Rikki's Star, page 36
After a few moments, when he’d cleared his head a little, Kasper lowered Rikki’s legs gently to the bed. Then he collapsed on the bed beside her as he tried to catch his breath.
Kyrus smiled when he saw that Rikki had either passed out, or fallen asleep. He used a little Water magic to check her. They had very little power in Water magic, but it was enough for him to be assured that she was all right.
After Kash climbed off the bed and went into the bathroom for warm cloths, Kyrus used Earth magic to soften and stretch the ring on her clit. He reached down to remove it, unable to keep himself from stroking the hard, throbbing little nub with the tip of one finger.
She moaned and arched into his hand without waking. Kyrus smiled. She was absolutely perfect.
***
Rikki didn’t sleep long, and when she woke it was to find all three of her men sitting around her on the bed, watching her. She smiled and sat up, then glanced to the window. “I’m surprised it’s still light out,” she said. “So much has happened today.”
“Yes, that’s certainly true,” Kyrus agreed. “How do you feel?”
“Good, but embarrassed.”
“Why?”
“Because I enjoyed that so much, I guess.”
“You needn't be embarrassed, Corazia,” Kyrus said. “Not with us. Especially since, as I said, we enjoyed it as much as you did. More, probably.”
“I guess I am what I am,” she said. “There’s not much sense in sticking my head in the sand about it.”
“Precisely,” all three of them said at once, which made her laugh.
“It does make me wonder though.”
“About?” Kyrus asked.
“About what I have to do to get you to punish me like that again, and also, what good is a punishment if I enjoy it so much?”
“Ah, very good questions,” Kyrus grinned. “We’ll gladly and thoroughly teach you the answers, too. Unfortunately, as much as we’d like to do that right now, we need to change subjects.”
“Entáxei,” she said. “What is it?”
“Sorry, entáxei means what again?” Kasper asked.
“Okay.”
“Efharistos, and to answer your question, we promised your mother we’d come for dinner in about an hour. Before we go, we want to discuss a couple of things.”
“Which are?”
“We love you,” Kyrus began. “You’re everything we ever hoped to find in our Arima, and we want to spend our lives with you. Raise a family with you. We want it all, Rikki.
“We’re willing to wait for you to decide whether or not you want to soul-link with us, and we’ll be as patient as we have to be. That said, we’d really like it if you and Charley would agree to move in here with us.
“I promise we will not use it as an ongoing opportunity to pressure you into anything. We just think it’ll help all of us get a feel for what it would be like to live together as a family.” Kyrus paused when Rikki held up her hand and shook her head.
“I’m sorry to interrupt but I am ready to make that decision, and I do want to soul-link with you. I love you, and Charley loves you, and we want to be a family.”
“Are you sure?” Kash asked. “Because the last thing we want to do is pressure you again.”
“I’m absolutely certain,” Rikki said. She frowned a little. “I know it seems strange, but now that I know everything is as it was always meant to be, it’s like a weight off my shoulders.”
“I think that’s part of it, but I also think there may be a bit more to it,” Kyrus said. “This morning, for the first time, you got the chance to confront the woman you see as most responsible for all that was done to you, and to Charley. You got to express your anger, and your outrage. You got to tell her what you thought of her, and let her know that you’re a lot smarter than she ever suspected. She knows now that you’re the one who fooled her, not the other way around. And, perhaps most importantly, you got the opportunity to kill her, and the chance to decide not to. In short, you were able to get a lot of poison out of your system.”
“Yes, I think you’re right,” Rikki said thoughtfully. “I really do feel just like that. Like I had poison inside of me that was spreading and I couldn’t seem to find a way to stop it. I don’t know that it’s completely gone, or if it ever will be. But it’s better now. A lot better. At the same time, there are a few things that are worse.”
“Worse how?” Kyrus asked, his stomach tightening.
“I’m afraid of leaving the ranch, now. Actually, I’m kind of afraid of leaving the house now that I can remember all of what happened earlier. I’m not sure if I’ll ever truly believe that Charley and I are completely safe. But I know we’re safer with you three than we ever could be without you.
“The events of the past six months will always be a part of me, but they aren’t the biggest things in my head any more. I’ve no doubt that I’ll have bad days, but I also have no doubt that you three will help me through them.”
“I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to hear you say that, Rikki,” Kyrus said. “But there is something we want you to give some serious thought to.”
“Which is?”
“Counseling,” Kyrus said. “The Tigrens offered to work with you themselves, or if you prefer, they’ll recommend a human doctor. You need help to cope with the anger, the fear, and the guilt that’s still inside you, Corazia. As much as we wish we could help you ourselves, we simply don’t have the knowledge or the training.”
Rikki nodded. “I think that’s a good idea. I would prefer the Tigrens, though. I trust them, and I’m not sure I could trust anyone I don’t know as well as I know them. Also, I think they can help me and Charley, both.”
“Excellent choice, love,” Kasper said, leaning over to press his lips to her forehead in a gentle kiss.
“Just out of curiosity, what are the biggest things in your head now?” Kash asked, changing the subject.
