Chapter Twenty-Two
Evellor
The exchange had been made. It hadn't gone smoothly, but Mal was safe. He was alive, and that was more than Evellor could have hoped for.
Which fucked with his head.
He, an Aethari, had just had sex with a Nethren prisoner and then had the nerve to be relieved when that prisoner was released. What was wrong with him?
But Mal had seemed like any other man. He had metal flesh, but that was the only difference between him and a Medean. They'd all come from the surface originally. Their ancestors had both been Medeans. Their races were cousins. And their bites were fatal to each other.
“Ugh! What have I done?” Evellor looked down at the personal vidco in his hand. What he'd done was traitorous. He had slipped his enemy a personal vidco linked to his. Would Mal vid him? “You're a fool.” Evellor shoved the vidco in his pocket and turned to leave his tent.
A chiming stopped him.
“Oh, fuck me,” Evellor whispered as he pulled the vidco out.
It could be anyone. Many people had Evellor's vid number. He lifted the vidco to face the screen, steeled himself, and pressed the answer button.
Mal's face appeared on the screen. “Holy shit, it works! You really gave me a vidco to contact you.”
“Yes.” Evellor cleared his throat. “It was an impulse. I'm surprised you used it.”
Mal grinned, although there was a hint of sadness to it. “I miss you already.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I've never missed anyone before. It feels kind of wonderful.” He smirked. “Maybe this is good for us. We can talk without sex getting in the way.”
“You . . . you want to talk with me?”
“I wouldn't have vided if I didn't.”
“What are we doing?” Evellor whispered.
“Hey, my commander says Tech is leading us to the surface. It's changing us into what we were meant to be. I think that's why I'm feeling things. You know, for you.”
“You feel things for me?”
Mal snorted. “Of course I do, Aethari. Do you think I'd be risking punishment just to speak to you if I didn't?”
“I . . . feel things for you too,” Evellor shocked himself by admitting.
“Good.” Mal touched the screen with his pointer finger as if stroking Evellor's face. “Then maybe this is worth the risk.”
“I believe it is. I believe you are worth the risk, Mal.”
Mal cleared his throat. “Our commander has this Medean woman here. He captured her.”
“Lena Drask.” Evellor nodded. “She's a kind person. She doesn't deserve this.”
“Relax, warrior. She's fine.” He snorted again and glanced over his shoulder. “Everyone's shocked at how well the commander is treating her. He's ordered the entire army to show her only respect.”
“Truly?” Evellor frowned, thinking of the soft-spoken, shy woman who had cast longing looks his way. “Why? Why did he even take her? She's not a soldier.”
Mal shrugged. “He says she is our path to peace, that she will lead us to the surface.”
“So, your people truly want peace?”
“Yeah, if your people would stop lying about us and let us on the surface.”
Evellor nodded. “I only recently learned about the great lie that my people told the Medeans to keep your people underground. I'm sorry. If it were my decision, I would try for peace.”
“Well, it sounds as if your general wants to as well.”
“Maybe. I don't know. Years of hatred are hard to move past.”
“We did it pretty quickly.” Mal winked.
Evellor's heart flipped in his chest, but then he went serious. “Mal, I don't know if I'll ever see you again.”
“You're seeing me right now, warrior.” Mal grinned, and then he went serious too. “Hey, we don't have to be affected by whatever happens here. If we want to be together, we'll find a way.”
“A way? There is no way.”
“You can't tell me there aren't places where two men can hide on the surface.”
Evellor went still. “It would mean leaving our people. Our families. Friends.”
“Hey, I'm not saying I'm ready to sneak out of the fortress and run off with you right this second, but I have a feeling about you, Ev.
A good one. And we Nethren don't get good feelings, remember?
So, I'm gonna follow these new instincts.
I'll vid you again when I can. We'll see how things go.
Maybe we'll end up fighting a lot, and this won't go anywhere.”
“Or maybe we'll end up betraying everything we know and love, just to be together.”
“Don't worry about it, Aethari. Nethren don't love. At least, not yet.” Mal winked and clicked off.
Evellor put his vidco in his pocket. “Oh, dear convergence, I'm going to get us both killed.” And yet, try as he might, he couldn't stop smiling.