Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10

Sarah

“ E ight days?” I was flabbergasted.

Leda nodded. “The walk from Faithless to here is eight days,” she confirmed.

I did not like the idea of being on foot for eight days, when the ghost conduits could attack us on that journey. Thankfully, it was not an issue. Before my imagination ran away too fast, Deacon quickly reassured me.

“Not to worry,” he said, patting the back of my hand. “That is why we are on board Allegiant for this trip.”

Me, Leda, Deacon, and Jac were seated in the café on Allegiant , while Deacon’s pilot Drift flew us toward Faithless. Wave was stowed away in her infirmary. I wasn’t sure where Omen was, but last I saw her, she was with Drift.

The café was small and intimate, with only a few small tables and built-in couches. It was brightly lit, like every other inch of Allegiant , and the window gave a zippy view of the outside. We were over the forest, so most of what I saw was green.

“The conduit temple is three hours away when we take this ship, so how long will it take to get to Faithless, if it’s an eight-day hike?” I asked, trying to figure out the timeline. “I feel like this is one of those awful math equations on the SAT.”

Jac quickly explained to a confused Deacon before he asked what an SAT was. “It’s a miserable standardized test. You don’t want to know.”

“Very well,” he said, accepting Jac’s comment before glancing back at me. “It should take approximately four hours to get to Faithless.”

I frowned. “But Jac’s ship can get to Earth super-fast, so why not take Sovereign ?”

Jac smiled. “That is because that trip is in space—out of atmo, eh, a planet’s atmosphere. If we traveled that fast within a planet’s atmosphere, the ship would likely fall apart. There is too much resistance within normal air. Or we would scorch the planet. Or both. Sovereign is actually slower than Allegiant , so taking Deacon’s ship is the better plan.”

“How far is Earth from here, anyway?” I wondered curiously. “Because it seems like it only takes a couple of hours to get there on Sovereign .”

“That’s because it does,” Jac said, reclining back in his chair. “Right now, we are approximately 6400 light years from Earth.”

My mouth dropped open. I couldn’t believe I was so far away from my sisters. “Wait, really?”

He nodded. “Yes. That trip takes just a few hours because we can use a bubble for FTL travel.”

I shook my head in confusion. “I’m sorry, FTL what?”

“Faster-than-light travel,” Deacon explained. “Do they not teach astrophysics on Earth?”

I rolled my eyes at him. “I barely graduated high school, Deacon.”

Again, he looked to Jac for a translation, and he obliged. “High school for a human is equivalent to our childhood schooling.”

“Ah,” Deacon said, nodding in understanding.

I glanced from Deacon, to Jac. “You go through high school when you are children?”

Jac shrugged a broad shoulder. “I don’t mean for it to sound like bragging, but our six-year-olds could graduate your high schools in their sleep.”

My cheeks warmed in embarrassment. “Oh.” I didn’t know what else to say.

I had always felt sort of ignorant around Deacon—he clearly had a better education than me from his privileged, classed background—but I didn’t know Jac was also so much better educated than me. For some reason, it was isolating. Maybe it was because after feeling so special, being the contra and the Mother, I had felt better about myself, only to now realize I was, in fact, very uncultivated compared to the both of them.

I mumbled, “I feel like I should go to one of your schools for children.”

“Do not say that,” Deacon said, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “You are much too smart for such things.”

I couldn’t stop the pout that formed. “I didn’t grow up learning astrophysics like you two apparently did.”

“It’s not something you need to know to get along in our world, either,” Jac said.

I huffed beneath my breath. “Well, what do I need to know?”

Jac chuckled. “That is a long conversation. But Deacon and I need to check in with Drift first. Perhaps your new friend can help with your Halla education.” He tapped Deacon’s chest with the back of his hand to get his attention as he brushed past him.

Deacon nodded. “Yes, we must away,” he said, then followed Jac, leaving me in the café with Leda.

As mistrusting of her as they had been, I was surprised they left me alone with her. They must not think of her as a threat anymore. Maybe they are starting to trust my judgement. Maybe they actually do think of me as smart.

I turned my attention to the girl. “Leda, you don’t seem worried about returning to Rex, and you keep speaking highly of him. Why is that? He owned you—that would not make me look favorably at him, if I were you.”

She smiled. “He is the most important person on the entire micro-planet. He kept me under his protection. I have nothing to fear about going to him.”

A pensive feeling trickled through me. “Why do you say it like that?”

She blinked at me guilelessly. “Like what?”

“You said, I have nothing to fear, which implies someone else should be afraid.”

Her smile dipped. “I must confess, I am at odds at the moment.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Right now, you are my owner, as much as you object to the idea. But Rex was my owner first. He protected me, he raised me up…I feel a loyalty to him over you. But you are my owner now, so I should not feel that way about him. It is a conflict inside of my mind.”

I carefully phrased my next question. “So are you hiding something about him from me?”

She sighed, her gaze shifting to the window behind me. “As we are already making our way to him, I feel guilty that I did not warn you about such things.”

“What things?” I insisted.

After a moment, she met my gaze again. “Traditionally, one sends an envoy to him. The envoy is received, and a message is given to Rex. If he appreciates the message, then the envoy is sent back to their master, and their master may visit.”

I absently tapped my fingers on the table. “And, if Rex does not appreciate the message?”

Her lips tightened. “The envoy is executed, and their body is sent back to their master.”

A chill shot through me. “So, you’re supposed to send someone to Rex who he might murder , if you want to see him?”

She nodded once. “That is the tradition.”

Well, I don’t like the sound of that. At all. “That is not the news I had hoped for, Leda.”

Her hands twisted together anxiously in her lap. “I should have told you before we left. My apologies, Contra. Perhaps we should turn back—”

“No,” I said, cutting her off.

