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“I was afraid you were going to kill me. That you’d been flipped permanently.”
“I’m so sorry. I had to be convincing, like the brainwashing had been successful, so Seeher would believe it. If she got an inkling my mind was my own again, she would have blasted you.”
Kat shuddered.
I hugged her, rocking her. “It’s over. She can’t hurt us anymore.” I peered at Da’an, who’d freed me. His shoulders stooped, and his face slackened with grief.
“She meant something to you,” I guessed.
“She was my sister.”
Kat and I both jerked. She lifted her head from my chest. I was floored by his sacrifice. With his powerful mental abilities, he had to have predicted what would happen. “I’m sorry for the way…”
“You did what needed to be done. She had every opportunity to change course, but she refused. If you hadn’t eliminated her, I would have had to. I thank you for not making me kill my own sister.” Tears ran down his cheeks. He wiped his eyes. An evil had been destroyed, but he would grieve, not for the person she’d become but who she had once been.
Kat sniffed. “I thought you were solidifying the brainwashing,” she said to Da’an.
“You were supposed to think that. That’s why Dria brought him here.”
“Instead, he undid the mind controls and restored my memory. I remember all the false beliefs she planted, every action I took while under her control. Da’an let me know she planned to order me to kill you, and he helped me to fake compliance. I’m not sure I could have pulled it off without his assistance.”
Kat bit her lip, indecision and confusion on her face. “You’re not a member of the Galactic Justice Warriors?”
“No, I’m a Nemoni—a psi-guide—and an LOP informant.”
In a flurry of feathers, Special Agents Judika Ospra and Davi Dovano rushed in. I remembered them from Aurelia after my capture. “Are you all right, Your Highness?” Ospra asked.
“I’m fine.” Finally, I was fine.
“And you, Miss Whalen?” she asked.
“Better now.” Kat curled her fingers into my tunic.
“Can you stand?” I asked her.
“Yes.”
I assisted her to her feet.
“The robo recorded what was said and done.” Da’an pointed to the tea-server bot idling off to the side.
“But there’s more. A lot more. I did a complete mind sweep on Sandria. The GJW had planned to infiltrate the upcoming pan-summit. They intended to take out a scheduled speaker and substitute Prince Lomax who was supposed to deliver an emotional, impassioned speech calling for equity and justice for all alien sentients. At the conclusion of his address, a brainwashed LOP officer was going to kill the prince. As the pan-summit would be broadcast live, the entire galaxy would witness the assassination.”
“Oh my god!” Kat shuddered against me, and I felt chilled to the bone. The situation had been far worse than either of us had guessed.
“It’s rare for them to sacrifice a high-value asset,” Dovano commented.
“The prince was worth more dead than alive,” Ospra said grimly. “His murder would have given the GJW enormous credibility and thoroughly discredited the LOP. Not only would their false promises have touched trillions of viewers, but seeing an LOP representative assassinate a prince for espousing justice and equity would have irreparably damaged the league. No one would ever forget it.”
“It would have been taken as proof the GJW had been right all along about what they’ve been saying about the LOP,” Dovano added. “It would have been the beginning of the end.”
“I can provide a full report of strategic plans with names, dates, places, and a list of everyone Sandria brainwashed, along with the names of the dead. She is, was extremely well-connected, two notches below Huavon, the leader and founder.”
“With that kind of information, we ought to be able to wipe out the GJW for good.” Ospra turned to me. “Since your memory has been restored, Your Highness, we must talk. And we require a statement from Miss Whalen.”
That sounded ominous. “Am I still in trouble?”
“The investigation is still open,” she said.
