by C F Rabbiosi
“That is against our custom,” says Drakon. “The agreement was made to prove you won’t be a threat to us.”
“And to cause as much pain between Calypso and I as possible,” he says.
He shrugs and lifts a finger. “If you mate the human in private, we cannot bear witness, so how can it count as a mating without the celebration of your bodies before us?”
Kassien grips Drakon’s shoulder. “I will do what I must to keep our contract… but it will be behind closed doors tonight. Anyone who challenges me will die slowly.” Drakon buckles with the force, and Kraetorr reaches for something in his belt.
The older Koridon glowers up at him. “Very well. We shall see the result of the union in her belly then.” He ducks away and touches Scarlet’s stomach. My heart wrenches at the thought of her small body trying to carry Kassien’s child. If it ends up being male, she may not survive it.
“I’m going to bed,” I say, knowing I have no other choice. The world crushes down on me, but all I can do is go back to my room where my mother awaits. It’s my one comfort. I turn to walk away but stop.
I hug Scarlet tight. “It will be all right. This is for the best.” Leaving her without a word would have made this difficult night so much worse for her.
“I love you,” she whispers. “I won’t let him do it.”
I squeeze her harder, wishing it were that simple because it eases my pain so much. The crowd, Koridons and humans mixed, seem to hold their breath as they shimmer in the dying candlelight.
“It won’t help,” I say, imagining Kassien’s lips, soft against mine and entwined by some kind of magic in his rough embrace. I pull away, leaving her with a new thought.
19
Kassien
The valspridian armor I remove from my shoulders is heavy as I unlatch it and let it fall to the ground. The little light-haired woman jumps from its clank and I feel the smallest amount of remorse for scaring her. True, Drakon, that fuck, gave me Calypso’s best friend to hurt them both, and to mess with my head, but I meant what I said to my love. I will care for this one that she adores like no one else, because she is precious and I would do anything for Calypso.
Scarlet paces the room then plops down on the bed. Her creamy thigh becomes uncovered and she quickly covers it. Then throws the dress off of it once more. She lies back and sighs.
I’m not sure how I’ll get through this night.
Scarlet’s chest moves up and down as I turn the brass key in its lock. Her scent floats into my nostrils and seeps into my blood, moving places of me to action as I approach her. I am an alpha predator, all masculine and brutish, and I can certainly impregnate such a lovely creature.
I touch her face and gently move my fingertips down her neck, trailing them between her breasts, her robe opening slightly.
She opens the material and silvery moonlight floods along her breasts and creamy stomach, beckoning an already wild beast.
Calypso’s voice whispers in the air between us and I shake my head, trying to scare away the demons with her face. She torments my resolve and ices my boiling loins.
I have to do this. Mating this woman is my only chance to protect Calypso, isn’t it? By all laws and morality, she belongs to Brekter now. There’s nothing I can do except move forward.
Save our race.
Save Calypso.
She isn’t mine, but I still feel her, all over me and stabbing at the core of me where new unbelievable love has been born.
Scarlet slams the silky material back over her nakedness and sits up. “I don’t think I can do this.”
I dip my head, and a few loose tendrils fall over my heated gaze. “You do not have to do much of anything, though, do you woman?”
She bites her satin pink lip and rocks forward. “I mean, I don’t want to have sex with you.”
Sex. It used to be a physical reaction brought on by a decision to reproduce with my own Koridon females. Lust wasn’t a part of mating, it was duty. But these women with their delicate beauty and intoxicating scents have reactivated sleeping instincts that were suppressed long ago. Oh, they’re so pointless, weakening even, but so blissful I would fall to my knees and surrender to the right woman. “Have you been with a man or any such since the night your innocence was stolen from you?” I ask.
A chill ripples through her and I sit up, having the urge to take her hand. “I hurt for you,” I say, remembering how she’d picked herself up from the ground the night I found Calypso and ran back to her village, blood staining the land.
