Taming the Wild Beast of Alamina

Dean kept thinking about the word ’dormant.’

Dean leaned back slowly.

"Oh."

Arion looked toward him.

Nero did too.

Dean barely noticed either of them.

Pieces were beginning to fit together in a way he did not particularly like.

"The beasts."

Amaru’s attention sharpened.

Dean looked at him. "Your ability does not put someone to sleep."

"No."

"It changes their perception until their mind and body stop coordinating properly."

"Yes."

"And Claudia spent years studying it."

Amaru’s expression changed slightly.

Dean continued before the thought escaped him.

"She had Duncan’s ability in the outer mixture. Maybe not his actual pheromones, but something derived from his profile closely enough to reproduce terrain and distance distortion. Your residence proved she could combine traits."

Arion understood first.

"You think she did the same thing with the beasts."

"I think we have been asking the wrong question."

Dean stood and began pacing between the chairs and the windows, thoughts moving faster now that the connection existed.

"We kept trying to identify what made the beasts dormant as though there had to be one trigger. Blood. A dominant profile. Andrea’s altered pheromones. Something singular."

Nero watched him.

"But Amaru wasn’t being controlled by one thing either," Dean continued. "The chamber had infected-beast pheromones, synthetic carriers, metabolic suppressors, and compounds Seven still hasn’t identified. The outer residence had a completely different mixture carrying several abilities."

Arion sat back.

"A cocktail."

"Yes."

Dean turned toward him.

"Claudia may never have found one pheromone that controls the infected beasts. She may have built a combination that does."

Amaru’s eyes narrowed.

"Using dominant abilities."

"Or pieces of them. Biological effects. Synthetic copies. Whatever her laboratories learned to isolate."

Dean thought of Andrea.

A natural pheromone profile that should not have influenced beasts.

Then an acquired ability no clean preserved sample could separate from whatever Claudia had done.

"What if Andrea was never the source?" Dean said.

Nero’s gaze sharpened.

Dean continued. "What if Andrea was another delivery mechanism?"

Arion was silent for several seconds.

"That would explain why Sylvia’s profile did nothing."

"And why Eva’s blood did nothing. Why Thomas did nothing. We were testing components individually when Claudia may have been working with combinations for years."

Amaru looked between them.

"You believe she can reproduce abilities chemically."

"Not completely," Nero said. "Duncan’s reproduced ability was strong, but it wasn’t identical. It behaved more like an engineered imitation."

"That is still considerably more than should be possible."

"Yes," Dean said.

That was precisely the problem.

Amaru’s gaze dropped briefly toward the patches at his neck.

"And she had eight years with mine."

Nobody answered that.

There was no way to make it sound better.

Amaru exhaled slowly and looked toward the gardens.

"If she was using my profile to develop something for the beasts, why keep me alive?"

Dean had wondered the same thing.

"Because living samples are more useful than dead ones."

Amaru glanced at him.

Dean grimaced. "I know how that sounds."

"Accurate?"

"Unfortunately."

Arion’s attention remained on Amaru.

"Or she had not finished."

That was worse.

Amaru seemed to agree.

For a few moments the only sound in the room came from the medical equipment.

Then Amaru settled more firmly against the chair.

"When do you need an answer?"

Dean stopped pacing.

"To the alliance?"

"Yes."

Arion answered. "When you are ready to give one."

Amaru considered that.

Then he shook his head.

"I already have one."

Nero straightened slightly.

Amaru looked toward Arion first, then Dean.

"I want Draxil."

There was no hesitation in it.

Whatever eight years had taken from him, apparently that ambition had survived.

"I wanted the throne before Claudia interfered. From what you have told me, my reasons for wanting it have not improved."

Dean almost smiled.

"No."

"My brothers are fighting while my father is dying."

"Yes."

"Eryx still refuses to be dragged anywhere near succession?"

"Very enthusiastically," Nero said.

Amaru’s mouth moved faintly.

"Then I will ally with Alamina and Saha."

Dean felt some of the tension leave his shoulders.

They still had no idea whether Amaru had enough remaining military support to make a return viable, how Draxil would respond when a prince presumed lost for eight years suddenly appeared, or what Claudia would do once she realized he was no longer under her control.

But at least they had a direction.

Amaru raised one hand before anyone could respond.

"With conditions."

Nero smiled.

Dean should have expected that.

"Of course."

"I want everything in writing."

The smile widened.

Arion, predictably, looked entirely unsurprised.

Amaru continued.

"Military support. Intelligence sharing. Medical access while I remain outside Draxil. What happens if my forces cannot secure the capital. What Saha is permitted to deploy across my borders and under what circumstances."

Nero’s expression became slightly more innocent.

Amaru looked directly at him.

"Especially Saha."

"That sounds discriminatory."

"Your father is already planning an invasion."

"He plans many things."

Dean looked at him.

Nero amended, "He also executes many of them."

"Which is why I want limits."

Arion nodded once. "Reasonable."

"And Claudia’s Palace," Amaru said. "You get access, but the research belongs to Draxil as well."

Dean considered that.

"As long as anything concerning infected beasts is shared immediately with Alamina."

"Agreed."

"Saha too," Nero added.

Amaru looked at him.

"You have infected beasts?"

"No. I dislike being excluded."

Dean stared.

Nero smiled.

Arion ignored him. "Joint access can be written into the agreement."

Amaru relaxed slightly.

"I want my obligations written just as clearly as yours."

"They will be," Arion said.

"I am not returning to Draxil as anyone’s installed king."

"No one asked you to."

"Not yet."

Dean liked him more for saying it.

A desperate man would have accepted troops, money, and a crown before asking what they cost.

Amaru had been awake less than a day and was already demanding contractual boundaries from two kingdoms capable of putting armies behind him.

"We draft it," Dean said. "You review it with whoever you choose. Independent counsel if you want it."

"I do."

"Good."

Nero tapped one finger against his knee.

"Then we have another problem."

Dean looked toward him.

"What?"

"How do we make him exist again?"

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