by Lili Zander
“Bless your heart,” Paige says fervently. “You want a cup, Felicity?”
She sounds friendly. For a change, I don’t allow myself to second-guess the gesture. “Yes, please.”
She heads to the counter and pours coffee into two mugs. Our camps blend well together. Arax’s camp has indoor toilets, which is a big win, but because of Zunix’s syn, there are now things like mugs, new clothes, and softer linens.
Arax gets to his feet just as Paige returns to the table. “A lot has happened in the last two days,” he says. “And I know everyone’s nervous.” He smiles slightly. “I remember arriving on the prison planet,” he says. “The first day, we were attacked by dwals. The first night, by the hairus. I remember thinking that surviving this world was impossible.” He looks around the room. “And yet, here we are, sixty years later.”
Several people are nodding.
“We did it,” Arax continues, “By working together.” His gaze sweeps over everyone once again, and this time, his expression is stern.
“It’s been almost a month since we combined forces with our fellow-exiles. Some of you haven’t been as welcoming as I would have liked.” Really? They’ve seemed pretty damn welcoming. “Some of you are still holding a grudge from our skirmish.” He straightens his shoulders, and his voice grows hard. “As of today, all of that is over. We are facing the might of the High Empire. If we don’t work together, we do not have a chance.”
I guess the ability to make a speech like this is part of the training to be High Emperor, but it’s still pretty damn impressive.
“I want to welcome Dariux to our camp,” Arax says. “And thank him for bringing the med-kit to us. Because of that, the soldier is going to make it. Vulrux has put him in a healing coma for a week, but once he awakens, he should be a valuable source of information.”
Nyx says something to Arax in a low voice, and Arax nods quickly. “I also want to thank Luddux, Xanthox, and Felicity for bringing Dariux here.”
Oh. I feel heat rise on my face. “I didn’t do anything,” I mutter to the people at the table. “I just went along for the ride.”
May rolls her eyes. “Felicity, you’re terrible at accepting compliments, has anyone ever told you that?”
Arax looks around for silence, and we shut up. “Now for the plans,” he says. “Dariux and Zunix have convinced me that we need a place to hide, and I agree with him. Keeping our mates safe is our first priority.”
Arax has clearly forgiven Dariux for the kidnapping and hostage attempt. Good for him. Dariux makes a much better friend than enemy.
“But we also need to find Raiht’vi, and we need to keep patrolling in case we find more ships, crashed or intact.” His lips lift. “And of course, there are our regular chores. We need to hunt and fish and prepare food for the rainy season. Someone still needs to feed Beirax. Dariux tells me that nine new Draekons will be joining our camp, and we’ll need to find somewhere for them to sleep. I have a long list of tasks for everyone.”
It’s a good thing I got some last night. At the rate things are going, I’m not getting any more sexy-times for a while.
Chatter breaks out. Arax lets people talk for a while, and then lifts his hand for silence. “We are all going to be busy,” he says. “But we will prevail. I’m sure of it.”
Task lists in hand, everyone heads in different directions after breakfast. Thankfully, the first chore on Lud, Xan, and my lists is the same one—getting Bolox, Narix, Runnax, and the nine estranged Draekons to the camp. “That’s going to take at least two trips,” Zunix says apologetically. “But I can’t do anything about it. What with patrols and finding a new home, anyone that can fly is pretty booked up.”
“We can handle it,” Xan says easily. “I’m going to stock up on provisions before we leave. We’re not going to have time to hunt and fish. Felicity, do you need to pack anything?”
I shake my head. “I left everything back at our house. I’m ready to leave whenever you are.”
“I need to have a quick talk with Thrax first,” Lud says abruptly, turning on his heel and wheeling away to follow the other man.
Huh. He sounds stressed. “What’s going on?” I ask Xan. “Is everything okay with Lud?”
“You should ask him that,” he says quietly. He exhales. “This is the worst time for everything to happen,” he murmurs.
