Chapter 14
FOURTEEN
She knew what would happen next.
Niir’s eyebrows would turn down in the center, his jaw would tighten and he would say something like, “Absolutely not.”
Two of those things happened, except the phrase he uttered was a simple “no.”
“Bloody hell, Niir,” Trak murmured, but considered Cali with a thoughtful tap to his lips. “We should…”
“Don’t say it,” Niir gritted out. “Do not say it.”
“…hear her out. I’m very curious where she’s going with this.”
“Well,” Cali said. “My cousins and I are immune to the effects of the terti flower and powder, but the Sislus aren’t.”
“Neither are we,” said Pizol.
“But you could be prepared, like you were when you rescued us from the hot moon.”
“Hot moon?” Niir frowned. “Oh yes, that squalid terti farm. How did you all deal with the heat there?”
She shrugged. “It bothered some of us more than others. It didn’t affect me. If there could be—I don’t know—a release somehow of terti in the air, that could impair the Sislus, but not us.”
Trak rubbed his hands together, looking quite pleased all of a sudden.
“Terti powder. We don’t have any on the ship, I don’t think, but we can get some easily enough by sending out a small transport.
Pizol—get our engineer in here. Yanc loves his gadgets.
I want trackers and monitoring cameras. Tiny ones.
Undetectable. And things that blow up.” He swirled his finger.
“Start working on a plan that does not involve actually losing Calinae or the other females. And you—” He pointed the finger at Niir.
“Don’t try to talk her out of it. I speak confidently for the crew, my children, and our female guests when I say that everyone wants to remain among the living. ”
Niir closed his eyes in defeat. Cali’s heart squeezed at the look of pained conflict on his face. She held back from going to him, knowing he would try to talk her out of it, even though he had to know the only viable plan involved using Cali as bait.
“I’m going back to my quarters,” she said, then glanced at Niir. “Alone. I’m really tired.”
“You’re sure you don’t want to help formulate?” asked Pizol. “It was your idea, after all, and your ass is the one going in there.”
“No, I’m…no thanks.” Cali really did feel tired all of a sudden.
Pizol and the others couldn’t know that she’d just made the first big choice of her life.
These people made choices constantly. It was as natural as breathing.
It seemed to excite them, but for someone like her, who’d never had the opportunity to make decisions before recently, what she just did was a big deal.
And who knew if it was a good decision? She certainly didn’t.
Cali turned and left the command deck before her uncertainty revealed itself.
She didn’t want to appear weak or deficient to the senior command of this ship.
Trak, Anna—even Pizol—were smart. She liked them.
As for Niir, she was falling in love with him.
That was something she wouldn’t bother to deny.
Part of her reasoning for offering herself to the plan was to keep him alive.
She was just waking up from a much-needed nap when her door chimed. Annoyed at Niir for disturbing her when she thought she’d made it clear she didn’t want to see him, she ignored it. A voice came through the speaker. “Cali, it’s Anna. Can I come in?”
Cali stretched and got up. She couldn’t very well refuse a Virilian princess. “Yes.”
The door opened and Anna entered. The red-haired beauty looked as tired as Trak. “I’m sorry to disturb you. I know you said you wanted to be alone.”
Cali sank back down on the edge of her bed. “I’m really tired. This is a lot.”
“I know.” She gestured to the mattress beside Cali. “May I sit?”
“Of course.” Cali smoothed back her hair.
“Trak, Pizol, Niir and Yanc have worked out a solid plan to find out who’s behind all this and get you and your cousins free of them. I’ve sent it to you. You can access it through your tabletop screen over there. I’m not going to lie. It involves risk.”
Cali pulled in a deep breath. “I understand.”
“There was a lot of yelling,” said Anna. “They’re usually smooth, but intense. Niir is incredibly worried about you.”
“Is Niir…okay?”
Anna smiled, but there was a sad edge to the corners of her mouth. “He loves you, you know.”
“Did he say that?”
“No, but I know Niir, so I know.”
Hearing it said like that, like a simple fact, made Cali’s heart ache. “He’s never said it to me, but I think I love him, too,” she said. “That’s why I’m doing this.”
“I want you to know that we’re not going to lose you. We’re going to get through this. Despite his…flair, Trak is a great strategist. He and Pizol are an amazing team.”
