Kerrigan's Race (The Syreni Book 1)

by C. M. Michaels

  Among all my soldiers, I can think of only a handful with the fortitude it would take to not be bedridden in your condition. Aristos pointedly gazed at my marred chest. I hope the pain from the journey to Halon’s Gate is tolerable. Once we reach the infirmary, you’ll receive far better care than we were able to provide on the surface.

  His shoulders slumped slightly forward as his face took on a far more solemn expression. But that will have to wait a bit longer. I owe you all an explanation for why you were brought here and what your new lives will entail. I’m sure you have a lot of questions about Teresolee—the planet you are now on—as well. And as tempting as it would be to take advantage of your idle tongues rather than enduring what is sure to be a rather unpleasant discussion, you’ve earned far too much respect for me to be so callous. Let’s return to the chamber above so we can talk freely.

  This ought to be rich. Not that I wasn’t beyond curious as to what use they had for us—it seemed like a lot of effort to go to just to grab a couple of slaves—but if he thought I was going to sit mesmerized while he regaled us with stories of his home world, or that I would blindly accept the new life he issued me like some tacky Catholic school uniform, he was about to be tremendously disappointed. Feeling my blood come to a boil, I mouthed a string of curses that no one could see and reminded myself yet again how important it was to win Aristos over. If I couldn’t make nice and keep my hostility in check, I’d die here.

  We all followed behind single file like deer on a trail as he led the way back up to the surface. Gentry and Tara made quick work of vacating their lungs and took a seat on the edge of the platform facing the partially submerged Aristos. I continued to retch up an endless stream of saltwater. The hacking coughs tore at my stitches and made my cry out in pain.

  Aristos’s muscular arm curled around my waist as he leaned me further over and gave me a gentle pat on the back. When my bare breasts brushed up against his forearm I felt my nipples involuntarily harden and tried to pull away. Aristos released me immediately, but not before I felt his own arousal pressing against my inner thigh.

  “Don’t touch me!” I scrambled out of the water as fast as I could and crawled across the floor to the far side of the chamber. My crippled body collapsed against the wall in a heap. I pulled my knees into my chest to hide as much of my exposed flesh as possible, never having felt more dirty in my life. How could I have been turned on by him? I was engaged to an amazing man who I’d loved since I was fifteen. Oh God. His thing was rubbing against me! He’s not even human. A gurgling wave of nausea built in my stomach until it reached a crescendo and left me no choice but to vomit.

  Gentry and Tara were at my side in seconds, kneeling down to console me. The ferocious, resentful glare Gentry shot Aristos kept him frozen at the water’s edge, and almost brought a smile to my lips. It looked like she was an inch away from neutering him. “Please tell me fishboy didn’t just grope you.”

  “I don’t think he meant to,” I managed. “He was trying to help me breathe. When I felt him pressing up against me I just…panicked.” It was pretty much the truth, minus the lustful thoughts and physical arousal, which I prayed they hadn’t noticed.

  Tara brought me some of our fresh water to rinse my mouth before Gentry helped me to my feet, bracing my left leg by placing my arm over her shoulders. They both seemed skeptical that our exchange was as innocent as I was claiming given my initial reaction, but when I asked them to carry me back to the edge of the ramp, they complied without pressing the issue.

  “Sorry about that.” I kept my voice as carefree as possible as I took a seat close to Aristos with my legs dangling down into the water. “I guess I’m a little claustrophobic about my personal space right now. I know you were only trying to help.” I hoped my “go along with me, that’s all that happened” expression was universally understood.

  “That’s perfectly understandable.” The faintest hint of a smile played at the corners of his mouth. Not enough for Tara or Gentry to notice, but it was clear he was taking my lead. “I will be sure to announce my intentions in the future so as not to startle you.”

