The Daughters of Persephone, A Space Opera Special Edition

by Julia Barrett

  Kyr glanced at Aja’s face and saw her smile despite her closed eyes. “Who is not sure if you’re alive or dead, Aja?” he asked.

  “Both the Resistance and the Coalition. The Resistance Governing Body and the Junta present dangers to us. It would be a mistake to let anyone know where I am. If my mother is alive, she will know. But she’ll hold her peace.”

  “But how does your mother...? This is all a bit much for me.” Davi shook his head. “If your mother can sense you’re alive, why can’t you sense whether or not she’s alive?”

  “If she still lives, she’s shielded herself and my sisters and my brothers. I’ve dropped my shields so she will know. She won’t know where I am, but she’ll know I’m alive.”

  “But if no one else can sense her, why? Why shield from you? I don’t understand.” Davi shook his head.

  “Because there is one other who is bonded to her through the Blood and if she’s not careful, he will find her and he will destroy her and the rest of my family.”

  Kyr was coming to understand more about the bond with every passing hour. His link with Aja grew stronger each time they shared the Blood. “Who is it?”

  “A man who must die, my true father. My father of the Blood, General Bom.”

  Kyr turned and stared, speechless.

  Davi whistled. “The head of the Junta? He’s your father?”

  “Yes. The man who broke his own law and ordered the virus produced. He, himself, is a descendant of the Blood.”

  Davi let out a groan of dismay.

  “But why?” Kry attempted to wrap his mind around the idea of a man who would murder his own child. “Why would he want his daughter dead?”

  “Because he believes me to be the Abomination, but he also fears I am not.”

  “I don’t understand.” Kyr made a slight adjustment in their heading. “What of your father, The Empress’s Consort? He risked his life to protect the Empress during the coup.”

  “I call Dua N’ib father,” Aja said, opening her eyes. “He is the only father I’ve ever known and I love him. He is my mother’s chosen, her true mate. But she cannot give him daughters, only sons. The Blood is passed from mother to daughter. Therefore, my mother had to seek out a man of the Blood. The Blood is an autosomal recessive genetic trait.”

  Kyr and Davi exchanged glances.

  “I’m sorry,” Aja said. “This isn’t something those who are Blooded usually discuss. Both parents must carry the gene to transmit it to their children. Only descendants of the Blood carry the gene, but the power is passed to female offspring. Therefore, in order to bear female children, my mother had to mate with a man of the Blood.”

  “Your brothers are not like you?” Kyr asked.

  “My brothers are of the Blood, yes, and they are stronger and faster and more intuitive than the average man, but no, they are not like me.”

  “And your sisters?”

  “We all have ability, but we’re careful not to speak of it. There is almost always someone listening and we shield our thoughts.”

  “But why...?” Kyr hesitated before asking his next question. He took a deep breath. “Why would your mother mate with General Bom, knowing what he was, knowing the monster he would become?”

  “It was not pre-ordained that he would become such a monster.” Aja’s voice was quiet, almost gentle. “Remember, the future is never set in stone. Ika Bom chose one path from the many that lay before him. The Empress, my mother, had sex with him and shared her blood with him so that I would be born. Apparently she anticipated a need for one like me.”

  “This is giving me a headache,” said Kyr, rubbing his temples.

  Aja grinned at him. “Ah, my love, now you are beginning to see my problem.”

  Book I: Exile

  The ship drifted, dark and silent, as the men held position behind the first moon. The hauler had flashed to its destination several turns before. Kyr and Davi remained alert, scanning for any sign of a Coalition destroyer.

  Still in a trance-like state, Aja hadn’t moved since they’d powered down.

  Kyr watched the irregular rise and fall of her chest, his anxiety for her increasing. Despite the chill of the ship, she was drenched in sweat. Her clothing clung to her. Her skin seemed even more pale than usual in the dim glow of the emergency bulbs.

  He hadn’t witnessed this before, this searching for a path, for a future. He’d only seen the aftermath. To watch this made his heart pound. Wherever it was she went on this inner journey, he couldn’t go with her. Whatever she did, she did alone.

