Page 128 of Planet Zero
She nodded. “I never thought we could, you know, make babies between us, but there is no other explanation.”
With an effort, she brought herself to look at him, and the anguish in his face made her recoil. He looked like she’d just stuck a knife into his back.
Guess I’ll be making the trip to the Olzol Mountains by myself, after all.
“Alright, Zoark.” She began to rise but his hand shot out to clasp around her shoulder and pin her down.
“When do you think… will the baby arrive?” he sounded strained.
“I’ve got a little time, don’t worry. It’s not like I plan to sue you for child support.”
“What are you talking about?”
She laughed a little. “An inside joke.”
“I’m not in the mood for jokes.”
“Yeah, I figure.”
“What do you plan to do?”
“Me? Oh, well, let’s see. First, I plan to go back to my teepee. I’ll pack, and when no one is watching, especially Shur, I’ll hightail it out of this place.” She’d miss the girls. Melmie, with her serious, practical approach to life. Little Oh’na whose eyes followed Addie whenever she was near, and adoration poured out of her otherworldly red-green orbs. Addie’s heart spasmed painfully at the thought of never seeing Oh’na again. Somewhere along the way, she’d become her child more so than she was Chele’s ward.
“Where will you go?” Zoark asked.
“To the caves,” she said simply.
He was looking at her like she lost her mind.
“What, you don’t think it’s a good plan?”
“No.”
“Well, it’s the best one I’ve got. I won’t mate Shur, and if I refuse, the High Counselor will punish me until he kills me. I can’t die now, you understand.”
“You don’t want to die?” he asked with suspicion.
“Um. No, not really.” What was wrong with him?
There were a few beats of charged silence, and then he said, “I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t have to, but thank you,” Addie said politely. She’d be damned if she forced him into staying by playing up the baby card. But protection on the road might be sensible, what with the marauders and wild Gosors. “You may see me to the mountains. I should be okay once I get to the caves.”
“I’ll stay with you until the baby is born. You won’t have to do anything. I’ll provide for you. And after… I will keep the baby.”
Addie turned to his so sharply her hair whipped her cheek hard enough to leave a welt. “Keep the baby? What do you mean?”
“Only that you don’t have to trouble yourself with it. I am only asking you to birth it. Please.”
He was pleading, and his quiet voice made violent goosebumps blossom all over Addie’s skin under the sweater. Something was very wrong. His reaction went deeper than that of a father-to-be caught unawares.
“What ifIwant to keep my baby?”
He was staring at her with something close to panic, making her more and more uneasy.
“Zoark, is it because I’m human? You don’t trust me to raise your baby?” she asked carefully.
“As a human, why would you want an alien thing?” he countered hoarsely.
