Chapter Nineteen
Burning Bed
I sat on the exam table, legs dangling, and an oxygen pack over my mouth. Varek, the same red-headed Volardi medic who once gave me grief, moved with tender efficiency. A salt-shaker-sized, crystal scanner glowed over my stomach.
Zephyron stood, hand braced against glowing medical gear. He needed his leg treated, but refused to sit or rest.
The doc's purple eyes read the scrolling alien symbols. His shoulders rose, and he bowed to Zephyron. "Congratulations, Sentinel. You have given him a child."
"Hey! It's not like I didn't have anything to do with..." I blinked. Oh! Yeah, I threw up on a cultural icon, but no bump. Just some vague tightness, I figured, came from the conversion.
I shared my thoughts, and Varek continued, "Some Femeni do not show for many double moons after they are taken by their Soturi. Minus the proper color eyes and flecks, you are identical."
Dad said Mom was the same. She didn't show for months, then she ballooned. Dad's words.
"So, it's true. I'm—"
"Pregnant! Like Lucy the Femeni from your narrative."
My mate didn't share a love of, well, Lucy. With a booming voice, he spoke. "Are Thomas and our child well?"
The medic nodded and projected a now-allowed hologram. Our baby appeared, small and curled, umbilical cord faintly glowing. Some primal tether I'd never imagined took hold as if a cable had been drawn from my heart to him.
A warm hand landed on my shoulder. "Leave us."
The medic nodded, then quickly left.
"Will you please sit?" I asked.
"I do not require it."
"It would make me less stressed if you did."
A nanite chair grew from the floor, and soon we were eye to eye.
"Where do we even start?" I asked. "The race? The Sandari teenager who surfed with me? Your leg? Me vomiting on a holy statue? Us? What we're bringing into the world, and why you don't seem happy?"
"I am ashamed," he said, his voice low and deliberate.
I stiffened. "Of me?"
"No!" His chest went out as if the mere thought offended him.
"Of myself." His hands balled into fists before relaxing.
"Without a Dara, I relied on ancient logic.
I thought the trust message meant letting you compete.
Now I fear I asked you to race to avoid a loss to my reputation. I risked you and our child."
"You treated me as a man," I said, my tone steady. "Besides, it's not like you knew for sure. Tessith said it might not take."
"I should have treated you as a Femeni with the potential for impregnation. You are to be protected and loved."
My lips tugged into a small smile as he went on.
"Zerlites haven't been seen in a shifting sand festival since before I was born. I never would have asked you to race if I thought they might return."
I looked down. "I might've caused it by stirring them up like a hornet's nest back on Earth. The ice asteroid, remember?"
"There is no proof," Zephyron said, voice firm.
I exhaled and rested a hand on my stomach. "I'm not trying to dodge what I did before we met. I just... well, you treated me like a man and I did the same with my father."
His expression shifted, gears turning behind those violet eyes.
"I trusted him. I believed he'd stop drinking, and he'd get better.
I wanted it so badly I stayed quiet, until two people died.
" I looked at Zephyron, my voice calm. "Sometimes trust pushes you off a cliff, but other times.
.." I brushed my fingers over my stomach.
"It anchors you to someone worth staying for. "
He nodded slowly. "To trust is to believe. Some fall short. Others rise to meet it."
"You showed confidence in me," I said.
"Yet, you nearly died, and I will never violate your trust again."
"Oh, Hon. You didn't."
The Volardi weren't super advanced gods, just Humanity with better toys, far less homophobia, and a dealmaker attitude.
In some areas, they shone. In others, us.
They had no pop culture, real music, or therapists.
His mates were gone, and he never spoke of them. He hurt, even if he wouldn't admit it.
"So," I said carefully, "What would Elai and Pargith want?"
His shoulders rose. "I do not know."
"You sure?"
His eyes closed. "I do not have your people's gift. I cannot create narratives."
"Then I'll do it. Elai, who I bumped into and physically hurt?
The one who showed a stranger kindness would want you, the Soturi he loved.
.. loves, to be kind to yourself. Pargith didn't want a fight at the Awards because he was smart and practical.
I can't blame you for asking me to race to ensure peace on Sudo. "
"You would just forgive me?"
"Yes, because there's nothing that needs forgiveness. Even if there wasn't, I have to, so we can have a life together. We each did things we wish we hadn't. But we're here, and we've got this kid now."
