13 Thilar
I sat in my cell on the edge of my bed, elbows perched on my knees as I awaited Sunhai. Some rich shikari politician had requested her company and since they weren’t known for their stamina, she was likely to be returned to her cell soon.
Just out of my line of sight was Penny, sitting quietly in her strange, mossy biome.
I wondered if it was even similar to her home at all.
What information I found on her cuff indicated that Earth was more-or-less a cityscape with little natural terrain left, but at some point, it was lush with plant life.
She seemed more comfortable in her cell than she had been in mine and that was what mattered most.
When the door at the end of the hall hissed open, my eyes shifted, watching the corridor.
I did not want to draw attention to myself, but I was more than eager to know if it was Sunhai.
Not surprisingly, it was her and she looked less than bored as she was escorted back into her chamber.
She slouched onto her bed with a sigh like she was ready to fall right to sleep, but as soon as the guard disappeared, her head whipped toward me and a crooked smirk moved over her thin lips.
She lifted her hand, wiping the corner of her mouth with her thumb before she turned her wrist toward me, showing me that a small object was hidden in the tight sleeve hem of her blouse.
I withheld any indicative expression. There was surveillance in that hall after all, not that Pek-Tol monitored it closely. We couldn’t be too careful. One thought lingered above all the others. The next time we found a moment alone in the yard, my khof kaar would be mine.
I didn’t have long to dwell on it. A second guard appeared outside my cell while another entered the hall beyond my line of sight. Suspicion wove its way through me, and I narrowed my eyes.
Then the guard approached with Penny in tow.
She looked every bit as bewildered as I felt. My cell door slid open, and the guard shoved her inside with enough force to send her stumbling forward on her bad ankle. She crashed straight into my arms.
“What is this?” I snarled.
“Incentive,” one guard said. “Pek-Tol wants a good show next game, without rutia. It’s expensive.”
The barrier slid closed and the guards slowly walked away, mockingly laughing as they disappeared. I looked down at Penny, who was already starting to shiver in my unsuitable environment.
“What did they say?” she asked.
“Nothing,” I exhaled. “You are spending the night with me.”
“Why?”
I walked to my bed and sat down with a loud sigh. “It does not matter.”
I knew exactly what Pek-Tol was doing. He saw the possibility of a bond where none existed, a spectacle his patrons would eagerly seize upon. They loved pairing contestants together, inventing romances and rivalries alike so they had someone to cheer for.
Monrians didn’t mate. Humans were still new to this side of the galaxy.
It was a forbidden pairing.
And forbidden things always attracted attention.
Penny’s teeth were starting to chatter, distracting me from my thoughts. I peered up at her while she began to pace, rubbing her arms with her hands.
“Penny,” I said, standing with the furs from my bedding. “Come.”
She looked at the blankets like she was suddenly suspicious of them. “Don’t you need any kind of coverage yourself?”
I grumbled lightly. She was wasting time. I slung the furs around her body and pulled it snuggly closed in the front.
“Monrians, for many generations, have been bred in space colonies. Space is cold. Our moon is cold, too. We are adapted to it. But if I truly wanted, I could change my body temperature to suit any environment.”
“Seriously?”
“It takes effort. The cold is more natural.”
Her shoulders relaxed a bit. Conversation seemed to help in that regard. I wondered if that was a human trait or something specific to her.
“We have cold places on Earth, but most humans don’t live there.
The ones that do use furs like this. A lot thicker ones.
We have creatures that live in the cold.
Most sea mammals have no fur at all. They have this layer of fat called blubber that keeps them warm.
” Her eyes roamed over me. “You… don’t have that. ”
I looked down at myself, uncertain exactly what blubber was, and shrugged. “Those bound to our moon are inactive in military affairs. They are a bit softer in appearance.”
“Somehow, I don’t think my definition of soft is the same as yours.”
“What do your people look like? Are they all like you?”
“No,” she said, almost with laughter. “No, humans all look different. Some have dark skin. Some have pale skin. Some have dark hair, red hair, gold hair, white hair. Some are bigger. Um… rounder. Some are smaller. Some have more muscle. Some are frail. And a lot of people change their hair to unnatural colors. Blue. Pink. Green. Some change their eyes, too.”
“Have you changed your eyes?”
