41. Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven
L yra
The ship is big, and I’m turned around. I’m not sure how to get to Vartan’s cabin and I’m afraid to ask. I’m not exactly sure what’s going on, but I know everyone’s mad at him for making me bleed down there. What they don’t know, and I can’t seem to make them understand, is that it’s all my fault.
I consider exploring the ship, but I don’t want to get lost. Nor do I want to run into all the people I haven’t been introduced to yet. Look what happened already today, and these were the Earth females who I thought might become my friends. I didn’t handle things well. I may have clothes on, but in my head I’m still a pet.
There’s a knock on my door, but I don’t know how to open it without walking to it and palming the plate.
“Vartan!” I exclaim with relief as I run into his arms. He sidesteps so quickly I almost crash against a wall. When I regain my balance, I move toward him, slower this time.
“I’d like to talk,” he says, looking so serious I imagine it’s the expression he wore when he entered the arena to fight Otol.
“Okay.”
A moment later, we’re sitting across the table from each other in the corner of my room. When I reach out to hold his hand, he pulls away and places it in his lap.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, my stomach knotting in fear. I know the females wanted him to be punished for what he did to me. Is he here to tell me he’s leaving the ship?
“Nothing is wrong, Lyra. Except what I did to you on Hyperion. Let me apologize one more time. I was stupid and inexperienced, although that’s not an excuse. If it’s okay with you, though, I’d like us to move on from that.”
I nod, never happier to leave something in the past.
“Other than that, everything is good. I’m here on the Fool’s Errand until we meet up again with the Devil’s Playground . Until then I’m going to pull my weight. I’m going to teach a few courses on fighting with the long sword and will help in the hydroponics lab. In my free time, I’d like to help you.”
He’s searching my face for my agreement.
“Help me what?”
“Because of your upbringing, you’ve missed a lot of basics. I never again want you to feel like a pet. To do that, I think you’ll feel better if you get a well-rounded education. I never got the chance to go for advanced learning; the slavers stole me from Dauphus before that. With the basic education I received before my abduction, I’d like to oversee your education.”
“Tell me more.” Did I just demand something from him? It felt good. Very un-pet-like.
“With your permission, I’d like to get Dahlia to teach you to read. Perhaps Callista could help you learn comms. Maddie can teach you some basics in the kitchen. Shadow can instruct you in laser weapons. Zar can help you with the gladius , the three- fierto sword. Stryker can teach you hand-to-hand, and I can teach you the long sword.”
I was following along well until he mentioned Stryker. When I pictured being in hand-to-hand combat with the huge red warrior, my brain froze.
“Stryker? Hand-to-hand?”
“Not if you don’t want that. You can pick and choose. Savannah knows sewing and is a mechanic. Petra can teach you how to climb a rope in the ludus ; that female can dance on the rope near the rafters. Dax can help you learn how to sculpt wood like the picture on the dining hall wall, or how to work leather and make your own shoes. Just tell me where you want to start.”
Pictures fly through my mind. I see myself in the kitchen or sewing or crafting leather. All very exciting. The fighting scares me and appeals to me in equal measure. But it’s the reading that captures me the most. I’d always dreamed of being able to read a book like Master did. He told me the words allowed him to go to faraway places he could never travel to in real life.
“Reading,” I say boldly, not shying from his gaze. “I want to start there.”
“I’ll speak with Dahlia first thing after I make sure you have lunch.”
He smiles at me, his red eyes revealing his true feelings for the first time since he entered my cabin. They’re warm, affectionate.
“One more thing,” his voice is hesitant.
“Yes?”
“I wrecked things between us. They’re broken. Sometimes when things are shattered you should just jettison them, but what could be between us? It’s too precious to throw away. Or should I say it could be precious?
“I want to start over. To do that, I don’t want to touch you Lyra. If something blossoms between us, I want it to start from the neck up. Do you understand?”
“The neck up?”
“I’m attracted to you. Very. But your feelings about me? You described them as grateful. You deserve to discover yourself first so you can discern your true feelings later. Perhaps in time you’ll feel more than gratitude toward me.
“And me? I deserve someone who cares about me as a male, not as a protector. Not a rescuer. Not someone she’s grateful to. But as a real flesh and blood male worthy of love and respect. If that’s going to happen, we start as friends. Friends who don’t touch.”
I put my elbow on the table and my chin in my palm, then I inspect him. His markings don’t scare me anymore, I passed that stage days ago. I find him attractive, that’s no secret. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I only see him as a protector. Perhaps what he’s suggesting is smart. Maybe we should start fresh.
“ D ahlia, my brain aches,” I whine.
Her laugh is deep, throaty, and genuine. “I know. It’s hard to learn to read. Here.” She reaches across the table and turns off the computer pad I was using. “All work and no play make Lyra a dull girl. There’s only so much you can absorb in a day. Check that out.”
