by Regine Abel
Lenora screamed.
My own scream knocked me out of my vision. Instantly awake, my mates asked me what was wrong. I shoved my way past them and off the bed, and then scrambled for the door.
“ZHARA, NO!” I shouted, horrified by the act my daughter would commit in the next five to twenty minutes if we didn’t stop her in time.
“ZHARA!” I screamed again, bursting her bedroom door open. As I feared, both the little girls’ beds already lay empty.
“Amalia, what’s going on?” Khel asked.
Lhor raced toward the boys’ bedroom while Mercy and my father stormed out of their respective bedrooms.
“She’s going to kill him,” I said urgently while racing for the stairs. “Zhara is going to kill Varrek.”
My mates and father cursed, following me as we stampeded down the stairs.
“Should we raise the alarm?” Mercy asked.
“No,” Khel said. “They may panic and kill him sooner.”
Drawn by the commotion, Ghan and Aleina met us at the entrance, still throwing their clothes on. I dashed out of the house and headed straight for the large tree they had hidden behind, while Khel informed my aunt and her mate of what was going on. Like all Veredians, I had perfect night vision. By the time we cleared the last tree blocking our line of sight, I saw my two boys vanish into thin air.
“Fuck!”
Swerving left, I made a beeline for the compound’s bunker. By my calculation, we had about five minutes before she killed him. Khel contacted the guards to tell them not to sound the alarm as the patrol would soon noticed our approach. Luckily, both elevators to the underground shelter waited for us at the entrance. We piled up inside one, and it flew down to the bunker. Without pausing to address the stunned warriors in the guard room, we ran down the hallway to the brig. When we reached the secure door to the brig and I saw Varrek through the window speaking to the children, tears of relief pricked my eyes. Without thinking, I slapped my hand on the locking mechanism and hacked the door open.
Startled, the children turned around to see us all pour into the brig. Shock, guilt, and fear knotted their delicate features. Lenora pawed at her horns, head bowed in shame and worry lines marring her forehead. She didn’t dare make eye contact with Ghan who stared at her severely.
“Go back to the house with your Mama. We’re going to talk when I’m done here.”
“Yes, Papa,” Lenora said with a little voice, eyes misting.
Aleina took her daughter’s hand and gave me a sympathetic look before leading her out of the brig. Ghan headed for Varrek who had the wisdom to keep his mouth shut.
My own three children clustered close to each other. Rhadames, still too young to fully understand how much trouble they were in, kept glancing up to his Gem for guidance. But Vahl only had eyes for Khel. His father’s eyes held the same hurt and sense of betrayal I felt. Zhara’s gaze flicked between Lhor and me. Her mouth worked but not one sound came out.
“I trusted you,” Khel said to Vahl.
The hurt in his voice broke the dam I’d been trying to keep shut and tears flowed freely down my cheeks. The children could never stand seeing me cry. Rhadames began to sniffle, and Zhara’s eyes welled up.
“I kept my promise!” Vahl cried out, his voice pleading. “I didn’t hurt anyone.”
“But you were going to let your sister do it!” Khel snapped. “You brought your Gem so you could both help her do what you knew was wrong.”
“I didn’t do anything,” Zhara argued.
“You were going to kill him!” I shouted, unable to hide the extent of my distress.
“I didn’t—”
“I SAW YOU, ZHARINA! I SAW YOU!” I shouted.
She flinched and curled into herself. Vahl wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she pressed herself against him, crying freely, too.
“I saw you tear his soul out when he couldn’t even defend himself. How could you…?”
I had meant to ask how could she have planned his murder in such a cold and calculated fashion, but my words faltered from sorrow. Lhor pulled me into his embrace, and I sobbed on his shoulder.
“I’m sorry, Mama. But he hurt you! And Papa, and Vahl! He almost killed Daddy!”
Too choked by tears, I couldn’t respond.
“But he didn’t succeed, Zhara,” Lhor said in a soft but stern voice. “And even if he had succeeded, there are laws. He is under arrest awaiting judgement for his crimes. You can’t take the law into your own hands and kill people. You know better than that.”
“You’re a fucking Oracle!” Varrek said, while Ghan was locking him back into his cell. “That’s how you always knew!”
“Shut the fuck up, you vermin, before I make you,” Ghan growled.
“Mama, don’t cry,” Rhadames said, between sniffles.
I peered at my children. They stood trembling before us, their now innocent looking faces drenched in tears. But the cold, calculated murderers of my vision kept overlapping with them. Zhara had enjoyed killing him.
In that instant, I realized I didn’t know my children. Maybe the Korletheans had been right all along. Maybe my children were indeed monsters.
And I’m carrying two more…
“You’re breaking my heart,” I whispered.
“Mama…”
I couldn’t deal with this. Turning around, I ran out, the voice of my babies shouting my name in distress clawed at my shattered heart. Despite what they’d planned on doing, the children needed me to comfort them and let them know everything would be all right. My head knew that, but my heart couldn’t cope. Whatever monsters my children might be, I was the biggest one for abandoning them.
