Page 97 of Dark's Savior

Days passed after that, each one melding into the other. She got up, sat with her crewmates for an hour or two, though not much was said, then went to her private room and worked on Korzien's portrait, anger slicing through her with each stroke of her brush. When sundown came, he would enter the room and look at her work, saying very little but looking satisfied enough that it would be to his liking. He might call her to join him for dinner or he might not. Either way, she ate very little and sometimes, when she was back in her room alone, she got sick but refused to think much about it.

First Night was quickly approaching, and the closer it got, the more anxious she became. She hadn't given up hope that Ryziel would come. But doubt had snuck up from nowhere and squirmed its way into her mind. Only when they were two days away from the dreaded night did she acknowledge the doubt at all. But she knew he had to be coming.

Unless, of course, something had stopped him from doing so.

She was sure if he had been captured that she would have heard of it. Korzien would have said something or Marzin would have come and announced it. The awful thought that he might have gotten off Lethe Maws but been immediately caught made her feel another kind of sick. The thought that he might not have made it out of the mines at all, that perhaps the ship couldn't be fixed, made her feel even worse.

Eventually, sundown on the last day came, and still, there was no sign or word from him. The dark emotions that had been filling up in her had nearly reached their peak, and she wondered in the end if she should just let them spill over or wait for them to burst out on their own. She sat at her stool, staring numbly at the nearly finished portrait before her, keeping her hands locked tight on her lap to save from taking her brush and lashing out at Korzien's face with violent strokes of red. Instead, she left it sitting nicely in the center of the empty room and made her away across to the place, where she knew Korzien must be waiting.

Within the sitting room, Aly found several nillium, including Korzien, Marzin, Zyr, and Azil, to name a few, along with her crew huddled together. The nillium talked and laughed as they ignored the women sitting with heads bowed nearby. As a mini celebration, Korzien had all the girls called to him to share in a meal with their chosen. The nillium ate, the women didn't. At one point, Korzien's uncle appeared, grimacing at them as he settled himself in a corner, covering his mouth as he coughed, and angrily waving a servant away from him. At the end of dinner, cups of sweet wine were distributed to each, and Korzien once again raised his glass in toast.

"To our human women, who have the honor of carrying our legacy onward. For tomorrow, once First Night ends and the new dawn begins, we will join together. May the children they produce rise above all others and rule for the many cycles to come. As Nihl so wills it."

They began to drink from their cups when a pair of guards entered the room and bowed.

"We regret to interrupt," one said. "But there is a ship that has come from Taquen. The crew wishes to meet with you and Nihl Zyr."

Aly had been drifting thoughtlessly away from the scene, but she suddenly came crashing back into reality at the guard’s words.

A ship had come. Then it must be...

Korzien frowned, setting his cup down. "And why, in Nihl's Sight, should I even indulge in their request? Or not have them forced out of their ship and killed?

The guard bowed again. "They say they are traders."

Korzien laughed. "An even better reason to kill them. How dare they land their ship here and not at one of the many other docks in the city?"

The guard glanced around the room, specifically at Aly and the other women. He came over and whispered in Korzien's ear. Korzien's expression, which had been slipping quickly into sheer annoyance, suddenly changed to one of shock.

"Really?" he said quietly. "That much?"

The guard whispered some more, and Korzien's eyes narrowed. He gestured to Zyr, who came over, and the guard spoke quietly to them both. The other nillium, feeling it was impolite to eavesdrop, went back to their own conversations. Aly leaned forward but couldn't hear a word, though she saw Zyr's face light up. He straightened and nodded to the guards.

"I'll go," Zyr said, loud enough for her to hear. "And see how true this is. If they lie, I will have them killed and their ship burned."

"If it is true, however," Korzien said, "have them return here so that I may speak with them."

Zry agreed and left with the two guards. Aly sat frozen, heart thumping in her chest. She heard Cilia mutter some kind of profanity beside her and Kate whisper to her to be quiet, but Aly barely noticed them or the others, her eyes never leaving the doorway, ready to see Ryziel come walking through at any minute.

It seemed like forever before anyone returned. When the guards finally entered again with a bow and Zyr walked past them, Aly felt her heart leap in her chest as another pair followed behind him, only to have her heart sink to her stomach when she saw it was not Ryziel or Xilya or Nar but two roughed-up men. One was a scarred lygin with a wrap over one eye and the other a very disfigured tylian, with long misshapen feelers, its bug-like skin a nasty shade of orange. They each wore drab flight suits with worn shields and faded patches, the tylian carrying a pack over its shoulder.

The lygin looked around the room, his one good eye falling on her and the other women briefly before turning to Korzien. The tylian didn't so much as flick his feelers at them.

"They tell the truth," Zyr said. "I saw the capsules myself."

Korzien brushed a finger over his mouth as he studied them. Then he smiled. "Come. Join us. We were just finishing dinner, but you are welcome to food and drink."

The tylian took the cup of wine a servant offered and drank it down in one sloppy gulp then grabbed another before one could be offered to the lygin, who refused it.

"I take it you have traveled a long way," Korzien said, eyeing the tylian with amusement.

"Very long," the tylian said, with a grated voice, as he wiped his mouth after finishing his second glass.

"And you bring with you quite the treasure."

"We are willing to make a good deal for it," the lygin said, his voice also rough. "If you let us stay for the day to refuel our ship, we can discuss a price."

"You come, unfortunately, at a rather bad time," Korzien said. "We are interested, have no doubt, but the next couple of days will be rather busy." Korzien looked to Zyr, who merely shrugged. He turned back to the two. "I don't usually allow traders to stay in the house or even land here at all, really, but because I am interested in what you have to sell and approve that you came to us first, I am willing to forgive." Korzien gestured to a servant, who came right away. "Have a room ready for them, somewhere on the east end," he told them. The servant bowed and left. "Since you are here, then, and we won't be discussing any trades for a day or two, come and stay with us."

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