Page 49 of Taken to Heimo
“Where I come from, the family has one father and one mother. We mate monogamously and for life.”
Rhorkanterannu pulls in a breath so unexpected it makes me jump. His lips part to reveal those strange, shimmering teeth — some of which near the back look distinctly filed — and his lower left arm reaches up to cover his stomach.
“What?”
He shudders and abruptly turns towards the window. “That is a strange concept for a male like me.” He crosses his upper set of arms over his chest and clasps the hands of his lower arms behind his back. He doesn’t say more.
“So is the idea of a shekurr for me.”
He sighs, “The Niahhorru have long lifespans, so we have a little time, but not much more of it. And while I have no interest in submitting an unwilling female to the shekurr, the survival of my species comes first. Sevrenn iahndru lat.” Life must persist. The motto of the Niahhorru. One that makes me shiver more than his implication does, because I know that he believes in those words more than anything else. “So, I will force you to join the shekurr. You have a quarter span to prepare yourself.”
He pivots on his heel and I’m wrapped up in the wind his huge body creates as he brushes past me and heads for the exit. My heart pounds rapidly. I can taste my heart in my mouth. Ithoughtthat Niahhorru honor would have prevented this. Irememberthe way he stood up for me against Nondah and the Niahhorru that couldn’t control their mating lust. I remember the way heslaughteredthe pirate who hurt me. I touch the scar on my cheek, feeling embarrassed, feeling confused. I know about Niahhorru honor. Or was that a lie, too?
“Fine.” The word jerks out of my mouth, not wanting to come. “You can force me, then. When you hold me down with all four of your arms, will you feel proud then, your Grace?”
He rounds on me, coming towards me in an attack that I don’t see coming. My hearts leap out of my chest, which simultaneously convulses. I fall back, landing on top of the prayer mat that I just set down.
Rhorkanterannu covers me with his body, planting all four of his hands on the floor and forcing me to lie back. He hovers his hips and chest off of me, but his knees brush the outsides of my calves when he sets them down, pinning my shift.
“You have studied well enough, little female, to know that we don’t take kindly to insults. You’ve managed to insult me twice in one sentence in a language that is not your native one, so I will give you credit for this, but little female, I will not tolerate a third insult.”
“Insults are all that I have,” I say, chest heaving even though my throat is restricted at the back, like I’m fighting to get enough air.
His eyes flash, skein dropping down to cover them so quickly, it makes me flinch. I read that they mostly keep their eyes open, but that the skeins drop down when they’re going into battle. Is that what this is?
Yes.
“Centare. You have something else.”
His heat presses down on me and I’m forced back into memories of being overpowered. Of being hurt. I fight through them. “What?” My voice is a whisper. A breath.
“You have coordinates.”
I blink while his skein slips back, revealing swirling silver eyes. He has a shallow brow bone and silver skin and at his hairline two large ridges stretch from his crown down the back of his head. In the valley between them, his spikes begin.
“How…” But he just lifts a brow in question. “That treacherous, evil, manipulativesnakewoman.”
He chuckles and his breath smells like the frost of Nobu, winter clean and violently hungry. “Ontte,” he says the Meero word foryes, “my thoughts as well.”
Slowly, he picks himself up off of me and leaves me lying there where I am. “A satellite filled with humans left entirely unguarded and floating aimlessly through space? Inmygrey zone, no less? There was not a chance I believed that honorless wretch.”
“What changed your mind?” I swallow many times, no less thirsty. No less disoriented. How could he know? If he doesn’t know the coordinates because Mathilda wouldn’t give them to him, then he’s going to make me trade. I can feel it. The humans on Balesilha or my body.
But it belongs to Krisxox. I can’t just give it away…
My hearts clench as I realize something quite funny. Ironic, really.
I miss him.
Not just because I feel safe, but because he feels steady. Even our fights are something known. Maybe because I always know they’ll end in the same way.With me melting and seething at the same time.
“The Eshmiri.”
Ah. “The asteroid,” I whisper.
“Precisely. They did not just find carpets there, little advisor. They found humans.”
“What?” The word slams out of me. I press a hand to my chest and sit up. “That can’t be. You have humans?”
