Farin the Dark Read online

  Farin the Dark

  The Tellox Accords 1

  By

  Kelly Lucille

  Copyright © 2019 Kelly Lucille

  All rights reserved

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  The day was sweltering, even for Centralis. Most of the planet was sand and rock, it's three major cities all terraformed and shielded from its three suns to support life. But even with the technology available, at this time of day, when all three suns were sharing the red skies above, it was bloody hot. It was no wonder that the usually bustling market was so quiet.

  The crowd that were still milling about were mostly the lower dregs of society who came at this time of day to miss the rich travelers and get the best deals. Or the newly arrived travelers on their way to find accommodations, or passing time waiting for a connecting space flight.

  She felt the worst for those people.

  Everyone else had a choice to be here. Those traveling Alliance space on a budget could either stand around in the bustle of space port and try to nap inside the shields that muffled the sounds from the rest of the planet, clutching on to their belongings tightly against thieves, or they could wander the nearly deserted market under the three sun’s and hope they didn't suffer heat stroke.

  At least the shields blocked the damaging rays enough that no one had to worry about sun burn. Still, it was not pleasant. Most people knew that the few hours of the day when all three suns were visible in the sky was the best time to sleep. Those that had the choice of it, and were smart, were tucked into air frosted dark rooms until the first sun passed behind the craggy rock cliffs that surrounded the space bubble the city of Aine sat in.

  Ember smiled absently at the small boy trying to get her attention, determined to ignore the parchment dry heat that seemed to press in on her from all sides. The child gave her something to focus on besides a yearning for the waters of an ocean home she had only seen but one time. It was no wonder that as a cold-water ocean dweller by genetics she was not faring well in the heat of the market. But because of those same genetics, she had bigger worries than the heat.

  The boy could not be more than twelve or so with the dark brown skin and hair coloring of the native people. Unlike most of the poor that trudged through the heat around her at this time of day, he looked completely aware of his surroundings, and entranced by her.

  Sirens were rarely seen away from their home planet of Trios, so it was no wonder he was staring at her like he had never seen anything like her before in his life. Even in a port city known for its diverse travelers, he likely had not. Which was why she had been so careful to keep herself covered and her unusual hair confined. Unfortunately for her, it had a mind of its own on most days and today was being a complete nuisance. It had managed to escape the confines of her thick braids and escaped the deep cowl of her hood enough to move around her as if dancing to a wind no one else could feel in the hot stuffiness of the market.

  Right now the boy was a cute distraction, but if she did not get her hair under cover soon more than the small child would be affected, and things could go very wrong for her.

  Ember stopped looking around for a shady spot to stop and repair her appearance and just started shoving her nearly ankle length hair back into the confines it had escaped.

  She sighed when more and more children began to clamor around where she stood. All boys, all on the cusp of manhood. Easy prey for her kind, and always the first to fall under her spell.

  Not that her kind ate the young, or anyone else for that matter. Her ancestors might have been the scourge of the seas, but she liked to think they had evolved at least that much in the last ten thousand years. For instance, they primarily lived on land now, seeking the solace of the ocean tides only for brief respites. It was rare that her claws and fangs even showed themselves since she was usually smart enough to keep herself out of situations where she would need to defend herself, or hunt.

  When the growing crowd of boys started to draw eyes their way and she began to attract other kinds of attention, Ember knew she had to get out of sight.

  With a harassed sigh she gave up on the idea of waiting in the line to purchase the scented soaps she had come for. Her bright idea to miss the crowds of market evening to limit her exposure had backfired thanks to her underestimation of the heat, and her overestimation of her ability to handle the discomfort of it.

  Truthfully she should have known better that to leave her rooms at the height of the day’s heat, but she had needed so badly to get out of her room, cool and luxurious as it was, it was still just four walls and some soft furniture. She was in the capital of the Planetary Alliance, she wanted to see it. She knew from experience that once the diplomatic functions started in a few hours she would be working nonstop. It seemed like going out now had been her only choice if she wanted to see more than her lodgings and the ballroom where the performance would be taking place.

  Continuing to tuck in her unruly strands of hair as best she could she slid through the crowd hoping to lose the children, and the gazes of the men who watched her go. But too many had seen her, and while she left the children far behind, she had no hope that the rest of the males that she slid through and around would be as easy. Not when her hair reacted to her emotions more than her will and was determined to flow like water around her face and body. Not when it mesmerized and beckoned with every undulation. She stopped when two men stepped into her path. She was not even surprised to see the greedy lascivious way their eyes coasted over her.

  Even covered as she almost was in her long turquoise cloak they managed to leave a trail of cold discomfort across her skin. It was not just that her pale skin glowed with an eerie blue light over slender limbs, or that her long white hair moved as if it was dancing to an imaginary wind, or even the unusual color of her lavender eyes that drew men in.

