32. CHAPTER 32

So I was pregnant, and the child was growing perhaps too fast for a human baby. Great, just one more thing to fret over.

"Caspian." The familiar voice startled me. "Why am I not the least bit surprised?" It was Lorvian. He found me. It didn"t take much as my dumb ass was just walking around the ship with my mind in a daze.

"Well..." I shrugged. "It"s too late to turn the ship around!"

"I wasn"t going to, though I wish you hadn"t done this! Do you want to end up trapped in some lab getting poked and prodded for years?" He approached, and god damn, did he tower over me.

"No, but I know you won"t let that happen," I said matter-of-factly.

"You would force me to turn against my father and King all because you couldn"t handle staying put."

"I didn"t want to be there... I couldn"t stay," I replied, calmer than even I expected.

"So, they rejected you, big deal."

"Says the man who has a place among his own."

"Caspian, I"m here to decide whether to commit a heinous act of treason. Doing so would make me and anyone around me a target for mercenaries and the military to hunt to the edge of the galaxy and kill. I didn"t want you here for that." Now, he sounded concerned.

"I didn"t know that." My reply was with little emotion. "But that colony wasn"t safe either. I attacked Fran to save you and she made it clear that she wanted me gone when you left. I know you"re practically in charge now, but…anything could happen while you were away. I"m sorry I"m putting you in a shit-tier position. I"m forcing you to protect me when it would be much easier for you to fight for yourself. I"ll do whatever it takes not to stay outta the way."

He smiled and closed the gap even more, kissing the top of my head. "If you were the type to do as you"re told, I wouldn"t have fallen in love with you."

It didn"t take long for the two of us to end up in the cabin on the top floor, with him gripping my hips from behind as he entered me, cupping my swelling belly as he did. He licked at the mark he left on my neck, sending tingling waves of pleasure straight to my core, he pumped his strong ass until we both cried out. I watched him in the floor-length mirror as he continued to fuck me, his light hair draped over his face, the dimples of his ass flexing with each stroke. He didn"t neglect me; his hand ran along my shaft again. I pumped into his rough, warm grip until I was once again moaning from the pleasurable heat.

I think we spent most of the night bringing each other to climax, both of us glowing with sweat and loving every minute.

Most of our flight was uneventful aside from now having a few party favors to enjoy for the long journey. Cormac had stolen some cards and a pair of dice, and after teaching Lorvian how to play poker, the two spent most of their time doing that until they got tired and began making all sorts of weird and crazy bets, which then accumulated into them incorporating the dice and coming up with a new game.

As for me and Connor? I enjoyed watching Lorvian and Cormac challenge each other while Connor focused his time on learning about the tech available among the aliens.

In between the bouts of boredom, sex, and silly games, something finally happened that took us a little off course, and by a little, I actually mean a lot.

The ship shook almost as much as the Ignis did when Lorvian"s sibling attacked it.

"What"s going on?!" I slipped out of the shower and threw my outfit on while crawling around on the bathroom floor.

Once I reached the hall, I ran into the walls, but that didn"t stop me from reaching the bridge.

"Brace yourself, "cause another one of those cloud things is coming up!" Cormac yelled.

"It appears to be a spatial anomaly," Connor said, sitting in the copilot"s chair.

"Where is it coming from?" Lorvian entered, wearing his slimmer armor. I was so used to him walking around the ship in nothing but the body suit. "I want a full scan of this thing!"

"Yes, sir!"

I moved away from the bridge to let them work. The thought of getting tossed into a row of buttons that would send us hurtling into the sun scared me. Looking out the window in the main room, I backed away in a panic.

"Holy shit! Half the ship is gone into that cloud!" I yelled.

"The gravitational pull is too much for the ship," Connor said, typing away at his inhuman speed.

"Evac! Now!" Lorvian grabbed me and ran with me to the escape pods, which were not far away. There were six tubes, only wide enough for one person to fit and long enough for a Valisian"s height.

"I"ve set the course to my homeworld," Lorvian said while opening a pod and putting me inside. "They should land close to each other. Just stay with the pod, and the beacon will help me locate you."

"Okay!"

We shot off, the force slamming me into the back cushions. My knuckles turned white as I gripped the sides, praying to any damn deity that would hear me. I looked up at the small slit above. I"m sure it was meant for the passenger to see what the hell was going on outside, but I couldn"t see anything as I was too short!

Good thing I used the toilet before this whole ordeal began.

And just like that, the heavy rocking ceased, and I seemed to glide smoothly. "I need to see!" I said to myself as I gathered the courage to climb the small rails until I could see out the slit. Blue skies and clouds were all I could gather. Did I make it to his homeworld? I remembered what Lorvian said about us landing near each other, but I saw no one else.

