by Regine Abel
“Do not fret, Khel,” I said. “Whatever troubles him, Vahl loves you and he knows we all love him.”
As if to confirm my words, Vahl extended his tiny hand towards Khel’s face and gently caressed his cheek. Khel leaned into it before turning his face and grabbing the small hand in his mouth, pretending to chew it, which made Vahl’s discrete smile expand slightly.
“We’re taking him to see Dr. Volghan in a couple of weeks,” Amalia said, joining us with Zhara cradled in her arms.
Khel gently kissed the top of Vahl’s head before wrapping his arm around Amalia’s waist.
“You’re taking both of them, right?” Khel asked.
“No, actually, only Vahl,” Amalia said. “Minh says Zhara is doing exceptionally well and doesn’t feel the need to see her until next month.”
Khel sighed. “All right.”
Hoping to lighten the mood, I switched topics.
“On a different note, my ears were starting to bleed at the Council Hall with the number of times they said ‘the formidable General Praghan’ and spoke of his ‘heroic rescue’ of the females.”
Khel chuckled, unable to hide his pride.
“Well, my mate is heroic,” Amalia said. “Isn’t that right, Zha? Isn’t Daddy a hero?”
“Daddy!” Zhara squealed, staring at Khel with a big grin.
We all laughed.
“And Daddy has some work he should be doing right now,” Ghan’s booming voice said behind us.
“Han!” Zhara shouted, squirming in Amalia’s arms to be let down.
After Khel, Ghan had to be her second favorite person in the world. Amalia and I had our place somewhere in her affection, but I didn’t begrudge the love she bestowed upon my Gem and recent new friend. She once again stumble-walk-crawled to Ghan. The softening expression on his brutish face never ceased to amaze me. Ghan was a behemoth; tall, thick, broad and all muscles. He took the word ‘intimidating’ to a whole new height. Even a year later, I still wasn’t accustomed to the absence of the terrible scar that once crossed his face, thanks to the psi healing abilities of Amalia’s great-mother Maheva.
Ghan picked up Zhara with one hand. She looked puny in his hold. Fearlessly latching onto his neck, she covered his face with kisses as she had done to me.
“And what work should I be doing?” Khel asked, his hand absentmindedly caressing Amalia’s hip.
“Maheva finished healing the guard from the Blood House,” Ghan said. “It is time we have a conversation with him about the meaning of life.”
Zhara squirmed again to be let down and Ghan set her on her feet. Instead of crawling away, she began methodically undoing the fastenings on Ghan’s military boots.
“Excellent,” Khel said, a predatory glimmer in his eyes. “I hope to the Goddess that he has information about the last Blood House, otherwise I don’t know how we’ll ever find it.”
At last, we’d managed to capture one of the guards alive during a Blood House raid. In all other instances, the guards had taken their own lives rather than face the extremely harsh punishment reserved for anyone convicted of a sex crime. He’d attempted to kill himself like the others but, thanks to the timely intervention of Khel’s warriors, he’d only managed to wound himself critically. They had flown him without delay to the estate, hoping to get here in time for Maheva to use her ability to heal him.
It had taken nearly six months to find this Blood House after the one in Xelhin. For countless weeks, Khel’s team analyzed the flight patterns and traffic over every inch of the Xelhen District where the latest Blood House was raided this morning. They investigated any remote or isolated building that seemed to have medium-to-heavy traffic. It was like seeking a grain of salt in a bowl of sugar. But the slow, painstaking process had eventually paid off. The last Blood House however, was located somewhere in Capital District, the economic and political center of Xelix Prime. This method wouldn’t work in such a densely populated and heavily trafficked area.
“Is it true that you missed Valena by minutes?” Amalia asked.
“Yes,” Khel said, sighing heavily. “According to the captives, V only started keeping her in a safe house for the past couple of days. Had we shown up ten minutes later, she would have been onsite. For all we know, they were flying in when we began the attack.”
“He knew a raid was imminent,” Ghan said, shaking his head at Zhara who had moved on to his second boot. “That tells me we have a leak.”
