by Nia Mars
I never get to say the words.
The most exotic woman I’ve ever seen is running towards him; sparkling crystal eyes, silky silver hair cascading down her shoulders. She wears a silver uniform that matches Tiam’s, and she fills out that uniform with curves I don’t dream of having in a million years.
“Tiam!” Her voice is low and breathy as she launches herself into his arms, her long legs wrapping around his waist, her perfect lips aiming straight for his. She kisses him like they have kissed a million times before. No awkwardness. Which way they each turn their heads was worked out long ago. They know just where to touch, how they fit.
They’re the ones with their lips sealed, but I’m the one who can’t draw enough air.
The woman’s hands are in Tiam’s hair. “Stars, I’ve missed you in my bed.” She laughs a laugh of pure joy and thrill. “I love you way too much, you know that?”
I back away. Back around the corner. Past the guards with the impassive expressions of men who’d seen nothing. I back through the garden door, until I’m outside, in my sanctuary.
Except, I can no longer smell the green, or the flowers. It’s as if I’ve lost my senses.
I certainly feel as if I’d lost...something.
My chest hurts so much, I think my sternum is cracking. My feet, on the other hand, are numb. I can’t feel my toes. I have no idea how I’m even walking. I feel as if I’d been in a tunnel collapse back at Dallas Colony.
Chapter Twelve
I STAND IN THE GARDEN, about three steps from the closed door in front of me, and struggle to think.
God, I’m stupid.
How did this never occur to me? Of course, men as amazing as The Five have women in their lives. Of course, they have lovers. Loves. As in, they love other women, but will bond with me for the sake of tradition and peace.
I shake my head to shake off that thought, but then a new one hits me. Is this where Koah is? Spending time with his love before he has to commit to me? Is this why he can’t be reached? Is this why the others seem so unconcerned? Do they all know? Maybe he never really went to Earth to drive off pirates. Or maybe he fully intends to, but after he spends some time with his girlfriend first.
My chest hurts. I turn and walk blindly ahead, farther into the green.
I’m not even sure what I thought about how our ‘bonding’ would work, but I know I opened myself to the possibility, to trying. I opened myself to these men.
I have feelings for Koah. I have feelings for Tiam. I care about Dason, even if not in the same way that I care about the other two.
Does Dason have a girlfriend?
Of course, he does. Look at the guy. He’s gorgeous. He probably has a woman his age who’s crazy about him.
Roax too, I bet. That’s why he hasn’t shown up yet.
And what about Uthan who is MIA half the time?
I kick at the air. I feel like an idiot for not having figured this out before. And then I feel twice as big of an idiot for being this upset. They are expected to share. Why am I torn apart by the thought that I will also have to share them?
Because, here is the thing: I can’t.
Since that’s a pretty big truth to fall on me, I examine it closely. Can’t I? I mean, could I share? Could I be that noble, that understanding? For the common cause?
No.
That’s the whole, selfish truth of it.
No way could I kiss Tiam one moment, then watch him kiss Captain Garet the next. It would kill me. Everything inside me screams that the thought of him with that woman is all wrong, unacceptable.
And if I have to share?
All this, the whole Oath Forger concept was weird even before today, but now it’s gone over some line, past what I can handle. As I run by the water, I rip off my comm unit and throw it in. I cut through the garden, following winding path after winding path until I find another door.
This door opens to some kind of utility room. There’s nobody in there. I scan the metal implements that line the walls. I’m pretty sure they’re gardening tools. I collapse onto the floor in the corner. I just need a little time alone. I can’t face Tiam right now. Not Tiam, who went from kissing me straight to kissing his Captain Garet.
Maybe by now, they’re doing more than kissing. Maybe they’re making up for the fact that Tiam spent last night in my bed.