“Caly already told me not to be afraid, that it’s different with you. But I can’t, because it’s you.”
A knock sounds at the door and I open it to find a servant with a bottle. “From Persephone,” he says and hands it to me. Old Vine Zinfandel circa de 2022. She comes inside and sets two glasses down.
“Thank fucking Pan.” Scarlet pours the red liquid up to the rim and gulps it down. “Have some,” she says, nudging the glass toward me.
I lift it to my lips and carefully drink. It burns my tongue, but when I let off, she presses her fingers against the bottom and I drink it down.
“Wine,” she says and wipes the ruby drops from her lips. “I used to sneak it during celebrations back home. Me and Caly both.”
“It tastes like poison mixed with piss.” I toss the glass on the table and pour another. “Listen,” I say. “I will make this as painless as possible, but you will submit to me.”
She twirls the stem of the glass in her fingertips. “I know. Just trying to knock myself out for it.”
“The numbing effect is quite nice, I will say. Here, have some more.”
* * *
The bottle lies on its side with little drops slowly making their way to the floor. She’s talkative now, and I enjoy every word about how she grew up deep in the forest, her family and their traditions. I especially like the one she tells about stealing the eggs from their chickens and ducks to dye them colors from berries and hide them for the younglings. It’s unlike me to find such an idiotic thing entertaining, and through my blurry thoughts I wonder if that’s exactly the reason why I like it.
Scarlet laughs and lays her head on my chest. Her warmth is intrusive, but it’s good to start contact. “Dad had the bird by its legs and was swinging it around and around. The screeching was awful.” I listen to her laugh and enjoy the sound.
“Was there another here you would have preferred?” I blurt out.
She clears her throat, her chuckle stopping abruptly. “I don’t know. I had this feeling with— with Gerakon.”
The reason for his outburst earlier in the night. “His knowledge and thirst for science on this planet is incredible. He wants to know everything and fights to understand. He cares so much, that is why he betrayed me to be here.”
“Betrayed you?”
“He left the compound with Brekter and Drakon, knowing my first and I were being left to die.”
“How could he?”
“He once told me that we should find your villages. Take everything from you, all your writings, to help us in our planting, animal husbandry and general survival in this place.”
“Why didn’t you just take everything from us?”
“I am ruler here, and laws to protect you have been in place for two centuries.”
She leans up on her elbow. “But Drakon has human slaves.”
I wonder how much I should tell her. “Those were children born to slavery. Long ago, many humans were traded to us for certain protection.” The human leaders were given Koridon cloaking technology for their villages in exchange for a hundred men and women as part of a deal after the war.
“So because we weren’t supposed to know what our people had done, we’ve lived in absolute fear.” Scarlet leans over to take her glass from the floor and sips the last of the shining liquid. “The women were never allowed to leave the safety of the force field because they could be taken or killed.” She peers up at me, understanding what she must do t
onight in order to end the oppression of her people. “You won’t hurt me, will you?”
I know her kind has been trapped and forced upon by mine. I’ve felt as their scent possessed the sleeping beast inside to wake from his dormant slumber, that urge to slam inside her until milked to ultimate satisfaction no matter the ripping of her skin in my claws, or the cracking of her bones. The strange affliction hasn’t penetrated my defenses yet with Scarlet, and even on that fateful night in the forest, I could hardly see her, being so drawn to Calypso. Maybe it truly is a spell the woman casts upon her chosen, even if she’s unaware of her power.
“I will not hurt you, Scarlet.” I grasp her hand and pull her to straddling me.
She drops the glass.
