The Cook's Game (Warriors Book 2), page 7
‘I’m so sorry,’ Addison whispered, unsure what else she could say.
Keral stopped working and looked at her. ‘You’ve nothing to apologise for.’ He smiled at her, and it warmed Addison from her heart and out across her whole body. ‘I’m just explaining my mentality that day.’
Keral turned his eyes back to his work once more, his fingers moving gently over the delicate circuitry.
‘So I see this planet out of my bridge, and it’s… underwhelming.’ Keral shook his head to some memory. Addison wasn’t even sure if he was aware he was doing it. ‘Red and blue, with purple, white sands and white mountaintops.’ Keral shook his head again, this time with a grimace on his face. ‘It was all right. A planet. We’d been looking for one, even had one picked out, and now we were here. I couldn’t help but compare it to the planet we’d planned to take as our homeworld, and my opinion was not favourable.’ Keral grinned, glancing at her before getting on with his work.
He went silent for almost a full minute before letting out a deep breath.
‘The next few cycles were filled with planning everything out. Planning our cities. Waiting for the Dynexium to power them. We’d have rotes of intense activity followed by a cycle of waiting for something to happen. It was driving me crazy. Thanesh arranged for Alethia to design a wilderness survival course for us. I got lost almost immediately.’
There was a hint of self-deprecation in Keral’s voice, and Addison couldn’t help but laugh. He gave her a mock severe look before his grin reappeared.
‘I was out there for four rotes on my own. I taught myself to make a fire. I could already hunt, but I had to learn how to identify edible plants.’ Keral went still, his eyes unfocused, and he stared at a spot on the table, unseeing. ‘I woke up the second morning. The sun was still rising. The wildlife was beginning to move about. What you would call “birds” were singing to each other. I realised I’d be happy to live in that spot my whole life. I’d fallen in love with the planet; it was my home. It was the place my brothers were finding their mates, and there were babies being born, some of them female.’
Another huff of a laugh escaped Keral; this time there was wonder behind it.
‘I still have trouble believing that. That after three hundred rotes, there are so many babies. Full Protectorate babies.’ Keral looked up at her; his smile was full of joy and lit up his entire face. ‘That’s when I realised Tessa was my home. That I was a Tessan. I built a cabin on that spot a few cycles later.’
‘You live there?’
Keral nodded. ‘I have a house in Teyrin, all of us do. But I spend as much time in the cabin as I can.’
‘It sounds amazing,’ Addison said, feeling like her words were inadequate.
‘It is,’ Keral said, smiling again. ‘What about you. You said you grew up in a space station?’
‘York station,’ Addison confirmed. ‘There are about thirty stations orbiting Earth. Some of them are so beautiful, like cathedrals floating in space. They’re built to be a beautiful alternative to Earth. Like living on a cruise ship all the time, with all the shopping and all the amenities.’ Addison shook her head. ‘York is not like that.’
‘What’s it like.’ Keral glanced at her but continued working.
‘It’s cheap. A few of them were built to just relieve the burden on Earth. We can’t colonise outside of our system, so we’ve had to improvise in making as much space as possible. There are space stations across our solar system, some in asteroids. We need to be out here, and we need to be safe from slavery to start colonising worlds. There are so many unclaimed worlds near us, and we can’t risk going there because we don’t have the defensive systems in place, and if we tried to build them and got invaded, those aliens could sell off what they find, and that would put Earth in danger.’ Addison let out a sigh. ‘We need the room, so... cheap and nasty space stations.’
‘Cheap and nasty?’
‘Little more than tenement buildings in space, really,’ Addison said. ‘My family has lived on York for almost four decades. The station was meant to be temporary. They were going to build a better station to move everyone into, but the money got diverted to the defence budget. It was only supposed to house ten thousand people, but there’s almost forty thousand living there now. There’s not enough space, enough food, enough police. Crime is rampant. It’s a pretty dangerous place to live.’
Keral was shaking his head again. ‘We’re going to help your people safely expand,’ Keral said it like it was a vow.
‘You get used to it.’ Addison wasn’t sure why she’d spoken. It was almost like she couldn’t allow his statement to be unanswered.
‘You shouldn’t have to.’
‘Tell me about your cabin,’ Addison said, moving closer to Keral.
Keral smiled. ‘The trees are mostly purple, so the wood making the cabins are purple. The older log cabins on the planet are silvering with age. I think I’ll prefer the silver to purple.’ He glanced at her, his smile widening for a moment. ‘I had planned on making it small, but then I realised I’d still want to live there when I find my mate.’
A feeling of proprietary satisfaction pulsed through Addison’s system. Until he said the words, it hadn’t occurred to her that Keral might have a mate. Hearing he definitely didn’t made her happy. It was a feeling she didn’t have a right to, but it was there nonetheless.
‘That’s if she wants to live there, of course.’
‘I’m sure she will.’
Keral looked up at her; the intensity was back in his eyes, and Addison couldn’t stop herself from looking away this time, even though she wanted to hold his gaze.
