Chapter 51
Atem
“Peony? Peony!” Atem yelled at his combot, but it had already disconnected.
She was alive. As of this moment, she was alive. He had to hold onto that truth.
“Atem?” Tuvo interrupted, turning his eyes back to them.
First Warrior had already been to Spear Rock and returned.
They hadn't found her or Temnavi there. Night was approaching and his pregnant mate and son were missing.
He was going out of his mind. His instinctive need to feed her was clawing at his gut.
The need to make sure his whelping female was safe in her nest was choking him.
They had been gone so long and he knew that Peony would be suffering, and that knowledge made his chest ache.
He had to get her back and it had to be soon, or he would lose his mind.
The problem was that Romival had tracked her to Spear Rock.
Tuvo's men had followed the hover that took her towards the north-east, towards Spear Rock.
Spear Rock had a beach that had golden sand the same as the Deep Basin Desert to the far south.
Tuvo hadn't found her in the city and had returned at Atem's insistence, leaving some men behind to keep looking.
Romival said that the signal he was tracking was on the move, so their failure wasn't surprising.
All signs pointed to her being at Spear Rock.
But she told him she was in the desert.
“Tuvo, prepare the hover,” he said, turning from Romival.
“Vi Dominani?” Second Scholar turned to him, frowning. “Where are you going?”
“To the desert,” he said, following Tuvo out.
Peony said she was in the desert, and he believed her. He trusted Romival to coordinate the search through Spear Rock in case she was wrong, but he was going to follow Tuvo into the desert. He would trust his female.
The two of them rushed to Tuvo's waiting hover as Tuvo instructed his men to begin sweeping over the desert checking for Peony.
However, before they could reach the outside, a small shadow moved away from the wall.
Atem and Tuvo came up short as Tilii, to his great discomfort, prostrated herself before him.
Down on her knees, arms down on her side, head forward, neck bared to him.
An ancient position of submission and an old way to offer your life to another.
“Forgive me, vi Dominani,” she begged, her voice raw as though she had been screaming.
Seeing her supplicated, in such a dishonorable position, sat uneasily in Atem's belly. He shared a quick glance with Tuvo before focusing on her.
“Tilii, I do not have time for-”
“I know where vi Adassani is!” She interrupted, not lifted her head.
Atem's unease turned to icy rage. “What? You-”
“I begged her not to, vi Dominani. I told her it was wrong. But she told me that my duty was to my clan first because I still had my clan name and I couldn't deny her. But I cannot keep this secret! What she does is wrong, and Peony deserves better.”
Snarling, Atem knelt and closed his claws around her neck, pressing their points at the spots he knew, far below the skin, her arteries would be thudding.
“You better speak plainly, fast, ecter, or I will kill you where you lay.”
“Quvi… It was Quvi! She was the one who lured Peony to the market for the ratchi. And she had one of her pleasure males take her and Temnavi from the healing center.”
“Do you know where?”
“N-Not... Not exactly, vi Dominani-”
He growled, claws tightening enough to pierce the skin.
“But I know how you can find them!”
Shaking, moving slowly so he knew she wasn't tricking him, she reached into her hip pouch and produced a combot.
“I stole this from Quvi's room,” she whimpered, holding it out to him, her head still down. “The one who has been giving her instructions sends her messages on it.”
“The one who gives her instructions?” Tuvo repeated as Atem released Tilii to grab the device. “There is a third conspirator?”
She grunted in affirmative. “I do not know their identity. I only know that one day, Quvi was ranting about the humans and how much she hated them, then the next day, this was delivered to her in the middle of the night. The person said they...”
Atem growled when her voice broke. “Everything, Tilii, or your life is forfeit this moment.”
“They said they were responsible for you being captured by the ratchi, vi Dominani,” she rushed to say, flinching as though expecting a blow.
When one didn't come, she continued. “They told Quvi they had connections with a powerful, disreputable clan of ratchi and that they wanted revenge for the young clan members you killed and were willing to come here to do it. They wanted to get rid of you, vi Dominani, and promised to give them, at least, vi Adassani as well.”
“Who?” Tuvo snarled. “Who is it?!”
“I don't know!” She promised, her head dropping lower. “I've begged Quvi again and again to stop, but she does not heed me. But I cannot keep this secret. I like Peony too much. She has been nothing but kind to me.”
“You have acted dishonorably, Tilii,” Atem growled, closing his hand around the combot. “But I acknowledge that you have recognized this. Return to your room. Remain there until I summon you again. I will determine your punishment after I have vi adassi again.”
“Vas, vi Dominani,” she mumbled, crawling back, keeping her neck available to him in case he changed his mind and chose to rip out her throat anyway.
But Atem was already running away, Tuvo on his heels, the two of them focused back on the mission she had interrupted.
“Someone plots against you,” Tuvo growled, as though personally affronted. Considering how much effort Tuvo and his family had put into getting Atem where he was, he wouldn't be surprised if that's exactly what he was feeling.
“It doesn't matter,” Atem said, stowing away the combot.
“Aren't you even curious who?”
Atem snarled, putting more speed into his limbs. “I already know who.”
Tuvo frowned, surprised. “You know? But how?”
“You accuse me of being paranoid and yet somehow think I haven't already suspected every domini that has ever walked these palace walls?”
“You've done nothing before now?”
“I had no proof before now.”
“Proof? The combot? I doubt it will be traceable.”
“No. But there is only one domini I know that can create an untraceable combot, spy upon Romival and Quvi close enough to know what they're doing even in the privacy of their homes, and also be clever enough and have the know how to set a tracker for us in completely the wrong direction so that I cannot trace Peony easily.”
Tuvo stared at him for a moment in surprise. Then anger as the answer dawned on him as well. It wasn't a surprise to Atem. He already spent most of his time thinking of ways that others could be plotting against him and thinking of those who could have plotted against his father.
There were only two on the council that could fill that role.
First Healer was far too excited about being the doctor to the first hybrid in existence to dare want to sell Peony away from his scanner.
Which left only one.