Chapter 11 #2
Baralt asked more questions. Specifics about the route, about the other captives, and about Tess’s escape.
She listened and tried not to let the details drag her back to her own memories—the hold that had been dark instead of cold, the cages that had been smaller, the hands that had grabbed her and the voice that had told her to stop screaming because no one could hear her anyway.
Different ship. Different planet. I’m not there anymore.
Izzie returned with cups of something that smelled spiced and sweet. Polly took hers gratefully, focusing on the heat seeping into her palms, the curl of steam against her face, and the sweet sharp taste when she took a careful sip.
I’m here now, she reminded herself. In a warm house, with Njkall a few feet away, and Tess being brave beside her.
“That’s enough for now,” Baralt said at last. He set the tablet aside and gave Tess a respectful nod. “You’ve got good eyes and a good memory. That’s not easy, remembering details when you’re scared.”
Tess’s mouth twisted. “Fear’s a hell of a teacher.”
“It is.” Baralt glanced at Njkall. “I have an idea about the ship. A few captains have been flagged for suspicious activity in the past season, and one of them matches the general description.” He turned back to Tess.
“I need to investigate before I can confirm anything. But if I find something, you’ll be the first to know. ”
“What happens if you find them?” Tess asked. “What happens to the people who had me?”
“If they’re stupid enough to come back to Hothrest, they’ll face Hothian justice.” Baralt’s voice went hard and cold in a way that reminded her that he’d been a gladiator once. That he’d killed for sport before he’d killed for duty. “And Hothian justice isn’t gentle with illegal slavers.”
Satisfaction flickered across Tess’s face, followed by something darker. “Good.”
Izzie cleared her throat, and smiled at Tess. “I understand you want to leave Hothrest. Have you thought about where you want to go? Once you leave here?”
Tess blinked. “Somewhere warm. Somewhere that isn’t—” She gestured vaguely. “Here.”
“I was afraid you were going to say Earth,” Izzie said quietly.
“I don’t think I could. Not now. Not after everything.”
The three of them exchanged glances, the same knowledge passing between them. They couldn’t go back to who they had been before.
“There are a few planets that might suit you,” Baralt said thoughtfully. “Safe places, or as safe as anywhere gets.”
“Like where?” Tess asked, her expression a mixture of hope and suspicion.
“Sherae, for one.” Baralt pulled something up on his tablet. “It’s an ocean world with a warm climate, and a number of small islands. They’ve got strict laws against slavery. It’s not perfect, but it’s better than most.”
“That’s Athtar’s home base,” Njkall added. “And his mate is human.”
Tess raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that?”
“She was here on Hothrest for a while.”
“Sherae,” Tess said slowly. “Ocean world. Warm.”
“I can send a message to Athtar, if you want,” Baralt offered. “To let them know you’re coming, and see if they can help you get settled.”
“I—” Tess stopped. For the first time since Polly had met her, she looked uncertain instead of angry. “I’ll think about it.”
“Take your time. There’s no rush.” Izzie reached out and patted her arm, quickly pulling her hand back when Tess tensed. “Sorry. But really, you don’t have to decide anything today. You’re safe here. That’s what matters.”
Safe. Polly turned the word over in her mind.
A year ago, she hadn’t believed in safe.
Safe was a lie people told themselves, a pretty story that shattered the moment someone stronger decided to take what they wanted.
But she was beginning to think that safe was something you could build.
Piece by piece. Day by day. Out of people who showed up when they said they would and kept the promises they made.
“Thank you,” Tess said stiffly. “For the information.”
“Thank you for sharing your information with me.” Baralt rose, massive and somehow not threatening despite his size. “I’ll be in touch. Njkall, a word before you go?”
The two males stepped aside, their voices dropping to a low murmur she couldn’t quite catch. She watched Njkall nod and saw Baralt’s expression shift into something grim, and wondered what they were discussing that they didn’t want the women to hear.
Izzie appeared at her elbow. “How are you doing, Polly? Really?”
She considered lying, but decided it wasn’t worth the effort. “Right now, I’m scared. But better than I expected, most of the time.”
“That’s good.” Izzie smiled. “You’ve come a long way from the girl I met last year.”
“I have. Thanks to Njkall.”
“I know he helped, but don’t give him all the credit.”
Before she could respond, Njkall was back at her side. “Ready?”
She almost said yes. The word was right there, but she wasn’t ready to go home yet. Not quite.
“Actually,” she said, and her voice only wavered a little, “I want to see the jewelry shop. The one that sells my work. Could we… Would you take me there?”
Njkall froze for a moment before smiling down at her with a fierce tender pride that made her heart skip a beat.
“Yes,” he said. “Of course.”
They left Tess at Baralt’s house with Izzie, who promised to keep her company until they returned.
The streets of Port Eyeja opened up before them, busier now than they’d been an hour ago.
She huddled deeper into her fur-lined cloak, and she made herself keep walking even when her skin prickled with the awareness of unfamiliar eyes.
The market sprawled across a broad square near the town’s center.
Stalls filled the space, draped with goods from a dozen worlds—fabrics and metals and preserved foods and things she couldn’t identify.
Braziers burned between the stall, throwing heat into the cold air, and people moved between them in loose chaotic streams.
Njkall walked beside her, matching his pace to hers and keeping enough distance that she didn’t feel crowded but close enough that she could feel the warmth of his body through the cold.
He’d promised not to hover, and he wasn’t hovering.
But he was there, solid and steady, a fixed point she could orient herself by when the world threatened to spin.
A feline merchant called out to them as they passed, gesturing at a display of shimmering cloth.
She flinched at the sudden voice, and Njkall’s hand brushed her elbow, gone before she could decide if she wanted more.
But the brief touch grounded her, reminding her of where she was and who she was with.
“The shop is ahead,” he said. “Corner of the square, near the furrier.”
The shop had a modest storefront with a carved wooden sign above the door, the symbols unfamiliar but the window display recognizable.
Pieces of jewelry, arranged on dark velvet, caught the light from the braziers.
She spotted one of her pieces immediately, a pendant she’d made three months ago from polished bone and blue-black obsidian, strung on braided leather.
Someone would buy it. Someone she would never meet, wearing something she’d made with her own hands.
“Do you want to go in?” Njkall asked.
She thought about it. The shop would be small and enclosed. There might be other customers, strangers who would look at her and see—what? A small human female with no obvious protection? A victim waiting to happen?
No. They would see a customer. A woman shopping with her…
companion, she supposed, because she couldn’t quite bring herself to call him something more.
A woman who had every right to be there, who made things beautiful enough to sell, and who was learning piece by piece to take up space in a world that had once tried to erase her.
“Next time,” she said. “Right now I just wanted to see it. To know it was real.”
Njkall nodded. He didn’t push or question. He just accepted her answer and let her stand there looking at her work in the window with the market bustling around them and the cold wind biting at her cheeks.
“I could get used to this,” she said quietly, even though she hadn’t meant to say it out loud.
“To what?”
“This.” She gestured vaguely at the square, the stalls, the whole impossible chaotic mess of it. “Being here. With you. Not yet. And not all the time. But I can see it. I couldn’t before. I couldn’t imagine wanting to be anywhere outside the caves, and now I can see it.”
She looked up at him. His face was unreadable, but those impossibly blue eyes were looking at her with an intensity that made her breath catch.
“I see it too,” he said.
And standing there in the middle of the market with fear still humming in her veins and the kiss from this morning still burning on her lips, that future seemed closer than ever before.