by Roxie Ray
I clenched my jaw. After what she had been through, I did not want Alyse anywhere near the other lust-filled warriors on the ship. Leaving her in the medical ward with Healer Adskow to watch over her had been difficult enough.
“I do not think she would enjoy being utilized as entertainment, General,” I said as politely as I could. “She began work with Healer Adskow in the medical bay today, though. She was a healer when she was on Earth. I think, for the time being, she is happy to be of help in her area of expertise, rather than paraded around the ship to increase morale.”
“Very well.” Kloran raked his fingers through the white waves of his hair and sighed. “We will increase rations of starshine by a quarter until we are able to dock and resupply, then. That should keep them happy and out of trouble.”
“Or help them get into more of it,” Haelian said warily. But after a beat, he nodded. “Increased rations it is, then.”
“If I may ask…why is it that we are not being given new orders?” It was a bold thing of me to call the lack of command into question, but I had fought alongside Kloran and Haelian for long enough that I expected they could forgive my candidness. “Starshine will please the warriors, but something to do with their time would please them more.”
Kloran and Haelian exchanged a tense look.
“We were waiting for orders ourselves,” Haelian admitted. “The information we were given on the Rutharian king’s ship was obviously lacking. We should have been warned that the king was aboard it. The political ramifications of that lapse in intel will likely be great.”
“It was not your fault,” Kloran told me. “We just received word from Apex that the specters on Lunaria knew the whereabouts of the Rutharian king when we attacked. They simply chose not to share it with us.”
“More snakes in our midst,” I spat. “And where is Apex? Should we not be receiving our information directly from him?”
Another look passed between Haelian and Kloran. This one was even more grim than the last.
“Lady Idria has pulled Apex from my command and replaced him,” Kloran revealed. But of course she had. Lady Idria, the commander of Lunaria’s intelligence division, had likely already heard of how Apex had fought alongside us during the Rutharian assault on the palace. It was not a stretch of the imagination that she suspected Apex’s alliance to her was not as strong as she would have liked. “He has been off on his own mission of late. What he has been doing, he could not say.”
“But we just received word from him that he will meet us on Newthelia when we dock there in a few days’ time,” Haelian added. “We will rendezvous with him then and see what new information he can bring us.”
“Ah. Well, that will please the warriors, at least.” Newthelia was a friendly planet, a hub for ships from all over the galaxies. And the Newthelian females, while incompatible with Lunarians for breeding, were of a promiscuous nature. They generally welcomed Lunarian ships with open arms—and legs, as well. “I will not enjoy cub-sitting our warriors in the pleasure houses while the two of you are tucked away in the embassy, but—”
“You will be at the embassy with us,” Haelian cut me off.
“What? Why?” My place was with the other warriors. It always had been. I was no lofty noble—and, truth be told, I imagined the perfumed sheets of the Newthelian embassy would feel strange against my peasant’s skin.
“Apex believes that it would be safest for you,” Kloran said with an annoyed growl. “Apparently, word has reached the Rutharians that a green-haired Lunarian warrior was the one who murdered their leader. How, we do not know.”
Blood. We had left no survivors aboard the Rutharian king’s ship. It meant that there was yet another snake in our midst. Sometimes, it felt as though we could not so much as lift a finger without finding a viper attached to it.
“It will be safest for you if you keep a low profile for this time, Nion.” Haelian smirked suddenly. “Perhaps you could keep Alyse company. She will be under lock and key at the embassy as well.”
Despite Haelian’s smirk—Leonix must have told him how I had been mooning over Alyse in the training room last week—I understood what had gone unsaid.
If I had killed the Rutharian king, I would be in danger, true.
But if word had gotten out about my role in his murder, there was a chance that the Rutharians knew about Alyse, too. The cub that may or may not have been growing in her womb even as we spoke.
She was either the female who carried the heir to the Rutharian throne—or she was the female their king had died trying to breed.
Either way, I knew, she deserved to know that she could be in danger.
After I had taken my leave from the command room, I made my way back to the medical bay to warn her of as much. She needed to choose her friends more wisely than ever aboard the ship now. Under no circumstances could she risk mentioning the possibility of her pregnancy to anyone who did not already know.
But when I found Alyse in the ward, the sound of her laughter made me stop in my tracks. She was standing over a medical chart with Coplan, giggling rather than trying to bite him this time as he explained how the information was arranged.
A rumble of possessive fury shook through my chest as he touched the small of her back. It was loud enough that they both turned to see what the noise had been.
And there I was, standing there and fuming like the arrogant, possessive husband of a woman I would never call my wife.
“Nion! I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon.” Alyse handed the chart back to Coplan and came over to me. She was still beaming. She did not seem to notice the way my fingers had curled themselves into fists. “What’s up?”
I blinked in confusion, then slowly uncurled my finger to point toward the ceiling.
That made her giggle, though I did not know why. Some human joke beyond my understanding, I supposed. It soothed my anger a little, at least, to know that I could still make her laugh as well.
