The Tracker's Quest: (Forced To Serve #6) (20 page)

Seta walked to the bed and stuck out her hand. “If you want to live, swear to me on your life you will do all I ask.”

Her father stared at her hand, but eventually lifted his to hers. It was the first time she had ever physically touched him. It was hard to believe this male had sired her. He was a hated stranger, a vile disgusting excuse of an Ethosian male. But he might just be the salvation of her people if he kept his bargain. His current wealth would aid him if he used it well.

“Brand him, Zorinda. Heal him, but place a reminder in his palm. I want him to see it every day and be reminded of our bargain. Make sure he feels this. I want him to remember what kind of pain he will suffer if he crosses me.”

Her father’s loud yelp of pain was pleasing to her sensitive Ethosian ears. She only wished it could have lasted longer. The male shook and choked and gasped. Seta held on to his hand, stoic as ever. It was far less pleasant than removing Ji’s implants, but it was not the torture she had expected. The burning in her own palm finally had her letting go of her father’s hand. Zorinda had branded both of them.

Is my life truly bound to his? I was not serious.

Zorinda fluttered within her and didn’t answer. Seta internally sighed at what the demon was choosing not to reveal. Very well. Maybe it was better for her not to know. The price of being energetically linked to the horrible male who sired her was a price higher than she’d been prepared to pay. But if it worked it could be worth it. She could at least return to Rena’s Creators and report she had truly done all she could.

Her father rubbed his chest with his stinging hand. Then he pulled it away to look at his palm in wonderment. Seta held hers up to show him the twin mark. His eyes widened. His breathing was easy now and his color was better.

“I can see I was short-sighted about you, Seta of Trax.”

Seta shrugged. “Your praise means little and your word cannot be trusted. I want to see action before I leave this planet. And just so you know I’m not joking in the least. . .”

She thought of a noose around her father’s throat. When he clawed at his neck, she smiled.

“I can kill you anytime I want, Suzerain. Don’t forget it. That’s really the most important part of our discussion. You live only because I have use of you. Stop being of use and your death would please a great many of your progeny.”

She turned to walk to the door only to feel an arm encircle her as a laser weapon was pressed to her throat.

“If your death brings your father’s, I will have the pleasure of both at last. No female should be so hard to kill. I will not be denied this time, Seta of Trax,” Arghane declared.

Before Seta could ask Zorinda for help Arghane was bodily lifted away from her. She heard his laser weapon hit the floor and his neck snap as Ji twisted his head. Her Siren mate stared at Arghane’s crumpled body and then raised his calm gaze to her. “I really hope Garmon learns to keep his hands to himself. Lira’s medicine doesn’t seem to work very well.”

Seta looked back at her father. “You need to appoint a more loyal second. Try treating the next one better. People who like you tend to be more loyal.”

She walked away but called out over her shoulder, “I’ll be expecting to hear a good report soon. Contact Garmon. Start by apologizing and tell him he can keep Endara. She plays and dances there the way a normal child should.”

***

“How can you trust him? After all he’s done, daughter of Trax?” Ineid asked as they hurried down the hallway.

“I can’t trust him,” Seta replied truthfully. “But at least I have done what I could. The Suzerain’s greed is great, but the value he places on his own life is larger than what he places on others. Saving you may be all I accomplished today. Only time will tell, Ineid.”

Cloak us
, Seta ordered.

I will do as you command, Seta.

She couldn’t recall Zorinda calling her by her name before, but she didn’t mind. Talking with her was starting to feel a bit like talking to Rena. Zorinda nearly always understood her motivation. And unlike Ji or others, Zorinda never questioned her actions. She just helped.

Surrounded by Zorinda’s energy, they travelled through the canton and walked out the front gates. It took nearly two revolutions of a timekeeper to travel back to their vehicle still hidden in the grove. She looked at Ji who was fairly vibrating now.

“Can you drive us in your. . .condition?” she asked, training her eyes on his face so she wouldn’t be caught staring at his lap.

Ji drew her into his arms and kissed her passionately, with little concern for Ineid’s eyes on them. Seta pushed him gently away, finding it hard to break contact. She wanted nothing more than the forgetfulness and reassurance his body offered hers. Perhaps this was the true value of accepting him as a mate even though she still did not feel what he felt. Zorinda had obviously kept her word about not letting the Siren’s call change her too much.

