by Eva Brandt
My lovers’ presence helped more than I’d have ever admitted. As we pulled on our respective uniforms, August said, “I’m sure you’ll do wonderfully, Selene. I didn’t get the chance to say this before, but I’m sorry if I didn’t react that well when you first said you wanted to participate.”
“We were worried about you and I admit we still are,” Pollux added, “but you’re an excellent chimera tamer. You can do this.”
I wasn’t sure they believed their own words, but I appreciated their effort to reassure me. “Thanks. I think so too, although, naturally, I won’t be as good as you. Make sure you win.”
“I doubt that’ll happen,” Knox replied. “Some of the competitors are professional soldiers, with years of experience in our star fleets. We’re powerful, but so are they.”
I hadn’t forgotten that part, but the reminder still made me flinch. Brendan obviously noticed, because he rushed to remind me of the most important part of today. “In any case, we don’t need to win, just to qualify. Once we do that, we’ll be home free and further tests will not matter that much, not until you’re older and more experienced, at least.”
That was the most encouraging thing I’d heard in a while, although it might not have been the words themselves that helped, but the person who said them. By the time we made our way to the mess hall, I’d gotten over most of my nerves and felt prepared for the competition.
Granted, I wasn’t unaware of the way everyone was looking at me and the fact that they all expected me to fail. After the bet I’d made with Jared Glass, they even wanted it, so they’d turn me into nothing more than a living glory hole. They wouldn’t get their wish.
No one said anything, too busy focusing on their last minute preparations to worry about me. After breakfast, we were all shuffled into a large shuttle and clustered together in groups with our respective piloting units. I didn’t know any of the students who weren’t tamers, so it was a relief that they kept their distance.
There was a teacher in charge of each individual group. My lovers and I had lucked out and gotten Commander Trevor. “Can you tell us anything about what we can expect, Sir?” Knox asked him.
The teacher shook his head. “I’m afraid not, but I’m confident that you can handle it, Flight Lieutenant Alexander.” He shot me a long look and hesitated. “Ms. Renard, if you find yourself having trouble, please don’t hesitate to withdraw.”
Well, that was ominous.
“You know I can’t do that, Sir,” I replied. “I appreciate the advice, but I have to see this through.”
“Yes, I’m aware of your situation.” Commander Trevor grimaced. “I’m not sure what could’ve possessed you to agree with such a bet, but I can only conclude it must’ve been pride. In any case, the school can intervene and make sure you don’t have to go through with anything that would make you uncomfortable. It would not be appropriate for a former student of Chimera Academy to end up in such circumstances, so even people who don’t like you would want to protect the school.”
“Yes, but that would still involve leaving Chimera Academy, and I’m not willing to do that. I’m going to be a qualified chimera tamer, Sir, and nothing is going to change my mind.”
Commander Trevor looked sad, but unsurprised. “So be it. Maybe you’ll be the one to prove we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss the more unconventional talents of Terran women.”
By unconventional talents, he meant anything that didn’t involve us spreading our legs or sucking cock. I forced down my bitterness, refusing to let the painful words get to me. Commander Trevor didn’t mean to insult me. He was being supportive, in a way. I just had to focus on that part and I’d be fine.
We all settled down together in the shuttle and fell silent. I leaned against one of the tiny windows and watched the terrain fly by. The vessel was moving too fast for me to catch a real glimpse of anything, but still, it was kind of nice.
The tournament would be held on a different part of the asteroid, outside the base itself. The stadium built for this specific purpose was closed the rest of the time and the facilities inside reserved for tournament use only. Since the announcement, the staff of Tartarus Base had prepared everything that was needed here, bringing in extra supplies from Earth to feed the overwhelming number of spectators who were expected to arrive.
When we arrived at our destination and slowed down, I realized the stadium was surrounded with excited fans. They cheered when they spotted us approach.
