Chapter 25

The garden and its plants turned out to be exactly what Mia needed. Three days stuffed in the few buildings they had access to, with a hundred or so cranky women, had taken a toll on her positive life outlook. Now that they were strolling along the edges of the front park, Mia could feel some of the tension easing from her muscles. Becky took her request to heart and was bent over a section of the garden, her fingers delicately lifting and examining the leaves and petals of an orange flower that grew there, tucked beneath one of the purple-leaved shrubs.

Phoebe had wandered ahead, but not too far, and Mia stood, happily soaking in the sun. For a few seconds, she did nothing but breathe and enjoy being alive in the heat of a sunny afternoon.

“I never got to thank you,” Gorth murmured softly from over her shoulder.

Mia frowned. “For what?”

“Saving Brine. You didn't have to. You didn't ask to be in that grassland. You didn't ask for any of this.”

Mia cracked her eyes open and peered at him. Conflicted emotions played across his face; she couldn't read many of them, but guilt was there for sure. Still, she couldn't guess where he was going with this.

“I didn't,” she confirmed.

“We should have never brought you through the door, any of the women,” his face turned from her, as if he couldn't stand to say the words against his people and still meet her eyes. Surprise filtered through her. It was the first time she had heard such sentiments from one of the men.

“Maybe not, though I do understand why you did it.”

“Do you?” He glanced her way before studying Becky as she dug around the flower roots, looking for something.

“Yes. I might not agree with it, but I understand why the decision was made.” She didn't mention that she had been pondering if the decision had been made with too much haste. If there was some surprise population of the enemy floating around undetected, could that not mean that there were pockets of their people surviving, as well? Despite how thoroughly the men had searched?

Yet Draven's words echoed back to her, the ones about finding the bodies of their people for years and needing to turn to the future, to life, or lose what was left of their minds.

“You would leave, if the opportunity presented itself.” It was a statement he sounded certain about. “We were wrong to think that we could take captives and begin domestic lives with them and find happiness. We should have accepted our fate.”

Mia looked at him, really looked. He was a handsome man, they all were. Gorth was tall and massively built. He had strong features and a defined square jaw, but the real draw was his eyes. Framed by heavy black lashes, the deep whiskey amber of his gaze was startling in its clarity. There was something about his features that made him seem good natured, as if he smiled and smiled often. Yet now a frown pulled heavily at his mouth, lines of worry creased his eyes.

“I'm not sure that's entirely true, either,” Mia ventured.

He blinked and turned back to her.

“What part, exactly?”

“The part where you won't find happiness. I don't think anyone should give up on that, and I don't think it was wrong to try to achieve it.”

“It was if it makes others unhappy in our place. If our women are unhappy, what have we accomplished?”

Mia stood, letting her gaze wander over the grass and neatly placed paths. Phoebe was farther along, her head tilted back, her focus on some rodent chittering at her from a nearby tree. It looked rather like a squirrel, but without the long fluffy tail she was used to seeing. This animal's tail was long, but it resembled that of a monkey. Even as Mia watched, it swung itself below the branch using the limb and chittered louder. Phoebe laughed at its antics.

Mia inclined her head.

“Not everyone is as miserable as some of the women would have you believe.”

Gorth followed her gaze and studied Phoebe for a long moment, contemplating. With speculation in his eyes, he turned back to Becky.

“It would help if the women were treated less like helpless pets and more like capable beings in their own right.”

He glanced at her, his eyebrows crawling higher.

“Take Becky, for instance,” Mia ventured, “Before she came here, she worked at a greenhouse…that's a place where we grow plants, most of which don't grow naturally in our climate. She's out here now because she has an interest in the flowers that grow in this garden. I bet she would jump at the chance to be able to put her skills to use, to be appreciated for more than the fact that she's a woman.”

Gorth narrowed his eyes in warning. Perhaps she had made too many presumptions and pushed a little far. Still, when he looked back along the path as they walked, she thought she noticed his calculating gaze considering the plants around him with more interest.

Voices reached them before they reached the next bend in the trail. Mia's instinct was to slow, to listen, instead of just intruding, but Phoebe had no qualms about traveling forward. As Gorth hemmed her in from behind, Mia had little choice but to move forward, as well.

Several Livarians waited around the bend, at the access point to the energy field Mia had traveled through. All were dressed in armor and busy checking their weapons. It only took a breath for Mia to find Draven. He stood with his back to her, his hair damp as though he had just come from a shower. He turned toward them as the group began to notice them.

