Page 72 of Irene

“Mataras we collected. Your friends from the opera. Captain Nil says you may visit them if you wish.”

Irene thought of Meg and her mother. Had they abducted Mrs. Hoffman too, despite her being past childbearing age? Emma? They’d offered Rosalie sanctuary when they’d tried to claim Valentina, so it was possible. Irene couldn’t imagine Meg’s mother allowing her to go alone.

Meg and the younger women were destined to be married off to men they didn’t know. They’d been taken from their families. Did they know there was no hope of returning to Earth? Had they any clue of Giselle’s fate?

Irene couldn’t tell them yet. She couldn’t handle it when they learned the truth. She felt dizzy again and forced herself to breathe deeply.

“Why wasn’t I put in this area?” she asked.

“These are single occupant quarters. You have clan quarters.”

Clan quarters. Her stomach pitched, though she was certain there was nothing left in it. Irene moved on. Her companion descended into silence once more.

She had no idea how long she walked. The corridor remained the same no matter where she went. Her brain ran here and there, trying to figure a way out. How could she at least get a message to her parents telling them she was okay? That there was no need to worry about her?

She almost laughed out loud. There was so much to worry over. Captain Nil had said the clanship to Sherv, Jemi, and Rusp wouldn’t stick. Was it true? Had Sherv’s desperate move been for nothing?

The corridor rocked. Irene stumbled and collided with the wall. The Nobek following her was suddenly there, holding her up on nerveless legs. “Matara?”

“I’m okay,” Irene said as darkness closed in. She fainted.

* * * *

Irene returned to the clan’s quarters, still lightheaded. “Let us know if you need to return to Medical,” said the Nobek who’d accompanied her, then carried her senseless to the ship’s infirmary. He at last had a face, too rugged to be handsome, too feral to be called kind. However, he’d made sure she was cared for, so she managed a grateful smile for him.

“Thank you. I will.”

She stepped into the quarters. Jemi, hunched on the bed consuming most of the floor space. His head jerked up, and relief filled his expression. “Thank the ancestors. You gone so long; we got scared.”

Rusp and Sherv, who’d been standing, perhaps pacing…though there was damned little room do to so…had frozen at her entrance. Relief fought against worry for possession of their expressions. They stared anxiously.

Irene first verified the door had closed behind her. The ship would no doubt soon be buzzing, but it wouldn’t be because they’d heard anything from her.

She looked at Sherv. Emotions swelled: anger, despair, love. The anger was misplaced; what had happened wasn’t entirely his fault. She bore responsibility as well, and she had to own up to it. The despair was knowing she could never go home. If there’d been a chance before she’d been taken to Medical, it had disappeared.

Prophets, she did love him. As distraught as she was, there was no doubt he and the other two had claimed her heart. But was it enough? It was far from the beginning of a love affair with a real chance. How could they make this work when it had gotten off on the wrong foot?

“I hope you don’t regret what you did, because you’re stuck with me,” she told Sherv.

“I’m sorry I hurt you. It wasn’t what I wanted…I mean, I did want…dowant you, but I would have done anything to be your Dramok if only it didn’t mean keeping you from your parents. Irene, I never meant to—”

“I’m pregnant.”

Chapter Seventeen

On the heels of Irene’s announcement, Jemi gasped. He jumped to his feet, then sank back down on the bed. Rusp remained frozen in place, still silent, but he was clearly thunderstruck.

Sherv gaped. “You’re…but…the tests…the shots to keep us from making a child…”

Irene had leveled the same protests at the doctor who’d delivered the news. “The tests might have been old and expired, which would have given false negatives. As for the shots, they have a short shelf life and lose effectiveness over time. It didn’t occur to us check on that or the manufacture dates, did it?”

Plenty of blame to go around. Irene accepted she’d been as much at fault as them where the pregnancy was concerned. She couldn’t be angry with them on that account.

“What will you do?” Jemi’s hesitant question was barely above a whisper.

She swallowed. Part of her had felt she should talk to them when the doctor asked her the same question. She had plenty of time to change her mind, a few weeks to consider the alternatives.

Irene was certain she’d arrived at the right decision, however. It had come down to the fact she couldn’t return to Earth. And as terrible as the situation was, she did love Clan Sherv.

---