Chapter 14 #2
“It is. Let me inside, or I’ll sit right here. I won’t eat. I won’t sleep. I will sit here outside his cage until I die with him.”
“Goldie,” Ethan clutched at my skirt through the bars. “Stop, no. Go rest.”
Sherif’s gaze dropped to his bloody fingers staining the fabric of my clothes. He cursed and rubbed his forehead. Bosa muttered something under his breath. Wensla appeared beside me holding my healer bag, her expression wary of the human in the cage. I snatched the bag from her and waited.
Finally, Sherif let out a long exhale. “If I open this cage to let you in, and he makes a move to escape, I will kill him instantly.”
“He won’t escape,” I snapped. “He can’t even walk.”
“I’ll stay in the cage,” he murmured behind me.
Zuri’s chin went up. “Of course he will. That was his home on Earth after all, behind bars.”
I went still. My heart thudded. Ethan’s fingers loosened in my skirt, and the weight of them left me. “What?” I asked.
Zuri’s eyes shifted to Ethan, and then back to me.
“Hara, I remember his picture in the news. Ethan Hackett. Famous conman and thief. He was caught and has been in prison for at least the last decade. Not sure how he got out, but he’s a master manipulator who will do anything to get ahead.
” Her eyes narrowed on Ethan as I processed her words.
“Even seduce an innocent alien, it seems.”
The air went very still. Bloom had tears streaming down her cheeks. Bosa practiced a few swings of his bat, and it cut through the air with a sinister whistle.
My head spun, and yet my heart… my heart knew. I turned to Ethan and went to one knee outside his cage. He sat with his head bent, eyes downcast.
“Look at me,” I whispered.
He did. Tears tracked down his filthy cheeks. “I told you,” he whispered, brokenly. “I told you I wasn’t good.”
“You did.” I tried to reach through him, but he shifted away.
“Don’t,” he rasped. “Just let them.”
“How dare you say that?” I curled my fingers around the bar and pointed to my chest with the other. “I did this for you. And now you’ll let it end?”
“That’s just it. I’m not worth it. What if you get hurt again because of me? I can’t handle that.”
Sherif stepped forward before I could answer. He prodded Ethan’s neck with the tip of his sword. “Why are you here?” he snarled.
Ethan’s chin lifted with the blade of the weapon, but he didn’t look afraid.
“The guy back at the ship, Paul Holmes, he’s like a gazillionaire.
I got paroled and did what I do. I stole from him, but he caught me.
He promised to let me go if I came here and brought back this plant.
I refused at first, but then he threatened my former partner who has a family.
So I agreed. I came here. I met Goldie. I got the plant. And then Holmes tried to kill me.”
“And you were going to steal Hara too?” Sherif’s nostrils flared. “Take her back to Earth?”
Ethan’s eyes fired. “Absolutely not. I told her to leave and go home, but she didn’t listen. She stayed, and when they tried to kill me…”
“I intervened,” I finished for him.
“And then you guys showed up at just the right time to save her from getting dragged onto that hellhole of a ship, so thanks for that at least,” Ethan said begrudgingly.
I shoved Sherif’s sword out of the way and tugged on Ethan’s arm. “Did you lie to me?” I asked.
He blinked. “Lie? No, never.”
Zuri snorted behind me.
Ethan’s gaze flicked to hers, but he didn’t respond in anger. He shifted closer to me then. “I meant everything I said. You changed me.”
My visuls matched reality. Two things could be true at the same time. Ethan could be a conman and a criminal, and he also could be truthful and honest with me. I believed him, because he was my kotche. I knew it like I knew my name was Hara, and that I was a Kaluma.
“If we’re not welcome here,” I said, speaking to Ethan but loud enough for Sherif to hear. “Then we’ll go back to the drubles and live with them.”
“Hara,” Zuri breathed. “No.”
Ethan shook his head. “No, babe. No.”
“Ee-than—”
“This is your home. You told me how much you love it here. You have a new fit for the Spring Gala. You’re excited to help Bloom birth her baby. You won’t give that up for me. I won’t let you.”
He swayed slightly, and his cheeks held a feverish flush that concerned me. I held back my emotions to focus on his health first. Without looking at Sherif, I gathered my bag. “Let me in. Now.”
With a heavy sigh, Sherif flicked his fingers at Cravus, who released the lock so I could open the door wide enough to slip inside. As soon as the door was shut, Cravus locked it again.
I reached for Ethan, and he shivered. His eyes rolled. His lips moved as I gathered him in my arms and laid his head in my lap. “At least give me some water and cleanser,” I said, once again without looking at anyone.
Wensla was already one step ahead, and she slipped a canteen and cleansing cloth through the bars. I began to wipe Ethan’s face, but he’d gone fully lax now. His eyes closed. He was sleeping, which was the best for his injured human body.
“Hara,” Bloom clutched the bars despite Cravus’s attempts to tug her away. “Do you need anything else? I’ll bring you some food.”
Bloom had the biggest heart. “That would be kind, thank you,” I said.
Zuri crouched outside the bars as I swept the cloth over Ethan’s filthy body. I longed for the properties of the vela spring. That cycle felt so long ago, when we’d first tasted each other.
“It’s okay, kotche,” I whispered to him. “I know how to heal you. Just rest.”
I ignored everyone outside the cage. Food appeared on covered plates. More of my healing supplies. Bloom spoke a few words of encouragement to me.
Zuri remained like a sentry, and I wasn’t angry at her for it. She cared about me, as all the human women did. Bosa, Cravus, Kazel, and Bloom eventually left, leaving only Zuri and Sherif outside the cage.
When I removed Ethan’s pants to check for further injuries and fully clean him, I made them turn their backs. I treated his calf, his shoulder, wiped every section of his skin, and then covered him with a soft blanket. I kept his head in my lap and ran my fingers over the short hair on his scalp.
Zuri watched me the entire time, and her expression periodically shifted from a protective anger to a studious contemplation, until eventually… sorrow. Maybe guilt.
“I’m sorry, Hara,” she said eventually. She sat cross-legged outside the cage, ripping a long grass stem into little pieces. Sherif straightened from where he leaned against a nearby tree to stand at her back like a guard.
I looked up. “Sorry for what?”
“I didn’t realize…” She released a long breath. “Tell me how you met. I want to know and understand.”
Ethan mumbled something and rolled onto his side, curling his body around me as he nestled his face into my lap. His arms went around my waist. He released a long breath and settled.
I smiled, and then I began to talk. “When I first saw him, he was naked and about to be gored by a varins…”