by Amy Miles
I nod. “I’ve always known.”
She smiles and blows out a sigh of relief. “Good, then I need you to listen to me. You must do everything that I say, for the sake of yourself and the lives of your children. While they remain within you, you are safe. The moment you give birth they no longer need you. In fact, they fear you.”
I raise my hand and run my fingers along my neck collar. “There’s nothing I can do to protect myself with this collar on.”
“You won’t need to,” she says, rising from her knees. “That is my job now.”
Bastien’s gaze narrows as he enters my room to find Thesa sitting beside me on the bed. An open book lies in her lap and her sweet voice rises and falls with a soothing rhythm. My head lolls back against the pillow, somewhere close enough that if I reached far enough I could easily grasp sleep but I force myself to wake when he enters.
He looks about the room. There is nothing out of place. No fallen bottle from her bag nor any sign of the towels she used to mop my brow, and yet I get this feeling that he expects to find something out of place.
“Everything ok?” He asks, looking down at the blue blanket that covers the bed.
“Yep, Thesa--” I cut off as her fingers stiffen on the edge of the book. “These...uh, these sheets got a little sweaty so Lurime was kind enough to help me get changed. I think I prefer the blue. Reminds me a bit of home, don’t you think?”
Bastien’s narrowed gaze softens as he moves toward me, setting down a food tray on the side table. Thesa rushes to get out of his way, choosing to slip along the wall and then settles on the couch instead. I can tell it annoys Bastien that she has remained but he says nothing. He presses the back of his hand against my cheek and smiles. “You feel cooler today. Are you feeling better?”
“Yes,” I nod, happy to be able to say so. “Lurime has been a wonderful nurse. She’s been helping cool me down and she reads to me. She has such wonderful tales from her land. You should listen to them.”
“Another time, perhaps.” Bastien rises and retrieves the food tray. “I brought you something to eat. I thought you might be famished after the way you tore into your meal earlier.”
He sets the tray down on my lap. I stare at the array of food, an amount far more than I could ever possibly consume. The water looks a bit murky and has a slightly earthen scent to it. A covered bowl reveals a thick creamy soup with small chunks of meat in it. On the side is some sort of a root vegetable in a deep pink, reminding me of a cross between a squash and a beet. The bread is sprouted bread and dark in color. Much like the loaves that I love back on Calisted.
“Thank you.” I smile up at him and lay my hands beside me. “I’m afraid I’m a bit too tired to eat right now. Would you mind setting it on the side for me? Lurime can help me when I get hungry.”
Bastien casts a glance behind him. “I’m sure Lurime has other tasks that she can see to at the moment. I’ll stay with you to keep you company.”
“No,” Lurime speaks up for the first time. “Hendrix assigned me to her care. I must be here at all times. She is too near to the birth. Too many things could go wrong.”
“Go wrong?” Bastien casts a worried glance back at me. “Is she in danger?”
Lurime fixes her gaze firmly on the floor. “Not at the moment.”
“Good.” He blows out a deep breath. “Well, it looks like you are in good hands then. I guess I’m going to run out and check on the patrol.”
I brace myself against the mattress and lean forward. “You’re leaving me again?”
“Unfortunately. Rumor has it we will be on the move again. There have been several eruptions in the region up ahead. We are going to have to go around.”
I frown but try not to let him see it. “You sound worried about that.”
Bastien offers me a weak and admittedly pathetic version of a smile. He lifts my hand to his lips. “Not at all. I promised to keep you safe and that’s exactly what I intend to do. I’ll just go take a look around. I’ll be back later to check on you.”
I lean back, sinking into the pillows and look up at him, feeling empty and cold. “I think I might like to rest for a bit, if that’s ok.”
“Of course.” He pats my hand as he places it beside me on the bed. He turns to leave but I call out to him.
“Bastien?” He glances back over his shoulder. “I had a dream earlier, about your home on Murilian. Do you think you will ever go back if we make it make to Calisted?”
“Sure,” he smiles. “Someday.”
I nod and wave as he disappears out of the door. The instant the door lock hisses closed Lurime is on her feet. She darts across the seating space and dips her finger into my soup. She places a tiny bit onto her tongue and winces, spitting it out.
I close my eyes briefly as a tear slips from my cheek. “You don’t have to say anything,” I say as she turns. “I know it’s been tampered with.”
“How did you know?”
I wipe the tear from my face and look up at her, seeing her concern. “Murilian is the red planet that circles around Calisted. It is a barren place of horrid storms and monstrous creatures that live in the oceans. It is uninhabitable.”
I look to the door, feeling a chasm open within my soul where pain and despair flood in. “I don’t know who that man is...but he’s not Bastien.”
THIRTY
I am sick of resting.
Thesa has warned me about moving around too much, especially with the babies coming so soon. By her best guess I may be able to extend my labor by a day or two if I remain bedridden, but I know that it’s only a matter of time. Whether I want them to or not, these two are going to make their appearance on their own time schedule...not mine.
If only Eamon could be here. He deserves to be. Not for my sake or for any thought to my safety, though I would admit that having him close by would make me feel a heck of a lot better. No. He needs to be here to share this moment with me.