A prickle of unease runs down my spine as he walks away to deal with our food. What’s going on? Lud’s in low-voiced conversation with Thrax and Xan is definitely looking stressed about it.
Before I can start to fret—again—Viola comes up to me. “Can I talk to you for a second, Felicity? In private?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
She leads me to a deserted corner of the dining hall. “I owe you an apology,” she says, coming right to the point.
“Huh?”
She grimaces. “I’ve barely said two words to you ever since you got here,” she says. “Surely you noticed.”
“I thought you didn’t like me.” I shrug. “Not everyone does.”
She looks confused. “It had nothing to do with you,” she replies. “I was angry with Luddux.” Her lips twist. “He burned Nyx, and I’ve been holding a grudge. And he’s your mate, so…” Her voice trails off. “Anyway. I’ve pieced together enough of the story to know that what went down wasn’t Luddux’s fault. Belfox and Herrix are the mustache-twirling evil villains in this story. In any case, I had no business letting how I felt about Luddux affect the way I treat you. I’m really sorry.”
Today’s turning out to be a very surreal day. “Okay. No harm done.”
“Why did you think I don’t like you?”
I wince. “I was kinda a bitch toward Olivia,” I murmur. “I said some catty things.”
She snorts. “Please. We’ve all said catty things about Olivia. Don’t get me wrong—I like Olivia now that she’s not being the world’s biggest ditz, but come on. She was so fucking annoying when she was pretending to be a bimbo. Harper and I wanted to smack her.” She flutters her eyelashes and pitches her voice high. “Umm, excuse me, I don’t know how to stick this translator in my ear, even though it’s perfectly obvious.”
I laugh, surprised at Viola’s candor. “Harper doesn’t like me either,” I point out. “She thinks I judged her for eating fries or something.”
She rolls her eyes. “Yesterday,” she says with exaggerated patience, “Harper spent an hour in tears because Raiht’vi’s syn gave her curly fries instead of crinkle-cut fries. A full hour. Vulrux eventually had to give her a sedative to calm her down. Harper’s great, but my God, she’s a hormonal mess right now. About the only thing that puts her in a good mood is sex.”
Good to know that’s what I have to look forward to in a few months.
I take a deep breath and smile tentatively at Viola. It’s time I started making friends. “Hey, when all of this is over, do you want to get a drink or something? The guys make this brandy-like thing out of berries, and it’s really good.” Not that I’ll be drinking any of it, not until the baby is born.
She grins. “You had me at booze.”
17
Luddux
PRESENT…
I corner Thrax just as he’s about to take off to go drop supplies for Beirax. “The communicator,” I say urgently. “Were you able to find one?”
He shakes his head. “I’m sorry, Luddux. There were three on the ship, but they were all smashed to bits. If I had spare parts, I might be able to fix one of them, but unfortunately, Zunix’ syn can’t generate tech parts.”
No. I already knew that. That had been one of the first questions I’d asked Zunix when we’d been exiled.
“I even went back to Fehrat 1,” he adds. “I went through every inch of the wreckage, but someone smashed every communication device. Raiht’vi, probably.”
Yes. If the scientist is trying to hide from the High Emperor, she would have made sure to destroy all the tech.
The small flicker of
hope in my chest is extinguished. My daughter will die, and the only thing she’ll know about her father was that he hadn’t cared enough to help her.
“Thank you for trying.”
He pats my back, his expression sympathetic. He doesn’t ask why I want a communicator, and for that, I’m grateful beyond measure. “I’m sorry, Luddux,” he says again.
Life is bittersweet. This morning, I’d woken up next to Felicity’s naked body, her limbs tangled up in mine. She was smiling at me again, talking to me, kissing me, her lips soft and warm. Things had been rocky between us for weeks, but when I’d opened my eyes, I could almost forget that our relationship had ever been in trouble.
I’m sorry, Mar’vi. I failed you in every way that matters.
“There’s one more thing we can try,” he says thoughtfully.
