Page 55 of Dark Gambit Reliance

"I know, and I appreciate it. I'm just afraid of the unintended consequences, and I don't even know whether they will be worse because of your clan's action or inaction."

39

JADE

When Pavel strode into Jade's classroom, she lifted an eyebrow. "Do you miss listening to my stories?"

He was young, only thirty-two, and when she'd started teaching twenty years ago, he'd been twelve, and she hadn't been his teacher. She preferred teaching the little ones who hadn't been corrupted by Igor's deviant spin on what it meant to be a Kra-ell, but Pavel had enjoyed hearing her stories and had wandered into her classroom from time to time.

He sat on the mat next to Moshun. "I want to hear the story about you hunting for Veskars."

Jade's heart stuttered. "Why would I be hunting for Veskars? They are not very tasty."

"What are Veskars?" Moshun asked.

"They are magical little rats," Pavel said. "If you catch one, it will grant you a wish."

Moshun's eyes brightened. "Any wish? If I catch one, will he give me a toy?"

Pavel smiled suggestively at Jade. "The Veskar only grants wishes to adults, and they are very difficult to catch, but there is a good chance of catching one at the junction of the three rivers this Friday at two in the afternoon."

Cold sweat slithered down Jade's back.

Pavel sounded as if he was flirting with her, going as far as scheduling a time and place for their assignation, but everyone in the compound knew that she didn't accept invitations from anyone other than Igor, and she only accepted his because she had no choice.

Besides, Pavel shouldn't even know what a Veskar was. The first time she'd included the rat in one of her stories was in the fable she'd sent to Safe Haven.

There could be only two reasons for Pavel to use the rat in his flirting. One was that Igor had figured out what she'd done and had sent him to taunt her or even trap her, and the other one was that the male called Veskar had sent Pavel to deliver the message and schedule a meeting with her in the hunting grounds.

Pavel was a guard, so he could have been approached outside of the compound, and whoever had approached him somehow managed to overcome Igor's compulsion. Could Veskar's power increase so much in two decades?

Impossible.

The only other compellers who were possibly more powerful than Igor were the royal twins, and they were most likely dead. Even if they'd somehow survived, they wouldn't be sending her a message with a guard. She was a nobody to them. They would just walk in and take over the compound.

Jade had spent many nights praying to the Mother for that to happen, even before she'd been captured by Igor and the males of her family had been slaughtered. Since then, she'd prayed twice as fervently, but the Mother hadn't answered her prayers.

The royals were dead.

"Are you offering to help me hunt for the magical Veskar?" Jade asked to maintain the pretense of sexual banter.

"I certainly am." Pavel pushed to his feet. "I'll be thinking of you, fair Jade." He blew her an air kiss, which was shockingly un-Kra-ell of him. "I'll meet you at the junction."

Pureblooded Kra-ell didn't blow kisses at each other, and they didn't whisper sweet endearments in each other's ears like humans. They fought for dominance, and if the male managed to subdue the female, he got to plant his seed in her womb.

It wasn't her fertile cycle, so Igor wouldn't mind that she accepted Pavel's invitation, but she had no intention of indulging the young male if it turned out that his intent had indeed been purely sexual and the mention of a Veskar coincidental.

For the males, sex was as much for pleasure as it was for procreation, and it used to be for her as well, but Jade hadn't done anything for her own enjoyment since she'd failed to protect her tribe, and she wasn't about to break that tradition with Pavel.

If the message was from the real Veskar, it had been very cleverly constructed not to trigger Igor's compulsion to report it. Still, it was possible that she was attaching meaning to what was a simple invitation to sex.

Friday, she would go hunting alone, and she would be at the junction of the three rivers at two in the afternoon. If Pavel showed up expecting sex, she would just turn him down.

Thankfully, Igor wasn't at the compound, and if she was lucky, he wouldn't be back by then.

He watched her like a hawk, and if he noticed any change in her behavior, he would try to compel her to tell him the reason behind it. Jade was already stretching her mental powers to hide her call for help, and she doubted that she could resist his compulsion when he commanded her to tell him what was making her edgier than usual.

What if it was a trap, though?