Read Online Silas: Imperial Warrior (A Sci-Fi Alien Warrior Romance) by Ashley West - Free Book Online

about the locator on his personal device?" she wanted to know.
    "Tech is having a hard time locking onto the signal."
    The Empress said nothing for a long moment and then let out a rough exhale. Her fingers were pressed flat on the top of her desk, and she looked like she was trying very hard not to explode. Cress appreciated the effort.
    He understood how she felt, though. Silas was one of their best. For all he'd been surprised when the Empress had promoted him to Captain, it hadn't come as a surprise to anyone else. Silas was a natural leader. The kind of man who inspired loyalty in his people without trying very hard. He made people want to follow him, and honestly, not that much had changed when Silas was promoted. The Empress relied on him to solve problems like this, and with him gone, finding someone else to lead was going to be difficult. Especially since the first thing they were going to have to lead would be Silas' rescue mission of all things.
    "We will have to assume the worst," the Empress was saying, jarring him out of his thoughts.
    "The worst, Majesty?"
    Ammaline inclined her head. "Yes. That he has been taken by the Fremeri."
    Cress' eyes widened. He hadn't even considered that. Silas and prisoner didn't go together unless he was the one bringing prisoners in. For him to be one...
    "You think that's what happened?"
    She shot him a sharp look. "I have no way of knowing what happened, Corporal. As such, we will assume the worst. If they have one of ours, then that is as good as a declaration of war."
    Well. That seemed rather...sudden. Cress had never seen a war before. Not a real one, anyway. He'd grown up the same as the other children, learning about the wars and battles that had shaped Gathra and the other planets nearby into the places they were now. He'd learned all about how the strong had prevailed and the weak had been all but annihilated. It was daunting to say the least to think about participating in something like that.
    "What if..." he began, eyes widening in horror as he realized he was about to contradict the Empress of Gathra.
    "What if?" Ammaline repeated, eyes on him.
    "What if it's not that bad?" Cress asked. "What if he just...ran out of fuel on some other planet or something? Should we really declare all-out war for that?"
    The eyes that hadn't looked away from his face from the moment he started speaking hardened. "You think I am being too rash." It wasn't a question, and Cress wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear.
    "That isn't what I said, Majesty."
    "No, but I can see that it's true all the same. You think I am jumping to conclusions and using that as an excuse. But consider what the Fremeri have already done here. There are people who have been hurt and killed by them already. Is that not cause?"
    Cress...couldn't really argue with that. "Yes, Your Imperial Majesty," he said. "It's cause."
    "That was my thought as well," Ammaline replied. "I need to speak to the other captains. And I will need some of the left arm to volunteer to look for Silas."
    "I'll uh. I'll facilitate that."
    "Lovely. I trust that I don’t have to tell you to keep me informed. You are dismissed."
    Cress had never been so pleased to be dismissed before, and he just nodded, saluted, and then nearly stumbled out of the office and then out of the fortress itself, head spinning. He'd seen a lot in the last few hours, and though it was very late at night, nearly morning, actually, he didn't want to go home and try to sleep. He knew that as soon as he laid his head down, it would be filled with images of children, pale as the grave, still and bloodless.
    He didn't want to see it again.
    Instead he made his way down to The Skip.
    It wasn't safe in the pleasure district, not anymore, but he was armed, and he was mad, so if any lurking Fremeri wanted to try him, they were more than welcome.
    Hamara was already there, deep in a cup of something inky and black as the Void, that Cress didn't even want to touch. He