“You know why you're here. I will not explain it again.”
“I don't, actually. You say I can change your people or help them. But that's not possible. I'm not even good at converging. I don't have a strong connection to Magic or Tech. I can't help you, Vor.”
“Yes, you can. But it's all right if you don't believe me. Just your being here is already changing my people. And it's only been eight days, Lena. I can't imagine how much we'll change in a month.”
“A month?!” Lena shot to her feet. “You're going to keep me here for a month?”
Vor sighed and stood as well. “Why don't we get you some coffee?”
“You can't keep me here forever!”
He turned, took her hand, and drew her to the door. “I won't have to.”
Chapter Twelve
Vor
She found him admirable. But also the opposite. Vor grimaced to himself as he escorted Lena to the fortress kitchens. He knew they were waiting for him in the command room, but he had to see to her first. He'd heard coffee was addictive, and both Medeans and Aethari craved the brew. It was said to cause headaches if you stopped drinking it. That alone would keep him from trying the drink. But he didn't want Lena suffering, and she kept rubbing her forehead.
Vor thought he was getting through to Lena when he described the way his people had been trapped by the two races they thought were their allies. But then she had become distant again. It had only been a little over a week, and she had only just started speaking to him. Considering that, they had come far. Still, her rejections were becoming harder to endure.
“Here we are.” Vor motioned toward a door as they approached it.
Lena had pulled free of his grip seconds after they had left their rooms. Vor had allowed it because forcing her to endure his touch felt like starting down a path he refused to walk. A mere month ago, Vor had been prepared and even eager to walk that reprehensible path with Liria and force her to his will. MeetingLena and discovering that she was his, not Liria, had changed Vor in seconds.
Or was it Lena's voice that had changed him? Now there was a thought. As if he were a machine that had been rewired, Vor had become someone new upon hearing Lena speak her own name. All those feelings of urgency, rage, and the need to possess had transformed into calm, longing, and a need to protect. All because Liria became Lena.
When he had changed, so had his reason. Things that were perfectly reasonable in the past were now more than unreasonable—they were shocking and deplorable. His desire to free his people remained the same, but his plan on how to accomplish that goal had changed. He told Lena he wanted peace, and he wouldn't kill unless forced to, but that had been his original plan. Vor had come to the surface to conquer. He'd take one fortress and hold it until another army could take a second fortress, and so on. The plan had been to spread their dominance across the surface of Para until the Medeans and Aethari had no choice but to accept them. Two minutes with Lena had changed all of that.
Vor even viewed emotions differently now. Source had led him, and he had followed out of blind trust. But he'd been afraid. Vor expected the softer emotions to weaken him. The old him might see his change in plans as just that. But the new Vor understood that feeling more intensely had cleared his mind. Without the coldness of untempered reason, he could see that peace could not be achieved through subjugation. Oh, there might be an end to the war, but it wouldn't be peace. There would be uprisings and ill will. Vor knew now that it would trade one war for another. Lena had given him that clarity.
“Have you gone offline?” Lena waved a hand before Vor's face.
Vor cleared his throat. “My apologies. I was lost in thought.” He lightly laid his hand on her back to guide her toward the door. As she had before, Lena flinched away.
With slumping shoulders, Vor opened the door for Lena. He didn't like the way she edged past him, careful not to touch him. How did Medeans and Aethari deal with rejection? It was awful. Almost enough to make him return to the safety of reason. But Vor had a new type of reason now. This reason told him that Lena's reactions were normal, and he had to be patient with her. He couldn't expect Lena to welcome his touch simply because he had changed. She didn't know that. Lena didn't know him at all. That was the problem Vor had to tackle.
“Commander!” One of the kitchen staff came to attention.
The rest of the soldiers followed suit, everyone stopping their work to greet him.
“Go back to your duties.” Vor motioned them back to their work. “I only need one person to assist me.”
A blond man came up to them. “I'm Corporal Cine, sir. How may I help?”
“My guest requires coffee every morning, but since we don't drink it, I want her to show you how to brew the stuff. Then you'll teach other people so that one of you can make her coffee in the mornings.”
“Uh.” He glanced at Lena. “Yes, Commander. I think I saw several bags marked 'coffee' in the larder.”
Vor motioned for Lena to follow Corporal Cine and then took up the rear. Cine led them to a massive, walk-in storage room lined with shelves that contained nonperishable items. At the back were burlap bags with the word “Coffee” printed on them.
“Here they are, Commander. But I don't know what to do with them.” Cine waved at the bags. “How much do we need?”
“Just two handfuls for a pot,” Lena went to a bag, opened the top, and drew out two handfuls of brown beans. Without another word, she left the larder.
Vor followed her out, Cine on his heels. Lena strode around the kitchen, searching shelves until she found whatever she was after.
“There.” Lena pointed with a fistful of beans.