“I meant…did you have something to tell me?” Alyse asked. “I figured you would be doing warrior things for the rest of the day. Killing and maiming, you know. That kind of thing.”
“Would you like me to kill and maim for you?” I glanced over her shoulder at Coplan. “That could be arranged.”
“I think I’m good for that right now, but thanks. I’d only have to stitch your victim back up again.” She reached to my side, her fingers hovering over the space where she knew my own stitches were still beneath my shirt. “Speaking of…how are yours doing?”
“Fine, for the time being,” I assured her. “There has been no reason to overexert myself of late. Or for the near future, for that matter.” I scowled as I remembered the reason why I had come to her.
“Really? Why’s that?”
“We will dock on the planet Newthelia in a few days’ time,” I told her. “I have only just received word.”
“Oh? That could be fun. What’s it like?”
“Urban. Full of bright lights and technology. Unfortunately, neither of us will be able to venture out into it much, I am afraid.”
“Really? Why not?”
I explained to her the situation as clearly as possible. She needed to understand that she would be in some amount of danger for the foreseeable future—and so would I. Alyse’s face fell little by little as the story came together, especially when I told her about the likelihood of a traitor with us on the ship.
“I can’t believe one of your own people would sell you out like that,” she said softly. “What would they even have to gain?”
I sighed. “Lunarian politics are more complicated than a low-born like me can truly understand, unfortunately. Money, perhaps. Power, more likely. Regardless, you must take care about what you say until we reach the embassy, Alyse. And especially who you say it to. We have no way of knowing who the traitor is, but until we do, we must all remain vigilant.”
“I guess we can remain vigilant together then,” she said with a smile. When she reach
ed out to squeeze my arm, my body felt as though it was coursing with electricity at her touch. “When we get to this new planet, you’ll just have to hang out with me.”
“We will not be hanging,” I told her. “That is not the custom on Newthelia. They use chairs and beds there, just like we do here on the ship.”
“Oh, you’re hilarious.” She rolled her eyes, but her smile did not leave her lips. “Do you want to come help Coplan and me see to the wounded from your last battle? The other warriors won’t shut up about you. Nion King-killer, they’re calling you. I bet they’d be excited to see a legend like you in their midst.”
I nearly took her up on the offer—but I stopped myself before I could give in.
“No. I must…go train.” I made up my excuse on the spot. I was glad that my brain had landed on that one. It would have been embarrassing, had I said something about going to iron my bedsheets or relieve myself instead. “Have a pleasant day.”
I gave her a stiff nod and turned to leave, though I yearned to stay.
“Okay. Well…bye,” she called after me.
But though I loathed the sadness that tinged her voice, I knew it was for the best.
I still could not let myself get too close to her. She was already in my head. I did not need her in my heart as well.
And more importantly, I feared for Coplan’s life if I heard her laughing at one of his jokes again.
On Newthelia, I would remain close to her out of necessity…but for the time being, I knew it was best if I stayed away.
11
Alyse
Nion’s words stuck with me all day. If he said I needed to be careful about who I trusted, of course I would be. If there was anyone on the ship that I believed I could depend on, even when he was being weird and doing his best to avoid me, it was him.
But as I went about the rest of my rounds, I couldn’t help but wish he’d given me a little more information. He’d said to be careful, but he hadn’t been very explicit about how. Could I trust Healer Adskow, who had access to every medical chart aboard the ship? Or what about Coplan? I’d disliked him at first, but I was starting to slowly warm up to him. He had a sense of humor, and he could make me laugh. As the day progressed, I found myself running into him more and more. I was a doctor, not a love guru, but I was pretty sure he was subtly flirting with me every time I crossed his path.
Did he like me, I wondered? Or was he just trying to get closer to me so he could sell me out when the time was right?
“Ugh.” I shoved the chart of my last patient for the day back in the slotted filing system where I’d found it and took a moment to try and sort my head out.
I needed to be careful. Of course. Obviously. I didn’t want the Rutharians hearing anything about me—especially not that I might have their next king in my womb. That possibility creeped me out enough already. I didn’t need the extra stress dolloped on top of it.
But I also couldn’t spend the rest of the next few days glancing over my shoulder, wondering which one of my new shipmates was going to put a knife in my back.
I needed to calm down. It had been a long day, though, with lots of patients to attend to, which made relaxing easier said than done.
A bunk full of warriors had managed to light their room on fire while attempting to smoke a semi-explosive compound they called gilly-root. I’d spent the entire afternoon listening to their psychedelic ramblings and dressing their burns. The scent of their singed hair was still all over me, no matter how many times I tried to wash it off my skin.
Another warrior had come with flushed cheeks and a towel wrapped around his waist. When I pulled the towel off of him, he fought me a little, but I won in the end—only to realize why he’d been asking if he could see Healer Adskow instead. Apparently, the lack of women aboard the ship was pushing some of the Lunarian males to inadvisable behaviors. As he told it, he’d stuck his penis in one of the exhaust vents, only to tear out the vent’s metal cover when he pulled out. He’d been incredibly apologetic while I packed his pelvis with ice to bring down the swelling, but I’d assured him it was fine. Nothing I hadn’t seen before in the emergency rooms back on Earth—though, that wasn’t entirely true. The incident gave me an unexpected lesson in the anatomy of a Lunarian male.
