by Marie Dry
He pulled her into his arms. “You are a human with a very soft heart,” he said.
“I brought parena-style clothes for you. You will rest and I will wake you before we reach Zyrgin so that you can bathe and dress.” He stiffened and she tightened her hold on him.
“Don’t you dare pull away from me? I love your scent and there is no need for you to take a bath.” She, on the other hand, was covered with sweat and blood. “I, on the other hand, need—”
She lost her train of thought, her eyelids suddenly too heavy to keep open.
26
“Wake, breeder.”
Sarah kept her lips straight with difficulty. “Parena, I’m parena of all the known galaxies and soon-to-be conquered unknown galaxies,” she murmured and stretched. “Ouch.”
Sarah opened her eyes and frowned up at Zaar who stood next to the bed. “All my muscles are stiff.” Her face felt much better after that awful salve he put on, but her cheeks still felt stiff.
“It is normal after a beating.” His jaw clamped together and for a moment she feared he’d poof out to go and beat up Cornelius. He held out a hand. “I will give you an injection. Our superior medicine will ease your discomfort.”
“Being Zyrgin medicine, I’m sure it will give me instant relief,” she teased, but as usual it went over his head.
“Precisely, we are close to Zyrgin.”
She allowed him to help her up and to the bathroom. It was big and spacious and rather beautiful in its silver simplicity. It was soothing on the eye after that gaudy palace. The last time she’d been in here, she’d been too scared about starting a new life on an alien planet, to notice much.
After she took a hurried shower, she quickly dressed in the jeans he’d brought with him. Since she’d gained weight with the baby, she’d alternated between two pairs. She didn’t think he’d noticed. The fact that he did, warmed her. “Mirror,” she murmured and the wall reflected her image. She brushed her hair and then stared at her image. She half expected to see a haggard and tired image of herself, but apart from the faint bruises on the left side of her face, she looked normal.
The door of the big spaceship opened and Zaar helped her down the ramp. Rows and rows of warriors stood on what she thought of as the parade ground, exactly like the day she’d arrived, except they stood with their heads bowed. Sarah faltered and frowned—was it some show of sympathy for her. “What on―”
A noise from above interrupted her and she watched with wide eyes as ship after dangerous-looking ship landed, surrounding them and the warriors on the parade ground, with military precision. Zaar led her down the ramp and through the rows upon rows of warriors.
“Why are they standing with their heads bowed?” she whispered.
Zaar didn’t bother to try and lower his voice. “It is to show their shame.”
“Over what?” She balled her hands into tight fists. If it was for the scarred warriors, so help her, she’d knock their heads together.
He didn’t look at his warriors, just kept walking that long distance toward their headquarters. He modified his stride to accommodate her. She was grateful for the trainers she’d worn when she was kidnapped. She didn’t think she could walk this distance with high heels. “Our enemies took you from under their noses. They are showing their shame at our failure to protect you.”
He’d included himself in that statement. Appalled, Sarah stopped and faced him. She had to go on her tiptoes to grab his shoulders. “No, you have nothing to be ashamed of. I trusted someone I thought a friend. I insisted you not watch us on camera and that gave her the perfect opportunity to kidnap me.”
“I trusted her too and I am responsible for your protection.” He was going to be stubborn about this.
She tried to shake some sense into him, but he didn’t even move. “I was protected, Zaar. Your Wise One came and gave me a jinz izwe sliver to help me escape and those six warriors endured horrific torture, to keep me safe, until you could come for me.” In a strange way, the Wise One’s actions had given her closure. She’d never be able to trust any religious man one hundred percent, but she didn’t feel that debilitating hatred for all of them anymore. “In the camps, I was alone and vulnerable. I’m safe here among you. I know this to the depth of my soul.”
He lifted her with his hands under her arms, in the way she’d feared she’d never experience again. “My breeder should never have been in danger,” he said through clenched teeth.
