Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
“I know.” She pushed up on her toes for only a millisecond just to kiss his cheek. “I’m not worried about getting hurt.”
“Yet, you worry. I see the…how do you phrase it? Wheels turning on your face?” The group slowed to a stop at yet another door.
This one was massive, and the doors were hard and enforced.
There were no sensors down on the floors.
Only cold metal and soft, humming lights.
As the doors hissed open, Aphrodite was introduced to a round room with a hollow circle of a table. The main council chambers.
Aphrodite glanced up at Xexis, “I’m still trying to work out my people. If it’s security they’re worried I’m breaching, or if it’s something else. Why would they go so far and make Xnasis think I was going to get snuffed.”
“One of Xnasis’ informants told him the humans arrived while we slept and they were curious. The human diplomat did not greet or speak with anyone, and no one has been in contact with them other than seeing their group leave their ship.”
Oh yeah, sneaky humans weren’t a good sign. She inhaled sharply through her nose and stopped beside the door as a guard put up a hand. They were eight foot tall with deep blue skin made of scales. They put a scanner across Buddy before nodding. “Clear.”
Reevar was stopped and disarmed before being let into the chamber. No weapons allowed in the chambers, smart but not foolproof.
Punching someone in the face still hurt.
Aphrodite followed Xexis to a seat at the table while Xnasis met a group of others across the table.
As she glanced around, she realized the rest of their envoy was not let inside.
Quagmor sat beside them, and Reevar stood behind them, but they were alone.
The six Council members took their seats.
There weren’t any humans yet. She anxiously searched the room.
Her attention landed at the three other seats at the table that were unfilled.
The door hissed open behind her once more and Aphrodite twisted to see.
Cold, unfiltered terror filled her body as three humans marched inside.
Winrow Smith walked in front of a tall, lanky woman she’d never met, and behind them, Max sauntered inside.
Her vision flashed and she was back on the ship.
His startled scream filled her ears. Panic surged through her body.
Blood spilled everywhere. In slow motion, she rewatched Danny drive his knife into Max’s skull.
Aphrodite flung to her feet, “Max!”
“Mphronatch, please, take a seat.” Xnasis’ order from behind her echoed off the walls. Xexis grabbed her but she couldn’t move. Max froze in the walkway, blinking at her with confusion. Her heart pounded in her chest.
“No, no-no-no, I saw you die!” she snarled, her breathers struggling with her panicked breathing. Aphrodite was wrenched down into her seat by the hands of her mate. She trembled. Unable to break eye contact with Max, fury pumped through her blood. No! How!
“Miss Kerso, I’m not sure what you are inferring, but Maximillon Draper is alive and well.” Winrow Smith crossed his arms over his uniform.
Aphrodite opened her mouth, violent rage ready to spew out. All of it turned to ash on her tongue in an instant.
Max grinned at her, and something was wrong. The smugness oozing from Max, it was wrong. Max was wrong. Of course, he’s wrong, he’s fucking dead. Her stomach bottomed out. She sat fully in her seat, no longer having to be held down. He’s wrong. Max winked at her, slipping into the seat.
He’s never once in his life winked at me.
She furrowed her brows. The fake Max eyed her.
Something seemed to dawn over him as Aphrodite’s shoulders squared and her lips curled into an ugly scowl.
Something is wearing Max. Fake Max’s face slipped from the original smugness to something far more serious.
“This special Council is now at order.”
She didn’t hear a single thing that was said. Instead, she kept her attention on Fake Max. They stared the whole time, nearly unblinking. Buddy sat on her shoulder fully and she peeked down at her data pad.
Pest.
Her eyes snapped up to Fake Max. Cold fury pumped through her. Sweat ran the length of her spine. Her fingers pressed against the data pad, keeping her gaze trained on Fake Max. Finally, Buddy tapped her shoulder twice with a tentacle. She swallowed and glanced down.
Pest like Fqa. Skull is brittle. Lifeform is deteriorated. Pest.
Inhaling sharply, she caught movement to her right.
Reevar put a hand to her bicep, clenching it tight.
Her gaze shot up to his face and they locked eyes.