Cali nodded. “Thank you.”
“When this is over, we can talk about what you and your cousins want to do next.”
A throbbing ache flared behind Cali’s temples. She lowered her head into her hands. “More choices,” she said.
A gentle hand patted her back. “Yep. But if you think about it, you made lots of them since you got here. You chose to stay in these quarters rather than move in with your cousins. You chose to let me talk to you and begin to be your friend. You chose to share your story with Niir. You chose to care for him.”
“That didn’t feel like a choice. More like a force of nature.” Cali peeked up at her. “How did you know that leaving your planet to come out here was the right thing?”
“I didn’t.” Anna smiled down at her. “That’s the thing. You can’t know for sure if a decision is right until you live it, but if you let your instincts guide you, you’re on the right track.”
Cali had definitely let instincts guide her when she’d offered to go to the warlord and suggested the use of terti powder. Hopefully it wouldn’t lead to disaster.
“Look, I came here to tell you about the plan, but also that I will be leaving shortly with the children. Trak can’t do this with his family’s life on the line and honestly, I get it.”
“Good.” Cali felt something unwind in her to hear the two little ones would be out of danger. “How are you getting away?”
“An escape shuttle will be dropped with other refuse in an asteroid cluster. We’ve done it before.” She rolled her shoulders and winced. “I don’t know. Trak and I are thinking it may be time to stick to solid ground for a while.” She touched her flat belly. “We’d like another baby, but this life…”
Cali placed her hand over Anna’s. “It seems exciting and crazy. I can see why you and the crew are drawn to it. I can also see how important it is to keep those babies safe.”
“It’s a balancing act.” Anna’s eyes softened.
“Look. This is going to be dangerous, Cali. You’re going to need all your wits and then some.
I wish I could tell you that you can back out, but you’ll be arriving at the Sintra-1 space station in less than one cycle and the warlord has been informed of your impending arrival.
He thinks that we want to renegotiate for a higher fee—that’s not true, but it’s the cover story for why we delayed at Elos station.
” Anna’s eyes turned serious. “I am asking a lot of you. We all are, and here’s a little more.
Niir’s primal state is close to the surface.
It’s imperative that it doesn’t emerge now.
If you see him, try not to agitate him, if you can. ”
Cali nodded, swallowing a lump of worry. “Of course.”
“After you read the report I sent you, you’ll need to fill your cousins in on what’s going to happen,” said Anna. “This will involve them, too.”
Cali got up with a jolt of guilt. Here she was, thinking only of herself and not the thirteen others whose fate rested on the success or failure of this plan. Since they only spoke Rakolin, no one but her could communicate with them. “I’ll go to them now.”
Anna got up, too. She turned to Cali and pulled her into a hug.
Cali wasn’t expecting it and didn’t respond for a moment.
Then, recognizing the show of support and affection, she returned it, grateful for the kindness.
Anna pulled back, taking both of Cali’s hands.
“I don’t know about the other species in you, but you’re mostly human, according to the data.
And we humans are tough cookies who are smart and super resourceful.
” She grinned and squeezed Cali’s hands before letting them go.
“You’ve got this. See you on the other side of this. ”
I hope so. Cali’s throat tightened with emotion, even though she had no idea what cookies had to do with human characteristics. “Thank you. When this is over, I’d like to know more about humans. Since I am part one.”
Anna grinned and went to the door. “It’s a date, then.”
Cali went to work reading what Anna had sent her.
Her stomach tightened and twisted as she read the plan that had been devised.
The human had not been exaggerating—this was dangerous and scary.
She read it over and over, committing it to memory, letting it play out in her head and imagining different scenarios.
She knew Warlord Mek-la somewhat, but she couldn’t know how he would react.
Cali got up from the table and paced her small space.
Anna had given her a lot to think about.
With a sudden burst of determination, she turned to the wardrobe, which she had not touched, and opened it.
Clothes of different styles and colors hung inside.
She ran her fingers over the garments and closed them around the sleeve of something soft and light gray.
She pulled it out. The outfit was of snug pants and a fitted top with a scoop neck.
The fabric had a pretty sheen to it. It would show off her curves, for sure, but she liked it, she decided. There, a simple choice.
She put it on, scooped her hair back and secured it with a band, and went to see the others. They were likely wondering where she had been.
