Chapter 30
Romival
There was no uglier color, no shade more foul, than that offensive, ashen, blue. Dark and threatening and lifeless and terrifying.
The color of his Holly’s lips and tongue and fingertips and delicate toes. They only had that shade for a short time, but it was too long. Long enough to sear the color on the back of his eyelids and make it turn his stomach at the meaning.
He had already been in the palace. He had been making his way to Holly’s rooms. Eager to ask Hattie exactly what was wrong with what Tuvo had said so he could make absolutely certain he never misstepped in such a way with Holly.
But then his Dominani had roared in fury.
And fear.
Romival had broken in a sprint. He burst into their room and the sight he came upon would haunt him forever.
Adassani had been crying, leaning over his Holly’s body. She was still. Frighteningly still. Her skin had been pale and parts of her stained that horrible blue that he knew now meant that she was suffocating from the inside.
Poisoned.
The other females had been similarly affected.
Hattie and Alanna were in identically poor states while Scarlet had been struggling to breathe but remained conscious.
Adassani had been mercifully unharmed, but a tiny baked treat on the ground nearby spoke of how close she had come to joining the others.
Dominani had been moving already. He had grabbed the emergency medical kit, standard for every room, out of its storage place along one wall.
When Romival rushed in, he was already sticking Holly in the neck with a medicine that should, hopefully, stall any poison long enough to get her medical care.
Care that Atem was already calling for on his combot.
Romival had run to his side and grabbed more of the medicine, sticking Hattie with it as Atem did the same to Alanna. Romival had just been turning to Scarlet when the doors opened, and the onsite palace healer rushed within.
Everything had happened so quickly. But Holly remained unmoving.
Romival hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her as a medical stabilizer was put on her chest and strapped to her face – a device that could electrically force her heart to beat while blowing air down into her lungs.
It was still on her when she was loaded onto a hovering stretcher and taken from the room along with the other females. Only Scarlet was still conscious.
The dropped cupcake, and all the other food, was immediately gathered for testing. Atem was beside himself and insisted that Peony go to the healing center as well. She had apparently ingested a small amount and, despite showing no symptoms, Atem was worried.
Romival didn’t hear any of the conversation after that, as he was already following the stretchers out. He had flown in his own hover to the healing center.
He had to keep watch on his female. He had to make sure Holly was all right. He had to see her again without that horrible blue staining her skin.
Usually, he loved seeing the changes in her coloration, but he hated that color.
He stood now beside his Dominani, both of them looking over the healing beds of the human females who rested, unmoving, inside the gently pulsing light coming from the rings.
These beds were designed for long term healing. Instead of a singular ring, there were three, all of them hovering over the females at the head, chest, and pelvis. Each one glowed with a pale, cream colored light that enveloped their entire bodies.
The blue was gone from Holly’s skin now, but it would always remain in Romival’s memories. He would not be easy until she woke again.
Scarlet was lying in her bed, the only one still conscious as the rings worked to undo the damage done by the poison.
She was speaking to Peony who was standing over her.
Adassani had been scanned as well and cleared of any danger.
The poison had not been in the fruit whip that had been used as a sweet topper on the dome of the treat.
Havali had the food in his possession now. The investigation into the incident was the responsibility of the guardians, and so First Guardian was handling it personally. He was overseeing the testing of the food and Atem expected a comm from him any moment now.
Neither male spoke as they watched Donivi move around the room, examining the females.
He didn’t recognize the poison, but he could tell them that it was a paralytic.
It had frozen all of their muscles, including the ones needed to breathe.
It was fast acting and the bond it made with the protein it affected in the muscles was irreversible.
The females were being provided with air on the table while the machines encouraged their bodies to build new proteins to replace the now useless ones.
It was going to take at least another mark.
“Holly has done me a great service.”
Atem’s voice caught Romival’s attention, though it didn’t pull his eyes from his adassi.
“She saved vi Seerin,” he continued solemnly. “She might very well have saved the pup in her belly. She bit her tongue when she fell. Nearly bit it off. She bled for vi Peony.”
Romival felt a smile pull at his face for the first time since this morning. “Vi adassi is a vakara in the truest sense of the word.”
“And there will be none who doubt that. I will make sure.”
Romival smirked, rather proud. Certainly, this would make a fine story to tell. Just another moment of glory for his female. A moment where she proved that there was nothing greater than a warrior who fought for those that they loved.
Atem’s comm chimed and he answered it immediately, without looking.
“Talk,” he ordered, his eyes as fastened to Peony as Romival’s were to Holly.
“It took me some time, but I found the poison,” came Havali’s cool voice. “If I didn’t already have an idea where to look, I might never have identified it.”
“Tell me,” Atem ordered, Romival already having an idea what he would say.
“The poison originated from a flower. Specifically, the pollen of the elder flower that can only be found in certain regions of Hr’ssri.”
The ratchi home world. Atem and Romival growled at the same time. It was hardly surprising, but it was still infuriating.
“It’s an uncommon, though not rare, flower. It could have been obtained anywhere on its home planet.”
“How did it get into their food?” Atem snarled. “You, Havali, are in charge of making sure all foodstuffs that come into the palace are safe from contamination and making sure that nothing deadly like that is transported to the planet.”
“A failure that I own completely. Though, in my defense, the pollen itself is not deadly. Mildly irritating if it gets into the eyes or onto mucosal surfaces, but not deadly. It only becomes deadly if a lot of heat is applied. Such as the heat of an oven.”
“Hattie’s treat,” Romival growled, thinking of her little baked dessert.
