Page 42 of May the Stars Have Mercy
“Four noble houses, huh?” Aphrodite teased.
Quagmor chortled, “Some less noble than the rest.”
“I feel some backstory is about to be dropped for me?” Aphrodite leaned over the table toward the scholar. “Let me guess. Vroz is super noble and heroic, Xinti I know are cultivators and farmers, so that leaves Loa and Sinx. Not to sound human, but Sinx is giving me a villain sound.”
Xexis snorted, “The Sinx are not villains…they are merely absent.”
Quagmor smirked at Aphrodite before sitting back in his chair with his hands folded over his belly. “No one knows the true story of why the Sinx left, but they say in the beginning, the four were the first to reach the stars. Beyond their planet and beyond their moons. They bound together to help the rest of the stars, when they were ready to join. It started off small, then slowly, the Council grew to have a person from each peoples. The main Council now is just the six main, Vroz, Xinti, Loa, and three others I won’t bore you with. We are the ones with the most to give, the most to help, so we serve. The Council is to serve, to protect, and to keep the stars fair for all. When a people join the Council, they get a ship and everything to keep it, a seat at the major Council, and a few other perks.”
Aphrodite tapped her fingers across the table. “And so what’s the requirement.”
“No trespassing,” Xexis snorted. Aphrodite nudged him in the side. He snickered to himself. “No killing.”
She shot him a look. He glanced away, focusing on his brother with fake interest. She could tell by the wiggling of his pincers he was playing with her. Returning her attention to Quagmor, the scholar shook his head. “There are a few. The Council is made of the people, so they require a Council member to sit on the Council, a healer for their medical bay, and the sentinels. A collection of experts with whom the council can confer on topics of resource, history, literature, business, etc. It helps communication. However, there are a few people who do notwantcommunication to get better.”
“Humans,” she grumbled.
Quagmor grimaced, pincers curled sheepishly. “Among others.”
She really shouldn’t be thinking bad of her own people. Earlier she begged Xexis not to think badly of her people for the wrongs of her government. She needed to remember rich, powerful, bloodthirsty people still held the reins for her people. Aphrodite dropped her attention to her lap as she worked to strap her data pad back to her arm. “So, then, what’s the rumor about the Sinx?”
“Rumor says that the Sinx left because of the Vroz. Because the Sinx were a cruel, harmful people and the Vroz told them to find empathy or perish.”
Xexis held up a hand. “There is no text that says that.”
“No, but those are the rumors,” Quagmor put up his own hands.
Aphrodite peaked up between the two, waiting to see if there was more. They fell into silence, and so she returned to fiddling with her technology. As they began to feel the brakes on the ship engage, she looked to Buddy. A tiny text bubble came up on her screen.
If I get access to their computers…I could look.
She shook her head, typing on the screen for the first time and not speaking out loud.It’s not necessary, whatever happened eons ago isn’t the problem today. I need to focus on keeping my government from trying to start fires.
Buddy twisted slightly, like he were looking at the two men sitting with her, then back to her before more text filled the screen.
I do not have an extinguisher application, but we can install one real quick.
She barked out a laugh that bounced around the cabin. All eyes landed on her and she shrunk. Xexis raised his brows. Aphrodite just slid further down in her seat to avoid more scandal.Not the best first day as a space warrior princess…not the worst, but not the best.
Buddy texted once more.
Whoops.
Chapter Twenty-Six:
Xexis
XnasispulledtheKannatchaside as the ship landed but before they were unloaded into the hangar. His staff were all eager to return to work, but Xnasis did not seem to mirror their enthusiasm. If there was something Xexis felt he was rather good at, it was sensing the emotions of his loved ones. His older brother was a complicated puzzle. A lock with many notches and keyholes but only certain combinations worked.
“Brother, I have a question about your hunt that I need you to answer honestly. I can not go into those chambers ignorant.” Xnasis walked them into the newly emptied command deck. The pilot had already disembarked to check on the outside of the ship.
Xexis sighed, “It was an entire mistake and miscommunication.”
Xnasis shook his head. “I feared you would say that. Please, go on, explain.”
Xexis sat down in one of the pilot seats while Xnasis took up the other. It took him a moment to gather his thoughts before he exhaled. “I planned a hunt around her special interests. I broke apart a ship for her to run through, opportunities for her to fix it or use it as a weapon. And we waited till they were in an isolated quadrant. I believed she did so because she’d already known, or had some indication. So, I set the stage and waited. She boardedand initiated the hunt. I killed two of her crewmates I believed were used as bait for me, to show my prowess…I was wrong.”
“And so, Aphrodite did not know it was a mating hunt until when?” Xnasis folded his hands over his lap.
