“You’ve been walking around here distant and scared all this time because your friend has provided a safe haven for you and your children? Forgive me, but I don’t understand.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that. I’m scared that when she gets to know me again, she won’t like who I’ve become and…”
“And she will ask you to leave?”
Oh God, yes.
Tears spilled over her eyes. She dropped her face to her hand, shielding herself. She was an emotional mess.
He pulled her off the bench and gathered her on his lap, embracing her. “You’ve talked to Eva. What would give you that idea?”
She buried her face in his chest, letting the tears flow. “We don’t talk. She asks me questions. I answer and then there’s nothing else to say. It’s…it’s…forced. She has nothing to say to me and I’m too afraid of saying the wrong thing to her.”
“She’s your friend. I’m sure you can tell her everything,” he said, trying to comfort her.
“Remember when I killed Sagnior?”
He humphed. “Vividly. I’ve never had that many pieces of brain matter on me before.”
“I wasn’t a cold-blooded killer when we separated. She was the killer. I was just her somewhat competent sidekick.”
“You’ve been through a lot. You had your reasons for killing him. I didn’t question them and neither will Eva.”
She tried to ease off his lap but he held her tighter. “Stay here. You’ve never let me hold you like this. It’s…enjoyable.”
She really didn’t want to leave his embrace. It felt right. Comforting. Still… “I’m not weak.”
“I would never suggest such a thing. To do so would probably get me killed.”
“I wouldn’t kill you.” She snuggled into him. “Maim, but not kill.”
He chuckled. “At least I’ll get to keep my life.”
“How has Eva’s life been?” Ally had wrestled with that question for what seemed like hours. She gave him a quick glance. “She looks happy.”
“That’s because she is,” he said with a nod. “But I’m sure seeing you alive and well made her happier. She looked for you for a very long time.”
I stopped looking for her ages ago.
She brought her fingernails to her mouth, but with the first nibble and the pain that it caused, she dropped them.
“At first, whenever I heard about new females arriving at the brothels, whichever one I happened to be in at the time, I would run and greet them.” She stared down at her fingers, thinking back on those times. “I’d hoped that she would be one of them. That’s wrong, I know, but I wanted her. I didn’t want to be alone anymore.”
“I don’t think it’s so wrong to want your best friend with you.”
“But I was in a brothel. And I was wishing she would join me. I didn’t once consider that she could be somewhere and…happy.”
He gave her arm a light squeeze. “When Taio found her at the slave auction, she was in bad shape.”
“I know, remember? I was there that day. She was trying to get back to me but couldn’t.”
“I’m sorry that you weren’t saved as well,” he said, his voice filled with compassion.
She shrugged. “Eva was out stone-cold and the alien who took her—your brother— didn’t know about me.”
“Taio thought she was a child, one he had to protect.”
Ally chuckled, letting the somberness of her mood dissipate. “She’s petite, but not that small.”
Kiehle smirked. “From our viewpoint, she is considered very small.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “He thought to take her to his home and give her to one of the families to adopt.” When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “She had extensive damage—broken bones, internal bleeding, eye damage and other things I’m forgetting. It was only after she was placed in the healing tank that he discovered she was an adult.”
“And then he married her?” Ally asked.
Now it was Kiehle’s turn to chuckle. “It wasn’t that easy. Taio was looking for a mate, one who would help bring prosperity to his world—Sonis, at the time. Originally he thought Eva didn’t fit his needs, so he kept her as a slave.”
Slave. Ally stilled. She took a deep breath before she brought her gaze up to look at him. “You said you didn’t practice.”
“No. And neither does anyone else on Drazlan or Sonis.”
“But—”
“He told her she was his slave in order to keep her by his side.” His eyes twinkled with mischief. “It worked for a while, but then she found out it was a lie.”
Ally narrowed her eyes. “I hope she made him pay for that.”
He laughed heartily. “She did. But she eventually forgave him.”
“I don’t think I would’ve forgiven him.”
“He loves her and she loves him. I believe that when two beings are in love, they forgive many of each other’s faults.”
I believe… As if it was something he’d heard about, but never experienced himself.
She could’ve asked him if he’d ever been in love. That was, if she wanted to know—which she didn’t. Not really.
“Have you ever been in love?” he asked.
He beat me to the punch. “Um…yeah.”
“Was or are?”
She raised a brow.
“Were you in love or are you in love?” he asked again, slower.
This time when she pulled away and settled back onto the bench, he let her. She looked back out the window. They seemed docked and secured. All they were waiting for now was for her to gather her bags and board a transporter that would take them all to Eva’s palace.
“I was in love, but that was a long time ago.” She could’ve lied and said she was still in love, to crush any hopes he had for some kind of long-term hookup, but her heart wouldn’t let her lie like that. Jim was gone. He’d been dead awhile now.
“Many humans lost loved ones during the Loconuist invasion. I suspect that is what happened to him as well?” he asked, his voice full of concern, as if he broached the subject with care.
“Right before the invasion, my husband was diagnosed with a terminal disease and given six months to live. He was actually able to live for about a year and half. I believe it had something to do with being in space and the effect it had on his body.” She shrugged. “He died while we were still on the Loconuist vessel.”