Sarah cupped his hard jaw, leaned in and kissed him. A brief kiss because of their audience, but she ached to deepen it. To taste him again. “Please, put me down,” she whispered when she lifted her head.
He placed her gently on the ground and they continued the long trek to their headquarters. After two steps she stopped and looked around at the warriors with their bowed heads. “No, I can’t stand this.” The warriors standing there with their heads and shoulders down was too sad to bear. She raised on her tiptoes and whispered as close to Zaar’s recessed ear as she could manage, “Please ask your warriors to lift their heads. They have nothing to be ashamed of.”
“No, we have failed you, my breeder. We do not deserve to stand on this parade ground with our heads lifted, where honorable conquering Zyrgin warriors once stood.” Again he didn’t try to lower his voice.
“That’s so unreasonable.” She resisted the urge to stamp her foot.
He looked down at her, showing no softening, making no effort to tell the warriors to lift their heads.
“Please, Zaar. I can’t stand the thought of you and your warriors feeling like this. On Earth, when I was in the camps, it was Zyrgin warriors who rescued me and when I was in that awful palace, your warriors kept me safe on Aurelia. For me, the word Zyrgin means safety and protection.” And stubborn arrogance, but she wouldn’t mention that.
A rumble went through the warriors.
“You heart is too soft, breeder.”
“Don’t call me that in front of everyone,” she whispered. “I’m the parena, remember.”
He stared down at her, then cupped her cheek and grunted something. Their hearing must be amazing, because in her peripheral vision she saw them all lift their heads.
She went airborne. “Eep.” One moment she stood on the parade ground and the next, she sat perched on Zaar’s broad shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“I am carrying you to our quarters. It is a show of big respect.”
She clutched his bald head for dear life. “And I’m honored, really. But you can put me down now.” The ground was a long way down.
He kept walking with her on his shoulder, holding her with one hand clamped onto her right hip. The warriors now stood with their heads lifted, and as they passed each row, the Zyrgins turned their heads to look at them. To take her mind off how high off the ground she sat, Sarah said, “The warriors who protected me are the ones deserving respect. They were so brave.” Something went through the ranks of the warriors again. A slight, barely discernible movement, almost like a whisper. Zaar’s hold on her tightened. Still holding on with her left hand, she touched his ridge with the other one—it was hard and warm against her skin. She looked at the ridges of the other warriors from her, for once, higher perspective. Zaar’s was definitely bigger and sharper.
The warriors stomped their feet and, as one, knelt down and manifested their swords and planted them in front of them with a loud clang. “Parena,” they hissed as one. The word traveled like a wave from warrior to warrior.
Sarah didn’t know what to do—wave or salute or smile, and in the end she did an awkward combination of all of them. She definitely wasn’t empress material. But she’d fight to the death to hold onto the position, because she belonged at Zaar’s side.
At last they entered the palace and she blew out a pent-up breath. Careful of their superpower hearing, she tapped Zaar’s head with her finger. “Please put me down,” she whispered. Thankfully he heard and put her down. Her stomach had threatened to expel its contents for
the last fifteen minutes. That embarrassment she could do without.
In their quarters he put her carefully down on her feet. “I can’t believe I did that. I feel so silly for speaking out like that.” She’d meant her words for him only. Never again would she underestimate their hearing. She sank down on the couch.
He came to kneel in front of her and put his hands on her hips. “You gave honor back to my warriors.”
She glared at him. “They never lost it.” Something niggled at her mind. “Hey, do you suppose that’s what your prophecy meant?” She’d been raised in a religious household that believed in signs and prophecies and couldn’t quite discount this one. Like not swearing, she supposed a belief in prophecies and signs was a part of her.
“No, you have to redeem my honor specifically.”
“I don’t think you ever lost it.” She traced the ridge bisecting his head, lazily followed the patterns there with her finger. He lowered his head, pressing into her touch. “Did you really know I was pregnant all this time?”
“I knew two weeks after we did the upside-down first knowing, which you will never speak of to anyone,” he said pointedly.
