Page 18 of Possessed By the Dragon Alien
They passed through a door and into a small room filled with stacked containers. It had to be a storage room of some sort.
“Change into this,” Rien said, handing her the bundle.
Nena shook out the fabric to find a simple, long sheath dress and cape in the same dark color, and a pair of matching soft slippers. The fabric was richer and finer than anything she’d ever touched. She could have lingered over the fine, soft weave, but knew time was short. She stripped off her white uniform, down to her underclothes, and pulled on the new garments. The dress was a little loose, but came down to her ankles in a flow of heavy, soft material. The neckline was snug and high, and the long sleeves came down over the backs of her hands.
Rien didn’t watch her change, but the prime watcher surveyed the finished result. “Good. If no one stares too long, you look like a respected council advisor. I can get you into the chancellors’ tower without issues.” She held out a hand. “Give me your old clothes.”
Gladly, Nena thought as she handed them over. But this attire felt foreign. She felt like a fraud. This was not a dress to entice or to work in. These were the everyday garments of anadvisor. A female of high status. Nena ran her work-roughened hands down the fine fabric. She felt like a child in a costume, but this costume could save her life, if she could pull off the role. “How should I walk?”
Rien’s lips pursed. She tucked the white bundle behind some containers. “You must look unworried and serene. Back straight. Hands loose or clasped behind you. Put your hood up to hide your face and hair. Especially that hair.”
“Okay.”Fek, she would do her best, but unworried she wasnot. Nena pulled the hood and let it drape down to her brow to cover her hair and gold spots. She took a deep breath. “I’m ready.”
“The Chancellor is taking an enormous risk,” Rien said as she opened the door and they walked down the stark white hallway before them. It was wide and pristine, and they were not alone. Others passed by, engaged in conversation or hurrying to an appointment. “I hope you understand that.”
“I didn’t ask him to.” Nena kept her shoulders back and her gaze steady. Here, the clothing was varied and interesting. Unique headpieces and emblems on clothing seemed to declare different ranks and positions within the Axis system. She was grateful to be covered. No one gave them more than a passing look.
“No.” Rien’s slitted nose twitched. She kept her voice low, barely audible. “But you affect him all the same. The council sees it. They fear it.”
“They are planning to kill me tonight,” Nena said.
“How do you know that?” Rien hissed.
“I…overheard.” That was the easiest way to explain it without revealing her discovery of the device. “I didnotmisunderstand.”
Rien’s expression didn’t shift. “I did not think you did.”
“Whatisthe connection between the chancellor and me?” Nena hoped someone knew, because it defied every bit of logic she’d tried to employ, and nothing about it made sense.
“History, I think,” Rien said. “Things the Axis thought were buried, but perhaps, were only dormant. Mistakes that were made a long time ago. And mistakes that are being made now.”
Nena didn’t know what to make of Rien’s cryptic remarks. One of those mistakes could be the one she was making right then, at that moment. But she was out of time for follow-up questions. Rien pulled her down a deserted corridor and stopped at a plain metal door.
Rien’s probing gaze turned to her. There was a slight furrow between her eyes. “Whatever happens next, remember this: You’re not a random prisoner to him. You never were. You never will be.”
The door opened, revealing a small lift. Rien gestured for Nena to enter.
“This will take you directly to his level,” she said. “He’ll be waiting.” She pressed something into Nena’s palm—a small crystal in the shape of a flat oval. “If anything goes wrong, use this to reach me.”
The lift doors began to close. The last thing Nena saw was Rien’s unblinking gaze, and she wondered if she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life.
Or maybe, just maybe, she’d made the only choice that mattered.
TWELVE
The lift opened onto a small landing with a single black door. Nena’s borrowed slippers made no sound as she approached. The door slid open at her presence, revealing a vast chamber cloaked in shadow.
She stepped inside, struck by how empty it felt. Like her cell, but exponentially larger. The walls were bare, unadorned. No art, no personal items, nothing to suggest someone actually lived here. The furniture was minimal. She spotted a large, perfectly made bed and several doors and corridors that led off from the large room. Everything clean-lined and utilitarian. The only real feature was the bank of windows that stretched from floor to ceiling along the far wall.
High Chancellor Madrian stood there. He was a dark shape cut out against the purple-tinged sky beyond the dome. His wings were partially spread, creating a striking silhouette. The artificial lights of Central sparkled behind him like scattered stars.
Something caught in Nena’s throat at the sight of him. He looked both powerful and isolated, like a being set apart, watching over an empire he helped to build but didn’t seem to be part of. The complete lack of personal touches in his quarterssuddenly made more sense. He lived here, but this wasn’t a home.
He turned as she entered, and his wings drew close to his back. “You made it.” Relief was thick in his voice.
“Your Prime Watcher Rien is good at what she does.” Nena pushed back her hood, letting her green hair fall free. “No one looked twice at us.”
“Did anyone see you enter the lift?”