I close my eyes as tears begin to well up. They come so easily nowadays. I used to pride myself in being tough, in not letting emotions control me. Emotions were dangerous, especially when I was around Bastien. He had a way of bringing out the best and the worst in me.
Curling up into as tight a ball as I am able, I can’t help but wonder where Bastien really is. Did he truly die in that fire? Did he manage to escape? Is he still out there searching for me?
I can only hope that he is alive. The real Bastien would fight till his last breath to find me. He would never leave my side, not for an instant if he thought I was in danger, and probably even if he didn’t.
Placing a hand on my swollen belly, I feel ill at ease. Am I in danger? Thesa seems to think so. Judging by what little I have seen of Hendrix, he appears to be a man on a mission, willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead. I do not want to be caught in his path but I am still in the dark as to exactly why he wants my children. Why anyone does for that matter. What do they know that I do not and how is that they came by this knowledge?
And Thesa...I no longer doubt her loyalty to me. Not after I watched her suffer through eating some of my food. It didn’t take long for the pains to come, forcing her to lie on the couch. From time to time she would cry out and I would rise in bed to stare at her in the dark. Each time she would tell me to stay, to think of myself first. Never have I spent such a long night, wondering if the poison intended to induce my labor would steal her away from me. Obviously Hendrix does not wish to kill my children. He just grows impatient.
Sometime before dawn Thesa crawled to her bag left on the floor and opened a vial, tipping the contents back before wiping her lips. Slowly her breathing returned to normal and her head drooped forward in relief. I don’t know why she waited so long to take this unknown medicine but I must assume that she had her reasons.
An hour after dawn she rose and apart from the sheen across her forehead she looked normal again, though there was something different in her eyes, something that told me all I needed to know. She wa
s furious. Not at me but at the people who did this to me, to us.
“Bastien” never returned last night as he said he would. A part of me is grateful for that. I’m still not sure how to deal with him when he does return. Can I really continue on with the ruse? Make him believe that I still have feelings for him?
Two thoughts continue to nag at me...why did he get so emotional when I rejected him? The real Bastien would never have even thought to pressure me, but I know the pain he would have felt in the light of my rejection would have been real enough. This imposter’s pain had been genuine as well.
How is it that he knew Bastien well enough to be able to trick me for so long? I can’t believe that it is merely that I was desperate to see him. No. This imposter knows Bastien. The only question is for how long? Did he capture Bastien? Did he force Bastien to reveal things that only he would know so that I could trust him? Did he study his movements, his speech?
“How do you feel?” I open my eyes at the cool press of Thesa’s hand against my cheek, grateful for the interruption from my badgering thoughts. Being without answers has left me exhausted. This day has been long and night swiftly approaches yet again.
“Better than you, I think.”
She smiles and sinks down onto the bed beside me, her side gently touching my belly. Her eyes widen with delight when one of the babies kicks in protest against her taking up any of their space. “They are strong.”
I nod. “That one is a boy for sure.”
Thesa shifts and places her hand against my abdomen. “I always wanted children,” she whispers. I can hear the wistful tone in her voice. Her smile softens at another kick. “Once I had hoped Hyde would be interested in a family.”
“I think he would have.” She looks at me and I smile back, knowing that even though Hyde and I only had a short time together that he opened himself up to me in ways he had never done with other people. “I think there were a great many things about Hyde that would have made him a perfect father.”
Her lips twitch before she lowers her gaze and I know my words are bittersweet. Raising my hand I place it atop of hers. “He loved you, Thesa. I knew it the moment he first spoke your name. It was the way his entire posture would soften. That man loved you with all that he was.”
“I know.” She closes her eyes and breathes out a long, slow breath. She pauses several moments before speaking again, obviously fighting to control her emotions. “I always knew something like this would happen though. Whether he liked to admit it or not, he was a good guy, and that sort of man typically gets hurt in the end.”
I squeeze her hand, wishing that I could do more to comfort her. “His death was not wasted,” I assure her. “His last moments were spent showing me kindness. I can’t think of a better way to go.”
“I can.” Her expression tightens and I feel her anger as easily as I can see it swiftly steal away her warmth. She turns to look at me and all hint of her earlier smile has vanished. It is replaced with a grim determination. “I want Hendrix to know the pain that I feel. If I die trying to get to him then I die, but he goes first.”
I nod, feeling the same way about the Bastien imposter. I vow that he will die by my hand, but first I want information. If he knows where Bastien is then he is my only chance of ever finding him. “What did Hendrix do to you?”
Thesa’s hand flinches under mine. I can feel a tremble beginning in her fingers that works its way up her arm. “I was a slave. He…” she cuts off, shaking her head.
“You don’t have to say it,” I whisper, patting her hand.
“No.” She raises her eyes to look at me. “I do need to say it. I repeat it over and over again to myself each night before I sleep. He hurt me. Tortured me. He killed everyone that I knew in the mines. Eradicated them as if they were vermin.”
I frown and slowly draw my hand back. “Wait a second. How many people are we talking about?”