“The future,” she said. “Soul-linking with you, watching Charley grow, and…well,” she trailed off, dropped her eyes and blushed.
“What?” Kyrus asked. “Please tell us.”
“Having babies with you,” she said softly, then smiled. “Probably sounds ridiculous since we already have one baby, but for some reason, I want that very much now. I’m not really sure why. Maybe it’s because I love being a mother so much more than I ever dreamed.” She looked up and shrugged. “It doesn’t mean we have to do it, of course. I’m just answering the question.”
“You can’t possibly think for even a moment that we would hesitate to have babies with you, Rikki,” Kash said.
She shrugged a little. “I thought with Charley being so young that you’d think it was a bit too much, a bit too soon.”
“Four babies are a lot, no doubt about it,” Kyrus said. “But since there are four of us, I think it’s doable.”
“What about your work? I asked my Dads about you and they told me you’re in high demand as security consultants now.”
“That’s not something you need to worry about,” Kasper said. “We’ve spent many years planning for our future. More than a century, in fact. We want children, Rikki. Not so we can look at their images while we’re on the far side of the galaxy, but so we can love them, raise them, and teach them about our world and our people.”
“We’ve already put those plans in motion,” Kyrus said.
“You have?”
“Of course,” he replied, smiling. “We’re fathers now, and we’ve waited a very long time for that. We have no intention of parenting Charley long distance. The only changes we’ll have to make is where we live.”
“Where we live?”
“Once again Dracon Ranch is the safest place for families with small children. Our Princes have already asked us to choose a site for our own home to be built here.”
“I’m sorry that’s necessary,” Rikki said. “But I have to say that it was really wonderful to grow up here. It was, still is, like the families here are really one big happy family.
“Outside the ranch, most Klanaren stick with their own clan, more or less. Not that there’s any rivalry of course, that’s just the way it is. But here, on Dracon Ranch, it doesn’t work that way. Everyone is family; Bearen, Katre, Lobo and all the rest. I like the idea of raising our children in the same close knit community that I grew up in.”
“We never thought of it that way before, but you’re right,” Kash said. “We’re looking forward to all of it, too. But, right now, we best get over to your parents’ house or we’ll be late for dinner.”
Rikki’s eyes widened a little. “I agree. My mother is very forgiving about most things. Coming in late for dinner is not one of them.”
Epilogue
Rikki tucked a sleeping Charley into bed, placing her bunny next to her the way she liked. A big white unicorn with a gold satin horn rested just above her head where she could reach up and touch it if she wanted to. Kash had been right when he suggested Charley didn’t think she could have two toys, and didn’t want to give up the one she loved.
She certainly knows better now, Rikki thought as she looked around the room in the soft glow of the nightlight. She was still amazed at how much had been accomplished in just a few short days.
Even though they were living in River House temporarily until their own home was built, Kyrus, Kash, and Kasper had insisted on decorating Charley’s room. Rikki had objected when they seemed to be going a little overboard. Until she realized how much they, and Charley, were enjoying it. Then she just stood back and enjoyed the show.
Her daughter now had a beautiful nursery with mobiles and toys and stuffed animals galore. All the things she’d wished for her daughter during those long, dark days and nights that now seemed both far away, and much too close.
She turned from the crib, checked to be sure the baby monitor was on, picked up the handset and left the room. This was the first night in River House for her and Charley both. Rikki’s first time spending the entire night with her Rami. Charley’s first time spending the entire night in her own room.
Rikki was nervous about it, but she knew it was necessary. She couldn’t have a relationship with her men and sleep every night with Charley at the same time. Over the past few nights at her parents’, she’d attempted to build up to this by staying out of the bedroom until Charley woke up as she usually did around ten or eleven o’clock.
Charley cried the first night, but she didn’t scream. She cried the following night too, but last night she didn’t cry. She made enough noise for Rikki to hear over the monitor, and while she was clearly scared, she was also very relieved that Rikki came so quickly.
This was a new house, and a new room with a new bed, which added to Rikki’s worry. She’d spoken to her daughter about this several times, as had her daddies, and Charley didn’t seem upset about the new living and sleeping arrangements. In fact, she was over the moon happy to be living with her fathers, especially once she understood that she’d still get to see her grandparents regularly.
Rikki noticed that Charley had gotten a little nervous when bedtime came, but no more than that. She was used to change though, so Rikki thought she’d acclimate quickly so long as they kept their promises to come right away when she made noise over the monitor.
“How’s baby bear?” Kash asked as she entered the living room with the hand set and set it down on the coffee table.
“Sound asleep,” she replied, smiling as she climbed into his lap on the sofa. Kasper and Kyrus came in a moment later and joined them.
“What’s going on?” she asked, feeling their tension.
“We don’t want to get you upset, Corazia,” Kyrus said. “But we don’t want to keep secrets from you either.”
“Don’t worry,” she said. “I have the three of you and Charley in the next room, so I’m sure I’ll be fine.”