I look up. “What’s that?”
“Dariux’s ThoughtVault,” he says. “It works perfectly, doesn’t it? I can salvage parts from it.”
I look up. “Can you do it without damaging the ThoughtVault?”
Thrax shakes his head. “I doubt it.”
Disappointment fills me. Dariux won’t give up the ThoughtVault. He’s searching for something, and the records in the ThoughtVault are part of the puzzle. He’ll never risk anything happening to it.
There’s nothing I can do.
We fly back to Lake Ang. Felicity is with Xanthox and I, of course, and so is Dariux. “Most of the nine exiles in the sea camp don’t know you,” he points out. “Why do you think they’d trust you if you show up out of the blue, telling them about a threat from the High Empire?”
He has a valid point, and though I want to protest, I hold my tongue.
There’s still a few hours to dusk when we land. We find Bolox, Narix, and Runnax, and tell them to pack and be ready to evacuate in the next day. “Just the essentials,” Dariux warns. “One pack only.”
The three men, already forewarned when we came to get Dariux’s med-kit nod solemnly. “We’re ready,” Bolox says. “We can leave whenever.”
“Good.” Dariux turns to Xanthox and me. “How tired are you?” he asks. “If you can still fly, we should head east to the sea camp and warn the nine others. If we hurry, we can get there and back before dusk.”
He’s right. Time is of the essence. One ship has already crashed. A thousand others could be on their way. We must get everyone together as soon as possible.
“Let’s go,” Xanthox says.
I turn to Felicity with a smile. “Feel like another flight? Or do you want to stay here?”
“I’ll come with you,” she replies. “I grew up by the seaside. I want to see if the prison planet looks anything like Maine.”
Felicity rarely talks about Earth, and almost never about her family. I didn’t know she’d grown up near the water. “So did I,” I tell her. “In a small town called Vonel next to the great ocean.”
There’s so much about my mate that’s a mystery to me. Our connection had been immediate and real, but even the strongest bond needs nourishing. We should have talked more, told each other more about our lives.
Of course, I never had. Even now, I continue to hide the most important things from my mate. I’m still keeping my daughter a secret.
The sea camp, as Dariux calls it, is beautiful. The nine Draekons have made their home in small, raised huts on a pink sand beach. They come out from their homes when we land. Their expressions are hard and suspicious, and their hands are on their weapons, at least until they see Dariux. “Oh, it’s you,” one of them calls out.
I haven’t seen most of these men in sixty-five years. Five of them are Lowborn, the other four Midborn. We’d been on the same shuttle, arriving at the prison planet together. As soon as the five Lowborn realized that Herrix and Belfox expected them to do all the work, they’d left the camp. The four Midborn had left a few years after that, after a confrontation with Dariux.
There’s no sign of discord now. The men greet Dariux warmly and invite us into their homes for food and drink. They can’t take their eyes off Felicity. “A woman,” I hear one of them say, sounding awed and astonished. “On the prison planet.”
I don’t think they’re a threat to Felicity, but I move closer to her anyway, as does Xanthox. She’s ours.
Dariux declines the food. “Can you gather around?” he says. “I need to talk to all of you.”
“What is it, Dariux?”
“I’ve tried to convince you over the years to rejoin our camp,” he says. “But you’ve resisted, and I’ve respected your decision.”
He has? This is all news to me. I look around again, and I notice things. Jorix had been in rags, but these men look healthy. They’re wearing syn-made clothes, and the home we’re in is furnished comfortably. Evidence of Zunix’s syn is everywhere.
“Does Dariux visit you often?” I ask the man standing next to me, my voice low.
He nods. “About once a month,” he replies. “He comes along with the med-kit, just in case, and he brings us what he thinks we need. Small things to make our lives easier.”
“Really?” I’m beginning to see the other man in a whole new light. Dariux has always traded hard for access to the med-kit and his skimmer, but secretly, he’s been helping these nine men survive on this planet.
