Page 65 of Bonded By Savages

But I will fulfill his last words to go to her.

This is what he wanted. And this is what we will have.

“A Bonded Mate with son!” Obsidian roars from above. His voice is deep and growling, a voice you feel as much as you hear. “Clear the stands! Damian, Tarak, Athena, come!”

I freeze up. I was planning to take Athena back to our estates, to rest and laugh together. His order sends a chill through us all.

“What does he want with us?” Athena whispers. I swear she’d attack the War-God himself if she thought he threatened our future.

“I don’t know. But we can handle it,” I answer, truthfully, and don my black robes, then the belt with the hilt of my Orb-Blade. I pray I don’t have to use it. Athena pulls the thin pleasure dress over her body. My black robes cling to my sweaty muscles as the stands empty.

I lead my triad through the huge gates we entered through. As we pass under it, I get the foreboding sensation that they are teeth waiting to snap shut. Past the mirror and the cauldron is the entrance to the winding stone staircase.

“Shall I carry you up?” I ask my mate, then see her legs are no longer shaking. She stands, her head high.

“No. I’m strong.” It’s an understatement. She was stronger than me.

We walk up the endless stairs, until we pass an open door to a cavernous room, with a simple, low bed in the middle. I wonder how many other triads and their new mates consecrated their Bond on that bed. I continue, leading the way, my hand near my Orb-Blade as we pass the entrance to the Priests’ dais. The High Priests are chatting with each other in low tones, and I notice many glances cast our way.

I meet Priest Rataro’s eyes directly, looking for any hint of malice. He has a new triad of guards with him. Good. So he got rid of the firebrands. Rataro nods in respect, even he’s deferential to a pregnant Bond. I shiver as I remember the prophecies and part of the reason the Priests worship the War-God.

When Aurelians copy themselves in cryo-bays, cloning themselves on their last breaths, the next in their line is a near-perfect copy. Near perfect. Each generation, they become weaker, smaller, slower.

The Priests believe we need strong, Bonded sons, stronger than their forefathers, to fight against some darkness only Obsidian can prepare us for.

Two more flights, and we reach the huge doors to Obsidian’s private lair. He is standing behind a holographic representation of the universe. He towers over even me, at least eight feet tall, a huge, hulking monster of a man flanked by the mirror images of him, only their skin is smoky and black where his is marble with ebony veins. Trillions of stars sparkle in front of us in the high ceilinged room. I glance to the left, seeing the balcony with his throne, and to the right, the bridge to his palace, my warrior instincts making me look for all the ways out even here.

“May we enter?”

He doesn’t look at us. His twin shadows stare at the stars with him. “Yes.” A single word, deep and low.

I step in first.“You can wait outside,”I say to my Mate, but Athena chooses to walk in behind me, only a slight nervousness in her aura.

I clear my throat. “Obsidian. I thank you for all that you have given me. My Mate. The future of a son.”

He doesn’t answer. His eyes are black orbs, flecked with thousands of tiny pinpoints of diamond bright light. His twin shadows raise their heads to stare at me. They look even more beastly than him, long black hair to their shoulders, and when I don’t focus on them they have a disconcerting smokiness to the edges of their being. They are made of the smoke of a burned building, the acrid fumes of a downed Reaver.

“You served well.” His voice rings out like a hammer against an anvil.

“I have no right to ask. My God, you granted me everything, and I know you call for war to reclaim your Mate. I have found mine, and she is with child. We pledged our swords to you. I ask that you release us. That you let us live our lives in peace. We can never bring our battle-brother back, but now we have something more to lose.”

“I release you.” He states the words in his deep tone, without thought. Then his eyes dart to Athena. She does not hide behind us, and his eyes fill with a deep, dark sadness. “You have served well. Three battalions have just surrendered, joining us, seconds after your mating was broadcasted. They join me for the promise of a Mate. More will come.”

I swallow, the seconds ticking by. Tarak steps forward, his hands raised. “My God, why did you call us here?”

He’s about to speak, when I hear hard boots behind us. A triad of ancient Priests enter, moving surprisingly quick for such old beings. They stop a foot inside the door. “May we enter?” they ask, and Obsidian nods. They file in, pointing at the holograph. It zooms in past the Aurelian Empire, to the Toad Kingdom where we saved our mate.

“Obsidian. May we speak?” the leader of the Priests ask.

I grab Athena’s arm, gently pulling her closer to me, but she stands, head high facing down the Priests. She’s no longer scared of the brands on their foreheads.

“Speak.”

“The Toad-King has warned us. This triad entered his kingdom to steal away their Mate…it was a violation of their space. My God, they have planet-killers.”

I clench my teeth. Those enormous, deadly space-ships haven’t been used since the Great Galactic war, when humanity was nearly wiped out, and the Aurelian Empire expanded rapidly to protect them, gaining a primacy that lasted for thousands of years. We fought against Toads for control, and it was only when entire planets were dissolved out of being that we found an uneasy truce.

“They did not steal their Mate. They earned her.”

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