Page 43 of May the Stars Have Mercy
“Until she woke aboard my ship. I had not considered the humans would board the ship to investigate it for life.” Xexis nodded his head, unable to look at his brother. “Aphrodite explained that her crewmates believed the ship was sending an emergency signal and there might be survivors inside, but there was nothing inside that ship but me…nothing alive other than a few pests I didn’t have time to rid the ship of. I did remove some of the bodies and my pack cremated them as a mercy”
“Xexis, I am confused.” Xnasis’ words ripped his brother’s gaze up from his lap. “Where did you find the ship? Did you kill an entire ship’s worth of humans for a hunt?”
“Stars, no!” Xexis exclaimed, slightly put off that his brother would even assume him that cruel.
“Then where did the bodies come from?” Xnasis narrowed his eyes on his younger brother.
“We found that ship as it was. I know you don’t like that as the answer, but we put out a call that we were looking to purchase a broken ship and the Loa Councilman informed me there was a floating ship in one of his quadrants. He had intended to just burn and rid the stars of the ship, but I gladly took it off his hands. I found it full of bodies. I put in a report when I was setting up the hunt.” Xexis sat back in the seat, studying his brother pensively.Had he not read anything?He detailed everything that happened, including the original hunt, the deaths, the ship, everything. It was in his hunt report that he turned in like he did with the others. Usually, it was of no consequence to Xnasis, because Xexis tookcare of everything, but mating hunts he was specifically supposed to double check.
His brother hadn’t bothered to even read his report. It stung deep in his chest. Xexis read his brother’s mating hunt report, helped his brother set up the hunting grounds for his beloved mate, and volunteered to guard it.Does the respect only go one way?
“I looked at it.” Xnasis didn’t even look at his brother. Instead his attention was on the pilot standing between them and the rest of the ship. “I had just hoped the report was wrong.”
“We are ready to disembark.” The pilot bowed their head to the brothers.
Xexis left, trying not to hate the sting in his chest. If his brother was not overly critical of Xexis…he was ignorant of him. Xexis didn’t like the cruel, dark disembodied voice that filled the cavity of his mind at the feeling brewing in his chest. Luckily, the moment he returned to Aphrodite’s side, she smiled at him with that brilliant curl of her pretty lips that cleared his mind of anything but her.For the moment, at least.
Chapter Twenty-Seven:
*Trigger warning: Mentions of vomit due to motion sickness, but no emesis*
Aphroditesteppedoutofthe shuttle into a hangar of floating levels. Parking ships sat on orbiting platforms around a massive pillar of a space stations. All the platforms were covered in a bubble and the floors lit up with sensors. With every step, she could feel the platform learning the gravity needed to keep her against the floor. As all the settings around her fluctuated, she felt her breathers whirl to life. Xexis kept her on his arm, guiding her across the floor to the chute at the end of their platform. A clear tube ran from the platform to the ring around the station. She watched as people were ripped up the chute like a waterslide running backwards. Xexis put her in front of him. Her heart raced as Quagmor lay feet first onto the chute platform. Then, with no mercy, he was ripped up by his toes. The pressure shot him through the chute and onto the other side where he stood up without a single moment of hesitation.
Aphrodite was trying not to let it show on her face as she stepped onto the platform. Buddy cuddled down into her chest underneath her top. Xexis helped her lay down on her back. No warning. No heads up. No countdown. The second she was on her back, she was snatched unceremoniously through the tube.I didn’t even have time to scream.
Her world spun as she was shoved out the other side and the pressure tossed her up onto her feet. Aphrodite flailed with her arms out. Stumbling forward, she had a hand on Quagmor for support. Vomit pressed against her esophagus. She chewed all the contents, which wasn’t a lot, back.It had been a mistake to eat on the ship ride over.
Hands engulfed her and pulled her tight into Xexis’ chest. Quagmor took something from his pockets and stuffed it into her hand. A neon pink cough drop in clear wrapping. She popped it into her mouth without question.Probably not wise.Her stomach settled as a thick, chalky flavor coated the back of her throat and traveled down to her stomach. The flavor wasn’t close to anything she’d ever tasted. It was, however, vaguely cough syrupy.
As it settled and she was able to walk, Quagmor popped one into his own mouth. “Not to worry, Mphronatch, it’s something you’ll adjust to.”
“Please tell me we do not have to do that to get back down to the ship.” She asked to Xexis with desperation.
He gave her the weakest grimace and she bemoaned her future return to the shuttle. Xexis held her close and rubbed her back as they walked after the group. No one else seemed to be half as upset as her stomach.They couldn’t just use, like, stairs?She tried not to pout the whole walk.
The Council station was a long, vertical spike full of spinning sections. She could see people leaving and coming to the Council in small packs. Her disgust for the tube was gone as she realized…she didn’t know half of the species she found. Hundreds of people were mingling, chatting, walking, reading, laughing in hundreds of different languages. Her heart hammered as she pulled Buddy out of her chest. He wobbled but eventually rose to the air above her. “There’s so many people here.”
“The Council is vast,” Xnasis sighed dreamily, spreading his arms. Aphrodite spun slowly, absorbing the traffic. From people who looked like elves of every color with horns, to bees with long legs that wore pants, and even gray aliens like she’d seen in story books. There were a plethora of sizes and sounds around her. It buzzed in her chest.We truly weren’t alone in the stars.
She beamed up at Xexis like a child in a candy store. He quirked a brow, “You are pleased.”
“It’s…nothing like what they said meeting other species would be,”she breathed, choking up as she took one last look before they were stuffed in another elevator. “They kept preaching the universe as this scary place full of beings that would hurt us and yet, here everyone is, just like every other space station I’ve been on. It’s magical.”
Quagmor nudged her with one of his elbows. “Just wait till you see the library.”
He made a rainbow arch with his hands and made a ‘boom’ sound before he chuckled. Aphrodite dug her fingers into Xexis, bouncing on her toes. The doors behind them hissed open and they spun to enter the spiral tower of moving rooms and stars. It was a colosseum of sensors, lights, drones, and papers all flying at different speeds. Her jaw dropped.
She stumbled out of the elevator, hands falling to the railing keeping her from falling into the endless depths of the station. Trailing up the walkways and rooms, it was like the inside of a clock.If the clock was made by super high tech.Brimming, she wheeled to face Xexis. Only, her happiness was short lived. He was staring down the walkway with bristling rage. She could see it in the way his pincers clenched and unclenched.
“Xnasis!” Xexis hissed, snatching his brother by the arm. “What is Reevar doing here? He is supposed to be home and resting.”
“I sent him ahead.” Xnasis ripped his arm from his brother’s grip. “Watch your tone.”
“I am Kannatch. Hunters aremydomain.” Xexis bristled, his skin turning a dark green.
“And the security of our people is mine. Find your place,Xexis.” He nodded toward Aphrodite before scowling at Xexis. They spoke in Vrozian, fast and angry. Spitting words like daggers back and forth, Aphrodite glanced at Quagmor for translation. He shook his head, glancing away. Her heart sank.Wait, no! Why?She was under the impression she was greeted, loved, and wanted by the crown prince. Why were her mate and his brother snarling at each other.
It stopped when Reevar slipped out of the crowd he hid in and slid between her and the brothers. “Kannatch, I volunteered.”
