Acting Out (17 page)

“God, just look at that woman strolling around like she’s
the queen of the ball and accepting accolades for the exhibition
you
planned.
I would love to just punch her in the throat, that conniving bitch,” Mahoney
seethed.

Jessica followed her friend’s line of sight and saw Rox’Ana
Ful’Tera flitting from one delegate to another, schmoozing and flirting for all
she was worth. She watched as the noblewoman spoke with the colorful Deedoe.
They both looked Jessica’s way for a moment, before resuming their
conversation. Just a few short moments later, though, Rox’Ana stormed away from
the Phargannan delegate with a thundercloud expression.

Jessica laughed and told Mahoney, “It looks like she got an
earful from Deedoe. She probably tried to lie to her about something and Deedoe
called her out on it. She’s a very, uh, interesting person.”

Mahoney snorted indelicately as she shoveled her mouth full
of food from the buffet. After she swallowed her bite, she replied, “I’ll take
your word for it. I’ve seen how handsy she can be, so I’ll just stay far away.
Now, that Mamaxon dude is downright shifty. Have you seen his eyes? Anyone with
black eyes can’t be trusted. It has to be a rule somewhere.”

“Yeah, they are creepy, but he didn’t strike me as a hired
assassin, though. Humorless and stiff as a board, yes. Murderous? I don’t think
so. What about the other members of their party?” she asked, her eyes skating
over the crowd to see if she spotted anything suspicious. They landed on Korian
where he was deep in conversation with Uthor and Manex, the delegate from
Lugia-A. There was no one hovering around him with a knife in their hands, so
she continued her scan.

Mahoney huffed an aggrieved breath. “So far, Mikael and
Zandar have seen nothing unusual. Of course, all the Mamaxon people are being
followed discreetly by our warriors and spies, but no one is triggering any
alarms. I’m starting to wonder if Rox’Ana didn’t just call the whole thing
off.”

Jessica shook her head in disagreement. “No, not her. After
spending the last month with that woman in close proximity, I know enough about
her to know that she will only get more desperate. She hates the warrior class,
and the king especially. Pair that with her greed for power and she is
downright dangerous.” She paused to slip a bite of meat off Mahoney’s plate
into her purse for her pet before adding, “I assume you guys have someone
tailing her, too?”

Mahoney shot her an annoyed look and moved her plate out of
reach. “Of course we do. We haven’t seen her approach a single Mamaxon. She’ll
trip up eventually, and then we’ll have her and her assassin.”

Someone bumped into Jessica from behind and a feminine voice
cried, “Oh! As if this day could get any worse!”

The two women turned to find a female with tears pouring
down her face and trying valiantly to wipe the spilled contents of her plate
off her gown. She was Sinepaxan in appearance with the typical tall, pointed
ears that parted her snowfall-colored hair. Her efforts to clean off the messy
food were only making things worse, and Jessica felt her heart go out to the
poor woman.

“I am so sorry for bumping into you. I am afraid that I was
not watching where I was walking,” she told Jessica, her elfin face full of
remorse and misery.

Jessica reached out to stop her hands from making an even
bigger mess and she squeezed the woman’s hands in sympathy. “It’s no problem, I
promise. My name is Jessica MacGregor and I’m a guest here in the king’s home.
Would you like me to show you to a bathing chamber in order to clean up?”

The female sniffed pitifully and gazed down at her ruined
dress. “My name is Nan-Yo of Sinepax. I do not believe that it will help,
Jessica MacGregor. This gown is made of Sinepax silk. It is impossible to
launder it. If even so much as a drop of water were to land on it, it will
forever be stained.”

“Well, that’s a waste. Why would you want to wear something
that can be ruined so easily?” Mahoney asked bluntly.

Jessica deliberately stepped on her friend’s toes. Looking
the female up and down, Jessica came to a decision. “Actually, you look like
you’re close to my size. If it would make you more comfortable, I’d be happy to
loan you a dress until you can return to your ship.”

The female Sinepaxan smiled beatifically. “If you are sure
it would be no trouble, I would be most grateful. I am afraid that my husband is
not a very kind man, and I would hate to cause him embarrassment in front of
his peers by my appearance.”

Jessica and Mahoney traded loaded glances, each of them
thinking that the mysterious husband could go suck a lemon. “Mahoney, you up
for a little field trip?”