The thought is like a laser ray to my heart. I gasp from the pain. I can’t cope with the idea of Tiam returning to the garden, of me having to pretend not to have seen what I saw. Because I can’t bring it up, can I? I have no right to complain, to protest. He, after all, has to share me with four others. And I haven’t even fully accepted him yet, certainly not into my body. I’ve decided not to accept them in that way, for the time being, in fact.
So what had I expected? Blue balls forever and ever?
Only until the real Oath Forger comes, I try to tell myself. Except, that could be years. Had I really thought I could string them along that long?
I’m so desperate for peace, so stirred up and confused by these men, by my new circumstances, by this strange world, that I haven’t been thinking straight.
I just need somewhere to hide until I can settle my emotions and my brain. Until I can figure out what to do next.
Before I can do any of that, a rumble sounds in the wall, and then metal doors swoosh open. An elevator. I tense, but instead of palace guards, four small trees exit the elevator, each carried forward on an electronic pallet. The pallets roll on small wheels and carry the trees to the far wall, then deposit them. Then the empty pallets trundle back into the elevator again.
“Delivery,” I say to the room, because, okay, this is weird.
When the next batch comes and gets deposited, I hurry over to the elevator. I lift my foot to step on one of the empty pallets, but then catch myself at the last second and step between them instead. I bet they’re weight-sensitive. Having weight on one would indicate that the tree had not been dropped off successfully. It might send an error message to someone somewhere.
The elevator door closes. The control panel is a bunch of symbols I don’t understand. I have learned my lesson with pushing unknown buttons, so I don’t. And I don’t need to. The elevator moves on its own. Up.
I don’t even care where I’m going, as long as it’s out of the garden, somewhere Tiam can’t find me until I get a chance to gather my thoughts.
The elevator doors open on the roof, at a loading pad. One of those bus-size pods is sitting on a flat landing area. Nobody comes to ask me what I’m doing up top. I can’t see anybody here at all. The delivery pod is unmanned, full of trees. I wait until they’re all off-loaded, then I step into the pod with the last of the empty pallets.
I have a better chance of being undiscovered for a few hours outside the palace than inside the palace. I expect I’ll end up in some kind of a plant store somewhere in the city. I’ll walk around until I’m ready to come back. I’m sure the store will call the palace for me, if I ask.
Maybe to the real Oath Forger this would seem risky and even stupid, but I’ve been a scavenger on Earth. I’m used to being on my own in a place a lot more dangerous than Merim. And I’m curious, all right? I’m in an alien world, but I’ve barely seen any of it so far.
I see the guards only when the door is about to close—two men with their backs to me. We had the air vents between us before, but the sun has moved, and they stepped to the left to stay in the shade.
Don’t turn around. Don’t turn around.
They are talking. They probably checked out the delivery pod when it arrived. They’re obviously not paying it any further attention.
I’m right by the door, can’t get farther in. I don’t dare step on a pallet. I hold my breath until the door rolls down. Then I grab onto a hook on the wall for balance. A good thing, because, swoosh, the pod is off the next second.
I take a deep breath. I’m free.
Only then does it occur to me that Uthan said the palace garden wa
s made of plants that represented all five territories. That means that some, if not most, come from off planet. What if the pod is going to the Port of Merim instead of to a store?
My heart races as new possibilities open up.
Could I sneak onto a transport ship?
Should I?
What I’ve been doing here, pretending to be the Oath Forger, is selfish. I’ve had the right motivation, saving my planet from pirates, but I’m messing with people’s lives here. The Five—well, the four of them I’ve met—have been good to me. They deserve more than my lies.
What if my pretense screws up their bonding with the real Oath Forger when she comes?
But if I left Merim now... If I could get back to the Zebet, their congressional hearing, I could testify about pirates on Earth. I could ask for the Zebet’s help. Clearly, pirate attacks on the Frontier is an issue that’s being given serious political attention at the moment. I should be able to help Earth somehow without messing with the kreks.
