Chapter 20
TWENTY
Jessa tore through the corridors, startling some she passed and nearly colliding into a cleaning robot. She had nowhere to go but her chambers, even though that wasn’t exactly a “safe” place. It wasn’t like she had a ship at her immediate disposal to fly back to Earth in.
Virak, or whatever that Virak-like thing was, would know exactly where to find her.
And kill her. Or do something horrible to her.
Her heart pounded thick and heavy. Inside her rooms, she locked the door—not that that would stop him—and leaned against it. She let her knees give out as she sank to the floor. The hulpu, unsettled by her odd behavior, rushed to her and snuggled in her arms.
What the hell was that? She pressed her nose to the creature’s honey-scented coat as her tears turned the blue fur black.
Jessa didn’t want to believe that was Virak, but it was. His advisors were saying his name. Parts of his face looked the same, but it wasn’t a version of him she’d ever seen. No wonder he kept it hidden from her. What other horrible secrets was he keeping?
He was about to kill that red creature with the three eyes. It was there, about to happen. All those other Virilians were telling him to stop. If she hadn’t called out, would she have witnessed the gruesome murder of a defenseless prisoner?
She buried her face in her hands, and another wrenching sob broke out of her.
God, she’d almost committed herself to a monster. A true, flaming-eyed, horned, vicious monster. And she could, right now, be carrying his baby.
Something heavy banged against the door, startling a yelp out of her.
“Jessa!” came the bellow from the other side. “We must speak.”
She twisted around so she could look at the monitor next to her door.
It showed a video feed of whoever was out there.
This time, it was filled with the frightening image of Virak.
His eyes were gone—that was the scariest part.
Instead of his intense blue eyes, flickering balls of red fire curled out of his sockets.
That was worse than the burning horns of flame that curved up and over his skull.
She sank back down against the door, hugging the hulpu and struggling to breathe. “No. Thank you.” Her voice quavered and pitched high.
Thank you? Did she think politeness would make him say, “Okay,” and leave? That prisoner had done enough begging, and it hadn’t made him any less almost dead.
“Open this door, Jessa.”
“I—I don’t… No. Nope.” She swallowed, her throat dry as dust. “Go away. Please.”
“I am not leaving until you let me in.”
“Then you will be out there for a very long time,” she shot back tartly, then regretted it. Provoking an enraged creature was not a wise move.
Sure enough, she heard a menacing growl from the other side, causing the hulpu to tense and curl her long claws into Jessa’s shoulder.
“I could open it, you know,” he said. “I don’t need your permission to enter rooms in my own palace.”
Yes, he could. The thought made a cold sweat chill her back.
One hand found the necklace she’d worn since that sage had put it on her back on Earth.
It felt like a lifetime ago. The lovely stone that only showed its dazzling colors in the darkness felt like a shackle.
She pulled it tight, wanting to rip it off her neck and throw it across the room.
Her mind raced. Where could she escape? There was the solarium.
Paeri had told her that if she didn’t want access to it, it could be sealed off, but she didn’t know how to do that from the inside.
She thought about the stream that ran through the city and trickled through that room.
It was sacred, but in life-and-death situations, was it so bad to swim in it?
She could follow the flow of water out of her chambers to…
somewhere else. Where? Everywhere was Virak’s domain.
“I would like to go home,” she said in a tremulous voice. “In my contract, it states I’m allowed to return to Earth, if I want to.” She swallowed again, not sure if her request would inspire rage. “I—I really want to.”
There was silence from the other side of the door.
Jessa held her breath and waited. Any second, she expected to feel another bang on the door, another call for her to open up, or worse—the door flying open and Virak forcing his way in.
Her body was tense and still. She strained to hear what was going on out there. No sound came.
Jessa didn’t know how long she sat there, braced for the worst, but her body relaxed eventually. She eased away from the door and turned to look at the monitor again. The screen had turned black, indicating that no one was there. She let out a shaky breath and got to her feet.
