by L P Peace
Sophia sat up and placed a hand on Ronin’s shoulder. ‘Hey, you don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to.’
Ronin looked at her.
‘Or we can pick this up later. Or not at all. I’m all for whatever you want.’
The look Ronin gave her was filled with an intensity that prickled awareness across Sophia’s skin. Finally, he stood. ‘Let’s get the atoll ready. Then I will take you into the lagoon and we can fish.’
Sophia held out a hand. Ronin took it and pulled her to her feet.
Now standing, she took a look at the island. It was little more than a sandy beach with a few trees. But in one area, there was a large container filled with driftwood.
‘Everyone who comes collects the driftwood they find and fills the store. We are also expected to take our rubbish with us. There is disposal in the carriage just for that.’
‘Okay, so we’re going to have a fire for heat and light?’
Ronin nodded.
‘Okay, you build the fire. I’ll check what we have in the packs, set us up an area around it. We can light it when we get back?’
Ronin smiled down at her. He was doing that more and more, and every time now, her stomach flipped at the sight of it.
‘Let’s go,’ Sophia said, taking a step forward and tripping over the flippers she was still wearing and had forgotten about.
She flopped towards the sand, twisting to try and land on her ass. Instead, she found herself in Ronin’s arms, staring up at him as he stared down at her. His eyes dipped to her lips, and Sophia’s heart stopped, the moment freezing time until she was willing him to cross those final inches to kiss her.
Instead, he stood, spinning her around and setting her on her feet. When she looked up at him, his eyes had dipped to her lips. When they found hers once more, there were so many emotions there; they clashed across his face and in his eyes until she could only conclude that Ronin was deep in some inner battle. He turned and crossed the sand to the wood store, leaving Sophia staring after him.
Letting out a disappointed sigh, Sophia sank to the sand, removed her flippers, and began rummaging through the packs for supplies.
‘Five fish!’ Sophia shouted as she slipped the breather off her face. She held out the five fish, skewered on the spear with victory.
Ronin held up his own. ‘Eight.’
Sophia felt immediately deflated. ‘Good job your mom leant us that cooler thingy,’ Sophia said, heading up the sand to the shore.
The lagoon was rich with life. Most of the atoll was around twenty feet deep, though there were plenty of patch reefs making tiny islets within the lagoon. Sophia looked out and imagined that once there had been an island standing here, at least a couple of miles across from the size of the atoll. The islets had probably once been peaks on one of the highest hills. She laughed as she kicked off her flippers.
‘I love it here!’ she shouted, running towards the small piece of beach they’d claimed as their HQ. She dropped into the sand and pulled the fish off the spear onto the small unfolding table Ronin had carried onto the island. ‘I’ll prep the fish. You do the fire.’
Ronin stabbed his spear into the sand beside her and sat cross-legged on the other side of the unlit fire.
Sophia’s eyes drifted to the glowing spots on his skin. She wondered how they’d look in the dark. At least she couldn’t lose him here.
While the sun was hot, a gentle breeze took the edge off and made it pleasant. Sophia had sprayed herself down with a sunblock thoughtfully provided by Ronin’s mother, used by offworlders and Kerisian children, so she was able to sit out and enjoy the day. Looking out over the ocean, she let the sound of the gentle waves wash over her and felt some of the stress bleeding away. There was still so much for her to do, but somehow, it felt more manageable with Ronin at her side.
‘Ronin?’
Sophia looked up to find a Kerisian female standing on the sand, almost naked. She looked from Ronin to Sophia. A look of pure hostility crossed her face, before leaving her expression as quickly as it came. She turned a smile back on Ronin.
‘Ronin,’ she said with a welcoming smile, taking a few steps towards him.
‘What do you want, Kisla?’ Ronin had stood up as soon as he heard her voice. Now, as the female tried to approach him, he took three steps back.
‘I wanted to see you. I heard you were home and that you have a new contract directly with IGC yourself. I’m so proud of you, Ronin.’ She took another few steps forward, and Ronin matched them, still moving away. The female, Kisla, stopped and turned her hostile eyes back on Sophia. ‘And who is this?’
