by Maven, Ella
Riven didn’t need another command. She’d never been scared of heights, and Zecri had already become one of two people in the world she trusted. The other was me. She stepped onto the ledge and dropped.
With my heart in my throat, I watched with bated breath until she landed neatly in Zecri’s arms.
He placed her on the ground at his side and then looked up at me. “Now, Syb. We have to go.”
I stepped away from the window for a moment to gather my courage. “Just jump. He’s a big blue target. Come on, Syb.” With a small squeal of personal encouragement, I hopped up onto the ledge and took a leap of faith below.
The drop felt like forever and a split second all at the same time. First my stomach took a dip, then my breath left my body, and then suddenly I was in Zecri’s arms.
“Oomph,” I said as I braced myself on his shoulders.
His face inches from mine, I swore I saw the slightest smile twist his lips. “Told you I’d catch you.”
I swallowed. “So, you did.”
“A thank you would be nice.” His voice went high in what I assumed was a mimicry of me.
I blinked at him. “Did you just… make a joke?”
His lips twitched.
“Okay, thank you,” I mumbled as he set me on the ground without much finesse. Hauling Riven onto his hip, he grabbed my hand. “Time to get the fleck out of town.”
We disappeared into a shadowy alley just as a dark figure appeared in the broken window.
Wargo’s screech echoed after us.
Six
Zecri
We wouldn’t make it far on foot. Sybil was fast, but her legs were half the length of mine, and I knew she’d tire faster than me, as she was human.
Riven clung to me and kept quiet, already proving she was a smart little chit and would make a great Drixonian adult.
I could barely believe I held her in my arms. I wished Rexor was here, and Mikko and Fenix. The four of us would have been unstoppable as a team to protect her. Now, it was only me and a human female with more guts than brains.
What had she been thinking bursting into that room and trying to take on two Pliken guards with a fire poker?
But maybe I was wrong on the brains thing.
She had created a massive diversion and stole the key from the Pliken guard without getting caught.
Beside me, her breath hissed between her teeth as she ran.
Wargo would be sending a squad soon. She had a lot of money, and knowing her, she’d offer the human as a reward to whoever caught us. She’d never let me go, and Riven was too valuable.
The town was active at night, which meant we couldn’t take a direct route to where I wanted to go. Keeping to the dark alleys and shadows, I breathed a sigh of relief when we finally reached our destination. A burned-out shell of a hut which held our escape vessel.
Sybil bent with her hands on her knees as I tossed the metal sheeting off the buzzer to reveal the vehicle which would be our ticket out of here. It was faster than any of Wargo’s vehicles and could squeeze into places hers couldn’t.
I flipped the switch and breathed a sigh of relieve when the engine kicked on. I dropped Riven in front and hauled Sybil into place behind her. Settling myself at the back, I leaned forward and gripped the handlebars. “Hold on,” I murmured over the buzz of the engine. As soon as the vehicle left the ground to hover over the dirt, we took off out of town and into the star-lit night.
* * *
We rode long into the night over the red sand. At one point, Riven fell asleep, her head bobbing against Sybil’s arm. Then Sybil began to doze. In order to keep her on the buzzer, I had to wrap one arm around her. All she wore was a strip of cloth over her breasts, and the bare skin of her stomach was soft against my scales. I draped my cloak over both to keep them warm and kept driving.
If it had just been me and Graven, I would have returned to Blazen, which was the hideout where Rexor, Mikko, Fenix, and I had stayed after escaping the various places we’d been sold on the planet. We weren’t the only inhabitants though. We’d taken in various other races who looked to free themselves from Pliken rule, and we’d made a makeshift home in the crashed and abandoned cargo ship plunged into the side of a sand cliff long ago.
Rexor had taken his female there, but not for long. And while I’d maybe trust those in Blazen to keep Sybil’s existence a secret, I couldn’t risk that with Riven. She was too valuable to others, and they’d see nothing but how much they could earn if they sold her.
The more I drove with the dozing females in my arms, the more thankful I was for Sybil. She’d stepped up in the absence of Riven’s mother and father to raise Riven into the brave little female she was. Most of all, she’d taught her about her Drixonian roots.
Riven knew about our history, our motto, and that was due to Sybil. Did the human realize how important that was? Our history and legacy were everything to us, as it was all we had. We were a dying race, but the existence of Riven at least gave us hope we could survive. We could successfully procreate with human females. If they would have us.
That was why it was my duty to get Sybil as well as Riven to safety. Sybil could find a Drixonian mate here in this galaxy. Have her own chits. Feel cared for and honored in only the way a mate of a Drixonian warrior could feel. My arm tightened around her as her hair fluttered against my shoulder. I’d repay her for what she’d done for Graven, for Riven… and for me.
When the sun began to rise, I found a rocky outcrop with some shade and cover. When the buzzer touched down, Sybil’s head rose, and she blinked sleepy eyes at the dawning light. “Where are we?”
After making sure she was awake enough to stay sitting on her own, I dismounted and hauled a still sleeping Riven from the buzzer. Laying her down in the shade on a patch of dry sand, I covered her with one of the furs I’d taken from Fisk. With a smack of her lips, she curled up on her side. I stayed crouched beside her until her breaths evened out, then rose to find Sybil at my side, spinning in a slow circle to take in our location. “Where are we?”
