Chapter 19
Eva
After climbing out of the transport shuttle and into the larger starship, I received a brief walking tour of the areas I’d be allowed in during our journey. We first went directly to the bridge, where Raevu introduced me to the captain of the ship, who had called me his “Queen” with a graceful bow.
We strode through Baelon’s gymnasium arena on our way to the handily close medical clinic, where I met my physician for the trip, Willem. He also greeted me with a bow and a smile—and my first dose of my medicine. From there, Raevu directed me to our adjoining chambers, which were every bit as opulent as the grandest room in the Center. For him, it seemed normal, but I spent a good ten minutes running my fingers across furniture and fixtures to feel the variety of textures while T’ral, Raevu, and Baelon talked.
My translator unit shifted each word to its English equivalent, but I could still hear the words and phrases that they spoke underneath the translation. Slowly, bits of it were starting to make sense to me. Just individual words and a few short terms, but it was getting easier.
One of these days, I thought I might turn off the translator and surprise them. Surprise…him.
Raevu suddenly looked up, puzzled, and came over to me. “How are you feeling?” he asked.
I paused in my exploration of a velvety soft plant in one of the terrariums. I leaned over it to look at its underside. It was certainly a plant of some kind, but as the whole thing was bright purple, I couldn’t tell if I was handling a petal or a leaf.
“Eva,” Raevu interrupted my investigation, “quit fondling the Karitsan plant for a moment.” I looked up into his eyes quizzically. “How are you feeling?”
“Oh. Um. Fine.” I assessed myself for the symptoms that had plagued me for months now. “Good, actually. Normal, even.” I smiled with relief. “I hadn’t even noticed the symptoms fading away. How wonderful!”
Raevu still looked a bit puzzled. “But I can’t sense your—” He broke off suddenly.
“Sense my what?” I asked.
“Your fatigue in the way you hold yourself, my queen,” T’ral spoke over Raevu’s shoulder. “The elixir must be doing its job well. It’s blocking those releases of exhaustion that had us all so concerned for you. We’re all quite glad we’re on the ship where you can safely take the treatment without concerns for the side effects.”
They still hadn’t told me what exactly these “side effects” were, or why they had wanted to contain me aboard the ship before I started taking it. I contemplated asking straight out when Raevu reached for my fingers that still held the thick, almost woolly petal and took them in his powerful hand. “So soft.” He murmured as he rubbed my fingers between his own, much like I had the leaves. He smiled into my eyes, drew my hand to the crook of his elbow, and led me to a settee in the middle of the chambers. “But don’t overdo it on your first day. Which part of the ship would you like to see next?”
***
Every day of our journey through the stars, I’d administer my elixir, which the medic called Sopulir, myself. I refused to take up a physician’s valuable time with something as trivial as what amounted to me using an inhaler. My friend Laura’s daughter, Amber, had asthma, so I knew how to use an inhaler. It was easy. Someone hovering over me would’ve just pissed me the hell off anyway. And I couldn’t figure out why I was still so moody.
Quickly, I developed a routine. I preferred taking the Sopulir in the mornings, as it seemed to give me an energy boost right away. I could always tell when it had worn off, as soon after my evening meal I’d begin feeling like a worn-out dishrag. And each night, I dropped into a deep, exhausted, dreamless sleep.
And since we were traveling through hyperspace to reach my new home, day and night quickly became arbitrary terms. My schedule aligned with Raevu’s, and we spent a great deal of time together.
It was intriguing that I got to see him in several new capacities, which was a good thing since we were to be married when we reached his home world.
It had been fascinating to watch Raevu work. Over breakfast, he would review screen after screen of data with T’ral. I could almost see his mind piecing the information together. His decisions and orders seemed reasonable and were always given with confidence and authority. After dealing with the planetary transmissions, he shared something remarkably similar to coffee with the ship’s captain, then we’d walk the ship. On a space cruiser with over four hundred crewmen, he knew everyone by name. Our “State of the Ship” walk, as I called it, was followed by an hour’s workout with Baelon for me, two hours for Raevu. Baelon, as training master, was teaching me self-defense, and I got to use Raevu as my training dummy. None of my strikes landed unless he let them, but I learned a lot.
