Chapter Five #2
Aken-Var’s gaze pierced them. “What? I have already heard enough to investigate my entire women’s quarters and the staff therein.”
“She had a daughter.”
Aken-Var thought about what he had seen. He hadn’t understood it. “I thought that was her sibling.”
“Her adult daughter, who died the day after the asteroid strike. Margo kept trying to find her until she was brought to the station and stolen from there.” Baket cleared his throat. “She has a fear of small spaces.”
“She... they put her in a cell.”
“They did. The cells are usually monitored. There must be recordings.”
Aken-Var nodded. “There are. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that.”
“Because you were enraged at her rejection.” Soven said, “And horrified at what she had done to her skin. We have all felt you watching her; we know what you focus on.”
Arven said, “I still can’t believe she had a grown daughter. She looks so young.”
“It must pain her greatly,” Bekat said softly.
“Her daughter looked just like her.” Arven sighed. “It is a tragedy that she is gone. Even knowing she was dead, that is who she fights for.”
Aken-Var nodded. “I see.”
A female voice called out. “I knew you gossipy bitches were going to call him.”
Baket turned and froze. Where the jagged marks had been were smooth silver scars. Her hair was still as red as her own dried blood. Her eyes had gone from dark brown to dark silver.
“Margo, what happened?”
She snorted. “I touched Chloe, and her instinct is to heal, so this is the compromise.”
She looked at the com screen with Aken-Var’s face on it. “Oops. We are driving through a tunnel.” She disconnected the link.
Baket sighed. “He will just renew contact.”
“Of course. Gertrude, run silent to the array.”
“Of course, Margo. These gossipy bitches will have to get through me.”
Baket fought a smile. When Margo felt vulnerable, her language degraded.
“We will be there in twelve more hours. Who wants first watch?”
Baket nodded. “I will take it. Get some rest. I believe you will be dealing with your people for the next few days. That has to be tiring.”
“Uh-huh. Gertrude, don’t let him weasel dick his way around the com lock.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Gertrude said. “No new com signals will get past me.”
Margo nodded. “See you in eight hours.”
She walked out of the command deck with long strides.
Baket looked at the screen, and it flicked to life again with Aken-Var’s rueful expression.
“But Gertrude, you said...”
“She never locked him out; she just covered up his smug face with a black screen.”
Aken-Var said, “Her skin is smooth.”
Arven said, “But it still has the marks of being carved. They are just filled with pale silver. One of her kind is the seed of life. She touched Margo, and this was the result.”
“Where are you travelling?”
“An array, Sanctuary Base, a Pericoff world, and then Orexi. There may be a stop at Aten as well.”
“So, keeping to a few close systems.” Aken-Var nodded. “Good. Changes need to be made on Amtha Prime.”
They spoke with their commander for an hour, answering questions about what they had observed in her behaviour since they had been with her.
Soven summed it up. “She will never be confined again. You are very lucky she did not kill herself. Also, she does spend most of her money on sex workers when we are at a station. Her drive is still intense.”
Aken-Var looked like he wanted to punch someone.
Arven said, “And she estimates her lifespan to conclude in fifteen years.”
Aken-Var frowned. “Bring me the seed of life. I need to speak to her.”
Soven said, “Gertrude, is Chloe awake?”
“Yes, she is. Thank you for checking. I have sent her a message asking her to come here.” There was a pause. “She is on her way. She doesn’t sleep much.”
Aken-Var asked questions about Margo’s time on the stations, but he got angry when they answered him. It was an odd reaction for a male who could have any unmarked female he wanted.
When Chloe wandered in, Aken-Var was transferred to the large screen.
* * * *
Chloe saw the image of the man from Margo’s Zowoth history. “Hello, Aken-Var. What can I do for you?”
He looked at her and was shocked. “You are the seed of life?”
“Yup. For the Terrans, but apparently, I can cross species a little.”
“Will you heal Margo?”
“No. She is fine the way she is.”
He gritted his tusks. “Will you heal Margo, please?”
“She doesn’t want me to. She is content with the silvering of her scars.
She believes that if she is completely healed, she will be back in the women’s quarters, and I am guessing that a few someones there messed with her because that is the only reason to take a claustrophobe and lock them in a small room. ”
He paused. “She is a level three and should be able to keep that ranking, no matter what she wears.”
“So, she is either in the women’s quarters or off-world. There aren’t any other options.”
“I am working on the options.”
“So, why did you want to talk to me, aside from the healing thing?”
“She does not believe she has long to live.”
“That is probably true.” Chloe looked at him. “We are not long-lived. We last maybe a century without intervention, and we begin to lose body condition at about sixty years of age. She is five years from that point.”
He frowned. “Can you do anything?”
