Night of the Zandians (Zandian Brides 1)

“Riya.” She looks down. “The damage done by shock sticks is… irreversible.” She speaks slowly, as if to a child, but her voice is kind. “No herb can undo that. I’m sorry.”

“But it might not be that!” I stand up and pace, throw my arms out as if to explain. “It could be something else, and they just thought it was that.” I wrap my arms around myself. “The Ocretions are notorious liars, and sloppy, too, when they don’t care about a slave any longer. It’s possible that it’s… reversible. Even if it’s a tiny chance, I need to try.” Tears sting my eyes, and the exhaustion of the journey falls onto me like a stone. I sink back to the stool and bury my head in my hands before looking at her. “Please.”

She puts up a hand. “But first I need to understand your body, Riya. When do you feel the stabbing pain of ovulation, or do you never feel it? I need to understand the timing of your menses. And I’ll need to ask about…”

“Please. Without the questions. I need the herbs.” These are things I have not grown, although I know of them. They are not seeds that were included in my pack, and if I ask for them, others might ask why I need them. I’ve become somewhat of an experimenter, but I don’t want to risk questions.

I come closer and take her hands. “Please.”

She blinks and cocks her head, and then comes closer, until we’re almost nose to nose, looking into each other’s eyes. It’s not intimate in the same way I am with my mates, but it’s closer than I’ve been to another human.

“Have you been eating apples?” She steps back, looking at me, and darts a glance at my belly, then back up to my face.

“Apples? Mother Earth, I wish.” I smile. “Won’t it take years to grow a single tree? How I’d love one, though.” We grew apples on the agrifarm, but I was never allowed to eat them. Still, we sometimes ate the rotten ones discarded by the slave masters.

“Hmm.” She bites her lip. “I wonder.”

“What?” I put a hand to my lower back. I’m not accustomed to running and my body aches. I stretch out my calves. “I need to get back home soon.”

“I will give you the herbs,” she says, finally, and retrieves a packet of dried leaves from her supply. “They cannot work for the ailment you describe. They can, however, strengthen a pregnancy, and I am only giving it to you so you feel like you are doing everything you can.”

“Thank you.”

She says, “You have not told your mates.”

We look at each other for a second. “Can I trust you?” My voice cracks.

She takes my hand and folds the packet into my fist. “Know that I will always act in what I believe is the best interest,” she says, and this is as close as I will come to a promise of secrecy. I don’t wish to delve into what best interest means, and whether it’s mine, as long as I can have what I came for.

“Thank you.” I squeeze her hand. “I will repay you.”

She shakes her head. “You do what it takes to make your homestead and your family successful, and that is repayment for everything.”

I nod. “I need to go.” I s

tow the packet into my satchel alongside my other treasures.

“Riya, no.” Her voice is firm. “It’s getting dark and it won’t be safe. My mates will accompany you home.”

“No! I’ll get myself back.” I stand up, my tone fierce, and hurry out, hoping I’ll make it back before my mates come in for the night.

Jax

Riya!”

Tarren, Ronan, and I call at the tops of our lungs. We returned to the dome to find her gone. Simply gone.

My mind is going vecking crazy trying to figure out where she’s gone. What could’ve happened to her.

She knows better than to leave the site. We’ve warned her many times. I’m cursing the fact that we never gave her a comms cuff so we could communicate with her or track her, but it simply wasn’t necessary. Not when she never strayed from our homestead.

What the veck?

“Riya! Riya!” Tarren’s voice has gone hoarse. He’s already at the crest of the hills far from our homestead.

What if she’s been bitten by a vipn? Or abducted by some intruders? What if—oh veck—what if she fell in the mine?”

“I’ll check the mine!” I shout to Ronan and run for the opening.