After I was finished, I watched Baelon and the rest of my Guard take turns trying to knock Raevu down. The only one who ever managed it was Baelon, and he was sweating and breathing hard by the end of the exercise.
Strangely, watching all the finely formed, half-naked males hack and hit at each other while throwing taunting names and good-natured insults seemed to turn me on, which was weird because I’d always considered myself a one-man woman. But like clockwork, I’d leave the gym every day with a flush in my cheeks and a scorching need to fuck burning deep in my belly. A want that Raevu couldn’t satisfy until the stupid ceremony with that damn tree happened.
Not in a million years would I have thought I’d be the one in our relationship wanting to get the sex party started sooner rather than later. But waiting was a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of our future together. When I thought about all the sacrifices that had been made in the name of the continuation of Raevu’s people: Raevu leaving his home world under the care of people he trusted and sweeping halfway across the galaxy to come and fetch me; him engaging in a genetic experiment without the support of his planetary council, and using his own wealth and resources to fund it; and when he’d discovered that the experiment had entwined his destiny with that of a human—me—he had simply accepted it and me. All of the circumstances and sacrifices he made were pretty impressive.
Every day, Baelon kept training me in self-defense. The patterns and moves he taught me reminded me of Earth’s tai chi that I’d seen people performing in the parks or on the videos back home. I knew that none of them expected me to have to defend myself, especially since I had a Queen’s Guard made up of five of the most elite of Raevu’s warriors, including Baelon. But with my recent kidnapping on Earth, they didn’t want to take any chances with my safety.
And still, every day, I was tired, achy, and sweaty after the practices. Today, like every other day on the ship, I was taking a long, bubbly soak in the small swimming pool that the Juhlians called a bathtub. My shoulders popped painfully as I scrubbed them, and I winced, but I felt proud too. I was glad I was getting the opportunity to learn how to protect myself. I wanted to prove that I was tough enough to do it. Everyone’s overprotective behavior was frankly getting quite annoying.
I am strong and self-sufficient, thank you very much! I nodded my head in satisfaction.
“What are you smug about?” a deep, sultry voice interrupted my musing.
I squawked in surprised indignation, and my eyes flew open. Sitting up, I tried to cover my breasts and hide my sex at the same time. It didn’t work very well, damn my huge breasts.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” I asked Raevu. “Can’t you see I’m bathing? Get out!”
“I made plenty of noise coming in. Didn’t you hear my footsteps?”
“Obviously not or I wouldn’t have been startled. Now, get out!”
“I need to tell you something.” His handsome, smirking face was just crying out to have a sudsy sponge flung at it. I narrowed my eyes at him.
“What?” I snapped. “And why couldn’t it wait until I got out of the bathtub?”
His gold eyes began to glow with desire. I looked down at myself to see just how much of my skin was revealed to him. Almost all. I barely had my nipples covered with my hands, and my knees were drawn up as far as I could get them. And he still had plenty to stare at and did, with an infuriating smile. I was about ready to say, “Fuck it,” and give him a taunting peep show.
“It couldn’t wait because you take long baths and then usually go directly to bed for a while. T’ral had a missive from home he says has vital information. I want you there when we discuss it.” He continued staring hungrily at me while he spoke. In haughty response, I looked him up and down as well. As always, I found no flaws, and, also as usual, heat flared up deep in my cunt.
Damn. I wanted him badly.
His body was divine. His muscles flexed as he moved and drew my attention whenever he walked into the room. His skin was smooth and hairless, and I wanted to feel it under my fingers.
And I loved the way he looked at me, as if he wanted to devour me alive.
But right now, business was getting in the way as much as necessity. I sighed. “Fine. I’ll get dressed and be right there.” When he still didn’t move, I glared at him. “What? I am not getting out of this tub until you leave. Go, Raevu! Now!”
