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I was frozen solid, my throat closed. I was unable to say a word or even make up an excuse because I knew any moment now–
The soldiers gasped and suddenly each of the small group drew their swords, their gazes behind me.
…any moment now they would see my entourage.
“Put those away,” I ordered automatically and somehow my voice was firm and strong as I easily fell into my previous position.
“But sir, behind you!”
I didn’t bother looking back but Bracken’s shadow fell over me as he approached and a moment later Clem and Kiar took my sides.
I saw the understanding on my fellow humans’ faces as they realized I stood with the nocs. Horror, disbelief, disgust. Everything I would have expected.
“It’s not what it looks like.”
Except it was exactly what it looked like.
I swallowed and took a step forward, they all stepped back.
Pausing, I stood and stared at them. There were four of them. They were low ranked fighters, or I would have known them personally. Realistically, I could kill them without even trying and no one would ever know what they had seen.
But I had never murdered in cold blood and never a human. I was not about to start now.
Just because I had become close to nocs did not mean that I needed to become like them.
Better yet, I could use these people.
“Everything we know has been a lie,” I said.
“What–”
“I have just descended from speaking with the goddess Tsuki herself,” I said, interrupting them.
Now I really had their attention.
Reaching into my pocket, I retrieved both stones and held them out. They glinted beautifully in the morning light and all four of the humans gasped.
“Tsuki and Taiyo have gifted me the stone to make things right,” I told them. “Emperor Gaulu has been deceiving us. He created the nocs in some sort of bid for power. He must be stopped.”
My passionate speech had the opposite effect from what I expected. One of the soldiers gripped the ones in front of him and pulled them back, just out of my reach.
I frowned.
“You, Batu Sun, the noc killer, want to defeat our own emperor?” he asked slowly and immediately I knew they did not trust me.
“Tsuki gave me the sunstone,” I argued. “How else would I have gotten it from the noc kingdom?”
Their gazes flickered past me, to Bracken, Kiar and Clem, and I knew there was no way they were ever going to believe me. Even so, I stepped toward them, desperate to make them understand.
“Please,” I said. “Listen–”
They stumbled back this time, faces suddenly twisting in horror and I followed their gazes to see that Alhadya, the former noc king himself, was lowering from the trees behind me.
My heart sank.
I did not even want to face the humans. How could I possibly explain?
I was never given the opportunity to find out, because as one, the group of them took off, running for their lives as though they would be chased.
