Chapter 37
Trove
How was it possible to feel both heavy and light at the same time? He definitely felt the weight of everything that happened last night. Yet, somehow, he was also near floating as he and Chee dressed in order to finally meet this elusive Hyde.
He couldn’t wait to finish this job. They’d get their credz, he’d pack up the rest of Chee’s belongings, and they’d return to the Vainglory.
She didn’t have anyone for him to fight to claim her as his mate, but that was fine.
His instincts would be satisfied by fighting her alone without them.
Or maybe Tanin or one of the females would stand in as her guardian. Or one of his brothers.
Whatever. It didn’t matter. They’d figure it out. The only important thing was that his heart was full of this wonderful female that had held him through the darkest night he’d experienced in a long time, and he felt reborn for it.
Back in his comfortable jumpsuit, he was happy to get moving.
He was a bit confused when Chee didn’t wear any of the clothes he purchased for her, but instead chose one of the thick, baggy sweaters and pants from her old wardrobe.
That was fine though. She was beautiful in both.
Even more beautiful this morning than she had been yesterday, though he didn’t know how that was possible.
He was happy when he took her hand and led her out of the room and down to the main lobby of the manor.
She was pretty quiet, but he didn’t blame her.
After last night, she was probably exhausted.
The two of them didn’t get much sleep. Which made it all the more confusing that he felt so light and energized, but he wasn’t questioning it.
He was thinking about all the changes, the great ones, that were about to come into his life.
The others were all already waiting down below. Everyone was there – except for Alred of course – along with San. Trove and Chee joined and San asked that they follow him.
Even the first floor of this manor was bright and airy. The windows were angled so as to let as much light in as possible, and the extra space was dedicated to adding more planters for bright blooms – these ones a pale pink that made him think of Chee’s blushing face.
The reminder had him turning to look at her, but her eyes were set ahead of them. She looked surprisingly serious. Her jaw was tight. Her breathing carefully controlled. She didn’t look like she was going to see her boss – she looked like she was going to battle.
Seeing her like that immediately set his hackles up. He looked past her to Tanin, who was walking with Garnet just behind them. Chee was the one taking point, right behind San, so Trove could see all the others just by turning his head.
Tanin caught his gaze first, and his eyes tightened as he caught his expression. Then Sorbet and Tebros, Vytln, Sway, and finally Rok. The females remained oblivious, Garnet and Haven chatting about the things they had done and seen last night.
But Chee was so serious, and her stiffness set Trove and his crew on alert.
What was wrong? Why was she uneasy?
The further they went into the manor, the more Trove and the others stiffened, looking around the beautiful building, waiting for some kind of ambush or attack. But if Hyde meant to attack them, surely his mate wouldn’t have spoken so well of him in the past.
And he realized only then that he didn’t actually know what Hyde had promised her.
What could he offer her that would pull her from Earth, away from her family, forever?
She left Earth, which meant abandoning her Earth citizenship.
What could she possibly value so much that she would be willing to go through all that? To never see her parents again?
San brought them to a massive pair of double doors inlaid with golden filigree. He pressed a button on the side of the door and they swung inward.
“He is waiting for you,” San said as the gentle falling of water and the soft singing of classical style music in a language he didn’t recognize floated through the air.
Trove looked inside, quickly searching for a threat.
But he only saw a lovely room. It was large, with wide flower beds to the sides immediately upon entering.
The path then split into a ring, giving room for the water that fell like rain in the very center.
It splashed into a pond filled with brightly colored fish, small and in a rainbow of colors, that swam around under the partially see-through glass tiles that made the path.
Chee walked forward without hesitating. And as she did so, she pulled her hand from his. She held them together in front of herself. He would have tried to reclaim it, but he instead reached for his pistol, ready to pull it out in an instant.
Chee took the right side of the circular path, confidently strolling through like she had been through this room before.
Trove followed her as the others fell in line, subtly shifting so that the females were all placed between them for protection.
He wanted to grab Chee and pull her back so he could put her with them, but she was moving fast.
As they walked in, the doors shut behind them. And though they were huge, they were near soundless as they sealed back together.
But the clicking of the lock wasn’t silent.
Trove’s nerves were on edge as his eyes darted around, searching for the trap.
Around the waterfall, there was a pair of staircases that wrapped up and around to an open second floor. They didn’t move when Chee stepped on them. She had to walk up normally, her hand trailing on the glass and gold railing.
She reached the top before Trove. He was trying to look through the windows of whatever room was below that balcony, but though it was bright in there, the stained glass was completely opaque, and he couldn’t make out anything beyond.
He didn’t know if there was a threat there.
If something would come at them from below.
But he only lingered for a short moment before taking the steps two at a time to catch up to Chee.
Not fast enough though, because by the time he reached the top, she was already stepping up onto a small dais where a large, ornate desk was placed, a series of holodisplays up all showing different information.
It blinked away before he could tell what any of it was.
And then he came up short. The breath catching in his chest.
The others were coming up behind him, splitting up so they could go up both steps to make sure they weren’t bottlenecked.
He knew that the others recognized it too. They were all stopping. All staring. If they were like him, they were probably panicking about how they were going to get out of here.
Chee calmly walked around the desk, approaching the imposing figure behind it.
They were much bigger in person. The heavy cloak covering their form was completely shapeless.
The rounded peak could be a head, but it fell so smoothly around the rest of them, it was impossible to make out even the shape of shoulders.
The cloak was vibrant blue and purple – impossibly delicate and complex embroidery depicting images of an entire flock of birds taking to a bright sky over a field of beautifully detailed flowers, their petals bursting in the air.
But where the front of the person should be, there was just a black shroud. There was nothing to indicate a face, a hand, a body.
A shapeless, formless, imposing figure of power.
The most powerful person in the cosmos.
The leader of the entire Coalition. A being that commanded armies, that held an impossible amout of credz, resources, and influence.
The High Imperium of the Coalition themselves.
“Hi, Hyde,” Chee said at his side, looking up at their face. Though they were at a desk, they weren’t actually sitting. The High Imperium was never depicted sitting. Even when they moved, the smooth glide gave no indication of how that motion was propelled.
And when they spoke, their voice was robotic, completely gender neutral, and happy like they were greeting an old friend.
“Hello, Chee. Good to see you again.”
It was such a familiar voice, it sent a chill down Trove’s spine. He had heard it many times in his life, but only ever booming from a speaker during some kind of speech, during the yearly Coalition meetings, spoken through historical records.
The High Imperium was ageless. They had been this way for the entirety of the Coalition’s thousands of years of existence.
There was speculation about when the Imperium was replaced with a new person, but it was only ever based on how they introduced themselves at the Coalition meeting every year.
In all other ways, every High Imperium was just like the other.
It was a voice that hadn’t changed once in generations and so was a constant presence in the life of every Coalition citizen.
Even living in Rik-Vane, they weren’t beyond the reach of that voice.
Chee called him Hyde. That was the first time Trove had ever heard a name attached to a High Imperium. He didn’t know if it was real. It probably wasn’t.
The Imperium didn’t move, but Trove was suddenly struck by the certainty that he was the focus of their attention.
“Hello, everyone,” they greeted. “It’s good to finally meet you all in person.”
None of them moved. None of them spoke.
Though the Imperium was sitting there alone, seemingly defenseless, there was no doubt in Trove’s mind that they absolutely were not.