Chapter Twelve
Vor
She found him admirable. But also the opposite.
Vor grimaced to himself as he escorted Lena to the fortress kitchens.
He knew they were waiting for him in the command room, but he had to see to her first. He'd heard coffee was addictive, and both Medeans and Aethari craved the brew.
It was said to cause headaches if you stopped drinking it.
That alone would keep him from trying the drink.
But he didn't want Lena suffering, and she kept rubbing her forehead.
Vor thought he was getting through to Lena when he described the way his people had been trapped by the two races they thought were their allies.
But then she had become distant again. It had only been a little over a week, and she had only just started speaking to him.
Considering that, they had come far. Still, her rejections were becoming harder to endure.
“Here we are.” Vor motioned toward a door as they approached it.
Lena had pulled free of his grip seconds after they had left their rooms. Vor had allowed it because forcing her to endure his touch felt like starting down a path he refused to walk.
A mere month ago, Vor had been prepared and even eager to walk that reprehensible path with Liria and force her to his will.
Meeting Lena and discovering that she was his, not Liria, had changed Vor in seconds.
Or was it Lena's voice that had changed him?
Now there was a thought. As if he were a machine that had been rewired, Vor had become someone new upon hearing Lena speak her own name.
All those feelings of urgency, rage, and the need to possess had transformed into calm, longing, and a need to protect. All because Liria became Lena.
When he had changed, so had his reason. Things that were perfectly reasonable in the past were now more than unreasonable—they were shocking and deplorable.
His desire to free his people remained the same, but his plan on how to accomplish that goal had changed.
He told Lena he wanted peace, and he wouldn't kill unless forced to, but that had been his original plan.
Vor had come to the surface to conquer. He'd take one fortress and hold it until another army could take a second fortress, and so on.
The plan had been to spread their dominance across the surface of Para until the Medeans and Aethari had no choice but to accept them.
Two minutes with Lena had changed all of that.
Vor even viewed emotions differently now.
Source had led him, and he had followed out of blind trust. But he'd been afraid.
Vor expected the softer emotions to weaken him.
The old him might see his change in plans as just that.
But the new Vor understood that feeling more intensely had cleared his mind.
Without the coldness of untempered reason, he could see that peace could not be achieved through subjugation.
Oh, there might be an end to the war, but it wouldn't be peace.
There would be uprisings and ill will. Vor knew now that it would trade one war for another. Lena had given him that clarity.
“Have you gone offline?” Lena waved a hand before Vor's face.
Vor cleared his throat. “My apologies. I was lost in thought.” He lightly laid his hand on her back to guide her toward the door. As she had before, Lena flinched away.
With slumping shoulders, Vor opened the door for Lena.
He didn't like the way she edged past him, careful not to touch him.
How did Medeans and Aethari deal with rejection?
It was awful. Almost enough to make him return to the safety of reason.
But Vor had a new type of reason now. This reason told him that Lena's reactions were normal, and he had to be patient with her.
He couldn't expect Lena to welcome his touch simply because he had changed.
She didn't know that. Lena didn't know him at all. That was the problem Vor had to tackle.
“Commander!” One of the kitchen staff came to attention.
The rest of the soldiers followed suit, everyone stopping their work to greet him.
“Go back to your duties.” Vor motioned them back to their work. “I only need one person to assist me.”
A blond man came up to them. “I'm Corporal Cine, sir. How may I help?”
“My guest requires coffee every morning, but since we don't drink it, I want her to show you how to brew the stuff. Then you'll teach other people so that one of you can make her coffee in the mornings.”
“Uh.” He glanced at Lena. “Yes, Commander. I think I saw several bags marked 'coffee' in the larder.”
Vor motioned for Lena to follow Corporal Cine and then took up the rear. Cine led them to a massive, walk-in storage room lined with shelves that contained nonperishable items. At the back were burlap bags with the word “Coffee” printed on them.