CHAPTER 24
Ghan
The Praghan children’s broken sobs as their mother left still echoed in my mind. They’d been gut-wrenching. Whatever their faults, they worshipped Amalia. In all their short years, they’d pulled countless stunts that had their parents pulling their hair out, but never had she reacted so strongly. The extent of their mother’s distress and knowing they had caused it would leave a lasting scar in their young psyches.
Eryon had volunteered to go console his daughter so that Lhor and Khel could help the children calm down as well as discipline them for their actions. I didn’t envy them. None of us could have seen this coming. The thought of what might have happened without Amalia’s foresight still had me reeling. Too many people awaited Varrek’s trial. His demise under shady circumstances would have brought a level of scrutiny to the children that could have been disastrous.
The three other Guldan prisoners had seen too much. In the morning, I’d discuss with Khel the possibility of having Valena wipe their memories of what happened tonight. Despite the ethical problem this represented, when it came to protecting our children, there were few lines I wouldn’t cross.
Entering our suite in the Praghans’ estate, I found my mate and daughter sitting on the large bed, talking. My heart filled with love for my two girls, in spite of my disappointment in Lenora’s involvement. I hadn’t heard the full story, but at least nothing indicated that she had contributed in any way to their plan.
She cast a fearful glance at me. This would be my first time disciplining her. With her history, I needed to be extra careful, as it could define the future of our father-daughter relationship. Her sire had been an animal. For Lenora, discipline meant physical and verbal abuse. I would make sure to change that perception. She would learn that whatever reprimand her mother or I ever gave her, it was out of love and for her welfare. She would also know that misbehaving wouldn’t make us stop loving her. Lenora was our daughter, for better or for worse, now and always.
“I’m… I’m sorry, Papa,” she said, eyes pleading.
“I know, sweetheart.”
Crouching, I spread my arms, beckoning her. She gave me a teary smile and rushed toward me. The force of the impact when she threw herself into my arms almost knocked me on my ass. She held me in a bruising hold, and I hated th
e frantic trembling of her body. My gaze locked with Aleina’s above our daughter’s head. She smiled encouragingly. Picking up our daughter, I walked us over to the bed and settled next to Aleina. I whispered soothing words in Lenora’s ears while stroking her hair until her shaking receded.
The urge to beat her sire to a pulp set my teeth on edge. Lucky for the bastard he was already dead.
“Why did you go there, tonight?” I asked, using my softest voice.
“Zhara got up and wandered outside. I was curious,” Lenora said.
She then proceeded to tell me what had happened. We had reached them just as Varrek was taunting Zhara about killing him with healing. To my relief, my daughter had been clueless as to what the Praghan children had planned.
“I know you didn’t want to do anything bad.” Her frantic nod made me smile. “But didn’t you realize something was wrong? That you shouldn’t be doing this?”
“Yes, when we left the house,” she said, pawing at her horn again.
“So why did you go? Why didn’t you tell them that maybe they should stop?”
“I did! I tried but they told me to be quiet so we didn’t get caught. They’re my friends…”
I nodded slowly. “Yes, they are your friends. But they are also still babies. You are the oldest. And even though you are still a child yourself, you understand right and wrong better than they do.”
“But what was I supposed to do? You don’t tell on friends.”
“You’re right. Friends should be loyal to each other. But sometimes, true loyalty is to protect your friends from themselves. Sometimes, it means doing things that will upset or even hurt them, but spare them from an even greater pain later. Do you understand?”
She hesitated. “I… I think so.”
“What Papa means is, if Zhara had hurt the prisoner, the police would have been forced to take her away,” Aleina said, taking our daughter’s hand into hers. “They may also have been forced to take little Vahl and Rhad for helping her, and maybe even you. This is not like stealing an extra piece of dessert in the kitchen or playing with Papa’s computer when he said not to. It’s considered a criminal action and the punishments are severe.”
“But she’s a small child. We are all children!”
“Children with great powers that can do a lot of damage if you are not careful,” I countered. “Taking away someone’s life cannot be undone. That’s why you need to let justice officials handle criminals. So in the future, listen to your instincts when they tell you that what you’re doing is a bad idea. Even if that means making your friends angry. They may be angry at first, but after a while, they will understand that you did it out of love to protect them, and they will thank you for it.”
“Okay. I promise to try very hard in the future.”
“Good girl,” Aleina said, leaning forward to kiss Lenora’s forehead.
She smiled at my mate and then cast us an uncertain look, tension creeping back into her small body.
“Are… are you going to punish me now?”
Aleina and I exchanged a look. I didn’t actually want to punish Lenora. Her actions didn’t really warrant it, either. But I also felt she needed to understand bad behavior would have consequences. Without having to speak, I understood Aleina wished to take the lead on this. I trusted her to keep it reasonable and nodded my assent.
“Yes, we are,” Aleina said.
Lenora swallowed hard and waited anxiously for her sentence.
“We will not be going to the beach as planned tomorrow,” Aleina said, in a stern but soft voice.
“Oh…” Lenora said, looking crestfallen.
Her sadness tugged at my heart. She loved the beach, and I’d been looking forward to taking her to a real one instead of the holodeck. Yet, I mentally commended my mate for making such an appropriate choice.
“If you behave, maybe we’ll go next week,” I said.