The female warrior shrugged and placed her empty plate on a
nearby table. “Might as well. This shindig is all kinds of boring. Let’s roll,
little mama.”

The three women headed toward the door panel that would lead
them to the hallway where the sleeping chambers were located. Jessica chatted
animatedly with the Sinepax female, telling her all about her last month on
T'Kala and how much she had come to love its people.

Nan-Yo offered her a shy smile. “Any particular one that you
love more than the others?”

Jessica blushed and replied coyly, “Maybe. I’m hoping that
we will get to become lifemates soon.”

The woman’s face turned to stone and a flash of anger
narrowed her eyes. “At least you will be mated to someone you love, Jessica
MacGregor. I was bartered like livestock by my family in order to increase
their wealth and power. It mattered not to them that I had no desire to mate at
all, and had planned to join the Sinepaxan Special Forces. Yet, I was forced to
join with a man I loathe and leave my home only two suns cycles ago.”

Jessica placed her palm on the sensor to her rooms and
allowed the woman to enter first. “I’m very sorry to hear that. If you don’t
love him and don’t wish to me married, can’t you just run away?”

Mahoney, completely uninterested in their chatter, crossed
her arms in the middle of the room while they began pulling dresses from the
wardrobe. Nan-Yo replied, “It is not impossible, but it would take a
considerable amount of money in order to forge traveling and identity documents,
as well as securing transportation to another planet. My new husband is quite
powerful, and his reach is long.”

Jessica held up a pale pink dress and the young woman nodded
in agreement. Looking over her shoulder, the female whispered loudly, “I do not
mean to be rude, but do you think your warrior friend would turn her back while
I change? I will need your help in order to fasten it, but I would prefer to
have as few eyes on me as possible.”

“I can hear you, you know,” Mahoney groused. “It’s not like
I want to look at you anyway.” The female warrior resolutely turned her back to
the two women and once again crossed her arms impatiently.

Jessica turned to free the dress from its hanging device and
said, “Honestly, Mahoney. Would it kill you to be a little nicer? You heard the
poor woman. She’s having a very difficult time, and-“

The sound of a loud thud interrupted her tirade, and she
turned to see what had happened. Her mouth dropped open at the sight that met
her eyes. Mahoney was out cold on the floor with some type of syringe sticking
out of her neck. The pink material slipped from her fingers unnoticed and
drifted to the floor as Jessica registered the fact that the Sinepax female was
standing over her friend with Mahoney’s sword in her hand.

“What are you doing? What did you do to Mahoney?” Jessica
demanded, her whole body beginning to tremble with fear.

Nan-Yo laughed nastily, all traces of the innocent and
sympathetic woman gone. “Do not worry yourself, Jessica MacGregor. The warrior
is only temporarily paralyzed. She is not the one I have been sent for.”

Jessica backed up as the female stalked closer to her. “Why
are you doing this? We have no quarrel with Sinepax.”

“Oh, I have a quarrel with Sinepax and the whole
frexing
Alliance.
Because of their machinations and underhanded deals, I was bartered off without
my consent to a Council delegate in order to increase the size of my family’s
wealth. I was not even given the right to choose my own lifemate, much less my
own destiny, and to make it even worse, they gave me to an off-worlder.”

Jessica could feel all the color draining from her face and
she braced her hands against the dresser at her back. A snippet of conversation
from the VIP box tickled her memory, and she gasped. “You’re the missing
lifemate of Nidoba, the Mamaxon delegate!”

The woman laughed nastily and twirled the sword in her hand
as if well-practiced with its use. “Not for much longer. Once I take care of
the king and now his heir, I will disappear out from under the Alliance
forever.”

Korian looked around the dining hall distractedly for his
flame-haired
thalia
. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her
standing to the side with Mahoney while they spoke with a distressed Sinepaxan
female. He frowned in consternation as he watched the trio head for the living
quarters. Hailing Mikael to his side, he absently replied to a question from
Deedoe who had just joined him at his table.

“If the gorgeous human were my lifemate, I would not be able
to keep my eyes from her, as well,” the outrageous Phargannan woman laughed.

Korian smiled and nodded while anxiously waiting for Mikael
to traverse the expanse between them. It wasn’t as if he didn’t trust Mahoney
with Jessica’s safety, but on this night in particular, there could be no
mistakes. As he waited for his captain to arrive, he asked the delegate, “I saw
you speaking with Rox’Ana Ful’Tera a while ago. She did not look happy when she
left you.”

