Pythen Blessing: An Alien War Romance (Galactic Order Book 6) Read online

  She nodded, wincing. “So you have trust issues then. You’re a woman scorned. I would have never expected that. You’re so sweet and quiet.”

  “Yeah well…” I sighed. “He hurt me pretty badly.”

  Peyton smiled sadly and squeezed my arm gently. “You’re afraid of trusting Ignyt.”

  I nodded, feeling small and defeated. Uryn sure hadn’t helped me trust again.

  “I get that. Part of me even wants to encourage you to stay away from him. The Dahk have strange relationships. I don’t think Ignyt has any mates, but that’s not to say he’s not looking.” She looked at me. “For maybe more than one.”

  I swallowed hard. Dahk often took multiple mates. I knew enough about myself to know I could never accept sharing. I had been an only child. Sharing was not in my nature. “I sense a but.”

  She laughed. “Yeah, but, if you never take a risk…”

  “Yeah,” I groaned. “But it’s a big risk.”

  “Mona took that risk. She’s the only one of us who knew about multiple mates beforehand. She didn’t have any control over the Pythen bond, but she never once asked Uthyf to change his ideals. He did that on his own. For her. As did Tahk for me, and Fihk and Olynth for Bailey.”

  “But Ignyt isn’t my Pythen.” He had no such obligations toward me. He didn’t owe me anything, and we certainly didn’t feel like soul mates. We barely knew each other.

  “Lydia, I think you’re jumping the gun here. He wants to court you, right?”

  I nodded.

  “That’s not unusual for them. The Dahk court potential mates all the time. It’s not an ironclad contract. It’s just dating.”

  Just dating. Had I dated Uryn? We’d never kissed. But we held hands. He brought me gifts. Flirted with me. Maybe my expectations had been too high. He was allowed to change his mind about me, just like I could about him.

  “Dating,” I mused.

  “Yeah! You’re a beautiful single human female on a planet with sexy alien warriors. Play the field a little. Take your time. Have fun.” She winked at me.

  Could it be fun? I got attached easily. It was how I’d ended up engaged to the only man I had ever slept with. I could probably handle flirting. Maybe a kiss. But I couldn’t sleep with anyone without turning into a five-star clinger.

  “But I will say this.” She looked back at Ohta and Hylg, who were doing a poor job of pretending they weren’t eavesdropping. “Ignyt and his brothers are the king’s interrogators. What they are not are personal guards.”

  “What are you saying?” I asked, tingles spreading down my spine.

  “I’m saying it’s highly unusual for them to blow off their king to follow a female all day.” She poked my arm. “I’m saying courting is downplaying what Ignyt has planned for you.”

  “Oh,” I breathed. Was that bad or good?

  She snickered and hurried me along to her room. “Don’t look so alarmed. If I’m right about Igs, you have a whole lot of fun coming to you.”

  Peyton and I relieved Tahk of Sym duty. To drive home Peyton’s point, Tahk got in a quiet, heated argument with my new guards—who were not supposed to be guards—before he left. Uthyf had apparently been trying to meet with them for days, but he couldn’t seem to get all three of them in the same place. And that was because one or more of them were always with me.

  I would have felt bad that they were getting in trouble, but Ohta and Hylg seemed highly unconcerned about Tahk’s outrage. Peyton kept shooting me pointed looks the entire time Tahk reprimanded them. They apologized to him, but they did not rush off to fulfill their duties. Tahk eventually gave up, furiously cursing Ignyt’s name and slamming the door shut behind him.

  Sym didn’t like that. He squawked in protest, and Hylg, Ohta, and the other guards quickly made their exits. Hylg and Ohta stood in the hall like usual while Syn and Borv went out to the balcony.

  Peyton let me sing to Sym until he calmed while she went to work on her pottery wheel. I didn’t know what she was making—it looked like a hunk of wet feces—but she seemed to Zen out, so I left her to it.

  Sym didn’t need a lot of hovering so early in his life. After he fell asleep, I picked up the knitting needles Roxy and I had made out of the kitchen’s roasting sticks and worked on a fluffy hat for him. I was using strips of a fur blanket I had torn up to get the thickness I wanted. The Dahk’s clothing was stitched with such thin thread, I didn’t know what else to use— at least not until I could get to Ilynda and see what the vendors there had to offer. The hat wasn’t pretty, but if Sym felt the cold like we did, it would come in handy—at least until the knubby horns on his head grew and I had to design him something else.

