by S. E. Weir
“You’re wasting time. Let’s go.”
Terland reluctantly followed, his mind working overtime to figure out a way to extricate himself. Unfortunately, nothing came to mind that wouldn’t cause him to go on the run, which was a sure-fire way to get caught and killed. He tried to calm down. Velof might not know what he had been doing, so he might be fine. No need to cause problems when there were none.
He gradually let go of the tension in his body and strove to act normally.
All too soon, Terland realized they were not heading toward Velof’s office. They were headed toward the interrogation and torture room Velof had installed when the Governing Center had been renovated to its current glorious state. His nerves ramped up to overwhelm him as Gaudin stopped in front of the door and opened it.
Terland reluctantly entered, still hoping he might be there as guard rather than a participant. Unfortunately, the sight that greeted him rendered his hopes to dust.
“Come in, Terland.”
Velof stood tall and imposing in his gleaming armor, which was polished to a piercing shine, and his cape rested flat behind him, as dark as ink. The contrast between them had been chosen to cause Velof’s opponents to feel uneasy. The Jeskir was handsome enough for a Balderian male, with his dark fringe of hair around the crown of his ribbed and armored head. Velof held his helm under one arm and his signature hagrund, a stylized battle-axe, in the other.
Terland swallowed hard. Velof didn’t dress in his full-body protection unless he was showing himself in public or making an example of someone. Given their location, Terland couldn’t mistake this situation for anything else but what it was; Velof intended to kill him. Terland’s lack of armor would make it easy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the other guards had lined the wall to watch.
A hand shoved him inside, causing him to stumble a few steps.
Yes, he was going to die.
He had seen the same scene enacted too many times to mistake this for anything else. Terland drew himself up and stood straight. He wouldn’t beg or ask for a different outcome since it would make no difference. He would keep his honor as a Balderian warrior intact.
“Where did you find him?”
“Outside the command center door, Jeskir Velof.”
The Jeskir’s eyes narrowed. “Had he been inside?”
“No, Jeskir Velof. He knocked on the door as I walked up and said he was looking for me.”
Terland sighed in relief as Velof waved Gaudin out the door and turned to Terland, viewing him with dark, glittering eyes, his face devoid of expression. When he spoke, his voice was deceptively soft but held sharp menace.
“Do you have anything to say?”
Terland met the Jeskir’s gaze, knowing he had nothing to lose now. He only wished he had been able to save more money for his mother. Leaving her was his only regret.
“Only that you’re a backstabbing, money-grabbing, honorless excuse for a Baldere, and you aren’t worth the homage paid to you. You’re no better than a petty crime lord.”
Velof’s face turned dark as he took a step and backhanded Terland, the spikes on his armored hand connecting with the side of Terland’s face before he staggered back. Deep-violet blood dripped to the floor from the punctures.
“I was going to kill you since you obviously haven’t the stomach to align with our goals.” Velof hefted the hagrund, playing with the handle as he glared his ire and spoke harshly. “But now, I’m going to take you apart piece by piece.”
Terland didn’t bother raising a hand to touch his face. Still standing straight, he continued his diatribe. “You want us to see you as this great leader, but you’re nothing but a wannabe hack with delusions of grandeur.”
Velof’s mouth curled in a snarl as he hefted his hagrund and sliced it across Terland’s middle. Without armor of any kind, Terland had no way to prevent it. Purple warmth cascaded down his body and over his hand as he pressed it against the wound. Baldere were strong and stoic warriors, but no male wanted to see his insides on the outside of his body. He fell to his knees, but he didn’t stop his verbal defiance even though his voice dropped in weakness from blood loss.
“Just like you to be armored with weapons while your opponent has no armor or weapon to defend himself. You’ll die as you lived, Velof—a two-bit male that wouldn’t know…what to do with a female…if he had one. A trumped-up bully…with no honor.”
Velof howled his anger as he rushed forward, swinging and hacking. Darkness threatened to pull Terland under.