She entered the common room to unusual calm. All thirteen of them sat together in the center of the room and turned in unison at her arrival. Instead of a crush of hugs and greetings, wide, serious eyes looked back at her.
“Hi,” she said in Rakolin, holding out her arms. “Did someone die?”
“Not yet,” her friend Hiva, said. “But we hear you might. We all might. When were you going to tell us that there’s a bounty out for us?”
Sweet stars, how did they find out? “No one’s going to die.” She joined the group, sitting among them. “Oh, Hiva. So much has happened.”
“We know,” her friend said. “Niir came to see us. He learned some Rakolin.”
A younger female named Yissa wrinkled her nose. “He’s not very good. We figured out what he was saying, but, wow, he’s terrible.”
Cali grinned. “It’s hard to learn a new language, even for Niir,” she said. “What did he tell you?”
“Everything,” Hiva replied. “Including that we’re a mix of species, made by rogue scientists somewhere, and there are aliens out there who think we belong to them.” She tilted her head. “Is that true? Did we understand that part right? Niir’s Rakolin was shaky.”
“I’m afraid so. What we were told about ourselves at the settlement was a lie.
Apparently, each of us has been spoken for, to either work in terti processing, like we were doing, or, ah, perhaps be put in a harem.
But none of that will happen.” She sat up straighter.
“We’re going to get through this. And make lives of our own. ”
“Uh-huh,” said Hiva. “It sounds like your life will be with Niir.”
“Really?” Cali looked at her sharply. “What did he say?”
“He said he was in love with you, wanted to marry you—whatever that means for Virilians—and spend the rest of his life making you happy.” Hiva smirked as giggles went through the group.
Warmth suffused Cali’s cheeks. “He said all that?”
Hiva arched one eyebrow. “Hasn’t he said that to you?”
“Not…in so many words, no.”
Hiva considered this. “Well, he didn’t say it in words to us, either, but it was blazingly obvious. It was crystal clear how much you mean to him.” She cocked her head. “More importantly, what do you think of him?”
Cali placed a hand on her chest where her heart ached. “I think I’m falling in love with him.”
A collective “aw” went through the group, which made Cali roll her eyes. “Look, I would like to find out where things could go between him and me. Things are a little complicated with him, though.”
“Is it because he’s old?” asked Yissa. “He has gray hair. Is he very old?”
“That’s not it,” Cali laughed. “He’s not as old as that hair would make him look,” she told them. “He had a hard life. He has as much control over his hair color as I do.”
“So your betrothal to Warlord Mek-la is over.” Hiva said it definitively, not as a question.
Cali nodded and looked down. “I didn’t know he has dozens of wives. I was meant to be just another of them. I’m sorry. I just can’t—”
“Why are you apologizing?” Hiva asked. “We always felt sorry for you for being stuck with that boorish brute. We’re glad you’re not going through with it.” Murmurs of agreement went through them. “We like Niir better. He’s smarter and better mannered. And more handsome.”
“Even if he’s old,” Yissa put in.
“Warlord Mek-la was older!” someone else added, followed by a hot debate on the matter.
Cali smiled at them, touched by their approval and too moved by it to tell them the extent of Niir’s problem with his primal form. “Thank you. Stars, I love you all. After this is over, we’ve been invited to live on Virilia, if we want to.”
“Are there more males like the ones on this ship?” asked Hiva. “Because I think I’ve come around to tails.”
“And muscles,” someone else put in. “Big ones.”
“Big other things, too, I bet,” said another, resulting in collective noises of agreement.
They talked more about the attributes of Virilian males, which were numerous.
Cali was advised on all manner of relationship issues, not that any of them had so much experience with such matters to be considered experts.
After spending a little more time on what was expected of them when they were brought to the space station, Cali got up to leave.
She was hugged and kissed and advised some more.
On her way to the door, Hiva stopped her with a touch to the arm.
“Cali, whatever your part is in getting us out of this, be careful. We can’t lose you. ”
She hugged her friend tightly. “I will. I promise.”
There was no mistaking the bright worry in Hiva’s eyes for anything but concern, but Cali gave her a smile and left them. There was some relief in closing their door behind her. The weight of their uncertainty disappeared, and she was able to focus on the task before her.