Except, leaving them doesn’t seem right either. Not without a word. The right thing to do would be to tell them the truth face-to-face, then deal with the consequences.
So... Take a couple of hours to figure out how exactly I’m going to tell the kreks that I’ve been faking it all this time, then figure out how I could help Earth without being the Oath Forger, then figure out how to get back home.
That’s a lot of figuring. I’m going to need a quiet corner to think. I’m not returning to the palace without a solid plan. But once I have that, it’s confession time.
In the meanwhile, I need to be as inconspicuous as I can be. A pair of green gardener’s overalls hangs on a peg farther in. The perfect disguise. I stretch until I reach it, then I nearly fall over as I try to balance on one leg in the small space, putting it on, but I manage to change in the end.
As the pod lands, my stomach is a ball of tension.
When the door rolls up, the first thing I see is a large cargo ship straight ahead. The cargo hold opens to row after row of potted trees. The empty pallets next to me power up, then march out to grab another load.
Okay, I can hang out here for a couple of hours. No problem. As long as I find some shade. The day is definitely growing hotter.
A windowless building sits on my left, built of some indeterminable gray material that’s dull and smooth enough to remind me of plastic. The tail of a Federation Agency ship is sticking out from behind the building. On my right, other cargo ships are in the process of being either loaded or unloaded. I can see at least a hundred, and I think there are more behind them. The Cargo Port of Merim.
I don’t see a single other person, just pallets obeying their programs. My gaze returns to the Federation Agency ship.
I’d do best to avoid any agents. It shouldn’t be difficult. I doubt that they’re here to look for me. I doubt my absence has even been discovered at the palace. Tiam is probably still with his woman. A bitter taste rises in my throat. I swallow it down and step forward, looking out for the agents that belong with the ship.
Then I do spot two agents escorting a woman from the building on my left, and I jump back into my pod. Definitely Federation agents. I recognize their golden insignia from when I was rescued. The agents who saved me from the space pirates all had the same gold/red insignia on their uniforms. Since then, I’ve learned what the wiggly symbol stands for. It’s a letter-word that means ‘protection.’
The agents I’m watching now are heading toward their ship with the woman. Since they have their backs to me, I keep watching instead of trying to hide. She’s slim and moves like someone young.
I know better than to interpret her silver hair—up in a tight bun—as a sign of age. It’s just another hair color around here, about as common as redheads on Earth.
She’s too tense, the men are too watchful. The longer I watch, the more sure I am that she’s not going with them of her own will.
She confirms my suspicions when she darts forward and breaks into a sprint. Almost immediately, she stumbles. And that’s the only advantage the agents need.
They grab her by the arms and yank her to her feet. Her hair has come undone, tumbling down her back. As she struggles, I see her tear-soaked face for the first time.
My heart slams against my ribs. Olipha!
What is Tiam’s sister doing here? And why are Federation Agents arresting her? I reach for my comm unit to call Tiam but, of course, my collar is empty. Crap.
I’m the first to admit that I barely know anything on Earth, and here, in Merim, I truly know nothing. But I still know that there’s something wrong with the scene I’m witnessing.
Olipha is the sister of a krek.
She is supposed to be in school.
Instead, I’m pretty sure she’s about to be transported off planet. From the cargo port.
So nobody would see her abduction?
The men disappear behind the building with Olipha. There could be another dozen agents back there by the ship, out of my line of sight. I run forward anyway.
When I reach the corner of the building, I peek around it. I can’t see anyone. Other than the Federation ship, I don’t see where else they could have gone.
“Please stand back for your safety,” a disembodied voice says from a hidden speaker somewhere near me, and I nearly jump out of my skin.
Then, a few feet to my left, a door slides up in the wall. Pallets roll out, stacked with boxes, heading toward the Federation ship.
The see-through boxes are about three feet wide and three feet deep, about as tall as I am, packed with what I think is packaged food for the vending machines. With my heart still pounding like mad, I try to guess how much they weigh. Could I pick one off and jump in its place?