“I will always be grateful for your sacrifice,” she murmured, trying very hard not to laugh. Sarah traced his hairless eyebrows, his cheekbones, so much more pronounced than hers. So much stronger. “But how could you know after just two weeks, without any tests?”
“I knew—a Zyrgin can tell when his breeder is making small warriors,” he said.
“I was so afraid he’d kill my baby.” She’d almost made the mistake of begging for mercy for her child. Knowing she was pregnant would only have made Cornelius crueller.
“You are safe now.”
“When I was in that dungeon, I kept thinking I just wanted me and the warriors to be back on Zyrgin. But now that I’m home, I feel a little lost.”
Something tickled her cheek and she wiped it with her hand. She frowned and looked at the moisture on her fingers. “I’m crying?” She held out her hand to show him. “How odd.”
“Females do that.”
He was only a hazy figure she saw through her tears. “I don’t. I never cry.”
“Should I get the doctor?”
She smiled through the tears.
“No, it doesn’t harm me. It’s just that I don’t cry. I’ve never been able to. I didn’t when my parents punished me. I didn’t even cry in the camps. But when he hurt the warriors, I couldn’t stop. And now it’s like a fountain lives in my eyes.”
A harsh growl rumbled in his chest.
She sniffed and wiped at the tears again. “In the camps there was this one raider that was determined to make me cry. I never did, no matter how hard he hit me. Or how many times he―” She looked down at her twisting hands to avoid his gaze.
He lifted her chin with a long forefinger. “My breeder is brave.”
Harsh sobs tore out of her chest and racked her body. “I was so scared. And they hurt the warriors so terribly.” He picked her up and laid her down on the bed. “He forced the warrior to swallow the stem of the plant. He said if he didn’t swallow it, he’d burn me.” She sobbed so hard, her whole body shook. “And the warrior just opened his mouth and swallowed it. For me.” She slapped her palm against his chest. “For me. I’m not worth such a sacrifice.”
“You are worth any sacrifice, my breeder.” He stroked her head and held out his free hand. “Have a chocolate.”
Her laugh was watery, but at last she lay quiet while he stroked her hair. Her eyelids felt heavy. He lifted her and went to their bedroom and laid her gently down on the bed. He left her briefly and when he returned and got in beside her, he smelled fresh and uniquely Zaar. “You don’t have to shower all the time. I love your scent,” she murmured.
He dimmed the lights. “We will sleep now.”
She smiled at his arrogant order, glad to be back here with him. “I want to talk to Srinisisa,” she said.
A long time later, when she almost went into deep, dreamless sleep, she asked, “What was the warrior’s name?”
“Zorian,” he said.
27
The next morning, when Sarah woke, the first thing she thought of was Srinisisa’s betrayal. Zaar was gone, which wasn’t unusual. Zyrgins seemed to function on two hundred percent energy and very little sleep. What worried her was that he may have gone to see Srinisisa without her. She wanted to look the other woman in the eye and ask her why she’d betrayed her and everyone on Zyrgin. Srinisisa had seemed happy. Maybe if that warrior hadn’t died such a horrific death, she might’ve felt more sympathetic toward Srinisisa.
Her stomach stirred, her head swam, and she held onto the bedpost until her ears stopped drumming and her insides settled. Hopefully with the rest of her pregnancy, her queasiness would pass this quickly. Sarah got up and showered and dressed and then alternately paced and tried to do some sewing. What if he was torturing Srinisisa and she wasn’t there to stop him? The Zyrgins might be very careful of women, but Srinisisa had helped kidnap Sarah. She shuddered to think what Zaar would do to her.
Two hours later he arrived for second meal. “I decided you needed to sleep and did first meal alone,” he said and pressed his forehead to hers.
“Did you see Srinisisa?” she blurted.
“We will see her together after second meal.” He led her to the table.
She shook her head. “I don’t think I can eat until I’ve seen her. We have to deal with Srinisisa. Find out why she did it.”