“About a third of the way.”
She knelt next to me. “A third of the way to where?”
“Our destination.”
“Which is? Jeez, talking to you is like pulling teeth.”
“Pulling teeth?”
“Earth expression.”
I clicked my fangs at her. “We’re heading to Gaulz.”
“What’s that?”
“Kilzer never mentioned it?”
“I didn’t make it a habit to have long conversations with him.”
I liked the way she talked. It was direct and honest. I motioned for us to sit a bit away from Riven where we could still see her but wouldn’t be talking next to her head. I sat back and leaned against a rock with my knees bent in front of me while Sybil sat with her legs crossed, poking a stick in the sand. “Wargo is a problem.”
“You think?”
“Her brother is the head commander of the Pliken army on this planet.”
Her hand froze mid-poke, and just her eyeballs lifted to meet my gaze. “What did you say?”
“Her brother is head commander—”
“Right, but what does that mean? For us?”
“It means there will be no aircraft leaving this planet for a while. She knows that’s what I’ll try to do with you and Riven. So, she’ll ask her brother a favor, and we’ll be grounded here.”
She tossed the stick away and shoved her hair behind her ear. “So, what’ll we do?”
“We go to Gaulz.”
“What’s there?”
I cocked my head. “It’s what isn’t there. Plikens. It’s the one place on this planet they have no rule. There is a small dock there.”
Her eyes went wide. “I didn’t know a place like that existed.” She swiped her hands together and made to stand. “Let’s go now. I can eat on the way and—”
“Hold on,” I lifted a hand in there. “There’s some things you need to know about Gaul
z.”
She sank back down with a grimace. “Something tells me I’m not going to like anything you’re about to say.”
I snorted, and the sound surprised me. And her. She smiled, and deep grooves creased her cheeks. Her one front tooth was crooked, and I had the sudden urge to prod it with my tongue. I looked away, feeling an uncomfortable swelling in my groin.
I cleared my throat. “The Plikens are terrible rulers, but they rule. In Gaulz, there are no rules. This won’t be easy. We will have to be careful to hide Riven. You will not be safe either, so it’s important that we make it clear I’m your mate.”
“Mate?”
“There are a lot of stupid species on this planet, but few will mess with a Drixonian’s mate.”
Her chest rose and fell, and her full lips rounded in an “O” shape as she exhaled roughly. “I see.”
“If we were elsewhere, I could get away with pretending to own you, but in Gaulz…” I shook my head. “It has to be mates. They have to know that I would kill for you, and it will likely be possible I have to demonstrate that early and often.”
She swallowed and her lower lip trembled before she bit down on it and sucked it between her teeth. “This place sounds scary as hell.”
“It is.”
“But it’s the only way?”
“We’ll be hunted anywhere else, and there’s no way off this planet except for Gaulz.”
She dropped her head into her hand and rubbed her forehead. “Okay.”
“Okay?”
With a firm nod, she met my eyes. “Yeah, I trust you. If you say this is what we have to do, then this is what we have to do.” Her gaze drifted to Riven. “You just have to tell me what to do. I’ll do anything to keep her safe.”
Silence descended between us, and I dropped some food in front of Sybil. She ate a few bites before carefully wrapping it up and placing it near Riven. Then she hugged her knees to her chest and rocked back and forth, staring out across the desert.
I shoved some food into my mouth and washed it down with some qua. I leaned back, closing my eyes, and knowing I had to sleep, but every time I tried, my eyes seemed to open on their own to watch Sybil.
She was braiding her hair, her long thin fingers moving quickly through her yellow strands until she tied the end with a raggedy strip of cloth. She needed clothes. More food. She needed warm furs and a soft place to sleep.
“Thank you,” I said, not realizing I’d said the words out loud until she lifted her head.
“For what?”
“For what you did back at Fisk to get the key to my chains.” I’d said thank you before, but it had been mid-run and prompted by her. I needed her to know my gratefulness was real.
Her cheeks reddened as she nodded. “Of course.”
I gestured to Riven. “And for talking to her about her Drixonian roots.”
“It’s important,” Sybil said. “I told her about Earth too.”
“Tell me too.”
Her head went up. “Tell you about what?”
I settled back and let my eyes fall half-closed. “About Earth.”
* * *
Sybil
My time on Earth felt like a past life. It was so different from my reality that sometimes I wondered if it had been real at all. “Earth,” I murmured.
He remained silent, his eyes no more than purple half-slits as he studied me.
“Humans are… we’re not perfect. We had wars and tragedy. We don’t take care of our planet as best as we could, but then there were so many good things too. My life compared to many was full. I was in college—”
“What’s college?”
“It’s a learning institution for… for when you’re older and know what job you want. You go to a school to learn more about that career.”
“Hmmm,” he said in acknowledgement. “And what job did you want?”
I huffed a laugh to myself and poked at the sand. “Hotel and restaurant management.”
He cocked his head. “What?”
“I wanted to own a hotel which is a place where people pay to spend the night or a food service business.”
