Forbidden Planet

by Cheree Alsop

I grinned. “I am. Everyone chooses their own way to cope with the violence of our lives, but we do so in private. I had no wish to know the others’ rituals and I didn’t share mine with them.”

  She pressed the rag to the cuts to slow the bleeding. Without looking at me, she said, “But you shared yours with me.”

  She tied a clean rag around each foot with a look of such concern my heart twisted almost painfully in my chest.

  I couldn’t take the heaviness of the situation. Instead, my smile turned wry and I said, “I didn’t intend for you to find me passed out on the bathroom floor, if that’s what you mean.” I winced at a particularly sharp stab from behind my eyes. I closed my eyes and squeezed the bridge of my nose in the hopes that it would calm my head. “But I think everything has combined to land me on the tiles while you’re able to look down and laugh.”

  I opened my eyes to see her shake her head slowly. “I’m not laughing.”

  “You could,” I said. I snorted at my pathetic situation. “You should. I think you should laugh and leave me here. My body has chosen this as my resting place, and to be honest, I’m not up to arguing with myself because I’m far too stubborn. I’ll be fine in the morning unless you need me earlier.”

  She watched me quietly for a moment, then rose to her feet and left the room. Just when I thought she was gone for good and I was ready to scold myself for being a fool, she returned.

  “Pillows?” I asked in surprise.

  She smiled down at me. “I can’t carry you, and I’m not about to watch you sleep on the floor like this. What if you don’t wake up?”

  Solemnity filled my voice when I replied, “What if I don’t?”

  I held her gaze, daring her to think it through, to realize that she was spending her time being worried about a Smiren she had bought from prison. She should storm away and not give me another thought. She was a Lady and a Captain. Surely she had better things to do with her time.

  To my surprise, she picked up the knife instead and knelt beside me. “You remember them through pain?”

  She looked at the blade instead of me; she touched the tip carefully.

  “I do, and through the healing. I will carry their scar with me until I die.”

  “I like that,” she replied.

  Her thoughtful tone made my senses sharpen. Before I realized what she was doing, she had pulled off her shoe and sock and set them aside.

  “Nova, wait,” I said. I made myself sit up. My skull felt as though ice picks shoved through it at every angle. I could barely open my eyes to look at her. “What are you doing?”

  “Remembering someone,” she said.

  She poised the knife above the instep of her foot. It was the most painful place; I knew that for a certainty.

  I hesitated. There were two routes I could take. I could stop her and tell her she was being foolish. She hadn’t killed anyone that I knew of, and no Lady should have to mark her skin to remember those she had lost. It felt wrong.

  Or I could remember that she was her own person, an individual brave enough to take command of a ship even though it was obvious how unfamiliar the setting was for her. I couldn’t begin to guess at her mission or what drove her, but there was depth to her eyes, and pain. She had suffered and it wasn’t my place to make decisions for her.

  “Move it up here a little bit,” I said quietly.

  I took her hand and guided it a little further back on the foot where the cut wouldn’t hurt so badly and would heal quicker.

  She looked at me. Our faces were so close I could see the golden flecks deep within her gaze. Emotions of every range clouded together, but what surfaced was gratitude. She was grateful I didn’t tell her she was being stupid.

  “The words are important. At least, they are to me,” I said.

  “Please tell them to me.”

  I bowed my head and recited them. Nova repeated each phrase after I said it. Before the end, tears rolled down her cheeks. I realized then that she wasn’t remembering an enemy she had slain; she was marking herself in honor of someone she had loved very much.

  Her breath caught when she pressed the knife to her skin, but she didn’t pull back. After the first slice, she turned the knife. I helped her angle it right and then let go so she could finish the job. When she pulled the blade away, a tiny, perfect red x marked her foot.

  She smiled at me even as tears tracked down her skin.

  “That’s it?”

  I nodded. “That’s it.”

  She sighed and leaned against me as if we were old friends. “Thank you, Kove.”

  I nodded.

  She glanced up at me. “Is your head hurting? Lady Winden told me what the empaths said about your concussions; they’re worried—”

  “I know,” I replied before she could finish. “I’ll be fine.”

