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  Alex wanted to ask Tory why he was afraid to do this thing. Maybe afraid wasn’t the word. She stared at him. “Tory?” A million questions in one word.

  He met her gaze. “It gives you no place to hide, Alex. And it’s temporary, but it’s designed to be…addictive.”

  “You’ve done this before?” Had he done this with someone before? The idea made her feel depressed.

  “No,” he said slowly. “But I’ve seen others who have. It…changes things.” He seemed to be groping for words. Alex wasn’t sure what to think.

  “Are you afraid I’ll know some secrets you don’t want me to know?” That’s what it had to be. He didn’t want her to know him. It hurt and her chest tightened.

  Surprisingly, his blue eyes blazed and he placed his hands on her shoulders. “I’m afraid that you’ll misinterpret what you see there. We aren’t Ardasians, used to the background noise, the bits of information that leak from us all the time.”

  Her chin rose. “I can handle it.”

  He sighed. “I don’t know if I can.”

  She stared at him. “You’re not afraid of me finding something. You’re afraid of what I’m thinking.”

  He dropped his hands and turned his back. “Yes.”

  That decided her. She glanced at Kera. “Do it.”

  Tory’s fists were clenched but he turned to face Kera, side by side with Alex. Kera reached out and put a long, slender hand on the side of their necks, her fingers warm. Sparks of electricity crackled along Alex’s nerves. Her eyes closed and a whirl of thoughts and feelings spun around her mind.

  First, connect with Tory. Once the bridge is completed, I can share the vision with both of you. Kera’s sexy voice was even more seductive in Alex’s mind. Dangerous, that’s what Kera was. The woman’s chuckle only increased Alex’s discomfort.

  The connection with Tory was an odd thing, like walking in a dimly lit forest, shapes and colors muted and hard to see. It slowly began to get a little brighter and soon she was hearing thoughts that weren’t her own.

  Lines of tightly wound thoughts tempted her like passageways in a fascinating maze. Tory’s mind was orderly, straightforward. His thoughts followed straight lines, all categorized and filed. Only one tangled skein seemed to twist and bend. Of course, that’s the one she wanted to delve into.

  With her mind, she reached out and touched the tangled mass of thoughts. It flooded her with warmth, fear, desire. In the background was a mass of snippets all about her. Tory constantly thought of her, her physical beauty, her courage—all the things he admired about her. For the first time, Alex saw herself the way he saw her. It wasn’t just a mirror image, but a painting filled with color and emotion. In the tangles lay the pain of rejection, the years of anguish he spent alone, drifting, without her. The anger was there too, a red, raw wound of pain covered by resentment. The rage at her willingness to believe him a traitor, the anger at her sense of duty and honor that overrode her feelings.

  The thoughts swirled around her, brushing her like strands of seaweed. It took a moment to get the hang of it, but Alex figured out how to move the strings, separating them, focusing on one at a time until they were unraveled. She untangled the strings one by one until she reached the one in the center, the straight one, the one that the others wrapped around.

  She touched it and emotion slammed into her like a freight train.

  Love.

  He loved her. Beyond reason, beyond the anger, beyond the pain. He loved her. And he risked anything and everything to save her, even from himself. The thought was clear—he felt she wouldn’t return his feelings, not like this.

  How wrong he was.

  But fear struck her. What if he didn’t find the same thing in her? Her love wasn’t like this, was it? Tenuous and fragile, her love for him had never been straightforward or clear. Would he be disappointed?

  She touched the skein again. Such a precious gift. The other strands wrapped around her, each with a little bit of Tory in it. Memories of men he’d lost, women he’d sought mindless comfort with, all swirled around her now.

  None of the women he’d slept with had made much of an impression. The loneliness, the emotional wasteland, of those five years was fresh and strong. When he’d said there was no other woman he’d wanted, he had been telling her the truth.