After having seen the tournament in live transmissions, the view was almost unnerving. But this was part of my life now, and I had to accept it, just like I’d accepted the harassment from the students.
The shuttle landed on one of the landing strips reserved for competitors and staff. There were already a few others ships present, and one of them arrived just as we were descending from our own. Brendan’s breath caught and my other companions went rigid.
“Guys? What’s wrong?”
They didn’t reply, but I got my answer anyway. The walkway of the shuttle lowered and a beautiful woman manifested from inside. Flanked by a group of burly guards armed to the teeth, she walked up to us like she owned the place. The air of authority she emanated wasn’t like anything I’d seen in other people. My mother’s strength had always been quiet and steady, like the earth she healed. My lovers’ power was brighter, angrier, just like Tartarus. This woman was different and that unsettled me.
When she reached us, she bowed so lowly her long blonde hair almost brushed the ground. “Prince Brendan, how are you?” she asked.
“I am well, thank you, Lady Welton. And how have you been? I hope your condition has improved since our last meeting.”
The words were perfectly polite, and yet, I couldn’t help but note a dose of latent hostility. It reminded me a little bit of the way August and Pollux had behaved toward me when I’d first arrived.
It was unkind and selfish, but I was relieved at his reaction. This woman rubbed me the wrong way, and I wanted her gone.
Lady Welton didn’t seem put out by Brendan’s response. “It has, thank you,” she answered with a graceful smile. “I briefly visited Terra and it seemed to help. Terrans might be uncivilized, but they are helpful from time to time.”
Uncivilized? Stupid bitch. If we hadn’t been in public, I’d have done something she’d have regretted far more than I would. But we weren’t, so I couldn’t teach her a lesson the old-fashioned way.
That didn’t mean I’d just let the matter go, not when it was obvious she’d meant the words as a slight to me. “From time to time?” I repeated. “And here I thought Tartarus Base relies on imports from Earth for products that aren’t completely artificial. How silly of me to think that’s important.”
Lady Welton turned toward me and shot me a visibly disgusted look. “I’m sorry? And you are?”
She knew exactly who I was, but I introduced myself anyway. “Selene Renard, tamer of the Grand Chimera Unit. I don’t believe we’ve met.”
“Indeed. I am Lady Penelope Welton, Prince Brendan’s fiancée.”
Her words shouldn’t have hit me as hard as they did. I was well aware of how the rules of succession worked. As a prince of the royal family of Chimera, Brendan automatically had to take a wife. It stood to reason that he was engaged to a woman who suited him far more than I ever could.
Still, it hurt and I would’ve recoiled had August and Pollux not been there to support me and hide my lapse. Pollux wrapped an arm around my waist and kept me from moving, while August shot the woman a smile filled with venom. “Ex-fiancée,” he corrected her. “It’s not appropriate to lie. How unladylike of you.”
“Stay out of this, Flight Lieutenant Cavallero,” she snapped. “It’s none of your business.”
“On the contrary,” Knox drawled, “everything that concerns Brendan is our business. You, on the other hand, shouldn’t have approached him at all.”
It was probably true since her guards were beginning to look uncomfortable.
But Penelope wasn’t willing to give up so easily. She glowered at Knox with such hatred I half-expected her to start emanating tachyons. “Don’t say another word, you, you—”
“Penelope, do you really want to have this conversation here?” Brendan cut her off. “You do yourself no favors.”
Penelope turned toward Brendan once again. “And where would you want us to go? You’ve been ignoring my calls and avoiding me. We had an agreement.”
“No, our families had an agreement. I didn’t think it was a good idea, and contrary to popular belief, I do get a say in who my wife is going to be. Now please. The tournament is about to begin and I don’t have time for your childish nonsense.”
“But Brendan…”
“It’s Prince Brendan to you. I’m sorry, Lady Welton, but I’ll never be more than that.”
