Raevu

by Lara LaRue

  Eva, Maeda, T’ral, and I discussed the wording for the treaty quite carefully. Gods, Eva is fierce now! She had transformed into a confident, passionate proponent for both humans and my race.

  Less than a week after I surprised Eva with her friends and adopted family, Willem and Linnea announced her pregnancy. Linnea claimed it was the Sopu fragrance that had turned the tides for them. Scientists were now working with the Sopu, suspecting that the sacred tree had an effect on Juhlian fertility, perhaps human fertility as well.

  With the fear for Eva’s safety diminished, we decided she could move out and about amongst the community, if her Guard were vigilant. She took little Hope with her everywhere she went, and often took Amber, Jaylynn, or some or all of the other children as well. The sound of children’s laughter hadn’t been heard in these boughs in centuries, and now they rang with it.

  It had a strong effect on my people. It offered optimism. Every man among us, be it warrior or eunuch, seemed to walk around with a smile on his face.

  I was in such an optimistic mood that my guard had relaxed some. Fortunately, I had others looking after me. I was waiting for Eva to return with the children when I suddenly felt the Tovari tree’s disquiet.

  “What is it, my friend?” I asked a bit distractedly. A fresh message packet had come in, and I was reading of the dispatch of Eva’s doctors to come to Juhl earlier than expected. She’d be thrilled with that news.

  The uneasiness grew more pronounced, cutting through my bliss. I couldn’t shake it off or ignore it. I set down the data screen on the desk and walked over to the great trunk of the tree. I placed my hands squarely on the bark and asked again, “What is it? Show me.” I closed my eyes and concentrated on listening.

  My anxiety grew. I could hear Hope crying and the little girls calling Eva’s name. I saw flashes of our quarters and the apartments of Ivy and Laura, all places where Eva would ordinarily be, burst into and out of my vision. In none of the pictures was Eva.

  “She’s not there?” I asked. My heart started to pound with fear. Dread grew, and I wasn’t sure now if it was strictly from the tree or if it was mine. Where could Eva have gone? I thanked the tree for its message and rushed to our quarters. When I got there, I found Laura giving orders like a battlefield general.

  “Mark, stop pacing and go sit down. Josephine, get me a cool washrag. Geoffrey, have you located Raevu, Willem, or Baelon yet? Trevor, go get the baby, please. You know how to change a diaper?” She was kneeling at the side of one of Eva’s Guard, who was blinking furiously.

  Rage and alarm filled me. “What happened?” I barked.

  “Raevu, thank god you’re here! We can’t find Eva. Ivy and Delan were knocked out cold. I have Jaylynn and Amber looking after Ivy, and Eva’s guard only just came to. He’s got a knot on his head the size of a baseball. I need Willem!”

  “Where is Baelon?” I demanded, trying to make order out of the chaos at hand.

  “Geoffrey’s trying to find out, but his communication channels are screwed up, and he isn’t able to reach anyone outside of these apartments. We’ve tried getting in contact with you and him with no luck. Frankly, I don’t know how you showed up just now, but thankfully, you did.”

  Josephine scurried back up with a wet washing cloth. “Momma won’t wake up, Laura.” For all her strong voice, she had tears running down her cheeks.

  “Help Delan hold this gently right here, baby. I’ll go check on her.”

  As Laura pushed herself up to standing and moved to the next room, I moved to Delan’s side.

  “Soldier, report!” I barked.

  “My king!” His eyes struggled to focus, and he winced. “It was Aaromon and Acidi. No idea how they got past Acidi’s ban. They must have bribed someone. They approached the group we were in and claimed they just wanted to see the baby. I didn’t want to let them in, but my queen…” He stopped and closed his eyes.

  “Eva probably pitied Acidi, as her pregnancy has made her more emotional and kind,” I finished for him. Curse it. I couldn’t even be angry at Eva for giving Acidi the benefit of the doubt.

  “Yes,” he continued haltingly, “she invited them to come closer, along with the rest of the group. Eva went to go get the baby. I couldn’t keep all of them in my sight at the same time. Acidi followed my queen, and Aaromon stayed here. I heard a thump and cry from the next room and moved to see what it was, then I just felt pain.”