  A particularly angry stab made me close my eyes. Dizziness swarmed me and I found that I couldn’t sit up any longer. I lowered onto my back on the floor once more. The world was steadier there as long as I didn’t open my eyes to confirm it. A dull buzzing noise filled my ears and muffled the sounds around me.

  “Lift up your head,” Nova instructed through the haze.

  I did so mutely. When I set it back down, I realized my head was resting on her lap.

  “Nova—” I protested, trying to sit up again.

  “Calm down, Gladiator. I thought you were braver than this.”

  The challenge to her voice made me stop fighting. I carefully set my head back down as exhaustion swept through me again.

  “This is what my governess used to do when I had headaches as a child, ‘she said.

  Her fingers rested lightly on either side of my head. She began to move them in small circles. At first, my fight or flight instincts wanted to kick in. Pride demanded that I rise to my feet and tell her that I could take care of myself. I had defeated the greatest the Bacarian Star System had to offer; I had been one step away from gaining my freedom as the High Imperious. Crowds had chanted my name and tattooed my feats into their skin. I was greater than a headache and I had dealt with blood loss plenty of times. I didn’t bow to the whims of a single woman aboard an unusual starship.

  But I kept seeing the determination on her face as she put the knife to her skin. Her voice repeated in my mind, chanting the words of the Essen al Tirin. She wasn’t just a woman. She was Nova, fierce, brave, yet feminine. She was unlike anyone I had ever met in my life.

  My headache eased beneath her fingers. The buzzing lessened so that I could hear the nearly silent hum of an unknown song that left her lips. The sound soothed me in a way I couldn’t explain. It wrapped around me like the warmest blanket and chased away the aches and pains of the last few days. I felt as though my head had been filled with yaken wool. The pain was muffled and the lightheadedness calmed to leave only exhaustion. I let myself slip into the comforting darkness.

  When I awoke, I found Nova asleep on the cool floor beside me. Sometime during the night, she had settled a blanket over my body and brought over another pillow. The fact that she had chosen to remain at my side made my heart twinge. No Lady should have to sleep on the floor.

  I bent and gently gathered her in my arms. She let out a quiet sigh but didn’t awaken as I carried her to the bed. I set her down gently and brought over the blanket left on the floor. She looked so small with her hair unfurled around her. I felt protective of her, as though her well-being depended on me. It was a ridiculous thought considering we had only known each other for a few days.

  But what a crazy few days!

  A stray strand of hair rested along her cheek. I reached forward with the thought to sweep it back with the others and then paused with my fingers a hairsbreadth from her skin. I pulled my hand back and turned away.

  What was I doing?

  I had no idea why I had even been brought aboard the SevenWolf. It was obvious she needed protection. Her crew of misfits hadn’t stood a chance against Lorv’s Raths, let alone space pirates or the scum t
hat made up the majority of the outlier planets. Inside the Accord Systems, the Blavarians under Malivok their Godking and the Society maintained a sort of disciplined control aided by the nonaffiliated soldiers known as Tributaires. Both governing parties had their own ambitions and order, but there was enough gray area in between to cause unrest no matter what side you were on.

  The Bacarian System as well as the majority of other money-driven modes of entertainment fell outside of the Accords just far enough to take advantage of those gray areas and attract every class of citizen. The purest entertainment could be found along with the crude. One only had to know where to look to find trouble, but it was easily enough avoided with the right contacts.

  I could see Nova going there with her father as she had mentioned. Many of the ruling nobles considered it part of their duty to pay tribute to such recreational fun that kept their people happily spending marks. The kickbacks these nobles received were enough to support their own bawdy lifestyles, though Nova’s bloodline and many of the upper nobles were too proud to receive such support.

  Which led me to wonder why exactly Nova had taken her ship beyond the Accord Systems. What was it she was looking for, and why did I have the feeling the future was going to get more difficult before it got easier?

  Chapter Ten

  NOVA

  “There is no way I’m learning to dance.”