  Thinking about his intentions sent flames shooting up into my cheeks. I found myself crossing my arms to cover my breasts, only to realize I was sitting with my legs spread apart less than two feet from him. He couldn’t get a better show if he was a bachelor and I was a dimwit stripper that had just popped out of a cake. None too subtly I pulled my legs from the water and spun to the side. “Isn’t there animal pelts or something we can use as clothing? I’m sick of being naked all the time. It makes me feel like a whore.”

  “Our king would never allow it. If he were to catch you with even a part of your body concealed you’d be forcibly stripped and severely punished. He’s determined to take whatever measures are necessary to prevent your culture from influencing ours.”

  “Then why the hell did he bring us here?” I snarled, all pretext of being civil forgotten. Hearing that I’d be beaten whenever I disappointed his disgusting pig of a king was just too much. “What do you want from us?”

  I’d never in my life seen someone look as grief-stricken as Aristos did now. He slumped back against the inverted entry ramp like my words had skewered him, and stayed there for so long we all exchanged glances with each other.

  Just when I was about to clear my throat he finally spoke. “My beautiful life mate Pulchra died giving birth to our daughter on this platform just over ten years ago. She was the king’s daughter and the bravest, most amazing woman I’ve ever known. We were horribly outnumbered from the start, and were soon overrun by griffins—thousands of them. It was hopeless. The king ordered me to take Pulchra to safety, but doing so would have caused our child to drown. Like a fool I hesitated, and their immoral bastard of a general buried a spear in her stomach.”

  The overwhelming despair on his sullen face removed any doubt that he was telling the truth, but he didn’t shed a tear. Somehow his stoic pose and lifeless brown eyes conveyed a deeper pain than crying ever could.

  “I’m so sorry,” Gentry said, making at least some effort to console him while Tara and I remained speechless.

  Well, hell. What was I supposed to do with that little gem of a history lesson? Part of me yearned to comfort him, but not ten seconds ago I’d wanted to kick his teeth in. Worst of all I was actually jealous. He didn’t think I was brave? After I faced down and killed a griffin with nothing more than a glorified butter knife? Prick. And he still hadn’t answered my question, either. Setting aside my internal rant, I cast a heartfelt gaze into his tortured, lonely eyes. “I’m sure Pulchra would have wanted you to do everything you could to try to save your baby—I know I would. Is there some connection between what happened and why we were brought here?”

  He let out a disgusted grunt of a laugh. “You could say that. She was the last of our females capable of giving birth. The king and our scientists spent the last ten years researching how to reopen a connection to your world and make use of your kind to propagate our race. They brought you here as guinea pigs to be mutilated and bred without any regard for your wishes or well-being.”

  “You’re going to rape us?” In an instant Tara was behind me, like she expected him to leap from the pool and mount her right here on the floor. “Oh god, Kerr. I can’t do this.”

  “No one’s getting raped,” I assured her. Not that I had any idea how I was going to keep that promise. I couldn’t exactly take on an entire army by myself, even if I still had both of my feet. Besides, fighting would just get more night-night shit shoved up my nose. After which, every male in Teresolee could take their turn atop me. Doing my best to stay calm, I locked eyes with Aristos. “You want us to believe you aren’t on board with this… plan? Even after you kidnapped us and brought us here? Then take us home. Now.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You can’t or you won’t?” Gentry cut in, her own eyes glaring holes in his forehead. “You know how we were brought here. Just do the opposite and se
nd us back.”

  Somehow I doubted it would be quite that simple, but it sounded good.

  Aristos ducked under to take a couple breaths, buying him some time to formulate a response. When he surfaced all emotion had been wiped clean from his face, leaving only the resolute look of a devoted leader. “Both. The portal is heavily guarded by troops from regions not under my command. And even if I could overpower them, sending you home would mean not only my own certain death but also our extinction. It may have been wrong for my king to bring you here, but he is my king, and I will not betray my own kind.”

