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Trayem grunted as one of those blurs struck him once, twice, three times. He fell to his knees and pulled me down with him.
“Stop,” a deep craggy voice said.
It came from the corner of the room.
The lights came on and revealed the scene in all its horrific detail.
The other three guard members stood around Trayem armed with metal poles—the weapons they had knocked him to the ground with.
A thin sliver of blood eased from the corner of Trayem’s mouth where one of the creatures had bitten him.
He was on his knees and I suspected it was a way to show his supplication to the creature that sat in the corner.
My heart was in my throat at the sight of the thing.
It had blazing red skin pulled taut over a pointed skeletal frame and black horns that curled upward from his powerful square head. His body was lashed with so much muscle it made Trayem look like a weedling in comparison.
But what most caught my attention was the little bundle held with surprising delicacy in his lap.
The baby was quiet and burbled innocently, though his skin was pallid and his movements were weak and lacked vitality.
I knew without hesitation it was my baby.
Trayem had told me the truth.
He was still alive.
But soon, his parents wouldn’t be.
8
TRAYEM
I was right where I didn’t want to be.
In a room full of enemies with Harper at my shoulder and the means to escape a short dash across the open space to the beaten-up shuttlecraft sitting outside.
Krial had never been patient and he never forgave easily. It was easier to squeeze blood from a stone. It became painfully obvious what was going to happen next.
There were a handful of potential outcomes and none ended well for Harper.
I peered at each of my sibling guards one after another. There was anger, resentment, and more than a little disappointment. The same look was in Tus’s eyes.
He wasn’t about to help me. Nor should he if he wanted to keep his head.
“Now we see where your loyalty lies,” Krial said.
“I meant no disrespect,” I said hesitantly.
Krial snorted.
“You deliberately broke my orders and dishonored not only me but your brothers and sisters.”
Harper squeezed my hand and I drew some strength from it.
“This is not her doing,” I said. “She didn’t even know what the plan was. Punish me. Not her.”
“No!” Harper said.
