Scaled Heart: A SciFi Alien Romance (Project: F5 Book 2) by Jade Waltz (ereader android .TXT) 📕

Eight

CHYOX

I had messed up once again, right after I thought I had had a breakthrough with Kaica.

The air thickened, reminding me of Sovereign Zirene’s oppressive aura, suffocating me by enveloping my body like a heavy blanket. Yet, this felt different, more directed perhaps, traveling from healer to healer throughout the room.

It couldn't be the Aldawi ruler, could it? He would have paged us before he appeared.

Unless he had and Kaica had been the one to answer. She was closest to him and a loyal soldier. There was no reason for him to reach out to either of us when he worked with her.

I prayed to the Stars he wasn’t storming over here.

The infirmary’s door slid open, revealing an enraged Oeta filling the room with her demanding fuchsia presence.

I didn’t even need to read her aura to catch her anger as she spread her wings wide, making her appear massive. Her fuchsia glow burned so brightly, it blinded me, drowning out the black color of her skin.

I couldn’t look away; she demanded my attention.

Beyond Sovereign Zirene, I had never experienced such power. I had thought it was only possible for royal Aldawi.

“I am going to ask you what happened once, but know that I’ve already put the pieces together. There is no use lying to me.” The weight of her fuchsia gaze burned me as she scanned the room. “Out loud—no mind speak.”

“Kaica got upset when she noticed we were speaking over our group connection instead of including her in the conversation,” Usthu replied. “I didn’t anticipate how angry she’d be.”

“She has every right to be angry—and hurt, too,” she snarled. Turning her attention to Xylo’s fathers, she stepped closer. “Let me make this clear. I am older than both of you combined. I can also turn your minds to mush with a thought.”

I feared for my mentors.

They were stubborn and would only bend their will for the Queens.

Oeta wasn’t Circuli, nor was she our Queen, so it was natural for Xylo's fathers to challenge her.

"You wouldn't dare—"

"I don't have to dare. So try me. I promise, if you want to go head to head with me, I will defeat you," Oeta chuckled, her voice laced with malice I never thought her capable of. "Right now, your son and his nestbrother are recovering in the other room thanks to the female you’ve chased out. If not for her, they might not even be here, because Aldawi doctors on Z’s staff never studied Circuli biology and were more concerned with their new Sovereign than your patients.

“Instead of treating their savior with the respect that she deserves, you pull a pompous stunt that might have ruined your working relationship forever. You do know who she is, right?"

"A young demihuman healer," Suvax replied, his voice dripping with annoyance. “What’s so special about that?”

"I am sure you’ve heard of the Fab Five. Once they get wind of this, you better be begging for forgiveness."

I turned to my mentors, hoping a warning from me would steer them away from their misguided behavior. "The Fab Five are Sovereign Zirene's personal team of assassin sisters. Kaede, also known galaxy-wide as the Black Hole, is their brother. The female demihuman that you insulted was their medical specialist. She recently settled on Destima to supervise your son and his nestbrother and eventually aid Xylo and Oeta’s fertility research."

"She is also considered one of Selena's sisters," Usthu added. "Who is not only your sons’ nestqueen, but the Aldawi Beacon. So, I advise you to treat her, and any female you come across here, with the respect that you would bestow upon your Queens. On Destima, Selena is yours."

"How can that little female hold so much importance?" Yuwal sputtered. "I can still hardly believe that a mere demihuman is the Queen of this moon."

"Even if she weren’t Queen or the empire’s Beacon, she is your sons’ nestqueen," Oeta growled, jerking a hand toward the unconscious patients. "You don't understand anything I’m saying, do you? Are you so stuck in your ways that you are resistant to change? You came to Destima knowing full well that things around here would be run differently than on Circul. Instead of adjusting to the culture, you are trying to enforce your rules through your old students. Guess what?” She chuckled, leaning forward.

“You're not the ones in charge here—your son is. I can easily tell Sovereign Zirene that you are trying to take over the infirmary, that he ordered built, because you were revered back home and refuse to let others take charge. While I respected your experience and what you’ve done for your species, this impression has overridden my original assessment. This will be your only warning on your behavior towards the team. Slip up again and I will personally reach out to Sovereign Zirene and get you banned from Selena’s sanctuary. Your toxicity isn’t welcome here.”

My mentors stared at her with their mouths agape, unable to reply. Yuwal’s coloring had turned to a worried orange, his grey stripes now a stressed black as yellow nervousness tinted his fins.

Good. They deserved to be scared out of their minds.

Once they had left the Circuli Queens’ mental web, they were forever cast out. That was the price we had paid when we chose to search for a new planet to start over. As males, our princes had done an astonishing job creating a mental web to house the crew members who dared to travel with us.

They had known the consequences before they decided to relocate.

If Sovereign Zirene discovered what had been happening here and indeed banished my mentors from Destima, they would be lost without a Queen to anchor them. A free Circuli male decayed much quicker than a mated male outside the range of his nestqueen.

They would die a lonely and painful death, probably before Xylo and Odelm woke from their healing stasis.

Silence filled the room as I waited for their response. Were they continuing