Deedoe snorted. “I fear you have an enemy in your midst,
Korian. When she tried to take credit for the exhibition, I replied that it had
been your future lifemate that was owed the recognition, not her. And when I
asked her if she was happily anticipating the birth of your heir, she was
shocked by the news. She blatantly lied to me and said she was thrilled about
the prospect. I would keep a watch on her at all times, if I were you.”

Korian’s shimmering bronze skin paled at the delegate’s
words. “You told her that Jessica was expecting my youngling?”

Deedoe’s face was horrified. “By the stars, Korian! You did
not tell me that the news was not public knowledge of yet! I feel from you that
there is much more going on here than you have let on. Tell me, what evil do
you expect from this night?”

Before he could answer, Mikael arrived at his side and
saluted him. “My king, what news?”

Korian grabbed his arm and hissed, “Did you see your
lifemate and Jessica depart with the Sinepaxan female a moment ago?”

Mikael’s eyebrows drew down in concern. “Of course. I saw
the whole thing. The female bumped into Jessica and spilled her plate of food
down her dress. I assumed that Jessica was directing her to the bathing chamber
to clean up.”

Deedoe stood to her feet and asked, “What color dress did
the female wear?”

Mikael thought for a moment and replied, “She wore a light
blue gown, delegate. Why do you ask?”

Deedoe looked grim. “That was not a member of the Sinepax
delegation. That was Nan-Yo, the new lifemate of Nidoba of Mamaxon. They
married two suns cycles ago, and it was not a happy union. Remember me telling
you of this before the exhibition, Korian?”

The two T’Kalan warriors were frozen with fear. Mikael
immediately spun on his heel and made haste toward the door panel to the living
quarters while signaling for Commander Andreus and another warrior to join him.
Korian made to follow him, but Deedoe grabbed his arm in a firm grip. “What is
happening, Korian? Why does this news send you into a spiral of fear?”

He saw no need to hide the news any longer, not when his
thalia
may be in trouble. “We received intel that Rox’Ana Ful’Tera had hired an
assassin to kill me during this conference, but we were unable to determine
their identity. We only knew that the transmissions had originated on Mamaxon,
so we were focusing all our security on their people. We had not heard that
Nidoba was taking a lifemate, and so did not look for one during our security
detail.”

Deedoe covered her mouth with her hand. “You tell the truth,
Korian. Nan-Yo was most reluctant to wed Nidoba. She had been training for
years to join the Sinepaxan Special Forces, and you know what that means.”

Korian grimaced and answered, “She has been trained as a
spy, and now she knows that Jessica carries my babe.”

He set off at a run with the Phargannan woman huffing along
behind him. Zandar caught up to them at the door to the living quarters, and
Korian only paused long enough to demand, “Seize Rox’Ana Ful’Tera and take her
under armed guard.”

Zandar did not wait for any further instruction and
immediately set off across the dining hall to apprehend the noblewoman while
Korian and Deedoe rushed down the hallway. They met up with Mikael and Andreus
plus two more warriors in the corridor, and the captain announced, “The bathing
chambers are all empty, Korian. There is no sign of the women.”

“Men!” Deedoe snarled impatiently. “Nan-Yo is a trained spy.
She would have cornered them in a room with limited access. Where is Jessica
MacGregor’s bedchamber?”

Korian sprinted down the hallway, his heart in his throat.
This couldn’t be happening. The threat had been to him, not his precious
thalia
.
He would sooner give his own life than to have even one hair on her head
harmed. He would execute the noblewoman if he didn’t reach Jessica in time to
save her and their babe.

**************************

“If it is of any comfort, I find no pleasure in killing you,
Jessica MacGregor,” the cold beauty told her as she advanced with the sword
aimed for her chest. “Rox’Ana Ful’Tera only sought to rid herself of the king,
but when she heard the news this eve that you carried his heir, she offered me
double the price to get rid of you, too. With those kind of credits, I can disappear
and begin my life anew in another galaxy.”

Jessica’s heart was in her throat and fear for her unborn
baby made her teeth chatter. “You will never get out of this compound alive,
Nan-Yo. The place is crawling with T’Kalan warriors.”

