Riimal shrugged.“Heis convinced she is what we need, and he has never made a request of this nature before.I have also spoken with her physicians, and all is well with her.”
The king’s omega said, “I don’t understand what has happened to you, Ival.”
Ival opened her com and moved her fingers quickly.“Let me load up a slide show.Are you planning on eating any meat?”
“No.Why?”
Riimal said, “Send it to me, I will send it to them.”
She nodded.“I am pretty sure you have seen most of it.”
She flicked it off to him.He looked at it, winced a few times, and then nodded before he sent it to his brother.
The king caught Riithan’s gaze and shared it.Then they started to look at it.It started cute, with baby pictures, pictures of her dangling from her father’s arm while her mother looked on with adoration.Then there was the funeral, and after that, the intake photo to Uradda.There were a few more during her growth checks, then there were surveillance images of her escaping, and she figured out how to steal and use a motorcycle, and she headed for Thorassen at the age of thirteen or fourteen.Then there were school photos and sports.Zukker as an upperclassman, then him as a tutor, and then their wedding, with his mother glaring at them.Years of events and charities, and she was getting so thin.Then the memorial and Uraddan intake images again.
She nibbled at a cookie as they got to the fights and the several images of her being dead.Then, there was the actual video of her fighting Riimal.The sounds of bidding were intense, and she flipped around him, over him, and she was fighting to get to soft tissue when he caught her in his coils and began to crush her.The huge gold head darted for her and bit, then released, and changed the bite.And when she patted his muzzle, he got frenzied.He tried to hold onto her, but he was shot from a number of angles.
Riimal’s jaw was tight.“We didn’t know.”
“I know.You saw the other fights.I died a lot.”
The king asked, “How are you here?”
“There was a revival specialist.She was Sethir, too.They shaved her head, and I am pretty sure she got released when the walls came down, but I didn’t know her name.I wasn’t allowed to know her name.”She sighed.
They watched her before the treatment file and all the body damage and then came the treatment.She was knocked out, and the seizures were there, and once they had knocked her out, her skin started slipping.
The next image was her naked in a tank and her red muscle slowly turning pink as the skin began to grow.
She soon was her normal skin tone, and her eye regrew.“Last thing was hair.I am guessing they didn’t want it messing up the tank.”
The image of her bald body in the tank was nice.“I had forgotten about that freckle.”
Riimal sighed.“How can you be so perky?”
“This isn’t a tragedy.This is what survival looks like when you have no one to call on.”
He blinked.“You have me now.”
“Then, I will make you responsible for my upkeep.”
The queen said, “I don’t understand.I thought you were toxic.”
“Right.So, you know those venomous little lizards in the deep desert?They bite, and it swells and is like a bee sting?”
The woman nodded.
“Well, if one of those lizards is constantly prodded, they generate venom faster and faster because their environment requires it.Eventually, their venom load can kill.My adaptation is very similar to those little critters.I even have superfine scales in place of normal skin cells.I am guessing that Riimal’s other half saw them when he paused to look.”
Riimal pressed his forehead to hers.That was the implicit confirmation.
The king stared.“So, your venom is defensive?”
“Sure.The more dangerous my attacker, the more dangerous the venom, but there was no reset setting.Khytten and Kritz had to do it.If I am not in danger, it is simply a water- and oil-based compound that I can tailor for pain relief.That was what it was always supposed to be.I was supposed to be a healer.”
The room was quiet.
Riimal reached past her and brought back a cookie.He smiled and handed it to her.
