by C F Rabbiosi
Glenda drags Kraetorr over and tries to find a comfortable position for a dancing, but when her arms only reach his pecs and he’s too tall to hold her around the waist, he sweeps her into his arms and “steps around,” as he called it, with her cheek against his.
Finn shakes his head. “I just don’t get it.”
“Shall we eat?” Kassien shouts toward my mother. “Is it ready?”
* * *
The banquet table steams with grilled meats, vegetables, and fresh breads while fruit pies and pastries tempt us to sneak bites before dessert has been announced. I nod at Momma, alight with happiness at what she’s done. For the first time it really feels like we’re all a family. Or… at least one people, working toward a common goal. Even as Kassien helps Scarlet get food on her plate and encourages her to eat, nothing seems capable of ruining this moment.
“So what god do you believe in?” Finn asks over the quiet of enjoying such a feast. I perk up at the question, very curious myself. From what I’ve read of different spiritual books and religions over time, and different cultures, most people on our planet are pulled toward a higher power, and how he manifests himself to the people is always different. Egyptians and the sun god, Ra, the Greeks and the many gods they felt close to, and Christians who have a relationship with their god as well. After most the people died on this planet, there wasn’t a set religion left, and over the years we recovered many writings that exposed us to so many at once. To me, they all had a beautiful truth about them, and no one was correct.
Kassien finishes chewing and puts a hand up to silence Drakon, who readily begins to answer. “There is something that has always been there. Always is a hard concept to grasp, because we biological lifeforms are born and are then meant to die. But there is a conscious power that has always been there. Don’t bother trying to imagine it, let alone understand it, for such things are beyond our reach. This being isn’t carbon based with living cells like we are. It is made of elements such as helium, hydrogen and iron among others. He found that pieces of himself created stars. The tiny stars made from the elements of his form grew and multiplied, growing hotter and hotter, little suns, but separated from him, they did have an end. Eventually the stars died, and the creator found this interesting.”
“Sounds like the myths we’ve read,” says Finn, flicking a piece of steak off his fork.
“Please continue,” I say, remembering the textbooks that described how stars formed in the blackness of space, and the way these molecules did indeed multiply and burn hotter than fire.
Kassien takes another bite, then lifts his fork up. “When a star dies it explodes, and its particles enter the atmosphere. Joined by gravitational forces, they begin to create planets and moons.”
“But how did we get here?” asks Scarlet. “I know about evolution and chance, but still I feel special. There’s just no way I’m here, with all of you, by chance right now. There’s no way.”
“Kassien runs a finger up her wrist and goosebumps flush up her arm. “You are what this universe creates. Your essence, we might call it, something hidden in your DNA that can’t be mapped. And you reoccur over and over in an endless expansion of time, and in endless different places.”
“You’re saying our DNA, which is a fuck bunch of different genetic codes that occur only because of our exact ancestral line, happens to reoccur?” Finn shakes his head. “That’s a number that doesn’t exist.”
“No,” says Kassien. “You have figured out DNA, yes? But that special thing that makes you you is something else. Your genetics will differ, you may look different or have different talents, but it is still you. This is not dependent on a complex set of familial genes.”
I’m mystified. “So, we never truly die. We would always exist in a way, because even if I don’t reoccur again for five billion years, it would be instantaneous in my perspective.”
Kassien gives a pleased nod. “This is what we have come to find in all our travels and meetings with other planetary life.”
“Where is the creator now?” asks my mother.
Kassien shrugs. “Doing whatever star beings do, I suppose.”
After a round of questions about other planetary lifeforms from my mother and Finn’s many arguments, the hour of Glenda’s mating ceremony approaches. Cold prickles my fingers numb and my chest flutters, thinking about what’s to come. Servants place the last of the lit candles around the altar. The record player makes a tearing sound as the needle is pulled away.
“Was it well enough?” Kassien asks Glenda. “Dancing and drinks, a feast and existential conversation?”
She gulps down a knot in her throat and nods curtly. “I’m ready.”
