29. Warden Tenn
29
WARDEN TENN
“ I want you to know,” I said tersely, “before you attempt to answer that question, that I’ve already seen the human ship. And the body of its pilot. ”
My eyes snapped back and forth between them. I fought to keep my eyes orange, to maintain the cool, disciplined disposition needed for a warden.
Not so easy to do when I’d come here to deliver Silar’s Terratribe II order and had instead found a crime scene. I took note of every detail in the room. The white-knuckled grip Cherry had on Silar’s data tab. Her small hands were clean.
Silar’s were not.
“That man came for my wife,” Silar answered, not even a hint of regret or guilt in his voice. “I killed him.”
I sighed, briefly closing my eyes. This was going to be a very long night. I could already feel it.
“You could have incapacitated him until I got here, Silar.” I opened my eyes and fixed my gaze on him. “You know that is what you should have done.”
“He touched her.”
Curse it all, Silar.
“It wasn’t him!”
I flicked my tail in a questioning gesture as Silar’s tiny human wife shoved herself between us.
“It wasn’t Silar,” she said stoutly, shoving her completely clean and blood-free hands into fists on her hips. “So if you have to blame someone, blame me. I’ve got to be protected by some kind of international immunity. Plus, I killed another human, not a Zabrian.”
Absolutely none of what she’d just said was legally sound. Not to mention the fact that she didn’t even do it.
“Tell me, Cherry,” I inquired in a low voice. “Just how, exactly, did you overpower a man approximately twice your size with nothing but a Zabrian knife, all the while keeping your hands completely clean in the process?”
The round dots of colour in her cheeks vanished as she raised her hands in front of her face. She then took pained note of Silar’s bloodied ones.
“We both know it was not her,” Silar grunted. “Do what you must, Warden.”
“No attempts at denial? You aren’t even trying to argue,” I said with narrowed eyes, frustration rising. I should not have been looking for a way to give Silar an out. The law was clear and so was my role and responsibility. Silar would have to be on the first available transport out of here to face trial on Zabria. But… I had to admit. I did not wish for that.
“You would go to the mines for her, without complaint?” I pressed.
“I would die for her,” Silar snarled with sudden ferocity. “Also without complaint.”
I stood still, feeling my gaze turning briefly white with astonishment. A man who would kill for his wife…
And a wife who was more than willing to take the fall.
Each of them ready to throw everything away for the other.
“You two…” I murmured slowly, realization taking root deep in my chest. “It is not just a marriage bond between you. But a mate bond.:”
“If you mean that I’m in love with him,” Cherry interjected, “then yes. I am.”
Silar’s gaze glowed bright white as he wrenched his head to look at her. I turned away from them both, needing some blasted time to think. I curled my fingers around the edge of the kitchen’s deep sink, leaning forward and staring out the window.
I forced out a tight breath between my fangs, analyzing and tossing aside possible courses of action. The more I thought, the more Silar’s exile to the mines seemed the only possible outcome. There was a dead body on his property and somebody had to pay the price.
The body. Probably should have dealt with that first…
If I left it too much longer there wouldn’t even be a body at all.
I frowned, then tugged pensively on the loose rope of a thought that might just turn into an idea.
“It won’t be long,” I said slowly, “before a genka smells the blood and comes for the corpse.” I spun around, inhaling quickly. “I never saw you kill him.”
“What?” Silar asked. He said it with some suspicion, as if he were now somehow doubting my faculties. I couldn’t say I appreciated his tone considering I was actually trying to help the white-eyed fool.
Not exactly patiently, I repeated, “I never saw you kill the human male.”
“But you saw his body.”
“I never actually checked if he was breathing.” I paused. “I probably should have…”
“Well…” Silar grimaced. “He wasn’t.”
I held up a hand. “I didn’t hear that. And I didn’t see you kill him. Come morning, all that’ll be left is his shuttle, his blood in the dirt, and genka tracks.”
I spoke quicker and quicker as my plan began to come together.
“Of course, I will have to alert the appropriate human and Zabrian authorities. Let them know about this tragic… accident .”
“Accident?” Cherry echoed, looking confused and hopeful in equal measure.
