Vertigo: Aurora Rising Book Two (33 page)

Looking into her eyes, he silently begged her to see the torment in his. Desperation bled out of his voice. “Do something, please. Yell, scream, hit me if you want, but do not just leave me standing here awaiting my execution sentence.”

Her throat worked laboriously, as if it struggled to remember the actions required for speech. “I love you….”

All the blood rushed to his head, sending it spinning violently. His injuries were graver than he had realized, for him to be so delirious as to be hearing things. He choked out a precious few syllables. “What did you say?”

Her eyes narrowed, perplexed, as if she wasn’t entirely sure herself. “You went behind my back and against my wishes, and I should be furious with you. And part of me
is
. But you’re right—had you asked I would have said ‘no,’ and it would have been wrong of me.

“This is the second time you’ve saved me expecting to lose me for it, which is apparently far more selfless than anything
I’ve
ever done. And every time I try to work up a case of righteous indignation against you, all I can think is…I love you. I didn’t real—”

His mouth was on hers and his hands were in her hair and he was pressing her into the nearest tree, stealing the air from her lungs though he owned none to replace it.

“What are you…doing?” It was barely a murmur.

He brushed feather-light kisses across her lips and back again. “Telling you I love you, too.”

She smiled and made to recapture his kiss, then retreated, her gaze falling away. “No, you don’t need to—”

“Would you
shut up
and let me tell you?” He smothered her gasp, drawing her in and this time refusing to let go. His lips ghosted over hers, over the tip of her nose, her eyelids, her jawline, her inexplicably tear-stained cheeks, always a phrase humming upon them.
“I love you….”

A hand clawed up his shoulder to clench in his hair; the other found the small of his back and pulled him yet closer. She claimed his mouth in full, bringing a delightful halt to his roving kisses, and the fire, the passion he craved more than the most addictive chimeral surged to life in his embrace.

He was dizzy from euphoria at his unexpected, impossible turn of fortune…and perhaps a few other things like exhaustion and pain, but he chose to focus on the euphoria. She kept insisting on surprising him in the most astounding ways, challenging everything he thought he knew about people and the world and most of all, himself.
Remarkable.

His hand drifted down her neck, along her collarbone, and continued on to dance fingertips over her breast through the fabric of her shirt.

She bit his lower lip and moaned in a manner he could best describe as, well,
visceral
, then dragged her teeth along his jaw to the crease of his ear. “Can I be mad at you now?”

He dipped a hand beneath her shirt and shoved the material upward. “No, you cannot.”

“But you—” His mouth silenced the rest.

“When you put it like…
unh
….” With his thumb he traced circles on her bare breast beneath her shirt, delighting in how she trembled at his caress.

As her fingers snaked up his spine, he dropped both hands to her hips and hoisted her up—

—and winced as the shredded ligaments in his left shoulder screamed in protest and refused to comply.

Instantly she drew back to regard him suspiciously. Her lips were swollen once more, this time from his abuse of them. “You are
such
a liar. You are not ‘fine.’ You can barely stand.”

His eyes squeezed shut as passion and pain waged war, his body the battlefield. His voice came out half frustrated, half graveled. “You exaggerate. I can stand fine. I am fine…” he sank into her arms “…or I will be.” Seeing the earnest worry animating her face, he brought a hand up to run gently along her jaw to the curve of her neck. “I promise.”

She sighed and kissed him, so wonderfully soft and tender and poignant. They remained there for untold seconds or minutes or hours, before he pulled away a fraction.

“Tell me what happened to you?”

33

NEW BABEL

I
NDEPENDENT
C
OLONY

T
HE FIRST THOUGHT
O
LIVIA HAD
when Marcus’ figure shimmered into existence was,
he looks frazzled
.

He did his best to conceal it, donning a poised mien and ostensible confidence. But she had observed him in this precise setting a number of times now. He was cracking beneath the pressure.

She hadn’t believed him so weak, so easily broken. Perhaps there was more at work than merely a galactic war and an alien invasion.