“Here they are, Commander. But I don't know what to do with them.” Cine waved at the bags. “How much do we need?”
“Just two handfuls for a pot,” Lena went to a bag, opened the top, and drew out two handfuls of brown beans. Without another word, she left the larder.
Vor followed her out, Cine on his heels. Lena strode around the kitchen, searching shelves until she found whatever she was after.
“There.” Lena pointed with a fistful of beans.
“Yes, ma'am.” The corporal pulled the convergence down from the shelf.
It was about a foot tall and half that in width. A glass carafe nestled into the body of the thing, and a steel funnel topped it. Cine carried it to a worktable and set it down. As soon as he stepped back, Lena put the coffee in the steel funnel.
“This device grinds the roasted coffee and then brews it.” Lena motioned at the convergence.
“You put the coffee in there, and then you fill the pot with water.” She took the carafe to the sink and filled it from the tap.
But instead of replacing the carafe, she opened a compartment in the device's top and poured the water into it.
“Always use the pot to measure the water.” She held up the empty carafe to show the corporal.
“As much as you put in is how much you get out.
You don't want to put too much water in, or it will overflow the carafe.”
“I understand.” Corporal Cine peered into the water tank.
Lena covered the compartment and then turned a dial on the front of the convergence. “This sets how dark a brew it makes. I like it medium. Just don't touch the dial, and you'll be fine.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“Now, just push this button.” Lena pushed a button, and the machine came whirring to life, the magic stored inside it fueling it instead of the geothermal electricity Nethren used underground.
The entire kitchen staff turned to watch as the convergence ground the coffee, making a horrible racket. The open funnel allowed Vor to see the beans become powder. Then the powder flowed down, out of sight. Meanwhile, a bubbling sound started.
The staff gathered around the table to watch as water fell into the carafe, but it was tinted brown.
The combined sound of bubbling and trickling was comforting.
And then came the smell. It was unlike anything he'd smelled before.
Earthy, but not in a green way. More like chocolate but without the milk and sugar.
“That is the most delightful aroma,” one of the staff said.
“Indeed.” Vor leaned in to inhale deeply. “It's both soothing and invigorating.”
Lena smiled. “That's it exactly.”
Vor gaped at her. A simple smile transformed her face.
Not that it made her more beautiful. That wasn't possible.
But her smile shifted her beauty into another version of itself.
She went from the somber maiden to a carefree spirit.
And Vor found he craved both. As everyone watched the coffee brew, he watched Lena.
“Oh, where's the sugar?” Lena asked the corporal when the convergence had finally come to a gurgling stop. “And I'll need a little cream as well.”
“Yes, ma'am.” Cine went to fetch the items.
The rest of the staff remained, eyeing the carafe. A few moments later, Cine set down a jar of sugar, a bottle of cream, and two mugs. Vor eyed the mugs pointedly.
“Uh, I thought I might try a little,” Corporal Cine said. “Just so I'll know when it's brewed properly.”
“I should as well!” another kitchen worker said.
Soon, everyone was searching for mugs.
Vor rolled his eyes. He didn't care how delicious it smelled. He didn't want to be reliant on a drink. Especially one that would exact revenge for disloyalty.
Lena showed the kitchen staff how she liked her coffee, pouring a little cream in before adding two spoonfuls of sugar. “This makes it more palatable. Without the sugar and cream, it's bitter, but try it alone so you know how much sweetness and creaminess you want to add.”
“It's like chocolate,” Vor murmured. “I thought it smelled similar.”
“Yes, precisely. Chocolate is bitter too until you sweeten it. And it's made from the seed of a plant as well.” Lena poured cream into her mug and then added a few spoonfuls of sugar. As she stirred, she looked up at him. “I never realized that. I guess they are similar.”
Vor smiled, utterly enthralled.
Meanwhile, the staff passed around the carafe, pouring just a little into their mugs. They swirled it to cool it, smelled it, and then drank as if it were a culinary experiment.
“Oh, that's awful!” Cine declared.
