Peyton 313 (33 page)

Seta stepped back, studied the surface, and then stepped forward again. “Yes. I understand the danger. Please explain what you know.”

The mist danced and moved. Seta waited and watched until it had settled again.

Don’t trust their words
, the black mist ordered.

Seta snorted. “No worries there, but I need more than advice. How can I get out of here?”

Patience. The way out will come soon
.
His choice is made
.

Seta felt Zorinda pull back her energy. It left her pondering the confusing statement as she watched the black swirl disappear rapidly from the glass. It hadn’t been the kind of conversation she had hoped for with the powerful being inside her, but then again, Zorinda hadn’t ignored her demands for communication either.

As she settled down on a chair to wait, Seta congratulated herself that Ania’s introductory lessons about mastering the alien spirit within her were working. If Zorinda was right, the request from her father might have been no more than a ruse to get her to return so he could punish her for leaving. Maybe he intended to make her torture and death a public example of what would happen to those who tried to defect.

Her father and his guards would receive a surprise if he did try to kill her. Zorinda had done nothing to help during the attack on the Guardian, but then it had been Ensign Vetin at risk—not her. Ania had felt that was the only reason Zorinda hadn’t intervened.

“How much of a fool was I in agreeing to this farce?” Seta asked the walls.

Disgusted at herself for feeling regretful, she marched to a cot and plopped down on it to wait. All her thoughts were focused on only one thing. She must find a means to escape the planet again. Having managed to do it once with Rena, she knew escape was possible. Doing it alone might prove more challenging, but she would still find a way.

Her last conversation with Ji came back to mock her captivity. Perhaps she should have taken her bossy former captain up on his offer to accompany her after all. Her greedy sire would no doubt have enjoyed trying to extort a high union price from the wealthy Siren.

***

Kelzar Hornex walked with his former captain to the shuttle’s ramp as it lowered. “Are you sure you want me to just leave you here alone? Only small parts of this planet acknowledge the Peace Alliance. I don’t know what kind of reception you will have among the majority of these unenlightened beings.”

Ji shrugged. “I have studied Ethos, Kel. I know all the potential risks, but Seta Trax is here.”

Kel snorted. “Yes—that is my point. I’m still finding it hard to accept you’re putting yourself in danger because of the tracker.”

“No one is more aware of the irony than I am,” Ji agreed. Then he thought of Seta’s complete surprise at finding her first pleasure under his hands and all doubt left his mind. He bowed his head respectfully even though the male who faced him still shook his in denial.

“Ji, the Ethosian is only one female out of so many you have known. You have but to walk near the most alluring of them to get an offer to their sleep space. It seems illogical to risk your life for someone so reluctant to have you,” Kel insisted.

Ji let loose a frustrated breath, but there was no reason to be angry with his former commander. Kel was only pointing out the same truth his mind warned him about repeatedly.

“I understand why you would say that to me, Kel. The only explanation I have is that Seta Trax is the only person in my life who matters now. Since my decision about being here is not based in logic, I can’t explain it well to you. Just know this action is necessary—and it is my choice.”

Kel pondered the statement, then dipped his head in a bow. He was resigned but still determined to do what he could to help his longtime friend.

“For many years, I have owed you my life. I now know I owe you my captaincy as well. The High Council informed me it was your recommendation to offer me the commission as Captain on the Paladin. So I will now use that promotion to repay part of my increasingly long-life debt to you, Ji Warro of Rylen. In eight Earth days, I will come back into range of this desolate planet. Contact me with your location and I’ll send a shuttle to retrieve you and your. . .”

Ji laughed at his friend’s hesitation. “The word is
mate
, Kel. Seta Trax is my mate. This is the case whether she admits it or not. Sirens take that kind of connection very seriously. We have no choice.”

“But is the resistant female, who never seemed to care for you before, worth giving up your life as well as your captaincy?” Kel demanded.

Ji shrugged. “Only time will answer that question. I’m barely over three hundred Earth years old in a life that may span a couple thousand years if I live as long as my Siren parents. Yet all I can tell you is the female is worth it to me at this time. My energy has chosen to align with hers. It is a life choice more compelling than any contract I could make with any organization—even the Peace Alliance.”