  About an hour went by pretty quickly, and it was eerily quiet in the room when the floor shook. At first, I thought I might be feeling a little vertigo or something, but the shaking increased. Then alarming noises accompanied it. Shouts at first. Then loud growling from outside the balcony doors and the hall.

  Peyton and I looked at each other right before all the doors were thrown open. Borv grabbed Peyton’s arm, knocking her project right off its stand, and Syn grabbed the baby.

  “What’s happening?” Peyton yelped.

  Hylg and Ohta ran for me but were thrown to the floor when the entire castle shook in a mighty heave. Cracked stone rained down from the ceiling as I was thrown into the wall. The chair I had been sitting on slammed down mere inches from my legs.

  Screams from all over the castle blared through the air. Hylg wrenched me from the floor by my arm as the castle shook again.

  “What is it?” Peyton screamed, reaching for Sym.

  Borv lifted both her and the baby in his arms and braced against the wall, hunching around them as the castle shook. Syn folded himself over her from the other side, and Ohta and Hylg wedged me between them and a wall.

  “Someone is firing at the castle,” Borv snarled. He stumbled to the door, kicking aside raining debris.

  A loud explosion hit just outside the balcony, and I was thrown across the room again. White light seared my eyes and my ears rang. I coughed on dust and pushed up onto my arms. Hylg pulled a toppled dresser away from me and pulled me back to my feet. Ahead of me, I saw Borv and Syn ushering Peyton out the door and into the hall. We followed them, Ohta unsheathing his sword.

  “Where do we take them?” Syn snarled, barely keeping his feet when the castle rocked again.

  We passed an open door, and I spotted the outside world through the open balcony doors. I gaped at the big ship in the sky. Dozens of Dahk flew at the ship as blue blasts flared from the ship’s cannons. One flare hit a Dahk in the chest and he plummeted to the ground.

  “That’s a Dahk ship,” I whispered in horror.

  “That’s Wohn’s ship,” Ohta snarled. He yanked me down the hall.

  Wohn was on Uthyf’s council. He was an older Dahk and so sweet. There was no way he would do this.

  “It’s not Wohn,” Syn shouted, echoing my thoughts. “He’s with the king!”

  The next door we passed showed a battalion of Dahk flying from the open hangar of the ship. They were engaging the Dahk in the sky while another group broke off for the castle. The castle shook again, and we all looked at the other end. There was another ship.

  A thunder of noise came from down the hall and over thirty Dahk turned the corner, spotting us. At first, I thought they were ours. But they weren’t dressed like Tahk and Uthyf’s army. They wore slacks instead of leathers, and they didn’t have the same weapons. Some of them didn’t have any weapons.

  Borv and the others must have realized they were the enemy before I did, because they urged us into a room on the opposite end of the hall. Two female Dahk were huddled by the door, staring at the balcony in horror. Borv shouted at them to move, and they ran for the bathing room.

  He put Peyton down in the bathing room, and she grabbed his arm. “What are you doing?”

  “They’re coming,” he growled.

  Ohta and Hylg shoved me into
the room.

  “Where’s Tahk?” she asked frantically.

  Borv shook his head and looked back out into the bedroom. “Keep quiet.”

  He turned, and she shouted his name.

  “They’re here for Sym,” he snarled. “Hide.”

  Peyton gaped at him as he filed into the bedroom with Syn, Ohta, and Hylg. They slammed the bathroom door shut on us, then there was shouting and the sounds of weapons meeting flesh.

  I looked around the bathing room. It looked exactly like mine—a big pool for water from the underground hot springs, a long counter, and several stone cabinets lining the wall. The two female Dahk rushed to the cabinets and tossed everything out of it.

  “Pehytohn,” one of the females hissed urgently, “come.”

  Peyton was in shock. She didn’t look away from the door. I grabbed her shoulder and dragged her to the cabinet. Together, the females urged her inside the small cabinet. She had to huddle into a ball with Sym between her legs, but she fit.