“Traitor,” he whispered hoarsely and heard Velof bellow. Something hit his head, and he knew no more.
Velof turned away from the broken and mangled body and reached for the towel Torel held out to him. His chest was still heaving from the emotions the filthy maggot had elicited with his spew of words before he had been ended.
The Jeskir’s thoughts were still too volatile to put into words. After mopping his face and hands while a guard knelt and wiped the blood off his spiked and armored feet, he hooked his hagrund onto his belt and beckoned to the female to follow.
He strode ahead of her, thinking only of the slurs that had been thrown in his face. Out of all of them, only one accusation haunted his thoughts. So much so that instead of entering his office, he moved past it, heading for another room.
After entering, he turned around to see Torel’s eyes light with anticipation, a knowing smirk playing on her lips. Silently, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward, then tossed her on the bed. Without taking his eyes off her, he began to peel off his armor, dropping it on the floor piece by piece as he stalked forward.
Wordlessly pulling Torel’s armor off and dumping it on the floor behind him, his movements grew rough and hard. She began to moan and move under him as he tried to ignore the name of a different female that pounded through his head.
One he had tried for years to forget.
Chapter Six
QBBS Meredith Reynolds, Waters Residence
“Hi, Phina!” Her aunt smiled brightly, seeming eager to see her.
“Hi, Aunt Faith,” she responded cautiously as she paused in the doorway, not sure how to react.
“Why don’t you come sit? It’s been ages since we’ve talked.”
Phina stood staring and blinking at her Aunt Faith in disbelief. The difficult woman had been giving her the silent treatment for the past three weeks. However, the scientist was scheduled to leave the next day, a fact Phina only knew because there had been a note about it on the kitchen counter a week ago. The lack of interaction didn’t bother Phina. In fact, she was relieved. Her aunt viewed it as punishment; she wanted Phina to think about what she had done wrong and change her mind. Phina, however, wouldn’t change her mind since she didn’t think she was in the wrong. Even so, as time ran out with the silence unbroken between them, Phina’s stress level had increased.
Although Phina avoided her aunt, she had also celebrated Alina’s birthday and being an adult, talked to ADAM, and trained with Maxim. Occasionally, Alina had watched, or Drk-vaen came in to help train. Alina had become busy with her plans to pursue fashion, and Drk-vaen had a few other friends and responsibilities he had mysteriously alluded to, so he didn’t hang out with Maxim all the time.
Her workouts had increased as she grew stronger. Maxim had taught Phina that first takedown as a quick way to neutralize someone in self-defense, but now they were “going back to basics,” as he called it. She only knew her muscles were tired of repeating the same punch and kick motions over and over, even though she knew it was necessary to learn.
Phina had messaged back and forth with Anna Elizabeth about her new classes. She had grown to appreciate the elegant woman’s calm assurances and practicality and found herself looking forward to beginning classes.
She had also spent more time with ADAM, who she discovered to be an amazing fount of old Earth movie and show quotes. Occasionally they watched one he recommended “together” while he explained all the Earth th
ings she didn’t understand. Those times were a delight in the middle of the stress she felt at home.
But now, the day before Aunt Faith left and three days before classes started, her aunt finally broke her silence. Phina had come home after another training session to find her aunt sitting in a chair in the living room waiting for her. She had stopped cold, her mouth dry and her heart pounding harder, wondering if Aunt Faith would yell at her again. But she hadn’t; she was acting as if nothing had happened.
Aunt Faith frowned at her when Phina hesitated too long. She sat down, then kicked herself for doing so since it showed she might yet follow her aunt’s directives. Still, it was only one more day, and then her aunt would be gone for a while. Phina could put up with anything for that amount of time.
“So, tell me what you’ve been up to, Phina.”
“Well, I’ve been training a lot lately, learning martial arts, and I’m looking forward to my classes starting in a few days.”
Aunt Faith’s demeanor darkened. “So, you refuse to change your mind about coming with me.”