“Very well then,” Kel said, bowing his head. “I won’t try to talk you out of your quest for your chosen one. May the Creators be with you.”

Ji laughed. “Indeed. I may need their help to survive Seta’s wrath for chasing her here, much less the normal hostility of this desert planet. I will gladly accept the offer of friendly transport out of here when we are done with her quest. If we are late, please try to wait a couple Earth days for us.”

Since he knew Kel was not a male who hugged, Ji put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and squeezed. Then he jogged down the steps of the ramp to meet the guards waiting for him at the bottom. Behind him, he heard the boarding ramp rising and the shuttle’s engines revving again to leave. He pushed away the momentary panic of being without backup and hoped for the best.

“I’ve come to see Suzerain Trax about a mating union with one of his offspring. He is expecting me,” Ji said.

One of the guards nodded and bowed his head. “Of course. My name is Chief Arghane. I am to see you to Suzerain Trax’s canton gallery. It is rare that a union suitor comes from off-planet. How did you meet one of the Suzerain’s female offspring?”

“We serve on the same Peace Alliance ship,” Ji said.

“So it is true then. Seta of Trax fled Ethos to become a warrior. We did not believe her story,” Chief Arghane said.

“Why would you not believe her?” Ji asked.

Chief Arghane shrugged. “Females lie to suit their purposes. They will manipulate what they can for personal gain.”

“Are you sure we are talking about the same female? Seta is the most guileless female I have ever met,” Ji said.

Arghane laughed. “Don’t you mean
beguiled
, Siren? We don’t see your kind often, but we know what Sirens do to their females. You can bend her will to yours. An Ethosian male would pay much to have that ability.”

“Well some Sirens take those measures with mates, though it’s not as easy as you make it sound. But I assure you, I have not affected Seta’s will at all. My relationship to her is based on mutual agreement of our suitability. Why are you laughing at me, Chief Arghane?”

“Perhaps you will soon be wishing you had exercised your full Siren skills on that female. Seta of Trax denies the presence of any union suitor in her life. We’ve had the rebellious female in isolation since she arrived back on planet. Suzerain Trax wanted to speak with you before he met with her.”

“I see,” Ji said, working hard to ignore the rage rising inside him. It was illogical to feel he had failed her and yet that was exactly what went through his mind. Arghane’s next words revealed how upset he must have looked.

“Relax, Siren. There is nothing to fear in the female’s denial of your claim. If the Suzerain agrees to your union price for her, we will place the female in restraints for her transport to your destination. It is common practice here. Many of his female offspring are resistant to the union matches the Suzerain makes on their behalf.”

Ji stared at the laughing male as he climbed into their land transport. “I was under the impression that Seta had returned for a quest her father wanted her to make for him. It was why I allowed her to proceed unaccompanied.”

“A quest? Perhaps that is the case as well,” Arghane said, shrugging. “We only do as the suzerain commands. Once you contacted him, he became focused on your satisfaction. His union eligible females are highly prized on our planet. Most of them are fair-haired and quite attractive. They usually bring high prices.”

“Indeed,” Ji said. “I trust Seta has not been harmed during her restraining process.”

“We would never willingly damage a female with a bid on her,” Arghane said quickly, sensing the Siren male’s growing displeasure. If he upset the potential suitor, the suzerain would not be pleased. “Your female of choice is merely in isolation. Seta of Trax has been well cared for in every way she allowed. The most unfortunate circumstance is that we have not been successful in getting her out of the vile clothing she arrived wearing. She said she would rather starve than change her clothes. We accepted that challenge.”

“Are you speaking of her uniform?” Ji asked, trying not to grind his teeth as Arghane nodded. The thought of them not feeding her had him picturing how best to kill the male beside him.

“A uniform. Yes, that is what she keeps calling her clothing. Is it true she was trained as a warrior?” Arghane asked.

Ji nodded tightly. “Yes. Seta was trained during academy. Why do you keep asking that question?”