  She was a siren, every movement of her body, hair and especially her voice was meant to lure. And she was of royal blood, which she had discovered when she made her one and only pilgrimage to Trios, so she knew her lure was more potent than most. Still, most people would have heard stories of the predator that lurked beneath those seductive waves of hair and soft glowing skin. Sirens were easy to recognize and known for being a predatory species not to be messed with. Pity that most men saw a small curvy female with flowing white hair and soft skin and lost their ever-loving minds, forgetting all the warning of danger that went hand in hand with the tales of her kind.

  "Move out of the way gentleman, I have somewhere to be,” She used just a hint of power in her voice, but it had the effect she needed, at least temporarily. She dared not try anything stronger in the small crowd of the market. She was as likely to attract attention as command it away. Both men looked momentarily befuddled and moved to the side, allowing her to pass between them. But she was not even three steps beyond them before one of them cursed and followed.

  "What did you do to me?" The bigger scruffier one asked the anger clear in his voice.

  He attempted to grab her arm and halt her progress, but he was too late, she moved so fast he caught only air. As soon as she was free of the maze of market stalls Ember wasted no time making her way back toward her hote
l. Avoiding having to kill a bunch of men who had no control over themselves her only priority.

  She turned her last blind corner and nearly ran straight into the arms of a warrior. Lucky for her she was nearly as lite moving across the land as she was in the water. She twisted and twirled to avoid the collision and was around and through the five tall warriors before any of them could do more than grab for her flowing cloak. She let it go without a fight, leaving the dark warrior looking down at an empty cloak.

  He raised black eyes up from the cloak to her and everything around them stopped, as if the worlds were taking a breath. The cold dark eyes that found her reminded her of the chill of space, even as the piece of her that was pure predator reacted to suddenly being so close to another predator. These were not the small sun baked natives of the market. With one look it was clear she had stumbled into a pack of apex predators. And the most dangerous of all of them held her cloak.

  Nearly seven foot in height, built of solid muscle, his massive frame should have been lumbering and clumsy, but instead every move was fluid. Every inch of him well-proportioned and dangerous. And those black eyes saw everything.

  Without her cloak for cover, that left her in only the light armor and skirt of her battle gear. The armor and cloth were lightweight and waterproof but breathable, allowing her to fight in most conditions, and minimal as was the way of her kind.

  Her breast plate was fitted, shoulders and arms bare, her thighs beneath the small skirted leather were bare to the top of her thigh high boots.

  The boots, like the skirt, were made of supple but nearly indestructible cloth that slicked off water as well as a blade, breathed and moved with her motions.

  All of it, besides the shiny silver breast plate in shades of blue blended in with the colorful sand dwellers around her. Ember had no doubt that the predator assessing her saw all and would not make the mistake so many had made and dismiss her as less than the dangerous predator she was. The flickers and flashes of reactions in those cold eyes told her that. As did the way they he and the others stood so still, predators that came upon each other in the wild and knew to be wary.

  Without the cloak stifling her she immediately felt cooler than she had since she came to the market. But instead of calming her down the exposure whipped the long tresses into an undulating frenzy. Her braids had long since unraveled and without the cloak she glowed like some exotic beast. Skin, hair, eyes, all meant to lure in her prey, or a mate. Her hair free of all constraints danced around her, flirted and glowed, making its own breeze and cooling her even more.

  Right now it was doing its best to lure the warriors closer. Reacting to her own nerves to protect her. Most knew to stay far away from the silver shine of it. Depending on her emotions it could wrap around a person in a soft cloud of soft satin heat or cut a man to ribbons like a snare for the unwary. Like everything else about her, it was both lure and weapon in one.

  She hoped these warriors had heard enough about her kind to recognize her and stay back. If not, well, she was far from unarmed. Even without the scythes strapped to her thighs she would have been dangerous. She was the weapon; the rest were just extras.

  Ember was tempted to leave without her cloak, flit away at speed as she had done to the men from before, but she did not know the capabilities of this type of warrior. With an effort she forced her eyes from the big one and finally took in the rest of them.

  Golden skin, eyes and hair, all nearly as tall as the dark warrior who held her cloak and her attention so effortlessly. Like her, their armor was minimalist and top of the line. Muscles and strength on full display.

  Something in the feline cast of their hard features struck a chord in her memory, but it escaped her when she could not take the time to chase it.

  Ember swallowed hard and fought for calm.

  In her travels she had seen a lot of warrior species, but she had a hard time thinking of any as beautiful or as dangerous as the men before her. Perhaps it was her own predatory nature but the feline grace of them, their tall muscled frames and their total stillness was alluring. The hardened warriors were nothing short of lethal.