  “So you’re just going to sit back and watch us get passed around like play toys after we helped saved your life?” Admittedly claiming that we’d saved his life was a bit of a stretch, since it was only his demand that Damille treat me first that made it necessary for us to assist with his care, but he still didn’t seem like the type who could stomach such cruelty. He would’ve let me die without a second thought if he was.

  “I assure you, there is no need to fear unwelcome sexual advancements. Even if you were willing it is strictly forbidden. You will be impregnated via artificial means in order to preserve the purity of our race. In time, I’m confident they will discover how truly extraordinary the three of you are, and will treat you more like fellow Syreni than servants. I give you my oath that I will do everything I can to pressure the Throne of Nine—our equivalent of congress—to provide you with more freedom and to make use of your many talents rather than having you waste your days away as servants. You can make things much easier for all of us by coming to terms with what lies ahead. You will bear our children regardless of how much you resist, and you will never return home. If you are defiant there will be little I can do to make your new lives any better.”

  He paused and turned his attention squarely toward Gentry. “There are a few other things we need to cover before entering the city. Our society is quite formal, and while I find your colorful banter rather refreshing, it would be viewed as a high offense to most of those you will meet. I need you all to assume a far more submissive demeanor. Do not make eye contact, do whatever you are told without question, stay two body lengths behind whoever is escorting you, and show your new king and the Throne of Nine respect befitting their positions. When we are in private quarters you may continue to speak freely with me and act as you normally would.”

  “How will we speak at all?” Considering everything I’d just heard, that probably wasn’t the most important question, but living as a mute would drive me insane long before they had a chance to squeeze a mermaid baby out of me.

  Aristos arched a brow in genuine surprise at receiving a rational question in response to his edict. Based on his guarded, defensive posture, he’d expected me to pounce on him.

  Can’t say it wasn’t tempting.

  “Our scientists have created a stem cell based serum that should allow you to develop at least passable telepathic speech after it’s injected into the left frontal lobe of your brains. Worst case, we will provide tablets you can write on while beneath the surface. We’ll also teach you our version of sign language, which we use to communicate with our young children until their minds are more fully developed.”

  So we were going to have monstrously long needles inserted into our brains. Oh joy. At least this procedure wouldn’t require surgery to reverse it when I got home, unlike my wonderful gills. And who knows? If it worked, I might even be able to get through to Caylee. The alternative was to spend months learning to sign, or chisel messages in stone like a caveman for however long I was stuck here. Not that I really had a choice to begin with.

  Gentry turned her head as she bit down firmly on the soft tissue of her lower lip. Nothing like a good medical puzzle to snap her out of her haze. “You must be talking about Brocca’s area. That drives the motor functions for speech. But it seems like quite a leap from moving your lips to telepathy.”

  “Brocca’s area is correct, my young healer,” Aristos responded. It was really hard to hate him at moments like this. He had the same proud, goofy smile my father sported when I took home a trophy. “The signals sent to the muscles of the mouth and throat to form words are not that different from the signals for the words themselves. Your brain just needs to learn a new way to transmit them. Not unlike a wireless connection to a computer network versus an Ethernet cable.”

  Quite an analogy from someone who still wrote on stone tablets. Then again, they had developed portals to other worlds and futuristic stem cell technology. I guess I needed to get past the tail and medieval armor and quit thinking of them as being so primitive. Comparatively speaking, we were the monkeys here. And based on Aristos’s rigid view on freeing us, we were going to be here a while. I’d be damned if I was going to spend the time serving food or scrubbing floors. There was so much we could learn. I lowered my legs back into the sudsy waves and eased them apart, resuming the position I’d been in earlier. Hopefully it conveyed a far more accepting and amiable attitude. “You said you’d try to get us into jobs we were suited for that we might not totally hate. What did you have in mind?”

