“That is so cool!” Miki whispers before innocently kissing Kim’s stomach. “Hi baby, I’m Miki. Can we be friends?” Grim and Wray look on in amazement.
“You haven't seen a healer?” Lisa questions.
“No.” Kim pulls her eyes away from the girls.
“You really need to Kim, especially this close to delivery."
"I…" Her eyes take a shuttered look.
"I will call Yakar.” Wray immediately goes to stand.
"No!” Kim exclaims grabbing his arm.
“Kim…” Lisa watches her closely. “You don't trust Yakar?"
"I…It's not like he's really done anything it's just…"
"You don't trust him.” Lisa looks at her nodding understandingly.
"No. I don’t.” She says, looking at Wray stubbornly, telling Lisa this is a reoccurring argument between them.
"Kim…” Wray sighs heavily.
"Trust your instincts Kim.” Lisa gives Wray an irritated look. "Especially when it comes to your children, a mother’s instinct is rarely wrong where her children are concerned. Still you need to see someone. You can't deliver this baby by yourself.” Kim slowly nods and Lisa continues. “There is a Healer I trust. Years ago, he saved Grim’s life and when I was injured he helped me, we brought him with us.”
“Hadar?” Grim nods at Wray’s question.
“You were injured?” Kim’s eyes fly to Grim. She’s only met him once and was uncomfortable around him then. He always been so remote and well…grim, even though he is Wray’s brother but around Lisa and the girls he is different.
“It wasn’t Grim.” Lisa quickly corrects her.
“Mommy fell out of a tree when the bad males tried to take us from Grim. Grim stopped them.” Carly pipes in causing them all to realize the little ones were listening intently.
“Yes Carly.” The look she gives Kim and Wray tells them to say no more. “That’s exactly what happened.”
“He really helped you? The Healer.” Kim looks at her, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
“Yes. He is a good male Kim, loyal to House Vasteri.” Kim looks to Wray who nods reassuringly.
“Then I will see him.” All three breathe a sigh of relief but its short-lived. “After the Joining Ceremony.”
“You are not going to the Ceremony Kim.” Wray frowns darkly at her.
Kim grips Lisa's arm, slowly pulls herself up, when she moves to stand Wray is at her side. “I am going to the Ceremony Wray.” She says her eyes firm. “These women are here because of me. Lisa and her girls are here because of me. I will not hide in our Wing like a scared child while they fate is in jeopardy.”
“You are with offspring!” Wray all but yells.
“That doesn’t make me an invalid!” Lisa watches in amusement as Kim yells back at the Emperor. Here is the woman that had survived so much and was still standing.
“It is not…” Wray starts only to be interrupted by Grim.
“Don’t say it my brother.” Grim decides it is time he helps his brother. “They are not Tornian, no matter what you’ve declared. My Lisa has every warrior in Luanda hoping they might be able to attract an Earth female.”
“They are good males, they deserve a good female.” Lisa stands watching Wray as she moves to Grim’s side. “I’m sure you have good males too Wray but the way you are going about obtaining females is wrong.”
“I told him that but no one listened to me.” Kim agrees angrily.
“They will now Kim. We’ll make them listen. All of us.” Lisa tells her confidently.
“How?” Kim asks.
“Well first…”
The rest of the morning passes to quickly, with Lisa explaining to Kim what she is going to try to convince the other women to do.
“That’s possible?” Kim looks at Wray in shock. “Why wasn’t I ever told this?” She demands angrily.
“I never considered you needed to know.” Wray tells her.
“What else haven’t you been telling me Wray Vasteri?” Kim demands.
“I…” Wray looks at his Kim at a loss for words.
“Maybe the educators could be programmed with the real information that we all need.” Lisa suggests quietly.
Grim looks down at Carly who, having pushed away her plate, pulls on his sleeve. Her eyes full of anticipation.
“What is it my Carly?” He asks softly.
“Can I ask him now?” She whispers and Grim chuckles, drawing a questioning look from Wray.