  “Lie back down, Delan. Willem will be here soon.” I helped ease him back into a reclining position. “Geoffrey?”

  “Sire, my wires and circuits are scrambled beyond these quarters. There is some kind of blocker keeping me from contacting anyone outside these rooms.”

  I hurried to the doorway. There, I saw Ivy slumped down on the floor, one little girl at each wrist, silent and grave, as little girls should never be.

  Laura stood up from her inspection. “No knots or hits. They must have given her a drug someway. I just don’t see how.”

  Mark was sitting with a dazed expression. Trevor walked in with Hope cradled in his arms. She gurgled and smiled happily at him. He walked over to Laura and handed over his charge, then went and sat at his mother’s head and stroked her hair. His face was just as serious. Looking at him, I felt my rage bubble up dangerously.

  No child should go through this, and neither should my mate. I’ll kill Acidi this time.

  Willem and Linnea charged through the doorway and nearly ran into me. Willem hurried over to Ivy’s side and shooed the girls away from their vigil. He talked as he inspected, and his scanner beeped and clicked.

  “Delan has a serious concussion. I’ve contacted the medical branch to come and get him. I’ve sent a message to Baelon, and he’s on the way up. As for the young lady, this is a knockout drug, a strong one. Probably not hazardous, but she’s going to be out for a while. Look for a syringe.” This last statement was directed at Linnea, who nodded and immediately started canvassing the room.

  “How did you know to come here?” I asked.

  “Linnea knew. She said something about the tree being agitated.”

  “Yes,” I said, “the tree told me. I’m hoping the tree can help me find Eva. Help Ivy.”

  Linnea swooped down on a small object halfway across the room. It was a mini tranquilizer syringe used on animals in labs.

  “It’s just a tincture of Mellin sap. She’d have to drown in it for it to kill her. The brother’s doing, I suspect. He’s not completely callous. In short, she’ll be fine.” He gave the children a reassuring smile, and all five relaxed visibly, that terrible graveness going away. “She’s going to sleep for a couple more hours. I’ll get some saline into her, maybe that will flush it out of her system faster.” He typed some instructions on his data screen to the medical branch.

  I went over to the tree trunk again. “Okay, friend. Everyone here is safe. Help me find Eva.” I placed my hands on the trunk and even leaned my cheek against the bark. I’d never been this scared in my life. I loved Eva and my life with her in it.

  I adored seeing her smile and play with Hope. And the absolute love shining from her as she cradled that little one in her arms to feed her always made me smile. I didn’t know when her opinion had become so vital to me; I only knew that before I made a critical decision, I wanted her take on the situation—to know how she’d put those same pieces together. I wanted to touch her constantly, have her near me. I found myself reaching for her in the night to pull her up against me.

  I loved her.

  All this I sent into the tree. It sent me one image back—the landing platform, high above us.

  Chapter 30

  Eva

  “What the hell are you doing, Acidi? Stop this shit at once,” I used my most commanding voice on her as I fought against her grip on me. “You’re fucking nuts. Kidnapping or even killing me won’t get you anything.” I was calm. I had to be in order to get out of this predicament alive.

  “Shut up, human. Your words mean nothing to m
e.” Her long fingers dug into my arm as she dragged me out into the middle of the landing platform. I dug in my heels and leaned back, resisting as much as I could, but she was far stronger than I was.

  “This is ridiculous.” I turned my head, realizing that saying anything to the crazy bitch was a waste of time. I would have to look for an opportunity to break free of her instead. “Delan and Ivy are okay, aren’t they? Aaroman?” I asked.

  The small—for a Juhlian—man glanced nervously at me. He gulped, eyes shifting fearfully between his sister and me, as if he was too intimidated by her to do anything at all unless she ordered it. His brow furrowed, and he finally spoke up. “Acidi, why are we here? I can’t fly a skimmer. We’ve always had a servant to do that for us.” His voice was whiny and high-pitched. He held himself carefully out of Acidi’s reach. And from the long scratches down his cheek, I could guess why. How long has he lived in terror of his nutty sister? I felt a faint bit of sympathy for him.

