Destin's Hold (The Alliance #5)(4)
There were a large number of files to sift through, and in the meantime, she had adhered to her assignment to grovel at the Trivators’ feet for the past six weeks. It should have shown the Usoleum Council that she would make an excellent Ambassador to the Trivator Council here on their planet. But once again, her hopes had been crushed. Sula was the only living Usoleum with experience on Earth, and she was now being reassigned back there to finish her original task to clean up the mess Badrick had left behind – almost two Earth years later! Her only hope for any kind of real success with the humans lay in parsing useful information from those files. To get even the slightest bit of trust and good will on Earth, she needed to be able to answer the question preying on everyone’s mind: where were the rest of the missing human women?
Sula still had a couple of days left on Rathon, however, and part of reassuring the Trivators and the Alliance that everything was under control included attending some ceremony between a member of Chancellor Razor’s family and a Trivator warrior. It would begin in a couple of hours, and if she was not able to gain control of her emotions before the ceremony, her career would be in even worse shape than it already was.
“This is an insult!” Sula hissed, discarding her maudlin misery in favor of the more empowering anger she had felt earlier. “If Father thinks my brothers are so much better at diplomacy than I am, then one of them should be the one to attend the ceremony, not me! When they need a problem solved, they send me in to fix it. Father knows I am more than qualified for the ambassador position. Yet he gives the position to Sirius, the progeny who is least qualified. All Sirius wants to do is chase women that he couldn’t do anything with and play at the gaming tables! He isn’t even fit to be – to be – to care for the racers in the stables, much less be the Ambassador to the Trivators,” Sula muttered with a slashing wave of her hand in the air.
Sula released a long sigh and stepped through the narrow chasm in the rocks. She gazed out at the water protected by the small cove for several seconds before she walked toward it, drawn to the soothing waves. She missed her world. It was mostly water and her people were born within its beautiful seas. They lived on land, but the water was where they found solace.
Sula’s hand moved to the tie of the gown and she released it. The garment fell to the sand around her feet. Her body was covered in a form-fitting dark blue suit made for the water. She spread her fingers and the fine membranes between them spread like small webs. Stepping forward, she relished the first touch of the water against her skin. Pleasure coursed through her, cooling her fury and soothing her despair.
Her gaze scanned the water. The waves broke against the reef almost two hundred meters off shore. It would be a short swim for her, but she could do it several times before she had to return to her temporary lodging to prepare for the ceremony. Sula slowly walked forward until she was deep enough that she could sink down below the surface.
The two almost invisible slits along her neck opened and she drew water into her gills. The refreshing liquid filled the second set of lungs with life-giving fluid, extracting the oxygen trapped in the water in her blood when she exhaled. She loved living and working near an ocean. A shudder went through her when she thought of her next assignment. It was so far from the large oceans that covered most of Earth. There was a long, narrow lake, but it wasn’t the same. She would have to make periodic trips to the coast to satisfy her body's craving for the salty water.
And I’ll need to swim frequently to keep from killing that arrogant human male if he is still there, Sula thought. Perhaps I will be lucky and he will already be dead, and a more reasonable human will have replaced him.
Remorse swept through her at her hateful thoughts. It was so unlike her. She hated the idea of hurting anything. Her six older brothers would tease her and say that was why it was ridiculous for her to even consider becoming a member of the Alliance Council.
Sula pushed the negative thoughts away. She would lose herself in the pleasures of the ocean around her. Kicking off the bottom, her body cut through the crystal-clear liquid like a laser cutter through steel. All around her, colorful fish and plant life flourished in a world few could appreciate.
The cove was protected from the larger marine life that lived on the other side of the reef. She had researched Rathon’s oceanographic environment and decided it would be best to stay within the protected barriers that sheltered the coast line. ‘Nature’s unique fencing’ is the way Sula liked to think of it.
She was starting to feel more herself, more collected, but a wave of longing swept through her to just let go, to be wild for a few unadulterated minutes – not the frazzled, bitter release from the beach, but something… untouchable. To hell with her father’s belief that she wasn’t capable of dealing with the stress of being a leading member of the Usoleum Council or an integral part of the Alliance. She knew she could if she was given the opportunity.
Closing her eyes, she twisted until she was facing upward and allowed her body to slowly sink to the bottom. She relaxed her arms and a serene smile curved her lips. Maybe she would just forget about the ceremony and stay here all day. It wasn’t as if it really mattered if she attended. No one, especially the Trivator male and his human mate, would even miss her.
Finally, the peace that Sula had been searching for settled over her. Her body floated above the soft white sand. The light from the rising sun created shafts of glittering beams that reflected off the silver threads in her body suit and made them sparkle like diamonds. She was unaware of how ethereal she looked against the satin bottom of the ocean, or the fact that she wasn’t alone.