“And she is?” Penelope screeched. “This filthy Terran…”
Something rebellious rose up in my chest and I realized I should’ve never felt inadequate compared to her. What did she have that was so special anyway? Good breeding? So what? My mother was the High Priestess of Gaia. And even if that hadn’t been the case, blood wasn’t the only thing that mattered. A person’s worth wasn’t in his or her genetic background. “This filthy Terran is the chosen of the Sphinx,” I shot back. “I’m sure you have a lot of qualities, Lady Welton, but they’re just not what Brendan is looking for. Please understand that and don’t humiliate yourself further.”
Frustrated tears burned at the corner of Penelope’s eyes. She’d have likely said something more, but she didn’t get the chance.
“If you’ll excuse us now, Lady Welton, the tournament is about to begin,” Brendan said. “We have to make the final preparations.”
She pressed her lips together in a thin line, but must’ve realized there was nothing more she could accomplish today. “Yes, of course. Good luck, Prince Brendan. Good luck, Flight Lieutenant Alexander, Flight Lieutenant Donadieu, Flight Lieutenant Cavallero.”
She ignored me, but I’d expected that. How could she not, when I had what she wanted—Brendan’s attention?
Without another word, Brendan turned away and headed toward the entrance to the stadium. As we all followed him into the depths of the building, he let out a disgruntled sigh. “That was unpleasant. What a way to start the tournament. I’m sorry about her, Selene.”
“It’s no problem, Brendan,” I replied. “I’m used to things like that.”
“That doesn’t make it right,” Knox growled. “That bitch just can’t seem to accept reality, no matter how many times you tell her no.”
“I guess it’s my father’s fault for still encouraging it, even when I made it clear I’m not interested.” Brendan grimaced. “I should’ve known this would happen, but I got distracted.”
There was something in his words that bothered me, but I couldn’t force myself to address it. We already had so many secrets hanging between us. For good or ill, Brendan was trying to protect me. Was he trying to protect Penelope too by rejecting her? Had she been in my shoes once, sharing her body with them, only to be rejected?
“Anyway, don’t worry about it, Selene,” August said, snapping me out of my musings. “Right now, you need to focus on the tournament. We’ll deal with Lady Welton and everything else later. Okay?”
I forced myself to nod, hating the doubt that had wormed its way into my heart. It didn’t matter. I wasn’t Penelope Welton. I’d find a way to crack the ice around Brendan’s heart. I’d make them all see that we had something precious and important.
But if I couldn’t do that, if, in the end, they turned me away, I’d never abandon my dignity and beg. First and foremost, I was a chimera tamer. I’d come here prepared for anything. If my future held heartbreak, I’d accept it and move on.
* * *
Brendan
What a mess. I walked through the corridors of the stadium, silently fuming and cursing myself for my stupidity.
I should’ve known my father would interpret my relationship with Selene as a sudden willingness to open myself more toward the female gender. In the past, he’d seemed inclined to believe I was a homosexual, and I hadn’t bothered to explain that wasn’t true. It stood to reason that he’d use this chance to try to shove Penelope at me again.
And now, here we were, before an event that could jeopardize our future, and we were completely off our game. Penelope shouldn’t have made much difference, but she had.
Knox was restless and irritated, and that alone could be a problem. I needed him to remain calm if we were to have any luck in helping Selene today. But I couldn’t blame him for his reaction either, since Penelope was a huge part of the reason why he had so many problems with his family.
And of course, there was Selene herself. She’d faced Penelope’s venom with no hesitation, but Penelope’s words had still hurt. That first moment when Penelope had declared herself my fiancée had been a bad blow. Selene had fallen silent now, and despite all my reassurances, I couldn’t help but think that she didn’t really believe me.
I tried to tell myself it didn’t matter, since our relationship was never meant to last. But over the past week, it had become obvious to me that I was only lying to myself.
“You need to make a real decision, my hatchling,” Typhon hissed in my head. “You might want to protect her, but if you choose the wrong path today, it could blow up in your face.”
