Under By Treaty (SciFi Romance) (15 page)

“This isn
’t enough,” Sonil growled. She launched onto her knees, her head twisting to look at him from different angles. Her wings sprouted and billowed out behind her. She looked completely feral. “What are you doing, Jaden?”

“Doing?” he croaked
, fear clawing at his throat.

“You
’ve changed.”

“Says the reptile with wings
.”

His head
snapped to the side. Pain shot through his jaw. She had struck him without warning. He checked if his teeth were all in place and tasted blood in the corner of his mouth. Sonil was nowhere to be seen.

Crap.
Where was she?

His head dropped.
And why had he said that? Had he lost his mind?

The air cracked behind him
and a searing pain sliced his back.

He cried out
in shock. “Sonil, please, I didn’t mean –”

“You
’re hiding something.”

She lashed him. Hard. His
whole body jerked turning the dull ache in his arms into a raging protest. Pain lanced him again.

“I
’m not,” he said.

“
You lie.” She lashed him even harder. “I can’t trust you. What –”

Jaden gasped. She wasn
’t holding back.

“Are.”

“Please… Arggh!”

“You.”

He jolted again. Tears sprang to his eyes.

“Hiding?”

The whip flicked under his buttocks and lashed his balls. The intolerable pain cascaded. He tried to curl in on himself, but his restraints made it impossible.

He heard a door slam.
He strained against his bindings, awash with agony. He registered Earth trying to contact him and the sound of breaking furniture. Sonil was screeching, an alien wail from an alien throat. The pain behind her rage could be heard in every decibel. The sound of glass being smashed followed by the flapping of wings stopped his heart.
Fuck
. He tugged wildly at his restraints putting every ounce of strength into escaping his bonds. The effort was futile. As reality hit home, he hung there exhausted, bleeding, and worried as hell.

Where would she go?

*****

Sonil
exhausted her fury flying over Yets Peak. She woke up on a precipice, resolved to end her infatuation with General Jaden. He would be her servant. Not her lover. He had earned Earth its freedom and she would honor that. But she was the Qui and her empire came first. She could not allow Jaden to distract her.

She flew
back to the castle. The staff had already repaired the window. She saw a guard spot her flying in. Word would quickly spread that she had returned. She hovered outside her open bedroom window and studied the bloodied mess hanging unconscious at the end of her bed. She stamped down on the rush of love and guilt threatening to flood her.

She
recalled her anger, stepped onto the window ledge, and shape-shifted into unwinged form. Then she dropped to the floor. She released Jaden from his bindings and carried him to a simple room down the hall. She laid him on the bed, pulled the drape, and left, pulling the door shut.

Someone else could tend to him.

*****

Sonil
gave him one day to recover. It hadn’t been enough. Now Jaden stood on his mark by her throne as she conducted the day’s business, holding onto his dignity by a thread. Blood flowed freely down his back, chest and thighs, soaking through his clothing. Though he didn’t move, didn’t make a sound, none at court was fooled as to his condition. When the last person left, he collapsed to the floor. Sonil did not as much as look at him. A terrible ache filled his chest, a pain worse than what she had inflicted upon his flesh. Three days passed the same way. Her staff forced him to eat under threat of a tube down his throat if he refused. He got stronger. His nano-proteins prevented scarring on his back. His balls stopped hiding. He learned to be her servant.

Only h
is contact with Earth saved his sanity.

Jaden
severed all contact with Earth in Sonil’s presence the day she stopped an audience with some poor woman pleading for exemption on her taxes and turned to study him.

“Jaden, what are you doing?”

He cut off the implant and swallowed. He had no reply. His cheeks burned. She gazed at him serenely then turned to the open-mouthed K’lahn female.

“I see you are a gardener. I would like flowers throughout the castle every day in lieu of payment. Is this acceptable?”

For a moment, Jaden thought the woman would run up the steps and kiss her Qui. Sonil did too and stiffened. Fortunately, the K’lahn merely beamed, nodded, and then bowed her way back down the audience room. The next presentation was a man in chains pleading for his life. He was the last petitioner that morning. Wings rustling furiously, Sonil stood up, walked down the steps to a guard, appropriated a sword, and proceeded to lop off the man’s head.

Her reptilian eyes raked Jaden up and down. “
He
was guilty.”

*****

Sonil decided to be graciousness personified. “President Johnson. Welcome to the Court of the Qui. I trust your journey was comfortable.”