The woman’s laugh was a mockery. “Foolish human, I was
trained for years on how to cover my tracks. During the chaos after your body
is found, it will be simple enough to slip up to the king and inject him with a
dose of Mamaxon poison. No one will think to look for a shy Sinepaxan female.
Instead, my
frexing
lifemate and his people will be to blame.” The tip
of the sword came to rest over Jessica’s heart. “Enough of this talk. I have a
mission to complete.”

Before she could press the tip of the sharp sword home, a
snarling yowl echoed through the chamber and Jessica’s
bimbop
leapt from
the confines of its bag to sink its sharp fangs into the female’s sword hand.
The assassin screamed and floundered back as she tried fruitlessly to free the growling
animal from her flesh. Jessica tried to dodge around her to get to the door,
but it was no use. The woman slammed her arm into the wall, and Jessica cried
out when her beloved pet fell to the ground unconscious and covered in blood.

“Bitch!” the unhinged female screamed, holding her injured
hand to her chest. “Your death will be more painful for this trickery.”

Jessica felt frozen to the spot as she watched the woman
draw her fist back and swing toward her face. As if on auto-pilot, Jessica
blocked her swing with her forearm, circled her arm, and pulled upward to lock the
assassin’s elbow in place while she kicked her hard in her stomach. Nan-Yo
grunted with pain as the spiked heel of Jessica’s shoe punched a hole in her
midriff, and Jessica released her grip on the female when she fell to the floor
doubled over in pain. With desperation rolling off of her waves, Jessica
scouted around for the dropped sword, but she was too late. Nan-Yo’s bloody
fist closed around the hilt and she staggered to her feet while holding her
other hand over her stomach to stem the flow of scarlet seeping through her
ruined dress. Jessica scrambled backward, and hastily ripped the dagger hairpin
from hair to hide in her fist.

“You are all out of tricks, Jessica MacGregor. You and your
babe will die by my hand this night,” she hissed, rushing toward her mark.

Before she could ram the blade home, however, the door panel
slid open and the room filled with Korian, Mikael, Andreus, Deedoe, and several
more warriors. Seeing that her plan had been foiled, the Sinepaxan assassin
grabbed Jessica and pulled her in front of her with the sword’s tip resting
over her throat. Jessica’s frightened eyes locked on her lover’s and her heart
broke at the sheer terror in his pale lavender eyes.

“Drop your weapon, Nan-Yo of Mamaxon. You are surrounded,”
Korian ordered, his voice cold and full of fury.

Jessica felt the sword tip dig into her skin and she
tightened her grip on the hair pin hidden in her palm. The assassin backed
away, forcing Jessica with her, and snarled, “I am not of Mamaxon, and I would
sooner die here than to be sent to the prison camps on Calfaxis. If you take
one more step forward, King, your precious lifemate will join me.”

Deedoe placed her hand on Korian’s arm in caution. “She
speaks the truth, Korian. Do not push her, or they will both perish.”

Jessica felt like ice was running through her veins at her
words. She knew Korian would not do anything to further endanger her, and yet,
she also knew without a doubt that the desperate female would never concede
defeat. She had one chance to escape, and her only hope was the element of
surprise.

“Korian, no matter what happens next, just know that I love
you,” she called out.

Before he could reply, she brought her hand up and stabbed
Nan-Yo in her sword arm with her hair pin and yanked downward. The female
assassin screamed in her ear, and she felt a flash of pain on her chest, but
she lost no time in freeing herself from the woman’s grip and sprinted toward
her lover’s waiting arms. She collapsed against his chest, sobbing with fear,
as he ran his hands all over her to ensure she was unhurt while he showered her
with desperate kisses.

“That was most foolish of you to take such a chance,
thalia
,
but I thank the stars that you are unharmed,” he breathed into her hair.

Jessica began to feel dizzy from her ordeal and she slumped
in Korian’s arms. “She named Rox’Ana Ful’Tera as her employer, Korian. She
drugged Mahoney and hurt my
bimbop
. We have to get them to the medical
wing right away.”

“Shh, do not fret, Jessica. Commander Andreus has the
assassin contained. Mikael has already called for the medics and they will be
here shortly. All will be well,” he soothed her.

Her vision began to grow black at the edges and spots danced
before her eyes. “Great. That’s great. Korian, I don’t feel so good.”

He pulled her away from his chest and cursed as he saw the
front of both of their chests covered in blood. The last thing she heard before
the darkness took her was Korian’s panicked shout of “She has been injured! We
need a medic over here!”