Renegade

Renegade Chapter 8

Chapter 8

(The nightmares came again. This time they did not cause immediate fear and terror, but prolonged dread and angst. Again, she was on the surface of Luna, outside the capital, but Rex was not standing next to her. Breathing heavily, she looked around at the desolate place. In the corner of her eye she saw a shadow. Aria turned toward it to get a better look at what it was, but when she would have faced it, whatever it was darted out of her line of sight. The next thing she knew, strong hands were around her neck, trying to suffocate her. )

This time Aria didn't wake up screaming. Instead she slowly sat up, rubbing her neck. Her nightmares had always been bad since Rex was abducted, but they had never been this bad before.

Dacia, Aria, and Aria's guards had gotten back from Chicago around midnight, and everyone had gone pretty much straight to bed. Her cousin's solution to the legality of charging into R'Nari territory after Rex was to simply ask her dad for permission, but Aria knew it would not be that easy. Sebastian Allistair was protective of his only daughter and wouldn't want her to do anything he considered to be too dangerous.

Since she didn't want to go back to sleep, Aria went to wake up Maria so she could talk to her. Slowly she got out of her bed, pushed aside her bed curtains, and walked over to the adjacent room where her favorite handmaid was sleeping.

"Maria," she whispered, gently shaking the handmaid's shoulder to wake her up.

"Mhm, what is it, Princess?" Maria said, groggily. "Did you have another nightmare?"

"Yes. Can we talk about some things?

"Of course, Princess. Tea?

"Yes, please. Thank you."

The two girls went back into Aria's room and sat down on one of the couches. Calmly Aria explained what had happened in the past twenty four hours. Maria was a patient listener, waiting for her turn to speak.

"Aria, I understand where you are coming from. Your father would not want you to put yourself into any unnecessary danger. But he also wouldn't want you to be hurting as much as you are. If going to Hallion and rescuing Rex is what it takes to heal your pain, I don't see why he wouldn't let you go,"

Slowly Aria sipped her tea. "Thank you, Maria," she said. "When I am in crisis mode, my brain sometimes just rushes past the obvious solution. Thank you for helping me to slow down."

"You do not have to thank me, Princess Aria. Helping you is my job."

***

The next morning after breakfast, Aria set out to find her father. Not as many people were at breakfast this morning. Almost all of her aunts, uncles, and cousins had left. Only Dacia was still there.

Her father's office was on the third floor of the palace and looked out on the gates. Waiting a little bit to see her father didn't bother Aria. He was busy, after all. Someone, a man, was inside talking rather loudly with her father. Whoever's voice it was sounded familiar, but Aria couldn't place it exactly because the door was in the way.

After about five minutes, she went up to the door and knocked lightly. Immediately it slid open. Her father saw her in the doorway and called out to her. "Aria, dear, please come in."

She did, and saw that the other voice she had heard earlier belonged to General Isaac Vanin, the man in charge of Imperial Intelligence. General Vanin was in his late fifties with greying dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.

"Hello, General," she said.

Cordially he returned the greeting.

Sebastian Allistair's office looked like a warm private study, except it was much bigger than a normal study. A dark mahogany desk with a couple of computer monitors faced the door Aria had just come through. Her father sat in a black leather chair behind it. On the wall to his left were shelves full of all kinds of books, and on the opposite wall were large maps of all the continents of Earth, along with holographic maps of Luna and other principal worlds of the empire on a shelf below.

"Aria, please, sit down. The general and I were talking about some things that I think you need to hear," her father said.

She sat down on the leather couch that faced her father's desk and matched the chair he was sitting in. "What were you talking about?" she asked.

"I believe General Vanin should explain the situation."

The general stood up from where he was sitting and turned to Aria. "I believe you know that recently I sent your brother on a mission recently," he said. "Things went south."

Aria was shocked. "What went wrong?" she inquired, unsure if she wanted to know what exactly had gone wrong.

"Two days ago, communications with the ship Nathan Allistair's ship missed a scheduled window. When connection with the ship was restored, everything was still in order. Except that Nathan wasn't on board," continued General Vanin. "I haven't told anyone but your father this yet, but, his mission was do so some scouting around R'Nari territory. I can't help but think that he was captured and taken prisoner."

This news hit Aria like a meteor. Did the same thing that happened to Rex just happen to her brother? She began to hyperventilate and feel lightheaded.

Sebastian addressed General Vanin now. "On second thought, it may not have been a good idea to let her know. She's already worked up about the situation around Rex."

Aria argued against her father, "I am fine. The news just caught me off guard." Seeing an opportunity to weave in the news of the Rex situation, she continued to speak. "Actually concerning Rex, I have some news."