Valerian by Jacquelyn Frank

Author:Jacquelyn Frank [Frank, Jacquelyn]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIN 08359-02700
Publisher: Changeling Press LLC
Published: 2018-03-01T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Four

Vicktor? “More lies,” Valerian whispered. “What reason would my brother have for killing me? I am his most loyal and valuable general.”

“Not so loyal. Not with her in your ear,” he said, nodding to Melena.

“But… no one could have possibly overheard those exchanges. We were alone!” Valerian barked.

“There is nothing spoken in this fortress that the emperor does not know about,” the dying man said.

“But the discussions weren’t enough to warrant sending an assassin to kill me,” Valerian said. “I held my position. Kept loyal.”

“I wasn’t sent to kill you,” the man said weakly. “I was sent to kill the one whispering in your ear.”

Melena jerked back, shock written across her features. “Me? But I’m no one to Vicktor! What has he to fear from me?”

“He fears you may change my loyalties. Tell me, have you spoken of our conversations to anyone else?” Valerian asked her.

“Well… only a couple of the women in the harem. I simply said that perhaps one day I could convince you to see things in the right light. That perhaps you could be reasoned with as you are a man of honor and of logic. That you could be made to see how wrong it was to cater to a monster like your brother.”

“Unwise,” Valerian scolded her. “You must watch what you say in this stronghold at all times. But the damage is done now. Vicktor sees you as a threat. If he cannot get to you this way, then he will get to you another. We will have to be very careful.”

Valerian nudged past Melena and jammed his blade into the unfortunate assassin’s throat, killing him.

“It was unwise to make an attempt on me while I was in your protection,” Melena said softly. She looked at him gasped. Grabbing a fur from the bed she pressed it to the bleeding wound. “You are injured!”

“It is nothing,” Valerian said dismissively.

“It is not nothing! You could have been killed!”

“As you heard, I was not the target.”

“What are we to do? If Vicktor wants me dead, you said yourself he will find a way.”

“I must reassure Vicktor that mere words of a harem woman cannot change me. That I will always remain loyal to him.”

“Will you? Will you always remain loyal to him, no matter what he does?”

Valerian looked down at the man he had killed and felt his stomach turn. If Vicktor wanted her dead, then there would be no way to protect Melena in this fortress. He had to remove her immediately. But first -- first he must deal with the woman or women who had betrayed him by reporting to Vicktor. His women were to be loyal only to him. No matter that Vicktor was their emperor; they were to remain steadfastly loyal and submissive to him. To think one of them had been swayed to betray him made him ill, and beyond furious.

“I will remain loyal to him as long as my father allows,” Valerian said. She looked confused at that, but he didn’t expect her to understand.

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