  I almost laughed as his eyes danced frantically around what was right in front of him. He’d never seemed to notice or care that I was naked before. Now—Syreni general or not—he was as flustered as a pimple faced band geek at prom. Not wanting to yield too much power to me, he dipped under for a breath, escaping like a boxer saved by the bell. When he surfaced he was back on the ramp. “It is my intention to see Gentry trained as a healer. She has already demonstrated remarkable skill and anatomical knowledge. She would serve under Damille as a healer’s apprentice and work in our infirmary while she attends classes.”

  “Sign me up, fishboy,” Gentry said with a grin. It appeared my acceptance had taken the fight out of her as I’d hoped. We needed freedom to escape, and that meant we had to make the negotiations as easy as possible for Aristos.

  Aristos flipped his hair over his right shoulder and tossed her a very annoyed eye roll. “Can I make that contingent on you never calling me that again?”

  She snorted. “Nope.”

  “Lucky me. As for Tara,” he continued smoothly, shifting his focus to her. “I’d like you to attend our most prestigious academy. It’s located on the outskirts of Halon’s Gate, so you can have your college experience and still visit Kerrigan and Gentry as often as you like.”

  I’d almost forgotten Tara was using me as a human shield until she stepped up beside me. “You have colleges? Like with partying and everything?”

  “I wouldn’t recommend leading with that in your interview,” he said with a good natured chuckle. “A century ago we had dozens of academies, three in Halon’s Gate alone. The Palace of Poseidon is the only one still operating. Obviously you won’t have any female classmates, but there will be plenty of males your age. And I assure you, Syreni teenagers living on their own for the first time are as rebellious and free spirited as human children.”

  I couldn’t argue much with his plans for Gentry or Tara. The fact that he’d taken the time to even come up with a plan was further evidence that he cared. I could work with that. I just needed to make our future matter enough for him to be willing to risk everything to help us. “And what do you have in mind for Miss Cripple over here?” I added a playful lilt to my voice to make it clear I was kidding, but the words still came out sounding cynical.

  Aristos squared his shoulders and cast me a stern look, chiding me even before he spoke. “Self-pity is beneath you. The scars you bear were earned through acts of incredible valor, and are cheapened by such disparaging words. With surgical procedures and time your body will mend. I had thought your immense inner strength, charismatic leadership, formidable combat skills and iron nerve would make you an ideal candidate to become our first female member of the guard, maybe even face the trials of ascension someday. Perhaps you’d be better suited with the life of a servant.”

  Ouch. A child could see through his blatant reverse psychology, but s
hort of my outright freedom I couldn’t imagine a more alluring offer. This was a dangerous place. Being fitted with armor and learning to wield a sword would make it far easier to protect Tara and Gentry from griffins and Syreni males alike. Having my own sword could aid in our escape plans as well.

  But while all that was true and practical, being trained like a knight to fight alongside Aristos in their battle for survival held an unmistakable appeal of its own. I’d always gravitated toward intense physical activities. The competitive part of me was thrilled at the thought of becoming their first female soldier, and I was more than curious about the trials he mentioned and what it would mean to ascend. Getting to kill more of the freaky-ass creatures that tore me open and took my foot didn’t sound half bad, either. And try as I might, it was impossible not to empathize at least to some degree with their situation—they were literally being driven to extinction. How could he know me so well after only a few days? Most men—whether they’d admit it or not—considered females the lesser sex, not fit for any dangerous tasks. His progressive thinking and flattering appraisal of my character mattered far more to me than it should.

  There was no turning back from the decision I was about to make. It could either help free us or lead to a quick and gruesome death. With a considerable amount of pain, I climbed onto both my knees and bowed. “I am yours to command, my general.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Halon’s Gate

  * * *

  Going under for the second time wasn’t nearly as traumatic. Like my second dive off the high platform in seventh grade, the fear and uncertainty had been replaced with willful determination. Aristos shadowed my every move, staying within an arm’s length as I dove and inhaled water. The tropical, salty fluid inflicted no less pain as it flooded into my lungs, but I never panicked, and managed the breathing transition on my own.