“Yes my Carly now would be a perfect time.” He tells her and leans back smiling.
Wray looks from his brother’s smiling face, something he never expected to see again, to the little one staring so intently at him.
“What does an Emperor do?” She asks in a voice full of innocence.
“What...” Wray stammers. “Well…” Wray sends a stunned look to Grim who bursts out laughing.
“Yes my brother, tell us, what is it that you do?”
Chapter Seventeen
Lisa stops just inside the door, taking in the extravagant room that is the female’s chamber. It is a large, open room, filled with Tornian females, each wearing their House color. Many are stretched out on couches in front of the large windows, basking in the sun like lazy cats, ignoring their entrance while others slowly they turn their heads to see who has dared to enter their domain. Squeezing the girls’ hands reassuringly, Lisa moves towards women huddled in a corner, wearing grey Joining capes.
"Lisa!" Rebecca exclaims, standing when she sees them. Lisa’s eyes quickly fly over her friend and other women. They appear fit, seeming to have fared well during the time spent in Torino.
"Rebecca." Lisa gives her a long hug, her eyes filling as she pulls back. If not for this woman, for all these women, her children would have been left on Earth.
"Rebecca...everyone..." She looks at them, wiping her eyes. "These are my children, Carly and Miki." She smiles down at the girls. "Girls these are the women I told you about, the ones that made it possible for Grim and I to come get you."
"Thank you." The girls say quietly.
"Are you okay?" Rebecca demands. "We've heard rumors." She looks over the girls with a critical eye. "What are you doing here?”
"We're better than okay.” Lisa tells her smiling. “Come on let's sit down. There's a lot I need to tell you." The women make room for them but before Lisa can sit, an insidious voice stops her.
“She is here for the Joining Ceremony, like the rest of you.” Slowly turning, Lisa finds six females have crossed the room, to stand behind her. A tall yellow female, easily six foot, with long black hair and malicious black eyes stands in front, obviously their leader. She wears a silver gown and so many jewels that Lisa isn't sure how she’s standing. “She is to breed with a worthy male, as you all will.” She continues.
“Hello Risa.” Lisa responds, enjoying the shock in the other female’s eyes.
“You know who I am?” Risa quickly recovers. “Of course you know who I am.” She looks to the females behind her smugly.
“Of course I do.” Lisa agrees. “You’re the stupid bitch that chose to join with another when she could have had Grim.” Risa’s smile immediately disappears.
“I am Lady Bertos of Etruria!” Risa stretches to her full height, trying to intimate the smaller woman with her importance. She is the most powerful female in the Empire. How dare this thing in grey insult her!"
“And I am Queen Lisa of Luda!” Lisa takes a step towards Risa, letting her know she’s not the least bit intimidated by the larger female. “I have provided my King with two female offspring. What have you done Risa?” Lisa taunts looking from Risa to the others. "Except to join with a male from a tainted blood line? My King is the blood brother to the Emperor. He is next in line to rule, while your male never will.” Lisa waits, wanting to know how Risa will react.
“How dare you!" Risa's face turns orange in her anger. "Grim will never be Emperor! He has been deemed unfit!”
?
??For you he is unfit because you are undeserving of such a great warrior.” Lisa’s anger is heard by all. “He was the only survivor in a battle of eight against one…a battle you had Bertos arrange.” Risa’s loss of color tells Lisa she’s been right all along. “Totally pissed you off didn’t it Risa.” Lisa pushes. “That Grim survived. Is that why the skua berries magically appeared on the Empress' plate?” Every female in the room gasps at Lisa’s accusation.
“You know nothing! You stupid bitch!” Risa ignores Lisa's accusation and tries to regain control of the situation. “You are nothing but breeders!” Her eyes turn to the girls. “And they will be too.” She threatens, shocked when every woman immediately stands, putting themselves between her and the young females. Lisa’s low growl has her to jumping. It is as menacing as any males.