“But who?” I asked. “The Council was kept in the dark, which, of course, displeased them.”
“Oh, I’m sure Zhul Dervhen complained plenty about the secrecy,” Khel sneered.
I shook my head. “Not at all, actually. Zhul, Beck Zirthen, and Rhev Jormhon offered the most support for your actions.”
Khel raised a dubious eyebrow at me. I smiled and took a seat on the couch, settling Vahl more comfortably on my lap.
“It’s true. In fact, you’re not going to like what I’m about to say, but the more I dig into this, the less I think Dervhen is linked in any way to the Blood Houses.”
“What?” Khel and Amalia said at the same time.
“I’ve kept a close eye on his finances the past year. He has suffered absolutely no revenue losses after the first two Blood Houses were shut down,” I said. Turning to look at Amalia, I continued, “When our Minimum Wages law reform went into effect, I expected him to take some serious losses since he was significantly underpaying his staff. Again, no changes even though he was now complying with the new rule.”
“Then there’s your proof that he’s operating with an account we’re unaware of,” Khel said.
“That’s what I thought at first too,” I said, “but then I dug further and it turns out we were wrong all along about Zhul.”
“How so?” Amalia asked, leaning into Khel, who tightened his embrace around her.
“Zhul never underpaid his staff. In fact, he’s been paying wages quite close to what we pay our own orchard employees.”
“That’s impossible. While I was still Councilor, I personally gathered statements from the Tainted who worked for him confirming the miserly wages they received,” Khel argued.
“Yes,” I nodded. “They received slave wages, but that’s not what Zhul paid. It appears his father embezzled half of that money to pay for his mate’s extravagant lifestyle. After Zhul received a formal warning of non-conformity, he challenged it by showing his bookkeeping records. Later on, he sent a letter of apology citing some administrative error that coincided with his father being completely removed from the family business.”
“That still doesn’t prove his innocence,” Khel said through gritted teeth.
“I’m afraid I have to concur with Lhor here, Khel,” Ghan said, frowning at Zhara who was now trying to tie his boots to each other. “We tried hard but failed to tie Zhul in any way to the Blood Houses. I’m not saying we should rule him out, but maybe it’s time we start looking elsewhere.”
Khel made a face as if he had just bitten into something foul. I’d never quite understood the reason behind the depth of their mutual dislike. That’s definitely something I would need to look into.
“Well, let’s go have a talk with that guard. Maybe he’ll have the answers we seek.”
Khel kissed Amalia and made his way to the stairs.
“You truly are the pesky embodiment of your parents, you know that?” Ghan said, looking at Zhara who was still hard at work trying to figure out a way to tie his boots together.
She looked up at him, a big fat grin on her adorable face. “Han!” she said.
“Don’t ‘Han’ me, you little neption. Being cute won’t save you,” Ghan mumbled.
We all laughed while Amalia grabbed Zhara, who snuggled against her. Zhara had inherited her mischievous streak from Amalia and me and never missed an opportunity to cause trouble. When Amalia used to tell me how cute my dimples were, I never understood… until Zhara. Whatever stunt that girl pulled, she only had to flash those dimples
to melt you on the spot.
Ghan fixed his boots and with a nod, followed after Khel.
* * *
Today, for the first time, I truly dreaded going to the Council Hall. After yesterday’s disappointing news that the guard actually had no revelation of substance to help the hunt for the final Blood House, coming here today to fight for my mate’s and son’s rights and liberties wasn’t something I looked forward to.
“Lhor,” Bhek called out as I approached the Council Chamber.
Bhek Zirthen was the second Councilor of the Xelhen District, with Zhul Dervhen as Principal. Bhek and Khel’s father used to be best friends. He was like an uncle to me but a father figure to Khel. He provided much fatherly advice to Khel in the months that followed my mating to Amalia, to help him fight his jealousy and embrace me as his Geminate. Along with Rhev Jormhon – sole Councilor for the Xelhon District – Bhek was my greatest ally in Chamber. Today, I would definitely need both their support.
