Punished by Tana Stone (best books to read for knowledge .TXT) 📕

Then she disappeared out the window.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Ch 27

Corvak

“Any word yet?” I strode into the communications hub, my gaze alighting instantly on Kerl as he stood at a dingy console. Since I’d come from the bright light outside, my eyes took a moment to adjust to the cave. Even though I’d only taken a few steps out of the blazing, mid-day suns, the cool interior made the sweat chill instantly on my skin. I rubbed my arms, my boots slapping the stone as I walked toward the alien, who had yet to turn at my approach.

The Kimitherian had his beige cloak pulled down low so that only his elongated jaw flashed greenish blue in the dimly lit room. He swiveled his eyes to me, shaking his head. “No response. You are certain the encrypted channel is being monitored?”

It had been two standard rotations since the imperial scouting ship had landed on the planet, and I’d killed the soldiers aboard it. Two rotations since I’d been shot and recovered, and almost as much time since I’d made Sienna mine. My pulse quickened as I thought about the human female who’d been sneaking into my quarters ever since. I never knew when I would return to my quarters and find her there, or if I would wake to her slipping into bed beside me.

“The ships might not be in range,” I said, shaking off thoughts of Sienna before I had to concern myself with getting a throbbing erection in front of the alien elder. “They do patrol this sector, though, so we should continue to send the message.”

Kerl made a strange noise in his throat, but I’d become accustomed to the unusual Kimitherian sounds. “I am more concerned by the lack of communication from the empire.”

My gut clenched. Since the attack, there had been no additional scouting ships sent to the planet, and no communications regarding their missing ship and soldiers. At my urging, we’d moved the Zagrath ship from sight and disabled the tracking devices placed inside it, but that wouldn’t keep the empire away forever. Especially if they were intent in their plan to establish a garrison.

“We should assume that they are coming,” I told the alien. “The Zagrath never back down if they have a vested interest.” And the possibility of immortality was definitely what they would consider a vested interest.

“What will we do?” Kerl turned from the console, holding his hands together in front of him so his voluminous cloak made a single unbroken sleeve that encompassed both. “Our fighters are not ready for another encounter.”

They hadn’t been ready for the first one, I thought. As hard as I’d drilled them, I couldn’t instill a warrior’s thirst for battle, or bravery in the face of danger. Especially when the planet had been peaceful for so long and didn’t even allow its residents weapons. None of my trainees had been comfortable with the violence that came so naturally to me.

“If only your planet had some sort of weapons,” I said, rocking back on my heels and tipping my head back to stare at the rock ceiling. Even though I’d never entered the planet’s communications hub before we’d been forced to send out a message on an encrypted channel, I’d been making the long walk away from the village to the hidden cave several times a day since then. Tucked away near the planet’s only official landing pad, the dank space held basic communication technology that would have been considered rudimentary for a Vandar ship. But when you were trying to hide a secret about your planet, off-world communication wasn’t a big priority.

Kerl eyed me, then let out a raspy breath that echoed off the arched walls and ceiling. “Has anyone told you the story of Kimithion III?”

I folded my arms in front of my chest. “I know little about your home world.”

Even as I said this, I felt a twinge of embarrassment. I’d been living on the planet for nearly two cycles of their moons, yet I knew very little about the place, or those who called it home. I only knew that the native Kimitherians like Kerl had welcomed a small group of human refugees a few hundred rotations ago and the two groups had coexisted peacefully.

He gave a single nod of his head, his unblinking yellow eyes fixed on me. “As you might know, my species is native to the planet. Our biology is uniquely adapted to the arid climate and heat of two suns. It is said we evolved from the shallows, which is why we draw so much sustenance from it now.”

I nodded. I’d tasted enough of the seaweed and kelp-based food to know that the Kimitherians loved anything that came from the planet’s shallow turquoise waters. Some of the dishes had grown on me, but I still craved the savory taste of grilled meat. Even the memory of a joint of meat with a brown, crackling skin made my stomach grumble.

Kerl ignored the rumble of my gut. “What you do not know is that we were not always so peaceful. Long ago, there were two tribes of Kimitherians that stretched far across the lands and occupied much more than just the village here and the cave dwellings. But the two tribes could not live in peace. There were battles over access to the shallows, and even over the best mountains to use for living.”

I lifted both eyebrows. It was difficult to imagine the placid aliens even raising their voices, much less fighting. “I take it these battles did not end well?”

Kerl’s scaled lips became a pale line. “They did not. Eventually, war decimated both tribes. Our population was reduced to the point of near extinction. It was only then that we realized our mistakes and resolved not to fight. Our elders instituted strict rules on behavior and aggression, and over the generations we evolved to have no aggressive instincts. The blood rage that