‘She is none of your concern.’
‘She is on an island with my male, I would say that is very much my concern.’
‘Ha!’ Ronin’s barked laughter drew Kisla’s attention back to him. ‘You and I haven’t been anything in five solars, not since I lost my contact with Insagence. You have no right to come here and demand we continue now.’
‘We choose the males,’ Kisla said, a confused look on her face, she turned back to Sophia. ‘Unless you’ve been chosen by her,’ she hissed.
‘Whether or not—’
‘He has.’ Sophia wasn’t aware she was going to say it until the words popped out of her mouth, but the look of shock on Kisla’s face was worth it.
‘He is mine!’ Kisla marched forward, her fists clenched at her side. ‘I will not give him up to some weak, sex toy human.’
Sophia dropped the fish she was prepping and stood to her full height, charging to meet Kisla in the middle. Kisla stopped short, shocked that a ‘weak, sex toy human’ would meet her challenge.
Sophia did not stop. She marched over to Kisla, who was only a few inches taller than Sophia was and stared her dead in the eye.
‘I won’t swing first,’ Sophia said. ‘But I’m a trained fighter and if you swing at me, I won’t hold back.’
Kisla took a few steps back, her green skin paler.
‘Ronin has been claimed, and whatever you think of humans, we don’t cast claimed people aside.’
Kisla flinched. She looked over Sophia’s shoulder to Ronin, who seemed to be glued to the spot.
‘Time for you to leave,’ Sophia said, taking another step towards Kisla.
Kisla took a few steps back.
‘Ronin?’ She stared at him.
‘It’s time for you to leave, Kisla.’ His voice was resolute.
The Kerisian female turned, pure hatred on her face when she looked at Sophia. She walked towards the water and disappeared under the waves.
Sophia watched the water for a minute before returning to her task. She was cutting open one of the fish when she realised Ronin still hadn’t moved. He was staring at the water, a stricken look on his face.
‘Ronin? Did I fuck up? Did you want her here?’
He looked at Sophia and shook his head, an action so brief she could have missed it was she not paying attention.
‘No.’ He smiled at her, then sat back down and got on with starting a fire. ‘Kisla is a part of my history.’
When Ronin offered nothing more, Sophia decided to leave him to his thoughts. She continued preparing the fish, trying to ignore the ache in her chest.
Ronin’s mind was still spinning as they ate. Thanks to his family, the fish had been flavoured with herbs and spices grown in their garden and accompanied by ready-softened chovra and a green-leafed vegetable called paka. It was a simple, hearty meal and one of Ronin’s favourites.
He was still shaken by Kisla’s appearance on the island. More, he was stunned by his reaction when Sophia told her she had claimed him. He knew she was simply saying it to get rid of Kisla, but it had only added to the fire growing inside him.
He looked at her. The blue-green flames from the driftwood fire separated them. She carefully picked through the flesh of the fish she was eating, biting the tender meat before sucking on her thumb and forefinger, then going in for another bite. She had a small rock at h
er side and picked out the fish's bones as she ate.
‘One of my friends on Endurance, the ship you found me on, Tara, she sings to herself when she eats.’ She looked up at him, the black of her pupils meeting his eyes, humour lit them, flames danced within and a smiled play on her full lips. ‘She has a song for fish, but only the really oily kind. She doesn’t like fish that isn’t oily.’ Sophia giggled. ‘I love watching her bop to the songs she sings in her head. When we’re in public, she looks crazy. People stare at her, and she doesn’t give a damn.’
‘Doesn’t she look crazy all the time?’
‘I guess she does.’ Sophia shrugged. ‘Just I don’t care. I enjoy watching her.’ She smiled again, wider, her full lips still full despite being stretched across her teeth.
Ronin’s guts twisted at the way Sophia moved, the way she smiled, the way she bit her food with her flat teeth. The humour in her eyes left him grinning at her like a vashni. The way her lips moved as she talked tightened something deep inside his groin, and he was forced to suppress the groan that wanted to erupt out of him.
