Chapter 11
CHAPTER 11
Jacaranda
“ O kay, I think I’m good for now,” Sarah gasped.
“Quitter,” I teased, as the three of us lay side by side after our marathon of sex.
She giggled adorably. “Yeah, maybe.”
We were all too worn out to move. I was actually grateful that she didn’t want to go again. In all honesty, I was tired to my ghost.
“I need food,” Deacon said, and I heard his stomach growl hungrily. “And I don’t want to eat here. I don’t know if it would be poisoned.”
“It wouldn’t be,” Sarah assured him. “They don’t want to kill Rex.”
I turned my head to look at her. “We don’t know if it would.”
“Whatever.” She blew off my concern.
I didn’t like her blasé attitude, and Omen’s worries about her growing fond of Rex came back to me once again. “And if we don’t know if it would, then his staff definitely doesn’t know. So they might try to poison you , Sarah,” I added.
She yawned and stretched lazily. “I guess.”
Deacon sat up, his brows furrowed in equal concern as he eyed Sarah. “You told me we were leaving after , right?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Then can we get going?” he said, trying to move things along. “I do not like being here in Rex’s manor and territory any longer than needed.”
“Seconded,” I chimed in.
“But this bed is so comfortable,” she whined, and trailed her fingers down my abdomen.
I caught her wrist before she could distract me. “You promised,” I said, more firmly this time.
“Fine,” she huffed.
We were all weary, but we each took a quick shower, cleaned up, and dressed. Sarah didn’t put up another excuse, which was a relief. After a while, she seemed like herself again, aside from being tired.
I took her hand in mine and kissed it, before we left Rex’s bedroom. “We can have breakfast on Sovereign .”
As we walked down the halls, Deacon asked conversationally, “Your replicators were repaired?”
“I think so. We’ll have to check with Treg.”
“I thought he was repairing the scrubbers,” Sarah noted.
“She needed a lot of repairs,” I said ruefully, of my older ship. “Hopefully, there will be breakfast. If not—"
A crowd of armed men blocked the hall we had turned down, bringing us to an abrupt stop. Helios stood in front of them and announced, “I waited until midmorning, as ordered. We are here to negotiate the release of our master.”
Sarah smiled politely. “I will be releasing him after all of us are on board Sovereign . Not a moment sooner.”
Helios eyed us carefully. “Let my master speak for himself.”
She sighed in annoyance, but concentrated. Her body trembled as she tipped her head to the side. Then Rex’s head was there, creepy as fuck, like the day before.
“Let them pass unharmed,” Rex said, much too reasonably. “I agree to her terms. Do not, under any circumstances, retaliate against any of her people. We will handle this matter diplomatically.”
“Very well, master.” Helios executed a slight bow, and the men lined the sides of the hall, opening a space for us.
Sarah took control back, her head upright, then she led the way down the hall.
Deacon glanced at me, his expression disturbed. “That will never not be weird.”
I couldn’t agree more.
We followed behind Sarah as we walked through the manor and out onto the estate. When Deacon and I stepped onto Sovereign , everyone was already on board. It was good to be on my ship again, but I went no further than the passenger entry and waited by the door, where Sarah was the last to step in.
Omen stood by, as well. Sarah started up the ramp, like she was going to enter the ship, but before she could step onboard I stopped her. “Did you forget something?" I prompted, giving her a subtle reminder to release Rex, as she said she would.
“Oh, right,” she said, then closed her eyes.
She looked as though she was having an internal conversation with herself, or with her dark passenger, which I didn’t like at all. Then her body shook much harder than before. Rex appeared to step from her, his eyes wide as he came back to his ghost form outside her body.
Sarah nodded to him. “I will send a messenger with my terms.”
“I look forward to it.” He glanced beyond her, to Deacon and me. “Are you sure you don’t want me to come along? I’d like a word with Deacon—"
Omen unceremoniously pushed him off the ship and he fell onto the ground next to the onramp, while I slammed the door shut, sealing him outside, where he belonged. Now that Sarah had parted ways with Rex, there was no way I was allowing him on my ship, for any reason at all.
Omen turned to Sarah and knelt, bowing her head. “It is so good to have you back, my queen.”
“Stop kneeling,” Sarah said, looking flustered by the show of adoration. “I told you before to just call me Sarah. No more pomp, okay, Omen?”
Omen stood and the corners of her mouth tugged upward. “I’ll try.”
The other conduits stood from their kneeling position, as well. I hadn’t noticed they were in the hall. Sarah was surprised to see them, too. “You came for me?”
“You are our queen,” Abyss said, coming forward. “I am ashamed of the sisters who did not come with us.”