  She delved deeper, oblivious to the outside world, wanting to explore this internal landscape. Twisted among the strands were his fantasies, his darkest sexual desires. There she saw visions that both disturbed her and excited her. In these mental pictures, she was restrained, hung on a rack like the one in his quarters. She wore nipple clamps and Tory held a wicked-looking whip that sliced through the air and hit her skin. She shuddered with anticipation.

  Like flickers of light, the pictures clicked to the forefront and then disappeared to be replaced by another. She could see in them a dark, sexual need that she’d only glimpsed in Tory. Needs that didn’t appall her or offend her but filled her with shivering excitement. Her physical body responded, her pulse pounding.

  Alexandra? Tory’s voice, strong and clear, snapped her away from the sensual slide show.

  Tory. I…did what you find disappoint you?

  I was…surprised. She caught the vision of what he’d found. To him, instead of lines and strands, he found whirlwinds and waves of her thoughts that were difficult to catch, to understand. But, just as she had, he found the foundation, the rock of emotion that fueled all the rest. Though surrounded by doubt, depicted by an ocean of water, her love for him was solid and calm.

  I was too. Tory, there’s so much—

  We do not have time, my dears. Kera’s voice intruded on them.

  Show us, Kera. Tory’s mind wrapped around hers and they merged to accept the visions Kera would show them.

  An explosion of color in her mind rocked her and she winced. Light, bright light, stung her eyes for a minute and she squinted, trying to see. Then she wished she hadn’t.

  Again, the moment in the shuttle bay appeared just as the Judge of Light had shown her. This time, Alex didn’t fire on Tory, didn’t kill him as she had in the vision she’d seen. This time, Darius fired on her. She felt the impact, the stunned, shattered expression on Tory’s face, the cold hand of death. The vision shifted and she had a view of Teran Two, desolate and empty, dead bodies everywhere. She had a vision of Teran Four burning and destroyed, bodies littering the streets. A vision of Teran One, her home, people screaming, human beings changed into flesh-eating monsters, explosions and destruction everywhere. The wails of the dying screeched through her mind and she clasped her hands over her ears.

  She saw Ardasia empty of life, the great Olani Falls fouled by dead flesh. Tears streamed down her face and she gasped for breath. So much death and destruction.

  Arms wrapped around her and she pressed her face against the solid wall of Tory’s chest. He held her close and her hands clutched at him to hang on, to stop the screaming in her head.

  The visions were gone.

  She lifted her gaze and stared into Tory’s face, his brow wrinkled with worry. “I can’t feel you anymore.” It was like a piece of her missing.

  “The bridge is temporary, held by Kera’s connection to us. She’s passed on the vision.”

  “How do we stop it? We have to stop it.” Her voice rose, panic bubbling in her stomach.

  “I don’t know,” Tory said.

  Kera broke in, her features tight and her color drained. “There are several fulcrums on which the future hinges.” Her gaze met Alex’s. “Like the vision of the hangar that the Judge of Light showed you, the future can be shifted and changed.”

  “It’s that moment in the shuttle bay that changes everything,” Alex said. In the first vision, Darius had killed Tory after she stunned him. In this vision, Darius killed her. “Why was that moment so important?”

  Kera’s gaze focused on Alex. “The outcome from your death or Tory’s death meant the end of Teran One, possibly the end of all the Teran
planets. The vision you saw now is only possible if one of you dies.”

  Tesia, who had said nothing since they entered Kera’s home, asked, “What exactly did you see?”

  Jezar met her gaze. “Would you like to see it?”

  A wary expression shuttered Tesia’s eyes. “How?”

  “I can share it.” His tone revealed nothing, but Alex caught something between them she couldn’t grasp. She shot a glance at Tory, who shrugged.

  Tesia’s lips tightened. “I don’t like it.”

  The way Jezar’s lids drooped over his eyes seemed to show he was offended by Tesia’s doubt. “Kera has expended too much energy to create another bridge. It is better if I do it.”

  The engineer took a deep breath and nodded. Jezar’s fingers brushed Tesia’s neck and the woman stiffened, her eyes closed. A few minutes later, she jerked away from his touch and turned her back.

