The Alliance - 4. Assassination of the Heart

They met Itumak in front of Mateio’s room, the neko seated in the doorway.

“Hey, Captain Darren told me about lunch. Are you okay?”

“Later,” Aaron muttered. “I need to see to the reform proposal. Someone will bring you dinner.”

The neko frowned as the elf walked away.

“Give me a moment please,” he said to Mateio, before hurrying after Aaron.

The elf felt Itumak grab his hand, pulling him into an alcove.

“Okay, spill. What happened?”

“Itumak, I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Too bad. What happened?”

“He wants things I can’t offer. And I told him that. Now leave me alone,” Aaron snapped.

The elf pushed past the neko, storming down the hall. His wolf was restless and it fueled his inner turmoil.

Darren approached the werewolf, walking beside him until Aaron acknowledged him.

“Report.”

“Your Majesty, the meat was laced with wolf’s bane. The target wasn’t your friend, it was you.”

Aaron stopped, turning towards the human.

“You’re certain?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’m holding the kitchen staff for questioning. No one is talking so far.”

“Fuck. That’s just what I needed to hear. Will dinner be prepared on time this evening?”

“I do not believe so, Your Majesty.”

Aaron growled in frustration, his nails digging into the palms of his hands. This day was getting better and better.

“I’ll call the neko petitioners and let them know they should come tomorrow.”

“It has already been taken care of.”

“Thank you. Let me know as soon as you have a lead on the poisoner.”

Aaron continued walking, hurrying to reach his appointment with the reformers.

Mateio’s eyes opened as the window to his room opened with a quiet creak.

A figure crawled through, a knife gleaming in their hand as the moonlight caught it. Dark clothes covered their body, making them appear as just a shadow against the night sky.

The fox remained curled up, tensing slightly. After the attempted poisoning that morning, he knew exactly what the figure was here for. It didn’t take a genius to realise that the knife was meant for him.

He blurred into his fox form, making himself a smaller target as the figure stalked towards his bed.

The knife rose in the air, descending rapidly into the mattress inches from his face.

Mateio lunged, his teeth sinking into the assassin’s hands. The figure screamed and the bedroom door flew open, Itumak running into the room. A wolf followed him, Aaron’s form a lethal weapon as he flew into the assassin.

“Aaron! Let them go!” Itumak yelled.

The wolf snarled, tearing a chunk out of the assassin’s gut. Itumak grabbed the bleeding person, yanking them out of the reach of Aaron’s jaws.

Aaron leapt at the assassin again, his body shifting in a loud crunching of bones. His hand slammed into the woman’s throat, pinning her against the wall.

“Who sent you?!” he snarled.

The assassin whimpered, holding her hands over her gut. Mateio flowed into his bipedal form, his hand touching Aaron’s shoulder.

“She’s going to die unless we heal her,” he said quietly.

“WHO SENT YOU?!”

“Aaron, we need to get her stitched up or she won’t be telling us anything!” Itumak snapped.

The elf finally released the woman, who collapsed to the floor, coughing.

“We need to get her to my ship,” Mateio said. “I can heal her, but we need to get her there now.”

Itumak patted the assassin down, removing extra knives all over her body and a false tooth from her mouth. Hoisting her in his arms roughly, he nodded to Mateio. The Faro melted into his quadruped form, running out of the room.

Aaron’s bones crunched as he resumed his wolf form and he took off after the fox, not letting Mateio out of his sight. Itumak brought up the rear, keeping pace with the others. He wasn’t concerned about the assassin’s comfort. Let her hurt. He just wanted to know who was targeting Mateio and Aaron.

They raced through the midnight air, Aaron on Mateio’s tail. He was livid. Someone had tried to murder the Faro. It was an unforgivable offence, and when he found the person responsible for the plan, he would see to it they never saw the light of day again.

Reaching the clearing quickly, Mateio leapt against his ship, bringing it into view. He sped around the side of the vessel, unlocking it and lowering the ramp.

He switched forms, calling, “Bring her inside. We need to remove her clothes and put her in the med pod. By tomorrow she should be healed enough to give us what she knows.”

Aaron followed the Faro into the medical room of the ship, a pod sitting open in the middle. Itumak pushed past Aaron, dropping the assassin in the pod. He ripped away her clothes, Mateio closing the lid over her.

The Faro typed some information on a keyboard, calling, “Reinard, what is the proper internal temperature of a human?”

A man’s voice replied, “Thirty-six to thirty-seven degrees.”

Mateio finished typing and the pod hissed quietly. He stepped away from the keyboard with a sigh.

Aaron was next to him instantly, finally able to check on the fox. He sniffed the Faro, finding no injuries on him. Relieved, the werewolf shifted again.

