His female was close enough to the edge of theRilliraxthat she reached out her arm to touch his outstretched leg.Her touch alone was enough to ease the memories in his mind that threatened to take over.
“I’m sorry, Rixavox.I can’t imagine what that must’ve been like,” she said.
He knew that he should tell her about his blood brother’s crimes.He would feel better if she knew, if she didn’t accidentally find out from someone else.Devix’s crimes were still whispered about, especially among the elders, so it wouldn’t be difficult for her to overhear something.
“I have a blood brother,” he told her, meeting her gaze.“He is three rotations older than I am.”
“Does he live inVelraxa?” she asked, her tongue gliding over his outpost’s name effortlessly.
“Nix,” he murmured.“He was exiled from Luxiria.I have not had contact with him for seven rotations now.Truthfully, I know not whether he lives or has passed beyond.”
He heard Sessela swallow thickly and her brows furrowed with concern.Softly, she asked, “What happened?”
“It was two rotations after the Plague.Devix was accused of committing the worst crime possible to Luxirians,” hse said, running a hand over his horn.“Even before the Plague, we always held our females in high regard.They are the mothers of our kind, creators in their own right.Without them, we are nothing.We are not strong.Harming a female is unthinkable to Luxirians.It is a crime punishable by death.”
“Your brother hurt a female?” she questioned softly.
He forced himself to say the words, even though they made him recoil.“He was accused of rape.”Sessela drew in a sharp intake of air.Rixavox said, “He was exiled eight rotations ago, forbidden to ever return to Luxiria.”
Sessela’s eyes never left his own as she observed, “You said a crime against a female is punishable by death.But he was exiled?”
Vaxa’an had been the Prime Leader for a short period at the time.His sire had followed Vaxa’an’s mother into the blackworld, leaving Vaxa’an rule over Luxiria.He had final say over the sentencing and he’d received much criticism over it, especially by the elders…the very elders who had wanted Rixavox stripped of his ranks.
“There were conflicting accounts during the tribunal,” Rixavox said, his fists clenching.
“In what way?” she asked softly, eyeing him.Rixavox wondered if she was wary of him now that she knew what his own blood had been accused of.Would she act differently towards him now?
“My brother maintained his stance that he did not do the unthinkable.A brother of the female said he did, said he caught them together, said my brother was forcing the mating.Then another Luxirian, an elder, came forward as a witness and said my brother did not, that it was a mutual mating,” Rixavox said, replaying that trial over and over in his head, as he had on many occasions.“It was unclear what had actually happened.”
“What did the female say?”
Old frustrations rose.“She said nothing.She chose the right for complete silence.”
He heard the water trickle around her as she shifted in the water.He saw her hair float and sway around her, saw the way her pale shoulders gleamed in the light.
“And what do you believe?” she asked.“He wasyourbrother.Do you think he was capable of doing something like that?”
Rixavox already knew the answer.He’d asked himself the same thing over and over again and he’d only ever come to one conclusion.
“No, I do not believe he was capable.”
He was beginning to learn her human expressions and the emotion he saw on her face right then was one of concern but also of sympathy.
“I told Vaxa’an this in private when he asked me the same thing you just did,” he said.“It was what swayed his decision to spare Devix’s life.”
“But he was still exiled for a crime he might not have committed,” she finished for him.
“Tev.”
“You saw him after that, didn’t you?” she questioned softly.“You said he was exiled eight rotations ago.Yet you last him seven rotations ago?”
He’d never told anyone that he’d sought his brother out after the exile.Not even Vaxa’an knew.He’d chartered a vessel off planet and tracked his brother down to a seedy colony called Petrika in the Second Quadrant.
“He is my blood brother,” Rixavox said.“Exile is like death.I had just lost my sire and mother in the Plague.Devix lost them.Then, we lost each other.I needed to see him.”
“What happened when you did?”
He didn’t like to think on that time, but he forced himself to say, “It was difficult between us.He was angry.Broken.I had never seen him like that, so devoid of anything but rage.He had once been a proud warrior, one of the best of our race.Seeing him live in that place, that filth…” His fists clenched at his sides.“I told him I wanted to help him.I had connections in the First Quadrant.I wanted to find him a more comfortable planet to live on, with the promise of peace.”