“Olivia. You said it was urgent. You need to discuss something?” His tone came out clipped. Strained.

“Yes, Marcus. We need to discuss the small matter of the
aliens tearing up the eastern half of settled space
. They represent a small kink in our plans, wouldn’t you say?”

“Admittedly, it is a complication. I’m working to resolve the matter as quickly as I can.”

Suspicion flared in her gut. “Resolve the matter? If it’s all the same to you, as your partner I’d like a few details. You’re now the most powerful person in the galaxy, so how do you plan to ‘resolve the matter’? Do you enjoy a direct line to the alien leadership to negotiate a truce?”

His eyes flickered. Something akin to fear passed across them. A blink and it was gone. “No, of course not. But—”

“Son of a bitch, you
knew.
How long have you been keeping your little secret from me? A week? A month? A year? Did you know they were coming when you presented your plan to me?”

“Olivia, you must realize—”

“The Alliance-Federation war was supposed to increase my power—and yours—in the galaxy. Instead the war has weakened our ability to defend against aliens currently wreaking havoc on over a dozen worlds, and something tells me they’re just getting warmed up. At this rate the galaxy will be left in ruins. Marcus, I stand to lose everything.”

His head shook as if to deny the veracity of her claims. “I can convince them to stop. It was the whole point of rising to this position. I can get them to understand we won’t be a threat to them. You simply need to give me a little more time.”

She only barely prevented her jaw from falling open in naked disbelief. “Are you telling me you really do have a direct line to their leadership?”

For a beat his usual confidence returned in the twist of his mouth and set of his chin. “In a manner of speaking.”

“Oh, you dirty, conniving little snake. Did you lie to me about everything or solely the part where the war would be to my benefit?”

“Olivia—”

“You required me to make the war happen, so you used me for your own ends.”

“We used one another. That’s how the world works. I thought you of all people understood this.”

“Nice try, but no. You used my resources, my people, my money and my influence for purposes contrary to those you presented.”

He brandished a visage so malevolent he’d never dare show it in public. “Would you have believed me had I told you aliens were talking to me?”

“You could have tried me.”

“I think I was correct to refrain from telling you or anyone else.”

Would she have believed him? She supposed it depended. “So what was the actual plan, then?”

He exhaled heavily, his shoulders dropping as the momentary arrogance abandoned him. “My contact warned me we needed to stop expanding to the northeast—toward the Metis Nebula, as it turns out. It threatened dire consequences if we continued.”

“‘Dire’ can mean a number of different things, Marcus.”

“Well this time it meant extinction, all right? Something none of us want. But Seneca controls the northeast region of space. Perhaps the aliens should have chosen someone in the Federation government to approach, but they didn’t. They chose me.”

Bitterness now dripped from his increasingly hoarse voice. “The war was intended to distract everyone—to focus our attention inward rather than outward and pause our expansion. Ultimately the Alliance wins the war and under a united government expansion efforts are redirected west and south.”

“United under your leadership.”

“I assumed that went without saying. Unfortunately, events moved too rapidly. The Senecans lobbed a probe into Metis and Ms. Solovy got nosy. The aliens began to move before we were ready. But there’s still time. I can still make this work. I can convince them to back off and give me an opportunity to win the war.”

Her weight settled on her back foot as she crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him, now legitimately baffled. “How delusional are you, aliens in your head notwithstanding? The war we launched is going to make things worse, not better. If these aliens intend to exterminate us, we probably ought to consider fighting them instead of one another.”

“The media doesn’t yet have the footage from the first colonies hit, but I’ve seen it, and I’m not at all sure we can fight them. Besides, it’s too late to go back. If we try to reverse course now it will only cause more chaos and confusion.”

He implored her in a weak attempt at persuasion; it definitely wasn’t his best work. “Please, let me handle the situation.”

She should have known, those many years ago in Rio. She should have known when the feral kid smiled at her with such chilling conceit that she could not, under any circumstances whatsoever, trust him.