“That always sounds painful,” Mateio cringed.

“I’m used to it,” Aaron shrugged. “Are you okay? There’s blood all over your face.”

Mateio wiped his arm across his face, wincing.

“It’s all hers,” he said. “Maybe I should leave. I’m putting you in danger.”

“Fuck that. I don’t want you to go.”

Aaron paused, digesting what he just said. He frowned, shaking his head as Itumak stared at him.

Mateio slowly nodded.

“She’ll be done in a day or two. I can keep her in here until you’re ready to deal with her,” he said. “I think it would be best if I remain here for the night.”

“I’ll stay with you,” Aaron said.

Mateio shook his head again.

“Forgive me Lord Aaron, but staying with me would just complicate things between us more. Neither of us needs the emotional pain.”

Aaron growled quietly.

“Aaron, let it go,” Itumak said. “We all know you can’t be with Mateio. Not unless you were willing to abdicate and let Adara take over. And Adara is not ready to rule on her own.”

The neko turned away from the two.

“Captain Darren will be here soon. I’ll let him know what happened,” he said, walking out of the room.

“What have you done to me?” Aaron sighed.

Mateio didn’t answer, leaning against a wall.

“I’m sorry Mateio. I want to be with you. I really do.”

“But you have responsibilities,” the Faro said tightly. “I don’t want to take you away from your people. They need you, more than I do.”

Aaron chuckled harshly.

“This sounds like a reversal of earlier. We both want to be together, right?”

Mateio nodded. Aaron sat on the ground, gazing up at him with troubled eyes.

“I don’t know what to do. I mean, I know what I should do, but it’s so hard.”

“What do you think your advisors will say about me?” Mateio asked.

“I think one of them is trying to kill you,” Aaron said.

“Lord Sarin?”

Aaron nodded.

“They won’t touch you while I draw breath. I am still the king. They can advise me, but I still have the final say. The real question is would it be in our best interest to join the galactic politics.”

The elf looked closely at the fox.

“You’re sure you are okay?”

“Physically I’m okay. Emotionally, I will be.”

Mateio pushed away from the wall.

“Well, if you insist on staying here tonight, I suppose I should show you the cabins.”

The Faro opened the door to his cabin at the stern of the ship. The room ran the width of the vessel, ceiling slightly taller than the rest of the ship. It was sparsely decorated, a bed tucked into a cubby to the right of the door and a desk right beside a window that showed a panoramic view of the forest outside the ship. There was a tablet on the desk that Mateio hurried to pick up.

“Sorry, I didn’t really clean up before I met you,” he said.

Aaron waved it off, scanning the room as though looking for some insight into how Mateio lived.

“This is nice,” he said. “I’ve toured one of the ships we use, and there is almost no space in them.”

“Yeah, a lot of space is sacrificed in earlier crafts for weight. My ship gets around that problem using zero-gravity pods. It helps with fuel consumption on take off.”

Mateio shrugged at the king, heading for the door.

“You can sleep in this cabin. I’ll bunk down in one of the others for the night. I have to take a shower first though.”

Aaron looked down at his blood-soaked torso.

“I should probably take one too,” he muttered.

“You have a busy day tomorrow. Why don’t you take yours first,” Mateio suggested.

“We’re both naked already; we have nothing to hide. Why don’t we take one together? I’m sure you need to save water on the ship,” Aaron countered.

“Not really,” Mateio shrugged. “The water is recycled like everything else.”

Aaron sighed.

“Fine, I’ll take my shower first.”

He turned to leave the room and Mateio stopped him.

“So what changed your mind?” the Faro asked.

“About?”

“Me. Us.”

Aaron shrugged.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “A lot of it is my wolf. He seems possessive of you.”

“I don’t know much about werewolves. Is this normal?”

“For mates. But I am trying to fight it.”

“Forgive me for saying this, but it really doesn’t seem like you are. This is confusing me. I thought you wanted nothing to do with me.”

“That’s not true. I like you. And I hate that I have this beast inside me trying to push us together. I want to love you for yourself, not because it’s predestined.”

“But we can’t be together.”

“I don’t know that. Maybe there is a way, but I just don’t know how,” Aaron said.

“I have to leave, we both know that. But I will be back,” Mateio promised. “It won’t take more than a year.”

“You still say we should be together then.”

“Yes,” Mateio relented. “And you agree?”

“Yes. But not yet. I don’t think I could handle being away from the one I love for a year.”

“Me neither. That doesn’t mean we can’t be friends now.”

“We’ve been friends,” Aaron smiled.

He left the room and Mateio sighed, pulling a set of clothes out of his dresser. This was going to be a difficult night, but he was not about to have the king of the planet sleep in a tiny room.