Kept by the Zandian (Zandian Brides 5)

“How so?”

I shake my head. “Her demeanor changes when I ask certain questions. Her body language shows guilt. About something.”

“What makes you think think she could be harmful or traitorous?”

“Nothing. I just need more time to find out what she’s holding back.” I hold my breath.

The king tilts his head. “Your time is almost up. You will have to make a decision.”

I glance up. “What decision, my lord?”

“Whether you wish to keep her,” he says mildly.

Chapter 15

Drayk

I don’t like it. Bringing Taisha back to the planet where she was enslaved is a horrible idea.

But Dr. Daneth and Bayla require more of the wall-eck fruit and serpent venom to try to reproduce the poison, and of course, Taisha is the only being who knows exactly where to find such things.

Still, I’ve warned every warrior on board that if Taisha is captured we will fully engage. I don’t care about using toxins and making it look like an accident. I don’t give a veck if they know it’s Zandians who are poaching from their planet.

I will not let my little human be recaptured.

Not when it would surely cost her her life.

Or even worse—a lifetime of torture.

“Approaching Romon-3 airspace. Check cloaking.” Mirelle’s mate Domm speaks, as he’s the official captain of this mission. He didn’t say so, but I fear Master Seke wasn’t sure I’d be level-headed enough to lead this mission with Taisha along.

I told him she’s not my mate and my emotions are unaffected, but I saw the doubt in his cool gaze. So he doubled up two teams on board—Tarak and I to run fly, Mirelle and her mates to take Taisha onto the ground.

I clench my fist and force myself back to the panels and lights. “We are in position and cloaking is fully functional. Here are their search signals”— I point to Tarak’s screen, where pulses of green zoom out intermittently from Romon-3— “which our previous ships would not be able to avoid.”

Tarak nods. “But with our new tech, we can adjust our cloaking with their power waves to stay invisible. We’ll be down in three… two… one.”

Mirelle turns to Taisha. “Are you ready?”

Taisha’s face is tense, but she nods. So brave for such a sensitive being, especially considering she still suffers from post-traumatic stress from her enslavement here.

“I’m going along,” I say, deviating from orders.

Domm raises a brow, but to my relief, he doesn’t refuse. I grip the handle of my sword and follow the group onto the ground. We’ve landed in an unpopulated area of the planet, near a thicket of wall-eck trees.

The fruit will be the easy part, it’s the serpent venom that’s difficult. But Dr. Daneth says with a fresh supply, we should be able to match its chemical breakdown.

I’m in warrior mode, watching everything, as we guard the perimeter and gather fruit and seeds, so our human ag farmers can regrow the trees on Zandia.

“I was right. They keep the same schedule.” Taisha’s voice is low and quivery. “We won’t see them at all, Ocretions or… my frien—the humans.”

And I realize with a flash of insight that she’s not entirely happy about this.

“It’s the only way.” I nod at my foot soldier to close the sack that’s full of fallen fruit. “If we are seen, we are dead.” My voice is flat and firm. “There is no time for deviation.”

“I know it.” She stands tall. “It’s just…” She seems to sway before righting herself. “Being back here is more difficult than I imagined.”

I’m torn between the absolute desire to comfort her and the need to keep the mission on schedule. I squeeze her hand. “You can do this.”