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Now her people would reap the consequences. Even though Mom had reminded her all those times not to be selfish as a kid, that was exactly what she became. No wonder they left.
“I believe there is a way to remove the limiter,” Renza said.
“So he can really finish us all off, huh?”
“Remove it and replace it with one of your Neurosyncs.”
Alina stared at him as she tried to catch up and figure out where he was going with this.
“I have been studying. Your Neurosyncs… They transmit emotion. They help you link in a way our limiter technology does not. They open you where ours close us and fight us at every moment. No?”
“Well, yeah…” Alina frowned. “The NS is… It’s a tool for channeling communication across different modalities. It enhances pleasant emotions where relevant, but it doesn’t block anything. It certainly doesn’t make you less violent.”
“But it makes you feel what another is feeling. Does it not?”
“If you want it to…”
Renza leaned closer, stern intensity in the set of his brow.
“What do you feel for my brother, Alina Argoud?”
Alina’s stomach flipped, heat creeping up her neck. Renza’s eyes were filled with such a knowing that Alina doubted he needed her answer, but he waited anyway. Alina opened her mouth and closed it twice, unsure if she wanted to manifest the words into more than the passing nagging they’d been in her brain—a nagging she’d been diligently fighting to forget over the last weeks.
“I think I love him.”
She looked sheepishly up at Renza, suddenly self-conscious of the admission. What if uhyre didn’t even know what that meant? What if he thought it was stupid?
What if itwasstupid?
But Renza only tilted his chin, bracing his hand on his knee to stand and then offering it to her. He pulled her to her feet, keeping her steady as her head swam with the motion. The headache was pounding and her tongue was so damn dry.
“And when he feels that,” Renza set both hands on her shoulders, watching her intently, “really feels it through a direct neural link, I believe there will be no chance in your Heaven that he’ll hurt you or anyone you care for.”
Threxin
He was in his cabin, examining the latest vaccination monitoring reports on the test subjects when Renza entered with the one person Threxin wanted to see least.
“What is she doing here?” He snarled at his brother, spikes flattening at the sudden sight of her before him.
He had already resolved not to see her again. She would be sent to the CRD, out of sight.
The female glanced at his brother, remaining a step behind him, waiting for him to talk first.
How dare she defer to anyone other than him like that.
“We need to remove your limiter and place a Neurosync instead,” Renza said.
Threxin’s brows went up, and his next words were spoken in Apthian. “Are you mad?”
“He’s not.” Alina stepped up, speaking Universal but clearly understanding what was said. Humans learned too quickly. At least this one did. “He explained it all to me. It’s a good idea. Hear him out.”
“It is the only idea, brother,” Renza said. “The limiter is killing you.”
Alina turned to stare at Renza then. Clearly this part was news to her, though Threxin had long begun to suspect this fact himself. And having Alina Argoud know it too was exactly the opposite of what he had wanted.
“It will not if I do not put myself in situations eliciting strong emotion,” Threxin growled through his teeth. “Like the one you are creating right now, Renza.”
“It is necessary,” Renza said dryly. “And you and I both know there is no life you can lead in which you will not feel. It will grow progressively worse. Besides, it is your duty as Commander of this ship and this cohort.”