22
“What do I do?” I overhear Kraetorr ask Kassien in their language as everyone gets into a bowing position.
Kassien says, “You have a mate. You know how this will go.”
“It is not the same with Lorvel,” he says. “I feel this woman in my core, she grips it with both hands and has not let go since the first day.”
I open my palm to reveal a bottle of clear oil. “Use a lot of this.” I widen my eyes at his crotch, and he takes the lubricant from me quickly. “And be careful with her, she will break. You can’t ever lose yourself, not for a second. Have you ever had sex with a human before?”
“No. I stay away from women. I follow the law.” A wicked smile spreads his lips. “But Glenda is my betrothed, and I touched inside her, under the table during our night meal.”
My brows pop up as he pulls his armor off, moving toward her. “I want my drikken in there now.”
Kassien steps in front of him and takes hold of his shoulders. “She is yours, brother. Take care of her heart and her body, for these are now yours to protect.”
He nods, regained control present in his focus. “Stay close, Kassien?”
The prince agrees and does not bow but sits behind them to keep watch.
Blond Alice sits with her legs crossed alongside my momma and the others, while Finn is nowhere to be found. I’m glad he got out of here—this is disturbing to watch even when it isn’t your sister being mated. I bow with my forehead on the back of my hands, and the last glimpse of Kraetorr rushing over her sends a tremor sliding down my spine.
Glenda lets out a sensual sigh, and without meaning too, my attention moves up to the scene laid out upon the altar. Her fingers search his chest hungrily. She doesn’t care that everyone watches, because every waking desire after her emotionally-charged dreams is finally going to be caressed, stroked and released. Her ceremony was postponed a month due to the change in celebration plans, but as she welcomes him between her legs, she’s ready to breed.
Kraetorr takes aim toward her sex and I suck in through my teeth, willing him to remember the oil. He pulls backward again and slathers himself roughly, then carefully pushes the tip in between her legs. She works her hips to ease him further and he grunts, veins in his muscles surfacing with effort. He works it in, inch by inch, and grabs the back of her neck with an animal sound escaping his throat.
She arches and wraps her legs around him. Kraetorr grips the middle of her back, bringing her toward him as she undulates. He braces her, his eyelids fluttering slightly as she moves, letting her set the pace and rub along his shining cock. The training has made her strong, and she’s so clever to have taken control.
The muscles bunch along his arms and back. His breath bated, he’s the embodiment of calm before the storm. His eyes are black with a ring of silver as he watches her breasts bounce. He turns his head quickly, the excitement overtaking him.
Glenda touches his cheek, and he twitches. “I want you to knot me.” She flicks her tongue softly along his lower lip. “I’m your woman now, and you feel so good that I want all of you.”
Kraetorr places her hands around the back of his neck and grasps her hips. He wrenches her along his shaft and she whimpers but quickly composes herself. “Yes, do it!” she cries, taking another harsh jolt as he sl
ams her against him.
His breath rapidly increases, and with a desperate utterance, he slams her backward into the ground. I jump to my feet amongst the gasps, and Kassien rushes to place a hand on the Koridon’s dripping skin. “Kraetorr!” he says, studying Glenda beneath him. She pulls in a deep breath, and the whites of her eyes flash wildly. “You have hurt her. Back away, now!” I drop next to Glenda. She’s ghostly pale, her mouth opening and closing with no sound.
Kraetorr growls and buries himself inside her to the hilt. My mind screams with alarm— Kraetorr’s gone.
Kassien pulls him backward and Glenda cries out, her pelvis being yanked with him. The knot firmly in place, Kraetorr roars and grabs her by the throat. Kassien takes his face in his hands and pleads with him while I helplessly watch her fade. Blood trickles to the ground and, like a rabid beast, Kraetorr yanks her attached body up and runs, slamming her back into the wall. A horrible crack permeates the screams and cries piercing the room.
Finn tears inside. “Stop! Let her go!” He lands a solid blow into the side of Kraetorr’s face, and when the huge beast is unphased, cocks his fist back and hits him in the back of the head over and over. He grasps a knife from his belt and wields it at Kraetorr’s neck.