  “Thank you,” she said the words through gritted teeth. Alex didn’t think she sounded grateful and Jezar’s expression seemed disturbed as well.

  Kera grinned. It was a feral smile. “It is difficult to share without revealing oneself.”

  “You didn’t,” Alex blurted out.

  “I am an adept Visionary. I see the future.” Kera nodded at Jezar. “He also glimpses the future, but is less adept at sharing it with others, especially humans.”

  Jezar’s nostrils flared but he said nothing.

  Whatever happened between Jezar and Tesia hadn’t been personally pleasant. The vision was bad enough without weird personal shit thrown in. Alex shook her head. They had bigger problems.

  “How do we avoid that confrontation with Darius?” she asked Kera.

  The woman’s color had returned. “Your loyalty will be tested, Alexandra Zeerah. Loyalty to your mate, loyalty to your planet and loyalty to your race. All of these will be strained to the very edge of your limitation.”

  “You’re saying the confrontation can’t be avoided.”

  “I’m saying what precedes the confrontation is not set in stone. What you do before Darius appears in that shuttle bay could determine the future of humanity.”

  Great, thought Alex. No pressure.

  Chapter Twelve

  The air was clean and fresh and Alex inhaled deeply when they stepped outside Kera’s house. The woman’s home had been oppressive and draining. Several emotions flitted through Alex. There were only so many discoveries she could take.

  “What now?” she asked Tory.

  “There’s something I want to show you before we leave Ardasia,” Tory said, his arm slipping around her shoulders.

  Tesia still spoke very little, her face troubled and strained. Alex touched her arm and the woman seemed startled. “Are you okay, Tesia?”

  “That vision…” Her lips pursed together.

  “I know.”

  “I’m scared,” she murmured. Jezar shot her a glance and his hand rose, but dropped back to his side almost immediately.

  “We had to know. There has to be something we can do.” Alex allowed Tory to guide her to the taxi still waiting in Kera’s long driveway.

  “Don’t think about it for a little while. We’ll go through it all when we get back.” Tory pulled her closer to him in the backseat of the hovercar. “Right now, let’s just enjoy Ardasia’s capital city. We still have an hour.”

  Alex knew an hour wouldn’t be near enough time when she realized where Tory had brought them. The Ardasian History Museum was famous all over the galaxy. It had artifacts from all over the system, including some from Old Earth.

  When Tory glimpsed her face, he grinned. “I knew you’d love this place.”

  “I’ve heard of it. I can’t wait to see the Old Earth artifacts.”

  “The history they’ve preserved here is amazing,” Jezar told her. “Our own origins are not very clear, but our archeologists speculate that we were colonists from Old Earth centuries before the plague descended on the planet.”

  “Really?” Alex’s brain whirled as they entered the huge building. She didn’t know where to look first. Several corridors marked with enticing symbols called to her. There was one dedicated to the Teran system. What would they have there? Another one was dedicated to Placido, a planet abandoned by a lost people.

  “Where do you want to start?” Tory asked her.

  Tesia spoke up. “I’m dying to see the excavation results of Placido.”

  “We can split up,” Jezar commented. “Come. I’ll know a bit about Placido. It’s fascinating.” Tesia followed him, listening and looking enthralled.

  “Old Earth. I want to see what they have there.” To figure out what the future held, she had to delve back into the past.

  Tory nodded. “Old Earth it is.” He took her arm and they strolled down the corridor and walked centuries into the past.

  Some artifacts she recognized. The Ardasians even had an old automobile from the twentieth century on Earth. Bigger and bulkier than the hovercars used by humans on Teran and Ardasia, she wondered how ancient humans managed to deal with the noise and the smell of combustion.

  But the section she wanted to see was the display on the last days, before Earth was quarantined. On Teran One, their historical facts were passed down through vid memories, not actual artifacts from the time period.

  Surprisingly, the Ardasians had actual vids of the days of the plague. She found the one she wanted and pressed the “play” button. Her hand found Tory’s. What they saw now could be a portent of things to come.

