Page 18 of Fighting Gravity
“Not yet.”
“She’s theenemy. Humans and valerians are allied and that makes her the enemy. She should be dead.”
“Unfortunately, you don’t command this crew. I say what happens to her. Now, we know Tao Prime is owned by Ket-ram and I know his reputation well enough to deal with him.” I glanced down at my wrist coms. “Crex,” I said into it. “Get us to Tao Prime.”
“Understood,” was all I heard from the other end. I lowered my hand and looked once at Kaar and then at Veron.
“At least one of you still speaks to me as if I am urok.”
“I’m not—” Veron began before my blade was a hair from the vein in her throat.
That time, I drew a different blade. One I kept tucked in the thick leather binds of my bracer. It was old and primitive, but did more to get the point across than anything else would.
Veron bit her tongue, lifting her chin to avoid the sharp edge of my Sylvar. Gek had hard skin, but a Sylvar was harder still. Sharper. Unyielding. Like an urok was meant to be.
“Do not forget who wields this,” I said to her, my gaze cutting her more deeply than my knife ever could. “Now, you seem tired from our long journey, but question me again after I’ve made my intentions known and I may actually experience a bout of clarity and end you where you stand.”
“Yes, urok,” she said through a clenched jaw.
Veron didn’t like answering to me. She always thought our fight tipped in my favor because of dumb luck. In truth, killing her would have been easy. Holding back was what posed a challenge.
“Good,” I said, sliding my Sylvar back in its leather sheath. “Now help where you can. I need rest.”
I stood on the hunting grounds. I’d done well navigating the harsh terrain, but once the hunt had ended, my mind lost track of where I was. Eyes were unblinking. Skin was stained with still-wet blood. The knee-deep water around me was tinted red.
Floating a couple of strides in front of me was Thalos.
My brother.
He floundered face down in the water. I was the one poked full of holes. He was pierced with only one. The most lethal one. I recalled how it felt to slide my weapon between his ribs and into his heart.
I knew how to kill. I knew how to butcher large animals. I knew how to track and hunt.
Thalos was different.
Taking his life took part of mine, too. The moment his body slumped into the water, still and breathless, I knew my life would forever change. I made a choice and that choice was to fight through every one of my siblings to gain a title that meant something. A position I could use to lead our people forward. We’d been in hiding for too long and it was taking its toll. We were becoming weak. Disconnected.
Thalos wanted to stay disconnected. He wanted to let gek’tal die out, forgotten across the galaxy. I wanted to remind the galaxy that we existed and we were strong. Resilient. Worth the fear others used to feel when our warships passed through their solar system.
Those principles drove me to kill someone I shared a womb with and as I held the blood-soaked knife in my closed fist, I stared at the outcome of my resolve. I would not be a coward and look away. I would absorb it. I would remember what he looked like floating there in the middle of the hunting grounds, limp and lifeless.
I stared at him until the transport to take me out of that place arrived to pick me up.
I made them pick up Thalos first.
He deserved better than a wet grave where his body would bloat and then sink into the mud to rot. He deserved a mausoleum where his followers could honor him whenever they pleased.
So many people believed in him. They would want to pay their respects.
I helped the others haul my brother’s corpse onto the transport and rode with him, holding his head in my lap as we sped through the hunting grounds. It had been my world for the past three days. Usually, a hunt lasted weeks.
I was fast. Proficient.
I knew what I wanted and I wanted it more than anyone else.
Every other opponent yielded quickly. I made sure to land a blow on every one of them so they knew I was not standing down. It was death or surrender. Thalos had worked his way through the hunting grounds in the same way until it was just him and me. The only two candidates willing to go to the very end.
The only two willing to die or kill.