“We will not be doing anything. I will interrogate her.”
“No, she’s my friend—she betrayed me, I have to be there when you talk to her. Please, Zaar. I have to go with you. I need closure.”
Sarah clenched her fists. “I’ll beat the truth out of her. Pretending to be my friend, bringing me baskets with material. I could get in a few good punches.” She fisted her hand and hit an imaginary Srinisisa. “She’s part of the reason Zorian died in that cell.”
Zaar took her fist in his and kissed the white knuckles. “You will feel sympathy and she will manipulate you.”
“No, she won’t.” She scowled up at him.
“You have a soft inside, and that is how it should be.” Something dangerous moved in his gaze. “My inside is not soft. I know how to get the truth out of her.”
Sarah didn’t like the sound of that. “What are you going to do with her?”
A primordial beast hunting in the deep stared out at her from his swirling gaze. “I will get answers from her and closure for her warrior.”
Sarah felt deeply sorry for the warrior. “Do you think he’s innocent? I don’t understand how he didn’t notice the basket was heavier than when he brought it in.” It would break Zaar’s heart if one of his warriors had betrayed him. He might pretend that he had no feelings, but his ran deep.
“She put bricks in and took them out when she put you inside.” He looked her up and down. “You fitted into a remarkably small basket. None of the guards thought to check it.”
Sarah threw up her hands. “Don’t get me started about how disturbing I find it that another woman was strong enough to lift me and put me into a basket.”
He patted her head. “You are a little human.”
Sarah jerked her head back and ignored that unwelcome comment. “Please, Zaar, I have to be there when you talk to Srinisisa. If I can’t look her in the eye and ask her why she betrayed me, I’ll never get over this.” She’d noticed, a while ago that whenever she said please and stared up at him with her eyes wide, he acted tough, but he never said no to her.
He stared down at her for a long time. Sarah held her breath. Allowing their women into a situation like this, wasn’t something a Zyrgin warrior ever tolerated.
“You will not give me orders in front of my warriors,” he said at last. He tilted his head and added, “And you will not tell everyone that I poof.”
“All right, I promise I won’t.” As if she’d ever dared to order him around.<
br />
“You will remember I am the warrior and you are the breeder.”
“All right.” He acted as if she went around fighting and ordering people around.
Srinisisa lived in a domed home, beautifully furnished in the style Sarah had seen on Aurelia, without the overdone feeling. Srinisisa had infused her home with taste and elegance. The warrior let them in and they found Srinisisa hunched over in a gilded chair. Her warrior went to stand behind her with his big hand on her shoulder.
Sarah walked up to the woman she’d thought her friend, aware that Zaar stayed close. “Why did you do it? I thought you were my friend?” She wanted there to be a reason that would make it feel less like a betrayal. Something that would make it possible for her to forgive Srinisisa in time.
“Survival,” Srinisisa said, still in that whispery voice. “My people don’t want me back. They are afraid of offending the Zyrgin.” She glared in Zaar’s direction before focusing on her hands again. “The Aurelians offered me a home.”
It was interesting that Srinisisa glared at Zaar and not her own warrior. “Why did you want to go home? I thought you liked it here. You were going to help me change things.” Sarah glanced briefly at Zaar, and continued, “Remember, we were going to fight for the rights of woman and start our clothing boutique.” She’d told them about the women’s rights movements that had done so much to better the lives of women in the twenty-first century on Earth. They’d all been inspired.
“I can’t have children. And that’s all they want us for.” The bitterness in the other woman’s voice, the resentment in those beautiful eyes was not those of the friend she’d come to know.
Sarah’s heart melted. “Are you sure, Srinisisa—did the doctor confirm it?” She resisted the urge to touch her own stomach, to reassure herself her baby was safe.
“No, but it’s been five years,” Srinisisa whispered.
Zaar gave Sarah a look and she could almost read his mind. You are too soft, female. That’s what that look said.