Chapter 22 #2
You didn’t gamble with someone else’s life, least of all a young one seeking a forever home and a place to belong.
Sadly, I went through a somewhat dark phase where I didn’t immediately resume matchmaking but instead took on the type of missions for the Enforcers that I always said I didn’t want to perform.
Although it disturbed Linsea, she understood and supported me within reason, while reminding me not to lose myself over grief.
But performing rescue missions, especially ones where hostages were taken, or mass shooting scenarios where countless lives were on the line seriously helped me work through my guilt.
Although I knew better, I couldn’t help feeling like I failed my child by not finding a cure. These tangible actions allowing me to save numerous lives soothed my sense of inadequacy. People got to live because of specific things I did.
With time—and a hefty dose of therapy—I finally found my way back to the light.
In a way, every woman I matched became a daughter to me.
Often, I would picture that these women were in fact my Thea facing a similar plight.
It drove me to try even harder to do right by them and grant them the happiness they deserved.
The months gave way to years. And three decades later, Linsea and I were living the dream careers we aspired to back in university.
As the number of my successful matches increased, so did my influence.
With my mate becoming one of the most respected ambassadors for the UPO, we were a force to be reckoned with.
My Linsea turned out to be a genius in pointing me to various programs that I could leverage to help the couples I matched.
In other cases, she was the mastermind pulling the strings in the shadows to launch programs that didn’t exist but that completely turned around the challenging circumstances of certain species.
One such amazing success had been helping make the Daughters of Meterion program come true. Despite my previous meddling in other pairings, the UPO initially tried to give me a hard time over some of the dowries I wanted to send.
By then, Colin had moved on to even higher spheres of the Enforcers.
Thankfully, his son Tedrick took over his previous role—which slightly evolved over the years.
It had been strange going from being his Uncle Kai to now having him in a senior position over me—although that was unofficial as I technically wasn’t a member of either the UPO or the Enforcers.
Still, Tedrick filled me with pride. Contrary to the vitriol spewed by jealous people, he hadn’t inherited his role.
He worked his ass off and earned every accolade and promotions he received.
He shared the same vision for the two organizations as his father did.
But he’d been even more die-hard in building his core team of trusted collaborators and agents.
I’d just found a match for Susan, a delightful young woman raised on Meterion—a farming colony—and doomed to a life of hardship simply because she was a third daughter and therefore deemed a burden.
She’d been quite troubled to be paired with an Andturian named Olix—a lizardman species that had fallen on hard times.
When I presented the dowry list for Susan, the UPO started balking. I was on my way to Xecania, the Andturian homeworld when I received a vidcom request from Tedrick. I was already chuckling even as I accepted the call.
“Kayog, up to mischief again?” Tedrick asked in a falsely severe tone, in lieu of greeting.
“When am I not?” I deadpanned.
He snorted, and his handsome face—so similar to his father’s—softened. He ran a hand over his short black hair and leveled his gray eyes on me.
“The UPO is breathing down my neck over your latest requests,” Tedrick said in a more serious tone.
“I know you like to push the limits for the sake of your clients, but you know what major risks are involved whenever you introduce new plants or animals in a foreign ecosystem. That’s a lot of seeds you want shipped to Xecania.
Those seeds produce plants that are not local to that environment. ”
“Of course, and as you undoubtedly guessed, I didn’t do so lightly,” I said in a reassuring tone. “Our science department went over all the seeds I proposed to make sure none of them would be a threat to that planet.”
“I suspected as much. So thank you for confirming it. However, I’m having a much harder time justifying you including reezia berry seeds in the order,” Tedrick said. “This is not a fruit either humans or Andturians normally consume.”
“No,” I conceded. “Nor is it for them.”
He stiffened and immediately narrowed his eyes at me. “Then why would you include it?”
“Because the Bozengi refugees would be keenly interested in them,” I said with a shrug.
“We cannot meddle in the local population’s affairs. You know that,” Tedrick said, his voice hardening.
“Nor am I,” I retorted with the most dishonest innocent face.
“I’m providing a variety of safe seeds for a gifted farmer to grow on that world.
It is up to Susan whether she does it or not.
But if she’s wise, she could use them in a way that could significantly help her new people.
The decision will be entirely hers and the Andturians to make. Therefore, no rule has been broken.”
“You’re playing a dangerous game, Kayog,” he said, looking troubled.
“Xecania has the potential of becoming the food pantry of the galaxy while giving back to its people control of their own planet. The Andturians are on the verge of starvation while sitting on some of the most fertile agricultural lands in the entire sector. I’m merely giving them the tools to set them on that path and fight back the conglomerates trying to appropriate their lands, if they so choose. Isn’t that what we’re here for?”
“It is, but we cannot be perceived as interfering or influencing the locals for our own purposes.”
“And we’re not,” I quipped in a singsong voice. “Like I said, I’m merely adding a different seed to the rest of the lot. What Susan does with it is entirely up to her and her people. All rules are respected.”
“Fine!” Tedrick grumbled. “I’ll figure out a way to get them off my back about it. But please try not to make my life unnecessarily difficult.”
“Where would be the fun in that?!”
He muttered something under his breath, which had me bursting out laughing.
Susan not only understood the hinted assignment, but the clever woman took it to another level I couldn’t have dreamt of.