Phina took a deep breath as she shook her head. “I will not be going with you.”
That went over like a lead balloon. However, her aunt just pressed her lips together and continued the conversation as if Phina hadn’t said a word. Even though this had occurred often over the last seven years, Phina still didn’t understand how Aunt Faith could ignore everything and act like it never happened. If only ADAM were here to make random comments about her aunt or joke about how bad things could have been.
Sometime later, she finally escaped to her room.
“She just ignored the tension between you? Again?” Alina’s disbelief smoothed Phina’s feelings, allowing her to move past the present and consider the larger whole she couldn’t see before.
“Yes. I think I just need to let this go.”
“What? In what world would letting this go be the best idea?” Phina’s friend’s voice rose in volume and intensity in her implant, and she smiled at the warm feeling she received from Alina’s outrage on her behalf. “She’s being completely unreasonable! How is tearing you away from everything you know and your best friend what is right for you? I still don’t understand how she could think that.”
“Because she’s leaving tomorrow. If I don’t let this go, it will eat at me, and I’ll just stew on it. Yes, she hurt me, and yes, I’m angry, and yes, I’m completely fed up with her doing this, but dwelling on it isn’t going to do me any good. Nothing I do or say now is going to change her at this point.”
Phina didn’t know if it was the healthiest decision, but right now, it was the sane one. Alina grumbled about it for a while but admitted Phina had a point.
The next day, Phina helped Aunt Faith by pulling the transport cart containing her luggage to the spaceport. Alina walked with her, chatting amicably with Aunt Faith while they were on the tram to cover over the awkwardness, despite her offended feelings on Phina’s behalf. Phina couldn’t have loved the girl more if she were her own sister, and this act warmed her bruised heart.
After a quick hug from her aunt with a reminder to behave and message her often, Phina and Alina waved her off. Once they returned to the apartment that was now solely Phina’s, she realized a huge weight had been lifted from her. She felt free—amazingly, wonderfully free. Stunned speechless by this revelation, Phina didn’t hear Alina speaking as the young woman sat down cross-legged on the couch.
“What?”
“Are you all right, Phina?” Alina’s beautiful face frowned and concern shone from her eyes.
Phina nodded in disbelief as she sank onto the other side of the couch. “I think so. I really do think I am.”
“Then what’s going on in your head?”
“Do you want to move in here with me?” Phina blinked in surprise since that hadn’t been what was in her mind, but since she liked the idea, she didn’t correct it.
Alina grew silent and thoughtful. Phina knew it would be a change to move into a smaller place, but hopefully, her friend wouldn’t need to bring everything with her. Then again, this was Alina. She had two closets and a dresser overflowing with clothes. After another wordless moment passed, Phina shrugged. “Just think about it. I don’t see Aunt Faith coming back very often, so it will be open.”
“I’ll think about it for sure.” Alina nodded, her smile wobbling. “Part of me still hopes my parents will pay attention to me if I’m there in the apartment with them. It’s a child’s dream, and I know I need to let that go myself, but I need a little more time.”
Phina nodded and moved closer to give her friend a hug, though she was outraged on her friend’s behalf. Alina’s parents were successful in their jobs and appeared to love each other very much, but when it came to Alina, there seemed to be a disconnect. Perhaps it was because they were both very serious-minded and didn’t seem to know what to do with a girl who loved fashion more than anything practical, but to Phina, that shouldn’t matter. A parent should love their child no matter what and show them every day, even if the parent had to adjust their expectations. Phina had avoided Alina’s parents as much as possible ever since she’d told them off for missing Alina’s birthday for the third year in a row when she was sixteen. She didn’t want to make things more difficult for her best friend. “Of course. You can have all the time you want.”
Alina flashed her a thankful smile that turned mischievous as she sat back.
“So, who’s Adam? Have you been hiding a boyfriend from me?”
