“Has he said or done anything that makes you question his loyalty to his new ruler?” Not George Clooney said.
It should have been an easy question to answer. It was right there, on the tip of my tongue.
But I couldn’t say it, couldn’t admit the truth. I hated myself for that. It wouldn’t just be me that got punished. It would be my friends too.
“I want proof my friends are safe,” I said. When you couldn’t defend yourself, you had to go on the attack.
“What?” Not George Clooney rasped.
“My friends,” I said. “I want to know they’re safe in their pods before I tell you anything I might have learned.”
Not George Clooney was taken aback. He growled.
“You will tell us what you’ve learned or you will suffer the consequences!” he said, and his hands turned into razor-sharp claws that belonged to an alien creature I had never seen before.
A spike of confidence swelled in my chest and I folded my arms.
“You won’t hurt me,” I said. “If you do, my cover will be blown and I’ll never get closer to the lord.”
Spittle coalesced at the corner of the creature’s mouth.
“You’re making a big mistake, female,” he growled. “The Changelings will not suffer being made to look foolish.”
“Foolish to who? No one knows about me or why I’m here.”
“Which is why it would be so easy to erase you from this place as if you had never existed,” Not George Clooney said, sneering. “You are on very uncertain ground. I have it on good authority you’re already close with the Titan lord. If you don’t speak up, perhaps it’s because you’re in league with him and his treachery.”
I blinked, not so much at the threat, but the revelation there was another spy in the castle.
But who?
A guard?
No. Someone close. They had to have known we kissed or maybe even that we had sex.
“We control the Titan empire now and no one can stop us,” Not George Clooney said. “And do you know what happens to those who rebel against us?”
I panicked.
“I’m not rebelling against you,” I said.
The Changeling chuckled and it sent shivers down my spine.
“Of course you’re not,” he said. “But the Titan lord would be. And there is only one form of punishment for such betrayal. He would be tossed into the belly of a sand serpent.”
The name held no meaning for me but it was clear from his tone it wasn’t anything good.
“It is a creature deep beneath the dunes of a distant world,” he said. “We feed it the worst of our prisoners. The betrayers. The liars. The thieves. The murderers. Perhaps even one day the Titan lord. Imagine a thousand years being slowly consumed piece by piece. A thousand years of agony before, finally, he’s given mercy and allowed to die.”
My fists grew tight at my sides.
“He’s nothing to me,” I said. “It doesn’t matter to me if you punish him.”
Not George Clooney looked uncertain. He wasn’t used to Titan emotions, never mind human ones. He couldn’t tell if I was being genuine or not.
“She’s lying.”
The voice came from a corner steeped in shadow. It was deep and commanding and I recognized it from somewhere…
The speaker stepped into the light, forcing a gasp from my throat.
“Zes?” I said.
“The one and only,” he said.
He looked different. He didn’t stoop over and he wasn’t wobbly or uncertain on his feet. His back was ramrod straight and he was even taller and broader across the chest than Kal. He was older but it had given his body an ease of movement and confidence in his abilities few possessed.
He did not look like the same Titan.
“She cares very much for Kal,” Zes said. “She has fallen for him just as he has fallen for her.”
I was too shocked to respond. This couldn’t be happening.
“She went into his bed-chamber,” he said. “They made love. Multiple times.”
I clenched my teeth and looked away. It made my skin crawl to think he had listened in on us.
My reaction was all the proof Not George Clooney needed.
“So, you have gotten closer to him,” he said with a grin.
“I tried but failed,” I said. “He told me nothing of where his loyalties lie.”
“It doesn’t matter what he says,” Zes said. “It matters only what he does. He will make a decision and it will condemn him.”
“I won’t help you betray him,” I said. “I refuse.”
“Then you and your friends will never return home,” Not George Clooney said.
“Whether she would do it or not for her friends is irrelevant,” Zes said. “She has feelings for Kal. She can ensure he doesn’t receive a fate worse than death at the hands of the sand serpent. That is why she will continue with her mission.”
Not George Clooney might not understand human emotions but Zes certainly did.
He must have seen from the look on my face that his words had struck home. He must have known I couldn’t betray Kal. Not after we’d already developed our powerful connection.
Surely it was a rouse? An act? He was a double agent sent in deep undercover? Zes wouldn’t betray the family he had been working to protect his entire life, would he?
But that would mean he knew about me all along. And that meant Kal did too. And if he did… why would he string me along and play with me like a kitten with a ball of yarn?
He wouldn’t do that. His emotions and feelings for me were real. You couldn’t fake that.
I didn’t believe it.
I couldn’t believe it.
And that could only mean one thing.
Zes really was working for the Changelings.
“Why are you doing this?” I said.
“When a Taw lord betrays the people, he betrays us all,” Zes said. “He doesn’t deserve to be the Lord of Taw.”
“He’s more honorable than you’ll ever be!” I spat. “Why don’t you