“All right,” Kyrus agreed. “The judicial system of Argon, under extreme pressure from the citizens, conducted a trial yesterday for every person they’ve positively identified as working at the GNTX Lab. Seventy-three men and women were charged with kidnapping four thousand, three hundred and eighty-five women, and murdering four thousand, three hundred and twenty-two of them. There were a host of other charges as well.”
“Why the difference in the numbers?” Kash asked.
“Because Mrs. Carlson voxed the police who got to the lab in time to release sixty-three women,” Kasper reminded him.
“Four thousand, three hundred and eighty five,” Rikki whispered, her face paling. “That’s a lot more than I thought.”
“You were there for three months, Corazia. Even though they reached their goal with you and Charley, they continued kidnapping women and running their experiments on them. Your guesses were surprisingly accurate given the information you had.”
“What was the result of the trial?” Rikki asked, suddenly terrified they were going to tell her they were all set free.
“Owens and her partners, one other woman and six men, were held most responsible, as expected. Everyone else, down to the janitors, knew what was going on there and said nothing. They were all convicted on a variety of charges. That includes those already deceased, and those who have yet to be tracked down.”
“It’s only been a couple of days,” Rikki said, confused. “The ship can’t possibly have reached Argon already.”
“No, it hasn’t,” Kasper said. “It won’t get there for another week or so.”
“How did they have a trial without the defendants present?”
“They had the entire lab itself to gather evidence from,” Kyrus replied. “Fingerprints, DNA, and surveillance vids from their own security cams. Vids that recorded everything they did for the full twenty-one months they were in operation. Every single employee, every victim, every murder, every experiment.
“You said yourself they had cams everywhere, and you were right. There was an enormous vault in the basement that recorded the feed from every single cam in the place. Why they didn’t destroy the vids once the victims were dead is a mystery, but they didn’t. The proof of their guilt was overwhelming.”
“It’s not a mystery,” Rikki said softly. “They recorded everything because the Doftles ordered them to. I never imagined the vids would be there, though. I just assumed the Doftles had them.”
Kyrus nodded. “We’ve heard of the Doftles doing that before, on other planets in other circumstances. The lab must have kept copies. Or kept the originals and sent copies. Doesn’t much matter which.”
“They have vids of what they did to Charley, don’t they?” Rikki asked, suddenly understanding why they were so tense.
“Yes, love, they do,” Kasper said.
She felt like she was going to throw up. She swallowed several times before she could ask the next question. “Were they sentenced?”
“Yes,” Kyrus said hesitantly. “Rikki, we know how you feel about the skoteiná, Owens in particular. Your feelings are more than justified, too. But I’m not sure you really want to know what they plan to do with those people, the eight principals in particular. If you do, we’ll tell you, of course.”
“Will they walk free?” Rikki asked. “Will the Doftles be able to transport them away again?”
“No, and no,” Kyrus replied. “Not one of them will ever walk free, and I wouldn’t say that if I weren’t certain. They’ve all had transport disrupters attached permanently to their bodies to prevent them from being transported away, too.”
Rikki bit her lip, though not hard enough to leave a mark. She was already getting much better about that. Kasper and Kyrus exchanged looks and came to some silent decision.
“Rikki,” Kasper said. “Do you remember what you said to Owens that day in the Garrison? That you hoped whatever the people of Argon did to her caused her to hurt as much as she hurt Charley?”
“Yes, I remember,” she said. “I know it wasn’t a nice thing to say, and I know I probably should take it back. But I can’t.”
“It was a perfectly reasonable thing to say and you should not take one single word of it back,” Kasper said. “I only remind you of it because someone recorded what you said that day. The entire incident, in fact. They released it to the general public, which is in large part why the citizens pressed so hard for a quick trial. After the authorities saw the recording they went through the lab’s security vids in search of evidence to support your accusations, and they found it. All of it, as near as they can tell.
“They haven’t released the vids, of course, but they did release a statement saying they had recorded proof that every word you said was accurate. They also said that, as horrible as what your accusations were, you barely touched on the true atrocities committed against Charley.
“As angry as the people were about what happened to the women, they at least weren’t tortured. The people of Argon are beyond furious over what was done to a helpless baby. The parents of the victims most of all. It wasn’t difficult for them to imagine the same thing happening to their own grandchildren had the experiments succeeded on their daughters.”
“So, they decided to honor your wishes,” Kyrus picked up the story. “All of the owners of GNTX Labs, which means Owens and her seven partners, will hurt. They will suffer. And their suffering will last a very long time.”
Rikki drew in a deep breath. “I almost feel as though I should feel guilty for that. But I can’t. Whenever I think of Owens and the rest of the skoteiná, I think of Charley and what they did to her. I also think of Suzen and her parents who, in my mind, represent all of the other murdered women and their families. I can’t separate them from one another.
“You’re right, though. It’s enough to know they will pay for their crimes. I don’t want or need to know the details.”
“Another excellent decision,” Kyrus said, relieved. They knew Rikki better now, and had no doubts that, even after what Owens had done to Charley, she’d be horrified to know what was in store for the woman and her partners. “Now, a bit of better news.”
