’s chest. Tolui retaliated by doing the same.

Both of them bellowed as they landed on their knees on the hard stone. Their skin was striped with red gashes.

Pain flowed up Tolui’s legs. His pecs burned with agony. His head spun.

“That’s enough.” His little human stomped toward him, putting her fragile form between him and his opponent. “Your fight is over.” Her brown eyes blazed with fierce emotion. “You’re both skilled warriors.”

“They’re both something. I agree with you about that.” Berke’s gerel approached her Warlord. “Tolui is bleeding. You’ve given your fallen warriors retribution.” She reached upward and brushed a strand of hair away from the male’s face. “End the fight.”

Berke turned his head and pressed his cheek into her small hand. “The fight has ended.” He retracted his claws. “The negotiations have begun.”

“What are we negotiating?” Tolui leaned back, trusting Lea to hold him upright—as she had done when they first met.

His gerel was small but she was strong.

“Chamele 4 is the only planet under dispute.”