Page 53 of Guardian's Destiny

I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. The simple fact that I was a test tube baby, after all, didn't sit well with me.

"We live our lives here in peace," Hyugh continued. "We've been avoiding detection for millennia, and we would like to keep it that way. Our ultimate goal is to take Ohrur back one day, butthat day isn't here yet. Our army is not yet strong enough to fight you Space Guardians."

"You might not have to," I filled him in.

Interested, Hyugh perked up, "What do you mean?"

"This." I pulled up my sleeve to allow him a glimpse of my mating marks, while Sloane, as astute as always, did the same. "Has woken several of us up, and I think we might get even more on our side once we know more."

"Mating marks?" Craygh mumbled loudly. He had been so quiet that I had almost forgotten his presence.

"How is that possible?" Craygh turned to Hyugh.

Hyugh looked as astounded as Craygh. "Zoyab," he yelled at a man wearing a dark uniform. From the weapons around his hips and legs, I gathered he must be one of the soldiers Hyugh had mentioned, instructing him, "Get Chronarch Byalbor." To us, he said, "Chronarch Byalbor is our history record keeper; he would know more about these things than I do. My knowledge of Darlam, I'm afraid, is rather limited."

Moddekdum grunted something at Paddekah, who hurried out of her seat to clean his plate.

"No!" Sloane shook her head. "You don't have to do this, Paddekah. He can do it himself."

"Please sit; our servants will take care of this." To my surprise, it was Craygh again who spoke. The way he looked pitying at Paddekah told me that these Ohrurs didn't treat their females like the ones above ground.

"You don't agree with the way the Ohrurs treat their females?" I voiced my question.

Again, it was Craygh who answered, "It was one of the reasons for the civil war. The Krythar Order was the faction that clung to the old ways, believing females should remain suppressed and that the males were superior to all other species.They fought against the Luminal Union, which sought equality for all and wanted to leave Darlam to govern itself."

So Moddekdum belonged to the Krythar Order, the one that won, while Craygh and Hyugh belonged to the Luminal Union, they were the ones who had fought for us. I couldn't help but feel a certain connection to them. It sounded like they had been as much victims of the Krythar Oder as Darlams.

"We treat our females as equals here," Craygh filled us in while he seemed to be speaking only to Paddekah. "You are welcome to stay with us. You would never have to serve again."

"Never serve again?" Paddekah blinked as if her mind couldn't comprehend what Craygh was telling her.

"Don't bother. She's too stupid to understand what you're saying. She wouldn't even know what to do with herself if she wasn't trying to make me happy." Moddekdum snarled.

As if to prove his point, Paddekah bowed her head toward Moddekdum, "Master."

"This will take some time and work," Sloane said, obviously more in tune with the female than I was. "I've seen this before. I bet you never went to school. Can you read?"

Moddekdum barked out a hard laugh, "School is not for females; it corrupts their minds."

"You mean as in teaches them to have opinions? Ideas? Dreams?" Sloane snarked.

Moddekdum waved his hand, "Call it what you will, the fact of the matter is that Paddekah is mine and always will be, isn't that right, nuvala?"

"Master," Paddekah repeated, making me groan.

"Don't worry, she isn't the first female we took under our care," Hyugh said.

"She isn't?" Sloane sounded surprised.

"No, our society has not been blessed with many females, so we are forced to take some from the surface every now and then." Hyugh filled us in.

"That was you?" Moddekdum barked. "We thought the stupid things got lost in the ruins, where they weren't supposed to be to begin with."

"An assumption we let you make intentionally." Hyugh barely looked at Moddekdum before he turned to me. "If you would leave her with us, I promise she will have a much better life."

"She is my nuvala," Moddekdum fumed.

Ignoring him, I said, "I would like that, but we need her to go to Darlam with us first."

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