Chapter 19
NINETEEN
Tai
Bri’s fake laughter is grating on my nerves. I know what her real laugh sounds like. It’s obvious when she’s forcing it.
By the look on his face, the brethren she’s talking to believes the laughter is sincere. It took her a while to coax her animal to catch up, but over the last hour, she has been subtly dropping hints that Boss is not good for the brethren.
Bri is quite impressive, I’ll admit. It’s a master class in persistence. At first, she used her sense of humor—but it was wasted on him. She’s currently using flattery, but he is so blinded by her beauty and charm, nothing is sticking in that oddly shaped head of his.
“You’re a fantastic brethren. I’m one lucky goddess. You know I’d never treat you poorly, or put myself above you, right?”
“But you are above us! We are lowly brethren here to serve you,” he says back, more confused than ever.
Bri tosses her hands up in the air, finally giving up on this one. She scans the group of brethren and her eyes narrow on her next target.
Time passes slowly on Sabaak. We haven’t even reached our first rest stop and my legs are killing me. My mount comes to a stop right in front of Bri. Her animal bumps into mine, knocking us both sideways.
“Something wrong, Tai?” she asks sweetly—too sweetly and I hate it.
“Nope, everything is great,” I say through gritted teeth.
“You are both so lucky to be here this time of year. During the hot season, we wouldn’t have been able to make it to Table Mountain!” a brethren says, the one Bri has been fake-laughing with for a while now.
“This isn’t the hot season?” Bri asks, fanning herself with the end of her scarf.
“Glorious One, this is our coolest.”
She looks over at me eyes wide and makes an odd gesture with her finger drawing across her neck. I’m not sure what it means, but she looks cute doing it.
I have a high tolerance for discomfort, courtesy of my early years. I won’t enjoy today, but it’s unlikely to be the worst place I’ve visited. However, Bri is used to a climate-controlled environment. I mentally prepare myself to hear a lot of complaining out of her.
A small bright red tent flaps in the distance.
It’s about time. I’m ready to get off this thing.
I urge my h’axom to a trot and bounce uncomfortably on the saddle the faster he goes.
He’s equally eager to stop and rest. I’m much bigger than his usual riders.
I reach down and pat his neck affectionately in silent gratitude.
I go straight to the trough of murky water. The h’axom’s trunk takes long steady pulls of water. Leaving him to hydrate, I heave my half-asleep leg over and slide down his side. I’m already dreading how sore I’ll be tomorrow.
A low table and a cushion sits under a canopy. Enough shade for one person. I don’t have to guess who it’s intended for. The tent is unnecessarily far from the trough, carelessly set up so we all have to walk through the deep and shifting sand.
The brethren are rushing around preparing for their “goddess.” I roll my eyes each time they use the word. She’s not a goddess. She is a demon. She’s shrill and devious and the longer this goes on the thinner my patience wears.
Bri is the last one to arrive. There must be something wrong with her h’axom.
It’s slow and looks older than the dunes.
Five brethren rush to her side to help her down from its back.
She gratefully accepts their help and a wince flickers across her face when she hits the ground.
There is something about the brief glimpse of pain that tightens my chest.
Bri gently pushes their hands off her once she has her feet on solid ground.
She trudges through the sand and grabs a canteen of water from the table as the hot wind blows through the tent flinging sand right in her face.
The least they could do was put some walls on this thing.
She eases herself onto the cushion. Her movements are stiff and she braces her lower back with her hands. Why aren’t they helping her?
These brethren annoy the shit out of me. They are all up her ass but aren’t even good at taking care of her most basic needs. They are too busy competing for her favor to pay attention to what is going on around them.
If we are going to keep up the ruse that I’m her servant, I should probably tend to her. It’s the only reason I’m going over there to help her out. This is all to keep up the act. And that’s it.
I grab a handful of dried fruit from a basket on the table and take it to her.
“No, thank you, I’m okay,” she says to a brethren kneeling at her feet. She reaches down and pushes his hands away from her sandals, which he has already untied.
“Supreme Beauty, it would be my honor to massage your feet and legs. You must be tired from today’s exertions.” This poor deluded idiot doesn’t know when to stop.
“I appreciate the offer, really. Give me a minute to cool down.” She sounds tired. When she looks up at me, I toss her a long strip of dried yellow fruit. She catches it midair and mouths “thank you.”
The brethren at her feet jumps up. “You’re hungry, Our Precious Light!
” He runs over to the table with food and grabs two of everything with his dirty hands that were previously on her feet.