  Davi fidgeted in the chair next to him. He kept the scanner on low, watching and listening for any radio broadcast. So far it seemed they’d gone undetected. Kyr could read his friend well and he knew Aja’s trance-like state, in addition to everything else she’d told them, made Davi ill at ease.

  Kyr leaned over the console, kept his voice low. “She’ll be all right. She’s done this before. It’s how she found our way off the planet.”

  Davi shook his head. “Maybe so, but watching her makes me want to jump out of my skin. Is it magic? Is she touched by the Gods? I thought this was nothing more than myth.”

  “I did as well, until I saw her fight her way out of the laboratory. She fights like a trained Aric Assassin. I’d heard the stories of Women of the Blood from my grandmother, but until I saw it with my own eyes, I’d never believed them.”

  “So you believe all of them? You believe they’re true?”

  “Yes. I believe they’re true.”

  Davi was silent for a few moments. “Then she could be used as a terrible weapon by either side.”

  “Yes.”

  “So what do we do? Do we take her to the Resistance? Gods forbid; we can’t let her fall into Coalition hands.”

  “For now, we wait. When she comes out of this, she’ll guide us. I think we’ll need to stay on the margins for a bit, in order to keep her safe. If you prefer, I’ll find you secure transport at the first opportunity with twice your share of the coin. I won’t leave her, but I won’t ask you to take this risk with me.”

  Davi searched Kyr’s face. “You’ve had her blood, haven’t you?”

  Kyr didn’t answer.

  “So that part’s true too, then?”

  “Yes.” Kyr could almost read his friend’s mind as he pondered his options.

  Davi turned the scanner even lower. “I’ll stay with you for now. You need a second in command. But if we discover it’s easier to hide two rather than three, then I’ll make my way back to Kesa and the men. They won’t wait forever, Kyr. They’ll grow restless after a piece.”

  “I know. They’ll wait a moon, maybe two, no more. They’ll begin to scatter for their own safety.”

  “And everything we’ve built over the years?”

  Kyr glanced at Aja. “If it’s there, it’s there. If not, well, we knew the risks when we began.”

  “What if they come after you? Not just the Coalition, the Resistance. They’ve paid half the coin for her safe return and they’ll want her. They expect our loyalty.”

  “Unless they think we’ve failed and they believe her dead. I don’t have any answers for you yet, Davi. Let’s wait and hear what Aja has to say.”

  “What about this father of the Blood, General Bom? I’m not certain I want to know anything more about that.”

  “She won’t ask you to be involved, Davi. Of that much, I’m sure.”

  “It’s all right, Mr. Fedd.” The men turned abruptly at the sound of Aja’s voice. “You won’t come to any harm.” Aja’s smile was weak. “You have a woman and three children in your future. My path will not interfere with yours.”

  Davi’s mouth dropped open.

  Kyr rose from his seat to kneel beside Aja. He laid his hands over hers. Her skin felt cold and clammy to his touch.

  “Aja...?”

  “Do you know a place called Eir-Edan?”

  “Yes, but it’s a dangerous place. Not a fit place for you. The planet is lawles
s.”

  A corner of Aja’s mouth turned up. “Lawless or not, that’s where we will go. There is a woman there who’ll hide me and she can complete my training. Kyr, I don’t have the control I need. I must go there. I’ve seen it. Once we find her, you will leave me with her and return to your men. They should leave Kesa. General Bom will be looking for them. Take your men to your brother. He can protect you.”

  “My brother?”

  “Karna. He is your brother, is he not?”

  “Yes, but Aja, I won’t leave you there. I won’t leave you on Eir-Edan.”

  Aja lifted her hands and placed them on either side of Kyr’s face. “Blood of my Blood, you have no say in the matter. Eir-Edan is where I must go. I’ve seen it.”

  “I don’t care what you’ve seen.” Kyr hauled Aja to her feet and shook her. “I’m not leaving you on that bloody, murderous, muck-eating rock.”

  Tears filled Aja’s eyes. They spilled onto her dark lashes and she trembled in his grip. “Then you will die and I will die by your side. I’ve seen it. This is the only way for both of us. The only way we have a chance of reuniting.”