Vor chuckled.
Everyone turned to look at him.
He cleared his throat.
“Now, pour a little more in your mug, add just a little sugar, and then a splash of cream,” Lena suggested. She sipped her coffee and sighed in bliss.
Encouraged by her pleasure, the crew sent the coffee around again, then they carefully doled out the sugar and cream. This time, their expressions were full of wonder.
“Amazing,” Cine whispered. “It's completely transformed.”
The others agreed.
Vor scowled, leaning over Lena's shoulder to peer into her mug.
“Do you want to try a sip?” Lena lifted her mug.
He didn't. But Vor would never refuse his woman. She offered him her mug. That was a great honor. So, he accepted it and brought it to his lips, careful to put his mouth precisely where hers had been. He took the tiniest sip. Then blinked. He put the mug back into her hands.
“What do you think?” Lena asked.
“It's delicious. But I will not be controlled by a beverage.”
Lena burst out laughing. Just as they had with Vor, the Nethren gaped at Lena. But there was admiration in their stares this time. And wonder.
Vor cleared his throat, glaring especially at the men. He was about to say something when a boom came, rattling the pots that hung above the worktable. Another boom followed the first. Everyone went still, listening to the deadly sounds. And then a strange rumbling came.
“Was that thunder?” Lena lifted her head and looked at the ceiling.
Vor scowled. “I, uh, don't know what thunder sounds like.”
Lena swung her head to look at him. “You don't know what—”
Suddenly, the fortress shook. There was no explosive sound, just the crash of an impact.
This wasn't just a routine volley on the Paradefense camp.
The ward was down too long—long enough for Paradefense to return fire.
Pots and pans jangled wildly, something crashed to the floor, and everyone had to steady themselves.
Lena screamed.
Even as Vor realized what this was—that his lieutenant commander was orchestrating the raid he had suggested without waiting for Vor's attendance—his body went cold.
Vor knew, in his head, that they weren't in danger.
Zucar would set the ward again as soon as the unit was back in the fortress.
Nevertheless, he shivered and covered Lena with his body.
It was as if his flesh didn't understand what his mind knew to be true.
Vor drew Lena to the floor, pushing her into a fetal position as he bent over her.
Another boom came, this one further off.
Then more. And more. The battle went into full force, the fortress vibrating with the hits.
Most didn't land on the main buildings, but he could still feel them.
His heart raced. He needed to get her somewhere safer than this.
Vor waited, and when he heard a break in the attacks, he scooped Lena into his arms and ran out of the kitchens.
Lena tucked her head in against Vor's chest and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Even as he ran for the back of the fortress, as far from the attack as possible, Vor's chest expanded.
It felt good to have her cling to him. Even better to know that Lena was seeking his protection. But he didn't like that she was scared.
“It will be over soon, sweetheart. Don't be frightened. I'm taking you to the back of the fortress. It will be safer here.”
Lena looked up. “I thought there was a ward?”
“There is, and it will be up again soon.”
“Why is it down?”
He didn't answer her, just found a room and took her inside. Only after he had her safe, sitting on a bed, did he explain. “It will be over soon.” Vor sat down beside Lena and put his arm around her. To his amazement, she didn't pull away. “A unit was deployed to search the Paradefense camp.”
Lena jerked back to look at him. “Search the camp? For what?”
“We need to know their plans. The attack is to cover their infiltration.” A shiver filled the air, and Vor looked up. “What was that?”
“You felt that?” Lena gaped at him.
“Yes. What was it?”
“The ward,” she whispered. “You shouldn't be able to sense it.”
“And yet I did.” Vor stared back at her, excitement filling him. “I felt a convergence!”
Lena stood up. “It must be over. I don't hear any blasters.”
“Is that what the large weapons are called?” Vor stood up.
“Yes.” She looked at him. “Your raid is over.”
“Lena, I promise I will keep you safe.”
“Yes, as safe as a bird in a cage.”