RESURRECTION (RIBUS 7, #5)

by Shae Mills

  Dar slumped farther down, his tears renewed. Finally, Chelan stepped forward and took Jason from Dar. She turned their son to her. “You must listen to your dad, okay? He is not well right now, and he is not thinking clearly.”

  “But what is wrong with him? Is he going to die?”

  “No, he is not going to die, but you have to listen to me. It is very special that we found him, okay? Now, I need to talk to your dad alone for a while. I am going to send you to Korba. Then we will see what happens.”

  Jason snuffled. “Noooo... We just found him—I don’t want to leave!”

  Chelan hugged him to herself. “Listen, we are going to work this out, okay? But I need to be alone with your dad to do that.”

  Jason nodded obediently, tears streaking his cheeks. “Are you sure he is not going to die?”

  Chelan smiled and hugged him harder. “I am sure. He will be fine.”

  Jason drew back and turned to Dar. “I have to go now,” he muttered quietly with resignation.

  Dar nodded. “I know.”

  Jason wiped his tears. “Can I come see you again?”

  Dar sucked in his breath and then forced a smile. “Sure, I will be here for a while.”

  Jason’s eyes warmed. Chelan gave him a pat on the head and turned him to the workout area. “You know where the security door is. Yanis will now be waiting for you on the other side.”

  Jason nodded and then looked back to Dar. He waved. “Bye.”

  “Bye.” Dar then looked at the floor in silence until he was sure Jason was gone. Suddenly, he jumped to his feet. He lunged forward and grabbed Chelan by the front of her shroud. “Damn you to hell! How dare you use my child against me?!”

  Chelan struggled to get free. “He is our child!” she shot back. “And I am not using him against you!”

  “Then what do you call it?”

  Chelan twisted and strained, finally loosening herself from the shroud and jumping out of it and away.

  Dar threw the garment to the side and stalked her.

  “I wanted to show you what you were giving up by pursuing this asinine plan of yours!”

  “It is not asinine! It is necessary.”

  Chelan was in a blind rage. She had not expected Dar to acquiesce on the spot, but his persistence incensed her. “Damn you to hell too, you selfish bastard!” she yelled. “You make an appearance before me, tear open my emotions, and then just pack up and leave again.”

  “I did not bring you here!”

  “That is irrelevant! The minute I landed on this damn ship, you should have left if your anonymity and freedom were so precious!”

  “Do not presume to tell me what is precious and not. I have lost all!”

  Chelan ducked him as he lurched for her. “The only thing you have lost is your common sense!”

  Dar lunged at her again, this time grabbing her about the waist. Chelan fought him viciously, pounding her fists against him. Dar ran her up against the console, pinning her with his body. Then he reached up and grabbed her by the neck. Chelan ceased her struggles, her eyes wide with shock as he began to squeeze.

  “I should kill you for bringing him here,” he rasped.

  Chelan gasped for air, her eyes welling. “Then do so, my Lord! I have no wish to live without you, knowing that you are out in space, alone, rotting from the inside out.” Then she closed her eyes against him. “Kill me if you need to, but get it over with fast.”

  Dar’s coiled body became deadly still. He looked over the slender white throat he had once told Korba to slit, and she went limp under him, surrendering to him. His eyes cast downward. Her uniform had split open in their struggle; her heavy breasts were exposed. Her head was back, her breath held, awaiting her fate.

  Dar struggled for air, his world spinning out of control. He closed his eyes momentarily, calling on all his discipline, but it evaded him. He looked back down at her, the sight of her dark nipples severing what thin thread of sanity tethered him to rationality, and he lost it. He moaned and bent forward, seizing the tip of her breast in his mouth, sucking her hard.

  Chelan’s eyes shot open. Her hands flew to his head, her fingers entangling in his mane. During her momentary hesitation, his hand slid down her neck and cupped her other breast. Chelan was stunned.

  Then, suddenly, he released her breasts. He reached around to the nape of her neck and held her fast as his mouth descended upon hers. His breath was hot, his body hotter. His tongue plunged into her mouth, searching, exploring, tasting.

