Had he been using a ReGen pod or something to hold off some kind of sickness? Or had the stress of the last few days taken a toll on his body?
How the hell had this old man caused so many problems? Or was this another ruse of his to gain our sympathy, to make us forget what he’d done?
He bowed low and kept his head lowered as Trinity approached him. He was standing alone and I had no doubt he’d been frisked for weapons, but both Leo and Nix were close enough to take him down before he could lay a finger on my sister, if that was his intention.
Based on the no nonsense glare coming from Leo, if Wyse tried anything, he was an idiot and would be dead before his body hit the floor. I don’t know how Trinity convinced her mate not to kill Wyse, and I wasn’t sure I agreed with the decision, but if there was a chance we could get Mom back, I would let Trinity make the call.
Stepping backward, I reached behind me for my mate. Instantly, Thor’s hand closed around mine and he pulled me against him. His heat pressed to my back, the warm strength of him pouring into me. We walked together to the edge of the transport control table where we could hear and see everything, but not be directly involved. I was here to support my sister and find out the truth about our mother.
After everything he’d done, not just to me and my family, but to Thor as well, Lord Wyse didn’t exist as far as I was concerned. He was dead to me.
The young Aleran working the transport controls looked up at us, nodding silently before turning back to whatever he was doing. Even though I’d used it to travel from Earth, I had no idea how transport worked. Some super complicated science using wormholes and bending molecules or something. Star Trek writers knew what they were talking about. I assumed he was entering coordinates to send Wyse to Prime Nial as his hands flew over the control panel. No one was paying him any attention, so I didn’t either, watching as my sister stood before Coburt Wyse with a look on her face I’d seen many times.
It was her no bullshit look. The glare must have been universal because Wyse took a small step away from her, but Nix shoved him forward a bit too hard and the old man fell to his knees before my sister.
No one offered to help him up.
“Lord Wyse, I had to work very hard to convince my mate not to kill you,” Trinity told him. “Obviously, I have agreed to your bargain. Tell me where my mother is being held, and by whom, and you will be transported to the Battleship Karter, into the custody of Commander Karter. Once there, they have orders from Prime Nial himself to hold you until my mother has been recovered. Once we confirm the information you give us is truthful, you will be free to go. My one condition is that you never return to Alera. If you do so, you will be executed for treason.”
The transport floor vibrated beneath my feet, validation of my sister’s words. His transport was imminent, if he just told us what we needed to know. The hair on the back of my neck rose further.
Coburt Wyse lifted his face to Trinity’s and opened his mouth to speak, but his glaze flicked in my direction, but to my right. His eyes going round with shock. “No!”
His shout was followed by Wyse raising his arms as if to stop something.
I turned in time to see the transport officer slapping one hand down on a brightly lit area of the panel in front of him, the other held a space blaster aimed at Lord Wyse.
The officer raised the weapon and fired.
Lord Wyse toppled to the floor.
My body took over. Pure instinct drove me. He may have taken out Wyse, but he wouldn’t hurt anyone else. I’d been completely useless when we’d been attacked in the suite that first night, but not now. Not after I’d been in the citadel and given some… power. I shoved Thor back to give myself room to move even as I kicked the weapon out of the technician’s hand. My leg swung in a wild arc straight out of a Chuck Norris movie. I didn’t even know I was that flexible, but the blaster went flying across the room.
Whatever button he’d pushed, the entire room crackled with that pre-transport energy. The floor vibrated even more as three men with black masks and black clothing appeared out of thin air on the raised pad.
They didn’t linger, but immediately moved to attack. It was just like in the apartment suite when we’d first arrived on Alera: bad guys coming out of nowhere to attack, although no one came through the windows. This time.
Thor jumped on the nearest one to us. I heard
Leo and Nix yelling. Shots being fired with that Buck Rogers ping, ping sound. I couldn’t pay them any attention. I had my own problems, because while the traitor—definitely not a transport technician—in front of me didn’t have his gun any longer, he was twice my size and really, really mad.
It seemed I’d fucked things up. I wasn’t sure how. Lord Wyse had been shot and a bunch of ninjas appeared with the obvious intent to kill us all. It had been a trap. I had to assume, since Wyse was most likely dead, that he hadn’t been the mastermind of this little clusterfuck. Someone knew of Wyse’s plan to leave the planet, to give us answers.
The technician had the nerve to grin. He thought he’d won. Yeah, well, it was time to punch that right off his face.
He took a step toward me and I kicked him again, this time to the inside of his left knee. His stance widened, buckled a bit and I turned my kick into a football style punt right into his crotch.
He shifted at the last second and I only got the inside of his thigh, which only pissed him off. His right arm came out to punch me, but I feinted to the left, parried the hand and punched him in the side of his ribs. I heard one crack. The action had him leaning in and I took the opportunity to punch him in the face. Once, then again, like Ali or Mike Tyson.
Jab, cross.
He stepped back, shook his head as if I’d cleaned his clock. Yeah, fucker. I’m not just a princess; I have serious ninja skills.
We faced off, and I grinned with a strange satisfaction at his bloodied eye and split lip. I knew I’d blown out his knee and wrecked his ribs, too.
Frankly, I was surprised he was still standing, ready for more. Maybe he just didn’t like losing to a woman.
But I wasn’t just any woman, I was royal, and the citadel had given me some kind of magical fighting abilities that I was very, very grateful for at the moment.