Marik, Jeval, and Renall stepped forward. Marik said, “Indeed, The Federation is not known for those things. What do you really want?”
The Federation officer said, “I seek to hold a conversation with those who rule this planet.”
Jeval spoke. “Our citizenry rules themselves. We govern, but here every being is free.”
The Federation officer didn’t blink. “Then I would speak with you, those who govern. Those who own this planet. This is a matter that requires discretion, and I will speak with you and solely you.”
Jeval shook his head. “I do not govern alone. My siblings govern with me. We will not be trapped alone with you and your officers. That would be foolishness personified. Do we look foolish to you?”
Shivers worked their way through Margie’s skin as The Federation officer’s eyes, cold as a winter day, rested on the faces of the siblings and then the faces of the women gathered beside them. The Federation officer’s lips lifted in a slight smile. “No, you do not look foolish. I’m not here to harm; I have no desire to have my officers carry weapons into whatever place you wish to speak with me in.”
Jeval said, “I have a better idea. You alone may speak with us. Your guards and your soldiers must all return to the ship. We will hold a conversation with you, but we will not hold that conversation with you when your armed men stand with their boots upon our planet.”
The others nodded their heads. Jessica said, “They return to their ships, or we open fire.”
The officer said, “I see. But perhaps that would be foolish of me, to go alone with you to have a conversation, unarmed and unguarded.”
Clara said, “That is the only concession they shall make. I can promise you they are the most stubborn beings that you will ever have the fortune of meeting. You won’t change their mind and once they have decided on a path, that is the path they shall take no matter where it leads.”
Margie felt an unwilling smile start on her own face. Clara had the right of it. Her eyes went back to Jeval, and her heart skipped a few beats. He spoke in a casual and dismissive tone. “Your entire army resides above us and on the surface of our planet. We are vastly outnumbered. To kill you would be suicide for us. Do we seem suicidal to you?”
The Federation officer mulled that over for a bit. Tension grew thicker and thicker in the air. Margie’s eyes flickered upward yet again, judging how many ships were up there because they were too numerous to count. At least a hundred, perhaps more. They cruised back and forth and some, obviously flight and fighter craft, darted across the sky, leaving white contrails blazing along the cerulean blue heavens.
The officer nodded. “But just you four. I’ll have no one else in there.”
Jessica stepped forward. Her hands balled into fists, and her shoulder met Talon’s. “Where he goes, I go. There are no exceptions to that. Never.”
Clara echoed that, as did Jenny. Margie cleared her throat. “I too go wherever he leads.”
She felt his body stiffen slightly, but she didn’t look his way because she was afraid of what she would see there on his face. Had the words pleased him or upset him? She didn’t know. It was as open a declaration of love as she could make. Her heart beat even faster, making her slightly dizzy. The enormity of war loomed over everything, but even that was overwritten by the knowledge that she had just admitted her love for him and done it in a public way.
She had basically just said he was her mate when he had never asked her to be his mate and she had done it in a way that ensured that she would never be able to deny those words or the feeling behind them.
If they managed to live long enough for her to have to deny it, that was.
Talon said, with a fierce grin, “They are but women. Surely you cannot be afraid of mere women. Human women, at that.”
Jeval muttered, so low and below his breath that she almost didn’t hear it, “I would hate to be in your shoes later tonight.”
The Federation officer said, “Oh, I have heard of your women. In fact, I recognize the one beside you as a former Capo and one of the leaders of the efforts on Old Earth.”
Talon said, “That is a fight we will never have a chance to finish, and you know that. We have pulled back our efforts there because they proved to be futile; they were futile since The Federation would not keep its promises and until the people there are given what they need, then they will simply continue to fight each other for whatever resources remain.”
The Federation officer nodded. “I shall meet with you, but only you four. Leave the women outside.”
The four brothers exchanged glances. Margie said, “We shall guard the door for you then. If anything occurs in there, we shall be right there.”
The smile that came upon Jeval’s face held equal parts of amusement and something else, something she didn’t recognize, but her heart fluttered in response to it.
The Federation officer ordered his officers and guards back upon the ship. They went reluctantly, but they went. The officer then followed the four siblings up the hill to the small building that they used for council meetings. Margie walked beside Jenny, not daring to look at any of the other women. They had all heard her throw her lot in with his, and she was not sure if they felt sympathy for her or not. They had to know that he did not want to mate. That he refused to mate and all the reasons why.
A flutter of disquiet settled into her new system. He had said that most children that he would sire would die. That only the very strongest could survive and that he was not willing to sire a child knowing that.
But there was a child.
There was a child growing within her at that very moment and if she lived through this, if they lived through this and that child was born, would she have to watch that child die?
But the odds were fifty-fifty, right?
