Chapter 28
Cass woke up to see a woman’s face staring down at her—a beautiful woman with pale violet, subtly iridescent skin.
She shot up into a sitting position, then moaned as she grabbed her aching head.
“Cici?” she asked when she managed the breath to speak.
If she wasn’t so sure that what she and Nahash had between them was real, she would think she’d just awoken in Kiari’s luxury prison after a particularly long dream.
Her vision of Cici blurred as Cass winced, massaging the base of her skull where it ached the most, though her entire head hurt. Someone pressed a sweating glass of cold liquid into her free hand, urging her to drink it.
She obeyed the request because it hurt too much to think for herself. Right now, she needed commands just to function. The flavors of the liquid inside tasted intense—fruity, sweet, but not overly so. The thick liquid flowed over her tongue like a smoothie with a rich, creamy base. Despite being delicious, she noticed a slightly medicinal aftertaste to the smoothie after she’d swallowed it all.
She handed the glass back to the other woman, who she now recognized after blinking away the tears that built up in her eyes from the pain. Jia took the glass back, studying Cass with deep concern in her large green eyes.
Now, Cass worried even more that she’d only been dreaming, despite everything having felt so real. She could recall the slide of Nahash’s scales across her skin, the warmth of his tongue sweeping into her mouth or delving between her legs, the sound of his voice hissing her name in her ear as he entered her. All of those memories felt too real, and didn’t fade almost immediately upon awakening as dreams always did.
Still, how could she be back with Cici and Jia if it had all been real, and where had Nahash gone?
“Where are we?” she asked, her voice husky and raw, as if she’d been screaming for hours.
Cici’s expression gave nothing away. “You’re in the Iri'sha'Na monastery, on Iridua. Our homeworld.”
Cass sucked in a deep breath in shock as she finally took a moment to look around, wincing as she turned her head. Fortunately, the ache in her pounding head eased even as she looked around, and she wondered what miracle medicine they’d put in that drink.
Unlike Kiari’s exuberant decor, this time, their surroundings were more austere, the colors muted. Instead of bright jewel tones, the room was decorated in grays and whites, with the occasional pop of green in sage and emerald. Succulent-style plants in glazed white pots stood as tall as her waist in the corners of the room. The floor was finished in warm, walnut-toned wood, covered by thick, plush rugs in understated tones.
It appeared that the “monastery” wasn’t a dark, dour stone building with robed and hooded monks slowly walking and chanting, as Cass had to admit she’d been picturing whenever she heard that word. Though the furnishings were simple and lacked the overt opulence of Kiari’s boudoir prison, the seating looked comfortable, just like the bed she’d awoken on. In fact, it looked like she was in a nicely appointed bed chamber, designed for understated comfort.
“How’d I get here?”
“You were brought in yesterday, unconscious,” Cici answered, watching her with an unreadable expression. “The doctors were keeping you drugged so you had more time to heal before having to deal with the pain.”
A soft hand settled on her arm, drawing her attention to Jia, who wore a sympathetic expression. “They said you’d be in pain when you awoke, but that your head would be fine. Did the elixir help any?”
Since the pain had been dulled, she assumed that was on account of the tasty elixir, so she nodded. “What doctors?”
Cici’s expression finally shifted from neutral to bitter, but only for a brief moment. “Iriduan doctors. You and… your male… were rescued from an unknown alien lifeform they believe wished to digest you.”
“An unknown… digest!” Cass reached for a stable surface with one trembling arm.
Jia caught her hand and clasped it tight, propping one hip on the bed beside Cass so she had someone to lean on.
“Oh, god! The dream we were trapped in—was that because of the alien life form? Was it… was it eating us?”
Cici bit her lip and turned her face away from Cass, as if she had sympathy breaking through her cool exterior and didn’t want Cass to see it. “They didn’t give us the details.” She snorted in disgust. “The males never do. But from what I overheard them saying, the lifeform probably kept both you and your… um… man alive for a reason. It may have intended to keep you alive for a very long time, in fact.”
Cass grabbed for Cici with her free hand, wanting to shake her to get her to explain herself. Cici stepped away from her grasping hand, her shoulders squared off with tension—as if she braced herself to give bad news.
“What aren’t you telling me, Cici? Please, just tell me everything you know!”
Jia wrapped an arm around Cass’s shoulders and gave her a quick squeeze, then rubbed her back. “You’re pregnant, Cass,” she said in a soft voice—much more mature than the high, excited voice she’d spoken in when they’d first met.