Her eyes widened. “Why not? Rex may take offense at the brazen nature of your visit. He could—”

“He can deal with it.”

Worry flashed in her eyes. “But, Contra, he could murder you.”

I gave her a tight smile. “From the sound of things, better people than Rex Terian have tried to kill me, and they failed. He will, too.” I hoped that sounded more confident than I felt.

“Forgive me, I know you are the contra and you killed Mother Portend. You are strong. I should not doubt you. But you are also a human, subject to the frailties of your lesser species—”

“Lesser?” I scoffed. “You think humans are less than Ladrians?”

“Of course,” she said with a frown, like I should have already known.

I laughed. To be called lesser by this world’s equivalent of a slave tickled me. I bet Deacon could tell me if that was irony. Or Jac could, apparently. Once everything settles down, I should read more. Get better educated...maybe they have universities on Orhon. But they would probably start me in their pre-k…

Pushing my self-doubt aside, I smiled at Leda and said, “Well, that was insulting.”

“I do not mean to insult you, Contra,” Leda rushed to say. “I only meant, humans are more fragile, slower, dumber—”

“You are probably not familiar with this phrase but dig up ,” I drawled sarcastically.

Confusion marred her brows. “I…there is nothing to dig in this ship. I do not understand.”

“A common Earth phrase. It refers to people who are messing up as, digging themselves a hole. So, when someone advises you to dig up, they are telling you to stop messing up.”

“My apologies.” She dropped to the floor in front of me on her knees, bowing her head to the floor.

“Please don’t do that,” I said, hating the idea of being worshipped. “Not ever again.”

She stood up and sat in the chair Deacon had recently vacated. Much closer than she’d been before.

It put me on alert.

She smiled seductively. “I am sorry, Contra. I would never intend to make you uncomfortable.”

She is making me uncomfortable right now. “Is that a fact?”

“Of course. It is as I said before. I am here to serve you in whatever way you would like. I can make you feel all kinds of things.” She placed her hand on my knee, and it crept up my leg.

I quickly shoved her hand away. “No, Leda.”

She had the gall to look hurt. “I am only doing as I was trained.”

“First of all, you are not in a position to give consent, and secondly, I don’t mess around with girls. Of any species,” I said, trying to be gentle with her. “Okay, there were those couple of times at house parties back when I was a teenager, but that was just kissing, and a little groping, and it didn’t really work for me, so no, Leda. I am not interested in whatever it was you were offering.”

“What is kissing?” she asked eagerly.

I had forgotten Ladrians didn’t kiss—Jac did, but that was because he learned from humans in his travels and had come to enjoy it. The first time I had kissed Deacon, he had frozen up, confused by what I was doing. Now, thank goodness, we all enjoyed kissing each other.

“Kissing is when you put your mouth on someone else’s mouth, and sort of meld together,” I attempted to explain. “Your tongues can become entwined, but not always. It’s a part of human love.”

She appeared fascinated by the thought. “It sounds intimate.”

“It can be.”

She leaned closer, her eyes on my mouth as she softly asked, “Can you show me?”

“Nope. You’ll have to learn about kissing from someone else. Sorry.”

She sighed. “Very well, Contra. Whatever you want.”

I was even more uncomfortable with her hitting on me. “What I want right now is to speak to my companions. Excuse me.”

I jumped up and quickly scurried toward the cockpit, but they weren’t there. Deacon’s quarters? I raced past Omen in the halls and knocked on his door.

The door opened, and the pair were sitting on Deacon’s bed. He smiled at me, until he saw my face. “What is wrong, Consort?”

I let the door shut behind me before I spoke. I didn’t want Leda to hear me. “What the hell, guys? Why did you leave me alone with her?”

They smirked at each other, before Jac pointed at the large monitor on the wall. The view was the café, where Leda sat, staring out the window.

I glared at them. “You were watching her hit on me?”

Jac laughed. “You handled it deftly, I must say.”

I resisted the urge to smack him. “I thought you two didn’t trust her from the start, but you left me alone with her?”

“Eh, no, we did not,” Deacon said. “The view you are seeing is not our camera system.”

I jammed my hands on my hips. “What is it, then?”

“Lanai Dea is morphed into the paneling,” he said of his android. “She would have executed Leda on the spot had she tried anything violent. I would not leave you with a stranger without protection, Consort.”

My irritation deflated out of me. Somewhat. “You should have told me you were going to do that.”

He frowned, and I imagined his reaction was due to my tone as much as my words. He walked to me, arms open, in an attempt to soothe me.

But I was still annoyed that he’d played that trick and I hugged myself instead of him. “Don’t touch me. I’m mad at you.”

His muscular arms dropped back to his sides, and he stopped a few feet away. “We needed to discover her intent toward you without our presence being known. I apologize. I should have told you before we decided to do this. You are right.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I lifted my chin. “You thought I was too stupid to keep my mouth shut?”

“Not at all,” Jac said as he stood and joined Deacon’s side. “We just didn’t have a good moment without her to tell you beforehand. We put this mission together pretty fast to get it over with, and we didn’t think it would be a big deal to you. We are very sorry and we will not let it happen again.”

I couldn’t stay mad at them. I wobbled over to Deacon and burrowed against him. “Okay. You can hug me now.”

He wrapped me in his strong arms and Jac came up behind me and did the same to us both, as he kissed the side of my neck, making all my indignation melt away.

Feeling their love surrounding me, it didn’t take long for me to get worked up. I gripped the back of Deacon’s neck to bring him down for a kiss while I reached between me and Jac for his—

“We are on the approach to Faithless,” Drift said on the comm system.

Dammit .