He turned then and made his way out the door. I watched him go and enjoyed the sight he made as his shirt and pants clung to his muscled back and tight butt as he moved. Damn. The man was poetry in motion.
Not until he was completely out of the room did I stand and reach for a drying cloth. I muttered to myself the whole time I got dressed about him being a tease. After dressing, I sailed out of my assigned queen’s quarters and into the main living area of the suite that belonged to Raevu aboard ship. I curled into my favorite chair and stifled a yawn, settling down to wait for them.
Daily after lunch, I sat through culture and language lessons. The language was coming to me more and more easily. I didn’t know how. As a matter of fact, we spoke only in Juhlian Standard now. I was still relying heavily on the translator, but less and less each day. The only English I ever spoke was in cuss words or when I got very tired or upset.
I’d seen pictures of their planet, learned about their gods, their sentient trees, and their war-filled history. I didn’t think I’d pass a major exam on any of it, but I could hold my own in a conversation.
Raevu lounged on a couch-like bench, waiting as well. Baelon stretched out on a similar one across the way. He threw me a wink when I looked his way and shrugged when I gave him a questioning look.
T’ral bustled in. He held a small data screen in his hand and reviewed the information on it as Raevu asked, “Okay, what’s this about?”
T’ral answered, “Two things. They may be interrelated. Death threats to the soon-to-be queen.”
I froze. What the fuck? I’m helping these idiots repopulate their race! How can some of them not want that to happen?
Baelon sat up. “No one will harm my queen.” I felt the threat coming from his voice.
“That’s a given,” Raevu hissed. “T’ral, what is the other?”
T’ral set down his handheld screen and looked directly at Raevu. “Acidi.”
“Oh, Kyrpa!” Raevu sat up, the Juhlian obscenity spat out loudly. He rolled his eyes and rested his hands on his knees. “What now?”
Now I was intrigued. Death threats against me didn’t even cause him a blink, but whatever “Acidi” was had him cussing.
“What is Acidi, and how is it a threat?” I asked. “I thought I knew most of the words of your language, but I don’t recognize that one.”
Baelon said wryly, “That, my queen, is because Acidi is a who and not a what. She is a jalkavaima and fancies herself above any others.”
My mind struggled with what the translator spat out. “She’s a public concubine? I don’t understand.”
T’ral explained, “We have few females. A hundred and fifty years ago, our people realized that changes had to be made. Marriages weren’t forbidden, but females were encouraged to become jalkavaimas. They are honored in our society. A class in and of themselves. Mothers to us all. Marriages became less and less common. Males fill out applications to try to become fathers. If their applications are accepted, they interview with the local jalkavaima Grand Mother, and then interview with several available jalkavaimas until they feel there is compatibility. Those two will stay together until the child is born. The child, usually a male, of course, lives with its father. The jalkavaima can choose to stay until the child is aged one year or leave right after its birth. And the process starts anew. How much contact the jalkavaima has with her offspring is completely up to her. I, for example, see my mother once or twice a year. I know several males who have never met their mothers.”
Baelon interrupted, “And if I didn’t visit my mother at least once or twice a week, she’d string me up on a pole and make me dance.”
“That all makes sense, but who is Acidi?” I asked. “And why is there a problem with her?”
Baelon and T’ral both looked toward Raevu, who again cursed. “Acidi was assigned to me,” he gritted out.
I blinked. “I’m sorry. What do you mean?”
He let out a deep, frustrated sigh. “There is always a jalkavaima assigned to the king or royal heir when he comes of age. It is to ensure the continuation of the line. I was quite young and foolish when I chose Acidi. I chose for looks and didn’t do much interviewing. She is smart but far too ambitious. Manipulative, aggressive, and ruthless. The Grand Mother warned me against it, but I didn’t listen. Honestly, I didn’t care. She was beautiful, and I figured I wouldn’t be around her much except in bed.”
Oh, what kind of bullshit drama have I been dragged into here?