  “Raevu will come for his human. We’re waiting. He just needs to see the two of us together. And he’ll know then that I’m his queen.” Acidi’s voice scraped against my nerves. “Human, your mark is false. Mine is real, earned, deserved, and endured.”

  Thinking back on the weeks of illness, testing, and complete lack of privacy I’d had to undergo because of the mark on my neck, I wanted to laugh in her face. But there was no arguing with crazy. And Acidi certainly looked the part of an insane asylum patient. Her eyes were wide and frantic. Her lips quivered as if she didn’t know whether to smile or cry. Holy fuck! Acidi had lost her shit. It seemed her failing to blackmail Raevu into taking her as his queen seemed to have pushed her into crazy land.

  My eyes narrowed on her. The last time I’d seen her, she’d been all grace and poise, even very pregnant. Dressed to impress, she’d been the very picture of a beautiful Juhlian woman, and I’d felt remarkably inadequate next to her.

  Now…I felt like the belle of the ball in comparison to her. Acidi looked like a hot mess. Her hair was bedraggled, as if someone had taken a random pair of scissors to it. Her clothes were disheveled and stained. There were tears and holes in odd places, and… What the fuck? Acidi had on only one shoe. She couldn’t seem to modulate her voice anymore either. She went from whisper to shriek almost mid-word, and her eyes kept flitting back and forth. I wasn’t sure what she was seeing.

  Maybe she was drunk. It would explain her completely reckless theatrics.

  I said evenly, “Aaromon, this insane bitch sister of yours is about to get the both of you killed for treason. I know the law. They’ll exile you from the planet without the benefit of a spacecraft. Is that what you want? The chance to burn up on reentry for someone whose crackpot plan was never going to work in the first place?”

  And then I felt it…rage, determination, alpha power. We all seemed to sense it when Raevu stepped out onto the platform with us.

  Aaromon moaned. Acidi stood up a bit straighter, and her eyes focused on Raevu. I tried jerking my arm out of her grip, but she just tightened her hold until my bones felt like they were grinding together.

  “See this foreign whore, Raevu? She can’t be your queen. She isn’t Juhlian. You chose me. I am yours. I have the mark. It’s mine by right and by trial.” She reached up to where her dress rested on her shoulder and ripped at it. There, where her neck met her shoulder, was the royal sigil. Sort of. It looked like a child had drawn it there in crayon, but much redder and angrier. It even looked…wet in places. I gasped in horror when I realized what it was. The mark was cut into her skin, roughly and haphazardly.

  Had she used a knife?

  Acidi had completely lost her mind. She glanced over at me at the small sound I made, but then she just glared at Raevu and shook me hard.

  “Hers is false. Did you find out how it got there? Who did she bribe to carve it on her to fool you? Or did her human masters do it for her?” Acidi used her free hand to slap me hard across the face, spitting out an unfamiliar curse.

  All right, that’s it. Time to put into practice what I had learned.

  Instead of pulling against her, I moved toward her, placing my hands on her ribs and shoving with all my might. She didn’t let me go; she dragged me down on top of her. Our impact with the platform jarred her hand loose from my arm, and I immediately rolled away from her. Acidi shrieked in outrage and turned into a whirling dervish of elbows and knees, not even bothering to stand up fully. I received two sharp jabs to my side and a hard blow to my thigh before I realized she was aiming for my belly.

  My baby! She’s trying to harm my baby.

  “Raevu!” I cried out.

  “Eva! Stop moving!” Raevu snapped.

  I froze where I was and curled into a ball to protect my belly. Acidi had followed me for the first couple of rolls, but then I felt her lifted away from me.

  Cautiously, I uncurled to see where I was. I was less than a foot away from the edge of the platform. She had been trying to force me over it, baby and all. Remembering Baelon’s description of it being over a hundred Earth stories high, I began inching myself away from the side.