I lean up against the tent pole and watch this unsanitary act of desperation unfold.
Who says there’s nothing fun to do on Sabaak?
“I’m good, really,” she says, her voice heavy with exhaustion. He rushes back to her, kicking up sand everywhere. He dumps his armload of food into her lap. She slowly blinks and takes a deep breath, collecting herself before she loses it on him. I’m hoping she tears into him.
Another brethren steps up behind her and massages her neck and shoulders. From all the way over here, I see her entire body tense up at his touch. She awkwardly laughs and declines his offer.
Her eyes catch mine and she mouths the words “save me.” I mouth back “you’re on your own.” I’ve already helped her once. She’s on her own this time. Actions have consequences, and these are hers.
“Oh no!” Bri yells, laying it on thick. The brethren have no idea that she sounds so insincere it’s laughable.
“I think your h’axom got loose!” She points dramatically toward the trough, which is out of her line of sight, blocked by the doting brethren surrounding her.
There is no way she would know that. A clever way to get some space.
Panicked that he might have to walk all the way home, the brethren behind her takes off at a run, his headscarf flapping behind him as he looks for his ride.
“A little solidarity would be nice,” she says to me with narrowed eyes when they are all out of earshot.
“You handled it perfectly fine. You are the goddess after all, aren’t you?”
I can tell the sun and heat are affecting her. She doesn’t have the same level of fight in her that I’ve gotten used to.
I grab my canteen and wet the end of my headscarf, soaking it with the cool water. I take her hand and press the damp scarf to her wrists first then behind her neck.
She leans close to my ear. “Thank you,” she whispers. “pt’Alquon, did you do something nice for me?”
“Don’t get used to it.”
Bri lets out an audible sigh and leans back into the wet fabric on her neck.
I look away into the hot wind before she realizes what keeps catching my eye.
She doesn’t need me drooling after her like all these pathetic brethren.
I anchor my arm behind her and nudge her back to let her know she can lean against me.
Her skirt shifts and the split falls open all the way up to her hip.
“Any progress on Operation Savior Complex?” I whisper in her ear.
Her sharp elbow lodges itself in my side.
“I’ll take that as a no.”
“It’s incremental,” she says, full of righteous indignation. “You should know this about me. Once I’ve made up my mind, there is very little that can stop me.”
The brethren Bri sent to go chase down the h’axom is back, out of breath and covered with sweat. If he’s unhappy with the false alarm, he doesn't show it.
“What’s the deal with Table Mountain?” I ask him, trying to direct my attention away from her smooth, far-too-distracting leg.
I catch one of the other brethren leering at her chest. I loudly clear my throat, breaking his concentration. He knows he got caught and looks guilty as fuck when he finally meets my gaze.
“When we first arrived on this planet, we landed at the top of Table Mountain. We were greeted by a glorious sunrise and we knew we had found the place the clouds had foretold.” He conveniently left out the part where they were banished from their home planet because of their violence toward women.
“How long have you been here?” Bri asks.
“Eleven turns of the wind, Divine One,” he says with reverence.
“And you’ve just been waiting around for your goddess to show up?” she asks skeptically.
She is making a giant miscalculation with the brethren. Their extreme religious beliefs make them far more dangerous than she knows.
“It’s our highest calling,” he states as if it’s a matter of fact.
“Sitting around for eleven years? Sounds boring,” she says.
I laugh under my breath. Leave it to Bri to state the obvious.
“We have kept the colony prepared for your arrival and we do our patrols.”
“Patrols?” This time I have the follow-up question. On this desolate planet what could they be looking for?
“We have been tasked with patrolling the sands around here to ensure the Others can conduct their business without interference.”
“Others?”
“Time to leave, Majestic One,” Bug-Eyes interjects.
I stay close to Bri so I can be the one to help her up this time. The brethren need to keep their creepy hands to themselves.
Bri settles on the h’axom, and I adjust her flimsy skirt to cover more of her leg. Her skin was not made for this climate.
While Bri is out trying to start a religious revolution, I’ll find out who these Others are and how they can help us get the fuck out of here.
From the top of Table Mountain, the sun reflects off Bri’s long pinkish hair. The first time I saw her, it was bright pink and piled on top of her head in a messy ponytail with little strands framing her face. Now it’s down and blowing behind her from the warm evening winds.
Her skin is golden and shining. Fuck me—she does look like a goddess. The brethren and I all have the same dopey looks on our faces. I shake my head to break the spell she has over me.