“Don’t you think I know that, Typhon?” I snapped back. “But if I follow my heart and keep her by my side, I’ll be putting her at risk. Penelope’s presence proves that.”
“Does it? When did you start fearing your father, Brendan? You never have, in the past. You spat in the face of his threats. It’s not like he’s not dangerous for your other broodmates.”
Yes, but Knox had dug his heels in and had refused to leave my side. And when August and Pollux had shown up, it had been so natural to include them in our relationship. They’d told me they were willing to face my father’s wrath for my sake, and I’d believed them. After all, it wasn’t that easy to find Grand Chimera pilots, so my father couldn’t just remove them. I hadn’t cared that much about tradition. Plenty of families preferred to conceive in laboratories these days anyway, since pregnancies were far too tough on the bodies of our women. I could just put in a request for the eggs of a good woman and that would be that.
But Selene’s appearance changed the whole equation. For the first time, I could see myself sharing a future with a woman. But I still wanted to protect her. She was so much frailer than my other lovers and already the target of a lot of hatred, just because she was Terran. If she stayed… No, I couldn’t put her through that.
“Including her in my mess would be too selfish. We have to get her through this tournament and then make sure she returns to Terra. That’s all.”
Typhon didn’t answer, but I could feel his disapproval through our bond. It was just as well that we didn’t have more time at our disposal to discuss my predicament.
My lovers and I emerged from the depths of the stadium, into the open center of the structure. At one point, the spectators had been allowed inside, and cheers exploded around us when the people saw us appear. Every group came through different gates and we all stopped on individual platforms that floated up once every person had climbed on.
This allowed the viewers to see us better, but it also gave us a better look at our rivals. Selene tensed when she spotted the groups of professional soldiers right in front of us. Clad in the blue and red uniform of The Oceanus Attack Corps, with their eyes shielded by visors, they looked almost as intimidating as our chimeras. Almost, but not quite.
I brushed my fingers over her arm, knowing she needed the reassurance, but also aware I couldn’t provide it too overtly. The brief touch worked and Selene relaxed. Tachyons crackled between us, taunting me with the rightness of the connection between me and Selene. How could I question this, how could I consider sending her away, when the simplest contact with her fe
lt as powerful as the link between me and Typhon?
I shook myself, pushing all my doubts and questions to the back of my mind. Now was not the time to dwell on my complicated romantic life. We had the qualifiers to get through first. That was our priority—to make sure Selene didn’t end up in trouble because of the bet she’d made.
The platforms floated and shifted mid-air, turning upside down. My stomach lurched but I quickly recovered, accustomed to the weirdness after years of piloting the Typhon. It was only something the organizers did for show anyway. The magnetic floor and the tachyon shields kept us from falling, so we were perfectly safe. It would stop in a few seconds.
It didn’t. The platform continued to spin around like a crazed thing, making sharp turns and sudden swirls. Selene began to look alarmingly green, but to her credit, she didn’t move from her spot, nor did she show any other sign of distress.
I clenched my fists in fury, realizing that whoever had arranged the display was doing this on purpose. Out of everyone here, Selene was the most vulnerable to shifts in gravity. Even if she was a chimera tamer, she was new at it and as a Terran, she’d lived in a very stable environment before. She’d had some anti-gravitational training, but she wasn’t prepared for this sort of thing.
So this was how they were going to play it. Fine. If they wanted to push us, we’d push back.
August must’ve agreed with me, because he pressed his foot down a little harder. The minor indent he created in the floor wasn’t visible to the naked eye, but it made all the difference in the world. The platform steadied and slowly stopped, now floating above the ground in a stationary position.
Out of all of us, August was the most proficient at tachyon absorption and manipulation. While Knox was the most destructive, August was subtler with his talents. In the Charybdis, he could create miniature black holes. By himself, he could absorb and control most technology we used.