“I don’t think so, Marcus. You lied to me. You manipulated me. You betrayed the core underpinnings of our arrangement. You’re blinded by your own ego and pride and you will get us all killed. Good luck, Mr. Prime Minister. I’m out.” She cut the link.

If she ever saw him in person again, she would kill him. She might kill him anyway. But first things first—she had to figure out what she was going to do to save her organization, her life’s work.

It occurred to her then it might take saving their entire damn civilization in order for her to do so.

34

EARTH

EASC
H
EADQUARTERS

M
IRIAM CONSIDERED THE MIDMORNING SUN
outside the window. She could almost see the autumn chill in the air.

Will Sutton, a Senecan spy? It seemed impossible, yet she had witnessed the undeniable proof laid bare in front of her own eyes, and in dramatic fashion.

She couldn’t fathom what Richard was going through. Following the odd, almost surreal conversation with the Senecan Intelligence Director, Richard had bolted with Will chasing after him, and she hadn’t as yet been able to talk to him about it all. The stark truth was this might represent the best chance they had to restore sanity to the galaxy, but she wished it hadn’t come at such a cost to her dearest friend.

“Admiral, there’s a Lt. Colonel Jenner here to see you.”

She welcomed the interruption from the troubling thoughts. “Good. Send him right in.”

Malcolm gave her a sharp salute on entry. “Admiral. It’s a pleasure to see you again.”

She returned the salute, then instead of sitting behind her desk, motioned him over to the small table she had managed to squeeze into the office and sat opposite him. “You have had a most exciting few weeks, Colonel. Yet you’ve managed to not only stay alive, but save others’ lives while comporting yourself with honor.”

“Thank you…I’m sorry, did you—”

“You’re getting a promotion. You should receive official notice in the next hour or two. You’ll also receive a special commendation eventually, but as you can expect the bureaucratic channels are a bit tied up at present.”

He sounded somewhat stunned. “I’m honored, ma’am, but I was merely doing my job.”

“Yes, and better than most.” She poured a glass of tea from the pot on the table. It was one of the few acts of respite she allowed herself in a time of war. “I understand you find yourself without a ship to command.”

“Yes, ma’am. Northwestern Command is losing ships even faster than soldiers.”

“Your impressive tactical decisions at both Orellan and Desna have not gone unnoticed. It’s your choice—and won’t impact the promotion or the commendation—but I need to ask you to risk your life once more.”

“We’re at war on two fronts, Admiral. We’re all risking our lives.”

Her chin dipped in acknowledgment. “Fair point. Admiral Rychen has a mind to retake Messium from these aliens or at least buy some time and opportunity for survivors to escape. I’d like you to assist him in this endeavor.”

Malcolm’s eyes widened briefly before he restored professional decorum. “I’d be gratified to help in any way you or he sees fit.”

“Good. He is assembling his forces above Scythia as we speak. I’m sending you a full report containing everything we know about the aliens as well as the resources Rychen has at his command so you can be fully up to speed when you arrive. He is an excellent leader and an honorable man, but he needs capable commanders who can think for themselves and instinctively grasp the nature of battle. I believe you will work well together.”

“I’m confident we will. He has a sterling reputation, and based on your endorsement I expect he’s earned it.” It was a ceremonial statement delivered in the finest military tradition; but having done so, his manner lost a measure of formality. “I can’t tell you how relieved I was to learn Alex has been absolved of involvement in the bombing. How is she?”

Her gaze drifted to the mediocre view out the window. “I’m afraid I don’t know.”

“Ma’am?”

She forced herself to refocus her attention on her guest. “She’s been unreachable since shortly after the accusations were made public. I don’t know where she is. Given the state of our relationship—of which I imagine you’re aware—this may not come as a shock. But to my knowledge no one knows where she is.”

His own gaze leapt away at the news, but even in profile she saw his face fall. “I’m sorry. I don’t…I’m sure she’s all right. She is…extraordinarily resourceful.”