She points out the row of windows at the mass of stars bathed in a purple and blue haze far to our right. We’re in the solarium. It’s an oblong room at the back of the ship that’s ringed with windows. The view is spectacular.
“That’s a nebula,” she says.
“It’s beautiful.”
“That’s what I think, too. After we fought for our freedom, one of the first things I did was hop on the Intergalactic Database. I discovered it’s a clump of dust and gases that get so big they can ultimately become a star. Fascinating, huh? Someday you’ll be able to look up anything you want on the Database. You can find the answer to any question there.
“I’ll work with you every day. I’ll stick with you until your brain hurts, then we’ll call it a day.”
“Thanks for being so generous with your time,” I tell her. No one’s ever wanted me to learn anything before, or help me for that matter. They just wanted me to shut up and sit at Master’s feet.
When Vartan walked me to Dahlia’s cabin for my lesson, she kissed Dax, her mate. When she walked away, he swatted her bottom and laughed. Master and Mistress never acted like that. I wonder what it would be like to have a mate I could laugh with.
“Since your brain hurts, it’s a good thing you won’t have to use it much where you’re going. I’m to take you to the hydroponics lab.”
The lab is in the belly of the ship, the same floor where they keep the cargo. The cargo area is dingy and poorly lit, but when the double doors to the lab open, it’s like we’re stepping into another world.
The room is bright and filled with rows and rows of white plastic tubing with holes that surround flourishing lush, green plants.
“Good afternoon!” It’s Vartan wearing just his loincloth. He’s one handsome male with all that red and gold flesh covering muscles I can testify are hard as stone. It’s amazing how fast he heals. All the star-shaped wounds have scabbed over into little more than a pattern of dots. “How’d she do, Dahlia?”
“It’s hard to be an adult learner but Lyra’s bright, she’s going to pick things up fast. She’ll get the hang of it.”
I feel like purring when she describes me like that. Bright? Me? I imagine she’s just being kind, then I scold myself. I’m not a pet anymore. If Dahlia called me bright, maybe it’s true.
“What time do you want to meet tomorrow?” She’s looking straight at me, not Vartan. She’s making an appointment with me ! People have always talked around me as if I weren’t really there. I make arrangements, assuming Vartan can help me get there at the right time.
After she leaves, Vartan says, “Bright, huh? I knew that. Come.”
I follow him down the rows as he explains the process of growing produce in water rather than soil. It smells clean in here and I love the bright lights, white tubing, and green plants. It’s pretty.
Vartan tells me that a female named Star oversees both labs, one here and one on the Devil’s Playground . Both ships now grow many of their own vegetables, herbs for cooking, and some fruit. She and her mate, Ar’Tok split their time between the two ships. Vartan thought he could be of help here since Star is on the Playground .
He shows me where they keep the chemicals that provide the nutrients for the fragile plant roots. “Soon you’ll be able to read the names and amounts of the chemicals so you can measure them correctly and put them in the water. In the meantime, you can talk to the plants.”
He’s smiling. He’s even more handsome than usual when he smiles.
“Talk? To the plants?”
“Yes. The plants here and on the Playground know all my secrets.”
I realize I don’t know much about the handsome male at my side. He sheathed himself in me, but I barely know who he is. I silently vow to myself to learn more about him—maybe even some of his secrets.
“Make yourself at home while I finish up. Star keeps a secret stash of pretty flowers down this row.” He points. “You’ll like it back there.”
I wander in the direction he pointed and the first thing that assaults me is the scent. We had the flowering mellaberry bush in our backyard on Hyperion, but it didn’t smell as heavenly as this.
There’s no white tubing here, either. These flowers are planted in rich, dark soil.
I remember when I first came to live with Master and Mistress and they let me out into the backyard, I went straight for the spade that was sticking up out of the soil. After only a few moments, I was covered in dirt. When Mistress found me, she slapped my face hard, used a hose to wash me, and said she never should have let Master bring me home. She locked me in my room for what felt like days until Master let me out.
I’ve never put my hands in the dirt since.
I sit on a little stool stashed between flower beds. Perhaps it’s to make it comfortable to tend or pluck the blooms. A fierce argument rages in my head. I don’t want to get my hands dirty, even though I know I’m a grown female and am far away from Mistress and Hyperion.
Reason finally wins out. And curiosity. I sink my fingers into the rich loam, then bring a handful to my nose to smell it.
The thought slams into me that over the next annum I’m going to find out what I was made to do. Vartan said it before he left me in that hotel room, but I finally understand the gravity of what he meant. I get to sample as many possibilities as I want, and then I’ll have the privilege to find the thing that calls to my soul and do it forever.
Hot tears prick my eyes at the thought of all the promise that’s ahead of me.
