Chapter 9
Cosima
I couldn’t really believe it, but I was feeling lonely now that everyone but me had returned to Outcast Haven. I was the only visitor left at the home of the Shaman, and he was a quiet person who kept to himself most of the time. He could understand me, but I couldn’t understand him.
At first, with all the aspirants crowded outside in a quick improvised camp, I’d felt a little skittish again, but for a different reason.
Those with new implants wanted nothing more than to test them out so I kept being asked all kinds of questions as they tried to get me to talk.
I’d taken to hiding in my office the first day, just to get some rest. Where was Zsekhet when you actually needed someone to run interference? I knew he would if I so much as asked.
Now that he was flying the last of them home, I finally dared to catch some sunshine.
Letting the last rays of the day warm my skin while I sketched the outside of the greenhouse dome.
For once not sketching to fine-tune the blueprints for Krashe to work with, but just for pleasure.
Sketching out the elegant lines of the dome with the charcoal pencils the Shaman crafted.
With a black smudged finger, I touched the pretty golden bangle around my wrist, carved or molded to follow a soft, sinuous line.
It could resemble water, or maybe the curl of a snake tail through the grass.
Whatever it resembled, it had been polished expertly smooth and shimmered even after I’d smudged it.
It was as if the gold itself absorbed any blemishes, or maybe it repelled them.
Zsekhet had made this. I’d learned from Krashe and Naomi that the golden Naga, like him, lived in the desert and crafted jewels that were eagerly traded for with all Clans.
It seemed a universal trait that each Naga Queen coveted a horde of the jewelry that came out of Serqethos.
It was that bracelet, crafted of gold, that made it obvious to me that it was Zsekhet who was courting me.
Zsekhet was bringing me gifts in the dark hours of the night, leaving them for me to find in places only I frequented. Like my bedroom or the small office.
I’d even once found a clay jar of flowery oil in the bathroom, something clearly intended to use after bathing.
Like at Outcast Haven, the Shaman had running water, showers, and actual toilets.
It was going to forever be a total win in my book that there were civilized places like that on this planet, and I got to live at one of them.
The bangle had come with a scrap of leather covered in scribbled x’s and I saw the hand of Naomi or maybe Min-Ji in that.
A note full of kisses that we hadn’t yet shared because I hadn’t dared to allow a real touch yet.
I was starting to think that I wanted to, but now I was worried to discover that Zsekhet wasn’t my mate.
I had started to dream that he was mine, and I didn’t hate that at all anymore.
Glancing up at the sky, away from the greenhouse and my sketch, my breath caught in my throat.
There were Zsekhet and Sesethul, winging in from across the mountain, a golden shimmer painted with purple glimmers in the sunset.
It was beautiful, and I suddenly wished I had colored pencils instead of charcoal to draw with.
Or a com device with which to snap a picture; what a lovely sight.
I was so focused on the sight of Zsekhet approaching on his dragon that I didn’t hear him until it was too late.
The dragon suddenly roared, rattling the trees, the sound echoing between the mountains.
I startled and dropped the pale leather I’d been using as a canvas.
Then arms flung around me in tight bands and I was suddenly rushing through the air, thrown over a shoulder, and already we were racing toward the woods before I even registered the color of the slate-blue scales.
“No! Let me go!” I yelled, cursing the bastard a thousand ways over, screaming and kicking, my fists punching against his lower back as hard as I could.
I recognized that color, it was the same guy that had bothered me at Haven, the one they had cast out for what he’d done.
Then another horrible thought struck me, I’d seen these scales once before that even.
I hadn’t made the connection because those first days on Serant were a bit of a blur to me.
I’d been so shocked and scared, stunned by the betrayal of the UAR.
Finding myself in a kind of hell instead of back on Earth with my family, like I’d been promised.
But these scales, I’d seen them at the Thunder Rock village, where we spent several days locked up in a shed.
The male had touched me inappropriately then too.
It was no use struggling against his grip, his arm was clenched tight around my waist, my legs pinned to his chest by the other.