Their phalluses were huge, for one thing. Flared at the tip, with rows of bumps at the base that the warrior had assured me were completely normal. Bashfully, he had implied that, “females generally did not seem to mind them.”
If nothing else, it was going to make me look at Nion in a whole new way.
Speaking of Nion—my final patient hadn’t been able to stop talking about him. The young, scrawny, dark-haired Lunarian told me his name was Ero. He shared a bunk with Nion and couldn’t stop bringing up the way Nion had killed the Rutharian king.
“I’m not sure Nion likes how everyone keeps bringing that up,” I warned Ero as I checked for signs of a concussion. He’d taken a blow to the face during the last battle and had been feeling lightheaded ever since.
“But you were there, were you not?” Ero asked.
Narrowing my eyes, I’d been quick to send him on his way without an answer. “Your head should be fine, but if you experience any vomiting or if you lose consciousness again, you need to come back to the ward immediately.”
It was frustrating to be asked about what had happened that night, and even more frustrating to know that if I forgot myself and did talk about it, I could be making things worse for both Nion and me.
“You look like you’ve had a long day, Ahl-iz.” Leonix fell into step with me as I finally exited the ward to make my way back to my room. “Are our warriors too much for you to manage?”
“Your warriors need to be given something to do,” I told her pointedly. “Their boredom is going to get them killed if they don’t settle down soon.”
“They will settle once we reach Newthelia,” she assured me. “It is you I am worried about.”
“Ugh. What has Nion told you?”
“Nothing,” she said with a smirk. “But working so hard without any recreation after is not good for you.”
“Tell that to the guy who’s been putting his dick in exhaust vents.”
Leonix laughed then linked arms with me. With a tug, she led me down a different hallway—away from the direction of my room.
“Come. You should watch the warriors train with me. If nothing else, perhaps your presence will encourage them to work a little harder. Then, they will be too worn out tonight to fill the beds of the medical bay tomorrow.”
And I supposed I couldn’t argue with that.
The training room was huge—easily the largest room I’d seen on the ship so far. Throughout it, the warriors fought each other in twos and threes—all but Nion, anyway. When I spotted his green shock of hair, I nearly gasped in surprise.
He didn’t just have a couple of partners coming at him. He had a huge circle of warriors all around him, and he looked like he was about to try and fight them all at once.
“Is that…safe?” I pointed to the group of warriors, with Nion panting in the middle of them. He was armed with only a long wooden staff to defend himself with, and he was definitely outnumbered. “That can’t be fair, can it?”
Leonix chuckled. “You haven’t seen Nion truly let loose then. From someone who has…if I were you, I’d be more worried about the ones who are attacking him.”
In the next few moments, Leonix’s faith in Nion’s abilities proved to have strong foundations. The other warriors came at him in groups of fives and sixes—and in fives and sixes, he knocked them all to the soft mats of the training room’s floor. He moved so fast sometimes, he was just a green and orange blur. My eyes couldn’t always track what he was doing—all I could see was that when he was finished, there were dozens of warriors picking themselves up off the mats. I didn’t even think anyone had managed to land a single blow on him.
It almost scared me to think how many Rutharians he must have been fighting
when he’d gotten his scars.
“He is a fair warrior, is he not?” Leonix asked.
When I glanced over to her, she was smirking again.
“He’s…incredible,” I agreed. “I just wish he wasn’t avoiding me. Sometimes, he seems so friendly…but then it’s like he realizes what he’s doing and finds some reason to push me away.”
“He has his own goals right now,” Leonix said with a shrug. “Nion does not come from a high house. He has had to work his way up through the ranks based on skill alone. Perhaps he is simply trying to avoid being distracted by you.” Leonix nodded toward Nion across the room again and chuckled. “Though, it does not appear to be working.”
I looked back to Nion and saw that he was watching us. He raised his hand up in a little wave—and was rewarded for the gesture by a blow to the back of the head by a wild-haired warrior with short black horns. Everyone he had beaten so far cheered at that.
Huh. So maybe he wasn’t so untouchable after all.
“Do you drink, Alyse?” Leonix asked me. “Perhaps until Nion is done training, we should remove the distractions, for the time being—but there is alcohol in the canteen, if you are interested.”
I considered it for a moment, then nodded.
Actually, after the day I’d had—after the life I’d been having lately—a drink with another woman seemed like the best idea I’d heard in a while.
“Let’s go, then,” I agreed. “I don’t want Nion to lose his street cred.”
“Nion has no credits to his name to lose, Alyse,” Leonix said with another laugh. “But what he lacks in fortune, he makes up for in skill. Rest assured—he will repay Gallix for landing that blow while he wasn’t looking. He always does.”
12
Nion
“Blood,” Gallix swore, rubbing the deep orange mark my staff had left on his cheek as we headed for the showers. “There is no way this will not bruise.”