The man—I think his name is Vonox—nods. “We were pretty determined not to go back,” he says. “We were all sick of being ordered around by the Highborns. Herrix and Belfox, in particular, would have treated us like their servants.”
That’s true. The two Draekons had nothing but contempt for everyone without the same blood status as them. The only reason they’d approached me with the communicator was because they needed me. I was a pilot, and I could transform at will into the dragon. “They’re gone now,” I reply. “They escaped.”
“Maybe. Maybe not. Dariux thinks there’s a good chance they crashed instead. None of us can transform, so we cannot search for them.” Vonox’s eyes shine with hope. “There are women in your camp. Are any of them unmated?”
“Just two.” My tone softens, and I realize just how lucky I am to have found Felicity. “Don’t get your hopes up. Nobody understands the mating bond, not even Dariux.”
Vonox doesn’t seem fazed by my warning. “It’s a chance,” he murmurs. “And even a small ray of hope is better than none.”
In the center of the room, Dariux continues to talk to the men, convincing them to evacuate. “Arax, Firstborn of Zoraht is among the exiles,” he says.
That causes a stir. “He is?” a man asks, his tone laced with shock.
Dariux nods. “Indeed. More importantly, he’s mated now to a human woman. And,” he says, pausing for emphasis, “His pair-bond is a Lowborn. Nyx. I give you my word. Blood status doesn’t matter in this new camp. Everyone will be treated equally.”
“We can’t fight Zoraken,” he says. “You’re too isolated here. Too far away from everyone else. It’s time we worked together. Will you rejoin us?”
I look around the room. Unbelievable. Every single man is nodding. I thought this task would be difficult, but it’s far easier than I could have ever hoped.
“We start evacuating tomorrow,” Dariux says. “Pack only your most important possessions. Houses can be rebuilt. The syn will provide new clothing. One bag only. Xanthox and Luddux will be carrying you to the new camp.” He turns to look at us. “Can each of you carry two at a time?”
“Yes,” I reply.
Next to me, Felicity is half-listening to the conversation, but her eyes keep returning to the window. She’s watching the waves crash into the shore, and her expression is wistful.
I put my arm around her, and she leans into me.
For sixty-five years, Dariux has bargained hard for access to his med-kit. I thought he was greedy, and demanding payment was pointless. But it turns out that he’s been helping these nine men.
He’s an outcast, and so am I. We both know what it feels like to be judged by a single action.
>
Felicity is right. I’ve misunderstood Dariux. And if I’ve been so wrong about him, what else have I been wrong about?
When Herrix and Belfox had left, I’d been devastated. I’d lost my only chance to save my daughter. I’d been angry with Felicity for not being there that night when I needed her the most. I’d yelled at her, and for days after that, I’d brooded, barely saying two words to her.
By the time I’d reconciled myself to the situation, it was too late. Felicity had shut us out. She wasn’t talking to us anymore, and she wouldn’t allow me to explain anything.
I thought she was angry because we helped Belfox and Herrix. I thought her reaction was a combination of anger that we kept it a secret from her and hurt at the way I’d treated her in the aftermath of their departure.
But what if I’m wrong?
We slept together last night. Things seem better. Our relationship might heal on its own. If I tell her about Mar’vi, about the way I abandoned my daughter, I might make matters worse.
You’re taking the coward’s way out, a voice inside me says. Your mate deserves to know the truth.
That voice is right. Even if she doesn’t want to listen, it’s time for me to tell her everything.
18
Felicity
PRESENT…
We go back to our treehouse. We eat a meal on the roof, and we talk quietly about the sea camp and tomorrow’s logistics and a million other things. We make love, and in their arms, I can almost forget everything that’s happened.
But there’s the elephant in the room, and even though I try to ignore it, it’s still there.
For weeks, I’ve been shutting my mates down, refusing to allow them to explain themselves. Whatever the reason that led to it, I can’t bear to hear them tell me they were going to leave me behind. I can’t face the truth.