  I heard Acidi screaming curses at Raevu, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from that precarious rim. When I felt I was far enough away, I slowly sat up and then dragged myself to my feet. My ribs and leg hurt, but I had felt a lot worse, and she hadn’t touched my belly.

  I looked around at the scene in front of me. Aaromon was squatting down by the lifts, holding his head and moaning about wanting to go home. Acidi stood nose-to-nose with Raevu, spewing out nonsense about being his queen, until she spotted me standing there, safe and almost unhurt.

  She screeched, “No! You have to die!” With her arms outstretched to claw at me, she ran toward me, just out of Raevu’s reach.

  “Eva!” he yelled. “Move!”

  I spun out of Acidi’s way at the last second, and the much larger woman freight-trained right past me. I stumbled, stomach flipping at being close to the edge again, only to be caught in Raevu’s arms and gathered close to him.

  Acidi didn’t have time to stop herself; she went right over the side. Her shriek faded away until we couldn’t hear it anymore. “She’s gone,” her brother sobbed, bringing trembling hands to his face. “She’s gone. I’m free.”

  A wave of dizziness took me over again as my life mate carried me away from the ledge. All I could hear was him repeating, “It’s okay. I’ve got you, love. I love you, Eva. You’re safe.”

  Chapter 31

  Eva

  They found Acidi’s body two-thirds of the way down the tree, hanging like a ripped flag from a spur of new growth that had impaled her through her heart. I had trouble seeing her like that, but I felt at peace with it. Perhaps it was because she had already been on her way out, like a rabid animal.

  The tree could have caught her. It had instead grown that spur. It chilled me a little to think about a tree deciding to make itself a weapon, but Raevu had just said quietly that she had been judged by a higher power than himself.

  Aaromon surrendered immediately, and Raevu had very nearly called for his execution, for his treachery had placed us all at risk this time. But I spoke up. I had to, and I asked very pointedly what Aaromon had meant when he had thanked the gods for freeing him from his sister.

  The story he told in return chilled us both to the bone. Acidi and he were barely a year apart and had been raised together before the pair had been suddenly orphaned. Acidi was taken in by the Grand Mother for her training, and her brother had been on his own.

  Acidi had bullied, blackmailed, manipulated, and terrorized her shy, sickly, but brilliant brother from the time they were very small. If he did not constantly supply what she wanted, she had many humiliating secrets to spill about his fondness for men. Acidi then ensured that he had even more torrid things to hide by blackmailing him into more crimes in servitude to her.

  She had woven a web around the timid scientist, breaking him down for years until he had completely become her pup
pet just to survive. Only upon understanding this did Raevu decide to show some leniency, but it was very conditional.

  Aaromon agreed to give us the names of everyone who had accepted a bribe or offered information within our staff and guard. He promised as well to submit all scientific data related to the fertility experiments he had conducted, and he asked if he would be expected to train his successor before being sentenced to death.

  Raevu had instead ordered the man hospitalized until his mind could recover from his years of emotional abuse and a proper mental assessment could be made of him. The little scientist had wept anew when taken away by the Guards, shocked by what may have been the first taste of mercy he had ever had in his life.

  Finally, feeling worn and bedraggled, Raevu and I trudged back into our quarters, hand in hand. The scene that met our eyes when he pushed open the doors amazed me.

  Willem and Linnea stood next to the windows, cradling Hope and giving her a bottle. Baelon had both Laura and Amber enfolded in his arms and was quite soundly kissing Laura.

  Ivy was propped up on pillows on the couch, blinking sleepily over a cup of coffee and occasionally yawning like she had just gotten up from a nap. Her four kids were scattered about the room, obviously busied with tasks an adult had just given them. Trevor looked up as soon as he heard the door open, smiled a big Trevor-grin at me, and waved.

  I didn’t see my poor guard, who had gotten a nasty crack on the head, but from the general atmosphere, I didn’t get the impression we had lost anyone.

  “Well…” Raevu’s sultry, rich voice sent a shiver through me. “Geoffrey, is there a room in this suite where my queen and I can get a little privacy?”

  “I know of one,” I answered before Geoffrey's computer voice could reply, and I tugged Raevu toward our bedroom.