Ineid’s tormented gaze was an instant damper on her ardor, or she might have asked Ji to pull over in the next nearest grove offering shelter from the bleak expanse of sand.

Glancing at the female now sitting in the backseat, Ji climbed into the driver’s area. Seta sighed and climbed into the seat next to him. “Let’s get Ineid to the mining canton. Then I want to go home.”

Ji laughed. “Home? Where is home located in that fascinating mind of yours, Sweet Joy?”

Seta pondered the question. “When such sanctuary comes to mind, I tend to think of your quarters on the
Guardian 13
. Your sleeping platform is very luxurious. I know I still owe you a mating week and I always keep my promises. With my quest done, I am most anxious to complete our union to your satisfaction.”

Ji smiled as he turned the vehicle and shot off through the dark. He would take one more double dose of Lira’s medicine, and then he was going to finish what had made him chase his Ethosian to this Creator-forsaken planet.

“I will have to go hide in our quarters at the mining canton. Come take the edge off when you can. I will be waiting impatiently as always.”

“Can you tell what I’m thinking right now?” Seta asked, smiling as she asked.

Ji turned and looked her over. “No. I think it only works in more intimate circumstances.”

“Just as well—considering we have a traumatized passenger,” Seta replied. “Ineid has had enough shocks about us. Seeing the mining canton will be the last she can probably take.”

“I couldn’t sleep earlier when you did. Want to know what I discovered?”

Seta favored her teasing mate with a look he knew by now meant she was in no mood for his arrogance. “If I must. Why did you learn?”

“This vehicle can go much faster,” Ji said.

He activated the acceleration and threw both females against the side of the vehicle while he grinned. “And I thought spaceships were fun. This is great. We’ll be back to the mining canton in half the time it took us to travel across the desert.”

While Seta righted herself, she laughed at the delighted look on her handsome mate’s face.

Chapter 20

“Where’s the Siren? I figured he’d be trailing around after you making sure no males touched his property,” Garmon teased.

Seta looked up at his face. “I asked Lira for a heavy sedative. The libido damper wasn’t working. Ji’s sleeping off the effects now. In his current condition, it’s not safe for him to be running around. He killed my father’s chief guard with his bare hands and without flinching. I couldn’t let him kill anyone here.”

Garmon laughed. “No. I couldn’t let him do that either. Sedative, you say?”

Seta nodded. “Yes. It should last for several hours. I will need someone’s help getting him to the shuttle that’s meeting us. I can lift Ji, but he’s too tall for me to carry any real distance.”

“Raging fires of Helios—even I like the male well enough not let him be carried through the canton by his female. I wouldn’t wish such humiliation on my worst enemy. When the time comes, I will carry your Siren. It is things like this which make me glad you choose him over me, though the sight of you still stirs my body.”

Seta shrugged. “You know I am not attempting to do so.”

“Oh yes. I am well aware. But I figured I’d say it again anyway.”

Garmon’s joking sent them both laughing.

“So where is the new female you brought me?” Garmon asked at last.

“I didn’t bring her for you. I brought her for Endara. Ineid is her birth mother, though they have never known each other. My birth mother died before I mated the first time. I was not allowed to interact with her much. She was kept with the suzerain’s females. Rena and I were kept with the progeny. It was deemed efficient, I suppose. Older siblings raised the younger ones. But that is not how families are meant to be.”

Garmon rested an arm around Seta’s shoulders. “No. Indeed, it is not.”

They stopped in front of the healing house. Ineid came out the door almost instantly.

Seta smiled. “Have you adjusted to the wonders here yet?” She watched the furrows in Ineid’s brows smooth out. The female did her best to smile back. Seta reached out and rubbed her arm. “Give it time.”

Garmon bowed. “Welcome to my canton, great mother of the rock dancer.”

Seta laughed at Ineid’s puzzled gaze meeting Garmon’s laughing one. “His tongue is very poetic. It is how he gets his way with all females. Be warned, Ineid.”

“Are we going to see. . .Endara?” Ineid asked.

Seta nodded, her mouth twitching at Garmon’s charm falling flat. “Yes. I promised her I would say goodbye before I left.”

