Disclaimer: This story and its characters belong to me. Steal it and I’ll eat you.

Title: Veiled Annex

Rating/Warning(s): 18+ This story may/will contain explicit content, non-consensual situations, abuse, blood/gore – fighting, etc.

Summary: Kovia hated planet Laste, but when Korve soldiers invade, her only home ends up a memory... along with her grandfather who stood by their family code: "To preserve the family in death" by hiding away upon his 300th day of creation and refusing to leave even with the circumstances. Left with a necklace she cannot remove, and sent for the slave trade, Kovia never imagined her paths would cross with the youngest son of the Rykorve family - the ones who destroyed the only life she knew.

Sivausk never expected to live past the adult age of 11, let alone make it away from the Vacant System and his psychotic brother who had taken over the family crown. Leaving the birthplace of his haunted memories, he finds himself searching for something only rumors have deemed real. Alongside his comrade, Lestion Mortore, they soon discover it is not where they need to find, but a key… a key no appears to have heard of.

AUTHOR NOTES: THIS IS A NANOWRIMO 2008 NOVEL. Which means this novel is completely unedited and WILL contain spelling/grammar errors. Although I try to limit them while writing, just try and not be too aggravated when reading. Since this IS a Nano fic, updates will happen extremely frequently! ENJOY!!!

Veiled Annex

Chapter Twenty Two

One hour Later…

Sivausk watched from between the two guards as Lestion and the others were led out by several others towards their awaiting ship – the Syve. The docking yard was vacant and although here were several ships locked into the large holes of the expansive bay they were in, no one except several guards were around.

“Sivausk!” Lestion’s voice cut through the air as he neared and he looked at his comrade. Something was going on and the fact they were told they could leave… what had happened while his comrade was out there?

Ro-Vi looked over at his crimson haired comrade. The infant was tucked in his arms and cried out for the man she could see, just several feet away. He hoped the prince had a plan, because he had a very bad feeling about this. Why did he feel like he was walking to his death? Fylone was beside him and he could see the mechanic taking a quick survey of the outside of the ship. He seemed to be lingering on the middle of the ship, the most.

“To V.C.,” Sivausk called towards them – briefly noting that the Gorse was in fact there. Part of him hoped the guards would not be able to know he spoke of Vobo Crost. His heart was slamming against his chest and if not for the years of battle and scavenging, he was certain he would almost be in conniptions. “I’ll meet you there.”

Lestion stared at his right hand man for a moment longer and glared at a guard who shoved him towards the ship. Something flickered in his eyes and he frowned. He just hoped he would find out what was going on sooner rather than too later…

~*~

Sivausk felt his blood run cold as the guards made him stop at a cell door, just across from the one he had been in. His brother was in there, waiting inside and no doubt finding this an amusing interlude. The thought of Blysk crossed his mind, but he had not seen him at all since they arrived and could only assume they left him on board the Syve. They were not the most thorough of people here.

“You will remain in here until the time for the exchange is ready.”

“What is the point of this?” Sivausk questioned. None of this made sense. Why would he need to remain in here with his brother, if he was supposed to bring Kovia to him? Why wouldn’t they just bring her to him and let them go?

The guard on the right exchanged a look with the other. Once more their eyes looked towards either side. “It would be wise to go inside without question,” the left stated in a blasé tone. “Arrangements for your escape are already being made. For now, you must wait.”

“What?” The RyKorve son furrowed his eyebrows. What the stars was with all the people here? He felt like he was in the midst of a large board game and he was the piece from another game that happened to drop on the board and nobody seemed to want to move it.

“The council had no intention of allowing the three of you to leave,” the other guard stated. “Now silence yourself and get inside. Do not cause a commotion. We cannot risk a commotion any sooner than necessary.”

Sivausk narrowed his eyes. “Fine.” How he was going to follow through with not killing the man in that cell… that was something he wondered if he could do.

The door to the cell opened and Sivausk was greeted by a much smaller room than the one he had been in before. It seemed darker, but there was more than enough light to make out the figure standing by the far wall, staring out a very small sliver of a window.

“How nice of you to come by,” Lord Vyst drawled and he turned around with a small grin on his face. “Such a pleasure to see my dear younger brother.”

Sivausk felt his blood pump furiously. The door slammed shut behind him and he resisted the urge to move. If he did, he was almost certain it would be to murder the man just ten feet away.

The eldest RyKorve stepped forward. “Do come in, Sivausk.”

“I will kill you.”