“I am sorry for your loss,” he said with genuine concern.
Even though Jim had never complained about the pain or his illness, one look at him and she could tell he was getting sicker and sicker with each passing day. Whenever she’d tried to talk about it, he’d shut her down, saying he wanted to make the short time he had with her as memorable as possible.
“We were newlyweds, so the news came as a devastating surprise to us. We weren’t prepared for it, but then again, we weren’t prepared for the invasion either. But when the time came, I was lucky that I didn’t have to go through it alone.”
She explained how, knowing the inevitable was coming, Jim had begged Eva to take care of Ally. Eva was brutally honest with them both. She didn’t know if she could do what Jim asked of her. Eva wasn’t sure if she would survive herself. How could she be responsible for another life?
Ally had known it would be a tough road for them both. At the time she had been plump, nervous and couldn’t fight her way out of a box. But she was willing to try anything in order to survive.
“He was a very smart man. I would gladly task Eva to watch over a loved one.”
She nodded. “She kept her promise—or at least tried to. She trained me every day, working me until I thought my arms and legs would fall off. And when Jim died, Eva was right there by my side.”
“She never once stopped looking for you,” Kiehle offered, his voice low, almost like a whisper. “She used every resource she had at her disposal to find you. She even risked her life and the heir to the throne to find you. She never gave up hope.”
&
nbsp; She blinked against a tear that threatened to fall again. When that didn’t work and it spilled over her lid to make a slow path down her cheek, she turned away from him and raised a shoulder, wiping the tear away. “I stopped looking for her.”
Guilt filled Ally. It washed over her, coating her, occupied every crevice in her body. How could she ever admit that to Eva? While Eva had continued to search for her, Ally had assumed Eva was dead and had given up hope of ever finding her again.
“That’s understandable.”
Ally shook her head and used the back of her hand to wipe the rest of the tears away. “No it’s not. She’s going to hate me. I know it.”
“Why? You’ve done nothing wrong.”
“That’s right. I’ve done nothing. In all these years, I’ve done nothing,” she choked out.
“Did I miss something? Didn’t you take me prisoner and escape the brothel?”
“I was doing it to save Yoshi and Max. Otherwise I probably would’ve stayed, whoring for Alharad.”
“No, you wouldn’t have. Ship got a lock on you and he wasn’t going to let you slip away again.”
“Eva was always persistent.”
“She’s probably the same female you remember.”
“She’s probably changed. We’ve both changed.”
“Eva is strong-willed, very independent. She doesn’t mince words or hold her tongue. She will pick up a weapon before she picks up a cooking pot. She is one of the very few females on Drazlan or Sonis who is regularly seen in training pants rather than the traditional female gown. She is fair and devoted.”
Ally’s heart clenched. “Sounds like she didn’t change a bit.”
Kiehle stood and held out a hand to her. “Can we go now? I think it’s time for you and Eva to finally reunite.
“Can I have my blaster back?”
“You mean my blaster?”
“Yours, mine…I like to think of it as ours.”
Kiehle laughed. “I’ll tell you what. If you can be good, I’ll get you your very own blaster. Do you think you can do that?”
She chewed on her bottom lip. She really didn’t need it. She would be with Eva, plus Kiehle wouldn’t let anything happen to her. “Yes.”
Chapter Twenty-One
“Stop pacing. You are going to make me lose my mind,” Taio grumbled.
Eva stopped to face him. “I think she’s mad at me for not finding her sooner. She doesn’t like me anymore.” She clenched her clammy hands together. They shook, but so did her legs. “She hates me.” I know it. Why else would she act so distant?
I left her.
With that thought, Eva began pacing again, nothing else on her mind but Ally and all the reasons why Ally hated her.
They had spent three years together as best of friends…sisters. They shared everything. Now Ally couldn’t even stay on the com-link with her for more than five minutes before signing off.
She can’t even stand to talk to me.
She punched a fist into her palm. She should’ve tried harder. She should’ve offered a bigger reward. She should’ve searched every brothel in this galaxy—and the next. She should have—
Taio closed the gap between them and grabbed her into a strong embrace. “She does not hate you,” he promised.
Eva looked up at him to find his gaze intently on hers. “But she acts like she does,” she whispered.
Taio’s features softened. “No one could ever hate you.” Then he tilted his head in thought. “Well, except for maybe the Tresdonians, the Mindari, the Liapo—”
Eva punched him on the arm. “Stop that. I’m serious. I concentrated so hard on finding her. I didn’t think about anything else. Like maybe she held some resentment toward me for leaving her on Xenaris.”
“You did not leave her. You were unconscious when I saved you from getting beaten to death by the Tresdonians.”
She clenched her fists, thinking back on that day. I hate the Tresdonians. “I was weak from lack of food. Otherwise they would’ve never gotten the best of me.”
He ran his hands up and down her arms reassuringly. “Of course not. My little warrior would have won.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Maybe I should go back there and—”
He stopped her with a kiss on the forehead. “You can’t return to Xenaris, remember? They banned you.”
