Page 11 of Tempting Fate

All I wanted was a place to call my own. Security. A reliable routine—and a guaranteed job, preferably in my own field of expertise. None of this uncertainty.

When Orukem was satisfied everything was complete, I surveyed our work. The room was sparse but functional, but was it welcoming? Maybe I could add a plant on the dresser. A few places in town sold pots; I could get one, nag Bekatal the gardener about taking a plant for it. Everyone loved plants, right?

“If I can do anything to help, let me know,” I said before we left.

“Unlikely,” Orukem said. “One of us will help with the urges. Other than that, he just needs to rest.”

“Urges?” Shaa’ith were so tight-lipped with their information, but this nugget of information may as well have been gold.

“Yes, urges. Do you not know the word?” She studied me with sparkling eyes, crystalline centres on the palest blue.

I didn’t like to sound ignorant even if she hadn’t been nearly specific enough. “Yes, of course. Like I said, I’m happy to help. I’ll do anything I can.”

Orukem gave a sharp, barking laugh. “If you say so.”

CHAPTER SIX

Aimanei

Airida

AFTER THE SMOOTHNESS of space travel, the bumpy speeder ride to the village of Zyamzh ached my bones and flared up my nausea. Yet I couldn’t tear my eyes from the landscape.

Foliage in shades of viridian, emerald, and sky green flashed past the windows, gilded by the evening sun. Instead of the bulbous trunks and vast blue leaves I was used to on our family estate, the trees here were tall and thin, their towering canopies filtering the light in a dappled haze.

Unnatural. Surreal.

When I could take no more, I closed my eyes, letting the humming whine of the speeder and the murmured words of Tokki and Daiytak lull me. Shohari and Garrison supported me on either side, their solid warmth a welcome contrast to the hard bench on which we sat.

When had I last been in a ground transport? Not in my adult life. Perhaps once, as a very young child. The memory was hazy, but I recalled the sense of sitting on a similar bench, my sister beside me. She’d chattered and joked until Mother had shut her up. We’d played spine wars instead, our fingers battling, trying to pin the other’s with our knuckle spines. Shohari always hated to lose, but on that day, she’d let me win.

The speeder lurched to a halt, jerking me forwards, and I fought another surge of nausea.

Zyamzh. My new home.

“Are you ready?” Shohari asked.

Was I?

I reached up to my headspines, feeling for the chiyi, who buzzed at the disruption. It did not matter if I was ready; we were here.

With a tremulous breath, I took my sister’s hand and stepped to the ground. In the growing twilight, torches illuminated the plain, low buildings, sending shadows dancing across the stone walls.. Ropes of j’tzavi glowlights in varying colours were strung amongst the trees, the shimmering orbs attracting moths and other insects.

It was pretty, at least.

More people than I had ever seen at once stood in a courtyard, where real fire blazed in a circular pit. There were easily fifteen or twenty of them, and though all I wanted was go to bed, I found myself greeting those who stepped forwards.

How was this real?

I ignored the heaviness in my chest at so many new faces, faces like mine, their features kri’ith, but also not. Instead, I focused on the two humans with them.

Much smaller than Garrison. Lively. While I had noted his hide had only one colour instead of two as it was for kri’ith, it now appeared to be one per human; they each seemed to have picked something for themselves, as if every human could choose one of the varying shades of brown that graced the galaxy. The slender one was the lightest pinkish-beige, with a short, tousled mane the colour of sunshine and a dusting of hairs on their lower face. The other…

My breath stuttered in my lungs.

She reminded me of dark brown nrixia blooms in moonlight, full and lush and radiant. Hair like the night sky surrounded her face in a nimbus. The warmth of her rich brown eyes drew me in, as did the curve of her smile. And the curves of her body… as substantial and appealing as any kri’ith. Moreso.

I had always believed what I had been told, that kri’ith were the only species chosen by Kri, but I was so far from Orith now—and her beauty could only have been given by unfamiliar gods.