Page 3 of Alien Warlord's Fury
I stared at him, suddenly seeing with perfect clarity. "This isn't about the children at all, is it? It's about politics. About maintaining the alliance between settlements."
His expression tightened. "The alliance is what gives us strength."
"And what about your honor? Your duty? Does that extend only to those who can vote in your council?"
"You question my honor?" His voice dropped dangerously low, lifelines showing brighter along his arms as his tail lifted slightly from the ground, poised like a striking serpent.
"I'm stating facts. You're choosing politics over innocent lives."
"And you're choosing impulse over the careful hunt." He took a step back, putting distance between us. "Your instability makesyou a liability in the field. The markings, the visions—you're unpredictable."
His dismissal cut deeper than I expected. After everything we'd been through, after the bond that had begun forming between us, he still saw me as damaged. Unstable.
A liability.
"So that's it?" I asked, my voice hollow. "We just wait while Hammond continues his experiments? While more children die?"
Nirako looked at me for a moment, his eyes unreadable. Then he gave a curt nod and turned away.
"Nirako!" I called after him, but he kept walking, back straight, steps measured.
The door to the council chamber closed behind him with a soft thud that felt like thunder in my chest.
Alone in the courtyard, I wrapped my arms around myself, silver markings dimming to a faint glow. The bond between us ached like a physical wound. I'd felt his doubt, his frustration—and beneath it all, his fear.
Not of Hammond or the danger, but of me. Of what I might do.
The vision of the copper-haired girl flashed through my mind again. Her screams. Hammond's clinical observations.
The otheryounglingswaiting their turn.
I stared at the closed council door. They would talk and plan and debate while children suffered. While Hammond continued his monstrous work.
My fingers traced the silver markings on my arm, remembering the pain of their creation. The experiments. The helplessness.
"If you won't save them, I will," I whispered to the empty air. "Tonight."
The decision settled in my chest, heavy but certain. I wouldn't wait for permission or assistance. I wouldn't be helpless again.
The mountain air carried the scent of night-blooming flowers as darkness began to fall. In the distance, I could see the lights of the settlement, people going about their lives, unaware of the horrors happening just beyond their borders.
I turned away from the council building and headed toward my quarters. I needed supplies. A plan.
The markings on my skin pulsed with my heartbeat, responding to my resolve. They were the result of the crash, changed and warped by Hammond's cruelty, but they were also my strength now. My connection to the children who suffered as I had.
As I walked, I mentally cataloged what I would need. The route I would take. The guards I would have to avoid.
Nirako's face flashed in my mind—his disappointment, his frustration. The way he'd simply walked away when I needed him most.
I pushed the thought aside. I couldn't count on him. Couldn't count on anyone but myself.
The copper-haired girl's screams echoed in my memory. I quickened my pace.
Tonight, I would endthis waiting. With or without Nirako. With or without the council's blessing.
Yet the memoryof Nirako’s unwavering gaze pressed against my thoughts, fierce and grounding. I drew courage from that echo—even while insisting I didn’t need him beside me.
I shook it off. I would save those children or die trying.