“Out for a stroll?” he asked when he looked up from what he was doing and noticed them.

“They claim the women are getting restless being pent up inside,” Gorth provided.

Draven tilted his head and studied her. Whatever he was thinking was hidden well behind the bland expression on his face.

“That is a problem we are working on with all speed,” he twisted his hand until it was palm up, indicating the men around him.

Something uncomfortable twisted in Mia's stomach. They were going out into the city to deal with the enemy. Knowing more about the enemy did not give her any more of a pleasant feeling about the venture. Somehow, the idea of the danger that was presented to them had remained an abstract idea in her mind. She worried about it off and on, but with no signs of anything out of place besides the Livarians and their security, it had just as often slipped her mind. Now that she was watching what amounted to a combat team preparing for an excursion into the city, where the enemy was somewhere in unknown numbers and power, the reality of the situation hit home.

He was just her captor, and she worried because if something happened to him her chances of surviving and getting home would be gone. Yeah. That was it.

She studied the world beyond the energy field. It was deceptively quiet, abandoned buildings watching over the streets like forgotten sentinels. What dangers lurked beyond sight?

“So, it is a security measure, being kept inside or guarded so closely,” Phoebe was the one to talk, her voice lifting the silence.

“What else would it be?” One of the men asked, his voice gruff with confusion.

Mia could feel Draven's eyes on her, but she didn't look at him again. That's right, great Prime, I kept your secret, little good it's doing you.

Phoebe looked Mia's direction suspiciously and then turned to the men. She seemed less intimidated by them as many of the women and Mia suspected Huntak had to do with it.

“It could be anything. How are we supposed to know? A bunch of the girls are saying it's a punishment since we haven't chosen partners like you wanted.”

That elicited a startled grunt out of someone.

“Is this true?”

The others were silent and, even without looking at him, she knew, somehow, that Draven's question was directed toward her. Mia wanted to ignore the situation again. Truthfully, she was still angry about what had happened when he caught her in his room. He had been so certain he was right, then he could deal with the consequences. But that would make her wrong, too. She sighed to herself and tried her best to swallow her pride.

“Yes, some of the women are speculating,” she met his eyes at last. “Some of the speculation is unpleasant.”

“Not to mention what they call you if you don't align with their beliefs,” Phoebe contributed.

Draven's gaze sharpened.

“And just what are they calling you?”

Mia shrugged. This, she wasn't willing to get in to. She was a grown woman, and she didn't need to tattle to anyone about the bullying, since she felt like she was handling it just fine.

“Sir,” one of the men commented.

Mia watched as a flicker went through the energy field. Odd, she had never noticed that before. The men turned to look at one another, sharing something significant between them. Hmm. She thought there was more going on than the little bit she had overheard.

Draven turned, preparing his light tool for the transition through the field.

“We will discuss this on my return,” he ordered. His tone brooked no argument.

Mia startled.

“Discuss what?” She had already made it clear what she thought about hiding the information. And he had made it clear that he would do what he felt best regardless. The rest was her own business.

He ignored her question and waved to the men around him. Mia watched carefully as they programmed their light tools and then stepped through the field. Once on the other side, they wasted no time jogging off into the distance until a sharp turn took them around a building and out of sight.

“Let's get back to the dorms. The midday meal will be served shortly.”

Mia held in the disgruntled noise that wanted to escape. She was tired of being bossed around and kept in the dark. She was tired of not having any control over her life.

She studied the city again. It wasn't as if she could just slip away and get herself home; she wasn't an idiot, she would die alone and unprotected in this world.

Frustrated, she followed Gorth back toward the dorms, but kept a distance behind him and the two women, lost in her own thoughts. A niggling feeling worked its way through her agitation. It felt as though she was on the edge of something bad. The calm she had felt from basking in the sun slipped away and she was left with a deep seated unease.

They were nearly to the dorms before she realized it was more than just a bad mood affecting her. She paused, taking in the street and empty buildings around her. Something was watching her. She turned slowly, her eyes taking in every detail.

“Come, Mia, I must attend to other duties soon and would like to see you safely inside first.”

Right…meaning he didn't trust that she wouldn't run off. What he thought she would do with herself was another question.

She allowed herself another glance, finding nothing out of place before following him back inside to the dorms.