Earth
’s envoy was suitably taken aback by her full Qui regalia and inhuman form. He recovered quickly, his eyes flitting to Jaden standing half a step behind, silent, and staring dead ahead. Sonil was satisfied with her servant’s behavior. Any eye contact with his former president was due to Johnson acquiring it. However, Jaden’s unobtrusive presence unsettled the president more and more until Sonil decided to put an end to it.

“Jaden
has no role here other than to serve me, Mr. President. This is how Earth earned her independence.”

“Earth was always independent, Honored Qui.”

“Of course. Let us sign the treaty recognizing that. Then you may return home.”

Johnson studied the document. “I understood you hoped to set up trading agreements with Earth.”

“I no longer trust Earth, Mr. President.”

Johnson
’s eyebrows shot upwards. His gaze shifted to Jaden.

Sonil
’s eyes narrowed. Her voice dropped several degrees. “I hope this treaty ends the relationship between Earth and the Qui Galactic Empire. Stay out of my territory and there will be no issues between us.”

The
former president paled, nodded, and signed both copies of the treaty quickly. Sonil added her signature, rolled them up and handed Johnson his copy.

“Goodbye, Mr. President.”

With no other option, Earth’s envoy rose to his feet, turned, and left.

Sonil
swung around to the motionless statue at her side. “So Earth is safe, Jaden. What will you do now?”

His cheek muscle twitched. His throat bobbed up and down. But he held his tongue and his place.

Sonil placed her reptile hand against his cheek and sighed. “You are becoming the perfect servant, Jaden. Now we are both unhappy.”

*****

General Jaden? Don’t switch off. President Rooster is online.

General? I need to warn you. Earth has signed an alliance with
the Trexan system.

Achieving what, Mr. President. The wrath of the Qui?

No. We backed off from that following your warning. President Johnson’s visit confirmed the decision. He advises that your loyalties are suspect and it would be too dangerous without an inside source we can rely on. The alliance with Trexan is a trading agreement only. Sharing resources and knowledge. We thought you should be forewarned.

I
am definitely compromised, Mr. President, and not sure if my position here is tenable for much longer. I will be switching off the implant permanently. Mr. President, I would like to formally resign my commission.

A longer pause than normal followed before,
Your resignation is not accepted, but I understand your position. If you need us, you will be able to contact Central Command.

Jaden switched Earth off.
He had no intention of contacting Central Command ever again.

His heart ached
endlessly, a constant squeezing pain. He couldn’t eat. He could hardly sleep. The thought of killing himself had begun to look appealing for the first time ever.

If he had to live with her, yet never truly be
with
her...  How long could he bear this desolate existence? He wanted Sonil back, in his arms. This fascinating alien had read his heart and given peace back to his world. In her own unique, alien way, she loved him. She had tamed him, stolen her way into his heart, and the man he had been should hate her. He didn’t understand how or why, but culmination had changed him. He was desperate to win back Sonil’s trust. He wanted to experience again that magical state of being in one pure moment of honesty.

He doubted that could ever happen now.

Chapter Thirteen

Sonil struggled to breathe. “You formed an alliance with Earth?”

The Trexan Ambassador shrank before her blazing
fury. “They are no longer enemies of the Empire, Honored Qui.”

“How did you make contact with Earth?”
Sonil demanded.

“They found us, Honored Qui. We believe our trading agreement will enable us to fund a Qui military post in our sector
, thus removing this obstacle to cessation from the Empire.”

“I see.
And what about your alliance with the Surashans?”

The Trexan blanched. “I don
’t understand.”

Fitor stepped forward
. “I have evidence, Ambassador, that the Surashan fleet is on your border.”

“Our forces a
re holding them at bay, Honored Qui.”

Fitor wasn
’t satisfied. “Qui forces loyal to Trexan. I am surprised you are not here pleading for Qui intervention. Perhaps Earth will leap to your defense?”

Sonil
rose to her feet unable to contain her fury. There was only one explanation. And he stood beside her. She stepped forward and her wings swept out and vertically up. The entire Trexan delegation moved back in alarm.

“Surashan, Trexan, and Earth? Allies against the Qui? Fitor, I have urgent business
to attend to. Please discuss the Trexan’s real issue with the Ambassador.”

Her brother looked startled, but bowed, leaving Sonil free to confront Jaden. His white
face confirmed her suspicions. His eyes met hers. He looked ready to die. She swooped to his side before he could blink, wrapped her arms around him, and soared high into the sky.