Arghane shrugged as the land transport passed through the canton’s outer wall. “She was easily subdued. Proof was lacking of her warrior skills.”

“It is illogical to fight when you’re greatly outnumbered,” Ji said. “Her skills are not in fighting anyway. Seta is the best tracker in the Peace Alliance.”

“Is that so?” Arghane said, huffing at the news. “Well perhaps the suzerain does have a task in mind for her as she claims. He keeps his own counsel on most decisions. Often I don’t know his intentions until after the task has been completed.”

“When will I be allowed to see her?” Ji asked.

“As soon as the suzerain agrees to your union,” Arghane said.

Sensing further questions would only make the Ethosian male more resistant, Ji leaned back and studied the passing surroundings. Here and there males of all ages walked in the street, but he saw few females, not even in the market.

“Where are all your females?” Ji asked.

He watched Chief Arghane turn to him with eyebrows raised.

“Do you consider us barbaric, Siren? I assure you that is not the case. Our females are safe in their homes where they won’t be abducted. Where else would they be?” Arghane asked in return.

Ji nodded. He had read that the females were kept in isolation until they were needed, but it was still unnerving to see proof of it in their most progressive urban area. The contrast with Rylen made him more appreciative than ever of the beautifully clad and smiling females on his home planet.

Chapter 2

Seta lasted two days without food, but that was all she had been able to manage. The dress she had been forced to put on was nothing more than a series of fabric strips overlapping each other, most of which barely covered physical essentials. The nearly transparent fabric chafed and was obviously not created to enhance a female’s comfort. Great slashes across the mid-section revealed delicate skin that hadn’t seen light in years. To be as modest as possible, she had buttoned her black weapon vest over the skimpy top even though Arghane had confiscated her laser weapon.

Seta knew her father had only forced the clothing change because he perversely liked to incite a certain amount of lust in the males regularly attending to him in his court. Keeping them hungry for anything, whether it was food or females, allowed him to keep a tight rein on his all male staff. Only he—as their suzerain—had the power to grant them the right to indulge in meeting either need.

Her father’s fondness for using bonding lust as incentive was one of the many reasons she hated him. Her first bonding experience had been with Chief Arghane’s predecessor. Arghane would no doubt like to have her father’s permission to indulge with her too. However his predecessor had left massive bruises on her arms, which had angered her father into exiling the older male from both his canton and employment. Her personal devastation over the sordid experience though had not caused her Ethos sire any second thoughts at all. Instead her teary gaze over the physical humiliation and shame had incited a lecture about doing her duty and earning her keep as his offspring.

Two weeks after that horrible incident, she and Rena had been promised to the merchant. A whole Earth year passed before that detestable male had raised sufficient money to pay the steep union price for the pair of them. He had been even worse to deal with than Arghane’s predecessor, frequently trading bonding use of them to clients as it suited his whims. Long before she had acted to end his life, her Ethosian mate’s death had lived in her intentions. Now she also understood that it had been Zorinda who had given her the strength that day to actually take up the knife she had used to stab him to death.

Wiser now from her many years of true freedom among more civilized beings, she saw the main problem on Ethos was men like her father who propagated the bartering system. Pondering her sire’s death seemed a good use of the dark thoughts running through her mind, but finding a way to ensure his ongoing suffering would suit her better. Death would just see him replaced in his canton with another, perhaps even worse suzerain. If that happened, there would be no reprieve for any of her siblings.

No. . .the Ethos tyrant that abused her family needed to understand what it felt like to have another person controlling his fate. Only then could she contemplate sending the male who sired her back to the Creators. Until the time of her true revenge, she would merely dream of his downfall. . .and plan a retribution that served a greater good than just her own.

That decision led to her instantly thinking about Rena, her spiritual dual-sib who had lived most of her short life feeling incredible shame for their abuse. Memory made her determination grow even stronger to spare the rest of the females in their immediate family. Her mother had died after bearing the Suzerain eight offspring, but several of her mother’s female siblings remained, as well as their unbartered offspring.