Night of the Zandians (Zandian Brides 1)

“It’s not.” Jax shakes his head. “It was labeled with her name and slave number. The barcode from her neck.”

I grab the device back to read more.

“Has King Zander read it?” Ronan leans close to my face to see.

“I don’t know what any being has vecking done.” My frustration spills over and I stand up, needing to get away from his breath, his sweaty scent, his presence. Riya lied to us. She purposely deceived us all these lunar cycles.

It’s so dishonorable. So un-Zandian. Of course, she’s not a Zandian, she’s a vecking human. And humans lie. How could we have trusted her? We trusted her with our vecking hearts!

“She’s infertile. And she knew.” Jax’s voice is flat. “She knew about this and didn’t tell us.” He stares out the glass. “She let us wonder and worry about whether she was pregnant, and all along, she knew.”

“I don’t understand it. Why did she lie?” I can’t make sense of it.

Jax shrugs. “She’s afraid of being sent away. She lacks honor. Maybe she figured we’d never find out. Maybe she’s just a vecked up human who makes cruel decisions. Or that we’re not worth the truth. Who knows.”

“Speak for yourself. I’m worth the truth.” But Ronan’s voice shakes.

I pick up the comm unit and scr

oll further.

The next headline is expected.

SLAVE 4356778A-CS-3 CONVICTED OF MURDER. SENTENCED TO DEATH.

We knew she was rescued from the death pod,” Jax says, his voice eerily calm. “And that she killed a guard. Humans aren’t sentenced to death unless it’s a severe reason.”

I grab at the comm unit. “She killed two guards.” I read on. “Not one. It says she lashed out because they discovered her inability to breed and wanted to punish them for her own flaws. So she used gardening tools to slice their necks while they slept. They said that one of her psychological flaws is called psychotic affect. It’s a human condition where a being lacks emotion and empathy. They said they don’t want that in their breeding line.”

“As angry as I am at her, they probably deserved it,” Jax comments. Right now, he sounds devoid of any emotion.

“Regardless, it’s a rash decision.” Ronan’s voice is hard. “Stupid. Slaves know they will be sentenced to death for taking a guard’s life. Why would she risk it?”

None of us know the answer.

“I bet she’s with Lily. We need to talk to Riya. I need to hear it from her.” I tap wildly at my comm bracelet to initiate a call, but Jax grabs my wrist.

“Don’t.” He shakes his head. His purple skin has turned a pale lavender. “Do we want a deceitful mate? This is just like Gunt, all over again.”

I stare at him, my heart in my damn boot.

It is like our former friend’s deception, which dragged us into an investigation by King Zander, and could’ve had us banished to prison for life, like him.

“She made her choice. She’s gone,” Jax says.

“There’s no place for lies between mates,” Ronan says, equally pale.

I sink into the nearest hover chair, defeated. “No.” My voice sounds hollow. “There isn’t.”

Ronan

My vecking chest is ripped open. “We’re better off without a liar.”

“She’s not loyal, like we are. She accepted our crystals!” Tarren’s anguish rings out. “You don’t trick your way into that. Unless it meant nothing in the first place. Nothing but a way to hide out for a while, taking advantage of fools like me. Idiots who think they can—oh, veck it all.”

The sun has set, and the darkness creeps in, insidious, like a fog. “Where do you think she is right now?”

No being answers me.