  A smile spread across Nova’s face as she peeked into the SevenWolf’s cafeteria. Someone had pulled the tables to the walls to create space in the middle. Kovak stood there with his arms crossed in front of his chest looking completely like the disgruntled gladiator he was while Kaj regarded him from his seat across the room. Jashu Blu stood between them with all four hands on his hips and a baffled expression on his face.

  “Why not?” the young man argued. “Dancing is like fighting, isn’t it? Training is all about the right moves, timing, and muscle memory.”

  Kovak speared him with a glare. “But it doesn’t involve flouncing, prancing, and pirouetting like some ninny!”

  Jashu Blu’s mouth fell open. “I am not a ninny.”

  Kovak held out a hand. “I didn’t mean you directly. I mean a gladiator with my reputation can’t be dancing about a ballroom floor without consequences.”

  “What reputation?”

  Silence fell across the room. Everyone’s eyes shifted to the one-eyed Verian. He sat up taller.

  “Kovak Sunder, once Imperious of the Bacarian System, one of the most astounding gladiators of his time, sold before he had a chance to reach High Imperious and gain his freedom.” Kaj’s eyes narrowed. “Why were you sold, Kovak? And why to a prison planet like a criminal instead of the worshipped hero you were?”

  Kovak glanced around the room. He appeared to want to be anywhere but there. Nova ducked out of sight before anyone saw her, but she didn’t leave. She wanted to know the answer to the question Kaj poised. She needed to know.

  When Kovak finally spoke, his tone was low and detached. “Do you really want to know?” he asked.

  “I do,” Kaj replied calmly.

  Jashu Blu sneezed the way he tended to do when he was nervous.

  “May the wolves preserve you,” Kaj said with the blessing of the ancient ones.

  “Thank you,” Jashu Blu told him before turning to Kovak. “Sorry. I really do want to know why you were sold.”

  Kovak turned away from all of them. Nova studied his back. He stood straight and tall without any sign of the knife wound in his shoulder and the thinner slice across his back, or the cuts he had made along his feet. Hers gave a mild twinge at the thought. It had hurt with each step of that foot. She couldn’t imagine having nine on each foot the way he did.

  “The truth is,” Kovak began. He hesitated and then broke the stillness again to admit, “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean, you don’t know?” Kaj asked. “That makes no sense.”

  Kovak glanced at him. There was a hint of embarrassment on his face and uncertainty in his eyes when he said, “That’s just it. I don’t know.”

  “They sold you and you don’t know why?” Jashu Blu said with surprise. “Why? How?”

  Kovak let out an angry breath. “Do you tell a rock why you kick it or a piece of trash why you chuck it into the garbage chute?”

  Nobody replied. Kaj and Jashu Blu exchanged a look. Nova was surprised to see sympathy on the older man’s face. He seldom gave anyone the time of day. Why was he so intent on teaching Kovak to dance?

  Nova stepped into the room as though she had only just reached it. She stopped short. “What’s going on here?”

  “Nothing,” Kovak muttered.

  Kaj smiled. “We’re just teaching this gladiator to dance so that he may escort you to the Favrian ball.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Nova replied, thinking of his feet. “He shouldn’t have to go. Kaj, you can take me.”

  The older man gestured at his leg. “Not like this, My Lady. I won’t be worth one lick if trouble arises.”

  “What about Jash—”

  “Before you go throwing the lad in front of a horned zed, remember how we fared on Lorv. We both know he can’t hit the broad side of a Tarian cruiser. You’d be better off taking Junquit.”

  Nova sighed. The last time she had allowed the pilot to go with her to an event for nobles, the brilliant lady’s maid had nearly burned down Tamarak Castle.

  “You have a point,” she admitted.

  Kovak’s eyebrows rose. “Not you, too.”

  She lifted a shoulder. “Regrettably so. I think you’re my only hope.”

  Kovak watched her with an intense scrutiny that made Nova want to hide like she used to do from her governess years ago. Instead, she lifted her chin and said, “Afraid of a ball?”