Kassien shoves Finn back and braces Kraetorr as he spills the last of his seed, and I hold Glenda’s hand, trying to force the tears back to comfort her. An expression of terror freezes on her face, the pain panicking her voice away. “It’s gonna be okay, we’ll get you two apart and you’ll go into the med bay on their ship—”
She shudders and her head lolls to the side. “Kassien!” I cry out as he struggles to keep Kraetorr still. A gurgling bubbles up in Glenda’s throat. “Knock him out!”
“It will not stop him!” he says. “They are knotted until the swelling releases.”
“She’ll be dead by then!”
Vaerynn bursts through the crowd holding the nanohealer and I take my first non-crushing breath. She hits a button and a red light scans her from the head down. “Oh,” Vaerynn exclaims, taking in the readings. “I will repair her skull damage first, but she bleeds internally as well.”
Finn says, “Do it, hurry,” and helps me hold his sister up by fingers braced into her ribs Kraetorr shakes and smashes his fist through the wall beside Glenda. She doesn’t respond.
Liquid metal glides out from the healing tool and spreads in midair until it settles along Glenda’s head. “The healing particles will move through her scalp and repair damage,” Vaerynn explains to Finn. “But her brain is swelling, and the repair may inhibit the fluid from exiting and put a lot of damaging pressure on the neural tissue.”
“I can relieve the pressure,” says my mother. “I studied it in our medical books and did it once to a girl who got a concussion in our village.” I’m more thankful than ever that our people are well studied in medical science, as well as everything our texts could teach. Living in captivity would have been unbearable having to do the same job every day, and now I realize how valuable we are.
“Find a long, thin tube of some kind and something to drill. Something small!” Efaelty nods and rushes away, followed by Gerakon.
The tiny particles gather in small liquid pools as they complete their work, then drift down Glenda’s chest. She sags in our arms as Kraetorr bursts away from her. We lay her down and I gasp at the bruising that blooms on her abdomen.
“No!” he howls, grabbing his head with both hands. “What have I done?”
Kassien moves in front of him. “She is injured badly. You must stay back.”
He pushes through him, only to be subdued by Kassien then shoved away. “Just let me go to her! Please, whatever I have done, I need her to know I love her!”
“If he comes near her, I’ll fucking kill him!” Finn warns.
Glenda lets out a sob, and I jerk my head in surprise. “It hurts,” she manages. Her body convulses as she tries to sit up.
“Don’t move,” I say. “You’re being healed.” The nanos disappear beneath her chest, leaving tiny blood beads behind on her skin.
“Let me see her,” pleads Kraetorr. The beast shakes with tears spilling down his face.
Kassien shoots me a frustrated glance, and even though Finn severely shakes his head at me, I tell Kassien to let him come. The craze has passed, and I hurt for the happiness they displayed when they danced and the change in Kraetorr’s heart because of her. The hope his gentleness with Glenda had given us. Finn balls his fists, so angry no words are possible, and I know that he was right.
Kraetorr collapses beside his crumpled woman and his large hand swallows hers. “My love, my poor love,” he says. “You will be healed, and I will never go near you again, I promise.”
She whimpers, forcing a small smile. “This is all—new,” she fights to breathe. “You didn’t know.”
“We did know.” Finn snatches the dagger from his side. “We’ve always known what you monsters do to women.” He holds it level to Kraetorr’s eyes, but they stay locked on Glenda.
She sucks in a sharp breath and her chest flutters.
“What is happening?” Kraetorr asks, Glenda’s hand draining of color in his.
Vaerynn scans her again, blue light showering her head and neck, then it turns red as it hits her chest. She chokes, and blood bubbles over her bottom lip. “Head’s fine, but her heart is failing.” The scanning light flashes red as it travels the length of her abdomen. “And so are the filerns. The kidneys.”
My mother shoots me a look that tells me she’s thinking shock. Glenda shivers, and her teeth chatter. “Glenda, stay here,” I say, jerking her face toward me. “Talk to me!”