“Precisely. The pollen was mixed into the milled nuts that she has been using to make the flour that she uses to bake. The nuts are not considered foodstuffs to us, so it wasn’t checked thoroughly. And since the pollen is inert until heat is applied, it wasn’t detected by scanners.”
“A clever ploy,” Romival admitted, even if it tasted bitter to do so. “A way to ensure not only that the poison makes it to their food, but also that only the humans would ingest it. There was no chance of it being used for someone else by accident.”
Atem growled. He was clearly not willing to concede to the cleverness of the plan. Peony might have been spared, but his sisters had not, and his rage was no less for it.
Donivi finished looking over Alanna and walked over to the two of them. He said first to Atem-
“They will be fine. They weren’t without air long enough to do any permanent damage. Your quick actions saved them.”
“How long until they awaken?”
“I’m keeping them asleep for now, so they don’t struggle against the healing. They need to be still for such extensive and delicate work. I’ll wake them when the machine is finished. It should only take another half mark.”
Atem grunted in understanding as Donivi turned to Romival next.
“May I ask you a personal question?”
Curious, Romival grunted in affirmation.
“When did you last plant your seed in your female?”
Romival had been warned, but he was still surprised by just how personal that question was.
Coming from anyone other than his female’s healer, he would have immediately dismissed it without answer.
But knowing Donivi, and knowing he wouldn’t have asked without reason, he did respond, albeit a bit begrudgingly.
“Last night.”
“When?” The healer pressed with some urgency.
Romival frowned. “I didn’t write down the exact mark. Sometime after sunset though. Why?”
“Your seed still lives inside her.”
“What?”
Romival and Atem both started in surprise, staring at the elderly healer.
“No, that’s impossible.” Romival shook his head. “It had to have been…” he did a quick calculation in his head, “…at least six marks ago now.”
“Yet, not only has the scanner identified it as your seed, it’s still living. It’s still viable. And though there isn’t much, there’s enough in her womb to do its job.”
“Is she pregnant?” Romival gasped, heart racing.
Donivi grunted in the negative, sending disappointing sweeping through him. Disappointment that turned to dismay when he said solemnly, “Not anymore.”
“What?” Romival breathed.
Donivi touched his shoulder softly. “An egg of hers was fertilized. But the poisoning this morning prevented its implantation. Her womb has begun its shedding early. She was not properly pregnant since it didn’t implant, but it looks like it could have had she not been poisoned.”
The vicious growling that rang through the room was surprising because it was coming from Romival’s own chest. He had never made such a sound before, but he couldn’t stop it.
It wasn’t saddening. Not really. Fertilized eggs passed through without implantation in domini females more often than not. Such a thing wasn’t considered a true pregnancy. But the fact that the chance of it was stolen from him hurt like a lash against raw skin.
But…
“I never knotted her,” he confessed, his growling only dimming slightly. “She didn’t want me to so she couldn’t get pregnant. How could my seed have made it to her womb? How is it still alive when it should have died five marks ago?”
“Her own body is keeping the sperm alive,” Donivi said, fascination lacing his tone. “Their wombs are not only the perfect temperature and pH, but there is an abundance of sugar.”
“What?”
“Sperm dies because it has no means of making its own energy. A domini female’s reproductive organs are a barren place, in comparison, in this instance at least. There is nothing for our seed to feed upon. On purpose. It’s to ensure only the strongest sperm survives to the egg.
“The humans, however, have a very rich mucous in their reproductive tracts. It’s more than enough for our sperm to survive off of for many marks.
Multiple days. Even a full tenday, maybe more if my estimations are correct.
The mucous also provides an easy medium for them to swim through and the contractions of their bodies during orgasm helps propel them upward. ”
“In other words,” Romival murmured, amazed, “I don’t need to knot her or to unload fully. Her own body is doing its level best to become pregnant.”
Donivi grunted in agreement. “They’ve told us how prolific their people are, and it really seems to extend to the most basic level.
Our females’ bodies, most females’ bodies actually, try to prevent sperm from reaching their eggs so only those most worthy can do so.
The human females seem to be actively encouraging it down to the cellular level. ”
“So,” Atem started slow, “Peony really wasn’t a fluke? Her body is designed to try to get pregnant? Even from other species?”
“At least from ours,” Donivi agreed eagerly. “We’d have to do more experimenting to determine just how far the ability goes. I’d love to have the chance. If we find Earth, of course.”
Romival wasn’t really listening to Donivi’s excitement over this news. He was too busy staring at his female. A sinking feeling in his gut.
Not because the egg had passed through her tract without implanting. It was common among his species, nothing unusual. She hadn’t been ready anyway, so it wasn’t so much a loss as it was infuriating that someone had stolen that chance from them.
What really held his attention was a new understanding he hadn’t had before.
Intellectually, he had known that human females were more selective over who sired their children since it was too easy for them to become pregnant. But seeing her now, her body having been driven to reject the fertilized egg after being poisoned, he truly understood.
What if he had knotted her the first time they were together?
What if he had gotten her pregnant then?
If the egg had implanted? Her body would be rejecting an implanted embryo now instead of just shedding its lining as a means to protect itself after the poisoning.
She would have had to suffer because of his instincts.
Whelping females were more delicate. That was well known. One of the few truths of the universe that it seemed even humans adhered to, despite everything else they ignored. If human females fell pregnant so easily, they would be in a delicate state in perpetuity.
He could have hurt his female from his own selfish desires. If she hadn’t been the more levelheaded and logical of them, not bound to the breeding instincts that were beating at him, she would be suffering right now.
He wouldn’t make that mistake again. He would be more careful with her.