  Loud laughter burst out from Jashu Blu, but at Kaj’s sharp word, he covered his mouth.

  “You have got to stop trying to taunt me into doing what you want,” Kovak said with a hint of exasperation in his voice.

  “Why?” Nova replied. Then, before she could stop herself, she said, “I own you. Shouldn’t you do what I ask?”

  A different kind of silence filled the air between them. Kovak gritted his teeth so hard a muscle twitched at the side of his jaw. She wanted to take the words back, but they were out there wafting through the air like some sort of barbed viper wrapping them all in its suffocating embrace.

  Kovak lowered his gaze, but not before she saw the flash of defiance in them.

  “Fine,” he gave in. “But why do I have to learn to dance? Nobles don’t mingle with the help anyway.”

  “You can’t be just the help,” Kaj said.

  Nova glanced up at the apology in his tone. Embarrassment filled her when she realized the butler was trying to make amends for what she had said.

  She answered the question Kovak was about to ask. “A woman of the lower noble classes can be attended to by any servant or noble of her choice, but a countess must attend on the arm of a true nobleman or else the respect of her peers will come into question.”

  Kovak looked at her for a moment, then looked at Kaj. “You mean to say that you want me to pretend to be a nobleman?”

  Jashu Blu’s face paled. “Isn’t that an offense punishable by death if he’s found out?”

  “Yes,” Nova replied. She tried to gather her thoughts about why such a thing was necessary, but before she could, Kovak spoke.

  “I’ll do it.”

  Everyone stared at him.

  “Pray tell why you would agree to such a thing,” Kaj said.

  An impish glint sparkled in Kovak’s eyes when he replied, “I have been a plaything and an entertainer for the noble classes for most of my life. I would enjoy the chance to turn the tables on them.”

  Kaj’s purple gaze was steady when he said, “You cannot kill anyone. That would defeat the purpose.”

  Kovak held the butler’s eye when he replied, “There is more than one way to seek revenge, my friend.” He glanced at
Nova. “Now, I’ve got to learn to dance, Captain. I beg that you give me leave to make a bumbling fool of myself in private so that you don’t lose faith in my ability to be your escort.”

  Nova walked back up the hallway with a ridiculous smile on her face. Why was it Kovak’s banter affected her so? He could be so surly and obstinate one minute, and then the next charm the glimmer off a faelan’s wings. He unsettled her in ways she didn’t want to think about. She couldn’t afford to lose focus. Everything depended on her keeping her head.

  “Captain, we may have a problem,” Junquit said when she reached the bridge.

  “What’s going on?” Nova asked.

  “We received a transmission from the Loreandian System.” The pilot lowered her eyes. “It’s not good.”

  “Put it on the screen,” Nova told her.

  Lord Briofe’s face appeared. His eyes darted from side to side before he addressed the screen. “Countess Ardis, I hope this finds you well,” he said.

  Nova’s jaw tightened at the high-pitched voice of the man who would inherit their star system if McKy didn’t return to Evia.

  The Lord’s eyes filled with mock worry. “You’ve been gone for some time, Countess. We’re concerned for your safety.” His eyes narrowed. “You left Lord Tempran in charge when you know very well that I am the one who should be in the Parliament seat since your brother’s disappearance. That was a slight I will not forget.” The expression in his green Cadonian eyes changed just enough to set Nova on edge. “But Lord Tempran has vanished. His guards say that one night he had just finished dinner and was heading to his rooms when he disappeared.”

  Nova’s muscles tensed. She gripped the back of the Captain’s chair with both hands.

  “Now don’t you worry, Countess. I have taken my rightful seat in Parliament and I will see to the best interest of our system.” His eyes gleamed from the screen. “An alliance will soon be formed that will help the Loreandian System become the strongest in the ‘Verse. If you fail to return, known that your beloved system is in the best of hands.” He winked. “And I would recommend not trying to return. Your ship is marked and there’s a hefty price on your head. If you do manage to free your brother, I would suggest finding somewhere outside of the Accords to settled down.” He smiled. “Life is much more peaceful outside of the Society. Trust me.”