DUMUZI

Shadrach was aware of my thoughts before I entered his room, so it was unsurprising that he ignored my entrance. It irritated him he was not on Lare, the planet where his experiments were conducted, but on Nibiru. His mind was fractured, split into an amalgamation of scathing thoughts and bitter resentments.

I never understood how my brother could view the world so darkly.

"You already know my answer, brother," he ground out.

"You cannot fault me for trying."

He sat his book on the table in front of him and met my gaze. The prospect of returning to his old room miffed him. Numerous texts lined the walls; Shadrach had always been an avid reader, even of non-science or astronomy-related subjects.

He was reading an ancient story about a land battle—Krohean—that was not from our world, but from a species we created, the Qhuktex. They had perished centuries ago; they were warlike creatures.

What was the reason for him to dedicate time reading such materials?

"We cannot allow Degnath to be the head of the council. Since I am leaving, you need to take my place," I began.

"No."

"How can you tell me no? After everything you have done—taking Pearl and François to Earth when it was due to be destroyed. One could argue that you owe me this."

His fist collided with the table, jarring items. He was more irritable than usual; it was his illness. It turned out that the Sohme pair was indeed not rare.

Not when humans were around.

The bond required us a mate to survive; our hormones contaminated our blood, causing us to be on edge and callous until the issue was remedied and we gave in. Shadrach would never. His essence was likely pulling him back to earth, to find his missing half.

He had many years before he got to the point that I did, but it still disturbed me to see him under the effects. A current of empathy pushed through our brotherly bond, but this only made him angrier.

"I owe you nothing! You are only leaving the seat because you are emotionally incapable of dealing with your mate, and I find it weak to abandon your responsibilities."

"As weak as enabling her to sway you into leaving Lare?"

He did not respond.

I sat across from him at his table, my gaze drawn to a piece of equipment used for power conversions. I took the item, carefully rotating the flat, triangular slab of metal. "You took this from our vessel. Why?"

"For François. She may find it advantageous for her work. Will you leave? I care not about your personal issues with Pearl, or of the seat."

Something occurred to me. He didn't know Pearl was with child. How could he have missed the announcement? Perhaps because he was still enraged with me for threatening to remove him from his council seat. It is also possible that his illness was worse than initially thought; he wasn't paying much attention.

"You haven't heard?"

He cocked his head to the side. "About what? Are you blind to me wishing to be undisturbed right now?"

He rose to his feet, gesticulating with his hands for me to locate the exit. Peculiar, because although he was my brother, I was above him in rank. He never had the audacity to demand anything of me. "Watch your tone with me, Shadrach. You will listen to what I have to say before you give a true answer. You may want to say no, but you owe it to me to listen."

"I gave you my answer. There is nothing you can—"

"If I were to inform you I was going to be a father, what would be your response? What if I told you I was wrong back on Earth?"

That brought him to a halt as he approached the door to the balcony overlooking the gardens. Pearl enjoyed the view of the gardens from her own balcony. She refused to go outside to see them herself. For some reason, she was afraid of the Enuki men that populated this planet—and my mother, who resided in the eastern wing of this grand palace.

Pearl never left her room. Another battle I had yet to conquer. She could not lock herself away. This palace was hers as it was mine.

He turned slowly. "You toy with me."

"No. Think of our father, Shadrach. Do you understand my reasoning for wanting to leave?"

Enukis were susceptible to the whims of children and their well-being. All save my father, which Shadrach knew all too well. Our father cared for his sons, but we rarely saw him. He was far too preoccupied with preparing himself to assume leadership of our planet; far too preoccupied with navigating the stars.

My intention was to not be this way.

"Yes," he said, tilting his head. "Damn you. Let me think about this, then."

"Very well."

I stood up and examined the books on his shelf, noting the accumulation of dust. He exited the room and made his way to the balcony.

I let him be.

It has been a century since Shadrach last visited this place. The opulent atmosphere with no technological advancements rendered it impossible to sustain his attention. I used to feel the same.

