Enticed by the Alien Warrior Hope Hart (the giving tree read aloud .TXT) 📖

my chest. The rooms were dark. I fell to the floor, and they were gone.”

“You were in here?”

He nods. “Someone close. Someone with access to our rooms. Likely whoever killed your parents.”

My heart sinks into my stomach, where it turns to lead. “I thought it was you,” I admit. “You always looked so enraged whenever I sat on my throne.”

“I know.” The ghost of a smile crosses his face. “I was enraged. You look so much like your father. It made me sick to think he would never get to see you rule, never get to see the male you have become.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be.” He attempts a smile, but his breaths are wet. “I had a good life. Not everyone can say the same.” He reaches for my hand, clutching it with surprising strength. “You need to be careful. Keep Korzyn close. Someone wants what you have, and they’ve killed me, they want to kill you, and they will murder anyone else who stands in their way.”

“You’re not dead yet.” I turn, roaring again for the healers. We just need cava berries. He’ll heal. He has to.

I glance back down as he squeezes my hand. He gasps, blood bubbling between his lips.

“I know a mortal wound when I see one. If I had access to a cava berry the moment I was stabbed, it might have been…different.” He chokes for a moment, and I want to throw my head back and howl in frustrated fury. “I think you’ll find the healers were prevented from getting here as quickly as they should have.”

I glance at Bevix, and he nods.

“I’ll go.”

Tridi ignores that. “If the human female is the female you choose, you will need to fight to keep her safe. They will take everything you care about if you let them, Arix.”

“Don’t go. Please.”

He smiles. “Your parents would be proud of you, boy. And I am too.”

He chokes again, his body stilling, and I reach down and close his eyes.

Chapter Ten

Vivian

Arix is silent next to me, his eyes hard as he stares at the water as if it can solve all his problems.

Now that the part for our thruster is fixed, we’re heading back to Rakiz’s tribe to drop it off. Alexis and Dexar are still there while they attempt to figure out a plan to remove the threat the Dokhalls present.

Arix hasn’t said much since the death of his uncle. He still comes to my rooms, but there’s no more talking about our lives. Instead, he takes me again and again until I fall into an exhausted sleep. When I wake up, he is often training with his men or having meetings with his advisers.

From what Sarissa has said, not only was Arix’s uncle murdered, but he and Arix were barely on speaking terms when he died. His uncle had conveniently always been around when key people were killed, and it seemed likely he was responsible for Arix’s parents’ deaths. But with no actual proof, Arix had chosen to allow him to stay at the castle in order to keep an eye on him. This whole time, Arix was barely tolerating him while his uncle was trying to discover the traitors himself—and ended up dead for it.

The guilt he must feel…

And the rage…

I can’t do it. I can’t be another person who betrays Arix. The thought makes me sick to my stomach.

Sarissa glances at me from across the boat. She’s chatting to one of the guards, but I can practically read her mind. Stay cool.

I know it’s not just about me. I know it’s about the other women too. How do I sentence them to a lifetime on a planet they never wanted to land on? How do I live with myself, knowing I could have gotten that chip?

I don’t. There’s no way I could look the other women in the eye as we try to get off this planet. All while knowing I had the chance to get us up into space. To get revenge against the Grivath. And to get us home.

Maybe…maybe it’s not as bad as we think. Maybe the ship doesn’t actually require a control chip, and we can get off this planet without it.

“Are you okay?”

I blink, realizing Sarissa is now sitting in front of me. “I’m fine.”

She tilts her head, but I can’t bring myself to explain what I’m feeling. She warned me not to get attached to Arix. And now I’m considering risking all our futures just to keep his butt planted on his throne? Ridiculous.

And yet resentment sits hot and heavy in my stomach. It’s easy for Sarissa. She doesn’t care about anything.

I push that away. Great. A heaping spoonful of guilt has been served along with the tension and resentment. Sarissa has had an incredibly hard life. She’s deeply wounded. It’s not fair to blame her for this.

We’re all silent as we get off the boat. Rakiz has arranged for some of his warriors to meet us with mishua, and from the look of the large pen they’re setting up, he’s obviously building some kind of stables here, which will make traveling back and forth across the water a lot easier.

Arix pulls me to him, helps me onto a mishua, and slides up behind me. I blush as Korzyn narrows his eyes at us, but he’s already turning his attention to Sarissa, who is attempting to convince one of the guards to let her ride alone.

Good luck with that, cuz.

Korzyn stalks over to Sarissa and throws her over his shoulder. She curses, but he ignores her, the expression on his face making it clear she has gotten on his last nerve. He hands her to one of the guards, who lifts her onto a mishua and mounts behind her.

I almost smile as I catch Sarissa’s eye. She is definitely going to make the commander pay for that little move.

She glowers at him most of the way to the camp, and it’s obvious she’s thinking up the best revenge. I attempt