Alien Soulmate (Paranormal Romance Aliens) (3 page)

Ithril stood in the Meeting Hall and watched morning break over the land. The mourners had gone home in groups over the course of the night, and now it was quiet and still. Somewhere in space, his brother was heading towards Earth. It pained Ithril to do it, but he knew that he didn't have another choice.

Honestly, this whole thing had been easier than expected. He'd thought that their father was going to make Carver the leader outright just because he was older. It would have been so much harder to get him out of the way then, but Angen had made them co-leaders, giving him the same amount of power as his brother.

If only Carver could have been different. Their father was known for his love of peace. He didn't want to start what he saw as pointless battles with the Des'kos, when bargaining with them worked the same way.

But it didn't. They had to give away more and more of their land and their dignity to keep the barbarians appeased. All it would take was the right amount of violence, killing their king or taking some of them hostage, and they could turn this around. Instead of capitulating to the beasts, they could be the ones making demands. Ithril had been telling his father that for years, since he was old enough to know the true nature of the struggle against the Des'kos. But Angen had been ignorant and had dismissed his words time and time again.

Well, Angen was dead now. And it pained Ithril to have to think of it like that, but he didn't have time to be sentimental.

The Council would be convening later that day, and people would start to notice that Carver was gone. He had to do something before that happened.

Ever since Angen had fallen ill, Ithril had been planning. Actually, he'd been planning since their mother had died. She hadn't gone peacefully like Angen. No, Bethali had been grievously injured in a raid by a few Des'kos rebels. Angen had been all set to retaliate, but when the king of the Des'kos had denounced the rebels and claimed he'd had nothing to do with sending them to Sitheri territory, Angen had stood down and forbidden anyone to lash out at the Des'kos.

Ithril had been furious. Those barbarians had killed his mother. They'd shot her with a poison tipped arrow, and she'd died slowly and painfully some hours later. There hadn't been anything the doctors could do to slow the poison's work, and Ithril had watched the light leave Bethali's eyes.

And Angen, the leader of the Sitheri, his father had done nothing. The king of the Des'kos had assured them that the rebels would be put to death, but there was no proof of that. No proof that it hadn't been a ploy the whole time.

From that moment, Ithril had realized that he couldn't rely on his father. The man cared more about peace than about his family and the dignity of his people. Carver had been upset, but he'd easily bowed to their father's word.

And that was why Carver had to be sent away. He showed every sign that he would follow in Angen's footsteps and continue giving away what little the Sitheri had until they had nothing. Until they were all but slaves to the Des'kos, forced to capitulate to their demands just to stay alive.

Ithril wasn't going to let it get that far. Not without a fight.

The Des'kos had conquered plenty of clans across the planet of Khaosali over the past two decades. They came from a desert land themselves and instead of working to make their home more habitable or finding an unoccupied part of the planet to live in, they had decided to seize the lands of other clans. Many of the clans had decided to fight back, but in the end, most of them had been conquered.

It didn't make sense for one race to have so much power over the others, and Ithril was determined that the Des'kos threat was going to end and end soon. He would contact the other clans, get them to stand with the Sitheri, and they would wipe the barbarians from the face of the planet.

And then, once Ithril had claimed his victory in their mother's name, he would send for Carver to come back. He didn't bear a grudge against his brother at all, really, he just knew that Carver would make things difficult for him.

Once it was all said and done, they could be a family again.

There was a knock on the door then, jarring him from his thoughts, and Ithril turned to see Cain coming in. Ithril had picked him for this specifically. Cain was one of the many Sitheri who were mixed with some other race because of how few Sitheri women there were.

He was tall with skin as brown as a nut, and the only thing (other than his unnatural height) that made him look less than human were the silver horns that started from his forehead and then curled back on either side of his head. His eyes were a deep shade of purple, and he met Ithril's eyes calmly.

"You summoned, Leader?"

"Yes," Ithril said, nodding. "I need your help."

"It is my honor to serve you, Leader," Cain said. His voice was deep and almost inflectionless, which irked Ithril because he could never tell what the man was thinking. But no matter.

"There are going to be a few changes around here. I have spoken with my brother, and he's decided with me that we can't continue like this."

Cain blinked slowly. "Like what?"

"Bowing and scraping to the Des'kos! They come here and steal our land and take our resources without penalty. We just give it to them, and for what?"

"In exchange for peace."

Ithril snorted. "Is that what this is? Peace? Forgive me, only I though there were still skirmishes every week. I thought guards were still armed to the teeth with axes and blasters to fend off the ‘rebels' who are supposedly not sanctioned by the Des'kos king. That doesn't sound like peace to me."

There was no response from Cain, just another slow blink, and Ithril let out a rough breath. He had to stop sounding so angry and start sounding like a leader. A leader's word was law.

"Like I said. There are going to be some changes. I want you to find people willing to go to the other clans. I'm not stupid enough to think we can do this on our own, and I want to see if there are others who are tired of being under the thumb of barbarians."

"Very well. We shall find these people. Where is your brother?"

"Carver's sleeping. It's been a long week for all of us, but him most of all. Trust me when I say, I have his support in this."

Cain stared at him for a moment, and Ithril willed himself not to flinch or look away. It was early in his leadership, and he had to start establishing his dominance now. They couldn't look at him as Angen's youngest, a hot headed little boy playing at war. No, they had to see him as the leader that he was, that he had been meant to be, and that meant making sure that he was always acting the part.