Ronin knew he was attracted to her from the beginning, but it had grown into a need. The end felt inevitable, and instead of the expected dread, Ronin anticipated it. If she’d have him.
There was something about Sophia that disarmed him. It shut down his mind, swept away everything he thought he knew about the world and made things he’d taken for granted new and exciting. But he hadn’t realised… hadn’t considered how far it was going, how much it was growing until his father had explained. Now, here in this place, it was demanding his full attention and demanding something more.
‘I wish I hadn’t thought of that.’ Sophia sighed. ‘Now I’m going to wonder what happened to her. Where she is. If the kind of things that happened to Rosie are happening to her. And Zoe. And Addison. And—’
‘We’re going to save your world, Sophia. Then, we’ll save them. I promise.’
Sophia’s eyes had fallen to the fire, to the wood, which the flames blackened and burned. Now she looked back up into his eyes with a half-hearted smile and let out a deep breath. ‘I know,’ she said, though he could see she didn’t believe it.
They went back to eating. A comfortable, contemplative silence fell between them. Ronin’s eyes never left her face for long.
It was hard, in the wake of her visit, not to compare Sophia to Kisla.
Kisla was the little sister of one of Ronin’s comrades at Insagence. Veidan was closer to Faban, the leader of their unit, than Ronin. When the events of Tessa had taken place, he stood firmly with the company to see Ronin fired and disgraced.
But even before his official disgrace, Kisla had broken up with him.
Kisla brought with her a certain status. She and her brother were from a wealthy family, much like his own. She was the heir to the property, and so any children Ronin had with her would be secure. It was a constant source of worry for Ronin that his little Calla would end up like Catielle. His aunt had been unable to attract a male to father her children because he would have to help her make a home that he would never be allowed to stay in. Catielle desperately wanted a family, but over the solars and rejections, she had become more withdrawn. Now she rarely went out anymore and a shroud of sadness had settled over her.
Her only hope was to attract an only male child. Being the mother of his children, she would then inherit his family’s home. But there was more to it than that for Catielle. She wanted what her sister, Ronin’s mother, had. She wanted a life mate, not just a father for her children. Their society's problem was that their ways were now so ingrained, even though it meant the males' expulsion from their children’s homes, that they fought to keep everything as it was.
Ronin had seen Kisla as a secure mother for his children, but it had been little more than that. In truth, Kisla was spoilt, demanding, and difficult to be around. Ronin was supposed to move into her family home while they had children. He’d put it off, pushing it on and citing his job with Insagence as the reason. The truth was, the idea of living with Kisla for any length of time left him feeling tired. By the time Kisla called it off, he was almost relieved.
Ronin was staring at his plate. He turned his eyes on Sophia. Her plate sat on her lap, her face was turned into the breeze and her eyes were closed.
Where Kisla had acted bored with everything, as though she had lived and seen it all a hundred times, Sophia discovered everything anew in every detail. It was like every time was the first time. She bathed in every sense, acting as though it was a treat gifted just for her, just for this moment.
Where Kisla talked about how boring, dull, and disgusting everything was, Sophia found delight in the small actions of those around her. She cared about people. It wasn’t an act that was over as soon as they turned their backs.
Kisla and Sophia couldn’t have been more different.
Ronin watched the reflection of the flames dance across her skin. ‘How did you learn to do this?’ He pointed to the cooler where the rest of the fish was stored. Sophia had prepared the fish with precision.
‘Hmm?’ Sophia looked up at him, a glazed look in her eyes.
‘How did you learn to prepare fish?’
‘Ah. Well, my mamma is Spanish. We live there a lot of the time, but my dad, he’s Nigerian, which is where I get this beautiful skin tone from.’ She smoothed her hand down her arm, a flirtatious smile on her face. ‘Anyway, he works for Earth gov. We live all over the world, but when we have a chance, we return to Spain, to our home in Valencia where my mom comes from.’ Sophia flashed Ronin a smile. ‘You have no idea about any of this, do you?’