  There were other cabinets, but the Dahk females wouldn’t fit with their wings.

  “Lydia!” Peyton called as we shut the door on her.

  But I was already on the floor, gathering all the towels they had tossed out. The females were ripping everything from another cabinet, but I stopped them and shoved the towels into it.

  I kept a few, rolled them into an oblong shape, then I went back to Peyton. “Give me Sym’s blanket!”

  She narrowed her eyes at me.

  “Give it to me!” I started unwrapping him myself, but she finally got it off him. I wrapped the blanket around my bundle of towels and went to shut the door again.

  She grabbed my arm. “What are you doing?”

  I shook her off. “Borv said they’re here for Sym! Stay here and hide. If they find you, they’ll take him.” I blinked away thick tears. “Or worse.”

  Peyton stifled a sob and clutched Sym to her chest.

  I held up my baby-like bundle. “They’ll think this is him.”

  Most Dahk outside the castle wouldn’t realize I wasn’t her. Visitors had seen me holding Sym by Tahk’s side for weeks. They didn’t have newspapers or television. Uthyf addressed the world with live video, and everything else was audible recordings. I didn’t think Peyton had ever been shown to the world by Uthyf, and of those that had seen her, I doubted they would be able to tell the difference right now. To the intruders, I was a human female with a baby. We might be able to get away with it.

  Peyton nodded and let me slam the door shut. Her sobbed, “Thank you,” reached me, and I shivered.

  The two female Dahk were huddled against the wall as I walked to the door, and one asked, “Where are you going?”

  I looked at the door, terror and a courage I didn’t know I possessed fueling me. “I’m going to lead them away from her.”

  One of the females nodded and stood. “We will protect them.”

  “Just don’t give them away,” I pleaded.

  The other female nodded and slowly stood.

  I turned back to the door, pretend Sym clutched to my chest. I heard the battle outside the door. I had no idea what I would be walking into, but I knew if the bad guys managed to get past Syn, Borv, Ohta, and Hylg, nothing would stand between them and Sym.

  I couldn’t fight for Peyton or Sym. But I could lead the enemy away. I could sacrifice myself.

  I opened the door.

  11

  Ignyt

  “Where are the others?” Uthyf growled as he stormed into the room.

  I sighed. “Busy.”

  Uthyf rubbed his crown in agitation. “The human female is not their concern.”

  He was right. She was mine.

  When I refused to acknowledge him, he growled a curse and leaned against the wall. “I need them here. I need all three of you.”

  I looked at the Dahk strapped and chained at my feet and raised my brow. “He is weak. I will break him on my own.”

  The Dahk trembled. I flipped the blade in my hand before slamming it into his broken wing. He howled in anguish.

  Uthyf growled another curse. “Ignyt, have a care. I need him alive.”

  Tahk stormed into the room, Haytu behind him. He looked between me and the Dahk on the floor and bared his fangs. “Kill him.”

  Uthyf sighed. “No. We must find out who sent him.”

  “We know who sent him,” Tahk said quietly. “Kill him.”

  “Josyd is in another cell down the hall.” Uthyf waved his claws toward the cell door. “She could not have sent him. She is harmless and lost in her own mind.” She had been for some time. There was nothing familiar left in the eyes of the traitorous queen.

  “Then you are being a fool!” Tahk thundered. “She sent him!”

  “How, Tahk? How did she send him?”

  Tahk bared his fangs at Uthyf. “He said she did.”

  “He is lying.”

  Tahk stormed to the male and lifted him by his horn. He shook the male and roared in his face. “Who sent you? Who sent you to murder my son?”

  The Dahk male trembled, blood leaking from the wounds I’d inflicted on him.

  Uthyf cursed. “Tahk, calm yourself. He did not get close to Sym.”

  “He could have,” Tahk said. “Had Tohn not followed him from the hall, he could have incapacitated the guards and killed Sym in his mother’s arms.” Tahk choked on the words and tossed the male to the floor, backing away.

  The male rolled over, groaning. He had been under my blade and those of my brothers for over a sunring now. He did not fear death, but he flinched away from me still. He feared pain. I did not believe the treasonous Queen Josyd had sent him, though my instincts told me there was something we were missing. Still, he did not lie to me. I would have sensed it.