‘I hope so,’ he said. ‘So I ended up making it big with all the modern conveniences. Rooms for children. Thanesh dubbed it my cabin of hope.’ Keral’s face fell a little. ‘I’m just a vashni of an old man.’
‘No, you’re not,’ Addison said, feeling the words burst from her. ‘You’re not an idiot, and you’re not old.’
‘I’m over three hundred solars old, Addison,’ he said, his tone serious. ‘That’s only the years I’ve lived as a Protectorate. I was a human before that, and vrok knows how old I got in human form.’
Addison studied Keral carefully. His face was lined, it was true, but not enough to be an old man. ‘I’d be surprised if you saw your fortieth birthday on Earth,’ she said honestly. ‘And you’re not old, you’re aged.’
Keral looked up at her, surprise on his face before his head fell back and a burst of booming laughter filled the room.
Addison giggled at the sight, covering her mouth and doubling over before she looked up at him again.
It took more than a minute for Keral to stop laughing enough to look at her, tears in his eyes. ‘Aged?’
‘Like a fine wine,’ she said. ‘A good red wine.’
‘I don’t know what that is,’ he said, still chuckling.
‘It’s a drink on Earth. Rich, refined, and alcoholic.’
‘Well, I’m one of those things,’ Keral grinned.
‘Shut up and tell me about your house,’ Addison laughed.
‘It’s bigger than it should be.’ he shrugged. ‘Mostly purple. I grow my own food in the back and hunt for meat.’ Keral’s smile became peaceful. ‘It’s where I’m happiest.’
‘I wish I could see it,’ Addison said.
Again, the gaze Keral turned on her was intense. ‘You will,’ he said.
Keral walked out of the shop with the last of the parts they needed to restore the system in a bag. He walked out into the main part of the bazaar, a large, open stall marketplace and wandered around, looking for food Addison could eat.
Ever since talking about the cabin, his home, Keral had felt an increasing need to feed Addison. To show her his skills in the kitchen. He was ignoring the reason for the compulsion and focusing on the actual act.
Keral also wanted to limit his time out on the station now that they had the parts they needed. He didn’t want to attract the attention of Galdranis now that they were so close to leaving.
Stopping by a vegetable stall, Keral looked over the offerings, many of which were Iladar vegetables. He looked up at the stall owner, an Iladar female who was bagging up the order for another customer. When she was done with the Ledaan, she turned to him, all four of her eyes sparkling with curiosity when she took in his Protectorate form.
‘What makes a good stew?’
There was a wariness on the female’s face as she picked up a bag and began picking out vegetables. ‘The flavour will be mixed—savoury, a little sweet, and a kick of spice.’
‘Which one’s the spicy veg?’ he asked, unsure if Addison would be able to handle it.
The female held out a dark red vegetable, then placed it in the bag. ‘You should cook this with some kelkor meat. Vidris, the Koldar over there, sells it.’
Keral looked in the direction she nodded and saw a pale blue-skinned Koldar, with bright purple eyes and two sets of horns, watching him. His long black hair fell through his horns and down over his shoulder.
‘You know Kallidan?’
The Iladar looked up, surprise on her face. ‘Of course.’
‘Do you know where he is? I have business with him.’
The Iladar’s lips thinned as she grimaced. ‘I don’t have much to do with him. It is hard with a Kaita, especially one who has shirked his duty.’ She shook her head.
Keral watched her, keeping his mouth shut.
The female sighed. ‘The last time I saw him, he was going to meet someone at the dock. Some Maruzen friend of his. He never came back. I assume he left with him.’ The female looked over Keral’s shoulder. ‘Yes. Maybe the Maruzen.’
Keral looked in the direction of her gaze and found a red-scaled Hieladan watching him. He turned back to the female, who was handing him the bag of vegetables. ‘Yeah, the Maruzen.’
Keral paid and walked over to the Koldar’s stall and ordered the kelkor meat along with several other cuts. As he was paying, he looked around and spotted two more Hieladan watching him from different places.
Kallidan hadn’t left with the Maruzen because the Maruzen was Daris, and he’d left with his mate, Zoe. Daris was being hunted by the Calidon Crime Syndicate at the time and had gotten into a scuffle with several Hieladan members. Kallidan had intervened, allowing Daris and Zoe to escape.
Obviously, the Hieladan hadn’t taken kindly to his interference.
Keral walked around the stalls buying enough food to do him and Addison several rotes at least. Every time he turned around, the Hieladan were right behind him.
Turning away from the entrance back to the secret tunnel system, Keral headed back to his ship. He was approaching the lift up to the docks when the three Hieladan appeared in front of him.
‘I was wondering when you would approach me,’ he said, putting his bags on the filthy floor and leaning against the wall.
The red Hieladan had been joined by a black and a blue. They moved around him, their strange gait waving back and forth as they moved on their powerful muscles towards him. It was almost hypnotic.
‘Stop asking about Kallidan,’ the black Hieladan said, moving in front of the others.
Keral took in a deep, ponderous breath and let it go as though considering. ‘No.’ He looked at the male, allowing him to see how unintimidated he was. ‘Not until I know where he is.’