“There you are,” Vartan’s voice is relaxed as he approaches. “I figured you’d like it back here. Quiet, fragrant, beautiful. Oh, and the flowers are pretty, too.”
Was he kidding with me? Like Dax and Dahlia? Maybe everything will work out.
V artan
“How are things going?” Shadow asks after he enters my cabin.
“I’ve been working in the hydroponics—”
“I should have been more clear. How are things going with you and Lyra?”
“These last few weeks have been good. I’ve taught her some things in hydroponics. Dahlia says she’s already reading at the first-grade level, whatever that means. Dahlia seems pleased, and Lyra is ecstatic.
“Dax is helping her make a leather bag to carry over her shoulder, so she has everything she needs as she goes from lesson to lesson. She’s learned how to—”
“Stop! Maybe I wasn’t clear enough. I’ve watched you two together. You have feelings for each other. Zar’s touching prohibition? How is that going?”
“Are you checking up on me? Wondering if I’ve broken the rule? I respect Zar and every male and female on this ship too much to violate their trust.” I try to stifle my outrage at his suggestion that I’ve cheated.
“Sorry, that came out fucked up. I love that Earther curse word. Eventually, you’re going to be allowed to touch again. It didn’t sound like it went so well last time. Want some pointers?”
My jaw locks and I give him a flaming look. From one gladiator to another, it’s a clear message to back the drack up or prepare to get pounded.
I hear he doesn’t fight in arenas anymore, perhaps that’s why he plunges ahead rather than shutting the fuck up as he would say. Perhaps he’s itching for a fight.
“All I’m saying, Vartan, is that when you touch her, it should shake her world. My mate, Petra, told me she didn’t know what an orgasm was.” He lifts an eyebrow. “After one night with you, virgin or not, she should . She should know. Have you ever been with a female who wasn’t paid for?”
“No.” My fists ball at my sides and I use every ounce of self-control I have not to headbutt him. If I wasn’t already in so much trouble, I’d pound him to the floor right now. He’s not a Charthian, I could take him in a fair fight.
My jaw is quivering in rage when Shadow says, “I was a playboy before I was forced into slavery. I know tricks. With a female like Lyra, you won’t need tricks, Vartan. Just information. She looks at you like you dusted the sky with stars.”
I take long, deep breaths through my nose, calming myself enough to realize I have a lot to learn and Shadow just might be the male to teach me.
My pride was feeling a bit bruised, but that last bit about how Lyra looks at me helped me feel less judged.
He opens his fisted hand and lets a rare barta fruit from Maddie’s kitchen roll onto the table.
“Watch the master,” he says with a devilish smile as he pulls a small knife from its hiding place in his knee-high black boot.
After cutting it and pulling the two halves apart, he discards the oval pit which reveals glistening pink flesh. “Imagine this is your female’s xizca .”
My irritation disappears one minima later after he gives me a guided tour of the private space between a female’s legs using the fruit as a visual demonstration.
“I know what it’s like to be given a female for a few minimas after a win. A male can be so starved for sex and in such a hurry, the last thing on his mind is an anatomy lesson—or his partner’s pleasure. And prostitutes? You’re paying for it. Their enjoyment should be of no concern to you.”
He winks at me, which is an odd picture since one of his eyes is prosthetic. “Lyra’s different, brother. Right?”
“Absolutely,” I agree, then lean closer to watch what he does with his tongue, his lips, his mouth, and his chin.
“You try it,” Shadow indicates the other half of the barta with his juice-covered chin, then instructs me on the finer points of when to point my tongue, when to use the flat of it, when to press harder, and when to give her a minima to breathe. He teaches me to listen to her body, to observe subtle cues like the noises she makes or the tension in her muscles.
“She’ll like this?” I lift the ripe pink fruit toward him.
“It’s your job to not only make her like this. You need to make her love it. No. Not love it, become addicted to it. Do it right and your female will beg for it, or if she’s like my Petra, she’ll demand it. And if your female deserves you, she’ll reward you in a thousand wonderful ways.”
His eyebrow wings up toward his hairline in a lascivious gesture shared only with other males.
“A good female like Lyra will try to push you away. She’ll be embarrassed. That’s why it’s your job to act as if you’ve done this a hundred times. Only when you’re done—and by done I mean she’s screamed with pleasure at least three times—should you say anything about how she looks down there. She’ll be shy and unsure. When you do say something, be sure and express how pretty she is, and that she tastes better than Paragon cake. Got it?”
“Got it? Are you crazy? I’m committing everything you say to memory.”
“Good male! Later in your relationship you can sometimes skip the barta -eating step, but not until you’ve mastered what comes later in the program.”
“And that is?”
“One step at a time, brother.” He takes a bite out of his half of the barta and strides out of my cabin after tossing a wicked grin over his shoulder.