Chapter Twenty-Eight

 

Savich looked at Tabby sitting poised and regal in traditional Krinar clothing. They were surrounded by Krinar of all ages and genders, and a vast window looking out over planet Earth ringed the Orbit Council room. There was much to distract a delicate human, but her expression was resolute. She looked at each member of the Council of Elders and waited. Savich wondered what she and Kumar had conferred about. She demanded Savich leave her with Kumar for a private discussion.

The crowd’s chatter was muted by solemnity.

Finally, Kumar rose. He wore a long white robe with a red and gold sash.

“Let’s just execute Savich and be done with it, shall we?” Kumar asked flippantly.

Tabby gasped but made no other move.

Savich creased his brow but also said nothing. Kumar was nothing if not a glutton for attention.

Kumar stared at the Elders.

“Well? Isn’t that what you’ve been thinking for the past…” he looked theatrically at his watch. “Three quarters of a millennium?”

The Elders actually squirmed in their seats, and the crowd murmured amongst themselves.

“Yes, Savich had a hot temper. He killed four Krinar in the Arena. Four.”

Savich wanted to bury his face in his hands. He remembered the face of each one. What the hell was Kumar doing up there? Helping him or digging his fucking grave?

“But let’s not forget that Krinar may choose. Otherwise what are we? Animals. His opponents chose to join him in battle. It isn’t Savich’s fault that they were piss-poor in battle.”

The crowd gasped. There were likely many there who knew his Arena victims. Savich swallowed.

“Let’s get to the meat, pardon me, the foundation of Savich’s sins.” Kumar paced in front of the Elders. “He’s been accused of being uncivilized. Basically, unfit for Krinar society. Correct?”

A couple of the Elders nodded.

“What about the rapists?”

The Elders blanched.

“Tabitha, step up to the dais with me darling.”

Savich frowned at Kumar who winked at him. Cheeky fucking bastard.

“Tabitha, did your captors eat meat?”

“No.”

Kumar turned back to the Elders. He put an arm around Tabitha’s very small shoulders. “Look at this tiny, fragile human.

“Those fucking Krinar animals chained her up like a dog outside and left her to die.” Kumar’s voice rose to a shout. “After raping her nigh unto death.”

Tabitha’s chin rose in defiance of the tears that were surely threatening to spill down her porcelain cheeks. Savich wanted to run to her and pull her out of this hell. But she had agreed to this beforehand. She knew what it meant. And she was doing it for him.

His fists clenched on his legs, but he sat ramrod straight.

“Tell me who is more of a savage on this day.” Kumar guided Tabitha back to her seat. “A man who obeyed his kavelt without complaint, or the bastards who took this woman’s body and broke it repeatedly?” Kumar gestured to Tabby who, if possible, looked even smaller than usual. “All while pretending to be enlightened humans.”

Savich watched her.

She slowly turned to look at him. Their eyes met across the room, and she gifted him with a tender smile.

Savich looked at her face, at her jade eyes, at the freckles that framed her delicate bone structure. In his mind’s eye, he could still see the bruises that had marred her perfection the first time he saw her. A tear rolled down his face and dripped onto the bicep of his right arm.

The silence in the room grew thick with consternation.

The audience stilled in anticipation.

An Elder cleared her throat.

“The human Tabitha gave us a document to be read aloud,” she said. Everyone in the room stopped mid-breath, including Savich.

The Elder cleared her throat again. “I would like to speak on behalf of Savich who will not vouch for himself. Where he would insist he is too primordial to live among humans or Krinar, he has shown me more gentleness in the past few days than I have ever known in my life. He has put aside his own comforts, needs, wants and desires ever since meeting me. While he may present himself as an uncultured brute,” the Elder’s mouth quivered but didn’t smile, “he made the most noble choice any soul could make. He knew that he jeopardized his standing among the Krinar for eternity if he were to take the lives of any more Krinar citizens. But having witnessed the nightmares I lived with, he decided to remove the bastards who raped me from the equation. I respectfully submit that should his execution be required per Krinar law, that you take my life in his stead.”

Savich stood and roared, but two Guardians flanked him and forced him to sit. The Elder frowned at him and snapped the paper. She continued.

“Considering the machinations that contrived to put Savich in the same wilderness as those fiends, it would be the least you could do. You had to know that a man who fought his battles in the Arena would have the honor to destroy those heartless killing machines. Executing Savich would be the highest form of barbarism. Take me instead.”

Savich gritted his teeth, staring Tabby down with questions in his eyes.

The Elder placed the paper gently on the table before her. “I think I speak for all of us,” she announced. She looked at Savich and at Tabitha in turns. “Let Savich live out his life in peace, wherever that may be.”

A collective gasp ballooned in the air. “Hear, hear.” The rest of the Council voted, and Savich’s heart nearly slowed to a stop. The crowd erupted around them, some in favor, some against, but he shut the sound out and looked only to his Tabitha.

Tabby’s eyes welled with more tears, and she stood to run to him. The Guardians loosened their hold on him, and he grabbed her in a tight hug and spun her around.

He kissed her, heedless of curious eyes, and delved his tongue into her sweet mouth. He wanted to possess her in front of everyone. Let it be known that Tabby was his and only his.

An Elder spoke, trifling their union. “Where will you go?”

Savich broke off his kiss and looked into Tabby’s eyes.

“Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere with you, Savich. You are my home. My comfort.”

“You deserve comfort,” he whispered in her ear and kissed her neck. He smelled her blood just under the surface of her skin, and he knew that wherever they chose to live, she belonged to him. She had tamed the savage beast within, and now he was nothing but hers to command, now and forever. He had no more weapons.