  Chelan finally roused herself from her stupor. Forcefully, she shoved him away and then quickly sidestepped around him. Enraged, she whirled to face him just as he turned to her. “What the hell are you doing?!” she barked. “You want me to walk away from you because you are not whole! You want me to forget about you, yet you try to take me just so you can rip my heart out once more and grind it into the floor till it is a fine paste?”

  Dar was panting for air. “I need this... I need you, one last time.” And he reached for her.

  Chelan back stepped, avoiding his grasp. “You may not call yourself a warrior any longer, but you are every bit a man.” She stared at him, her eyes cutting. “You do not get to ravish me here and then leave me and our son to live out our lives constantly wondering what has become of you. We have already been tormented long enough by that.” She took several deep breaths, trying to decode what was going through the giant man’s mind, his eyes ablaze.

  Chelan squared herself. “I want you just as much now as I ever did. But if you want me...” She glanced down at herself and defiantly closed her uniform. “If you want me, all of me, then you had better get your act together and come back to the Empire and be everything that you can be once again. If you can manage to do that for me, for Jason, and for the Empire, I will happily welcome you into my embrace, into my life, and into my bed, arm or no arm, for you are far more to me than mere muscle and bone, whether you realize it or not.”

  Dar flinched as she strode up to him, jamming her finger into his chest. “Yes, it will be hard to readjust, and yes, there will be setbacks, but do not dare retreat like a coward and walk out of my life again, and especially out of Jason’s.”

  Dar’s hand captured hers. He fought with his emotions, trying desperately to sort everything out, all his decisions flayed by the winds that battered him with the knowledge that his son lived. Then he refocused on her. “You would accept me back... deformities and all?”

  Chelan moaned. “Do not be so thickheaded! You truly have been breathing too much space dust, my Lord. Do you really think me so superficial? Would you cast me aside if it were me without an arm?”

  She took his hand in hers and held it to her heart. Then she raised it up and kissed his palm. She looked into his azure eyes. “You are mine as you were before, now and forever, even if you have been a fool all these years. I now forgive you.”

  All Dar’s bluster left him in a whoosh. He nodded weakly, his whole body suddenly boneless.

  Chelan smiled. “You are Jason’s father. And you will be a father to him, as much as you are a man to me. Is that understood?”

  Dar nodded again.

  Chelan’s eyes suddenly filled, and her voice caught. “Your son needs you. And as far as me, you will not be disappointed. We can do this. I know we can.”

  “We will try... I want to try...,” he confessed quietly.

  Chelan finally smiled. “That is all I ask for, my Lord. That is all that I require.” And she hugged him as he gave in to her.

  Chapter 39

  CHELAN STOOD STILL in the Command Center of RIBUS 1 while Korba ushered Jason to his training and then headed to the Bridge to check on all the battleships. When he returned to the Command Center, he stood and stared at her.

  Chelan turned to him. “He will come.”

  Korba drew in a deep breath. “When?”

  “He wants some time alone.”

  “Some time alone? Has he not had his fill of that?”

  Chel
an paused. “I think Jason shook him to his core. He had no idea that he lived. He needs time to collect his thoughts.”

  Korba nodded. He walked up to her, kissing her neck softly. Then he looked down into her dark eyes. “He took you?” he asked in a whisper.

  Chelan flinched. “He tried, my Lord. He was actually in the process of strangling me when his... thoughts softened. But I would not let him take me in the heat of lust.”

  Korba smiled. “I suspect it was something other than lust.”

  Chelan studied her mate. “What else would it be? He has been existing on floating space junk for years.”

  “Frustration. Insecurities. Fear. I think in the heat of the moment he needed to prove to himself and to you that he is still a man in all aspects.”

  Chelan froze. “You think by my refusing him I jeopardized that, instilling more doubts in his mind?”

  “I have no idea how he will interpret your actions, but he knows your words have always been from the heart and have always been true. And Dar is no fool.”