20
Calypso
Kassien touches her light hair, then cups her face. Her legs tremble as he parts them, but he touches her softly until she grows wet for him. He’s far larger than anything she’s had inside her before, but as his head gently pushes through, her body vibrates and crackles with anticipation she’s never felt. Lost in his gaze, her fear fades away, the bad thoughts disappear, and he moves deeper. She realizes she wants him to, and with pure pleasure igniting her lower body she feels special being the great Koridon prince’s lover. His blissful utterances make beauty swirl within her, and pleasant shocks ripple across her exposed breasts as she shakes. He moves feverishly between her legs, desperately trying to be gentle, but uncontrollable sensation blasts through him. He roars, more beast than Koridon, and her fear returns. His world turns black and he can’t hear her screaming. He can’t hear anything.
“Stop!” I shoot out of bed and find myself at the door before the dream fades completely. I slick wet hair off my cheek and place my hand against the smooth wood. Weeks have passed since the night Kassien took Scarlet to bed in private. As I walked away from them, I knew Kassien changing the ceremony to behind closed doors would be so different from ours, so intimate and friendly compared to the mechanical version done before onlookers. I wish I could have been taken out and never had to know.
Dark, misty twilight turns into morning, and I make my way down to breakfast where we all gather to play nice with one another in the new world order. The huge banquet table is set for thirty of us, and I take my seat next to Drakon, my brothers, and Efaelty. Finn sits next to Glenda and the other humans, including my mother on the other side. The smell of strawberries and oats, fried eggs and toasted bread incites a little nudge from inside my belly. He’s growing fast, and though I didn’t want this, it’s hard to deny the sweet feelings the tiny thing blooms in my heart.
Scarlet and Kassien join us and my breath catches. I force a smile, as I always do, even through the tears of Vaerynn’s training sessions, and so does she. Truly, she did what she had to, and I hold nothing against her. However, something inside me is full of jealousy and pain for what she has. Kassien’s child. I can’t bring myself to fully be there for her any longer, and I hate myself for it. She’s got it hard too, though. Torn between her best friend and the man she’s been forced to marry, I can’t imagine what she’s going through. But I know she loves Kassien.
She touches her belly as she sits, and I cringe. The male that grows within her is four weeks old now. Kassien takes his place at the head of the table, and it hurts how I’ve become so insignificant to him. I have much to look forward to, a child and plenty of adventures of traveling and experiencing new things outside the village, but still, every time Kassien’s near, the memories of what he meant to me flood. They come bringing chills and heat through my core, only to twist a dagger in my gut.
Soft chatter ensues as we eat: Finn scolds Vaerynn about how hard she pushes his sister, and Kjartonn broodingly tries to make small talk with blond Alice though she won’t even look at him. A wicked grin seems to hang on his lips constantly, an unsettling glimpse into his nature. Just like us, the Koridons have potential for such goodness and yet great evil as well.
“Kassien,” my mother voices, and the table grows silent. “Glenda and Kraetorr are to be married soon, and I wanted to discuss with you the possibility of changing the ceremony to fit some of our traditions as well.”
Drakon raises a hand and chews his food quickly. “Absolutely not. The women are becoming Koridon as are their children, and I cannot abide our ways being changed. In fact, I have decided that everyone should also speak our language now.”
My mother laughs and Kassien says, “Drakon, this may be your district, but I am prince over the region. Stay your tongue while I think on this.”
“May I speak?” asks Mother, and Kassien nods. “I wasn’t suggesting we do away with the mating ceremony,” she coughs into her hand at the thought, “but what if we made it more of a celebration? Wine, music, dancing, and a feast to turn it into an event.”
I snicker, imagining the hulking Koridons trying to move along with the music, alcohol tainting their already questionable manners.
“I did enjoy the wine you sent up,” says Kassien with a smile so beautiful I can’t bring myself to look away this time. “It made me want to laugh and also say things I shouldn’t. I suppose it made me a lot more like a human.”
“That’s—okay, thank you, I think,” she says. “I can help with the arrangements and perhaps it will make the girls feel more comfortable, maybe even have them look forward to their wedding.”
“Still—” Kassien touches his beard. “It may not—”
“Our queens of the past had the same kind of celebration,” I say, loving the idea and wanting to back my mother. “She had a spectacular party and then later on would be taken to the marriage bed, where the royal party would watch them lie together for the first time.”