“Apparently, the lifeform decided to breed the two of you, probably to provide itself a renewable supply of food.” This came from Cici, who looked away from Cass’s shock.
Stunned speechless, Cass pressed her hand over her stomach, only realizing then that her flat stomach had rounded out slightly with a firm baby bump. She couldn’t be that far along, but it was far enough to show—even if only a little bit—which made her wonder how long she and Nahash had been trapped by the lifeform. It had to have been several months, at least.
“They brought us to this monastery because you know us,” Jia said. “They thought you’d be more comfortable around women you’ve already met.”
Cass pulled away from Jia to clamber to the end of the bed. “Where’s Nahash? I need to see him! Is he okay?”
It all came crashing in on her then. Understanding. They were back with the Iriduans—the same people Nahash had betrayed. Despite the presence of Cici and Jia, and the aid from the doctors and the medicinal elixir, they were by no means safe.
Cici shook her head, her lips tightening. “You’ll never get to see him again. You might as well get used to that.” Though her words were harsh, tears glittered in her eyes that she impatiently swiped away, before turning her back on Cass.
Cass looked to Jia for an explanation, realizing she wasn’t getting one out of Cici.
Jia sighed and crossed her hands in her lap, dropping her gaze to study them rather than meet Cass’s eyes. “You’re too important to the empire to risk reuniting you with Nahash. They don’t want him to run again—especially not with the baby on the way.”
Cass shook her head, in denial about the calculated cruelty of the Iriduans. There was no way they would make Nahash suffer like that. Make her suffer like that. “But he’ll die without me! He has to be exposed to my scent!”
“They’ll provide him something soaked in your scent on a daily basis,” Jia promised. “He won’t die, Cass. They’d never allow that to happen.”
Cass looked around the room again, her gaze alighting on Cici’s back briefly before moving on to study her surroundings.
“This place is my new prison?” It didn’t look like a prison, but Cass already felt the helplessness and desperation of a prisoner.
“The doctors want you to be as safe and comfortable as possible, for the baby’s sake,” Jia said.
She looked back at the green woman once she’d failed to spot an obvious avenue for escape. “How’d you end up here after being freed from Kiari, Jia? And you, Cici?”
A brief sparkle of the child-like excitement Jia had shown on their first meeting entered her eyes then, before her expression sobered. “I waited in my own monastery while they scoured the clinics for men who were afflicted by my scent bombs. When they brought you here, they wanted females to be your caretakers and companions—women you’d met before. So they pulled me from that monastery to come to this one.” She patted Cass’s hand. “We know it’s because of you that the soldiers came back to rescue us. Fortak told us.”
A soft gasp and Cici’s stiffening back drew Cass’s attention to her, even though she had more questions for Jia.
“Cici, what about you?”
Jia bit her full lip at that point, wearing a regretful expression. “I’m sorry, Cici. I shouldn’t have said his—“
Cici held up a hand to cut off her words. “It doesn’t matter.” Her voice sounded on the verge of tears.
“They killed him,” Jia said in a low whisper, but the strangled sound Cici made in her throat let Cass know she’d heard the words.
“Of course, they killed him!” Cici said, her voice rising. “What did he think they were going to do? Let him carry off a spinner?”
Jia slowly shook her head, her gaze fixed on Cici as if she wanted to offer comfort, but recognized it wouldn’t be appreciated. “We’re forbidden from mating with anyone who isn’t an Iriduan. We also can’t leave our enclaves to live with aliens. Our role is too important, and there are too few of us to let us go.”
“He never had a chance,” Cici whispered, her voice breaking as she finally gave into her grief, dropping to her knees, her head lowering to her hands. A great sob wrenched her body, shaking her shoulders. “I told him to go! To stay away from me! Why didn’t he listen?”
Cass wondered how many times a woman could be broken. Poor Cici might have hit one too many, but she was a tough one. Cass’s heart also broke for Fortak, the love-struck thug who’d risked everything to plan their rescue. She’d foolishly believed that he would somehow convince Cici to give him a chance to earn her forgiveness and love, but the Iriduans had made certain he never had one.
She couldn’t believe the Iriduans had repaid his assistance by just killing him. Surely, they weren’t such monsters as that. After all, Nahash was an Iriduan—technically—and she knew he had honor—that he wouldn’t have supported such a thing.
But then again, she believed he’d abandoned his people for that very reason. She certainly couldn’t deny that they showed cruelty to her and Nahash, keeping them separated when they needed each other now more than ever.