  Chelan rolled her eyes. “He has behaved like a fool for years now.”

  “He was in extraordinary circumstances.”

  Chelan smirked. “I guess. It is just so frustrating to know he has been out here all this time, wandering aimlessly. Even Fremma found purpose on a primitive planet.”

  Korba’s brows rose. “Yes, but though Fremma is now free to leave and join us, he has chosen otherwise.”

  Chelan gave her Warlord a lopsided grin. “It seems you had a panache for surrounding yourself with men who, as it turns out, are more than capable of being idiots.”

  Korba laughed. “As it turns out, I surrounded myself with men who fell helplessly under your spell, and because of that now have trouble reconciling their new realities where you are concerned.”

  “Oh no—you are not putting all the blame for this on me! Fremma could come back in a heartbeat, take a ship, regain his former glory, and remain relatively free of me. He is being difficult because of another woman and his unshakable loyalties.” She glanced sheepishly at Korba. “Well, his nearly unshakable loyalties,” she added quietly.

  Chelan watched Korba as a grin spread across his face. She straightened defensively. “And as for Dar, his main misguided bit of thinking has more to do with feeling inadequate where Iceanean genetics and expectations are concerned rather than anything to do with me.”

  “Are you sure about that?”

  Chelan slumped. “Oh hell, I am not sure about anything. But one thing I am sure of is that both of them need to smarten up and get their asses back where they belong, and I am not referring to me.”

  Korba touched her chin and raised her face up. “I agree.” And he kissed her lips. Then he smiled again. “It is odd, you know... the scent of another man on you should inflame me, but it does not. Scenting Dar, even though unexpected... does the opposite.”

  “And why does it affect you thus?”

  Korba kissed her again, tasting her lips with his tongue. “Dar has always been my closest and dearest lifetime friend. My heart leaps at the knowledge he is alive. His scent upon you confirms his reality. Or maybe it takes me back to a time when all was right between us.”

  Chelan kissed him back, once. “I will never understand your ways, my Lord. I have tried for decades, but they are still lost on me.”

  “Not entirely. In fact, you take full advantage of our ways.”

  “I took full advantage, past tense. I will not touch Fremma because now he has a wife. If I adhered to your ways, that commitment would not even enter my mind.” She cleared her throat and shuffled about uneasily. “However, even after all this time, I cannot simply give Dar up, and yet you tolerate that. And you tolerate it after what he did to obtain me exclusively. That is what I fail to understand.”

  Korba kissed her hard. “You have no need to understand. I, on the other hand, have only time and need for you.” And his hands began to run over her.

  Chelan pushed back. “My Lord, you in turn surprise me.”

  “How so?”

  “We have just located the greatest gift either of us could imagine, and you have but one thought on your mind?” She smiled at him coyly. “At least let me clean up first.”

  Korba chuckled. “If you wish.” And he watched her leave. He knew she was right. She did not understand his ways, and at times, neither did he. Despite decades of conditioning, there had been moments in the past where he reverted into a raging jealous fool, and with good reason. Yet in the end, he had allowed Chelan her lovers, Dar and Fremma, and he would again, still taking a degree of comfort in knowing that she was in the arms of such powerful and trustworthy men. The conflicting ideologies made no sense, but he accepted them.

  However, this liaison was unique. Dar, by Iceanean law, was his rival. He had taken Chelan for his own, impregnated her, and challenged the Let. Yet still Korba felt no such threat. Dar was different. Chelan’s love for him was unique. And now, just as before, their love was extraordinary, a love to be allowed and nurtured, if Dar could ever come to his senses.

  Korba continued to reflect. His ease with the situation had not always been so. He had once challenged Dar, and the blonde Warlord had retreated. However, Korba’s love for Chelan had matured. Time had shown him that no matter what she felt for others, she always returned to him. She was coming to him now, Dar’s desire plainly displayed, his touch fresh upon her, and yet she returned to him willingly and eagerly.