“Bhek,” I said, placing my hand over my heart and bowing my head slightly in the formal Xelixian greeting.
“How are you, son?”
“Nervous, as you can guess.”
Bhek frowned. “Yes, this isn’t going to be an easy one. I don’t need to tell you this, but don’t appeal to their compassion in light of Khel’s heroic rescue. Let someone else throw that argument. You stick to legalities.”
I nodded. “I don’t intend to play the emotional card. As it is, they may simply dismiss me for being biased since it concerns my mate and child.”
“Jormhon will support your cause,” Bhek said. “His entire district holds family sacred and wouldn’t allow yours to be turned into lab rats. However, all five Councilors of Capital District are likely to vote against you. The Tainted are far more visible in the city. Their large presence affects tourism and devalues the neighborhoods.”
I gasped in disbelief at his comment.
“Shocking, isn’t it?” Bhek shook his head, a look of disgust on his face. “Remember that the Council consists solely of Primes. They don’t really understand the problems of the Tainted. They obviously won’t cite this as the reason for their support to the motion against your mate but know that greed is driving them.”
Feeling observed, I turned around and my eyes connected with Zhul Dervhen’s silver gaze. His face was unreadable as he made his way to the Council Chamber. Passing us by, he gave Bhek and me a polite nod before entering the room.
“I hate to say this, son, but you need to get him in your corner on this one,” Bhek said, pointing at Zhul with his chin. “I know you and Khel have your differences with him, but he still has a lot of pull in the Chamber and he’s charismatic.”
“I don’t dislike him,” I said in all honesty, “but I don’t trust him.”
I was almost certain he had no part in the Blood Houses. However, I still suspected his involvement in the ‘accident’ that killed Khel’s parents and brother a year-and-a-half ago. Zhul also tended to be ruthless and held a fierce dislike of Khel that fired up my loyalty to my Gem. For all that, Zhul had always shown me a polite, almost friendly attitude.
The chime sounded indicating the session would begin any minute. I took my seat in the amphitheater-like chamber and let my eyes roam over the twenty other Councilors. There were five per district, except for Xelhon District who had Rhev Jormhon as sole Councilor. His voice counted for five. As Principal House of the Xelhan District, I could almost guarantee the other four Councilors of my district would give me their vote. Between them, Bhek’s and Rhev’s votes, we would have eleven votes, including mine. That was still two votes short to at least force it to be amended or revised. But even if we won thirteen-twelve, it wouldn’t be enough to simply make it go away. The margin would need to be more significant than that.
President Frebhin, sitting in the center of the semi-circular Chamber, rose to his feet.
“Councilors,” Frebhin said, “this public session is to discuss a motion presented by Councilor Juhn Wromhen of the Capital District.” Frebhin looked up at the audience sitting on the balcony overlooking the Chamber. “I will remind the public and media attending this session that any interference will result in your immediate removal from the Chamber.”
My eyes roamed over the crowd. It was packed today as this topic greatly interested the population in general. Our people loved Amalia, but I couldn’t say how much their affection for her would supersede their personal interests.
“Councilor Wromhen, you have the floor,” Frebhin said before reclaiming his seat.
Wromhen rose, puffing his chest, trying to give himself the presence he lacked. He was a reasonably attractive male, with pitch-black eyes and dark-brown hair, but his round face never seemed to have lost its baby fat and his weak chin was illustrative of his equally weak character. The Wromhen family ran a number of touristic establishments in Capital District, namely the Wromhen Hotel chain and a few fancy restaurants and entertainment venues.
“Councilors, it is a difficult topic that I present to you, but one that has weighed on all of our minds and that we must embrace as a duty to our people.” He looked around the room before picking up the datapad on the table in front of him. “This motion,” he said waving the datapad, “isn’t meant to punish anyone, but seeks to save the lives of millions of our suffering males and the future of our race.”
You mean save your financial empire, you vulture.