“Never…” The eyes that bore into Risa’s are deadly. “Ever…threaten my children Risa, any of you.” Lisa let’s every female in the room see the look in her eyes. “We defend our young. We never abandon them. We are nothing like you!”
“You are nothing!” Risa yells back, her rage getting the better of her. “You will never be Empress! You think Grim can save you. He can’t even save himself! Today will show who is truly worthy on Tornian.” Risa spins away, ending the conversation to pound on the door.
“We leave for the Joining Ceremony!” She orders the other females.
Lady Isis, of House Rigel, watches the interplay between Risa and the small Earth female with great interest. She is not an ambitious female, unlike so many in the room, all she ever wanted was to have a male she could care about, and offspring she could watch grow. Something she never heard any other female wanting…until now.
That this one would declare she’s the Queen of Luda shocks her. Oryon had told her about her, told her that King Grim had claimed her along with her female offspring, but said nothing of her being Queen. She'd refused to believe the rumors the males were telling, of her standing up to Grim, especially after seeing the other females cower whenever a male approached. This one though...this one makes her reconsider, especially after they all stood to protect the young ones. Perhaps these joinings would work out after all.
She prayed constantly to the goddess, ask her to provide a good female for her oldest male offspring who would be in the joining ceremony today. He is a worthy male, so much like his manno that it fills her with pride. All her offspring are worthy warriors. If they have a flaw, it is her. For she refused to leave their manno, to give another the gift of offspring. After her first presentation, many had tried to lure her away from Oryon but she truly cared for him and wanted no other. Even now, after twenty-five years with Oryon, a male will occasionally try to coax her away.
Isis wonders at the female's accusation, of Risa being responsible for Grim's attack and the Empress' sudden death. Could it be true? There'd been rumors at the time, with Grim's attack and death of the Adana so close together. If so, wouldn't something have been done? Oryon would have said something to her. They have an unusual relationship in that they actually discuss such matters, especially when it could affect their offspring.
Isis continues to watch the Earth females as the others leave to take their places in the Assembly Chamber. Giving Grim’s female a slight nod, she turns to join Oryon. She has much she needs to tell him.
Lisa watches as the rose-colored female, dressed in an amber gown, gives her a slight nod before following the other females. She is older than the others, had maintained a distance from them and them from her as if she were undesirable. Could this be Lady Isis? The one Padma had told her about. A Tornian female that refused to join with any but her first male, returning her slight nod, Lisa turns back to the women.
“We need to talk.” Lisa tells them.
“Yes we do.” Rebecca frowns at her. “What have they done to you?”
“Done?” Lisa gives her a confused look. “Nothing’s been done to me? Why would you think that?”
"We were told you'd been repeatedly attacked.” The others mumble in agreement. “That if we as much as talked to a male we would be too."
"That's ridiculous! Who told you that?” Lisa demands. “No! Let me guess.” She looks angrily at the closed doors. “Risa."
"Yes." Rebecca acknowledges.
"If you actually talked to a male, he would probably pass out from shock." Lisa smiles slightly, thinking about how many of Grim's nearly had. "They'd never hurt you Rebecca.” She says turning serious to look at the other women. “In fact they'd willingly die to protect you."
“How can you defend them?” Rebecca demands.
“I’m not Rebecca, not the way you think.” She sees the growing distrust in the woman's eyes. “Please...can we sit down? There is so much you don’t know. So much information you need before the Joining Ceremony.”
“You’ve become one of them!” One of the women accuses.
“Them?” Lisa gives her a confused look.
“Yes them! Like this Kim person.”
“You know nothing about Kim.” Lisa fires back.
“She’s the reason we are here!” Another shouts.
“No!" Lisa takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. This isn’t getting them anywhere. "Well yes, she is, but not in the way you think. Please…” Lisa looks at them beseechingly. “Would you just give me a chance to explain? Please...please…you helped me when I needed it, helped me get my girls, let me help you now.” After every woman finally nods. Lisa gestures for them to sit.