"Ouch." My ass hurt from the rough landing, and soon a blanket of darkness blotted out the sun. Dammit, I needed to figure a way out of here. I pulled at the latch until I heard a click, and the door popped open, ripping the parachute. I stepped out into the open, and all I saw was a blue horizon and open green fields. "Oh my God!" The beauty was amazing and so much like Earth! I almost felt like I was home for a split second, but our ship smoking overhead ruined that as it crashed off in the distance. "Lorvian?" I pressed the comms from inside the pod. "Cormac? Connor? Anyone?!"

I kept calling repeatedly but couldn"t hear any sign that anyone was alive except me.

"Damn thing doesn"t work!" I beat on the stupid machine. "At least the beacon works," I breathed, hoping Lorvian made good on his promise. The pod filled with black smoke, a fire sparked to life, and the parachute was going up in flames. I reached into the pod, grabbed the extinguisher, and, with some fiddling, put out the fire. Great, this just keeps getting better and better. Nope, the day wasn"t done with me.

The beacon"s beeping ceased, and once the smoke cleared, I didn"t have to be an engineer to see that the burnt, split, and frayed little wires weren"t going to work. "No, no, no, no, no!" I cried. "Great!"

I stepped away from the wreck to get away from the rest of the smoke. Suddenly this open field wasn"t as beautiful as I thought. My heart raced, and I shivered from the cold. It wasn"t freezing, but still, this was not fun... as if having to abandon ship and crash land heavens know where was supposed to be fun.

Connor, Cormac, and Lorvian were nowhere to be seen, and I was worried that they met worse fates than me. A wave of pain hit out of the blue, and I fell to the rich, muddy soil before stumbling back to my feet.

Lorvian"s words played in my head. His fears of letting me come with him were biting me in the ass big time. If I wasn"t here, he wouldn"t have to worry about me, but I knew if he dropped safely, he would first try to locate me and come for me. But with the beacon dead, how the hell would he be able to do that?

I walked down a small hill where a riverbed lies, and I didn"t know if I should take my chances and drink or not. My throat was dry from all the yelling and the smoke, but... I don"t know.

Something familiar sat in the water near the shore, and I went to pick it up. It was a stone or jewel just like mine, next to the stone a small creature shifted about in the sand, turning over bits of colorful sediment. Maybe it was better to not drink this water.

The stone that Lorvian gifted me was cracked. I slipped the rock stone into my pocket and zipped it up. A small memento of this misadventure.

A voice roared further ahead, followed by the pounding of something big and heavy on the soil, enough to make the ground tremble. I swear, if a dinosaur pops up out of nowhere, I would be pissed while running away, screaming and crying.

I swallowed hard and looked up the steep hill ahead. If I could reach the top, I would get to see what made that noise.

No guts, no glory.

I gripped the lush green grass and made the climb up the hill, and down below was an impressive sight!

Hundreds or even thousands of black-armored Valisians marched on one side of the field, outnumbering the group dressed in white robes. Yet they stood their ground. Each side chanted something I couldn"t understand before the charge to fight.

The ones in white were gonna get slaughtered!

It was like watching a medieval battle on TV. The soldiers charged with swords and spears, cutting, slicing, and stabbing. Black blood soaked into the field, and the white-cloaked Valisians were getting pushed back.

I felt the soil give, and before I could move back, I dropped and tumbled down the steep hill, rolling near the scene of battle. The smell of blood stung my nose, the beat of the drums rattled my senses, and I could hear the blades enter the flesh as if I were the one driving it in.

The fall knocked the wind out of me, and I struggled to get back on my feet when several men from the white cloaks were running toward me! Clutching the moist grass and digging my fingers into the mud, I tried to climb the hill, but I tumbled back, hitting my head against the ground.

They were close when I scrambled to my feet and ran toward the thick, tall trees of what looked like a dense forest.

I wanted to scream, "I"m not with them!" but I wasn"t sure if they would even understand me!

Lorvian told me not to leave the pod, and now I was once again getting myself into a situation that was way over my head because I just couldn"t listen.

A massive tree with a large enough hole to fit stood proudly nearby, and I did the only thing I could: crawl inside the dank little home to hopefully find some beautiful, sweet forest creature and hide.

Relief was an understatement when they ran by. I was cold, my body couldn"t stop trembling from the wind which nipped at my skin, and worse, rain poured hard, beating against the thick fat leaves until it reached the forest floor.

Lorvian, please find me! I"m sorry, but I"m relying on you so much. I"m sorry I came. Just please come. I want to see your thick brow furrow with anger at my stupidity. To hear his deep, soothing voice scold me would be a godsend.