Reevar’s shoulders rose and fell rapidly.
His attention flickered from the data pad to Fake Max.
Her heart beat against her ear drums. Only the roar of her breathers and the fury pulsing through her body could be heard. Her hands trembled. No.
That means this pest…is more than just mad cow disease or rabies. Whatever the pest was inhabiting Max’s body, it fully reanimated a dead body.
“Mphronatch, your testimony, please.”
She was ripped from her thoughts. Jerking to her feet, she faced the Council. “What would you like to hear?”
The five strangers and Xnasis eyed her with varying degrees of humor and befuddlement. Xnasis spoke, “Start with your orders.”
“Your honors, this is clearly just a miscommunication,” Winrow Smith sighed. “We’ve already issued an apology for the false reporting and announce a joyous congrats on Miss Kerso’s relationship. There is no reason for this circus to continue.”
“There is when Maxmillon Draper was murdered before my eyes.” Aphrodite felt the room stiffen as silence fell over everyone. She jabbed a thumb at Xexis. “Xexis saw it. Protection Specialist Daniel Edgar drove his weapon into Max’s skull. I watched him bleed out. I watched him die!”
The humans stared at her with daggers. Sharpened eyes full of malice and disgust. She didn’t care.
She lunged toward them only to be held back by Reevar and Xexis.
Chairs clattered to the floor as Aphrodite struggled.
Tears clouded her eyes, but they didn’t spill.
They didn’t deserve them. She gnashed her teeth, thrashing in their arms. “That’s not Max! ”
“Miss Kerso” mixed with “Mphronatch” and “Aphrodite,” filled the air, but she wouldn’t be stopped.
She ripped from Reevar’s grip and pointed at Max.
“I’ve known Max Draper for seven years and for seven fucking years I’ve been dealing with his goofy, carefree, never had a responsibility in the world attitude.
He’s like a little brother who wants to breathe in your face and touch your stuff.
He’s never, ever, looked like that. He’s never looked at me like that. ”
“Your honors, this proves nothing,” the woman grumbled.
“Well, how about my drone’s findings that Max is infected with a pest?”
Max and the woman paled, eyes widening as Winrow Smith scoffed.
He rolled his eyes and waved off her comment with a flippant hand.
“Your honors, a drone she crafted that only she has access to the coding of, it’s hardly proof or standard issue.
That drone could come up with any information it wished.
Its scans are hardly evidence of her ridiculous claims.”
Aphrodite slammed her hand to the table before jabbing a finger at Winrow. “Then explain to me why the fuck Max, a pilot was brought to a Council meeting? He’s just a pilot.”
“We hired him to get us here safely.” Winrow climbed to his feet, leaning toward her.
“On a Council shuttle that was given to us, with a Council pilot and Council engineer? Max wouldn’t know how to fly that shuttle if it fucked his mother and gave birth to him!
” Aphrodite was foaming at the mouth feral.
Red in the face as hands returned to hold her back.
She didn’t thrash this time, panting for air with sharp inhales and steady exhales.
The room hushed as Xnasis and another person stood up. “Mr. Smith has a good point.”
Aphrodite’s eyes widened, opening her mouth to shout when it snapped shut as Xnasis glared at her.
The person standing beside Xnasis loomed over the room.
Nine feet tall at their full height, a stick of a person with pale gray skin and soft features.
Almost as if they didn’t have a real face at all.
They were draped from pointy head to lanky leg in heavy fabrics.
Their robes were in varying colors and designs that played off each other.
Four, slender hands slipped out of bell sleeves to point at the humans. Even Max tossed himself to his feet.
“Your drone can not be trusted, as they are yours, but the Council will decide if there is a pest inside Max’s body.
” A voice like whispers through tree branches floated around her.
A blue beam spread over the whole room. The grid of light passed over their bodies before clicking off.
Just as fast as she saw the scanners in the ceiling of the room, they were gone. Her heart hammered in her chest.
Please…please. She watched the gray person pull out a data pad and hum.
“Seize Max and the Councilor.”
Actual hell broke loose before her eyes, and Aphrodite was ill-prepared to face it.