He clung to her, silent and still as she flew for miles, high into the mountains. She headed for Yets Peak. The flight w
as long. For Jaden it was cold. She did not care. She would not return until she had the truth from him.

He would not return at all.

*****

Jaden rolled to his feet, and
retreated from the precipice Sonil had deposited him on. Hell, it was little more than a ledge on a mountain face that stretched out on all sides forever. If she intended to exile him here, it was the ideal spot – a shallow cave for shelter, no way up, a long fall down. This was a place to die.

She landed beside him and shifted into her humanoid form.
For a split second, he thought her about to hurl him over the edge; he had never seen her so incensed. He wanted to back away, but her stare froze him to the spot.

“Start talking
,
General
.”

He looked
her straight in the eye and confessed all.

“I
’m a sleeper, Sonil. A sleeper is someone unaware of their true mission until a trigger awakens their memories. It was my idea. I suggested it to Johnson and Rooster a couple of days after you arrived on Earth and made your unusual offer.” He paused in case she had a question.

“Go on.” Her voice was tight. Husky.

“My memories were suppressed. I had no idea what my mission was on board your flagship. Not until after culmination.”

“Hence I could not know what was in your heart.”

“I held nothing back from you at culmination, Sonil, I swear. My feelings for you haven’t changed. I struggled at first when I woke up. It was like remembering who I had been, but nothing could alter how I feel about you.”

She tossed her head in
clear disbelief. “What was your mission?”

“To
acquire strategic information that would bring down the Qui Empire… Please, Sonil, don’t look so shocked… we were enemies at war
.
The K’lahn tortured and killed my parents! Fighting the empire was all I knew. I wanted to destroy it. Even if I died in the attempt.”

“You
are a spy.” Her voice accused and convicted him.

“Yes.
When my implant was removed on Earth, it was replaced by a bio-implant: a new design, invisible to K’lahn sensors and capable of transmitting through hyperspace.”

“So you
gave Earth information gleaned from my audience with the Trexan.”

“Yes.”

“And Earth signed an agreement with
me
, while all the time plotting with the Trexan and Surashans?”

“
No. Earth has no idea about the situation between the Surashans and the Trexan. Their idea was to form a military alliance and help the Trexan to independence. I made clear immediately that it was a bad idea. I warned them that any kind of military alliance would be considered a threat to the Qui. Earth backed off. They formed a trading agreement – nothing more.”

“You have no
idea what you have done. K’lahn have died in their millions protecting the Trexan worlds from the Surashans. Earth is an infant in the galaxy, barely capable of space travel. I have been such a fool. I didn’t want to destroy Earth, so I chose a way that worlds like Trexan could respect.”

“Please understand, the K’lahn invaded my world, y
ou
were the aggressor, and by the time I began to appreciate the stabilizing influence your empire brings to the galaxy, Earth had decided my judgment was compromised.”

Sonil shook her head so fiercely Jaden
felt the rock quake beneath his feet, preparing to open up and devour him whole. “You lied to me!”

“I
’m no longer the man you thought I was.”

“
So who are you? The General Jaden I had stripped and placed in a cage?”

“No
. I’m not him, either.”

“Strip now.”

Her command took him by surprise, but he didn’t dare hesitate. His heart raced as he took off his shirt, wary of her intentions. When he removed his pants she looked away as if she could no longer bear the sight of him. His throat closed.

“Throw yo
ur garments over the precipice.”

Jaden
swallowed hard. Then he picked up the discarded clothing and threw it into space, even his boots. He stood there, naked, experiencing a vulnerability he had never felt before as the cold air sapped his strength. He glanced at Sonil. She was staring out across the mountains to a gold-blue, hazy horizon. So much distance between them. Empty desolation crept through him. 

“Sonil?”

Her head turned and Jaden swallowed to see the deep well of turmoil in her eyes. She looked grief-stricken. His anxiety deepened; he was treading new ground and he didn’t know how to handle this Sonil. He certainly didn’t expect her to undo the clasp at the back of her neck.

“W
hat are you doing?”

“
You will die knowing how I feel, Jaden.” Her dress slipped to the ground. “Naked… exposed…” Her voice broke, a strange sound to hear. “Cast out to the elements…  Abandoned.”

She
tossed her dress into the abyss and faced him.

Jaden
stared at her pale blue body in total shock. Her bare skin was practically translucent. He looked at her face. Her rage had evaporated. Instead, she looked utterly desolate.

The woman he loved
was falling apart in front of him and he couldn’t hide his anguish. “Please don’t, Sonil…”

Her face crumpled.
“
You chose Earth over me
.”