In the end, I don’t dare risk it. Instead, I walk between pallets, and right through the loading hatch.
Half a dozen more pallets roll in behind me, deposit their loads, then leave. The hatch seals.
Crap. Okay. I guess I’m fully committed.
I look around in the storage room that’s lit only by a row of dim emergency lights that line the ceiling. Supplies are piled everywhere. There’s a pool of liquid on the floor. One of the boxes must be leaking.
I inch around the stack to see the source of the dark fluid.
Stop.
Stare.
Blink.
Oh. I try to catch my breath. The liquid on the floor is not soup. I know this, because it’s leaking from a body.
I inch forward again, until I can see all of the man who’s lying between two stacks, his body limp. Nobody can lose this much blood and live. But even as I think that, his eyes flutter open and slowly focus on me.
“Help.” His voice is so weak, I can barely hear him.
I’m on my knees next to him already. “What happened? Who are you?”
He’s wearing a familiar purple robe, the kind I saw in the Zebet when I met Krek Koah. The man at my feet doesn’t respond, but if the Zebet is the Federation’s congress, then this guy is one of the congressmen.
“Hang on.”
I finally see the bullet hole in his chest and press my hand against it, too late. The guy’s eyes roll back in his head as he gasps his last breath.
“Don’t die on me, dammit. Hey!”
But he’s gone, and there’s nothing I can do to bring him back. Mouth-to-mouth is no use, not unless I can also put all his blood back inside him.
I squeeze my eyes shut for a second, rocked by shock and defeat. This is so not what I had in mind when I left the palace.
I breathe. Okay, don’t shut down. Figure out what to do next.
What did Tiam say about the members of the Zebet? Right. They keep mysteriously dying. Three so far. I open my eyes.
I’m looking at number four.
Nothing mysterious about this one’s death. That bullet hole is unmistakable. And, now that I’m looking at him from closer, I see that his hands are behind his back, in an unnatural pose, as if they are tied there.
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My gaze snaps to his collar. No comm unit. Whoever shot him probably took his comm unit so the body couldn’t be tracked through a locator. My heart drums hard, then harder. I have no way to call for help.
And while I’m on a Federation ship, I’m pretty sure that the ship is not under Federation control at the moment. I think I just found the way some of the pirate lords sneak their treasure into Merim. And I think I also just discovered who is killing the congressmen.
My stomach twists at the thought of Olipha, blind, at the mercy of killers.
I’m going to find her, and then we’re going to save ourselves. We are not dying on this damn ship.
When you see a sandstorm coming, you don’t stop and stare in panic. You come up with a plan, use what you have, and fight like hell to survive.
“I’m sorry I came too late,” I tell the dead man, and clean my hands on his robe, leaving my bloody handprints on his shoulder. I close his eyes before I leave him.
I search the storage room as fast as I can without making too much noise, careful not to slip on the blood. After I resign myself to the fact that there’s nothing in here I can use for a weapon, I focus on the two doors. One is the loading hatch I’ve come through, while the other must lead to the rest of the spaceship. Neither door opens automatically when I near. I have no idea how to operate the control panels.
Best case scenario would be to get myself and Olipha off the ship before it leaves the planet. Even if we end up in a fight with the kidnappers on the tarmac—outnumbered—we have a better chance of attracting attention and getting help here than in deep space or at a pirate colony.
I have no idea how much time I have left before liftoff. I search for a tool I might be able to use to pry the door open, but see nothing. Voices on the other side of the connecting door make me freeze. Two men are talking. Then a sharp clap.
“Was that a gun?” I ask the dead man, whispering, but of course, he doesn’t respond.
I hold my breath. The men on the other side of the door are talking again, shouting really, but I can’t make out the words, not even when I press my ear to the door. They’re not using CFL, the Common Federation Language. I take that as a confirmation of my pirate theory.