“What?” The suddenness of the question caused Phina to freeze in mid-motion, arm and leg sticking out at awkward angles. She imagined ADAM’s laugh in her ear if he had heard Alina, which caused her to smile a little too much.
Alina gasped in shock. “Oh, my stars! You have been hiding a boyfriend from me!”
The smile dropped as Phina shook her head so quickly she felt like she got whiplash. “No!”
“Why wouldn’t you tell me? Don’t you think I want you to be happy?” Her friend’s face crumpled in hurt.
Phina quickly changed her position, getting her legs under her so she could lean forward and hold Alina’s hands. “Look at me.” Pained blue eyes did so, and Phina shook her head slowly as she spoke.
“I do not have a boyfriend. I hesitated because I was trying to figure out how you knew about him. ADAM is a great new friend, but a friend only. If I ever do find myself in possession of a boyfriend, you will be the first to know after me and the poor sap himself. All right? Whether it’s next year or in twenty years, you will be the first to know.”
“Twenty years!” Alina’s eyes widened in shock. “You can’t wait twenty years! What about kissing? Or…or sex? You can’t wait twenty years for that!”
Phina laughed, finding it a welcome release after the past weeks of tension.
Alina giggled and continued long after Phina had gotten hold of herself. “I’m serious, Phina! You can’t wait that long! It’s unconstitutional!”
Phina shook her head, smiling. “We don’t have a constitution, remember? We live in a benevolent dictatorship.”
“Well, I’m sure Empress Bethany Anne would agree with me!”
Making a face, Phina shook her head. “That’s just what I need. Walking up to Bethany Anne, the Empress of the entire Etheric Empire, and asking her opinion on my sex life. She would probably look at me like I’m crazy.”
Alina triumphantly pointed out, “You can’t have a sex life if you aren’t having sex!”
Phina rolled her eyes as she smiled. “Fine. Can I at least wait ‘til I find someone I like first?”
The blonde girl playfully pursed her lips in thought. “Sure. But if it takes too long, don’t be surprised if I start throwing guys at you.”
Phina shuddered. She didn’t even want to think about what those men might be like. Not that Alina had poor taste, but she tended to think more about the aesthetics than the substance, Maxim notwithstanding. “I’ll take that under advisement.”
She leaned over to Alina and held out her fist. “Phinalina forever?”
Alina laughed, which filled Phina with relief. “Of course, silly! Phinalina forever!” She bumped her fist to Phina’s before lifting it and miming fireworks, causing Phina to laugh and Alina to grin before sinking back in her seat.
“So, who is Adam? Oh, and I know about him because I heard you talking to him when you got to my house on your birthday.”
“You’ve known about him for almost three weeks and didn’t say anything?” Phina’s eyebrows rose high. Alina rarely sat on something that long before mentioning it. The young woman gave her an affronted pout.
“Well, I thought he was your first boyfriend, and I’ve been waiting for you to tell me all about him! Why do you think I got so upset? Now I know he isn’t your boyfriend, but I still want to know who he is, so tell me.”
Alina leaned forward eagerly while Phina explained who ADAM was, his part in their adventure, and the support he had given her over the past few weeks. Alina grew more shocked. “Why didn’t you tell me about him?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really have a good reason.”
Alina eyed her, then nodded knowingly. “I think you just wanted to keep him to yourself for a while. He’s really the first friend you’ve made aside from me, and I don’t count since we met when we were babies. I don’t think you knew how to handle it, so you just didn’t say anything.”
Phina stared at Alina in surprise, then slowly nodded. “That’s probably true.”
“So, can I meet him?”
Not needing any convincing, Phina pinged ADAM as he had shown her weeks before.
>>Hello, Phina.<<
She greeted him, told him the situation, and asked if he had time to talk for a while. He agreed, greeting Alina through the speaker in the room.
“Hello, Alina. I’m pleased to meet you.”
She moved past her astonishment quicker than Phina expected. It was one thing to know about an AI in the abstract and quite another to speak to one personally.
