Chapter 15 Romi
Chapter Fifteen
ROMI
When we go to meet the returning security team, Hunter and Thorne are not with them. I look at Melody and see my own anxiety and fear reflected in her eyes.
“What does this mean?” I ask the prince a short while later.
We know there are prisoners because we watched them being escorted off the hovercraft, along with some of the men from Earth. It’s a shock yet not at all surprising to those of us from Earth. We know what the men from Earth are capable of.
“One of the men from Earth tried to make a run for it,” the prince explains.
“Hunter, Thorne, and Raven stayed back to rescue him and get him medical treatment. We were planning to send a ship to them in the morning since the man from Arthur is fairly injured, and although Raven has done his best, we need him to be here at the hospital.”
Melody throws her hands up. “I don’t care about the man from Earth. Men from Earth are simply cruel. Why didn’t they just leave him?”
The prince nods, and Jane presses her lips into a line. I can see her disappointment.
“We know they’re cruel to women, but our planet treats even criminals well, so we will treat them well.
But the delay in their return is because a storm has blown in on that side of the planet, and those usually last for a full day.
There’s a reason there are no towns over on that side of the planet—it is our storm side,” the prince explains.
“When it rains here, it’s only for a few hours or maybe a day,” I burst out.
Jane stands, reaching for my hand and one of Nadine’s.
She squeezes us both. “They are safe. Asher has assured me that they are staying in the outpost there and have enough supplies and food for the entire army—for our whole planet—for over a year. They will be safe, and as soon as the storm is over, we’ll go get them. ”
Jane’s touch is comforting, but I’m afraid. I miss my mate, and I could swear that even our baby misses our mate. I slide my palm over my belly, which is round now. It’s startling to have a baby grow so fast.
I reach for Melody’s hand and squeeze it. “They’re going to be okay,” I tell her, almost as if I’m trying to convince myself.
“I promise you that I will report any updates as soon as I receive them,” Asher says, dipping his head solemnly.
“You have my word. If you have questions at any time, just communicate with Jane, and she will get me immediately. I don’t care if you wake me in the middle of the night.
I will get an update at any time. We know the patterns on the storm side.
This should be over in another day or so. ”
“Is this the kind of storm that killed so many women?” I ask.
Asher nods. “Yes, but we don’t live on the storm side, and the women’s festival doesn’t happen on the storm side.
It is on that side of the planet, but closer to that area.
The storm that blew through didn’t last twenty-four hours, but it was brutal and fierce—what we call a once-in-a-century event.
We can control many things, but the weather is not one of them. ”
“Thank you,” I finally say. “I appreciate you keeping us informed, telling us everything.”
“Are our people safe here with these men from Earth?”
Asher is quiet for a beat before he nods.
“Yes. We are gathering information, but we think that the rebels here—which exist on every planet, not just ours—convinced the men from Earth that there were more of them and that they had more power here than they do. I think the men from Earth regret their choices deeply, and they will be sent back to Earth and likely never be allowed to visit this planet again.”
Melody lets out a quick sigh, and I squeeze her hand again.
“I understand,” she says. “I’m just worried. I want Hunter safe.”
“They will be safe. They are safe,” Jane assures us.
I hold her words in my mind as Melody and I depart together. We go to my place because she and Hunter’s child is currently with their nanny. Like me, she’s distressed and tells me she wants to vent without upsetting her child.
After we arrive, I wave for her to sit down on the couch and get her a glass of her favorite juice. She loves lemonade, but I know she’s partial to a juice native to our new planet. It is sweet with a sharp tang to it. I love it as well, but I still prefer lemonade.
Once we’re seated in my living room, Melody looks around, her lips curling into a soft smile. “It’s like our house but a little different.”
My gaze arcs about the room before my eyes meet hers again. “I will never stop being amazed to live here. Everything here is beautiful and wonderful, and I’m just—’” I let out a deep sigh, so relieved to be off Earth.
I feel tears spring to my eyes, and when I meet Melody’s gaze again, I can tell she knows exactly how I’m feeling. Living in fear all the time is exhausting, and it wears you down to where you feel like you lose parts of yourself in the process.
“They’ll be okay, right?” I ask.
Melody takes a breath and a sip from her drink. “I believe they will, but I don’t know. One of those storms killed a bunch of women. That’s why we’re here.”
“Yes, but they were out in the open. Thorne and Hunter are safe inside,” I say quickly. “The prince explained they can go into the mountain. They have housing and food.” My voice rises, and I realize I’m trying to convince myself as much as her.
“Do you want to stay with me tonight?” she asks a few moments later.
“Like a slumber party?” I tease slightly.