Now, I pictured my child running over the gilded hallways, the sound of tiny, running feet echoing off the chandeliers and pillars of our native marble. Bringing life to a place that a few centuries ago was swallowed by smoke and death.

It relieved me to be home.

I grabbed a book and flipped through the silver pages. Even though each word had been absorbed into Osa and I could memorize its entirety in a matter of seconds, I could understand the desire to read. Allowing oneself, for a moment, to focus on one thing only.

I will take your place. But I have a condition, he told me through our bond. He was contemplating the night sky. I had no understanding as to why he refused to verbalize this, but perhaps he sincerely desired solitude.

I slid the text back into its place. What is your condition?

We are in need of more council members. If you are to leave and I take place as head of the council when Qhin dies, that leaves us one short. Does it not?

You want to give an Enuki a seat on the council. Who?

He had caught me by surprise; not an easy feat for my kind. My mind was quick to go through the Enukis here on Nibiru, and every one of them was nowhere near knowledgeable or competent.

I infiltrated his thoughts.

He was going over my recent decision to the council: declaring Earth under the protection and sanction of the Enuki, as agreed upon by the Elders. He was particularly interested in this.

François, he answered.

When I said nothing and moments turned to minutes, he came inside, snowing on me with an icy glare.

"I am perplexed," he said. "I expected you to reprimand me for even suggesting such a thing. It is not unknown to me that the very idea would cause outrage amongst our kind. Yet she is knowledgeable and astute. You have placed Earth under our protection; for Pearl and for your child. Should François not have a seat as a representative of her planet?"

Having a human as a member of our council would be prudent, given that Earth was once again under our protection—for the first time in hundreds of thousands of years. One of Earth's ancient kings was a member, albeit of a lower circle, when our council was vast, comprising thousands of members rather than twelve since the war.

Yet I had my doubts.

"Do you believe François could withstand such scrutiny? You are aware that this arrangement would never be acceptable to them."

He nodded, fixing his gaze on the floor. "I do. She owned an astoundingly successful business on Earth and can talk circles around the best of men. She has a strong will, brother. The day that she allows an Enuki to tread on her is the day they lose their heads."

I found myself amused by this image. Truly, even if I were to leave the council, I would return just to witness such an event. The likes of Degnath and Emmoth could benefit from some humility.

"There has never been a woman as a council member," I pointed out. "Enuki, human, or other, in the millions of years of which we have been in power in the galaxies. It was considered too dangerous for them. I am not opposed to the idea, and it is time for a change. I can write a letter of recommendation before I depart. Once you are the head, you will have both of our words to refute what anyone has to say about it."

"Then it is settled." He folded his arms, standing in front of the door. "She will make well for an addition."

"Yes. I believe—"

We received information from a few of our brethren via Osa in a fraction of a second. It was shouted; sharp with urgency. Shadrach and I exited the room, the light of three moons spilling through the windows.

My gaze scanned outside, catching a glimpse of one of our vessels in the distance. An Enuki of lower rank, responsible for piloting the craft, disregarded caution and made preparations for an alarmingly swift descent.

His thoughts intertwined with ours; he was frightened. No. Terrified. I obtained information from five additional Enukis aboard the craft; one of them had suffered a serious injury. I moved faster.

With a single wave of my hand, the bright blue boundary that had enclosed the landing platform disappeared. The gold and rust-colored vessel made a resounding boom as it landed, cracking the rock beneath it. Acrid smoke wafted through the hallways behind me.

Enukis struggled to find their way out of the tilted ship. Degnath joined Shadrach, me, and Ogrik.

"My lords! Come quick! I fear Chilits is close to death!"

The injured Enuki, Chilits, was towed toward us, one man on each side of him, holding him upright. I inclined my head to Ogrik, who immediately began examining his injuries.

