The Chronicles of Nardyl: Embraced by Darkness by Kaitlyn O'Connor

Author:Kaitlyn O'Connor [O'Connor, Kaitlyn]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: New Concepts Publishing
Published: 2018-01-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Cheyenne supposed it was inevitable that she would fall under Damien’s spell and begin to wish the world—or worlds—away.

But it made an already difficult situation more complex.

The more she cared about Damien, the more she worried about the consequences of his ‘conquest’. She hadn’t gotten the chance to study his world and the workings of it, but it seemed to be more under martial law, still, than civilian and, if that was the case, there was no telling what they might do with Damien when they caught him.

She was a realist, not an optimist. She knew they would catch him, eventually, no matter what, and it seemed to her the very residence he’d decided to claim would be his downfall, meant sooner rather than later.

It put her mission at jeopardy, as well.

She’d given her oath that she would protect her country from all enemies, foreign and domestic.

Willfully ignoring the political nature of her assignment wasn’t upholding her oath, although she found herself struggling to make excuses, struggling to think of a rational, acceptable excuse for ignoring the broader ramifications of not completing her mission.

She couldn’t.

Everything led to failure if she didn’t finish the mission.

Sure she was just the messenger, basically, but she was the designated messenger. If she didn’t deliver then there would be suspicions and if her commanders suspected she’d met with foul play they sure as hell wouldn’t agree to sending their political leaders into the fray. Any chance of a peace agreement would by nullified and, since they’d started the negotiations the Saitren might well take that badly.

At the very least, they’d shown the Saitren that they knew about the wormhole and how to use it. The bridge between the two worlds could become a strategic disaster area—the back door nobody wanted left open for unwelcome visitors.

Her squad disagreed with pretty much everything she had to say on the subject and mutinied.

Cheyenne was careful not to verbalize that charge, but she knew and they knew that that was exactly what it was. She did point out that if they were AWOL and the two governments came to terms, they could face charges for desertion, but they merely shrugged and pointed out that they could claim to be captives in the unlikely event that charges were lodged. When she rebutted that that would just put the blame squarely on the guys, who would be punished in their place, the guys shrugged it off. They had their King’s approval before they took the women. If there was a dispute, he would settle it.

She decided to let it go.

She didn’t call them on it was because, one—it was her against the entire squad and, two—she was pretty sure they were all under the influence of mating Saitren males and couldn’t be counted upon to have their wits about them.

In any case, she wasn’t their keeper. She had no one to back her up to enforce her orders. All she could do was file a report on it when she got back to base and then the brass would decide what to do about it.

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