  “How soon do we have to leave?”

  “We have time. She will wait for me, whether it is two weeks or two moons. She will be waiting for me.”

  Kyr sensed that Aja was near to collapse. He swung her into his arms. “Mr. Fedd, how much fuel do we have?”

  “Enough.”

  “Jump toward the edge, in the general direction of Eir-Edan. Follow our smuggling routes. For the Gods sake, take your sweet time. Call me if you see anything, anything at all.”

  “Aye, aye, Captain.”

  Aja cradled in his arms, Kyr strode from the cockpit.

  Book I: Exile

  “Feeling better?”

  Aja leaned back in the narrow tub, sighing with pleasure. Kyr shampooed her long hair, working out the tangles, cleansing her of dust and sweat and the last vestiges of the medicinal stench of the laboratory.

  Kyr had pulled the tub out of a cabinet and filled it with water he’d heated in the galley. Aja was very grateful. She hadn’t been able to bathe properly in a week.

  “Shall I take that sound as a yes?”

  “Oh, very much yes. It’s heavenly. Truly, your hands on any part of me feel heavenly. And it’s lovely to be clean, oh so lovely.” Aja sighed again and closed her eyes.

  “It’s exhausting, isn’t it?”

  “Hmmm…?”

  “Finding your way through the future, seeking a path through the present? It must be exhausting.”

  “Yes and no.” Aja’s chose her words with care. “Weaving my way at sublight speed through an asteroid field is exhilarating, not exhausting.” She opened her eyes and smiled up at him. “My flight instructors couldn’t stomach it, the way my sisters and I can fly our two-seaters. But when one can see what’s around the next rock without the use of sensors and with one’s eyes closed there’s nothing to be afraid of. I’m lucky, you know. My mother and my sisters and I are the only women in the entire empire allowed to pilot.”

  Aja’s eyelids grew heavy again as Kyr used his strong fingers to massage her scalp.

  “I love the feel of speed,” she murmured. “I love the g-forces pressing my body back into the seat. I love the power and the responsiveness of my little ship. She’s specially built for me, made to turn on a dime. My sisters and I grew up playing hide and seek among the rocks.”

  “Did you?” Kyr’s deep voice soothed her.

  “Yes. It was fun, and it was good training. Our instructors thought we were merely playing games, and we were, but the games helped hone our reflexes, decrease our response time and increase our confidence.” Aja chuckled. “And they caused Lieutenant Sharra to bite his nails down to the quick.”

  “Who is Lieutenant Sharra?” Kyr’s hands rubbed the back of her neck.

  “He was my personal guard, assigned by the Council.” Her body stiffened and she willed herself to relax. “My captors murdered him when they took me. He fought with courage, but it was eight against two. Between us, we killed five of them and wounded another, but Mr. Sharra had taken too many sword cuts and he was bleeding out. I couldn’t get to him in time. The two surviving kidnappers drugged me and I knew nothing more until I woke up tied to the table where you found me.”

  “I’m sorry.” Kyr’s hands moved to her shoulders.

  “Thank you. I’m sorry for his family. He may have been Coalition, but he was a brave and honorable man and he treated me well. He took his responsibility to protect me very seriously. He gave his life for mine.”

  Silence descended as Kyr’s hands worked their way down her back. Aja leaned forward slightly so he could reach the muscles along her flanks. She knew he wanted to distract her, to give her space and time away from their predicament. For the moment, beneath his kneading fingers, he was succeeding.

  “Shall I help you to my bunk?” His mouth was against her wet hair.

  “Depends upon whether or not you intend to join me.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of leaving you alone, at least not until I’ve put you to sleep.”

  Delighted, Aja laughed. “I’m a very light sleeper. Might take me a piece to drift off.”

  “I’m counting on that, love.”

  Two turns later, Kyr relieved Davi in the cockpit. “Catch anything on the scanners or the com?”

  “Nothing. All’s quiet. But I’m a little concerned about the skin. She burned a bit on liftoff. May have to set her down at a repair depot and do a complete skin job on that damaged section.”

