“The humans are too soft for our species,” Dergoz retorts, and I have a sneaking suspicion this is not the first time they have had this conversation.
“Kanuz and I have not had any problems,” Draz returns.
Dergoz snaps his teeth, his tail smashing the wall behind. Stiffly, he dips his head at me, and walks out.
“What happened?”
Draz shrugs. “I do not know. Neither he nor Bex will discuss it.”
“Bex? The dark-haired one?”
“Yes.” Draz smiles. “She makes my Ni-Kee laugh. It saddens me that the Brute refuses to give her a chance. Especially when Bex is willing and so many are not.”
“The females are still unwilling?”
“More or less.” He shrugs, looking uncomfortable. “I am disgusted by what their Federation did. It is despicable.”
“Agreed.” We both fall silent.
“The southerners said you sent word to have more females brought here.”
Draz chuckles. “That would be my Ni-Kee’s doing. She negotiated their help in turning on the Roth in return for bringing more mates for them. Of course, the women would have to choose to come here.” His expression darkens.
“The Roth captured you?” I ask, stunned. For the First Warlord to be caught unawares… That is something I truly thought I would never see. He claps me on the shoulder.
“Come, Kanuz, let us walk and talk. I am eager to return to my mate, though hopefully she will not be too tired from training for the Trials.”
“She thinks to compete in the Trials?” Good for her. A human female as a Suevan Warlord. “Perhaps Dergoz would not be so quick to dismiss his wife if Niki succeeds.”
“Oh, there is no if about it. She will succeed. I have no doubt about it.” He shakes his head, his eyes shining with affection for her.
“I am glad you are well pleased with her,” I tell him sincerely.
“As am I for you, my friend. I never thought this day would come.”
We walk through the long hall together, leaving the Roth to his own devices in his cell.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
GEN
“I feel like a clown.”
“Shut up. I barely put any on you.” Bex wields the pot of red-tinted balm like a weapon, and I eye her warily. “It’s literally cheek stain. It’s not like I put falsies on you and airbrushed your skin.”
“I’m glowing already,” I tell her irritably. “Don’t start talking about airbrushing my skin.”
“Yeah, honestly, we could bottle whatever the hell it is you drank, sell it on Earth, and make an absolutely killing in the beauty industry.”
“You said I look like acid trip Tinkerbell.”
“It’s a mood. It’s a look. It’s a lifestyle.”
I glare at her, and she dabs something soft on my lips.
“Okay,” Niki interrupts from where she’s sprawled across something that looks like a sofa, but isn’t quite a sofa. “Let me get this straight.”
She pauses, tapping on what they call a comm tablet, and looks like a futuristic piece of smokey glass. Elon Musk would shit a brick if he saw it. “You fell through a trap door, solved death trap after death trap, and then decided to drink this bioluminescent liquid, and Kanuz thinks it’s the treasure of their goddess?”
“It looked. Like. Water.” I grit out. “It tasted like nothing. It wasn’t like I scooped radioactive looking shit in my mouth, Jacks!”
“For someone who said they were going to try to be nicer, you sure have a weird way of showing it,” Bex pinches my cheeks, and I glower up at her.
Niki snorts from where she’s watching us, her delicate blue slippers dainty and feminine. “And then the dinosaur imprinted on you, because they’re trained with lights as babies?”
“I haven’t quite wrapped my head around that myself,” I tell her.
“And you named him Steve,” Bex crows, clearly delighted with me. “Of all the names, why Steve?”
“I was hungry, tired, and it was the first thing that popped in my head.”
“I love the name Steve for a dinosaur,” Carmen pipes up from where she’s messing with the data she collected from me.
I pluck at the voluminous fabric of the pastel-colored dress that Bex called the shade of a sunrise at the beach. It’s pink. Nothing wrong with pink. I like pink.
It’s aggressively pink.
“This is what their women wore?” My lips twist to the side, imagining this shade of virulent pink on green skin.
“Nah, they mostly had blues and greens and yellows, but I sweet talked the fabric vendor into trying some new shades,” Bex tells me.
“Of course, you did,” I say.
“Pink is great on you, so shut up and let me get my hands on your hair.” She rubs her palms together, a gleam in her eye. “You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to give you a makeover.”
“There wasn’t anything wrong with how I looked.”
“I didn’t say there was. But your hair is gorgeous, and I was afraid if I told you that, you’d make me run or worse, do plyometrics before giving me demerits.”
I glare harder at her.
“Your face is going to get stuck like that, Princess.” She runs her fingers through my nearly dry hair.
“Our chain of command has disintegrated,” I tell Niki.
“Fuck the chain of command,” she says cheerily.
“Fuck the Federation,” Bex adds darkly.
“Fucking sounds like fun,” Carmen sighs.
We all stare at her. “What’s your story? What happened with your husband?”
She shrugs a shoulder. “I’ve barely seen him since we got to Edrobaz.”
Niki clears her throat. “So, Gen. The warlord trials.”
Carmen shoots her a grateful look.
“Yeah. What’s that all about?” I stretch, grateful for soft, clean clothes, clean skin, and a roof overhead. Bex makes a disgruntled noise, tugging my hair around.
It’s nice though. Sitting here, not worried about getting chomped by a mega snake, or a tentacle monster, with my friends. It’s really fucking nice.
“I wanted to have status here, and not just because of Draz.”
“Good for you,” I say, popping one of the little snacks they brought out while I showered into my mouth.
She clears her throat again.
“Something getting stuck in there?” I narrow my eyes at her.
Carmen laughs.
“I just thought… they’re in two weeks. Fourteen Suevan days. You are the princess now, and still our second in command. But I thought you might want to do the trials. In case you want to lead here, too.”
“Oh.” I pause, blinking at her. “That’s a good idea.”
“Abby and Juls are doing it with me, too.”
“Good for them.” I’m not too surprised to hear the newer recruits are interested in leveling up here. They’re both smart and ambitious, and Niki and I talked at length about their potential before we left for Sueva.
And now that potential will stay on Sueva.
“Niki… you didn’t know, right?”
“I wondered if you’d ask that.” Her face is serious, none of the humor or good-natured warmth she usually radiates present. I glare at my glowing hands. I don’t think I’ll use the word radiate ever again.
“No, I didn’t know. And I was so fucking mad. And worried about all of you. Draz and I were stuck in the jungle until last week, too. I didn’t know where any of you were, and I felt so mad at myself for insisting everyone take part in that ceremony…” Her throat bobs, but she blinks rapidly, keeping the tears at bay. “If you’re angry with me for giving the order, I understand.”