“Yes. You can stay in our guest room. I promise our baby sleeps well, and it’ll just be nice not to be alone while we worry. We can watch shows,” she says.
Those of us who originally arrived here from Earth have started watching old television shows that played on Earth before the planet turned into a baked desert.
The luxury on those shows is beyond what I could even imagine.
I’ve seen some old pictures, here and there, of the relics of Earth’s glory, but it’s shocking how much was lost.
They’re from what the history books here tell us was Earth’s heyday after the Second World War.
Then television came out, and the seventies, eighties, into the nineties and early two-thousands are show after show of people living what appear to be utterly ridiculous lives of luxury.
We’ve learned so much about our own history since arriving here.
We’re allowed to sit in on any of the classes here, so we’ve done so out of curiosity.
The rich people on Earth before its ruin were ridiculous.
They even had what they called reality shows with these women called housewives.
Being a housewife on Earth now is nothing more than pure drudgery.
“Let’s,” I say, grinning at her.
I end up staying with her for four nights, and we still haven’t heard word from Hunter and Thorne. On the fourth morning, I wake and roll over, feeling a stronger tug on the cord that makes me believe I’m connected to Thorne even though he’s on the other side of the planet.
I hurry out to the kitchen to find Melody making coffee. “I’m going to the other side of the planet. I’m going to find them,” I tell Melody.
Her eyes go wide. “Romi, you’re pregnant. You’re due in two weeks.”
“I know, but the prince said the storm was over, and we still haven’t heard.”
When Melody falls quiet, I know what she’s thinking. “You can’t just go like that. You have to tell them you’re doing this.”
Within an hour, I’m standing in the prince’s office.
Asher studies me. “They aren’t all the way on the other side of the planet, and I was going to call you down to tell you this morning.
Our hovercraft went to pick them up, and they’re fine.
Except they hit a dust storm on the way back and crash-landed.
I’m not thrilled with you going to do this, but I sense you’re going to do it whether I agree or not. ”
I lift my chin. “I am.” I might be trembling inside, but I cling to my defiance for strength.
“Well then, the queen is going to lead a rescue mission. You can go with her,” he says.
“In another hovercraft?”
The prince narrows his eyes. “You must be safe for me. Thorne would literally do me harm if he knew I’d let you do something reckless. The queen has an entire fighting team at her disposal. They are trained to do things like this. Go with them.”
There’s a sharp knock on his door, and it opens before he can even speak. It’s the queen.
Her eyes lock with mine. “Romi. Come with us,” she says.
The next span of time passes swiftly. Before I know it, I’m on one of these hovercrafts for the first time.
We’re zooming across the planet, and I’m marveling because it is so shockingly beautiful from above—the mountains, the lush trees, and the beautiful silvery lakes. All of it takes my breath away.
Yet, all the while, I feel the cord—my connection with Thorne—becoming stronger and stronger as we travel.
“He’s hurt,” I say, shifting to look at the queen, who sits calmly beside me.
“Perhaps. But they have communicated with us, and Raven is a healer. He will keep him stable,” she says, her tone confident.
“What if Raven is hurt?” I burst out.
“If Raven is hurt, they will all take care of each other. We have heard from them. They are all alive.”
She leans over, reaching for both of my hands.
Her touch is soothing and warm. I feel she is conveying her strength into me as she holds on.
“I would not lie to you. I would never have brought you with me, with our team, if I thought you would encounter your mate in a state where he could not be saved.” She gives my hands one last firm squeeze before releasing them and straightening. “We’re almost there.”
She stands and strides to stop between the chairs of the two women flying the small craft.
Although I’ve been a woman my entire life, I’m so accustomed to women being ignored and discounted—never given opportunities to be in charge.
Women are just as intelligent as men and far less likely to let their pride or ego get in the way, yet it’s still discombobulating to see women handling entire missions like this. There is not a man among us.
The queen and the princess have explained to me that their women fighters are just as elite as men. They recognize that men may have more physical strength due to their size, but that’s more of a brute type of force. Women’s strengths are different, and they offer different gifts.
Before I know it, we’re landing, and I can see the other hovercraft tilted on its side in a pile of sand. My heart flies into my throat, and emotion rushes through me. I’m impatient to get out, find Thorne, and assure myself he is okay. I will not be able to relax until I know that.
Yet I defer to the queen. Because I’m a reasonable person, I wait impatiently. Once we disembark from the hovercraft, we discover they are all safe—but they are also all injured.
Raven is in the best shape and has done what he could, but he is limping badly.
The infinity pulse vibrates in my chest, and I follow it to find Thorne resting against the far side of the hovercraft.
He meets my eyes. “My love,” he says. “Why are you here?” He instantly looks concerned as his gaze sweeps over me.