Page 284 of Hunters and Prey

Chapter 2

Roman

Skye Palace

Planet Anarr

The Hai System

Roman grumbled as he made his way through the palace. As the eldest on Anarr he had the pleasure of greeting the physicians from Draga. Why it was necessary for them to send so many was beyond him. Of course he was grateful the disease was going to be cured, but that Draga would be doing it was not easy to swallow.

Not when they’d been told Draga had poisoned them in the first place. And now here they were – supposedly curing them from the very disease they gave to his people.

But Roman couldn’t deny what Queen Adelina had told them while she was there in the House of Skye. The Neprijat’s powers of persuasion were seemingly endless. That they had convinced an ally to poison them and then wiped the memory of everyone who knew about it wasn’t all that farfetched.

“You said one hundred physicians and staff?” his brother Alexei asked, keeping stride with him as they walked through the Skye Palace.

The sun glinted off the moonstone floor still stained with blood. The last few days had been nothing short of a nightmare since the Neprijat had come seeking the queen.

“Yes, one hundred of them. Where Prince Ian thinks we can house them is beyond me,” Roman muttered, turning into the foyer where most of the damage had been done. There were still pulse craters in the floor and walls.

“And you asked me along because?” Alexei asked as he raised an eyebrow at Roman.

Two guards opened the massive gold doors for them.

“Because out of all of us you are the most…calm,” Roman said. “You don’t escalate situations quite as well as our other brothers do. And after sending Viktor’s soul to the Great Feast, I don’t want Mikhail anywhere near the Draga doctors. Viktor’s death hit him hard and he blames Draga…Mikhail would no doubt cause problems we cannot afford. And Leo? I can never really tell what he’s thinking.”

Roman and his brothers had all had a difficult time adjusting since their eldest brother had brought his new mate to meet them and she’d turned out to be the damn Queen of Draga.

The two of them paused just outside the doors of the palace. Stairs led all the way down to the landing station. It was the only place where one could land on their floating island. It made security a bit easier, but their forces were spread thin as they scoured the planet for the spy who’d tipped off the Neprijat to the queen’s presence.

If it weren’t for the queen’s skill as a warrior, Roman doubted the female would still be alive and Kaiden would have been broken over his mate’s death. Now there would be even more females on their floating island, and Roman feared they wouldn’t be able to protect them all when they could hardly protect just the one.

How were they going to manage this during a war?

Prince Ian’s timing couldn’t be worse.

There was still so much to be done and now they had to play host to physicians and staff. Then take time out of their schedule to submit to tests. Why none of this could wait until after the war was beyond him. The Drakesthai had slowly been dying for generations. They could wait a little longer.

Then there was also the matter where Roman had promised the Queen of Draga that he would find the rat who’d reported her to the Neprijat. When he did finally find him Roman would strip their wings and drop them over the side of the island.

“So we play host while they what, run tests and try to cure our sterility?” Alexei asked, looking up at the sky as the sound of a starship’s engines reached them.

Roman sighed as he watched the ship descend through the cloud cover. The day was brisk and cold – one of many during their spring. It made the flowers bloom and the crops grow, hiding the death and decay that the ongoing skirmishes brought.

“Yes, we host them and do as they ask. Other than submitting to their testing, they shouldn’t need much else from us,” Roman admitted. “How goes the hunt for the spy?”

“We’re pretty sure it’s a Snatcher,” Alexei told him. “But I can’t get any vids to confirm.”

That small bit of information from the queen had been disconcerting to say the least. The idea that the Neprijat could upload their consciousness into any body…it made him question everything.

It had been days now, and they were still searching the people of Anarr for the mark of the Snatcher.

Then the Draga starship landed. The mid-afternoon sun sparkled on the moonstone tile, making the damage more obvious. Roman considered the wrecked palace. “Where are we supposed to put them all?”

“Figure it out,” his brother told him. “Because Mother will not be pleased if she has to stop working for something anyone else with half a brain could do.”

They both sighed as the ramp lowered. “It’s going to be a long day,” Roman muttered, spreading his wings out to soak in the sun.

---