  Static crackled but the vid cleared. The narrator had an emotionless, passionless delivery. Perhaps the impact of his words made him numb. “In Earth year 2260 A.D., the political leaders of the nations finally obtained a peace treaty after a millennium of warfare and destruction. But their peace was short-lived. A plague released by an alien force called the Huacan infected two-thirds of the Earth’s population. Several colonies escaped and terraformed five planets, moons that orbited the Melida Star in the Teran system, but most of Earth’s population was overcome. The last survivors on Earth were rescued by an Ardasian envoy.”

  The vid switched to a gruesome scene. A small army of humans faced thousands, maybe millions, of plague-infected monsters. The battle was brutal, with the small army showing bravery and courage. But the infected humans were strong, incapable of feeling, and outnumbered them a hundred to one.

  The death and destruction sickened even a battle-hardened soldier like Alex. She made herself watch even as the plague-ravaged creatures swamped the small army’s positions and ripped them apart with their bare hands and teeth. Especially teeth. It was disgusting. She’d thought disintegrators were the worst way to be killed but this was much, much worse.

  The vid closed in on one pocket of resistance. A woman, blonde hair flying in the wind, her ancient weapon firing projectiles into the mass of bodies attacking, screamed a battle cry and stood alone, all her comrades dead and bloody at her feet.

  Suddenly, an Ardasian warship appeared and lifted her out of the battle. Alex wanted to cheer. The vid showed other rescues and how they came to Ardasia. “These humans were immune to the plague of Old Earth. A small force of these humans returned to Earth and defeated the Huacan. But to defeat them, the Earth’s surface was made uninhabitable for humans and Huacan alike. The surviving humans scattered throughout the Teran system and some settled on Ardasia.” Several pictures of these humans appeared on the vid. The blonde woman from the battle was listed as a Commander Darina Stanton.

  “She led the Earth forces against the Huacan.” Tory stared at her and then at the blonde woman. “She settled here, mated with an Ardasian and had three children.”

  “She looks so familiar but we don’t have pictures of her when she was young.” Alex studied the strong features. Darina Stanton had been a beautiful woman.

  She glanced at Tory. He studied her just as intently. “You’ve studied the ancient bloodlines on Teran One. Name the Firsts.”

  Alex blinked. “You wanted me to
see this.”

  “Yes. I remember that the Gregor, Zeerah and Stender bloodlines were a few of the Firsts. Who else?” He was headed somewhere with this but she couldn’t see where it was.

  “The Sollys, the Orions and the Nylans. Six,” she said. “There were six primary bloodlines.”

  “And some of them came later. Like mine.” He held her gaze.

  “The Ingles came when the first Stender fought for and ascended the throne.” She should know. She had studied Tory’s bloodline intently. It was in her nature. The Ingles had played a small but important part in the Stenders coming to power. And without Zachias Stender, the six families might have destroyed themselves.

  “And who else is in your bloodline, Alex?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, other bloodlines have been absorbed into the Zeerah line. Which ones?”

  She chewed on her thumbnail, thinking hard. Intermarriage was common and lesser bloodlines combined with more powerful ones. Often, lesser lines disappeared, becoming a part of an older, stronger line. The Zeerahs hadn’t incorporated many other lines since they were connected to the royal family and less likely to “marry down”. It was one of the reasons her family had objected to Tory. “Well, a Zeerah mated with a woman named Sabine Dudley. She was listed as a visitor from Teran Five.”

  Slowly, Tory shook his head. “No. She wasn’t a Teran Five.” He flicked a few buttons on a keyboard station near the vid display. “Look.”

  A genetic chart filled the screen. Alex studied the information, used to reading gene charts. She was adept at reading odd connections and notations. This one was no different than the ones on Teran One.

  At the top of the chart was the name Darina Stanton married to…she peered at the name, unable to quite believe what she was seeing. Married to an Abel Dudley. “Dudley is an Ardasian name?” She blinked.

  “It’s also an Old Earth name,” Tory told her.