In the end, she helped her new people thwart the nefarious plans of the greedy conglomerate that sought to crush them, provided that primitive species with the means to achieve financial independence, and even offered other third daughters of Meterion new prospects and opportunities for a better life.
It was Susan’s idea that gave birth to the Daughters of Meterion program, which my Linsea heavily helped set in motion.
Being able to use my matchmaking ability to literally save the lives of amazing women in dire situations, especially due to unfair accusations, were some of the other highlights of my career.
Serena and her Ordosian mate Szaro certainly came to mind.
Granted, she had broken the rules by trespassing on their sacred lands, but it had been for a good cause—saving a mother and her child from being devoured by bloodthirsty monsters.
That successful union enabled us to strengthen the fragile bonds with this Naga-like species normally extremely reluctant to open up to foreigners.
And how could I forget about the mischievous Rihanna?
The petite smuggler had been framed by her former business partner to take the fall for a crime she hadn’t committed.
If not for my intervention, she would have been sent to Molvi, the deadliest prison planet in the galaxy.
Her most unlikely pairing with the Yurus Great Chieftain Zatruk—an Orc-Minotaur like species—completely changed the fates of the three main species sharing that planet.
It brought hope, prosperity, and peace to the Yurus who had previously been on the verge of self-destruction.
But from a selfish point of view—and more broadly for the benefit of the Enforcers and the UPO—I couldn’t have been more grateful for having a hand in matching Kaida and Cedros.
In truth, they found each other on their own during a mission, but I just helped convince Kaida to give it a shot.
As a top agent of the Enforcers, Kaida wasn’t unknown to me.
That day, she’d gone inside a research center as part of Tedrick’s team to investigate a mysterious portal that had opened inside their power core, and from whence a giant shadow dragon had emerged to battle fiendish shadowy creatures.
That dragon turned out to be Cedros, the sweetest Shadow Lord who desperately needed the hugs of his Ejaya—the only female in the universe that could stop him from succumbing to the madness that otherwise plagued beings like him. And that Ejaya had been none other than Kaida.
Who would have thought that this pairing would give us a steady supply of shadow stones?
They allowed us to open portals to any preassigned destination, anywhere across the galaxy.
This meant no more week-long space travels to various worlds.
Within seconds, I could be in and out, and back to my mate.
Obviously, we couldn’t abuse such a great tool, not only because shadow stones were rare, but also because, should they fall in the wrong hands, untold damage could ensue, especially if used to launch a surprise attack on an unsuspecting world.
However, never in a million years would I have thought that a pairing I performed could lead to a great wave of injustice.
When I received an urgent message from Torgal regarding a young woman named Malaya about to be sent to Molvi, a wave of anger surged within me.
I had no qualms with true criminals being sent there.
Torgal—the Temern lawyer representing her case—stated unequivocally that she was innocent, and that the judge overseeing her case was in fact corrupt.
It should have been an impossibility as his people, the Obosians, were known to be rabidly obsessed about enforcing the law and abiding by the rules.
There was a reason they operated Molvi. As per Malaya’s request, the lawyer hoped I could arrange a marriage for her like I did with Rihanna.
Sadly, the rules had changed in retaliation to my saving Rihanna through a pairing.
That same corrupt Judge Wuras had presided over her case and felt personally slighted that I would have spared the young woman from the horrible abuse and death that would have awaited her on Molvi.
Therefore, he helped pass new laws that prevented convicts from dodging their sentences by being matched. Should I find their soulmate, that person would have to join the inmate on the prison planet for the duration of their sentence, or live separately until they were freed.
The only hope to save Malaya was to find a Hell Lord, guard, or employee on Molvi that I could match her with.
It was a relatively weak workaround, but it would meet the core requirement that the condemned serve their time on Molvi.
It didn’t actually spell out that they had to be in one of the detention quadrants.
But for this, I needed to meet her to get an idea of her song before scouting the planet for a potential partner.
Therefore, Linsea and I went to the holding cells where she was being held while waiting for her transfer to the prison planet.
Normally, my mate didn’t get involved directly with the initial interview for a pairing.
But this situation was different. We were dealing with a rogue Obosian judge.
The Enforcers and the UPO wanted to get involved to put an end to this.
But the political and legal fallout could have catastrophic repercussions.
This entire mess needed to be handled very carefully.
Linsea would manage the diplomatic and legal aspects while I attempted to work my magic.
As much as I hated the prospect of breaking my perfect streak of only matching true soulmates, saving the life of an innocent young woman was far more important for me. Had she been my daughter, I would have wanted someone in a position of power to intervene on her behalf.
Two Obosian guards led us through the long corridor where countless cells lined the sidewalls.
Every single person in there was definitely guilty.
Some of them oozed with pure malice that sent a cold shiver down my spine.
If not for my blessed ability to block others, I would be writhing on the floor right now in sheer agony.
At the end of the hallway, we went down to the bowels of the detention center, which housed the solitary confinement cells.
My anger cranked up another notch. Based on Torgal’s feedback about the young woman, and my own examination of her file, nothing warranted such isolation.
For a split second, I wondered if they had moved her here, away from prying eyes, so that they could eliminate her.
However, considering the large number of security cameras covering this area, it would be nearly impossible to get away with murder.
But all those wandering thoughts flew right out of my mind as we approached the cell where Malaya was detained. A wave of fear slammed into me, which was to be expected under the current circumstances. But it was something else that nearly had my knees buckling.
“Impossible,” I breathed out, completely shocked.