Chapter Seven
Orexi was beautiful, and Zelda smiled as her sisters asked about where the elves lived. The elves in question wore a lot of leather, rode some of the tall transport beasts, and Zoey and Zaniah grinned with Aretta as they were all boosted onto the tall dark-green animals.
When they started walking, Orex grinned. “Now, you get the fastest local transport available.” He swung her into his arms, his wings flared, and they went up and away.
She saw the party down below, three women with escorts surrounded by six others.
It was nice to know he took safety seriously.
They flew for twenty minutes, and then he set down and eased her to the stone.
A housekeeper came out and said, “Where is Lady Marta?”
Zelda smiled. “She was insufficient for his purposes, so she has been offered free education and is learning a new trade. My name is Lady Zelda, my daughter is Miss Aretta, and my sisters are Miss Zoey and Zaniah. They may not be staying, but they are guests for now. Don’t worry about mixing them up. ”
The housekeeper blinked, with nut-brown skin, black hair, and yellow eyes. “And you are sufficient?”
Zelda shrugged and said, “Look at him. Actually look at him.”
The housekeeper stared at Orex and gasped. “My lord, you look so...”
“Healthy. We are going to go with healthy.” Zelda smiled.
Orex chuckled. “Healthy is true. Strong is true. Developing my secondary mental skills is also progressing.”
“Oh. Lady, what do you require?”
Orex took over and listed the different trades that were going to be at the palace in a few hours.
Zelda sighed. It was going to be a very overstimulating day, but they could manage it.
The ladies arrived half an hour later, and once introductions had been made with Karogyn, the housekeeper, things began to happen.
Rooms, food, and temporary clothing. Orex had to attend to some of the admin things that he had missed out on while on his ten-day vacation.
When the seamstresses arrived, Orex showed up again and made choices for Zelda and Aretta. There was going to be a lot of family matching going on, and she wasn’t upset about it.
Karogyn came in with a frown. “Lady Zelda, I have received a message from someone named Skylar.”
Zelda had been wrapping Aretta in a loose gauze. “What?”
“She said to tell you that it wasn’t eighteen. It was eleven. She always gets those two mixed up.”
Zelda’s eyes were wide. “Eleven?”
“Yes.”
“Ah. Lord Orex, how long is Hmrain gestation?”
He looked at her with narrowed eyes. “Harwin’s gestation was eleven months.”
“Ah. Right.”
Karogyn said, “Does it mean something?”
“Nothing yet. I think.”
Orex got up from where fashion samples had surrounded him. “Stay standing, Zelda.”
He knelt and put a hand on her belly. He chuckled. “It has begun.”
“I am really going to have to talk to Skylar about her timelines.”
Zoey grinned. “She always sucked at time tracking. We think she had undiagnosed ADHD, or she just didn’t care. You are pregnant again?”
Aretta looked at her with wide eyes. “I get to be a big sister?”
“Only until it finishes becoming an adult, and then you will be the little big sister.” Orex smiled.
Karogyn clasped her hands together. “Truly?”
“Truly, Karogyn.” Orex grinned. “Eleven months from now, my little family will grow, but in the meantime, I wish to adopt Aretta legally.”
Aretta froze. “Mom?”
“It’s up to you. This will be between you and Orex. I will be there during negotiations, but all the rules of deportment and expectations have to be outlined. If you are okay with that, I am okay with that.”
Aretta looked at Orex and nodded. “We need to talk about it. Is there a garden or something we can walk in?”
He smiled and looked at her seamstress. “Do you have what you need for her?”
“Yes, my lord. I will prepare your insignia for the clothing.”
“Put it on anyway. She is under my care, whether or not she chooses to be my official daughter.”
Aretta nodded. “This is a walking conversation.”
Orex nodded. “Then, let us walk, little one.” He held out his hand, Aretta took it, and they walked toward the back of the house.
Zelda looked at some of the designs and spoke to the seamstress. The other woman whispered, “Aren’t you nervous?”
“No, his mind touches mine, and the same the other way. He isn’t a danger to her. My mind carries my love for her into him. He has welcomed it and her. There is no ill intent when he looks at her; rather, there is a curiosity to see what she will become.”
The seamstress blinked.
“Were your people always here?” Zelda asked quietly.
“No, lady. We were brought here by Orex eight hundred years ago. He’s a good ruler, and we are healthy, wealthy, and have excellent trading under him, but we didn’t have anyone companion or consort class.”
“It is literally a way of thinking. If you can’t produce their frequency, you just can’t produce it. It is that basic. I don’t know what the designers were thinking, but I think it was because they planted assessor genetics in those populations.”
