Page 75 of Taken to Heimo
“More like, when he hunted us down,” Ibra says with a chuckle. “He asked me to teach him our Human language and to educate him on the Tri-God. Did he tell you he wants to be baptized?”
I shake my head, crying in earnest now. “Oh, sheifala.” My mom comes and rubs my shoulder. It’s bruised. So is every other part of me. Including my weary hearts.
My mom smiles, her eyes welling with tears as she takes my hand and brushes the backs of her fingers across my cheek, smudging away one of a million dirty spots with her thumb. “As far as we and the congregation are concerned, you are already wed, Svera. There is no reason to feel ashamed.” She touches the top of my head, then immediately makes a face. “Though perhaps a bath is in order.”
I laugh. Tears come to my eyes as I do. “You aren’t disappointed that I…didn’t manage to stay true to the Tri-God?”
“After what we have done, how could we be?” My father says.
I don’t like that and open my mouth to tell him that two sins don’t create a virtue, but my mom speaks first. “You were wedded in Voraxian law before you consummated your marriage. From what we have heard from Kiki and Miari, the biological bond is strong. It would have been unnatural for you not to consummate it.” My brother chokes on his next cough and my father’s cheeks turn a deep red. He looks anywhere but at my face. So awkward, I can’t help but laugh again.
My mom swats my dad on the shoulder, forcing him to turn towards the bed. He says, “You were not ruined, sheifala. We could not be prouder of you. We just wanted to make sure that you were certain about him for your mate and, if you two would still like to be married under the Tri-God’s faith, your husband. After all, he is a male of someintensity.”
I bark out a laugh, but it’s my mom who says, “I believe Svera will have need of that intensity, given her role.”
“It’s true,” I agree. “He is the kind of male I’ll need at my side if I’m to continue working to protect the humans.”
“Because you need someone to protect you,” my father says and he removes a kerchief from his pocket and dabs it to his brow. He looks momentarily a decade older. “We thought we lost you, sheifala. And Krisxox brought you back to us.”
I nod. “He will always bring me back to you.”
“If for no other reason than that, we gave him our blessing should he, of course, have yours first.”
“He does. I would not have anyone else. He is my mate — my Xiveri mate — and I’ll be proud to have him for my husband.”
My mom starts to clap again. “Perfect. This is excellent news, sheifala. But for now, how are you feeling? Nauseous. Hungry. Dizzy?”
I shake my head. “Lemoria and Ki’Lemoria corrected the concussion, but she told me I might still experience some lingering symptoms for the next couple solars. She says that I’m alright to go home, but she’s asked you to monitor me… She said that she gave you all some medical equipment to take with you?”
“Yes, we’ve got it,” my brother says, holding up a large box that’s translucent white. “We’re ready to take you home.”
I smile. “I’m ready to go home.”
“We’re ready to bring you home. And Svera.” My father clears his throat. He brushes his fingers through his light brown hair. I got his hair and his eyes, but my grandmother always said that I got my mother’s heart. “We have spent much time with Lemoria over these past solars and we told her everything about the births.”
I tense. “So, they know about the hybrids?”
My parents nod. “Yes. They know about the hybrids and the Council and Mathilda and the deals she brokered with beings off-planet. We were surprised that they believed us so easily, but we had to do something when you disappeared. We were sure that Mathilda was responsible when she told us that you’d been kidnapped.”
My mom nods, and then picks up where my dad left off. “Miari and Raku had the other members of the Antikythera Council arrested two solars ago and the Council itself disbanded. Unfortunately, Mathilda, Harold, and Jopard were missing.”
The two Council members’ sons who detained Deena and me. I tense at the memory and my thoughts flit to Deena. Shame hits me that this is the first moment I’ve even had to panic about her.Where is she?
Then my mother says, “They haven’t been found since.”
“What?!” My chest burns.
My parents look glum as they say, “Jaxal is leading patrols across the moon, but so far, they haven’t found them.”
“Where could they have gone?”
“We don’t know.”
“Who is in charge now?”
“There has been chaos. The humans are frightened to be under Voraxian rule. It is…too reminiscent of the Hunt.”
My brother and dad nod. Ibra says, “They still don’t trust Miari, even after all she’s done for us. And they’re downright frightened of Kiki now that they’ve seen her training with the Voraxian soldiers. She’s a terrifying specimen…”