  “Tell me, spineless one,” I asked, crouching in front of the male. “Are you so loyal to this Dahk that ordered you to take the life of a helpless dahkling that you would go before the ancestors in death, shameful and dishonored?”

  The male closed his eyes. “The child is the shame.”

  Tahk lunged for the male, and Uthyf and Wohn wrapped their arms around his neck, trapping him.

  I tapped the tip of my blade just below the male’s eye. “Look at me.”

  When I had his attention, I ran the tip of blade to the corner of his eye. “You failed.” I shook my head. “You must have known you would fail.”

  The male clenched his jaw. “I did not fail.”

  “The child lives,” I taunted. “You failed.”

  A distant roar washed over the castle, and I looked up.

  The male chuckled a wet rasp. “Did you think I came alone?”

  I looked back down.

  “You have been so concerned with me, you did not notice my companion roaming the security center.” He looked at my king. “Tell me, are your perimeter wards functional?”

  Another distant roar floated to my hima, and I stood. Tahk bellowed in rage and ran from the room, Haytu and Uthyf behind him. Wohn looked at me and nodded. I lunged for the male, slicing him from neck to sternum. It would be a slow death for him.

  When I reached the stairs, the castle rocked. Broken debris rained down, and we ran to the castle doors. Tahk stared at the sky, horror stark on his features. He looked back at Wohn beside me.

  Wohn shook his head, bewildered. “Who flies my ship?”

  Uthyf shouted for the warriors, pulling his sword free. He flew toward the ship firing on the castle.

  “Sym,” Tahk choked.

  Haytu pulled his own sword. “Go to them, son.”

  Tahk hesitated, duty as commander weighing on him.

  “Go!” Haytu shouted again.

  Tahk flew to the staircase, and I followed. My Lydya was with them.

  12

  Lydia

  The door clicked shut behind me.

  Borv was on top of one Dahk, his sword clashing with another’s. He pressed down, trying to choke the male below him with his knee while thrusting
up to parry with the other attacker. I ran past him, nearly being bowled over by Ohta as he threw a blade at a male coming through the door while slicing at another with his sword.

  I ducked under a wing and ran for the door. Another wing smacked into my side, nearly tossing me into the wall. I stumbled, my free arm catching my fall. I thought I heard Hylg shout my name, but it was too loud in the room. Several other warriors had joined Ohta and were fighting off a crowd trying to invade through the balcony. I spun in a circle. Both doors were too crowded to move through.

  An enemy Dahk spotted me and shouted, pointing. I held the fake baby up to my chest to make sure it was seen and ran for the door again. Hylg was there and had twin blades, deflecting several Dahk. I ducked under his wing as hands grabbed for me. He snarled an incoherent noise, and a spray of blood hit my back. I looked over my shoulder to see him use the limp body of a Dahk to shove back the crowd at the door.

  I didn’t think he’d meant to give me an opening, but he had and I ran. I ran down the hall as fast as my feet would take me, hands reaching for me from all directions.

  “The dahkling!” someone snarled.

  Hands snagged my gown, wrenching me back. I gasped, then a Dahk warrior was there, pulling me free by my waist. He set me down and I shook him off, running again. He shouted and shoved away another Dahk, chasing after me.

  I knew he was trying to help me, but I needed to take the enemy far from Peyton and her name was already echoing through the hall. It might actually work.

  I ran to the stairs and gaped at the massive number of males fighting below. There was no way I would make it down there. So I went up. I ran to Uthyf’s floor, a thundering of Dahk feet following me. Someone flew up the stairs and landed in front of me, reaching for me. I ducked, and a familiar Dahk shoved him back from behind me.

  “Go!” Hylg roared.

  I didn’t wait. I ran, my thighs burning with every step. Adrenaline was the only thing keeping me on my feet.

  At the top of the stairs I went right, toward Mantu and his brother spiders—Uthyf’s pets. They were terrifyingly large arachnid-aliens, but I was hoping they may be able to help keep the enemy off me until someone could get to Peyton and help her. But who knew where she was other than Borv and Syn? They wouldn’t leave her unless they too believed I had Sym. And that was if they didn’t lose their lives to the Dahk trying to get to her.