He leaned in from the chair. "Thomas of Earth... Thomas, I will not and cannot blame you for your father. There are events we could have each done differently, but let us not waste the cool with arguments of heat."
Another translation quirk, but I got the gist. We could talk about regrets or concentrate on something amazing. We rested against each other and stared at our baby. His hand rested on my stomach, and ripples went out over the hologram.
"Thank you. For me and other Volardi. There is hope."
"I feel like I owe you more." He blinked in confusion, so I continued.
"Before we met, there was so much I wanted to do.
Some I did, like getting out of my small town.
Others like a music career? No, but I think Omegahood is going to be amazing.
" I waited a second. "And I heard you mention you loved me. "
I repeated the words back with his deep inflection.
"Truth! I did state that."
I grinned so wide I hurt my face. "Yes, you did 'state that' and I love you too. This time, you'd better not argue!"
He smiled, and it was a moment for lovers, cut short by a knock and a familiar Human voice.
"Thomas, Big Guy? Is this a bad time? Someone wants to see you."
"Your timing's just as good as ever, Parker," I said.
Varek came in with Parker behind. Instead of discussing old television, he stared at my mate before proceeding. With a go-ahead, he injected Zephyron with nanites.
Parker's cheeks puffed out. "First, a-mazing job out there, and I'll get more into it, but someone wants to see you."
"Yeah, I know. He's here."
"Uh, no. Not Varek. Westmore. He got wind of the race and when you up-chucked on the statue."
I closed my eyes in shame as Zephyron slowly stood, and I knew he wouldn't use a hoverchair. He whistled out commands, and a monitor grew from the wall.
"What?" asked Zephyron.
"Good to see you too," said Westmore. "And glad to see you're with child." Like the doctor, he nodded to Zephyron. Really? Everyone else gets kudos?
"How do you even know? We barely found out."
He smirked. "News travels fast, and Sudo isn't as separated as you'd think." His tone shifted to something sterner. "Also heard about the camera-drone attack on Zephyron. Nasty business. Although Thomas, you did exceptionally well with the race. Nice save."
"Yeah, I might've messed up. Using the flying drones for the whistling chime music? They might think it's cheating. Throwing up on their holy statue didn't help, either."
His brows rose slightly. "Actually, you lucked into something." Mental gears turned in Zephyron's head as the general continued. "Some disagreement and different interpretations depending on who you ask, but the consensus is you honored the Sandari."
"By needing Volardi tech to avoid a Queen Zerlite and vomiting?"
Westmore's smile widened. "The Volardi have a reputation for arrogance when it comes to their solutions.
No offense, Zephyron. They tend to assume their way is best. What you did, Thomas, was different.
You used their ceremonial sounds against the Zerlites.
Your actions showed humility, and you saved a Sandari citizen when you could have saved yourself. "
Parker spoke as I thought. "'Kobayashi Maru.' Uh, it's from 'Star Trek.'"
"I know, my dad's a Trekkie."
He continued anyway. "A test James Kirk did at the academy. There was a no-win situation, so he reprogrammed the simulation to win." Parker put his fingers out miming me and Karel sand surfing. "One of you would have died, no matter what. You took the third option by staying together."
"And the throwing up part?"
"Your pregnancy signifies fertility," Westmore said. "You told them you hope they'll have many children by intentionally bathing the statue, got it?"
Zephyron's voice cut in, "Do not order my Omega."
"A request, then, because we need all the help we can get. Your people included."
He paused, his eyes locking on mine. "This goes against protocol, but you two are mated, right?"
"Obviously. I'm carrying his child, so yes."
Westmore's gaze didn't waver. "Tell me you've slept together."
Zephyron's shoulders squared as he got the slang. "We have not." He said the next part more to me. "Officially, we are not mated, per Sudo and Volardi tradition."
"Okay, well..." I grinned, "we got a way around that, right?"
Westmore pressed a button. The screen shifted, and my blood ran cold. Footage from different conversations played: me speaking to Tydalos, then Brandon, my dad, and my brothers. My voice echoed back, saying things I barely remembered in private.
Then the worst part: my flippant, poorly thought-out comment on how I would've chosen Tydalos if Dad hadn't killed two people.
I looked up at Parker, who paled. "I never recorded this!" He scratched his chin. "At least not intentionally."
Zephyron stood, his face a stone mask. His dark purple eyes burned as they flicked between the screen and me.
Westmore's voice cut through. "You offered intent with those words. To the Volardi, you confirmed you would have picked Tydalos. Since you are not officially mated, this means..."