Page 13 of The Highseer's Mate

When I open my eyes again, his expression looks painful. He stands and backs away, leaning against the wall across the room from me. The lights on his chest flare and he rubs at the pattern, cringing like he’s in physical pain.

I wish I could understand him. Beg him to let me go.

I wish I was strong enough to run away.

But sleep has its hold on me and I’m fading fast. Before I realize it, I drift off into a comfortable, but fitful sleep surrounded by strange, bright green lights and a deep voice whispering things I can’t quite understand.

I cling to that voice anyways—letting it wipe everything else away.

Chapter 7

Paige

I’m pulled from the dark depths of a dream by the softest of touches to my forehead. It’s like a feather, brushing lightly across my sensitive, slashed skin. Another touch and I feel something cool and slimy on my skin.

My eyes flutter open and I lock eyes with a gray-skinned alien woman hunched over me.

Her dark hair is long, coiled and braided well past her delicate shoulders. Delicate for an alien, I suppose. Her cheeks have a rosy tint to them and her warmth is contagious.

Wait.

I jolt upright, nearly tumbling out of the hammock again. I throw a foot down to steady myself as the woman takes a few steps back, startled by my reaction.

“I mean you no harm.”

“I know,” I snap. “It’s just that I’m not used to all this and I—”

Wait…

I stare at the female in front of me, her hands covered in a luminescent poultice. She watches me with wide eyes as I process everything.

“Did I just understand you?” I ask.

Yesterday, I couldn’t understand anything my alien captive was saying. Or any of the other gray beings for that matter. Everything was like guttural noise in one ear and out the other.

But this female… her words are as clear to me as if she were speaking English.

“Are you… human?” I ask her before she can respond to my previous question.

It’s silly, I know. She’s definitely not human, but I can’t wrap my head around any other alternative.

She shakes her head, easing back down and kneeling next to me. “No. I’m Vrut.”

“But I can understand you. I mean, why can I understand you and no one else?”

She shrugs.

“And how can you understand me?”

Her lips press into a firm line as if she hadn’t thought about that either. “I’m not sure. I just can. You said something about hu-man. Is that what you are?”

“Yes. I’m not supposed to be here. Our—” I trail off, realizing the girls are still back at the ship and I need to keep their existence a secret. “My ship got sucked through a wormhole and I ended up here.”

“And then Varek found you.”

Varek. I tumble his name around my head and nod. “He stole me. Took me from my ship.”

I shake my head, my temples throbbing as I process everything. “I couldn’t understand him yesterday. All his words sounded like garbled sounds and now, with you, everything makes sense. How is that possible?”

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