He stared, surprised. “You have never said so before.”
“Some things take longer than others. I have cared for you all along, Kol. You must have sensed that in the way I treated you. I did not take you to my bed because I did not want our relationship to change. And perhaps I was cruel in not doing so, especially when inviting so many others. But you are my favorite. You always have been.”
He shook his head. “I wish I could believe that.”
“Oh, so now I need to prove myself?” she snapped. When he started to protest, she gave him a hard shove. Let him squirm a little more. “No, don’t deny it. You want to see proof of how I feel about you, but you’ll just have to wait. I do care for you, and I don’t want to feel any doubt about that reliance. And I need to be sure you can stay loyal to me, no matter what. I need to know, too, that in this one instance particularly—in this place and time—you will stay strong and do what you have said you will.”
He studied her a moment. “This is about your father, isn’t it? When he arrives, you want to know if I will still stand with you or side with him. Am I correct?”
She kept her expression neutral with considerable effort. “No. This is about you and me, Kol. This is about how the rest of this campaign is going to turn out. I have already suffered betrayal from Sten’Or, who goes behind my back to involve my father and bring me to heel. I am merely a woman, of course—young and weak and callow. Don’t I need minding? Many still think so—from either misguided concern or jealousy at my success. I know this is true. And so do you.
“So, if I cannot depend on you to treat me differently—as an equal at the very least—I need to know. This is my life we are talking about. And your eyes have wandered once already on this expedition. I want to know it won’t happen again. I want to know you will stand by me every time I am threatened, even if it means your own life might be at risk. I am alone, Kol. My soldiers are loyal, but not at the expense of defying my father. You are the only close friend I have and the only one I trust. So tell me. Am I mistaken to think so?”
Kol’Dre stared at her for a long moment, and then he dropped to one knee, keeping his gaze on her face. “You are not mistaken. Not now, or before. I will never betray or abandon you, Ajin—not even if it means defying your father. Not even if it costs me my life.”
A surge of satisfaction rippled through her, and she reached down to take him by his shoulders and raise him back to his feet. “I am pleased to hear you say so,” she whispered, not bothering to hide the strong emotions she was feeling. “I accept your word and will not question it again.”
Alone, in the darkness, they embraced and held each other. Kol’Dre had responded to her prodding exactly the way she wanted him to. He was still hers in all the ways she needed him to be. Ajin found the moment incredibly satisfying.
Two hours later, Kol’Dre flew out of their encampment with five other Skaar soldiers, following the north bank of the Mermidon River west for several miles before crossing over to the south and turning back toward the campfires of the Federation army.
Ajin went with them, of course. Kol’Dre objected vehemently, reminding her of how dangerous this excursion was and what the cost would be if she were killed or captured. She smiled at his concern and told him not to worry. All would be well.
Because Ajin d’Amphere never asked her soldiers to do anything she wouldn’t do herself—and after the disaster at Paranor, she felt she had something to prove.
* * *
—
Midnight along the Mermidon, and the sky was clear and filled with stars. A moon descending to the southeast gave that quadrant of the heavens an even brighter glow. The air was fresh and sweet with the smells of the forest and a river far enough removed from the city of Varfleet that none of its industrial stench was in evidence. A rustling in the grasses signaled the approach of some small nocturnal animal, its passage audible only because of the deep night quiet. Even the hunting owls and the smaller night birds made no sounds as they swooped from tree to tree, their winged flights nothing more than the passage of shadows.
The Federation guards on the western flank took disinterested note of everything, spread out in a precisely staggered pair of sentry lines stretched across the very perimeter of their encampment, keeping their eyes directed toward the space from which any danger might approach. They were seasoned veterans, and there was little they had not witnessed personally during their various tours of duty.
All were wakeful and doing precisely what they had been taught to do, the ones in the forward line keeping a lookout for what might move in the dark in front of them and the ones in the back keeping an eye on the ones just ahead of them.
A good system in most cases.
But not this night. Not when these men needed to be looking behind them.
The Skaar raiders—seven in all, including Ajin—swept in from the south, well behind the entire Federation encampment, cutting through a corridor that separated the watch on the western perimeter from the main body of the army. They had scouted the watch the night before to determine numbers and positions, so the Skaar knew whom to look for and where. They were swift and sure—seven lethal ghosts invisible to those they passed, man and animal alike. They started with the back six guards, coming up on them without a sound and silencing them with knives driven straight through the base of the skull or across the throat, lowering each dead body silently to the earth before moving on.
Not one sound was given to alert the front line of seven. And all seven went down in the same fashion as their brothers-in-arms, their lives ended in seconds.
The Skaar assassins revealed themselves long enough to be sure that all their victims were dispatched, then converged on Ajin and Kol’Dre. No words were spoken. None were necessary. The plan had been carefully detailed earlier, and all of them knew what to do. Retreating the way they had come, they melted into the darkness, disappearing as if they had never been there, making sure they were well away before allowing themselves to become visible again.
They found their aircraft, boarded, and flew westward, their return following the exact same path as their arrival, crossing the Mermidon to the north bank when well upstream and winging their way back to the Skaar encampment.
“Now we will see,” Kol’Dre whispered in Ajin’s ear as they drew near to their own fires.
She nodded wordlessly. It was a big gamble, but a necessary one. She needed it to work in order to set in motion the events that would gain her the edge she needed over the Federation. And to manipulate things once her father arrived with the rest of the army and learned of her failure to prevent the loss of Paranor.
Because she knew what would happen otherwise. He would strip her of her command and send her home in disgrace.
It was what she would do if she were him.