‘Where he is, is none of your concern.’
Keral stepped over to him. ‘Everything is my concern.’
‘Just because you are Protectorate, does not mean you have a right to all things. Does not mean you are protected.’
Keral raised an eyebrow and smirked. ‘Do you really think you can get away with doing to me what you’ve done to him? Do you really want to test that theory?’
For the first time, hesitation appeared on the jet black scaled features of the Hieladan.
‘If I stop asking what happened to Kallidan here, it’s only because I’ve decided to ask Adalth what happened. Do you want me to do that?’
The Hieladan moved back slightly, rising as he curved back on his own tail.
‘You tell me what happened. I’ll stop asking. It’s that simple.’
It took less than a sicri for the three Hieladan to come to the correct conclusion. Still, the black male hissed at him, his long forked tongue emerging from his mouth. His mouth opened wider than was possible for most species. Keral could see the long fangs descend for a moment before he closed his mouth again.
‘Right decision.’
‘We sold him.’
Keral couldn’t help the hiss that escaped him. One of Adalth’s top rules was no slavery. The only reason there were so many Hieladan out in the universe was because their own people sold prisoners of the endless war that raged on their world. Adalth bought his own people and occasionally others, and many of them joined the crime syndicate. Selling into slavery was strictly forbidden. ‘To who?’
‘You’re going to free him. He crossed us—’
‘To who?! Or you can answer to Adalth.’
The Hieladan’s face filled with impotent rage. He hissed again. ‘The Vonidon. A Vonidon called Sherok.’
Keral nodded his acknowledgement. ‘I’ll keep my part. I won’t pass this on. I suggest, if you don’t want to incur Adalth’s wrath, that you avoid such dealings in future.’
‘Don’t tell me how to run my territory,’ the Hieladan snarled before he turned and slithered off, taking his men with him.
Keral watched them go, then picked up his bags and headed back to Addison.
The floor in the ops room was mostly cleared.
There were a few parts here and there. In Keral’s experience, when taking apart any system and putting it back together, that was completely normal. The phrase ‘well, it seems to work fine without it,’ was the prayer of any person conducting repairs on complex electrical systems.
Addison was laid on her back, putting the last pieces into place. She hummed to herself as she worked, her toes tapping in time to some beat only she could hear. There was something deeply endearing about it, and Keral watched her in silence with a smile on his lips.
He was—
‘Got it.’ Addison appeared out from under the casing and rolled over, standing. She didn’t dust herself off anymore, mainly because Keral had taken on the duty of cleaning inside the computer system as often as possible.
He liked helping her dust off far too much.
‘Time to boot it up then,’ Keral said as Addison dropped to a crouch and fitted the access panel back into place.
Keral walked over to the system, his finger hovering over the button. He stopped himself and stepped back as Addison stood, his hand waving to the position he’d just abandoned. ‘Would you like to…’
Addison smiled, and the room seemed to grow warmer.
‘Together?’
‘Together?’
‘Yeah, like this.’ Addison took hold of Keral’s hand and lined up their fingers. Keral smiled his heart warming at her gesture.
‘Together,’ he confirmed.
Keral let Addison guide his hand to the button. He felt it click under their fingers. They waited, standing side by side, still connected at the hand.
Several long moments went by, and then a flicker of light travelled over the length of the control panel before going out completely. A small panel above the reboot switch lit up, and a whirring sound started somewhere deep inside.
‘Well, I guess it’s gonna take time to boot. Makes sense, a system this size.’
‘Guess we’ll have to wait and see if we’ve gotten something wrong,’ Keral grumbled.
Addison sighed. ‘I just want to know where the creepers are,’ she whispered. ‘I don’t feel safe. I’m glad you’re here.’ She squeezed his hand. ‘But when you’re gone, I get really frightened that he’s going to find the door and get me.’
Addison’s hand began to slip from his grasp. Keral found himself tightening his hold. ‘What did he look like?’
‘Hmm. Grey skin. Dark red eyes. Black hair.’
‘Dark grey, or light grey?’
‘Kind of a medium grey,’ she said.
‘Was he big, like me, or smaller?’
‘Smaller. Over six feet. His skin was really rough.’
‘Devori,’ Keral growled.
Tugging her gently, Keral pulled Addison into his arms. ‘I’m sorry that happened to you. It must have been traumatising.’
‘I’m okay,’ Addison said. She seemed to burrow into his arms, and something powerful and instinctual demanded he protect her.
He let out a deep breath and replaced it with another, filled with the scent of Addison. Her scent was sweet, but sweet was too simple a word. It was complex, multi-layered, and it seemed to penetrate his skin.
Even after she pulled away, Keral could still feel her, smell her.
A short time later, the system had finished booting up.
Addison was standing in front of it as the screen flickered through automatic checks. It noted the loss of specific systems but continued on without them, requesting an occasional yes or no from the inputter.
The scents of something rich, savoury, and flavourful had been wafting into the room, increasing in intensity for the past few minutes. Now, Addison’s stomach grumbled that the tasty food was in another room rather than inside her.