“Ah, that isn’t very polite,” Vyst snapped. “And here I thought we could reminisce of old times… You know, considering the situation we are both finding ourselves in today. Amusing how cordial they are, is it not?” A laugh left the RyKorve King. “Nothing like home at all! I am almost disappointed.”

“You would be,” Sivausk growled out. “Only you would be annoyed with the lack of torture.”

Another small laugh left the older of the two men. “Now, I highly doubt I would say lack of torture. Or, have you forgotten that small bloody mark on your back? Even I can see the blood dripping on the floor, dear brother. Not much of a torture, with only one stripe, but… alas… you never did have a strong stomach for things. I would not doubt that you gave into their demands the moment they struck you.”

“Fuck off, Liloke.” Sivausk hotly interrupted and let his siblings middle name drift from his lips like an insult. How he knew his brother hated to be called that anymore. “I have nothing to say to you, so rot in silence you damn bastard,” he added and moved to the nearby corner. “Insulting him was all he could do to keep his wits about him. How he longer to smash his head in – the damn bastard.

Thoughts of Kovia crossed his mind again and then Lilevia. How the prince wished he would see them again – hold them again. Anything to know they were alright and were going to be alright. Anything at all.

Silence reigned in the cell and lasted for hours. It was not until Vyst shifted again, under the watchful eye of his angered brother, that it was obvious it would be short lived from this point on. Silence was not something Vyst was good at, but considering he was in no position to make demands… if his brother wanted silence… well, he gave him his share…. For now. His sibling did not once let his gaze not pay attention to his every move. Such a pity.

After the quietness became unbearable, the King RyKorve shifted in the spot he had settled in on the ground beneath the window. “Tell me, brother,” he began.

“I already told you: Fuck off, Liloke.” Sivausk repeated. If for no other reason than that the silence was beginning to get to him. Annoy him. Anger him. Whatever emotion you wished to call it. At least two hours had passed and nothing. No one seemed to be planning anything and if they were, it was taking far longer than the rest of the day had been going. He hated waiting. Hated it. Nothing good ever seemed to come from it. Ever.

“Just one question,” Vyst drawled and leaned forward to rest his chin on his hand. “That child… is mine, isn’t it?”

Sivausk looked to the older RyKorve with an unreadable expression. “That is no concern of yours.”

“Ah, so it is true then? Ha ha, how amusing!” Vyst chuckled out.

The sound of laughter filled the room and Sivausk felt his blood run cold again. Anger made his teeth grind and it took every ounce of self control not to jump up and kill that bastard. It was no surprise to him that he still suspected the child was his – no surprise at all.

“The child is mine.” Sivausk’s voice was lower than a growl and even his brother stopped to eye him curiously.

The amused expression Vyst had adorned over his countenance faltered. “Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“How pathetic you are,” Vyst disgustingly spat. “I bet you are allowing my epicure to have it too.”

Sivausk pursed his lips as he glared daggers.

The eldest RyKorve heir rolled his eyes and licked his dry lips. “Enjoyable, isn’t she, brother? A real… treat, you could say.” Vyst’s voice became an octave higher and he grinned at the very angered stare he received. “Do not tell me you actually… enjoy her company!”

“In a far different way then you,” Sivausk retorted. His voice raised.

Before another word could be spoken, the door opened…

~*~

Kovia remained motionless as the bald man circled her once again. The man went by the name of Forleckt, a generational family name, she noted after filing through the memories she had been given. There were so many and it felt strange when she knew something she did not before. However, it was almost like there was another part of her, rather than just the addition of memories – like a filing cabinet in her head that stored all the information she was given.

“I have never understood the fascination with mixed blooded brats,” the man commented. His feet came to a stop at her right and he reached out roughly to pull away some hair from her face. “It is disgusting to think a Nybine, of any sort, ever dallied with a Surce. A Bollet, perhaps, but a Surce? That is revolting.”

Forleckt let his eyes drag down the woman’s unclothed body. “Of course, there are always exceptions,” he noted with a slight flare to his nostrils. “Though I do believe it has its benefits. Surces had one thing that went for them, besides their fighting prowess… and that was their looks. At least in their woman.”

The escaped epicure stared silently at the wooden wall ahead of her. There were plates of metal behind the decorative wood, but it gave her a sense of ease to look at it. The man’s words were beginning to unnerve her and Kovia knew where this seemed to be leading.

