Page 33 of Interlude

“Well, little one, you trusted me with your tale, so it is only fair that I give you mine. What do you know about the creation of the galaxy?”

“Not a lot, to be honest. Earth, the planet I’m from, is cut off from knowing what’s really out here. I’ve had a crash course on everything galaxy related, but I was recently told of the gods of creation—life and death and four elemental gods who created the different races to worship them, which gave them power, but they disappeared shortly before or around the time of the Aaz’axian-Una’s war, and knowledge of them was phased out by the newly formed Galactic Council after the end of the war.”

Master Z growls at the mention of the Galactic Council. “Yes, what you know is true, but the gods didn’t get their powers from their worshipers. They already had all the power they needed. Creating races was just a way of passing the time for them because they were bored. It gave them a purpose, one which they thrived at. As close as any blood brother or sister, though not related, they were a family—a family that celebrated their wins and commiserated with each other’s losses, but like all creatures, the gods were not inherently bad or good, and they were subject to the whims of their emotions and thoughts and feelings just like any other being. Jealousy started to drift in. The nature of each god’s power dictated the kinds of creatures they created, and while death created a number of races that thrived, many of them had powers that were intimidating to the rest of the galaxy, and because of those powers, they were shunned. For example, while necromancy is an impressive power, if you don’t understand it, it’s easy to assume the power is inherently evil. This fostered resentment, which, when left to fester, grows until it’s an entity of its own, much like my beautiful plants.” He points the goblet in his hand to the surrounding foliage.

“So what happened?” I’m fully invested in this story now, even though in the back of mind, there’s something shouting at me to think about everything he’s been telling me and how he knows all of this.

“Betrayal is what happened, but how or why is unknown, still to this day. The four elemental gods found that their power had been diminished, reduced to less than half of what it had been, and then death and life disappeared altogether.”

“Who was responsible?” I ask, and he shrugs, his whole cloak jolting with the movement.

“The four elemental gods swore up and down none of them were responsible, which left life or death, but with no sign of them, nothing could be answered.”

I’m quiet as I mull over what he says. “What happened to the elemental gods?” I ask, almost certain I know exactly what happened to one of them, all of the pieces coming together at once. Master Z stands, and the roof of the building lights up with the same bioluminescence the rest of the plants are producing. I look up, and I see a creeper vine has slithered its way around all the exposed wooden beams while we were eating, the plants now making the room as bright as any fluorescent bulb lit space.

I hold my breath as Master Z’s hands come up and grab the two sides of his cloak, and he peels them back, revealing his true form.

Caspian

The trip from station Z68 seems to take forever, and we are all on high alert and anxious. The plan is flimsy at best, even though Lila and Xavier were both confident they could pull it off. I’m just pleased that Brannock is with them. He seems to have a level head and is motivated to regain our trust, so he will ensure our mates are careful. Now that I have my own children, I know what lengths I would go through so I could keep them safe. It would be worse if they were being used against me, so while I am upset he didn’t tell us immediately, I understand. He didn’t know us, so for all he knew, we were terrible people. I forgive him and will do whatever I can to help him get his child back.

He must be frustrated to be so far away from Earth. Once we find Liliana Adams and then sort out Silac’s family issues, I have no doubt that Earth will be our next destination. Agent Smith really made a mistake by fucking with us. I think he underestimates the fallout, and he’s going to wish he had never been born. The Syndicate is going down, and Xavier will crack Agent Smith’s fragile little human brain to get all the information we need regarding it. I can’t wait to watch. His screams of pain will be like music to my ears.

“Swim, Daddy?”

“Huh?” I had been staring out the window of our residence as the ship follows the halla harvesters’ vessel, cloaked from view.

“Cally would like to go for a swim in the big pool,” Saxon tells me, his eyebrows pulled into a frown as he bounces said child on his lap. She squeals with delight and claps her hands together. Jack and Cordy are on the floor, building a city of blocks with Link. “Are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah.” I scrub my hand through my hair. “Just worried about the others.”

“Why don’t we take the kids down for a swim, and I can check on Nikos? He hasn’t met them yet, and he’s been dying to. He keeps asking when you’ll bring them to swim with him, and now that he’s healthier, I think it’s a good idea. They need to meet their new daddy, and I’m sure he’d like to try his hand at parenting before his own arrive.” Link stands up and stretches his arms high. His shirt rises, exposing the smooth expanse of his shimmery abs, and my kraken cracks open an eye, perking right up. He’s been sulking since Lila left the ship without us, and this is the first sign of interest he’s shown since.

Easy, I caution him.

He nudges me, liking the idea of shifting and going for a swim if he can’t stick a tentacle into Link. I roll my eyes at my horny inner beast. He is as bad as Lila’s now. If they had their way, the day would start and finish with an orgy, with a little afternoon delight as a midday snack.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I could use something to take my mind off everything. Where are the cats? Do you think Echo would like to visit Nikos?”

“He and Maxsim are sleeping. Apparently, pregnant lightning cats need a lot more sleep than normal, and he was worried about Lila, which wasn’t good for his blood pressure, so I told him he should lie down. He wouldn’t, though, because he didn’t want to miss anything that might happen, so Maxsim threw him over his shoulder and took him to their den.”

“Probably fucked him into submission. That’s what I would do to Lila,” Saxon mutters quietly enough so Cally doesn’t hear it, but Link and I do.

“And she loves it. Echo probably does too,” I point out, looking at the mess our living room is in and grimacing. You would think with so many of us in this relationship, it would be easy enough to keep clean, but it really isn’t. We’re going to have to look at hiring a cleaner when the crew returns. Each person is usually responsible for their own quarters, but we are a busy family, and it’s about to get bigger. I will talk to the Adams brothers. They and the captains have one, so maybe they can share them with us.

“It’s all those pregnancy hormones,” Link adds as he starts to pick up the blocks. The children begin to complain, so I jump in to distract them.

“Do you two want to go for a swim with Cally and me?” I ask them. “We can meet the pretty mermaid in the pool.”

“Mermaid?” That gets Cordy’s attention. Lila has had them watching a kid cartoon with an unusual group of friends—a mermaid, a fish, and a crustacean. There was singing, and it had an evil octo-lady that I told the kids was their grandma Mira. Lila was horrified and told me my mother will kill me. She’s not wrong, but it was funny, and I can’t wait to tell my brothers.

“Yup, help Daddy Link clean up, and then we’ll go meet Daddy Can of Tuna.”

“Caspian,” Link scolds me, but Saxon bursts out laughing. He’s so serious all the time that when he laughs and his face lights up like that, he’s kind of stunning, and I find myself staring a little too long. He catches me and winks.

“I won’t come. I need to feed, and there’s a bag of Lila’s blood in the fridge. I’ll also prepare some bottles with blood for these three for when you return.” He stands up and comes over to me, handing me our daughter. I take her, and he leans in to give her a kiss on the cheek, but she ducks, and he gets me. We both kind of freeze, stunned by what happened. Cally just cheers and uses her hands to hold our heads together.

“Kiss, kiss, kiss,” she chants.

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