But Sarah shook her head. “Do not be ashamed of them. This is a new world with big changes. It’s okay to hesitate and think things through sometimes.” Then she yawned and turned to me. “I need a nap.”
I smiled at her. “Go to my quarters. You and Deacon can get some food and sleep. I’ll drive.”
“Can’t anyone else drive?” she asked. “You need food and a nap, too.”
“I don’t let anyone else drive Sovereign . Not when I can help it. Go on, now.”
She kissed me, causing the three conduits to startle and gasp. Then Deacon did the same, before they left for my quarters.
Abyss grinned and said, “Big changes indeed.”
I chuckled on my way to the cockpit. I’d always thought it was a shame that Ladrians weren’t in the habit of kissing. I had learned it from humans on my scouting missions to Earth. The first time I had kissed a Ladrian, she thought I was trying to consume her face. It just wasn’t done in our culture. Even Deacon was initially weirded out when he told me Sarah had shown him kissing.
I laughed at the memory of when his voice cracked when he said, “Her tongue was in my mouth!”
Treg sat in the passenger seat next to my pilot chair, firing up the engines for me. “All good, scrubbers have been repaired.”
I gave him a teasing smile. “Thank you. Ready to stop being a saint?”
He chuckled, which sent his gelatinous body jiggling. “I don’t think anyone has ever accused me of being one of those before. Tiger is far more creative than I ever gave him credit for.”
I nodded in agreement while I flipped the driver switches and got us into the air. “Part of me wonders if having Kapok on board…stifled him somehow.”
“Because Kapok always took charge?”
I nodded. “He was his senior officer.”
Treg laughed. “He would have smacked the taste out of your mouth for that lofty title.”
“Yeah, he would have.” I missed my old friend, and a small amount of grief passed through me at his senseless death. “No one has heard from his ghost yet, have they?”
“No,” he said with a sigh. “But who knows? Maybe his was already taken to the ether. It can happen that fast, I’ve heard.”
We cruised through the city of Faithless and found the gates already open for us. “If anyone needed some time to contemplate life, it was Kapok. I can’t imagine the ether thought he was ready to be reborn any time soon.”
“True enough,” Treg said somberly.
I cast a glance in his direction. “So, are you in the cockpit for a reason other than ship updates?”
Treg took a breath and held it for a beat, before he blurted, “I’ve been thinking about asking Ode to unite with me.”
I laughed. “It’s about damn time.” Once we cleared the gates, I pushed the lever to lift the ship over the forest.
“Do you think she’ll say yes?” Treg asked hopefully.
“Ode Hrimp is…she’s a unique woman,” I said, setting the navigation toward Halla. “I’ve known her for years and just when I think I’ve got her figured out, she surprises the shit out of me. So, to be honest, I can’t say. What I can tell you is that she’s young and she likes keeping her options open. But I’ve never seen her as happy as I’ve seen her with you.”
He took a deep breath, his expression nervous. “I don’t know…I know interspecies unions are frowned on in Orhon and it would damage her social standing—"
I laughed harder this time. “She doesn’t give a shit about any of that.”
“I’m a Gorrk , Jac. I know how classed Ladrians look at us.”
That was a fear I could easily relate to. “Speaking as a Ladrian who has been looked down on my whole life, being unclassed, being a lowly scout, all that, their opinions are pure cina waste. The classed are just like everyone else, but with more money. It doesn’t make them better than you.”
“No shit. I’m not worried about that,” he said, surprising me. “I’m worried about how it could affect her future. If she decides she’s tired of living on this ship and wants to work at a hospital on Orhon…”
I sighed. I knew how that sentence would end. Slowly, I nodded my head, finally understanding his concern. Ode had the skills to work as a chief surgeon or head of any department, and doctors were not bound to lifetime employments like other people were. Doctors were too needed to be tied down like that, so she was free to go wherever she wanted. But not with a Gorrk companion. No hospital on Orhon would allow such a thing.
I tried to be logical, for his sake. “I think you should talk to her about what she wants in her future, before you ask her to unite. It would put your mind at ease, one way or the other.”
“I think I will,” he said, sounding somewhat relieved with my advice. “Thanks, Jac.”
“Anytime.”
I flew us back to Halla, trying not to imagine what a half-Ladrian, half-Gorrk child would look like. Or how it would be birthed. Half-Ladrian, half-human children looked like one or the other, usually taking after the mother. But I had never seen a Gorrk mate with anyone but other Gorrks. Are Gorrks born or do they hatch out of something? It was an amusing question I pondered on the rest of the ride home.
