by Grace, Viola
He shook his head and smiled ruefully. “Yes. The Ekadi have a revisionist view of the universe. I barely fit in it, but they certainly didn’t want to believe in beasts with no names that lived in the stars and planted themselves into worlds until they were ready to return to the stars. Ekadi is a nesting ground, but the creatures give more than they take.”
“I get that. I wonder if the rock that hit Earth had something living in it.”
“It will take a century before it would wake if that were the case. If there is one, it will spend its first years clearing the skies of the dust and debris. After that, it will find a nesting area near its crash site and go dormant again. What would your folk do to it if there was one?”
She didn’t need to ask. “Kill it. They would blame it for the destruction and kill it while it slept. That is if they could get close to it.”
He nodded. “That is my guess as well, and what I was afraid the Ekadi would do. So, when I led them here to this crater, I told them that the creature was mine as well. They didn’t dare go after it in the first few centuries when I was living here, but after I left, they began to grow irritated with the thought of sharing their bounty. Now, they are finally mature enough to understand the symbiosis that they are living in.”
Fiona thought about where humans had been a hundred years earlier, and she could see the difference that the years would make. “Time makes all the difference.”
“It truly does. I am delighted by how quickly you are catching on.”
She smiled at the slight insult and watched their flight path take them along the edge of the rock face. There was no indicator of where the creature was, and the moment that Aarak pulled in his wings and clung to the rock with one hand, swinging her into a slight crack in the wall, she realized they had reached their destination.
She looked up at him and could only see the silhouette of him with the halo of light behind him. “Is this it?”
He laughed and helped her to her feet. “It is narrow, but it is here. Follow the path of warm air.”
She stepped into the darkness, and as she slid her foot forward over and over, she felt the sides of the cavern, and when her eyes adjusted, she could see a light in the darkness.
“Is that it?”
“It is. It glows. It is the originator of some of the radiation that runs through my own veins.”
She looked back at him and could make out his features. The band of tattoos on his upper arm and the one across his chest were glowing, and it seemed that they were pulsing in turn with the light ahead of her.
She turned to face the growing light inside the tunnel, and she whispered. “It pulls the rock in when it sleeps?”
“The radiation melts the rock into a natural-looking formation. Unless you know what you are looking for, you will never find the entrance.”
Fiona stepped toward the light, and when she reached the edge of the path, she gasped. Under her was a creature that was breathing so quietly that only the shifting of its skin gave away its activity. Twisting curves of patterns that looked like burns but went into the hide and not upward covered the exterior edge of the glowing cream-coloured hide.
“Is this the only colour?” She crouched to get a better look.
Aarak crouched next to her. “It will darken and take on the radiating colour of the spectrum. When light touches it, it becomes something much more fantastic.”
“Will we stay until it flies?”
The creature shifted slightly, and Aarak tensed. “I think we don’t have long to wait. Quick. Back the way we came.”
She was on her feet and moving with him at her heels. When she would have spilled out of the cavern, he grabbed her, pulled her in tight, and jumped off the cliff edge.
His wings bellowed wide, and he gained altitude once again.
In the distance, at the edge of the enormous crater, was the city. The locals were working outside of their city limits. Fiona hoped that they were preparing the food.
They had just reached a height that was endangering her oxygen when Aarak whispered, “Look.”
She looked down at the stone ridge where they had just been skulking, and the rock blasted apart in an unceremonious explosion. It was as if the cap had been ripped off the ridge, exposing the creature below.
The two hundred metres of creature stirred and slowly began to lift upward. The flat teardrop shape lifted, and as it rose out of its nest, feathery leaves unfurled around the surface, and it lifted out of the nest and took to the sky.
“Holy hell, why is it coming this way?” Fiona was shocked as the creature came directly toward them.
“It wishes to greet us; hold tight.”
Fiona quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and did as instructed. What followed was an aerial waltz of loops, bows, and twists above the surface of the crater. The huge creature matched them roll for roll. It seemed to know the dance and was comfortable with its size in comparison to the Hmrain.
Fiona was shocked when the dance ended, and Aarak landed on the creature’s back. “What are you doing?”
“It wishes to take you on a ride. It is happy I have found a mate.”
She blinked. “It said all that?”
“In the twists and rolls. It got a look at you and asked me what you were, so I said you were my breeding partner, and it asked if it could show you its territory. I agreed, and here we are.”
Fiona looked around, and to her stunned amazement, she was standing on an alien creature that hibernated every century, holding the hand of another alien that she couldn’t even guess the age of, and being shown a world that was in the early stages of development but still more evolved than her own. It was a very interesting way to spend her day.
Chapter Eleven
The VIP quarters were wide and spacious. Fiona twirled happily through the room while Aarak had a meeting with Hedding.
The food was being spread out for the creature, and it was already beginning to feed.