When we ducked into a tunnel, I knew I was in serious trouble.
Zsekhet had been so high up, had he even seen what had happened to me?
I shuddered, why was I even thinking of him for rescue?
I’d been through that before, it never panned out as you hoped.
I had only myself to rely on now; I had to find a way to escape.
But when I moved my hands and realized my sore fist still gripped a thick piece of charcoal, I reached out for the tunnel wall and ran it along the stone anyway.
Zsekhet could use the marks to find me, to track me down in here.
Or I could use them to find my way back out when I escaped, either would work but I was determined to make it the latter.
Soon, I realized that without the charcoal marks, I would find myself hopelessly lost in this dark.
The Naga holding me weaved through tunnels, ducking left, then right, seemingly spinning us in circles as we went.
He was doing his very best to disorient me and shake off any possible trackers.
My stomach dropped as my chances of getting out of here dropped.
What was he planning to do with me? Force me to mate with him?
That seemed likely and I really wasn’t liking the sound of that.
What had I done to make him fixate on me?
Was it just because I had the first pair of boobs he’d felt up?
As fast as we were racing through the near dark, I thought he was never going to stop going.
The only hints of light came from pink or violet veins of some kind of strange, bioluminescent ore that glimmered at intervals on the walls.
I wondered if it was the same kind of stuff the crystal lights in Haven and the Shaman’s home were made of.
I was thrown from his shoulder so suddenly that I yelled in fright, flying through the air before landing roughly on a pile of furs.
They covered a nest of branches, moss, and leaves, similar to the beds the Naga at Haven built.
This one smelled of damp and rotting leaves, the furs stale and musty or still sharply smelling of smoke or blood.
Fresh skins and very old ones combined, I didn’t like it.
It was dark, I could only feel my way around the bedding, cringing when I imagined running into the snake tail of the bastard that took me.
I tried to remember his name but it wouldn’t come to me, surprising me since the color of his scales had made a lasting impression.
The others had told me who he’d been, about his banishment. Why didn’t I remember?
Light flared to life in front of me and I groaned as it stung my eyes, blinding me even more. I threw my hand up to peer through the gaps in my fingers, squinting to try and make sense of where I was. With who I was.
The chamber was circular, with a single exit.
In its center, a radiant glow emanated from a portable space heater—a familiar sight, reminiscent of ones Zathar and Corin had used in the past, though we hadn’t used one at Haven so far.
Hovering beside it was the Naga that had abducted me, half-crouched next to the light with thin white eyelids slid sideways over his eyes, shielding him from the glare.
Yeah, that was the same guy that had bothered me back at Haven, and the same one that had fondled me at Thunder Rock, before they had cast him out, and I remembered that his name was Scar’at.
I growled, see, this is why accepting all outcasts at our gate was a bad idea.
How could we feel safe in our homes when criminals like him were getting a second chance?
And now he held me captive, how long did I have before he tried to force me?
Over my dead body, I decided, but I really hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Pretending to check out the furs, and then picking up the least smelly one to curl around my shoulders, I patted the bedding for anything I could use as a weapon.
Maybe one of the branches used for construction could work as a bat, or if it had a good sharp point, for stabbing.
Ignoring his blue-eyed stare, which made my skin crawl, I kept searching.
I wasn’t a blubbering, crying mess, I realized halfway through.
I was furious, and I was ready to bash this guy’s head in myself, but I wasn’t scared.
Enough was enough, I’d been abducted once and I was done with that shit.
And if Zsekhet, no when Zsekhet showed up to rescue me, I wasn’t going to feel bothered about that either.
He was a good male, nothing like the UAR that had betrayed me, it was time to get over that particular hiccup.
My captor was moving around the light source, rolling his muscles, shooting me furtive glances, and swaying the tip of his tail in agitation.
He was preparing meat on top of the ancient, nifty gadget.
The scent of burning flesh seared my nostrils and made my stomach revolt.
I really hoped he wasn’t about to try and feed me those, that would suck.