“It is settled then,” says Kassien, giving me the first warm smile I’d seen in weeks. “Each woman giving herself to her new mate shall be treated like the queens of your past.” His words are so warm they wrap around me and make me feel special again.
“Thank you, my lord,” says Mother while Drakon lifts his brow and shakes his head.
* * *
The ocean is cold and choppy this morning as we crash into it and swim against the powerful undertow. We streamline like sharks into the angry waves, and though I lead by several lengths, not one girl struggles. Vaerynn swims just ahead, and with every muscle in my body on fire, I overtake her. The rush makes me push harder, and I ignore the rapid inhale and exhale of my oxygen-starved lungs. I swim farther and farther into the blue, but before long I run out of energy and turn back. Vaerynn whips past me halfway through, but I vibrate with happiness. I’m getting so strong. We all are.
Scarlet hits the shore a few minutes after me and retches into the sand. “Are you okay?” I rush over to hold her dripping hair back.
“I don’t know. My stomach feels like it’s tearing apart!” She cries out and vomits again.
“Vaerynn! Scarlet’s in trouble!” I call out. She approaches and helps her to her feet. “Go back to your rooms and await instructions. I will take her to Gerakon.”
They’ve watched as I’ve kept up with all the training through my pregnancy with no complications, but Scarlet is different and this pregnancy is dangerous for her. “I’ll come too,” I say, catching up to them. “My best friend shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“Do as you’re told, Calypso, and go wait in your room,” says Vaerynn, giving me a small shove. “She must deal with this alone.”
I keep walking after them. “No she doesn’t! She should have—”
Scarlet lets out a cry, and I stop dead from her agonized expression. Does she even want me with her, the woman her husband used to love?
The other girls pass me on their way back to the mansion, but I can’t bring myself to take another step forward. The trees to the east call to me, thick and endless, a dark canopy I could wander through and no one could find me. For a while anyway.
Freedom intoxicates me as I run past the grounded Koridon ship and fly into the forest. A laugh bubbles up from
my throat and I let it pour. Finally, I stop and find a mossy rock to lounge on and catch my breath in the chilly winter air. Alone and loving every minute of it, I listen to the symphony of insects and the sound of the trees blowing in the wind. My body becomes weightless with relaxation, and, not having slept well in days, I drift off.
Maybe minutes pass and my eyes flutter open to sunlight cracking through the leaves. My hand brushes against a plant and joy surges through my stomach when I recognize the plump blackberries growing there. The tart sweetness blasts over my tongue as I bite into the juicy berries and ease the hunger gained by my rough swim.
A branch cracks, and I freeze with a blackberry at my lips. Footfalls sound across the forest floor, and I duck behind the boulders. Peeking through the cracks, a filthy man comes into view in torn clothes. He dives behind the huge trunk of an old tree but is found immediately by two male Koridons.
“No!” he shrieks as they drag him away. “Don’t take me back there!”
“Exrot diverten int trivit,” says one of the males, and I recognize the words pain and house. A memory stirs: Andromeda had mentioned a house of pain, asking manipulatively if Drakon would send her there. I allow them to create distance between us before emerging from my hiding place and moving in their direction.
The deeper I search for them, the more my peace dissolves. The forest no longer soothes my soul and everything begins to look the same. I don’t know how I lost them. It’s lunch time and they’re going to be looking for me soon, but I have to know what they’re doing to that man out here.
A horrifying scream sends the blood careening through my temples and I flip around in the direction the suffering came from. Cautiously, I move toward a glimmering in the distance I hadn’t noticed before. As I draw closer, I find a dome-like structure just like the one from my mating ceremony with Kassien. Inside, several Koridons stand with their backs to me, appearing as dream-like, foggy images through the strange force field. I creep forward, every move racked with fear that they’ll discover me, but they can’t see me, their eyes trained forward on something before them.
