Her gaze lit on familiar features, and she gasped. “Laban?”
“Hello, little love.” He occupied a corner of the spacious room, peering at her with a soft expression of total adoration. A black robe draped him.
Realization struck with the force of a spiked baseball bat, and Blythe half laughed, half groaned. Her first hallucination.
“What took you so long?” She marched over, reaching for him out of habit. Her gore-covered fingers ghosted through his beautiful image, and she swallowed a sob. “I expected to lose my mind long before this.”
“You aren’t losing your mind. I’m real. I promise you.” He, too, reached out, only to drop his arm to his side before contact. “Listen to me, sweetness. All right? Stop allowing your hatred to be your coffin. Live your life. Find happiness.”
Uh... “What do you think I’m trying to do?” As long as Roux breathed, happiness would forever dance from her clasp.
“Please, Blythe. You aren’t listening.” Disappointment radiated from him—and it was directed squarely at her, making her squirm. “I need you to let go of...”
The words tapered off, his image fading.
“Laban!” She attempted to clamp onto him, somehow, in some realm, but he was already gone.
Tears stung her eyes. “Bring him back right this instant,” she commanded her brain, slamming her fists into her temples. But Laban never reappeared. Her rage flared anew.
Forget the shower. Forget planning her next move. Sheknewwhat to do. Until she acquired the means to slay him, she must make Roux utterly miserable.
For days, Blythe secretly studied, researched, and followed her enemy, the Astraian torture master. She learned his habits. Searched out every rumor that mentioned his name. Collected details about him as if every tidbit were priceless in value.
Roux never knew. Yes, Astra were far more advanced than any other species she’d faced, but they weren’t all-powerful.
What she’d discovered so far: He was the son of the war god, Mars. If a job called for the swift extermination of an entire planet, the Commander summoned Roux. Like any Astra, he could change the very air around him with only a thought, filling the atmosphere with poison, sleeping gas, or many other substances. But he did it with a speed the others couldn’t replicate. A second preternatural ability allowed him to absorb souls into his mind. Something no one understood.
No one understood the reason hisalevalawrithed when he fought but stilled when he stopped, either. For the other Astra, the exact opposite occurred.
Though Blythe had tried to activate one, concentrating on an image with all of her might, she’d never relived a piece of Roux’s past.
But no matter. That was a mystery for another day. This morning, she planned to initiate contact again.
Blythe teleported to the chandelier in the hall outside his bedroom. A favorite spot to observe his comings and goings. As cold as ice, she waited. Several minutes passed. Roux didn’t appear. Nor did Laban. In fact, no other hallucinations of her consort had come.
Surely the Astra’s fault.
Feeling petty, she unscrewed a bulb from the light fixture and tossed it at Roux’s door. Glass shattered, jagged shards exploding in every direction.
In a blink, the Astra opened the block and scanned the area. Left, right. He frowned.
“On your way to the gym, Astra?” she asked with a smooth tone. He wore a pair of workout shorts that hung low on his lean waist. No shirt or shoes. “Gotta keep those muscles bulging, huh?”
He glanced up. Though zero emotion emanated from him, he seemed to sigh. “I understand your fury with me.” His patient tone pricked her nerves. “I took someone you valued and—”
“You took someone I cherished,” she corrected. “Laban was a father and a consort. You, like all Astra, are nothing but death walking.”
Roux tossed up his arms, as if exasperated. Still his features remained impassive. “How was I to know the manticore was special and not to be decapitated? He wasn’t wearing a sign.”
A new bomb of hatred exploded inside Blythe. She materialized in front of him, met his gaze—and extracted another kidney.
“Three.” Giving him a saccharine grin, she dropped the organ at his feet. “Gotta admit, I’m really looking forward to taking number four.”
With a huff, he slammed the door in her face.
“The conversation is on pause then?” she called.
Early the next morning, Roux flashed to the trinite wall he and the other Astra had transferred to Harpina on the day of their invasion. The empty upper room located within his section, to be exact.