Warden Hallum hadn’t spoken once during my word vomit. But he did then.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why not stay longer than a year? Have you family left on Terratribe II?”
“Oh, gotcha. No. My last living family was mylola, and she passed away years ago. I probably still have a few old friends there, but I lost touch with them when I moved to Elora Station.”
He waited expectantly. I supposed I hadn’t quite answered his question about why I planned to go back.
“I want to have a baby,” I blurted. My skin spiked hot and cold all over admitting it. “And I don’t really have that much time to…To fuck around, I guess. Or to find another partner. I’ll have to go and start engaging in fertility treatments pretty soon if I want to carry my own pregnancy, which I do. I plan to start the process immediately after my contract here is finished.”
There was no outward reaction to what I’d said. He remained utterly still, absorbing my answer with that grim intensity I’d come to know him for.
When he finally did reply, it was with a single word.
“Understood.”
10
HALLUM
“Why do you look so sullen?” Warden Tenn asked from beside me. Having finished inspecting the hospital site, Lualhati and I had made our way back to the saloon to meet with the others and wait for Xennet and Dorn. We stood outside in the sunshine. Lualhati was currently chatting with Tasha and Shiloh and did not appear to hear Warden Tenn’s ludicrous question.
“I do not look sullen,” I replied.
“You do. Tell him he does, Rivven.”
Rivven, who’d just come out of the saloon behind us and had aimed himself towards his wife, halted. He hesitated, appearing rather unwilling to get dragged into Warden Tenn’s nonsense. But ultimately, he said, “You do look a little more…stern than usual, Warden.”
“He is always stern,” Warden Tenn said. “This is different. Sullen. Just like I said.”
“What the blazes would I have to be sullen about?” I barked, knowing full well that I was not feeling myself. I would not, however, have chosen the word sullen to describe my currentstate. Frustrated, perhaps. But sullen implied a sort of sulking, and that was behaviour I could not abide, least of all in myself.
The source of my foul mood was currently laughing loudly, her painted lips so pretty and red, contrasting with her little white teeth.
Technically, Lualhati herself was not the reason I was annoyed. It was because of the things she’d told me. I found myself in near-disbelief that a male lucky enough to have been engaged to her would have then been unforgivably stupid enough to throw that chance away. To betray her. To hurt her. I seethed on her behalf, and absurd fantasies plagued me. Fantasies of finding this man, and, using my power as warden, arresting him. For being an idiot.
And then there was the other information Lualhati had given me. How badly she wanted a child. She had an important reason to leave after her contract here was up. I would not be able to, or even attempt to, convince her to stay beyond that. I respected her wishes too much. Even if her wishes were making me look uncharacteristically “sullen.”
I glanced at her once more. Again, she was laughing. I was not sure I’d ever met someone who smiled or laughed so much as she did. It made me wonder what she found so funny. If she let me in on the joke, that buoyant joy she seemed to carry with her at all times, would I even understand it?
My gaze drifted down her body. I imagined her in the future, her abdomen rounder, swollen with child. Sharp heat panged in my groin.
“Oh, now he looks even worse!” Warden Tenn exclaimed. “Do you require use of Rivven’s outhouse, Warden?”
“No,” I growled. “Look. Xennet and Dorn approach.”
My two men were making their way down the road atop their shuldu. When they saw us all gathered outside to wait, they increased their speed. I stepped out of line and met them on theroad, ahead of the others. They were both wearing their human formal wear.
“I want to remind you to be on your best behaviour around our new doctor,” I told them. Even if we could no longer convince her to stay beyond one year, at least we could make sure she didn’t have any reason to leave us early.
“But of course, Warden!” Xennet cried. “We have even worn our tuxebeanies!”
He gestured to the black and white outfit, with its layers and the odd bow at the throat, contrasting with his pale green hide.
Dorn grunted that he would behave as well, though I was less concerned about him. He wasn’t as prone to slinging weapons gleefully around like they were children’s toys.