“Assessors?”
“They are another creation of the designers. They are there to check on the Hmrain to make sure they aren’t doing more harm than good.
Our world was one that Ra chose to make home for a while.
There was still his style of building that is now the main structure on Aten.
He was on our world for quite some time, and they left their genetics across the globe.
It must have been quite a party across thousands of years. ”
Zoey laughed, and Zaniah snickered.
The housekeeper said, “Do you have such bloodlines?”
“Not as far as we know. We are just... wait. The other mother. She could have had some assessor genes.”
Zoey nodded. “She could have. She wouldn’t have known it, though. Your mom had a vibe about her, too.”
Zelda shrugged. “We will have to run some genotyping.”
They continued selecting clothing, boots, and daily jewellery. The others could do that. Zelda was stuck with what Orex provided. She was wearing enough right now to pay for her house back on Earth, Zoey’s house, Zaniah’s house, and all of their neighbourhoods. Here and now, it was shiny and heavy.
She looked down at her belly.
Zoey smiled. “There is a speck where there should be no speck. You don’t have any birthmarks.”
“I am aware. I hope that Aretta is really enthusiastic about a little brother or sister.” Zelda bit her lip.
Zoey said softly, “She knows you didn’t have a choice.”
The housekeeper gasped. “You were forced?”
“No. I am a rapid cycler. I can’t tell when I am receptive. Every twenty-eight days, if I am healthy and active. Yes, I know it is appalling.” The other ladies in the room gasped.
Zoey chuckled. “That was the best part of the burn. No body fat meant my hormones shorted out. I mean, I was in agony and felt like I was being flayed the whole time but didn’t miss PMS.”
Karogyn supervised the servers who brought in tea and snacks.
Zelda sipped at the tea and smiled. “Karogyn, do you ever see yendal? Do you enjoy them as a pet?”
“Only the Hmrain would consider them pets. Why?”
Zelda tilted her head. “That tracks. Orex has offered to get Aretta a pet. She has chosen a yendal, so he has invited a breeder with weaned kits here so that she can find one that she gets along with.”
“Ah. Well, that is interesting.”
“I don’t know what they eat, but whatever it is, you might want to lay in a supply.”
“Thank you for the warning.”
“Aretta has had pets before. She’s good at cleaning and feeding, but she needs a pet that can defend her. She was vulnerable once, and none of us wants her to be that way again.”
The housekeeper paused, looked at her, and said, “I believe I understand.”
“I wish you didn’t, but leaving the Earth wasn’t easy.”
They ate the snacks, figured out the foods, and eventually, the ladies had packed up and were waiting for final authorization.
Orex and Aretta were holding hands, and Aretta’s eyes were red and her face flushed from crying, but she was recovering, so she had gotten something out.
Zelda held out her arms, and her daughter ran to her. “Did you hash it all out?”
She nodded and sniffed. “It was a very productive walk, and you are going to love the gardens. So, I said he could adopt me, but he wants to change my name to include his.”
“Ah, hence the crying. You told him about Grandma’s family?”
“Yeah, so we came up with a compromise, if you don’t mind.”
“What is it?”
She looked up and gave a watery smile. “Arexa.”
“I think that is a lovely name, and I can still call you Ari.”
“Yes, and I can call you supermom, slaughterer of our enemies, and consumer of worlds.” Aretta grinned.
Orex walked up behind Zelda and said, “Is it acceptable?”
“It is.”
Aretta smiled. “He’s gonna give me a planet with a colony and a small asteroid belt for income, so I can hire my own defenders when I am old enough.”
“Right. First, let’s see if you can keep a yendal alive, and then we can work our way up to an entire colony.”
Orex hugged her. “Excellent. I have always wanted one, but Karogyn is afraid of them, so this is a great reason to have one or more in the house.”
Zelda turned in his arms. “You want one?”
He grinned. “Children are useful things.”
She started laughing, and Aretta giggled.
* * * *
Karogyn had grown up at the palace and known Lord Orex her entire life, and she had never seen him looking truly happy before.
The girl and her mother were pale, but they had the same genetic stamp.
The different eyes were odd, with the lady’s sisters each having two matching eyes, but it was another thing that made her exotic and ideal for Lord Orex.
The lady herself was calm, and she seemed kind and matter-of-fact.
Whatever she had been through on her world, she had not let it make her hard.
That was a skill few achieved. Marta had been brittle and fading fast. It was a relief that she was switching occupations.
Lord Orex had found someone who was much better suited to the rigours of being a consort.