Her legs were rubbery as she carried the hulpu to the solarium and placed her on the floor. The small creature wove around her legs, peering up at her with wide, unblinking eyes.
“I should be packing,” she whispered to the hulpu. “But I don’t have anything.”
“You have more than you realize,” said a familiar voice.
Jessa spun around to see Paeri standing there. She had emerged from a small door that blended seamlessly with the rock wall in the rear of Henry’s habitat. The gruti in the tree cocked his head and let out a welcoming coo.
The petite female, who clutched a small clear screen, gestured to the door and shrugged. “How did you think I got in and out of your chambers without disturbing you?”
Jessa’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she got a reply out. “I—I did wonder where the hidden entrance was.”
“You’ve been crying.”
“Well…”
“All that you’ve been through with moving across the galaxy, being attacked, fleeing to Exir City, and I’ve seen not one tear in your eye.” Paeri blinked. “And now you cry for him.”
“I’m crying because I’m afraid of him.” She jabbed a finger toward the door where Virak had been. “And why did no one bother to tell me that Virak randomly turns into a fire monster who kills his prisoners in cold blood?”
Paeri’s tentacles curled. “He killed someone?”
“No, but he would have if I hadn’t called out to him,” Jessa shouted. “He was about to do something horrible.”
Paeri tilted her head as her shimmering tentacles smoothed out. “It’s a good thing you were there, then. And there’s nothing random about what happened to Virak today.”
“Really?” Jessa began to pace. Anger was replacing fear, which made her feel much better.
“I got to know one guy, and he just turned into a totally different guy with flaming eyeballs.” She shook her head.
“Sorry, no. That should have been mentioned up front before we signed agreements for me to come out here.”
Paeri sighed and held out the tablet-sized screen. “Here. There is someone who would like to speak with you.”
Jessa held up a hand. “I don’t want to see him and I do not want to talk to him.”
“Not him.” She pushed the screen into Jessa’s hands. “This is a conversation that should have taken place before now. For that, we all apologize.”
Jessa was completely confused by that, but took the screen and stared blankly at it. “Who am I talking to?”
Paeri leaned over, tapped it, and a blond female with a concerned face appeared.
“Jessa?” Madison asked. “Oh God, you look awful. Are you okay?”
“No.” Tears welled up again. “I’m not okay at all. Virak—he…” She scrubbed her eyes with her free hand. “He’s not what I thought he was. I don’t even know where to start.”
“So he turned into a flaming, fire-horned alien who scares the crap out of you?”
“Yes!” She almost dropped the screen. “You heard? Word travels fast.”
“Paeri reached out and I’m glad she did,” said Madison patiently. “Look. Drex did the same thing. It was terrifying.”
“He did?” Jessa couldn’t believe it. How did this woman stay with Drex after that? “What are you still doing there? Are you being forced to stay with him?”
Madison laughed, deep and rich. “No, not at all. It’s the Virilians’ primal form.”
“Primal what?”
“Jessa, I am sorry for not explaining it when you were here, but we got chatting and…well, I didn’t.” She shook her head with a stricken expression. “It happens so rarely. It only happened to Drex the one time.”
Jessa waited a beat. “What am I missing?”
“I had someone explain this to me, and now I’m doing the same for you. It may help you to understand what’s happened to Virak and…why it’s not such a bad thing.”
“It’s not a good thing,” Jessa muttered, but she padded out to the couches in the sitting chamber and settled in to listen to Madison. If this woman had answers, she wanted them.
Over the next hour, Madison talked and Jessa listened, asked questions, even argued. By the time the connection ended and Jessa set aside the screen, her head was overwhelmed by the truth of what she now knew about the Virilian primal form.
Paeri was right. There was nothing random about Virak’s transformation. Something had triggered it. Something that made Jessa’s hands shake and her heart thud and all her plans—as shaky as they’d become—shatter to dust.