We landed next to Allegiant on the west side of Valor’s property, near Sarah’s new cottage. I had never been happier to see that angry ghost as we landed. Valor used a bone to pound on the passenger door, so I opened it up.
A furious boom of, “Where is my son?” filled the ship.
Deacon appeared from my quarters, looking contrite. “Father, I am sorry. Things were…tense, and I had to get to Sarah. But I am completely healed, thanks to Rex’s personal doctor, so you need not worry yourself any longer about my health,” he assured his father.
Valor settled down some and looked Sarah over, concern flickering in his eyes. “How are you feeling after your ordeal?”
“Exhausted,” she admitted, and exhaled a weary breath. “More than I ever have been. If you don’t mind, I’d like to steal my companions away for a very long nap.”
He smiled and moved back, giving us room to disembark. “Of course. If there’s anything else you need, do not hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you,” she replied kindly.
But when we headed to her cottage, the other conduits came to her. It was strange…unlike when she had spoken to Omen and Abyss, Sarah seemed to withdraw between me and Deacon. Almost like she was scared of the other conduits, which didn’t make sense.
“…yes, that’s fine,” she assured them when they’d offered to help in any way they could to see to her comfort. “I just…I need rest. Please make yourselves useful to Valor or do whatever it is you need to do. I must sleep.”
They nodded and drifted away, so we went into the cottage, just the three of us. The parlor was much like Valor’s, with comfortable furniture and few decorations. It was open to the kitchen, and off the back, there were the bedrooms. Almost no halls—no wasted space.
Sarah sighed as she looked around.
Deacon stepped up beside her. “What is it?”
Her lips pursed. “It’s just so small compared to the manor.”
“If you would like some additions, I am sure they—"
“No, it’s fine,” she said sharply, then gave us a startled look, as if her own snappy tone surprised even her. “Sorry. I’m so tired.”
Deacon caught my eye. His brow furrowed slightly, as if asking my opinion on that mood swing. I didn’t like what I was seeing, and for now I kept things calm and said, “Why don’t we take that nap?”
Instead of heading for the bedroom, Sarah sat on one of the padded benches in the parlor. “Rex said something I can’t get out of my head. He said I cannot kill him in a way that matters. Does that mean anything to you two?”
I took a chair opposite from her, and Deacon joined her on the padded bench. He turned to her and said, “I heard him tell you that before you got onto his ship. It struck me oddly, as well. Jac?”
Deacon glanced at me for answers, and I considered what Rex might have meant. “Maybe because he’ll be sent to the ether to be reborn?” I offered. “But that doesn’t make any sense—that’s what happens to all of us.”
“So you can kill everyone else in ways that matter, but not Rex?” she asked, annoyance flashing in her eyes.
“You’re right,” I said, acknowledging her point. “It doesn’t make any sense.”
She huffed. “I swear, I should just cut my throat and be done with it.”
Deacon and I shot each other a look of alarm, before he said, “The fuck are you talking about?”
Her posture stiffened up, and she glared at Deacon. “That’s what you would like, isn’t it, my boy?” she said, her voice her own, but the words were not. “If I wasn’t a problem for you anymore? Maybe you could do it for me, like the last time.”
A chill shot up my spine as I peered into her normally warm brown eyes. But they were dark and cold. “Sarah, what are you saying?”
She blinked and looked at each of us in turn. Her shoulders slumped and her voice broke. “I…I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m saying. I’m sorry—I’m so tired.” She rubbed her forehead. “I just need a lot of sleep after everything, but I need to figure out a plan to deal with Rex, and I’m frustrated, and—"
Deacon took her hand in his, his touch gentle. “Whatever you need, we are here for you.”
“I’m sorry, guys,” she whispered.
I tried to smile and failed. She suddenly looked so scared, and I had no idea why. “It’ll be alright, Sarah. Let’s get you to bed.”
She nodded and we trundled off toward the bedroom. Once we had undressed and had her between us, her body started to relax, which made me be able to do the same.
Deacon kissed her cheek and softly asked, “Is this better?”
She yawned. “Yeah,” she said sleepily.
I stroked her soft hair. “Do you think Rex—"
She roughly growled, “I’ll be back to kill you all!”
Deacon and I jerked away from Sarah, but she didn’t notice. She seemed to drift off to sleep as if she hadn’t just threatened us, and we extricated ourselves from her, leaving her in the middle of the bed.
I wanted to look at Deacon’s face, to see if he was okay after that, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Sarah, who abruptly sat up, blinked rapidly, and started to cry.
“I can’t…he’s still in my head,” she sobbed in despair, covering her face with her hands. “I don’t know what I’m doing.”