  “How long you think she’ll hold?” Kyr asked.

  “Two weeks. Figured about the time it’d take us to get home.”

  “So you’re suggesting that either we drop Aja on Eir-Edan and then get our girl repaired, or we need to find a repair depot that won’t turn us in if warnings have already been issued.”

  “Yes.”

  Kyr took some readings. “Jerr’s station isn’t too far off, no more than week or so. I’m speculating we can depend on him to keep his quiet.”

  “Can we keep Aja out of sight?” Davi asked. “Maybe stow her in one of the smuggling compartments?”

  “For three or four days? It’d be damn hard on her.”

  “You have a better suggestion? You and I can pass. Jerr will assume we’ve been on a run and he won’t ask any questions, especially if we pay him in coin instead of trade. But finding a woman with us, a woman who looks like this one? He’ll wonder a bit. All it takes is a bit and we’re scouted.

  Kyr sat back in his chair. “Anything on the com channels at all about the Royal Family?”

  Davi shook his head.

  “That’s a good sign. Then the Coalition doesn’t want anyone to know what they tried and failed to do. The Resistance is laying low. If our forces are hosting some guests, I suspect they’ll keep them bottled up tight. They won’t let any news slip out, other than the usual bluster and propaganda. I think we’ll be safe at Jerr’s, at least for a few days. You’re right about one thing, Aja will stand out. But I don’t think I can squeeze her into a compartment. We designed them for cargo, not humans. I can confine her to my quarters. And I’ll make sure I stay onboard. You can follow your usual pattern,” Kyr said with a wink.

  “What about Dina?” Davi grinned. “She’ll be wondering why you don’t pay her a call, or two, or three.”

  Kyr laughed. “Watch yourself, Fedd, or you won’t be fathering those children.”

  Davi’s grin faded. “What about that? She can see these things? You believe her?”

  “Yes, I do. I can’t explain it. I don’t understand it. But I believe her. I believe in her.”

  “Like a God, you mean? Like she’s one of the Gods?”

  “No. She’s not a god, and don’t ever say that to her. She’s a woman, a special woman, but a woman nonetheless.”

  “Then, you mean to say she’s been gifted by the Gods?”

  Kyr rubbed his chin. “If you ask, I su
spect she’ll tell you it’s more of a curse.”

  “If she can see these things ahead of time, though, if she knows these things... Well, the Resistance... You understand what I’m getting at?”

  “I do. That’s what I hope to protect her from.”

  “Protect her from the Resistance?”

  “Yes, even from the Resistance. Both sides could use her for their own ends and not everyone is, well, let’s just say not everyone can resist such power. Aja fights against it herself.”

  “What about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “How do you figure into this? Pardon me, Captain, but what do you mean to her?”

  Kyr didn’t know how to explain himself or if he even cared to. He said, “Aja is a woman. I’m a man. Go on.” He dismissed Davi. “Grab something to eat and get some sleep. I’ll fly my bird safe.”

  Davi pushed himself out of his seat. “Well,” he laid his hand on Kyr’s shoulder. “Obviously I don’t know Aja like you do, but I gave you my trust when we were six suns. I’m not about to take it back now.”

  Kyr nodded at his second. His eyes followed Davi as he headed down the companionway. He’d need to stow Davi someplace safe, too. He didn’t want his friend in danger because his own destiny had taken a sudden turn.

  Eyes closed, Aja rose from Kyr’s bunk. She grabbed the clean garments Kyr had thrown over a stool as she walked by them. She stepped into the trousers and mechanically rolled the waistband to keep them up. She threw open the door to the cabin, tugged the sweater over her head as she strode down the companionway.

  “Mr. Fedd,” she called out as she passed his cabin. “Strap in.”

  Eyes still closed, no hesitation in her step, Aja entered the cockpit. She sat down in the co-pilot’s seat and wrapped the harness around her, locking it into place. She punched off the auto-nav.

  Kyr shouted, “What that hells are you doing?”

  “They’re on us,” Aja said. “We drop out and we move. Strap in.”

  “Aja...”

  “Kyr, strap in. I’m dropping us out of flash.”