“Yes. Accident,” I confirmed. “The accident of the human who got himself all turned around, landed in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got snatched up by a local predator. I can make arrangements to have his ship collected and sent to Elora Station. And with it, I will also give a pointed warning to the human side. I will make it known that unless a human comes under the specific provisions of the bridal program, we cannot guarantee their safety.”
The newlyweds cast cautious looks at each other. A smile flickered across Cherry’s face. Then she took Silar’s hand in hers and clutched it tight, not caring a whit for the blood.
“If any other human males should ignore the landing embargo and wander onto Silar’s property as that one did,” I went on, “they will likely meet the same grizzly fate. Everyone knows Silar’s ranch is in an area absolutely crawling with genka. This should prevent any more… incidents.”
I cast one last look out the window, flicking my tail with satisfaction before looping it ’round its hook. Things were tying up nicely. Yes, this would work out just fine.
“Well. I think that I’ll be going now,” I said. “Tomorrow morning, I will be expecting a call from you, Silar.”
“A call? What for?”
Empire help me, but the boy could be dense.
“We understand, Warden,” Cherry said, giving Silar’s hand a knowing squeeze. “We’ll call you tomorrow to let you know about what we’re going to, um, discover on the property in the morning. Then you’ll have a record of our communication about it and you can go from there.”
Thank goodness Cherry seemed to have enough brains for the both of them.
“You see this?” I said dryly, aiming my tail at Cherry. “This is exactly why I voted yes to the bride program. It’s a miracle you’ve got her, Silar.”
“I know,” he said quietly.
“I can’t wait until the others are paired off as well,” I grumbled. “I might finally get some blasted peace. Spend less time worrying about you lot. You’re all in desperate need of somebody with some sense to sort you out and the Empire knows it can’t always just be me.” I breathed out noisily, casting one last look around the room, trying to decipher if there was anything else I needed to do before I left. But I did not think so.
Silar was a mess, of course.
But he had Cherry. And I had a feeling that meant he was going to be just fine.
“I’ll go now. I’ll wait for your call tomorrow.”
I opened the door, listening to Cherry’s high, shaky call of, “Goodbye Warden! And thank you! Thank you so, so much!”
Listening to his wife’s words, I did not pay attention to Silar slipping out of the house with me. The door closed with both of us on the outside of it. My shuldu perked up, eyeing us before ambling over.
“I presume you’ve secured the property,” I said. It was a pointless question. Silar may have been a fool in many areas. But this would not have been one of them.
“Yes. The male was alone.”
“Good.”
I closed the last bit of distance between my shuldu and me. My hand froze upon the saddle when Silar’s voice cut through the cool air.
“Why did you do it? Why will you let this go for me?”
His question caught me off guard.
“Does it matter?” I asked, twisting to peer at Silar curiously. It was not like him to ask extra questions or make conversation, even about important subjects. Perhaps most especially about important subjects, actually.
This had to be his wife’s influence.
“I want to know,” he said.
I cast my gaze over Silar’s frame and face. Stony. Serious. Covered in blood. Eyes like white-hot coals.
“Because I know you,” I finally said. “I’ve known you a long time, now. I know that you need her. And even more than that?” I turned and hoisted myself up into the saddle, grasping the reins. “I know that you deserve her.”
Silar did not reply. He simply watched me as I urged my mount into the road.
“Despite it all, you’re a good man, Silar,” I called back at him. “And that in there is a good, good woman. Keep her happy. Oh,” I tugged on the reins, slowing my mount and turning back towards Silar’s house. “I dropped your order there by the door. This was the first chance I could bring it after its arrival. It’s why I came all the way out here tonight.” I jutted my tail at the potted package I’d left on the ground by the door before I’d come into the kitchen.
I guided my mount back into the road, ready to begin the long ride home. From the corner of my eye, I saw Silar move. He bent his big, bloodied body so he could get a better look at what I’d brought him. The order that had just about cleaned out every last credit to his name.
The order he’d placed the very day his wife had arrived.
That was the last glimpse I had of him that night. The image I carried with me all the way back.
The image of Silar bending, then crouching, silently gazing upon his new little sapling of a cherry tree.