Page 45 of Indentured Companion
Vrajan.
2 hours later.
I push the doors open, walking side by side with Justina and chuckling at an anecdote she just told me about her husband.
“And then he said, ‘I can explain’.” She barked with laughter, and I politely chuckled. We left the central chamber first, and I can’t wait to tell Valerie how well the meeting went. I did it. I am have been appointed as the Korvian Councillor. It was a 3 to 2 vote, as I expected. I lift my head and look for Valerie…
…where is she? I lift instinctively to my full height and tower over Justina and Olphan.
“Dynast? What’s wrong?” Olphan asks me as I march suddenly into the middle of the waiting room. I turn on the spot, looking at the couch, and then through all the windows I can see. “Dynast?”
“Where is Miss Stone?” I counter with a sharp edge.
“Maybe she went to the little girl’s room?” Justina offers and walks towards me, also looking around.
“Withallthe guards?” I feel panic starting to set in. My heart pounds, my diamond pupils narrow, and my hands grip into fists at what I’ve just seen. I stare at it in a state of terrified shock, as the others chatter away.
“Hang on, he’s right. The guards should still be here. One might have gone with her, but six of them?” Olphan takes a com disc from inside his jacket and starts talking to someone in his own language.
“I’m sure she’ll be back any…” Ninthor offers, only to stare as I lower to lift something off the floor. “…oh no.” The rest of the councillors turn with alarm at the sound of Ninthor’s dread. I hold in my hands the soft yellow veil and the tiara I had made for Valerie.
“You…said she would be safe?” I turn slowly to look at Olphan, who pauses on his call when I address him. The veteran seems to pale at the intense look in my lilac eyes. “Where is Miss Stone? Where is my beloved?”
“And where are the damn guards!” Ninthor clicked and pointed up at the vid screen. Chaos was going on outside, and he was probably worried about his own safety.
“I’m calling for more now.” Olphan barks. I cradle the veil and tiara in my hands and whine. “Don’t worry, they’ll be here soon.”
“With Miss Stone?” An explosion outside is displayed on the vid screen, and I turn to see a sea of Anti-K signs and banners. “What…is this?”
“Freedom of protest for some, an excuse for violence for others.” Justina scowled and puts her hand on my left bicep. “Dynast? Look at me.” I can’t. I’m looking at the wildfire of anger and hate on the screen as humans, Sacron, Prelka and Qeknian collide with peace keepers. All because of me… All I want is peace and freedom. Willing feeding partners for my people, so we don’t die out and we can breed in a healthy way. Peace, not persecution. How can they hate my kind so much? “Dynast, we are going to find Miss Stone.”
“Oh no.” I feel nausea coil around me like a vicious serpent. “Didtheytake her?” I hold her veil and tiara to my chest and point at the screen with my right hand. I look to Justina for answers. “You said she would be safe, and I trusted you, and now the Anti-K movement have taken her!” My voice is far from soft and quiet, and I hiss deeply.
Everyone backs up from me and security officers come running down the corridor. Likely from Olphan’s call, of course, but they still take one look at the situation, and move to form a firing line between me and the other councillors.
“DOWN ON YOUR KNEES!” One of them shouts, and I stop breathing. Is this it? Am I going to be shot without a second thought? Gunned down like a monster? Justina is horrified and screams at the guards before they can pull the trigger. I officially owe her my life.
“No! Don’t youdare!”She shoves one of the guards out of the way and marches over to me. “This is the newly appointed Councillor Dynast of the Korvis, and you will not aim your weapons at him, am I clear?!” She stands with me, and Valerie would have done the same had she been here. But she is not here, and her absence shreds my heart. Where is she? Is she safe? Is she being harmed?
“Trigger happy idiots.” Olphan clips one of the guard’s helmets and barges through the line to come over to me as well.
Ninthor and Getrata…stay behind the guards.
“Thank you.” I sniffle and hold the veil and tiara to my chest with both hands. “Where is my beloved?”
“Excellent question.” Olphan scowls at the 6 guards, and from the species ratios, is the unit that was here before. “Explain where you all were, right now, and where is the Dynast’s feeding companion?”
“We-we were relieved of the post, sir.” The Qeknian guard clicks anxiously to Ninthor. “They knew our security code and told us to join the security unit at the gate.”
“Who did?” I snarl, but Justina and Olphan place a hand each on my arms to keep me where I am. “Who took my beloved?” Because for the first time in my whole life, I want blood, and not to drink.
“Well?” Ninthor’s wings flexed anxiously behind him. “Debrief me, right now.”
“They wore peacekeeper uniforms.” A Sacron piped up and nodded to Olphan. “All Sacron, all similar heights and builds. Their unit leader was the only one who spoke to us. They never used names or took off their helmets, sir.”
“So a merc band.” Olphan sneered and started calling someone again. “We need security footage.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be possible.” Getrata’s heads looked at different corners of the waiting room, and pointed with each corresponding hand to them. “Look. The cameras.” I sweep my lilac eyes up to see the black mini domes that house the cameras are singed and cracked. “I’m not a tech expert, but I read a report once about cameras being overloaded like that to wipe out their short term memory.”
