Page 64 of Dark Gambit Reliance

"Who are 'us'? How come I couldn't find anything in human history about gods in the modern era?"

He didn't want to share with her what happened to the other gods until he got her to tell him the gods’ history. He might not be able to hide his ignorance, but he knew how to phrase things in a way that could be interpreted in different ways.

"Only a few of us remain, and we were born on Earth. We know next to nothing about our history, where the gods came from, and why. That's another reason we offer our help. You have information that's valuable to us, which makes you an asset."

"What I know is what I was told, and I realized a long time ago that most of it was fabricated for one reason or another. I don't trust any of it to be true unless I witnessed it myself."

That was cynical but smart.

"How old are you?" he asked.

She laughed. "Humans consider that a rude question to ask a lady. You're lucky that I'm not."

"A lady or a human?"

"Neither, and to answer your question, I'm very old, but I wasn't awake for most of that time."

"You traveled here in stasis?"

She nodded.

That confirmed his suspicion that the gods gave themselves the ability to go into stasis so they could traverse the universe, and evidently, they gave the same ability to the Kra-ell.

"We are running out of time," Mia reminded them. "We need to come up with a plan to liberate Jade and her people. You can talk about your history once she's free."

Toven nodded. "Mia is right. How long do we have before they notice that you've been gone longer than usual?"

"When I go hunting alone, I usually return in about two hours, sometimes three. I've been gone out longer a few times, but that was when I was leading a group of youngsters." She looked up at the sky. "It took me about an hour to get here, and I can make it back in half the time if I run, so we still have about an hour left."

"Will they know that you didn't get blood?" Mia asked. "Do you get paler or something?"

"Why, are you offering yours?"

Mia shuddered. "Of course not."

"I'm good," Jade said. "I don't need to get blood every day. Besides, I was supposed to meet Pavel here and engage in other activities, but since he didn't show up, I assume that he wasn't actually supposed to come?"

"As you probably guessed, we grabbed him from his guard duty, released him from Igor's compulsion, and put him under mine. He was instructed to follow through with the pretense and come out to meet you, so it would look legit to you. My companions intercepted him and kept him busy so we could talk in privacy."

45

JADE

Jade wasn't surprised that Tom and Mia had backup. She would have been surprised if they hadn't. She'd felt the others, but by the time their presence had registered, it had been too late to turn back.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "What do you mean, busy?"

"Nothing nefarious. He's being restrained, and once we are done, I'll compel him to support your version of the story, whatever you choose it to be. I knew that you were Igor's prime, and I didn't know if it was okay for you to get intimate with another male, so I didn't do it ahead of time. I can compel him to say that you met him, but nothing happened, or the exact opposite."

"As long as I'm not in my fertile cycle, Igor doesn't care who I have sex with. He keeps me as his prime because he wants me to produce a son for him, not because he cares for me." She smirked. "Traditionally, a female child is the most desirable because females are so rare, but Igor wants males to be in charge. Unlucky for him, the Mother has a wicked sense of humor, and she blessed me with a daughter. He has plenty of sons by other females, but he wants one from me because our child will be the most powerful."

"How old is your daughter?" Mia asked.

"She's sixteen."

Jade wanted a better future for her daughter. Drova was indoctrinated into Igor's philosophy, and it would be difficult to undo, but she was a smart female, so there was still hope.

"Let's get back to devising a plan," Tom said. "We need to come up with a way to free the compound, and if there is any time left after we find a doable solution, I would love to hear a little bit more about the gods' history, of which I'm ignorant."