“Empress Kim…she was taken from Earth much the way we were,” Lisa looks to her girls but realizes she can’t hold anything back. "But she wasn’t as lucky as we were.”
“Lucky!” One of the women surges to her feet outraged.
“Were you raped?” Lisa surges up challenging her. “Were you mistreated? Beaten? Alone?” Every woman looks at her in shock. The woman slowly sits back down. “Kim was, for weeks. Wray, the Emperor, saved her. Do you understand? She’d be dead now if not for him.”
“That’s no excuse…” Rebecca starts.
“No it’s not!” Lisa cuts her off. “And Kim did everything she could to stop this but once it was discovered she’d conceived, the other males demanded the same chance to have offspring. You’ve all been given the correct information on that, their civilization is dying.”
“Correct information?” Rebecca asks.
“Yes, but not everything in your educator is true.” Lisa sees their still skeptical. “Could you tell someone where Earth is?” She demands and receives confused looks.
“What do you mean?” A little blonde asks.
“Can you tell someone how to take you back to Earth?”
“I…” Rebecca looks from the others to her. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
“Neither did Kim. Do you understand now? Kim...didn't...know... Wray was able to pull part of it out of the navigation system on the Ganglian ship he found Kim on, but even that didn’t get them to Earth.”
“Then how?” She questions.
“Grim found it...from what Kim did know. Nine planets, one blue, one sun.”
“This is the male you defended to Risa.”
“Yes. Grim found Earth...we are here because of that. It was never Kim’s fault.”
“But…”
“You need to understand, I knew all this before I arrived at Tornian. Grim told me the truth.” Lisa looks at the women. “And still, the minute I saw Kim, I was enraged.”
“What…” Rebecca looks at her trying to understand and it slowly dawns on her. “It was programmed into the educators, that we should be angry at her.”
“Yes, by Risa’s male Bertos, so Kim couldn’t tell you what I’m going to tell you now.” She makes sure they are all listening. “You were all declared Tornian the minute you were taken." She sees their shock. "Because of that you have rights, rights they don’t want you to know about, it was the only thing Kim could do to protect you.”
“Who?” Rebecca demands.
“Risa and Bertos…Rebecca...Luuken is Bertos’ son.”
“Well that makes sense.” Rebecca mutters.
“Yes it does. Bertos wants to be Emperor, Risa wants to be Empress, and she doesn’t care who has to die for it to happen.”
“She’s killed?”
“Yes. She tried to kill Grim. She did kill Wray’s first Empress Adana and Wray’s second son died while in their Region. Now they want to kill Kim and her unborn child.”
“You’re sure of this?” Rebecca demands, anger beginning to fill her eyes, anger at Risa.
“Yes.” Lisa looks from the girls to the women. "There's something else you need to understand. While Kim and I are very happy with our males and have no desire to return to Earth, there's no guarantee any of you will feel the same.” She sees they are all listening. “Most of the males I've met are good, honorable males that would truly cherish you, but there are a few like Luuken and Bertos that will only use you, as Risa says, as breeders." Several women quietly begin to cry.
"I'm being totally honest with you because you need to understand, there is no way to stop the Joining Ceremony, you have to go through it...but that doesn't mean you have to join with a male."
"What?" Rebecca looks at her confused and before Lisa can explain further the doors to the room open.
“It is time for the Joining Ceremony.” A large green-skinned guard announces, entering the room.
“It will be okay.” Lisa quickly looks back to the women. “Please...I can’t explain it here, we’re out of time. I need you to listen once we’re in the Assembly of Lords, really listen. You have rights and no matter what you think or hear, Grim will support them, I promise.”
“Females, it is time to leave.” The guard says again, this time more forcefully.
“Girls.” Rising Lisa holds out her hands and they trustingly take them before looking back to the women.
“You can trust Grim.” Carly tells them with the absolute faith that only a child can have.