“Ah, like a lodging house. You need extra learning for that?”
“Yes, there are a lot of moving parts.”
“Why did you want to do that?”
“Mostly event planning. I wanted to host weddings. Conferences. Galas. That kind of thing.”
He stared at me blankly. “I don’t know what those things are.”
“Celebrations,” I tried to explain. “So, uh, a wedding is a celebration of a mating.”
“Oh?” His eyes were more open now. “What happens at a wedding?” He seemed genuinely interested.
“Well, there is a ceremony where the two people getting married pledge their devotion to each other and exchange rings.”
He glanced at his fingers. “Rings? What do the rings do?”
“They are symbols. And then after is a party with friends and family. There is usually a lot of food and drinking. Dancing.”
“And you wanted to plan these for other people?”
“Yes.”
“Did you want a wedding yourself?”
“Back then I didn’t really dream of my own wedding. And here…? I don’t let myself dream here.”
His eyes closed. “I understand that.”
I shifted closer. “But now.” His eyes popped open. “But now I’m considering having a few dreams for myself. And for Riven.” I smiled. “Maybe you too.”
He didn’t smile, and his expression didn’t change. “Focus on your own dreams.” His tone wasn’t unkind, but his words still stung.
I pursed my lips, undeterred. “You can’t tell me what to do. If I want to have a few dreams for your future, I can do that.”
“You can, but it’s a waste of time.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “I think you’re being stubborn.”
“You said you haven’t let yourself dream on this planet,” his voice deepened, a slight anger creeping into his tone that made me flinch. “Well, I haven’t let myself dream since I was sold here. Since the Uldani took the one dream I had and—” He snapped his jaw shut so suddenly that his teeth clacked together. He lowered his head between his shoulders and sighed heavily. “I’m asking you not to be so interested in me. You have dreams and once I get you to safety, you can fulfill them. You and Riven.”
Now I felt angry, and I couldn’t even pinpoint the reason. Why did I care so much? But as I stared into his purple eyes, I couldn’t help myself. I leaned forward, until our faces were inches apart. A slight flash of panic creased the corner of his eyes before his expression went carefully blank. “Sybil.”
“When a dream dies, you make new ones. I’ll never be planning weddings at the Four Seasons in this galaxy. I won’t be hosting charity galas. But I have other dreams, and I’ll let myself think about them. I’m aware Drixonian warriors have a large martyr complex, but you can’t only live for other people. Think about what example that sets for Riven.”
His eyes narrowed, and he inhaled so deeply his chest nearly brushed mine. His lips stretched to reveal his fangs in a gesture I was sure was meant to be scary. “I don’t have time for idealism when I’m dealing with a hard reality. Some things are irreversible. I have the past to prove it.” His voice shook so very slightly I almost missed it.
The anger I felt bled into sadness. Right, his past. His scars. All he’d been through with Wargo. And who had he mentioned? The Uldani? I reached out, and his gaze darted to my hand as it drew closer. My knuckles brushed his hair a second before his hand shot out and grabbed my wrist. “Don’t,” he said in a tight voice.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered, feeling ashamed. “I didn’t think about what you’ve been through before I talked. I shouldn’t have said what I did.”
His fingers tightened for a brief moment, but he didn’t let go. “Don’t apologize.”
“But—”
“You’re right. I can’t te
ll you what to do.” He swallowed and his gaze dropped to my lips a moment before rising again slowly. His voice softened and thumb rubbed a circle on the inside of my wrist. The touch sent a bolt of heat up my arm. “Since I don’t dream for myself. Go ahead and do it for me.”
He’d never spoken in this soft, longing, reverent tone.
I felt like he was trying to tell me something without saying anything outright. “What should be in this dream?”
And then he smiled. The corners of his mouth lifted, and his lips parted to release a soft puff of air. Captivated by his smile, I couldn’t look away as his eyes creased and the purple irises warmed. “You,” he whispered. “You and Riven.”
I opened my fist and let my fingers gently touch the skin of his forehead. His eyes closed and I leaned in to brush my lips where my fingers had touched. Before he caught me, I drew back. “Consider it done.”
His eyes opened. “Good. Then sleep now. Dream your dreams, Sybil.”
Seven
Zecri
The smell of Gaulz reached us first. Cooked meat and unwashed bodies. The sharp tang of blood. A haze hung in the air around the settlement, coloring the sky to a blue gray. Sybil’s body stiffened in front of me on the buzzer, and her arm tightened around Riven.
I found a small crater to hide the buzzer and slung a pack with supplies around my shoulder. Sybil stood with Riven in front of her, staring at the cracked walls of our destination.
I stepped next to them, wishing more than anything I had more to offer right now. “I’m sorry this is our only option, I—”
“It’s fine,” Sybil said quickly. She shot me a smile over her shoulder, but it was forced. “We’ve been through life with Kilzer. We can survive this. Right, Riv?”
“Yes,” said the chit. She reached for my hand and slipped her warm fingers between mine. Her little face tilted up to mine. “I trust you.” She stepped into the fur pack I’d fashioned.
Sybil pressed a kiss onto the top of her head. “We’ll get you out as soon as we can.”