She shrugs. “A thousand. More. I never really had the chance to count them all. There were so many tunnels. So many shifts that we worked in around the clock. I used to hate the nightshift. It would get so cold that my fingers would stiffen and I feared breaking off the tips.”
I watch as she turns her hands over to stare at the black stains in her fingers. “What were you digging for down there?” I ask. “The energy source?”
Thesa laughs and raises her hands out beside her, motioning to the room about me. “No. They found that years ago. How do you think all of this works?”
“Well if that’s not what they were searching for…” I trail off, confused by Hendrix’s behavior. Why would a man slaughter innocent men and women? Surely the price on each of their heads would have been worth a great deal to him off world.
Thesa clasps her hands in her lap and I notice that she curls all of her fingers inward so that she doesn’t have to see the stains. “There is something down there, deep in those mines that Hendrix wants to remain buried.”
“And what of the snake people? The...the Symaica?”
“Gone. Scattered. Those who remained behind to fight were caught in the fire. I have never seen flames like that before. Green as grass and hotter than any manmade flame. It chased after us, as if it knew how to find us. Some of the snake people fled to safety. I don’t know to where though.”
I grunt as I press my palms into the mattress and adjust my position, rising to sit a bit higher. “And you say these Symaica were good?”
“Yes.” She smiles. “They were kind to us. They fed us, clothed us and sometimes after a long day in the dark they would allow us a few minutes of light to gather and sing songs together. It wasn’t much but when you live in darkness any amount of light is healing.”
I chew on my lower lip, trying to sort through what I know to be true and what could quite possibly not be. “The imposter said that this planet is unstable. That it is dying.”
“No.” She shakes her head adamantly. “These eruptions are natural occurrences here. The gas explosions and the tremors are normal. It is what helps to ease the pressure, what stabilizes the heat. Without it the energy source within the planet would crumble the surface.”
I just can’t figure this out. It is infuriating to feel as if I am on the verge of a breakthrough only to find myself wandering aimlessly lost in the dark again. When did my life become a maze of twists and turns? “What do you think it is down there?”
Thesa purses her lips for a moment to think over my words. Finally she shrugs. “My guess would be something very old. Something even the snake people were not around to bury.”
“Was there someone here before them?”
“I do not know,” she answers honestly, “but whatever it is that is down there...Hendrix went to a great deal of trouble to cover it up.”
Our vehicle jolts to a sudden stop and I am nearly thrown out of bed. Thesa is instantly on her feet and at the window within three giant steps. At her waist I notice her tuck a hand into her velvety plum robes and I realize that the glint of silver I spy is a dagger, wavy in design but deadly looking.
“What is it?” I ask.
She peers into the dark, just as blind as I am. “I do not know. We should not be stopping yet. We never stop at night. It is when we are most vulnerable to attack.”
Glancing toward the door, Thesa tucks her blade back into its hiding place and rushes to the seating area. With a mighty grunt she pushes the two-seater couch in front of the door. She struggles to lift the second, managing to prop it against the first rather than place it directly over top.
A small breeze unsettles my hair as she rushes past me and grabs the small table beside my bed, lifting it against her chest before she rushes back and deposits it on top of the seats. The second bedside table goes next and finally the small oval table that once held books between the two couches.
She turns around in search of something else to use and her gaze lands on my bed. “Should I get up?”
She bites down on her lip, looking torn. I know that she does not
want to risk my standing and yet by the rising sound of shouting outside I know that we might be in danger. Taking the decision away from her, I grab my walking stick and shift to let my leg fall over the edge. She rushes toward me and helps me rise, supporting my stomach as I lift.
“Lean back against the wall and be sure to hold tightly to your stomach. No sudden movements,” she warns.
I nod, all too happy to let the wall take most of my weight. Between my stomach and the weightiness of my neck clamp, I feel as if I weigh as much as this darn vehicle that I’m riding in. Thesa grunts loudly as she tugs on the bed. Sweat begins to bead along her forehead when the mattress suddenly comes free. She cries out in warning as it slides my way but manages to shove it aside just in time. I meet her gaze and realize how close we just came to a disaster. If that mattress had hit my leg I would have gone with it.
“I’m good,” I smile and wipe sweat from my own brow. My furnace is back on and something is stoking it hotter and hotter.
She nods and bends at her waist, hoisting the mattress up on its end and shoves it against the door. She turns to grab for the frame but the entire car jolts. I cry out as she tumbles forward head first into the raised metal frame. Her shoulders slump as she crumples to the floor. I can see blood splattered across the carpet.
“Thesa,” I cry out. “Thesa, answer me.”
No moan. No movement. No sign that she heard me.
I glance toward the windows and see armed men rushing toward my vehicle. They carry laser guns that are similar to Caldonian make, though ours are far more streamlined. At their waist I spy odd flashes of light. Grasping my stick, I hop toward the window, needing a better look.
As the first man seizes the handle of my car and hoists himself inside I realize exactly what I am seeing: glowing swords of light.
“Natasha’s dream,” I whisper, backing against the wall. She told me that there would be a great battle, with men using glowing swords. She saw death. A lot of it.