Page 50 of Claimed By Brothers

“You are head over heels with the both of them, so of course you have faith in them,” she chuckles dryly. “The rest of us have to keep our fingers crossed that they’re both on board with the assignment.”

“They have to be,” Jewel says, frowning as she looks around, her brown eyes scanning every single inch of dry land and river within sight. “It’s the smartest way for everybody to get what they want out of this mess.”

“I’m scared,” Alicia replies, hands resting on her full hips, her white linen dress flapping slightly in the breeze. “I know we agreed to bide our time and try to survive this red hell for a while longer, but what if we don’t? What if we die?”

“Then it won’t matter anymore,” Cynthia says. “We’ll be dead.”

Alicia scoffs and rolls her eyes for good measure, too. “Way to cheer a girl up.”

“You’re the one talking about death!” Cynthia shoots back, almost laughing. “Nobody here wants to kill us, babe. Not on the first try, anyway.”

“No, you’re right. They just want to impregnate us so their giant babies can rip us apart on their way out,” Alicia replies, her voice rising with fear.

“Hey, hey, deep breath,” I step in, holding her by the shoulders. “We can’t let anybody take us. But we can’t let Umok hurt an innocent child, either. We’re the reason the Sky Tribe and the Fire Tribe are warring more ferociously than ever, and we owe it to Valen to put an end to this skirmish with as few casualties as possible.”

“Besides, remember Jewel’s plan,” Cynthia adds with a confident smile. “There’s a reason she’s a budding superstar in the military, and the Sunnaites will understand that, too, soon enough. All we have to do is follow her lead and hope the Mal and the Hadana clans stick to their roles.”

“How did Kai and Maur react to your proposal?” I ask.

Cynthia shoots me a cool grin. “I took your advice and decided to embrace my femininity with them. Not that I did anything with them.”

“Are you sure?” Jewel quips, holding back a hearty laugh.

“It’s not like that!” Cynthia snaps.

But it is, and we all know it. She’s bonding with Maur and Kai despite the three of them resisting the temptation even to touch one another. The denial is strong with my bestie here, though. There’s no point in getting her to admit something she’ll eventually embrace someday, much like I did before her.

“No. I just batted my eyelashes, I softened the tone of my voice, I sweetened the pot by suggesting that I might, in fact, stick around for a little while longer if they decide to work with us on this.”

“And they said yes,” Alicia concludes.

“They said hell yes,” she replies, then looks at me. “Listen, I know Izzo is mad at you. He’s probably pissed off that Binzen cut you loose, too. But I do hope he sees the bigger picture here.”

I nod slowly. “Like I said, I have faith in my men.”

“Your men,” Jewel smirks. “I never thought I’d live to see this day.”

“It’s not like I asked for any of this,” I remind her.

“None of us did, but we’re here,” Cynthia says, exhaling sharply. “We might as well get used to it and figure another way off the planet another time. For now, however, I really want us to focus on kicking Umok’s ass until he’s dead and buried. Otherwise, he’ll never stop coming after us.”

We start walking along the plateau’s edge, constantly looking over our shoulders. I hope Binzen is keeping the guards busy since they’re planning their meeting with Umok somewhere near the Cloud Mountains. They can’t spare additional manpower to come looking for us. We could’ve worked together on this, but if Izzo decided to be stubborn, I’m grateful Binzen turned himself around.

It’s getting hotter and harder for me to even breathe at times. Soon, we’ll run out of water and have to go back down to the river to refill our bone bottles. This is a harsh and inhospitable environment for humans, particularly in the oncoming summer. How could I possibly survive here in the long term? Will I adapt, or will I dry up like a raisin?

I shake the thoughts away as we keep moving, determined to do things right this time.

“What will you do if we succeed?” Jewel asks me after a while.

“I don’t know.”

“Oh, but you do,” she replies, a smile twitching on her tanned face. “Let’s face it, Amber. You kind of belong here.”

Do I? Yes, in a way, I do belong here. But why is it so hard to let go of Earth, of the life I had there? Of the past. There it is. That’s my problem. I’m too tied to my past, even though it shouldn’t interfere with my future.

The child growing in my womb has changed everything, though.

The love I have for Binzen and Izzo is getting stronger by the hour. The farther I get from them, the harder it is to be. To simply… be.

---