Chapter 37 #3
“Eh, regardless, the point is that I am impressed with you and your crew, Tanin. You are of unequalled moral character. There are very few like you in existence, I hope you know.”
“You have not explained yourself,” Tanin said, voice tight, not at all pleased by the praise. “How did you know that Chee was Trove’s mate?”
The Imperium just laughed. Careless, unconcerned, amused. It was such a carefree sound. There was power in that. The Imperium was untouchable, unafraid, and unequaled. They weren’t at all scared of Tanin’s temper or the inherent threat just in having them there.
“The second thing to be proven through the second job was if I was right. The entire reason I brought Chee here from Earth, the only purpose in her being here, was to mate you, Trove. I needed to prove that my theories were correct, and this seemed like the perfect test. A male that had no interest in mating, who did not at all wish for a mate. A female who had no reason at all to ever want to leave her planet and would not have if it were not needed. A pair that, under normal circumstances, would never meet in the entirety of their lives. A mating that, by all circumstances, would not happen. Moreover, neither of you had submitted a scan to True Match. You were perfect for my experiment.”
“Experiment,” Trove repeated, his belly sinking and hardening with a combination of pain and anger that broiled furiously inside him.
They were an experiment.
“Hyde,” Chee said again, frowning at him.
“It is the truth,” they said carelessly.
Absolutely ambivalent to Trove’s rising temper.
“My people have certain… abilities, let us say. But I never thought to utilize them for something like this. Not until True Match came along. The science they perfected in scanning and matching the subspace wavelengths of a person to find mates is unparalleled. Unprecedented. I couldn’t believe it when I first saw it.
But I knew I could use it for myself, if I could just prove that it was possible for me to do so.
“I have my own goals, you see. My own plans. But before I could start all that, I needed proof. And time. You see, it wasn’t easy for me to find your mate, Trove.
There was a high chance I couldn’t. I didn’t know who it was.
I had an entire cosmos to search. I could have searched forever but never found her.
But my own personal… abilities, let’s call them, gave me an edge.
And I was able to dedicate all of my time to the search for at least one of your mates.
“I have had my eye on you all since you escaped Rik-Vane. I have been watching you long before Captain Ikvar ever caught you in his sights. I’ve paved the way for you at a few points.
I’ve led certain jobs to you. I’ve watched you make certain decisions.
I’ve been measuring and weighing you for a while.
And I have been searching for a mate for one of you almost that entire time. ”
“You what?” Tanin hissed, his quills raising on his head.
“Do you really think you’re the first to escape Rik-Vane?” The Imperium’s voice was pleasant, but the implication was chilling,
Not that others had escaped, but what must have happened to them.
What could have happened to Trove and the others.
If it weren’t for the whims of this person.
“I usually have them killed,” the Imperium said so easily.
Like it was nothing. “Those who choose a life on Rik-Vane are, typically, quite irredeemable. They don’t make the same decisions you did.
They lack your moral code. They lack the control, Tanin, that you maintain over your crew.
I do not lie when I tell you that you have impressed me. Take it for the compliment it is.”
It didn’t sound like a compliment. It sounded like the mercy of an executioner who had decided the criminal on the block should have a chance to redeem themselves. They were absolutely not innocent, but they were allowed to live.
Only because they might serve their executioner.
There was a foul taste in the back of Trove’s throat. A bitterness that he couldn’t immediately explain. He had been so proud of what he and the others had done. To learn that it was helped by this person who was playing with them like puppets on strings…
“Good work, Chee,” they said, their body still not moving as though to look at her. “I wish you would have completed the mating, but I cannot deny that you both have been triggered and primed. That is good enough. I’ve already alerted San to complete my end of the deal.”
Chee let out a long breath of relief, a smile spreading across her face.
Not the sheepish or shy one that had been barely pulling at the corners.
This one was wide and bright and reached all the way up to her eyes, making them sparkle with absolute joy.
Her shoulders unhunched, pulling back, her entire back straightened, as she seemed to just inflate with happiness.
“Really?” She gasped in delighted disbelief.
The Imperium only laughed. “We had a deal, did we not? And your end was fulfilled to my satisfaction. So, I shall fulfill mine as well.”
Tears gathered in her eyes. She gasped then sobbed, dropping to her knees. She let out great, heaving cries as she began repeating-
“Thank you!”
-over and over again. Crying at the Imperium’s feet like a supplicant before their god.
And Trove hated the sight.