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Chapter 398 – Tell The Queen

RIKA

Rika nodded, glancing at Gar again. Something was bugging him. He stared at her as if he wanted her to understand something. A warning?

She swallowed and looked back to Tarkyn. "The people who funded our trip here… they want to capture all of you and study you. Use you."

"Use us for what?" Tarkyn hissed.

Rika took a deep breath. Gar had almost laughed this off the first time she\'d told him. But when he\'d visited her again later, he\'d questioned her urgently. Apparently he\'d learned something that backed up her warnings.

"Research," she said quietly, uncertain what terms they used for these kinds of things. "Medical research. And just… they think they can use you to heal themselves."

Gar grunted and his hand tightened on hers. It was the strangest feeling. As if every touch between them was… tempting. She didn\'t know another word for it. The closer he was, the more he touched her, the more drawn to him she felt. The more she wanted to throw her fears and insecurities to the wind and just leap on him.

Here, facing down these massive, fierce warriors, Rika\'s stomach quailed, but her heart thudded with thrill as much as fear.

She was terrified of his huge man that faced them, and the ones behind him, bristling with spears and bows. But every time Gar brushed his arm against hers, or squeezed her fingers, her chest went warm.

Even her body didn\'t know how to feel right now. It was exhausting.

Tarkyn stared at her for a long moment, his handsome face tight and pinched. Then he turned to face the ones standing behind him, all of them tall, muscular, and fierce looking—even the females.

"She will be taken to the Tree City, to the Queen. I am going ahead to warn Elreth that she\'s coming and make sure we\'re prepared for security." Then he snapped back to Gar. "Did they follow? Do they know how?"

"I doubt they were in a position to," Gar said with a shrug. "One of them, maybe. But… there\'s been no sound or sign of pursuit, even when the wind changed. I believe they\'re either dead or licking their wounds. They believe I stole her."

Tarkyn shook his head. "Stupid, rash—" He cut himself off, closing his eyes for a moment, before turning back to the people behind him. "Dhorsh, and Rhebl, you take a fist and scout their trail, report immediately if there is any sign of the humans following. We can\'t risk them identifying the Tree City—"

"They already know where the village—I mean, City, is," Rika offered as the two males slipped off into the trees.

All of the rest of them stared at her then. She wanted to shrink under their collective gazes, but she knew enough of them to know if she did, they\'d never respect her. Forcing herself to keep her shoulders back, she set her jaw and lifted her chin.

A tiny noise broke in Gar\'s throat, but she wasn\'t sure why. He didn\'t pull her away from the Captain as he rounded on her.

"What do they know? It\'s location? What else?"

"We haven\'t been within it, but we\'ve recorded its size and population. They have a map."

"How could you possibly make a map without having been inside its borders?" Tarkyn snapped.

"We have drones—um, mechanical birds that can take pictures. So we can record it and…" she could see the confusion in the man\'s eyes. He looked at Gar, whose face was grim.

"Anything you can see, they have machines that can replicate it perfect. As if they were standing there to see it themselves. The machines make these pictures, then fly them back to the humans to study."

Tarkyn\'s eyes widened. "That is… impossible."

Rika shook her head, producing the scanner and holding it up. "We have machines that can see and hear better than you. They take a lot of different kinds of pictures. This one will tell us where there\'s the heat of a body, even a mile away, before we can see or hear them. I stole it so they couldn\'t use it against you. Us," she correctly. "So they couldn\'t use it against us."

Gar\'s head snapped around. She could feel his eyes on the side of her face, but she\'d used all her courage in making the statement. She wasn\'t ready to meet his eyes and… admit it.

Tarkyn looked truly shaken for the first time, looking between her and Gar, his jaw slightly slack. "You\'re saying they know how the Tree City is laid out, how many of us live within it, and the different areas of resources? Are they aware of the Royal cave?"

Rika blinked. "I… no, I don\'t know where that is," she said, uncertainly. "But yes, they do know things like where you meet to eat, where the market is. And how many Anima live within a certain radius. "It\'s all just information at this point. Information we\'ve been gathering to give to the people who will…. Make use of it. I think that\'s why the others showed up. They realized I wasn\'t sharing as much information as I used to. They got a hint that maybe I wasn\'t… as loyal as I had been."

Tarkyn shook his head. "You are not loyal to us, and you will not be treated as one of us until you have proven yourself, no matter who your mate is," he growled.

Rika put her hands up. "That\'s fair. I get it. But I\'m telling you the truth."

Tarkyn nodded. "The question is whether that truth is to help, or a trap."

Rika sighed. She\'d known this part would be difficult, but it was still hard—frightening—to realize that this entire race of people could beat her into the ground as soon as look at her.

For a moment her head screamed again—what was she thinking, being here? Running with this man who\'d just probably killed her colleagues, or at least damaged them?

Inwardly, she tensed, but Gar reached for her hand again, squeezing her, and again, that warmth began where they touched and spread through the rest of her.

She wanted to bury her face in her hands and groan with the confusion of it. But instead she just took another breath and shook her head. "I\'m not setting a trap for you," she said firmly to Tarkyn. "I want to be with… with the Anima… to help."

"I guess we\'ll see," Tarkyn said ominously.

Gar growled.