  Korba sat down and rubbed a gloved hand over his jaw. He wanted Dar back in any capacity, but he also wanted the man back as a friend, not as a rival. So he would work to that end no matter the cost. The Empire required men of Dar’s caliber, plain and simple. Plus Jason needed to know his father. And Chelan... Korba looked down. Somehow, some way, the three of them needed to make their peace... and Korba would do everything he could to facilitate that.

  TWO MONTHS LATER, ALL preliminary work necessary to get RIBUS 7 travelworthy was coming to an end. Over the next two weeks, they would do a small trial run of her engines. Chelan sat in the command chair looking over the repairs floor by floor, trying to calm her nerves. Excitement over RIBUS 7 was being tempered by trepidation over this afternoon’s procedure. Leeman was about to become a mom.

  Chelan glanced down and smoothed her hand over her tummy, loving the fact that she could bring forth so much happiness to Leeman. But she was just as joyous over the fact that Terig was going to live on, and that his legacy, all that he had built down on Cleos, was going to remain rich and vibrant.

  Then her thoughts shifted once again, and Dar filtered into her mind. Despite all the optimism she had harbored when she had met him in the Command Center two months earlier, he was still wandering the decks of RIBUS 7, stubbornly keeping everyone at bay, even his son. Despite seeming willing to give up his reclusive ways, he had flipped on her the moment she had left his presence. Though she had tried over and over to convince him to reconsider all, sending a constant stream of messages to the Command Center of RIBUS 7, he had never replied to her or given any indication that he was even receiving her communiqués, though she knew in her heart that he was.

  But her situation was not unique to her. Just after she had left him, he had sent her one simple yet nonnegotiable directive. Dar insisted that she and Korba keep the news of his existence suppressed, adamant that that information was not to be revealed to anyone except a very select few. Regardless, he steadfastly refused to speak to anyone, including the Cleosans regarding their offer to try cloning his arm. As a result, time was running out. Once RIBUS 7 was ready, Dar was either with the Empire or he was gone for good. And that thought genuinely scared her.

  She sat back and sighed. When they had met and she had brought Jason to him, everything had seemed settled. He wanted to get to know his son, he wanted to be with her, and he was willing to give the Cleosans a chance. But once he disappeared into the bowels of the ship again, he had become the same eremitic being he had been all along—elusive,
noncommunicative, and completely uncooperative. Chelan was on the brink of giving up on him.

  She glanced up as the main doors opened and Korba strode in. He sat down beside her and took her by the hand. “Are you doing okay?”

  Chelan nodded. “I have a lot on my mind, I will admit.”

  “And what troubles you the most?”

  Chelan smiled. “I have only one trouble, my Lord, as do you. And there is nothing we can do to bring him to his senses. He must figure things out on his own.”

  Korba looked down at her hand held in his. “Dar always was a renegade, even by Iceanean standards.”

  “Yes, well, right now I think he is enduring some form of cerebral radiation poisoning. Knowing about Jason alone should have gotten him off that bloody ship.”

  Korba sat back. “Well, the good news is that at least Jason is taking this all pretty well. He is old enough to understand that this situation is incredibly hard on the man. Dar would have never made the choice to remain a recluse all these years if he had not truly believed he no longer had value to the Empire.”

  “Jason may understand that, being an Iceanean child brought up under the standards of perfection dictated by your society, and especially the standards adhered to by all those raising and honing the future Emperor, but I do not. Dar is a brilliant tactician. He has value far beyond his bloody arm.”

  Korba nodded. “You are indeed right, but one of the reasons Dar made the choice he did was because he is a Warlord.”

  Chelan hesitated. “I don’t understand your point.”

  “Dar was not just a simple warrior. You are aware of our criteria for making a warrior a Warlord. The standards are different. And his status as a Warlord was exceptional. He was the best. His role and station in life were based on his perfection in every arena. Our society has always held Warlords in esteem, on a whole other level from the everyday warrior. So when Dar says he cannot be what he once was, it is essentially because he literally cannot. He can still have great importance to the Empire, but he will never command his own ship again.”