“Okay,” Lenora said, her chin quivering. “What else?”
I blinked.
“Don’t you think that’s enough?” I asked. “Do you want more?”
She shook her head, wariness lurking in her eyes. I realized then that our daughter needed more than subtle hints.
“I will not spank you for doing something wrong, Lenora.”
Eyes wide, she stiffened and pressed her lips together.
“Your mama and I will never raise our hands to you. Do you understand?” I asked.
“You do not strike someone you love, for any reason,” Aleina added. “And we both love you very much.”
“I love you, too,” Lenora said, snuggling against me.
Pulling her onto my lap, I embraced my two girls, relieved to have faced and survived one of the toughest challenges of parenthood.
* * *
The next morning, after having spent the night with us, Lenora asked if she could still share Zhara’s room and play with her. When we answered in the affirmative, she jumped for joy and raced to find her friend.
To our relief, Eryon confirmed that after she had regained her composure last night, Amalia had joined her mates in their private family room to have a long conversation with their children. As much as he had wanted to sit in on that talk, he had granted them some alone time as a family. Amalia and her mates still struggled with being parents to gifted children that needed to be allowed to learn from their mistakes.
Problem was, their mistakes could have irreparable consequences.
For that reason, with Khel’s blessing, Eryon and I spent the next couple of days making the estate Veredian baby proof. Despite how tragic things could have turned out in the brig, putting ability dampening bracelets, collars, or gloves on the children wasn’t the way to go. Korletheans drilled the notion of trust and responsibility in their offspring early on.
Zhara, Vahl, and Rhad had broken their parents’ trust. Shackling implied they couldn’t earn it back because their parents no longer believed in them. So we needed to give them the opportunity to prove themselves while also protecting them, and the rest of the world, from possible lapses in judgement.
When I suggested using some of the technology Varrek had utilized in his fortresses to block Veredian and Korlethean powers, Eryon once more disagreed. While they would effectively prevent the children from accessing places they weren’t supposed to, such as the brig, should they ever find themselves in danger or facing a crisis, those same blockers could prove more detrimental than beneficial.
In the end, we settled on a series of bio-encrypted alarms and motion sensors, some of them silent, that would warn us the minute the children wandered into places where and when they shouldn’t.
Still, after the brig incident, the little Praghans had no interest whatsoever in getting into trouble again. Their mother’s distress had deeply affected them. In the days that followed, they all but stalked her. Amalia couldn’t make a move without her children hovering or requesting her attention like they feared she would disappear or to reassure themselves that she still loved them.
Even now, three days after the incident, the children spent their playtime helping Jhola prepare ryspak sorbet for their mother who hadn’t yet entered the ryspak gorging phase. Aleina, however, had started the same day we arrived on Xelix Prime. She threatened Khel with bodily harm if he failed to supply her with ryspak as sweet as the batch he had sent us on the Tempest. While Lhor was mainly the one running the family orchard, Khel couldn’t help but puff his chest a little at the compliment on the quality of his harvest.
She was currently off to check out the meet-and-greets which continued to be a resounding success. No unfortunate incidents had been noted to date. Although, with a couple of spontaneous Tunings occurring in two of the meeting sites, increasingly large groups of hopeful bystanders now showed up on meeting dates. Larissa and Camelia had raised the number of guards roaming among the crowd to keep the elbowing for position to a minimum.
Over a hundred couples had formed, at different stages of commitment, since the meet-and
-greets had begun a month ago. So far, none of the more serious ones seemed eager to move to Haven. It was understandable. Being the only male in a new world in the process of being built would be daunting to anyone—myself included.
With the amazing results shown by Minh’s test groups, and my own unborn child’s stable health, we had reason to believe a wonderful announcement would be made in the not too distant future. Two dozen Sisters had already exchanged vows with their chosen Xelixian mates and indicated they would attend the next Fastening Ceremony to make it official. With the probable pregnancies that would follow, a couple of Veredian healers had come to Xelix Prime. They intended to learn everything Minh had discovered over the past three years, from Veredian-Xelixian pregnancies to general Xelixian healthcare so that they could adequately tend to any Xelixian male that could eventually move to Haven.
All this had created a new problem for Khel and me to tackle for the military. Lhor and Zhul were jointly working on a motion to put before the Council catering to the civilian cases.
True to their word, the Veredians had given priority to heavily Tainted males during the meet & greets. Those males either worked for the military or performed hard labor, often of a dangerous nature. These males never could have for a mate, let alone offspring. With the paternal bond requirement, these males could no longer put themselves at risk once their mate was with child. This meant revisiting labor law and military assignments to make sure their working conditions were adapted accordingly and that their employers didn’t use this as an excuse to either lower their wages or fire them.
Furthermore, a handful of Tuureans had expressed the desire to join the First Division to stay with their mates. Those females had proven themselves our equals on the battlefield. Still, Xelix Prime never had females or families as part of the military. At least, there hadn’t been any since the advent of the Taint generations ago. Our infrastructure didn’t support it. But with Veredian females of the Warrior breed choosing to settle on Xelix Prime, the likelihood of more requests was high enough for us to take steps to address it.