His chest and arms bore deep slashes, causing blood to seep through his clothing. Cuts that bled black; cuts that were dark in their injury, sporting inky, veining webs. A fatal wound inflicted by a corrupted, darker version of Osa that was nearly impossible to heal.

My breath stole and I nearly saw red with fury.

I knew of only one Enuki who could have committed this act.

"What happened?" Degnath boomed as Ogrik helped them drag a limp Chilits away. Degnath grabbed the captain of the ship by the front of his vest. Instead of answering Degnath, the captain turned to me, preparing to speak, but he was cut off.

"To my quarters, and quickly!" Ogrik ordered. "Do not touch those wounds unless you want them to spread to yourself."

I studied the bewildered face of the captain, recalling his name. Uto. I did not need his name to address him, but to write his memorial in case my suspicions of how this happened were correct.

"Ona escaped," Uto said.

That was all that was required to stoke the embers of my rage into flames. A mixture of anger and an unprecedented sense of foreboding filled me. Now, I had a mate and an offspring. My rage swelled into a sun, brilliant and murderous.

Shadrach remained motionless, anticipating my response, and felt bothered that it wasn't him doing what I was about to do.

With one arm, I activated Osa and raised Uto in the air, bright, snaking fingers suspending him. I looked into his dark grey eyes, wishing, for a brief moment, to turn him into dust, and doing so would be easy. How foolish was this Enuki to endanger the entire world?

"Incompetent fools," I spat. "How could you have allowed him to flee? You oversaw the men watching him. You had the power to prevent this, so how did it happen? It should be impossible. Are you aware of what you've done? Do you realize the havoc you've wreaked on the universe? Millions will perish as a result of your mistake."

The Enuki struggled to breathe as I constricted his air passages with white tendrils of energy. I did not require a response from him. I sorted through his memories, taking in all that had occurred in a couple of seconds.

I freed him. He landed heavily on the ground.

"He was not alone," I said. "Ona cut off their communications, preventing them from warning us."

Degnath seized the Enuki by the neck and dragged him away to one of our cells. I was quick on my feet to leave the mess behind me. Shadrach followed.

"The Yel'ed," Shadrach growled, for he must have seen what I saw. "Following his release, they made their way to the Tunkral sector. This means we cannot give chase."

My jaw ticked. "We should never have signed the pact prohibiting us from entering Yel'ed territory. They have been collaborating. How could we have not known?"

We made a right after we passed the doorway, moving toward the conference hall. The corridors were densely packed with stunned Enuki servants as they observed the trail of blood leading down the hallway. Shadrach commanded them to resume their duties as he fought to keep pace with me.

"Our supervision and power lacks since the fall of our people," he responded. "But even so, this should not have happened!"

"Yet it has. The remainder of the council is en route. Shadrach, see to it that this place goes into lockdown. We must speak with the Eddu in a request for further surveillance and reinforcements. I want this place secure. Nobody leaves, do you understand?"

"Yes."

Within moments, our alert and defense systems sounded alarms. All Enukis would undoubtedly hear them in this palace and in the surrounding small community. They would recall the last time they sounded.

The day our empire fell.

"This means you cannot leave the council now."

I came to a halt, turning to face him. He was correct, and it bothered me considerably. I could not leave. It was my responsibility to ensure the safety of my people; nobody knew Ona as I did. I had a firm understanding of how he planned and operated. An advantage.

"Pearl must be frightened of the sirens. I don't know much, but I do know that stress will not be good for her in her state. Take her somewhere safer. You are not blind to the fact that Ona despises you entirely, and if he were to find out that you had a mate—and a child—"

My vocalization cut him short at the mere thought of what he was suggesting. It wasn't a far-off suggestion. If anything could break me, it was the idea of losing her. My thoughts grew so dense with rage that I was unable to speak.

"I am aware of what you intend to do, and I am aware of what needs to be done," Shadrach said. "Go to her. I will handle the rest. I will fetch you in a few hours when we have word from the Eddu."

I offered no response. I left quickly, desperate to carve at the space between me and my hearts.