Chapter 39
Chapter Thirty-Nine
T he city walls loomed before them, pale stone gilded by the rising suns as they approached the main gate. The bounty hunters and Dothvek warriors formed a protective semicircle around Linnea, their weapons not drawn but visibly present—a clear warning to anyone who might consider interfering with their approach.
Linnea kept her gaze fixed on the gate, trying to ignore the knot of anxiety tightening in her stomach. Zexx, K'alvek, and T'Kar had disappeared an hour earlier, slipping back through the hidden tunnels into the city while they circled around to approach from the main entrance. Their absence left her feeling oddly exposed despite the formidable group surrounding her.
What if the plan failed? What if the council had gathered enough guards to overwhelm even the Dothvek warriors? What if Zexx was captured or worse?
"Your face is like a scroll anyone can read," Tori commented beside her, her blade now secured at her hip but her hand never straying far from its hilt. "He won't let you down, you know."
Linnea glanced at her, startled by how accurately she'd read her thoughts. "Do you have the same empathic abilities as the Dothveks?" she asked, wondering if this was yet another aspect of these off-worlders she had failed to consider.
Tori laughed, the sound bright and unexpected in the tense atmosphere. "Nah, nothing that fancy. You just have that same look my captain gets when one of us is heading out on a solo mission—like you're trying to calculate all the ways things could go wrong and whether you should insist on going with him.”
"I'm not used to letting others fight my battles," she admitted, smoothing her stained cloak with hands that refused to remain still.
"From what I hear, you've been fighting alone for a long time," Tori replied, surprising her with her insight. "Maybe it's time to let someone have your back."
Before Linnea could respond, movement at the gate caught her attention. Slowly, the massive doors began to swing outward, the ancient hinges groaning under their weight. She stiffened, half-expecting Crestek warriors to rush through the opening, weapons raised.
But the gates continued to open without opposition, revealing the familiar main thoroughfare leading into the city center. No guards blocked their way, no weapons were leveled at them. She exhaled a heavy breath.
"Looks like the first part of the plan worked," Bexli murmured, her lavender hair shifting brighter as she moved forward to flank Linnea on the other side.
Linnea nodded, then squared her shoulders and strode through the gate with what she hoped appeared to be confidence rather than the nervous determination she actually felt. The bounty hunters and Dothveks followed, their presence drawing curious glances from early-rising merchants setting up their stalls in the market square.
As they approached the central plaza before the tower, she saw them—Zexx, K'alvek, and T'Kar standing at the base of the steps, and kneeling before them, bound and clearly furious, were Vellen and Taal. Several other council members she recognized as being loyal to the traitors were similarly restrained, guarded by additional Dothvek warriors who must have entered through other tunnel access points.
Relief flooded through her, so intense it nearly buckled her knees. The plan had worked.
Zexx's eyes found hers across the plaza, and even at this distance, she could feel the connection between them pulse with shared triumph and concern. He had succeeded in capturing the traitors but wouldn't rest easy until she was safely back in power.
By now, a crowd had begun to gather, drawn by the unusual sight of Dothveks and various off-worlders in the heart of the city. Whispers rippled through the growing throng, fingers pointing, expressions ranging from fear to fascination to relief as people recognized her among the group.
This was the moment—the opportunity to reclaim her position, to address the lies that had been spread, to set her city on a new path. She moved to the steps of the tower, climbing several to gain height over the assembled citizens. The familiar stone beneath her feet felt somehow different now, as if she were returning not just to her position but to a new understanding of what that position should mean.
She raised her hands, and a hush fell over the crowd.
"People of the Crestek city," she began, her voice carrying clearly in the morning air. "You have been told many things in the past day—that I was kidnapped, that the peace was threatened, that your security required a return to isolation."
She paused, looking out over the sea of faces—merchants and artisans, guards and servants, nobles and commoners alike—all waiting to hear what had truly transpired.
"I could stand here and tell you comfortable falsehoods," she continued. "I could claim that everything is as it always was, that nothing needs to change. But I've learned, perhaps too late, that leadership without honesty is merely manipulation."
The crowd stirred, uncertain how to react to such unprecedented candor from their chancellor.
"The truth is this: members of my own council plotted against me because I wished to continue the peace with the Dothveks, because I believed—still believe—that we are stronger with allies instead of enemies." She gestured to the bound advisors. "These Cresteks wanted me to fail. They orchestrated protests, spread lies, and were willing to sacrifice our future for their own power and prejudice."
Murmurs spread through the crowd, eyes turning to the captive council members with growing anger.
"They will be taken to a place where chaos and fighting are welcome," she announced, having decided this punishment during their approach to the city and Tori’s tales of how she ended up with her mate. "Let them live among those who share their appetite for conflict, far from the peace we are building here."
Tori had grinned when Linnea had proposed this solution. She assured Linnea that she was more than happy to deposit the treacherous Cresteks in a place that was filled with enough treachery of its own to make them feel right at home.
She drew a deep breath, knowing that what came next would define her leadership more than any decision she had made before.
"I stand before you not just as your chancellor but as a Crestek who has seen the flaws in our society—the inequality, the hidden suffering, the rigid hierarchies that benefit few at the expense of many." Her voice grew stronger with each word. "I invite you to join me in building a city where peace and prosperity are not reserved for the elite, where every Crestek has equal value and equal opportunity. Join me in creating change and building a lasting peace.”
The silence that followed her words stretched for a heartbeat, then two—a silence in which her own pulse seemed deafening in her ears. Then, from somewhere in the crowd, a single voice shouted, “Peace!” The cry was taken up by others, spreading through the gathering until the plaza echoed with voices raised in support.
Near the front of the crowd, she spotted Zelia, her face alight with fierce joy as she clapped and waved. Beside her stood K’Nar, looking somewhat battered but very much alive, a smile of quiet satisfaction on his usually composed face.
She raised her hands again, waiting for silence to return. There was one more truth that needed to be spoken.
"There is something else you should know," she said, her voice softer now but no less determined. "The Dothvek ambassador did not kidnap me as you were told. He saved me. Without his warning, without his protection, I would not be standing before you now." She turned to where Zexx stood, tall and proud at the base of the steps. "If he agrees, he will be staying as my ambassador, to help me lead our city into this new era of cooperation and understanding. But I will also be spending some time among the Dothveks on the sands so I can truly understand them."
Zexx stepped forward, his golden skin gleaming in the morning light, his tribal markings a stark reminder of his heritage. But instead of the expected acknowledgment, he shook his head.
"I will not stay as your ambassador, Chancellor," he said, his deep voice carrying easily to the farthest corners of the plaza.
A ripple of confusion passed through the crowd. Her heart stuttered, a moment of irrational fear gripping her before she saw the look in his eyes—not rejection, but something infinitely more precious.
"I will stay," he continued, "but only if you agree to become my mate."
Tears blurred her vision as she nodded, unable to speak past the emotion tightening her throat. In full view of her entire city, before Cresteks and Dothveks and interstellar bounty hunters alike, Zexx climbed the steps to where she stood and swept her into his embrace.
The cheers that erupted around them seemed distant compared to the thundering of her heart as his lips found hers. In that moment, all the barriers between them—of species, of culture, of history—fluttered away like a feather on the breeze.
They were no longer Crestek and Dothvek, no longer chancellor and warrior, no longer separated by the stone walls and vast sands that had divided their peoples for generations. They were simply Linnea and Zexx. And that was more than enough.