Her lashes flutter and her light grows dim. Her song rises in my memory, that night where all the Koridons fell under her spell at the power of her voice. Then the song fades away.
“Please,” Kraetorr’s eyes shine as he holds her limp hand. “I will never find her again.”
Finn snaps the knife at Kraetorr, but like lightning, he dodges and snatches the weapon away. Rage seeps from his pores as his body ripples with growing muscle.
“Don’t hurt him!” I scream. “Kraetorr, don’t hurt her brother!” The grief-stricken Koridon attacks Finn.
Kassien and Arek rush in front of him. “Kraetorr, stand down!” Kassien crouches, ready to fight, one leg out straight, his hand pointed. Arek wrestles Finn to the ground.
Kraetorr shakes his head frantically. “This— What we are doing, it is wrong.” He looks at Glenda, a cracked porcelain doll lying in a pool of blood. “We will all pay for it.” He plunges the dagger into his throat and blood sprays from the shredded vessels. Kassien hits the weapon away and everyone in the crowd stands back. The broken Koridon hits his knees before Glenda, his crimson drops of life warming her chilled flesh, and takes her into his arms.
Kraetorr nuzzles into her hair one last time and cradles her as he falls.
The panicked cries and gasps cease, and the saddest silence I’ve ever known falls upon us.
23
Drakon steps forward with a stern brow. “Clean this up.” His eyes fall on my mother. “What a disaster.”
Finn stands over his sister’s body with a haunted gaze. I want to go to him, but I’m too afraid. He turns to Drakon. “We’re leaving. Today.” He storms over and takes my hand. “This is my fiancé, I’m sure you didn’t know, and she’s fucking coming with me.”
Drakon crosses his arms. “The breeders will not be leaving anywhere.”
Finn signals toward Kassien. “Tell him. This is over and I need you to back me.”
“I will always want what is best for you and your people. I,” he places his hands on his chest, “hurt, for what has happened to our family.” He focuses on the intimacy between Finn and me for the smallest moment. “But this is still a small price to pay for your freedom.”
“My sister is a small price to pay?” I squeeze his hand, knowing what Kassien means but feeling Finn’s pain.
“That is not how
I meant it,” Kassien says softly.
Sybil nervously raises a hand. “Scarlet can’t leave, she’ll die without their care.” My best friend is nowhere in sight, having been removed when it grew dangerous.
“She’s already dead,” says Finn. He snaps away from my side. “You did hear that fucker’s last words, right? You will all pay.” He extends a hand to me. “Calypso, let’s go.”
Kassien puts an arm in front of me. “You will not take her.” The severity in his voice jars Finn.
I don’t know what I’d do if he let me go. Finn is right in so many ways—we should be free to leave after this. This was murder. I’m torn, because Kraetorr was my brother, and these are my people too. I still want a life together.
“Caly,” Finn motions me to come to him, “and all of you who actually want to live. Let’s go.” Mary-Shelly stands up from her chair at the banquet table and moves toward Arek with determination. But then she stops. Her mate watches in distress as blond Alice runs into Finn’s arms. Palms open at her sides, she waits for Arek to notice her, sad yet longing for him, begging him to see that she wants him still, even through the terror and the blood.
“Come on!” Finn shouts. “This breaks the deal.” He storms over to his sister’s body. “This breaks the fucking deal!”
Blond Alice kicks the door open, sending a sliver of moonlight across the floor. Mary-Shelly walks slowly past Arek to join them, her head hung low.
“Finn,” I say. “The world can’t stay the way it is. I loved Glenda, and I’m sorry.” I shake my head and feel the full force of his heart drop. “We’re all still learning. And Glenda knew this could happen. She wanted him, Finn. She told me her heart had decided.”
“Fuck that.” Finn joins black-haired Alice, Mary-Shelly, and Jane. “They won’t just kill every single one of you slowly by raping you, or painfully when their spawn rips you up from the inside out. But you will destroy them as well.”
“All right, we have tried it your way,” says Drakon, strutting toward the cowering girls. “Now we do what I want to do. Chain them up. Chain them all.”
