The Lereni Trade Read Online Free Page A

what had lured her out into the chilly night;
rather, what had pushed her out into that hiding place at the small barn. No matter
how much she tried, she never fit in. She was an oddity, feeling
like everyone stared and pointed, whether they did or
not.
    Instead, she studied languages,
memorizing and learning half a dozen in high school and picking up
at least four more in her first two years of college.
    She could make sense of these aliens
if they let her. It was her gift, her one useful
talent—interpreting languages. In time, she might learn Torik's
language, but she didn't want to stay to learn it.
    Karik and the others frightened her.
They didn't like her here either. Torik might have been
sympathetic, or it might simply be pity for her ineptitude. He was
one of them, these strangers who abducted her.
    She still didn't know what they
wanted. They must have wanted her alive for something, or why would
they have saved her and why would Torik have treated her ankle or
Karik have left her alone when he clearly didn't want her to
live?
    Upon thought of the appendage, she
flexed it slightly and felt only a minuscule twinge. Even if it
healed, it wouldn't do her any good. She was stuck on a ship in
space with nowhere to go but to roam the corridors.
    While the lump in her throat melted,
the tears flowed silently, tickling down her nose to where she had
to use her shirt sleeve to wipe them away.
    The occasional pattern of steps tapped
across the room behind her, but none approached. By not seeing
them, she could pretend they were human, that she was in a dorm
somewhere. She could pretend she was on Earth.
    The tears soon dried, leaving her eyes
heavy and her head clear but groggy. With her arm as a pillow, she
let the low background hum lull her into a fitful sleep.
    At one point, she became aware of a
cushion beneath her head but drifted into darkness
again.
    By the time she fully opened her eyes,
she was surprised not be on a couch in an apartment. It took a few
seconds to remember that she had been taken on a spaceship with
aliens.
    The sight of two of them at the table
beyond her feet slammed that point into her brain.
    Krissa let out a heavy sigh and rolled
onto her back with the pillow beneath her head. It was real. She
hadn't dreamed the whole abduction thing.
    Now what?

Chapter 3
     
     
    "She will awaken soon."
    Karik's hard stare would have unnerved
a raw recruit, but while he wasn't hardened by the worst of the
war, Torik was far from raw.
    In the tight space of his quarters, he stood unflinching
under the critical stare of his captain. He'd had worse than Karik
before this, each of them masking fear in the cold exterior—fear of
losing control of others and themselves, fear of the unknown, fear
of failure. Unlike the Seres they had picked up who readily exhibited her
emotions, Karik and others like him preferred to keep everyone
away.
    But they had other concerns with this
task. Torik should be keeping her at arm's length, but he
sympathized with her situation, as he had often wished others would
of their homeworld's occupation, and couldn't bear to see her
afraid. Fear would make her more dangerous, if she had any
inclination to be a threat.
    "And you will refrain from telling her," the captain said.
    "You overestimate her." Torik's reply
earned him a snarl from the captain. "How can she be a threat if
she doesn't know what she is?"
    Karik's eyes twitched narrower, vertical pupils as thin as
slits. "Do not lecture me, Lieutenant. Why would House Raou, the ruling nobles of our
enemy, the Tah'Na, demand that we—the Lereni—find the daughter of
Naperi of the Onduun?" He paused and inched closer, his eyes
searing the point into Torik's brain. "Because they know she is
dangerous. The later she discovers what she is, the better for us
all."
    He eased back, and Torik let out a
breath he hadn't realized he was holding. The threat of Karik's
closeness had set off instincts that primed his muscles in
preparation for a