Fiona replayed the view from above in her head as she sat on the edge of the bed. It had been incredible. She had felt the care and concern that the creature had felt for the land beneath it.
This world was about to bloom, and the creature’s work over the centuries was about to pay off. Caches of the incredibly strong fertilizer were about to activate, and the development of the world was going to go from a walk to a gallop.
The crash site of the Ekadi was also one of the areas on the tour, and their pathetic civilization had been shepherded to this place where they could survive and thrive. Their response was turning into one that she was all too familiar with—if you don’t understand it, kill it.
Food was sitting on a sideboard, so Fiona got to her feet and nibbled at bits of the offerings, waiting for any side effects before continuing on. When she was full, she walked back to the bed and laid down. Her guards were outside the door, and she was safe to simply rest.
As she felt the cool bead against the side of her neck, she smiled. If that little braid weren’t there, her hair would be even wilder than it was. Aarak had surprising domestic skills.
She wondered if he could cook.
* * * *
The attendant retreated after verifying that his lordship’s woman was asleep.
She immediately passed the guards and headed down to the meeting hall where Master Hedding was meeting with Lord Aarak.
She rushed into the room and paused, walking calmly toward the man she dreamed of. “My lord, your companion is asleep. If you desire anything, I am here to serve you.”
He glanced at her with his devastating eyes, “No, thank you. My mate has me satisfied for the first time in my life.”
The maid stumbled. “I heard you could never be sated, my lord.”
“I couldn’t, and for her, I am not. No other women can gain my attention now, for, with her, I need hold nothing back. I can take my fill, and she can take more. Frankly, it is wonderful.”
; The maid blinked.
He smiled kindly, “I appreciate your offer, but if I had need, I would simply have to touch her cheek, and she would roll over to receive me. I have finally found someone I wish to keep at my side. I wish you to find yours.”
He rose to his feet, inclined his head to Hedding, and headed for his temporary quarters and his mate.
He passed the guards that he had assigned to her and entered the room that was only just large enough for comfort.
Fiona was curled up on her side, facing the door, fully dressed with her shoes on. He grinned and walked up to the bed, removed his clothing, and cuddled against her on his side.
She curled against him and pressed her hands to his chest. The smile on her lips warmed his heart as she settled into a deep and restful sleep.
He could have chosen a mate with more exotic features, but he never could have chosen a better one for him. He was lucky that he had made it to the station in time. The thought of her with another one of his kind turned his stomach.
Aarak wrapped his left wing around her and held on tight. He wasn’t risking his treasure.
* * * *
The Ekadi bathrooms were a little odd, but she managed to do what she needed to in the morning. She had a shower and then got into her dress from the day before.
Aarak had woken before dawn to engage in more meetings with the Ekadi. Fiona got dressed and looked out the window where dawn was peeping, and the creature appeared in the light, heading toward the city. As Fiona watched, the creature got closer, the huge fronds undulating as if it was under water instead of breathable atmosphere.
Fiona stood in the window and watched the approach and was stunned as the creature came to a halt with one frond held down to the window while the others kept it aloft.
“You want me to climb that?” She blinked slowly.
The creature didn’t say anything, but it remained in the locked position.
Jumping onto an alien wing six stories above the ground wasn’t something she would have normally done, but she felt a pull in her mind that promised joy and tranquility, and she had to respond.
The first step out of the window was the big one. When she landed on the frond, it curled around her protectively, and she was able to scramble up and onto the back of the creature. The wind tugged at her skirt and hair, but when she managed to get midway into the frond, it folded upward and deposited her on the heavily grooved back of the creature.
It turned and flew away from the city. From down below, Fiona could hear exclamations, and with a final look over her shoulder, she saw her guards in the window of the guestroom, staring helplessly.
Wherever the creature wanted to take her, she was going for the ride. She really wished she had had breakfast.
The creature flew for hours at an astonishing speed. Fiona held on to the grooves of the markings when she needed to, but for the most part, she was able to lie on her back with one hand over her head for stability and watch the sun trying to catch them.
Stars were poking through the lightening sky, and it was amazing to her that she now had confirmation that some of them had people on them. The humans of Earth were no longer alone, and some of them were heading to the stars. It was a heady thought.
She laughed. She was in the stars. It was still so hard for her to understand. She had survived the worst that nature and humanity could manage for her, and now, she was on the upswing across the universe. Well, she supposed it was true. Location, location, location.
The creature began to slow, so she rolled over and looked at their destination. Soft sand had slid down a hill, and an exposed rock glowed green with a soft pulse.
“I think I can see what you wanted me for.” She sat up on the creatures back, and when she saw the stiffened frond, she headed for it.
The dress wasn’t exactly made for climbing, but she made do. When she was on the ground, she made a run for the crystal and scooped the sand away from it, grabbing it with both hands and hauling away.