It had something to do with her going there in a fit. She and Ship had lost track of Ally. She had decided that a “girl’s trip” would be the perfect diversion to get her mind off failing yet again. She went on a rampage in one of the slave markets on Xenaris. It had ended with her having to pay for damages and promising to never return.
“Served them right,” Eva muttered, remembering the destruction she had caused and the bones she’d broken.
“Yes indeed, and you were just the person to do it,” he said, right before a transporter entered the bay. “I’m still receiving complaints to this day.”
At seeing the transporter, she pulled away from him, her heart thumping out of control. She couldn’t catch her breath. “Is that them?”
“It is,” he said as the transporter docked.
She’s here.
Eva’s already clammy hands were now slippery with sweat. She wiped them on her training pants and still couldn’t get them dry enough. Shit, she was nervous. “I want to hug her, but what if she doesn’t want to hug me?” She turned to Taio, seeking his comfort. “Or what if she gives me one of those limp hugs? You know, like the kind you give someone you really don’t want to touch?”
“Eva, stop your worrying. She wouldn’t have come all this way if she didn’t want to see you. She could have stayed where she was.”
“Oh my God. What if she thought I was making her come here? Maybe she felt obligated?” Her stomach twisted into an uncomfortable knot. She put her hand there, trying to somehow calm it. “I think I’m going to throw up.”
“If I wasn’t witnessing it with my own eyes, I would never have thought I’d see you scared.”
She chewed on her lip, waiting for the engines to turn off.
“Should I announce my presence or will you do the honors?” Ship asked. “She has children with her. I don’t want to scare them.”
She hadn’t seen Ship enter but she had expected him. He was an entity as old as time, from a place he couldn’t explain to her. And according to him, there was only a handful of his kind in existence. He was invisible to most species, but to the human eye he appeared as a purplish haze.
She saw him next to Taio. Ally and the kids would see him also, but wouldn’t know what he was. His appearance sometimes unnerved humans, especially those who had not fared well in alien captivity. But she hoped Ally would come to love him just as much as she did. He had been the one to find her. She couldn’t have found Ally without Ship’s help.
“I’ll do it. After everything they’ve been through, I’m sure they’re probably skittish.”
The door clicked. She turned back to face the transporter, waiting. This is it.
Her heart seemed to still. She held her breath, watching the door ease open at an alarmingly slow pace.
A skinny woman exited, shuffling down the ramp. She stopped and turned in a semicircle, looking, searching…
Her gaze locked on Eva.
Ally.
Eva’s eyes misted over. She couldn’t believe it. She wanted to scream but stifled it by covering her mouth with her hands.
It’s her. It’s really Ally.
She was beautiful. Just like Eva remembered her—tall, legs for days. She was thinner, but beautiful just the same. She wore her pale-blonde hair in a braid. She had on brown leather pants that were too big for her and a white t-shirt that hung off her small frame.
“That’s Ally. That’s my best friend,” she whispered, almost unable to believe what her eyes were seeing.
Taio nudged her shoulder. “Go to her.”
Eva tore her eyes from Ally to look at Taio. “What if she doesn’t want me to—”
Her sentence was cut off by a scream. Startled, Eva jerked toward the noise. It was from Ally.
“Eva!” Ally yelled with such force that her voice echoed off the walls and every transporters in the bay. Ally pointed in her direction and laughed hysterically, all while talking animatedly to someone still inside the transporter. All Eva could make out was, “That’s Eva. It’s really her!”
She’s happy to see me.
A weight seemed to lift from her shoulders as her body shook. Any self-doubt that remained quickly dissipated. She took off at a run. “Ally!”
Ally sprinted toward her with open arms. “Eva!”
Eva reached her with quick strides, slamming into her. Their arms wrapped tightly around each other, and Eva didn’t know when she had begun to cry, but she had, and it was a lot. They held each other, rocking and shaking.
Ally buried her face in Eva’s hair. “I missed you so much.”
Eva couldn’t form the words for all the emotions in her heart. “I looked for you everywhere. I never stopped.”
“Kiehle told me,” Ally sniffled.
“I’m so sorry that I left you behind on Xenaris. I’m so sorry that I couldn’t find you sooner.”
Ally shook her head, crying. “It doesn’t matter. I’m here. We’re together.”
Over Ally’s shoulder, Eva watched as Kiehle walked toward them with two children holding on to his hands. One was an adorable African-American boy with bright brown eyes and the other was a petite Asian girl with black hair and matching dark eyes.
Eva pulled away, hating to let go of Ally for even a second. “Yoshi. Max.” She wiped her face with her sleeve.
Ally turned, wiping her own face. “Guys, can you say hi?”
Eva glanced at Ally and she nodded. With Ally’s permission, Eva eased forward. She approached them and crouched. “It’s so very nice to finally meet you both.”
Max looked from her to Ally and then back to her again. “You didn’t change your mind about wanting us to live with you, did you?” he asked.
Eva wanted to grab him and squeeze him in her arms. “Of course not. How could I not want you two?” She reached out to hold his hand. “I mean, look at how handsome you are.” She took Yoshi’s hand with her other one. “And how beautiful you are.”
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