“Sure, but I won’t do it against her will. She has had enough choices taken from her. Though she did want to be with you, it was just after that that it went to hell.” She smiled slightly. “I am guessing you had a nice time as well?”
He gave her an astonished look. “She became part of my soul. I wanted to ask her to form a partnership, but she brought her scars back and left.”
“And you didn’t know that she screamed your name while she tried to pound her way through the door. Hours, she yelled for you. Begged for you, and she was left in that tiny space while the chimes rang, bringing you one woman after another.”
His expression filled with horror. “I need to see the recordings. All the recordings. I will be in contact in a few days.”
“Great. Have a nice time.”
He looked at her in surprise. “Do you have a mate?”
“Promised. Lord Dytura. He bought me this ship and the Freedom Break.”
That froze Aken-Var in his tracks. He said softly, “I see.”
She laughed. “Yeah, but his being a lord of death and all, he can wait, and he will. I am not ready yet.”
“You think he will hold back?”
“Not once I say go, but until I am ready, he had better, or he will be having one fast fuck and several centuries of me kicking him in the groin. Respecting a long-term partner is half the battle.”
He ran a hand over his face. “So, I met the woman of my dreams, had several nights that I will replay as long as I live, and the moment she was out of my sight, everything went wrong, and then I screamed at her for it.”
“So, the Zowoth are a military grouping, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, everyone who acted without orders acted without orders. I am a bit of a bitch, but I wouldn’t let that go easily.”
A light glowed in his eye. “That is a good idea.”
“Also, just because someone doesn’t wear marks doesn’t mean they aren’t able to hit. We talked to Margo, and she was a double-bladed fighter. She could have used that jewellery and added a few marks to your face and body. Do you ever wear shirts?”
He spoke absently. “No.”
She laughed. “Hmrain descendant?”
“No, but from a designer experiment that came after Ra. While he was testing one body style, the Zowoth were created to test another.”
“So, what is the deal with the unmarked?”
He shrugged. “They are less likely to assassinate their lover or, at least, in a way we can’t manage.”
“Wow. So, you aren’t afraid of poisons? Needles? Other lovers?”
“We are immune to poison, and another lover would have to get past my guards. It is also why the first coupling is public. Any jealous attacks would occur in front of my guards.”
“That must be wonderful for ladies who just want a quick fuck.”
“They all know the rules.”
“Do they?” She looked at him seriously. “Did she know that she was losing her fighting rank? That she became your property? That she lost rights to leave the women’s quarters?”
He winced. “They should have briefed her.”
“And if she had said no?”
He blinked. “I don’t know.”
“She would have said no. She was in a cell at the arena, in containment at the station, and in a small enclave on Earth, fighting for food for herself and others. She’s been in a trap, and you offered her another.
She isn’t going to be near you again if I have a say in it, and I do. ” Chloe looked at him with a smirk.
“What?”
“She is one of mine. A child of Terra, and I will rebuild her and make her strong again. I cannot return her child, but I can work on her spirit.” She grinned.
“I can make her toxic to the Zowoth, make her stronger than your men here, give her teeth and claws. Things that cannot be fixed in a healing unit. Her soft skin can turn to scales and her lips to ice. All things that can happen if she wishes.”
Chloe watched his panic and outrage.
“Anyway, go clean up your own house. That never should have happened.”
He paused and nodded. “Please don’t change her.”
“I will do with her body what she wants done with her body.” Chloe said softly, “And that will make one of us.”
He nodded and disconnected the call.
Chloe turned to the other men in the room. “Comments? Critiques? He had to be hit with something, or there wouldn’t be an urgency to clean house.”
Baket stared at her. “He’s going to empty the women’s quarters.”
“Yes. And he’s going to take some of the ones that acted against Margo’s interest and going to let them know exactly how many cameras there are in the women’s quarters, near the cells.” Chloe grinned. “In the meantime, I get to tell Margo how many body mod options she has. There are a lot.”
Arven said, “Are you really going to change her?”
“Not more than she wants. But anything she wants, she will have.”
Soven paused. “You are urging her to accept her own skin.”
“She has, but she wears the pain of her loss on her body. She needs it to be seen. The silver marks are what she needs to see.”
Baket covered his eyes. “Her lost child.”
Chloe nodded. “It is common among my people—well, it was—to mark their skin with permanent pigments to remember those lost and to hope for the future. Or to just remember a drunk night out, but it was important. You wear battles on your skin; we wear our lives.” She grinned.
“Well, now that I have spanked your supreme leader, I am going to sleep the sleep of the just. Night, fellas!”
She waved and headed for her green and growing quarters. There was a gorgeous bed of clover that was calling her name.
The Zowoth were talking rapidly as she left. Good. While other species didn’t share human mores, they were shared by humans and needed to be taken into account.