“I thought about it. Brown eyes are so common. I always wanted something like green or gray eyes. I just never wanted the surgery that came with it.”
I stared at her as she spoke, studying the precise, deep umber shade of her eyes.
“Your eyes are not common. Not here. All monrian eyes are gold or green. They weren’t always, but engineering an entire population has made them that way. Your eyes are… strange.”
“Thanks,” she half smiled.
I stepped closer to her, my gaze shifting to the long, silky, wavy hair cascading over her shoulders. Reaching out, I took a strand and ran it between my fingers. It was so fine and fragile, moving with the slightest breeze from the air vents.
“Humans will evolve over time,” I sighed. “Right now, you are soft. Delicate. Space will change you.”
“Strange. I never thought of myself as delicate, but here, that’s what it feels like. Evolution doesn’t happen overnight, though,” she said softly, her eyes watching me. “If I’m soft and delicate now, that’s how I’ll be till I die, unfortunately.”
My gaze locked on to hers and for a moment, we shared in the almost peaceful silence.
“I will protect you,” I finally said.
She blinked like the words had startled her. “Why?”
“Because… that is what Pek-Tol wants me to do.”
It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the truth either.
I wasn’t sure why I wanted to protect her, but I was certain I would have done so even if Pek-Tol hadn’t manipulated the situation in his favor.
I had wanted to protect her from the first moment I saw her.
Maybe because I needed purpose in that place.
Maybe because I could not stand seeing another sad thing get torn to bits in that arena. Or maybe it was something else.
“Right,” Penny said. She lifted the furs higher on her shoulders as if trying to shield her neck. “So? How are we doing this? The sleeping thing.”
“I can go a day without sleep. You take the bed.”
“While I appreciate the chivalry, I kind of need your body heat.”
I looked her up and down as if to analyze her physiology, but I already knew how sensitive she was to the temperature.
But as I looked her over, I saw the slowly healing wound on her ankle.
I vaguely remembered her getting the injury.
At the time, I was barely conscious. The purple bruising around the thick scab was upsetting, though. I gestured with my chin.
“Sit first.”
She looked confused, but did as she was told, perching herself on the edge of the bed. I crouched in front of her, gently cupping the back of her ankle in one hand and lifting it onto my thigh. She hissed. Clearly it was still sore.
“You don’t need to—”
“They will give you nothing to relieve the swelling,” I said. “The cold may be good for it.”
The cut was deep, but the flesh surrounding it looked healthy. It could have used proper treatment, but if she was walking, Pek-Tol was likely to ignore it.
Tenderly, I prodded the bruised flesh with my fingers, searching for unseen damage beneath the skin. Penny pressed her lips together but didn’t make a sound. I could tell she was used to pain.
“There is no break,” I said.
“I know. I got lucky. Bone bruising, most likely. And an ugly cut.”
“Lucky it was not a snare. The cold will help.”
Silence spread as I continued examining her ankle. Her skin was delicate and soft. No wonder the cut was deep. I could do anything to her and she would bruise, it seemed.
It would be difficult to keep her safe.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked.
Intuitive.
I looked up at her and could tell she was analyzing me just as deeply as I had been her.
“These games will cause you much harm,” I confessed. “I do not know how much of it I can prevent.”
“I’m not your responsibility,” she said sorrowfully.
“I have no one from which to receive an assignment. I have assigned myself this task.”
Genuine confusion made lines on her face that had not been there a moment ago.
“Why?”
Absently, my hands traveled up the length of her tight calf muscle, massaging the tension away. She would need to be in good condition if her presence was going to persist.
“Is there any chance your people will find you?” I asked hopefully.
She shook her head. “No. We’ve barely left Earth.
And I don’t even know where I am. And I’m certain they think I’m dead.
My freighter was in pieces last I remember.
Someone must have put me in a cryo pod before it happened, but if they’re dead, how would they have told anyone?
It’s space. Humans aren’t going to look for someone just because they didn’t see their dead body firsthand. ”
I wanted to tell her about my khof kaar, but I could not offer a guarantee, so I kept it to myself. For the moment, at least.
“Is this legal? This whole operation, I mean.”
“Legal?”
“I mean, is this allowed? Because human trafficking and slavery definitely isn’t on Earth.”
“This is not Earth.”
“I know that.”
“And no. It is not legal. But forces would have to find this place to shut it down. Space is very big.”