Rise of the Resistance (War for Orion Trilogy Book Two) by Conner Walworth Page B

proper gown and she was chained by her ankles,
wrists, and neck. Jahdiel knew she’d been locked in the dungeons
and witnessed the slaughter of her staff. What Merikh was putting
this woman through was beyond cruel. No one deserved to be treated
like this and from the fresh bruises on her body, it was clear
Merikh was only just getting started.
    Jahdiel approached her leader, who still
hadn't noticed her enter the room. “I see you have yourself a new
pet.”
    Adira quickly turned around and spit on
Jahdiel. “If I'm a pet, than what does that make you? No human
should be doing what you're doing.”
    Jahdiel reeled her hand back and slapped
Adira across the face. “Next time you spit on me, I'll kill
you.”
    Merikh stood up and pushed Jahdiel away from
Adira with his long hands. “You won't touch the Queen again unless
I tell you that you can. Don't let me see an outburst like that
ever again, or it’ll be your last.”
    Jahdiel looked at him surprised. “She just
disrespected me! Do you expect me not to react to that?”
    “You started it, Jahdiel,” Merikh said.
“She's going to help us, but if you continue to treat her like
that, she'll change her mind and then our jobs will be much
harder.”
    “What are you talking about?” Jahdiel asked.
“The Queen won't help us with anything, she'll betray us.”
    “She's going to demand calm in Orion.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “She's about to send a message to all of the
races of Orion to let us take their planets without any
bloodshed.”
    “And you think that they'll listen to her?
She's our hostage. They'll think we forced her to say it. Look what
you’ve don’t to her, do you really think anyone will listen to what
she says?”
    “They may not,” he stroked his chin with his
long claws. “But I think they'll listen because it's coming from
their Queen, no matter how she looks. She's been as defiant as the
rest of this galaxy, but she doesn't want to see unnecessary deaths
that she could've prevented. I'm sure she can relay that across so
all the races understand.”
    “So you're going to help us?” Jahdiel looked
to Adira.
    “No,” she spat. “I'm going to protect those
who can't protect themselves from you. That's my job as Queen. I
won't let anymore races die because your bloodthirsty friends want
to kill everything that moves.”
    “How did you get her to agree to this?”
    “She saw what you did to Gaea. I must say,
it was very impressive, especially the little girl,” a grin crept
across his reptilian face. “She knew if she didn't agree, we would
have ravaged every remaining planet the same. You encouraged her as
much as I did.”
    “When is she going to send the message?”
Jahdiel asked, hiding the sorrow she felt inside from her face.
“I'm sure there are rebellions being put together all over Orion
after what I did to Gaea.”
    “She's sending it out now,” Merikh said.
“Once she sends it, we’ll get ships ready to go to the remaining
planets and we’ll dispatch troops to stay there until tensions have
lowered. Even after that, I think we’ll keep them there as
assurance.”
    Merikh walked back towards the screens and
pressed a few buttons. Three monitors in the room hummed to life
and the image of the three of them appeared on the middle screen.
The other two screens were focused on one individual each: Adira
and Merikh.
    “We'll start the message now.” Merikh told a
few nearby crodillians. “The sooner we get it out, the better.
Jahdiel and I will introduce ourselves first.” Merikh pressed some
more buttons and a red light came up, alerting them that they were
being recorded. “Hello. My name is Merikh and I’m the leader of the
crodillians who’ve just overtaken Orion. Next to me, is Jahdiel who
is second in command of the crodillian forces? We’re sending you
this message to inform you that we want the bloodshed to come to an
end,” Merikh looked to the Queen. “Your Queen and I have talked to
great lengths and