“
I couldn’t follow through with it, Sonil. I offered Earth my resignation.”

“Offered?”

“Rooster refused to accept it, but that means nothing. What’s important is that I chose
you
.” His voice dropped. “I intended to spend a lifetime serving you, Sonil, however you wanted me. I hoped over time –”

“
No
! Intentions founded on deceit are worthless.” Her voice hardened. “You played me for a fool and attacked my Empire. Now I must destroy Earth. You have both saved and wasted your planet, Jaden. Honor demands retribution.”

Jaden
’s stomach clenched. He went down on bended knee before her. “Please, Sonil,
I
did this to you. Punish me, not Earth.”

“Punish you?
” Her laugh was unexpected, and laced with a terrifying hysteria. “What more can I possibly do to you, other than destroy everything you have worked to save?” She gasped and pointed an accusing finger at him. “You
deceived
me. I trusted you and it was all a lie?” Huge tears welled under her lashes. “
I thought you loved
me
.”

Jaden felt suddenly very frightened.
He had never seen her this way. “Not everything was a lie,” he tried. “I
do
love you.”

But
Sonil wasn’t listening. Her face drained of color. She wiped tears from one eye with an unsteady finger then studied her hand as if unable to grasp why the skin was wet.

“Sonil?”

She stared at him. “You made me cry.”

Her shock stabbed
him to the core. “Please, try to understand –”

She shook her head.
“No,
you
don’t understand. A Qui cannot sit on the throne and rule an Empire feeling this way.” She drew in a rasping breath. “Skal, I can hardly breathe.” She looked around then pointed behind him. “Full honor requires resolution. Pick up that rock.”

Jaden
twisted around and saw the stone she meant. He frowned. “Sonil –”

“
NOW
!” she roared.

Startled, bewildered
, Jaden rose to his feet and did as he was told. Sonil walked towards him. Then, to his astonishment, she dropped to her knees before him.

Her head bowed
.

For a moment, Jaden could not speak. The rock
weighed heavily in his hand. Did she mean him to strike her?

“Sonil? What are you doing?”

“You want to save Earth? This is your chance. Finish your mission, Jaden. Then die here alone beside my body.
That
will be your punishment, and mine, for I am no longer worthy to sit on the throne.”

Jaden backed away.
“That’s crazy – your empire
needs
you! No, there has to be another way.”

She looked
up at him then and he gazed into deep pools of torment.

“You
leave me no choice. As Qui I must destroy Earth – honor demands it. I am no longer emotionally fit to rule an empire. You want another way? This
is
another way. My successor will respect the treaty with Earth. Our deaths will provide a natural resolution.” Her expression flashed anger and distress. “
You
created this mess,
you
will end it.”

Jaden
looked at the rock in his hand. She didn’t mean it. She
couldn’t
mean it. He stepped towards her. Her head dropped. Jaden raised his hand, convinced she would disembowel him before he could strike her. His grip on the rock tightened. Still she knelt at his feet. He prepared to strike.

Ready to die.

And saw her tremble.

Fuck
. She meant it. She meant him to kill her. His mind raced. Earth would be safe. He died either way. He raised the rock higher.
Shit
. Why was he hesitating? He shouldn’t be hesitating. Earth
had
to come first. He’d spent his whole life protecting Earth.

Until
the moment he’d surrendered his heart to a Qui.

F
uck!

His arm dropped to his side.
The rock fell from his lifeless fingers and rolled harmlessly over the edge of the precipice.

“I can
’t,” he whispered. “I’m sorry… I can’t do it.”

Sonil
moaned then and curled over. Huge sobs racked her slender body, her protruding spine and wing blades serving to emphasize both her desolation and her alien heritage. She had really meant him to kill her. Jaden grappled with the scale of her despair. He thought about her admission: that she was no longer fit to rule.

Sweet
heaven, he had done it.

He had fucked the Qui Galactic Empire to its knees
.

N
ever had success tasted so foul.

S
onil was shaking violently. She was in shock, unable to control her emotions or her body. Jaden felt humbled.
He
had done this to her, to a Qui. Yes, she had put him through hell, but never had she reduced him to this. She would rather be dead, than live with his betrayal.

H
e would do anything to undo the damage.

He sat
down beside her and pulled her unresisting body into his lap. Wrapping his arms around her, he rested his chin on her head and uttered gentle, soothing noises. Her tears continued unabated. Her despair was unending and Jaden could do nothing to ease her pain.