"Very well," Cain said finally, inclining his head. "I will spread the word. When will we convene again as a group?"

He could hear the real question in there. ‘When will Carver be back?' He'd have to come up with something to say to them before they met again.

"After the evening meal," Ithril decided. "That will give my brother time to sleep, and us time to spend with our sister. She has been taking this hard."

It was a strategic comment, however true. When he'd gone to speak with E'lira earlier, she'd still been in tears. But he knew that his sister was a soft spot for anyone who had watched her grow up, and the ploy worked. Cain's eyes softened and he nodded again.

"Until then, Leader."

Ithril waited until he'd walked away to sag with relief. As much as he believed in his convictions, this was the first time he was even attempting something like this, and he was unsure how well it was going to work.

Carver was the one who had the plans. He had always been the one to come up with ideas and make sure that they were seen through. He was the one with the quick mind and easy smile that put people at ease while Ithril stood in the background and looked angry or uncomfortable. But he had to get past that. Carver was gone now. His transporter was probably already closing in on Earth, and Ithril had made it so that there was no way for him to get back until he was ready for him to come back.

Ithril was on his own for the moment, and he had to make it count.

By the time the Council was ready to convene again, he had a plan firmly in his mind. It had taken a lot of thought, and he'd gone for a long walk after lunch, wracking his brain for what he could say to explain Carver's absence. But really, it had been so clear. Their father's passing was the perfect excuse, and secure in his knowledge that no one would be the wiser, he sat down at the head of the table and watched everyone else file in.

"Will Carver be joining us later?" Marsh asked, looking around the room.

Ithril shook his head, eyes solemn. "I'm afraid not," he said, sighing heavily. That caught everyone's attention, and he kept his head high and his voice steady. "My brother has not been handling the passing of our father very well at all. I went to check on him earlier since he wasn't at lunch, and I found his rooms trashed. Of course, I thought some treachery was at work and immediately assumed the worst, but then when I went down to the transporter bay, I saw that one of the transports was missing. I believe Carver has fled."

Shocked murmurs met his words, and he raised his hands, asking for quiet. "I know. It's unthinkable that my brother would do something like that, but I've looked everywhere. I've tried to contact him on his personal communicator, but there's no answer. There was no sign of forced entry, and no one saw anything. I don't know what else to think. Maybe the grief was too much, and he needed time away. Maybe he couldn't handle being given leadership all of a sudden. I don't know. What I do know, is that he isn't here, and I don't know where he is."

"Do you think the Des'kos came and took him?" one of the women murmured, eyes wide.

Ithril shook his head again. "No, kidnapping isn't really their style, and there's no way a Des'kos rebel could have gotten into Carver's room with no one seeing it. Especially with the way the mourners were thick in the streets last night. And anyway, if one of them had taken Carver, they most likely would have killed him and made sure we knew about it. They really don't have any reason to try and bargain or ransom him since we've given them everything they wanted anyway." He swallowed past the lump in his throat. "We all know they didn't hesitate to kill our mother, even knowing who she was."

There was a general rumble of agreement at that, and Cain turned his solemn eyes to Ithril. "How do we proceed?" he asked.

"As planned. Father wanted Carver and I to lead together, but we can't really do that if he's not here. So, I'll take up the mantle of leader on my own. Someone has to."

A few uneasy looks were exchanged between certain people, and Ithril took note of it. If this was going to work the way he wanted it to, then he was going to need people to trust him and be on his side. There had to be some way to make sure that everyone thought this was the best plan.

He leaned back in his chair and thought on that while each member talked about the way their group was dealing with Angen's passing. Since there were no funerals, the Sitheri chose to celebrate the life and mourn the passing of their kind with little vigils and displays for the two weeks that mourning lasted. Ithril made a note to go out and speak to some of them, to show up at some of the gatherings. It was only right that he show his face there since he was Angen's son and Carver wasn't there to do it. Maybe he'd take E'lira with him. She would definitely be good at smoothing the way with people since everyone liked her.

Cain spoke a bit about reaching out to other clans, and the other members were intrigued, but neither Cain nor Ithril elaborated just yet. It wasn't the time for that. Not so soon, and not right after he'd just announced that Carver had gone missing. All of this had to be timed perfectly if he wanted the results that were necessary.

When the meeting adjourned for the night, Ithril waited for all of the Council members to file out before he sighed and thunked his head onto the table. His father had been leader since he was twenty years old, which was just two years younger than Ithril was now.

Angen's father, Kithairin, had been killed in a Des'kos attack, but since Angen had been his only child, Angen had been groomed for leadership from a young age. He had always spoken about how his father was hard on him, making sure that when the time came, Angen would know what he needed to do to take up the mantle of leader.

Ithril had never known his grandfather, but he had heard the stories. The man was strong and brave, and he'd killed many Des'kos rebels before a blaster beam to the back had finally toppled him.

So many times he'd wanted to ask how it was possible for Angen to be so peace minded when he'd trained with his father who had wanted to even things out with the Des'kos. It was only the lack of support and arms that had kept Kithairin from waging a full on assault with the Des'kos, and Angen had gathered plenty of support and had increased the arms and training of the Sitheri warriors almost ten-fold since he'd taken over. And for what? So they could twiddle their thumbs and keep giving more and more to those who wished them harm?

It didn't sit right, and Ithril wasn't going to see it happen. He was going to use his father's preparations and his grandfather's drive, and he was going to be the first leader the Sitheri had ever had that would actually do something about the threat to end it.