Alien Conquest (Fated Mates of Xaensskar #2) - Jude Gray Page 0,4

so it was said. I believed they were taught to hate. But with this male, it seemed to be more than that. It was personal.

It still remained that though I looked similar to Drimuti, if I had Drimuti blood, it was but a stain. The Craeshen though, seem to feel it, and I knew that nothing I could say would sway him. And in the end, it didn’t really matter what race I was. He was not going to let two thieves walk away.

And I wasn’t going to beg.

But then, I saw Vihn terrified and broken on the ground as his mother stood in the background wringing her hands. She did not attempt to help, but I was slightly surprised that she looked genuinely upset.

Then I felt the cold slap of reality when she sidled to the angry master of Eastmeadow. She crossed her hands over her chest and gazed up at him with innocent eyes full of tears. “I called as soon as I understood what my child was doing,” she said. “I am so sorry. A mother’s desperation to see her son can make her foolish.”

His face softened and there was a look of actual sympathy in his eyes. “It is no fault of yours, Avanya,” he said. “I thank you for alerting the house. I will repay your courage.”

It was only when she turned and gestured at something on the ground that I saw the small dead grosen. It wasn’t often grosens were domesticated and turned into household pets, but apparently the master of Eastmeadow had kept himself a pet grosen. It was small and very young, as most grosens grew quickly. “I can’t understand why they killed your little Jula.”

Tavin’s face tightened and I saw a quick flash of rage wrapped in sorrow deep in his eyes. The man was an animal lover, and he thought Vihn and I had killed his pet. Neither of us would ever have done such a thing.

“Broke her neck, it appears,” one of the guards—Bo—said gruffly, shuffling his feet. Then he glowered at Avanya. “I’d think you’d be well satisfied. You were always—”

“Enough,” Dexx said. He didn’t raise his voice, but he didn’t need to.

Bo inclined his head and shut his mouth, and a flash of satisfaction lit Avanya’s dark eyes.

And suddenly, I understood. Perhaps Vihn did not, but he was yet a child. His mother was pure evil—and she had set her sights on the master of Eastmeadow. I reckoned the look on my face was filled with fury, because when she glanced at me, she did a double take and then shrank away.

“The boy would kill me, as well,” she said, pointing at me. “There is murder in that one’s eyes.”

“Do not fear, Avanya. He will not get near you. Neither of them will.” Then Tavin put his arm around her and urged her toward the group of chattering women near the entrance.

One of them was a human, and for a few seconds I forgot my troubles as I gazed at her. I’d seen a human woman only once before, when Ilen had taken us all into the neighboring city of Agroeos to attend the three-day festival held by the Aktovi. The event came only once every three cycles and was the one time the Aktovi didn’t seem to mind mingling with other races. As we’d walked the streets of Agroeos, I’d stopped to watch a human woman trapped behind the thick glass of a sex shop. She’d stared into the distance, as motionless as an old-fashioned mannequin.

Tavin murmured something to the women that I could not hear, though I imagined he was telling them to take care of the traitorous Avanya.

When he turned back toward me, it was my turn to shrink away. The look of disgust and anger in his eyes was terrifying, and I had been a street kid. Not much still had the power to terrify me. “I will not abide thieves,” he said, “or those who would coldly kill an innocent animal.” Then he gestured at his guards. “Take that one’s coat—I imagine it is full of things that do not belong to him. Then chain them in the back like the pogs they are.”

They were not gentle as they obeyed him, perhaps believing that our pain would please him. I didn’t care so much for me, but it was hard to witness Vihn’s mental anguish over another betrayal by his mother and the physical brutality he was now forced to endure because