  She had no doubt that these men had seen plenty of battles, but there was nothing but appreciation in their looks as they studied her in turn. No sneers for a woman warrior, or lust for her siren lure. They did not seem to react at all, giving away no pheromones she could read or body language she would have recognized. It was most unusual, and as none of them made any move toward her or seemed to be reacting badly to her uncontrollable lure, she relaxed marginally, and her hair reacted to her emotions by flowing down to her back and relaxing.

  She held black eyes with an effort and brushed off her diplomatic skills, her voice always her greatest weapon she kept purposefully soft and, with an effort, clear of siren influence. She did not want to insult these warriors, even by accidental persuasion. "Forgive me for nearly running into you. It was not my intention. May I have my cloak back please?"

  There was a long moment when she thought he would argue, but finally the dark one holding her cloak stepped around his silent men and walked with lethal grace toward her. His eyes, black and dangerous stayed on hers after one long sweep over the rest of her. He looked like a prowling beast, and her hair began to rise again, dancing and undulating as her tension rose with each step he took. His eyes went to her mass of unruly hair and he studied it. She stepped back when he would have come too close.

  He stopped at her movement. His eyes went from her dancing silver hair to her eyes and then he shocked her by simply handing over her cloak. She took it hesitantly, and once again her hair reacted to her emotions and calmed back down. She wasted no time and willed it into a tight twist at her neck. The warrior watched it braid and tie itself away before she pulled the cloak back on and covered it with the hood. Then his eyes met hers again.

  "Thank you," she said sincerely from the comfort of her cloak. She forced herself to move again, turning to go as if it was not an effort to appear nonchalant.

  "Your name?" The first words he had spoken jarred her with the smooth deep sound of his voice and sent prickles of heat over her already too warm skin. She stopped and looked back at him again.

  She considered for a moment but saw no harm in telling him. Mostly because she was hoping he would reciprocate, and she would have a name to go along with those chilling eyes. "Ember, Siren of the Trios." Her name and a warning all in one.

  The warrior bowed his head in acknowledgment his eyes assessing her, as if he could see more than what was on the surface. "Farin the Dark, of the Tellox."

  She knew her eyes widened at his name giving away her recognition of it and what it meant, but she did not wait around to see if he would say more. Twirling away from him she moved as fast as she could and still hide that she was running. One did not run from a predator. They tended to give chase.

  Farin the Dark of the Tellox, she repeated in her own head.

  The Tellox, a breed of warrior feared throughout the galaxy and known for three things. Their advanced defensive technology, their ferocious fighting skills, and their ongoing and constant search for compatible females to mate. And Farin the Dark was the name of their high commander.

  Maybe giving him her name had not been her best idea, Ember mused self-depreciatively. She disappeared into the crowd keeping her senses sharp for any threats, and wondered at this Farin the dark, who did not dress in any way that would suggest he was the leader of an entire people. On the other hand he did stand out despite that. Even in a crowd of five warriors bred for war he was the only one she remembered. And it had nothing to do with his darker coloring among the golden horde.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Commander Farin of the Tellox watched the female until she was out of sight, they all did. She moved like a dream made flesh. Just because they were Tellox and could not fully appreciate a female until they had tasted her blood and claimed her as a mate did not mean they did not appreciate the view. Even fully cloaked with only a
few strands of the long silk of her hair showing she was breathtaking. The scent of her would have done it, even if the looks of her had not been so lethally stunning. And the view when she was no longer hidden in yards of slick blue cloth... That could bring even a strong man to his knees in worship.

  "Celo," he said giving nothing away of his thoughts.

  "Commander?"

  "Did you recognize the species of that female?"

  "All I know of Sirens is that they are reputed to be deadly predators in a pretty package." The Captain of his guard and oldest friend answered with a growl of appreciation in his voice.

  Farin allowed the small smile to whip across his face only briefly. "That much is clear with one look." Though he admitted privately that 'pretty' did not cover the addictive lure of that female. "Find out everything you can about the Trios in general, and that female in particular."

  Celo grunted his agreement, as they all watched where the female had disappeared. Seems he was not the only one who had appreciated the view.

  "I would not be opposed to a hunt," Dig said into the appreciative silence, his voice as cold as ever, even if he could not hide his own interest from Farin. "But if there are more like that somewhere how would we have missed it for so long?"

  That was at least true. While the Tellox had only joined the Alliance of Planets as part of their agreement to get the more primitive planet Earth into it, that did not mean they had not traveled the known galaxies many times over.

  "Even the Tellox have not been everywhere," Celo mused.

  "And do we have time?" Aos the last of his Calvern said with obvious reluctance. "Not that I would not make time for such a female, but even if we request a test we will not be around to enforce it. You know as well as I that if we do not she could ignore the first summons. The Alliance peacekeepers will not follow through if we are not here to demand it of them."