“What the fuck, Raevu?” I spat. “Why did you come get me if you had a baby momma right there? Do you have a whole batch of little boys running around already?”
I hated useless, no-account men who neglected to tell women they were interested in that they had a family. The more baby mommas a guy had, the stronger the guarantee that he would leave you ruined and pregnant as well.
I seriously wanted to punch him in the throat. He had spent this whole time talking about how I was his life mate, and I was his, and we would be together forever. But the whole time, this situation with Acidi had been waiting at home to cause problems, and he had known it.
He held up a placating hand. “No. It doesn’t work that way. We were to have no relationship beyond what it took to produce an heir. She was not with child when I left Juhl. I am done with her and have been for a while now. I came to get you because you are the hope of my people.” Then he nearly growled, his eyes alight, “And my life mate.”
I was so done with this bullshit.
“I can’t be the hope of your people. I am only one measly human female,” I snarled back, “and I will not join some other woman in your bed if I am your life mate.”
He marched over to me. “Acidi has no place anywhere near my bed or my throne. But as for you….” He leaned down, face level with my own, and growled out, “That mark on you is my mark. You are my life mate. We will be joined. You will be in my bed. Accept it.”
I looked back at him coldly. “You keep talking to me like I’m your goddamned slave, and I’ll rip your cock off. You got that, ‘life mate’?”
He gaped for a moment, blinking at me, and then backed off. He turned to T’ral. “What does she want?”
“My king, she announces her pregnancy, and that it is a girl.”
What the fuck?
“Not with child, huh?” I spat at Raevu. “You damned liar.”
He gave me a shocked look, and for a moment, I thought maybe he hadn’t known himself, but I caught myself at once. That look from him wasn’t shock. It’s the panicked look of a cowardly asshole male who’s been caught in one of his damn lies.
“Holy hell…” I said. “Are you fucking kidding me right now? I made this trip to live on a strange world with a strange man, and I left my loved ones for what?” I stood up. “I want to go home. Turn this fucking ship around, and take me the hell home. Pronto.”
T’ral blinked. “Miss Eva, I assure you that this is a misunderstanding.”
I shook my head. Tears were welling in my eyes. I didn’t even want to consider why I was feeling so emotional about this, but I wouldn’t let those tears spill even if it killed me.
Baelon began to step closer to me, protection written all over him.
Raevu shot him a killing glance, and he stopped moving. Then Raevu did something even stupider. He tried to intimidate me again. Leaning close, he said intensely, “You bear the sigil. The mating ceremony is the only thing that will remove the feelings of ill health from your body. Obviously, the gods want us together. You will stay.”
“As your prisoner, then, you selfish asshole?” I snapped. “Because I will never go anywhere with you willingly!”
He blinked sharply as if I had slapped him, but instead of answering, he turned back to T’ral. “What Acidi claims is impossible. She was not with child when we departed.”
T’ral shrugged. “In the missive, she says she just didn’t want to say anything until she was positive. That when you left, there was still doubt, and she wanted to know the gender before she announced it.”
“Fuck this noise,” I hissed. “I’ve heard enough. The wedding is officially off.” Without waiting for an answer, I stood, turned, and left the room.
“We’ll finish this, Eva,” Raevu called after me.
“Go fuck yourself, Raevu,” I snarled.
If we hadn’t been on a starship transport, I would have enjoyed slamming the door behind me. The soft whoosh of it closing just didn’t have the same emotional impact I wanted to impart.
Once I was alone, I started sobbing. It hurt like fuck that another woman was pregnant with his child, but what was worse was his nonchalant attitude toward me. I didn’t care if the experiments made me want him. I’d peel the fucking symbol right off my skin before I’ll let him force me to be his mate.
My emotions were all over the place. Deep down, I feared that I was out of control, that the drug or something else was unbalancing me. But either way, Raevu was definitely being a controlling ass. I locked my door and then shoved a heavy couch in front of it. I didn’t want to see or deal with any of them anymore.