Ronin laughed. ‘No, I don’t,’ he admitted. ‘But you go ahead. I like hearing you talk.’
‘Okay. Well, once a year, there’s this big paella festival in my hometown. Paella is this traditional dish of meat, fish, rice, vegetables, and spices. Especially saffron.’
Ronin remembered her words as she stood in the cell. She’d told him she smelled of saffron. Her scent was warm, rich and earthy, with something else. Something irresistible.
‘We’re by the sea. The ships go out fishing early, and people from the village go out to hunt wild boar while women in the village pick other meats for the dish.’
‘Ah, this… pia is food?’
Sophia laughed. ‘Pah-ay-yah,’ she said slowly.
‘Piehayhehah?’
‘Argh! Light years from home and I still can’t get a decent pronunciation on paella.’ Sophia looked up into the sky as though beseeching some deity for help.
‘Pehaheeyah?’
‘Stop. Just stop. You’re butchering my language,’ Sophia said, though there was a grin on her face. Ronin realised she was playing with him, more, he found he liked it. There was an easy way about Sophia that not only made him feel easy in her presence, but it made him greedy for more time with her.
‘Anyway, everyone meets up in the town centre early. We spend the day decorating it, listening to music, dancing, and preparing food. When the fishermen come in, they begin getting everything ready while we gut and prep the fish. The hunters come back with the wild boar and butcher it.’ Sophia grinned at him, a look of pure joy on her face. ‘The whole community comes together.’
‘That sounds busy.’
‘Oh, it is. It takes days to recover.’ She laughed. ‘Or at least it has for me.’
‘I’m surprised you aren't fishing.’
‘Oh, I have been. And hunting. I’ve done everything at that festival. But mostly I like sitting with the women of the town. They sit around in big groups, and you can barely hear what’s going on. They’re all talking at once and shouting and arguing and singing, laughing, and joking.’
‘They argue?’ Ronin said, unsure how that made for fun.
‘Yeah.’ Sophia laughed. ‘Every year, my aunty Constanza brings up the same argument with mamma about some guy called Roque that neither of them have even seen in thirty years. Every time, tita has to come between them.’
>
‘Tita?’
‘Oh, Abuelita. My grandmother. My mamma’s mother. Anyway, last time she told me she’s just going to let them go at each other one of these years and run a book, see how much money she can make from it.’
‘She would gamble on the outcome of a physical altercation between her daughters?’
Sophia cackled, her eyes closing tight, her mouth opening. ‘No!’ she said, still laughing. ‘No. She’s kidding. I know she’s kidding.’
‘Kidding? Joking?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Your world is very strange,’ Ronin said.
‘Yeah. Yeah, it is.’ Sophia was nodding, that proud smile back on her face.
‘I want to mate with you,’ Ronin said. The words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. As soon as they were out, he knew he’d made his choice. He didn’t want there to be another moment of his life where Sophia was not his mate.
Sophia looked up at him, a startled look on her face before it softened and the beginnings of a smile appeared.
‘But if I do…’ Ronin scratched the spots, the markings that glowed gold against his skin even now. ‘If we do, we’ll bond.’
‘What do you mean?’ Sophia asked, her voice husky. A new scent was in the air, and Ronin felt his groin tighten.
‘These marks.’ He waved his hand over his stomach. ‘They only appeared when I met you. My father explained… they mark me as a throwback.’
‘Throwback?’
‘Kerisian males used to have this thousands of solars ago. They’re a conduit, from my body to the female my body recognises as mine.’ Ronin sighed. ‘Female Kerisians never bonded. Instead, the marks transfer hormones, markers, pheromones. They change the female’s body and bond her to that one male. For life.’
There was a surprised look on Sophia’s face, but there was something more. Need. Desire. Want.
Sophia stood and walked around the fire. Dropping to her knees in front of him, she captured his lips with hers.
A part of Ronin wanted to stop her. Instead, he closed his arms around her and pulled her tighter. She offered herself freely. He’d be a vashni to turn her down.