Again, the man paced around her, but his movements became slower and closer. Forleckt stopped at other side and leaned down until his breath tickled her ear. “My family loathed Queen Fortievia. Did you know that?” he paused to draw his hand to her shoulder. “We had once been a prominent family… then she was born. The bastard child of a whore, but the child of three bloods nonetheless. Do you know who started that galactic war back then? Or should I say whom?”

Kovia broke from her self induced trace. “You said she had started it.”

“By existing, yes. If she had died when we demanded it of her, or taken her execution without foolish escape attempts… then there would not have been one. She refused and took over the crown,” Forleckt gripped her shoulder harder and dug his nails into her scarred skin. “It was because of her that the Forleckt family was looked down on for generations. We had our day though – when she finally showed her TRUE colors!”

“True colors?” Kovia bit out. Is he talking about how she locked them all in here?

Forleckt moved his hand down her bare arm, frowning at the lack of a shiver. Normally, the woman he perused were more reactive. “Yes. The first chance she had to leave us all, she did. She locked us away in here for some foolish reason she claimed to be the truth.”

Kovia blinked and tried to hold back her revulsion at his hand moving to her breast. “What do you mean claimed? Why did she do it?”

The bald man huffed and pinched her nipple between his fingers. “That vile bitch claimed she was saving us. Of all the things!” He shouted and moved in front of her, highly focused on her breasts. Forleckt’s jade eyes flicked up to hers and he groped down her side. “That woman never returned and for many generations we have been unable to escape – only could the force field be unlocked by the outside and using a Siggane beast.”

“Siggane… beast?” Kovia whispered back the words and images of a thin and slick creature with one eye and no mouth came to the forefront of her mind. According to her memories, the creature was known for its paralysis of most species, but not in the sense she would have ever considered. It kept the body it was attached to in the original state that it attached to them in – healing them quickly and efficiently providing cures for most poisons. It seemed they caused a high mortality rate in others and were once hunted to the point of near extinction…

Forleckt snorted and openly fondled her backside. His body pressed against her and he flicked his tongue out to taste her neck. “Consider your upcoming death a favor of gratitude.”

“Do you mind doing it before you touch me? I think I would rather go ahead with that, considering your lack of skill,” Kovia retorted angrily. There was more the man was not telling her about what the council was up too, but it did not matter. She had already heard from one of the other council members about how they had known exactly what Queen Fortievia was up to when she locked them in. That it was the leader of the councilmen’s own suggestion that Queen Fortievia be the one to block them in the impenetrable force field. Kovia doubted that asshole had ever mentioned that he had sent out assassins before the force field enacted to kill the Queen and destroy the key. That council men – the leader - had been around since the time of the Queen of Three Bloods and she had every intention of getting out of here and finding out why. How did that man manage to stay alive so long?

Forleckt let out an angered growl and grabbed her throat. “Do you think to mock me?”

“I would release her, Forleckt,” another’s voice ordered. The deep tone resonated throughout the chamber and the two other doors opened along the same wall. Four guards stepped in. “Fire.”

Kovia let out a scream, but the sound was muffled by the hand that suddenly covered her mouth. A man had dropped out of the ceiling behind her. Her body struggled for a moment and she gasped as the cold chains that had been connected to her wrists and to the floor disconnected.

“Forgive my late arrival,” Lord Kyve drawled and gave a small bow to the woman. He reached up and unclipped his crimson cape and stepped towards her. “It is good to see you again, dear sister.”

Tears pricked at the woman’s eyes and she launched herself at the man. Memories flashed through her mind and she clenched the emblem on his white gray vest. “I want Sivausk and Lilevia. Please.”

“The RyKorve is awaiting the cells with his elder brother. Lilevia is the infant, I presume? She is fine—“

“With… Vyst?” Kovia paled. “Master is… h-here?”

“Master?” Kyve’s nostrils flared. “You are a Byness, you have no Master.”

Platinum eyes darted towards the door hastily. “Where are the cells at? I must get to Sivausk!”

Lord Kyve looked to the other guards. “Clear the way ahead!” His gaze paused on the jade haired man that had covered the woman’s mouth. “Fowlen, find out the status of the other squadrons. The castle is to be in lockdown until matters can be settled. Have that scavenger ship contacted through the shield they enacted to protect from the blast and have them return. We have little time until word reaches the civilians and civil war begins.”

“War?” Kovia gasped. “What is going—“

“I will explain on the way,” Kyve answered and wrapped his cape around her snugly. “Come, I will take you to the RyKorve.”

To Be Continued…

Author’s Note(s): REACHED 50K!!! Hope you enjoyed! Feel free to review. ^__^