Wromhen could drown a fish with his uselessly verbose speeches before getting to the point.
“The Praghan family is quite beloved by our people. Just yesterday, we hailed the General for his heroic rescue of the sixty-eight females held captive in the Xelhen District Blood House.”
Nods, murmurs of approval, and even applause from both the Council and the audience saluted his comment.
“However, we cannot allow sentiments and our affection for this admirable family to cloud our judgment in assessing the motion being put before you today.”
President Frebhin rose from his chair, interrupting him. “Councilor Wromhen, please get to the point and state the content of the motion.”
Thank you!
A few Councilors hid their mocking grins behind their hands or sudden bouts of coughing. Wromhen pinched his lips but nodded at Frebhin.
“The motion is in three parts. For the first part, Amalia Praghan has the proven ability to cure the Taint, and to give birth to a Prime daughter sired by a Tainted male in the final stages of the disease. Both events have been impossible for our people from the onset of the Taint centuries ago. Therefore, it is in the best interest of our nation and the future of our people that Amalia Praghan and her daughter, Zharina Kirnhan, be placed in the care of the Capital District Center for Advanced Sciences to be studied so a cure for the entire population can be devised.”
Like fuck you will.
My blood boiled while the audience whispered and muttered. The other Councilors were sneaking glances at me, trying to gauge my reaction. It was a good thing I had taken over Khel’s Councilor duties. Had he been here now, Wromhen would likely be a pile of gore on the floor.
“For the second part, Lhor Kirnhan and Khel Praghan were both formerly in the final stage of the Taint. They have not only recovered, but are both now classified as Primes, the disease having been completely eradicated from their systems. Furthermore, their mate’s oxytocin has been proven to have enhanced their natural attributes, including the potency and toxicity of their venoms. Not only would studying them further help identify the cause of their miraculous healing, but for matters of national security, it would be advisable to keep them under observation as we do not know what other mutations their mate may cause within them or the risks to our people. Therefore, we recommend Councilor Kirnhan and General Praghan also be placed in the care of the Capital District Center for Advanced Sciences to be studied.”
Fuck me.
I hadn’t seen that one coming although it should have been obvious. This time, the muttering
grew louder, with a number of frowning faces. It troubled me that they were more reluctant to have me and Khel turned into lab rats than Amalia and our daughter.
“For the third and last part, discovering the existence of a surviving Veredian rocked not only our nation but all of the Western Quadrant. Amalia Praghan is not just a national treasure but a world treasure and even more so her son, Vahleryon Praghan, the first Veredian male to live in over one hundred and fifty years. Many nations, members of the Galactic Council, request that Amalia Praghan and her children – who both display significant Veredian traits – be remitted to an intergalactic scientific group of geneticists to help repopulate this near-extinct species. With this motion, we require instead that Vahleryion Praghan also be placed in the care of the Capital District Center for Advanced Sciences where such genetic researches can be performed.”
Wromhen carefully avoided meeting my gaze as he sat back down.
Coward.
The room exploded with shouts and discussions. I seized the opportunity to center myself and calm down before I addressed the Council. President Frebhin allowed the chatter to go on for a few more seconds then called everyone to order. As the room quieted, I began to rise from my chair, but Zhul Dervhen beat me to it.
“I request first word,” Zhul said, staring at the President.
Frebhin’s eyes widened at the unexpected request; it was common practice that a party directly affected by a motion would have first word. He cast a troubled look in my direction before nodding at Zhul’s request, as protocol stated first come, first served.
“You have the floor, Councilor Dervhen.”
“Thank you, President Frebhin.”
My heart hammered against my ribs, though I tried to keep my expression neutral. Zhul’s presence was undeniable and he knew how to keep his audience captive. He could do a lot of harm as first speaker, especially since some of the points from Wromhen had merit.
“Fellow Councilors, dear members of the public and the media, Councilor Wromhen makes a compelling case for placing an entire family in the hands of our most prestigious science center in the hope of curing the disease that has nearly brought our nation to its knees.”