“Must you leave so soon?”

Though it was uncharacteristic of her to offer comfort, Seta linked arms with Endara’s frightened mother as they walked. “Yes. Ji and I have Peace Alliance contracts we must fulfill. But I will return to visit. Garmon has made this my home.”

“Sister!”

The singing call out had Seta laughing. She let go of Ineid to scoop up the running child.

“The rocks dance higher now. Want to see?”

“Yes, little sister. I do want to see, but after I must return to the stars,” Seta declared, letting Endara slide to the ground. “Look—I brought you someone to dance with you while I’m gone.”

Endara looked at Ineid with a strange look on her face before stepping a little closer. She turned to Seta. “Big sister,” she said, patting Seta’s leg. She studied Ineid again. “Mother,” she pronounced softly, patting Ineid’s leg very gently.

Then she glanced at Garmon for confirmation. The male was beaming. Seta bit her lip at his pride over the child’s every utterance. She couldn’t have been more his if he had sired her.

“Once again you are right, Endara. This is your birth mother,” Garmon said, bowing his head to the amazing child.

Endara’s gaze went back to Ineid. “Can you dance with rocks too, Mother?”

Ineid looked at Seta in confusion. “What does she mean?”

Seta smiled. “Endara always means exactly what she says. It is a trait we share.”

Endara held out a hand to Ineid who took it cautiously. “Come,” Endara ordered. “I will show you how to dance with the rocks.”

Seta ignored the pleading look Ineid sent her.

Endara walked to her circle of gems and stones. “Like this,” she said, as she started gyrating. Soon all her limbs were wildly moving.

Seta smiled as the rocks rose, and sure enough, some were as high as Ineid’s head. The little minx was practicing. Maybe it wouldn’t be long until Endara would be able remove the big ones from the mines.

Staring around in wonder at the beautiful stones floating in the air, Ineid reached out one hand and plucked a green gemstone from its spot. Her laughter rang out as she curved her fingers around it and watched Endara dance. Hearing her mother’s laughter seemed to please the child greatly, judging from the even wilder movements she began making.

Seeing mother and child getting to know each other was the most contented she’d ever felt outside of Ji’s arms. She suddenly hoped Rena’s spirit was watching.

“Ineid has a pleasant laugh when she is amazed at something. Do you think she will heal enough to eventually take a mate from among us? She and some lucky male could even make more children like Endara. What a blessing that would be for us all,” Garmon said solemnly.

Seta raised one eyebrow. “The poet speaks again. Do all females appeal to you, Garmon of Ker?”

Garmon laughed as he dropped his gaze. “No. Only the special ones. I’m very particular.”

Seta laughed at his statement. “I will miss this place when I leave, but I think I’ve done all I can do on Ethos. Has my father contacted you yet?”

Garmon nodded. “Yes—actually he did—but I wasn’t sure how to react. He sent his best wishes for Endara’s happiness, and wants to make a special deal to supply females to the mining canton. Has Suzerain Trax gone mad? Or is this a trick?”

Seta smiled, satisfied to hear the news. “I think you’re going to be dealing with a different male next time you see him in person. His ideas about things changed a bit after he and I had our chat. I would still advise you to be on guard when you go to make your arrangements.”

“Ethosian revolutionary. Exotic dancer. Alluring female. These are how all will describe Seta of Trax.”

“Not all, at least not my mate,” Seta corrected, grinning. “Ji will call me a pain and tell me I need to work on being nicer because my name is now Seta Trax Warro.”

Garmon laughed. “Didn’t you know what the Siren was like before you said yes to his mating offer?”

Seta smiled. “Yes. I knew. I’m a contrary female, Garmon of Ker.”

“Agreed, but I’ve never heard a contrary female admit it before. Oddly, I’m going to miss your brutal honesty,” Garmon said.

Laughing, Seta turned her head. “Little Sister—come say goodbye to me. I have to return to my ship.”

Ineid squealed, then laughed again as the stones, crystals, and gems fell in a cascade around her.

Endara raced to where Seta knelt. Tiny arms wrapped her tightly and tiny lips pressed a kiss to her cheek. “Are you taking the pretty one with you?” she whispered.