The rock tingled in a way that told her it probably wasn’t the greatest thing for her to hold onto. Regardless, she worked the rock free of the sand around it, and then, she raised it above her head.
To her surprise, the creature didn’t take it; it turned and offered her two fronds. Catching on, she put the crystal on the left frond, and she clambered up the right. By the time she was on the back, the crystal had been nudged next to her, and she took the hint. This was hers to protect until they got back to wherever she was being taken.
The creature turned and headed back the way they had come. Fiona exhaled in relief and watched as they flew back toward the city.
A dark speck in the sky turned into Aarak, and she was surprised when they crossed each other, and he didn’t make it onto the creature’s back. He stopped, turned, and followed them, growing closer minute by minute.
He was nearly to them when the creature slowed, and he overshot them. They were near the valley, and she reduced her speed until she was barely moving. The hint was there, so Fiona grabbed the crystal and slid down the frond once again. Fiona walked in front of the creature with the crystal; she centred it and then put it in the grass before running out of the way.
During the trip, she had gotten flickers of the idea of what was going on. Aarak flew up to her, grabbed her, and hauled her into his arms while he got away from the creature.
“What did it do?”
“She. She needed help and thought that because I was your mate, I would understand.”
“Did you?”
“More or less. Enough to get the job done. Watch.”
The creature lowered herself over the crystal, and its colours began to change and flash wildly. Fiona clapped her hands in delight. “She did it. She has been trying for centuries, but now, she did it.”
“Did what?”
Fiona leaned on his shoulder as he climbed higher to keep his distance from the creature. “She got pregnant. The next time she rises, there will be two of them, but first, she has to eat.”
He frowned. “I thought she needed food to reproduce.”
“She does, but the crystal is one of her eggs. The images I got were scattered, and I have quite a headache now, but she needed a woman to collect the egg because she wanted a girl. Every time a man finds a crystal, they have touched it, and it turned male, which means that it would fly as soon as it was grown. This world needs more work than that. It needs another keeper, so the child will take this on as a nest and the mother will move on, and they will meet every hundred years.”
She sighed happily and leaned against Aarak. “It is sweet, really.”
“It can be sweet, but we are leaving. She will be fed, her people will leave her alone, and you and I will return in a hundred and three years to meet her daughter.” He kissed her forehead.
“I will be dead by then.”
He snorted. “No, you won’t. You might even have a child of your own to show her.”
“I used to dream about being a mum.” She was dozing from the stress of the day.
“Did you? Well, we can hope.” He pressed another kiss to her forehead, and he flew directly to the area where they had landed their shuttle.
He kept her in his arms in the shuttle, and her guards were giving her dark looks. She sighed and settled in Aarak’s arms, confident in her good deed for the day.
Chapter Twelve
Her first three days on Idel filled her with a question that only Aarak could answer. “Why do they hate me?”
He looked up from his desk and blinked. “What?”
“The Idel. I haven’t met one that is pleasant to me, and I don’t know why. Well, the guards have been pleasant, but then, they are paid to be nice to me.”
He frowned. “I will have a word with Miskaro.”
She winced at the name of his butler. “I am sure that will go swimmingly.”
He leaned back and groaned, stretching his arms up, and she watched hi
s chest as it rose and fell, the muscles flexing.
“Come here, Fiona, and I will tell you of my relationship with the Idel.”
He patted his thighs, and she smirked but walked over and straddled his thighs. She opened his trousers and settled herself over his cock and waited.
“When I first met the Idel, they were young but had potential to be great. I left and returned a few hundred years later, and plague had ripped through the citizens, leaving only a few thousand survivors.”
She felt the stirring under her, and he opened the closure of the top of her dress and pressed his lips to the top of each breast.
She wove her fingers through his hair, and she moved his head to her nipple; he didn’t hesitate to suck strongly at her, running his tongue along her skin before pulling at the other nipple. She shivered and felt the wet invitation that she was issuing against his cock, and his flesh eased into hers, pressing upward until it could go no further.
He lifted his head. “To foster survival, I gave them my blood. It changed them from pale yellow to the soft green and made them my family.”
Her eyes went wide as his cock churned slowly inside her, rubbing all the nerve endings and causing sweat to trickle down her spine.
“So, I am not good enough for you.”
“Something like that. They want me to choose one of them, but I would kill them. I would drain them in moments. Each generation thinks that they are the one for me, and I must decline them all the time.”
She started to rise and fall against the twisting inside her. “So, what have you done to feed yourself, Aarak?”
“I have used my hunger to punish the guilty and dispatch those with a death sentence.”
She would process what he said later, for now, she was focused on the wet slap of bodies striking and the heady feeling of enjoyment as she approached orgasm. His hands gripped her hips, and he started to thrust into her.
She felt her release come and go. He lifted her and laid her back on the desk, pressing into her and pulling nearly all the way out before surging back in. He pounded against her and then held himself tight while he groaned.
