She leaves, walking so swiftly away she’s nearly running from the training ring.

Draz shoots me an irritated look.

“What the fuck is Dergoz’s problem?” Gen says, clearly not caring who she offends. “Bex is so fun, and sweet, and pretty, and he’s just going to ignore her forever? Does he want to divorce her? He’s making it worse.” She grumbles something under her breath, then shoves whatever it is Bex brought into her mouth.

“Oumughud,” she says through the mouthful, crumbs flying from her lips. She swallows, then wipes the back of her hand on her mouth. “They taste like chocolate chip cookies.”

Niki grabs one, then takes a huge bite of it. “Heaven,” she finally pronounces. “Abby, put your sword up and get over here.”

Abby frowns at Ni-kee but does as she asks.

“What are chocolate chip cookies?” I ask Draz, rubbing the back of my neck.

“Probably can-dee,” he says wisely. “Ni-kee loves can-dee.”

“My mate likes to eat can-dee shaped like small children,” I tell him.

Draz stares at me, horror struck. “Is this true?”

Ni-kee coughs, and Gen slaps her on the back, and then all the females are laughing.

“Sour Patch Kids?” Ni-kee finally croaks. “Oh my god.”

“I didn’t stop and think about how an alien species would react to that particular candy, okay?”

“Small children,” the black-haired one called Juls wheezes. “I can’t. I can’t.”

“Is that not what you call kids? Are they not small children?” Affronted, I hold my hands out, waiting for one of them to correct me. They all laugh harder, clutching at each other.

Draz shoots me a look of sympathy.

“Okay, but we need to do something about Bex and Dragoz,” Gen finally says when the laughter slows down.

“We cannot,” Draz says. “They will need to figure it out on their own.”

“And how’s that working out for them?” Gen asks, her tone dripping with acid. I snort.

“She’s right,” Ni-Kee says. “How can they work it out when he refuses to even see her?”

“We could mediate, considering her translator isn’t working,” Gen says slowly.

Alvez laughs at this, shaking his head. “Dergoz would rather Crigomar shit; I can tell you that much. There’s a reason we call him the Brute.”

“And the one they call the Beast?” Abby takes another bite of the cookie, and I realize that must be who her husband is. The Warlord known as the Beast is… unstable at best.

I sniff one of the treats Bex brought, but it smells much too sweet for my liking. I put it back, drawing Gen into my chest instead.

She is the perfect amount of sweetness for me. Not too much. Just right.

“The Beast will be here for the trial. All the Warlords will,” Draz says slowly. Abby lowers the cookie, putting it back on the plate half-eaten. Without a word, she strides back into the ring, picking up the exercises right where she left off.

“That bad, huh?” Gen says.

Juls, or Juliana, I cannot remember which name she prefers, raises her eyebrows but says nothing.

Gen narrows her eyes at her, and Ni-Kee clears her throat.

“We’re not all lucky like you,” she finally spits out, realizing she’s caught everyone’s attention.

In the ring, Abby grunts, sweat slicking her face.

“Most of us have hardly seen our husbands,” she adds, the word full of derision. “Bex tries, but you saw it. Only Michelle seems to be able to communicate with hers, and that’s still awkward as fuck.” Her eyes widen. “No offense.”

“We’re past that,” Ni-Kee says, and Gen snorts a laugh. “We’ll figure it out. We will.”

“Yeah, well, I have it figured out. I’m going to be a Warlord, then no one can sell me off ever again.” Juls wipes her hands off on her pants, then storms away, joining Abby in the ring.

“Well, this is pretty fucked,” Gen remarks, squeezing my hands.

“It’ll work out,” Ni-Kee tells her, but her face is pinched with worry.

“It will, my heart,” Draz adds, smiling gently at her. “They will come around. Kanuz and I will have a talk with the Warlords when they’ve returned here for your trials. Come now, let us return to training. I have a reputation to uphold, after all.”

“Oh, do you, now?” Ni-Kee says, and there’s a challenge in her eyes.

“Are you ready, my flower?” I ask Gen. “If you like, we can go back to our temporary myza. I have a few training activities in mind that might be more fun.”

“Oh yeah? Lemme guess,” she purses her lips, “advanced sword work?”

I frown at her. “No. I meant sex. I was talking about sex.”

She throws her head back, laughing. “I know. That was the joke. You know what? Nevermind. Yours was funnier.” She turns, walking back to the training ring. “Come on, we have work to do. We’ll practice the horizontal mambo later.”

“I do not know this mambo.”

“We can do it vertically, too, I guess.” She winks at me, her hair and skin glistening in the sun, and we take our positions across from each other.

There is nowhere I’d rather be than across from my small beauty, with the promise of a fight followed by pleasure.

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

OceanofPDF.com

GEN

At the Trials: One week later

“This fucking sucks,” Abby yells, barely dodging one of the boulders raining down in the arena. She slides through a pit of muck on the floor, a swinging energy axe nicking the top of her ponytail.

“Goddamnit, I just grew my hair out.”

Juls extends her hand, and Abby pulls herself up to stand next to Niki and me, huddled against a stone pillar. Several miniscule drones buzz around us, televising our every move to where the gathered crowd of Suevans and our human crew watch.

They’re annoying, but after nearly twenty-four hours in the arena, I hardly notice them.

It’s fucking intense.

Less so than the temple Kanuz and I were stuck in, but nobody was watching us then. If we fucked up and died horribly, there wouldn’t be anyone to jeer at us. Except the zeloth, I guess, but the tentacle monster didn’t look up to telling many tall tales.

“Focus, Gen. How many do you see?”

I exhale, peeking out from the stone column, managing to scrape it across my cheek. We’re in the last stage of the Trials, and so far, all four of us have done all right for ourselves. I was worried about Abby making it through the boulder field, but she did it.

“Five.” An energy projectile whizzes by my face, and I duck just in time. It explodes off a column behind us, sending up smoke and paint.

According to Kanuz and Draz, nothing in here is truly deadly, but I’m not sure I believe him. Deadly to a Suevan and deadly to a human are not exactly measured the same, in my experience.

“Five?” Juls repeats, blanching. “But there are only four of us.”

“Gen has the weapon she picked up off the Suevan we dispatched earlier,” Niki says calmly, nodding at me. “Gen takes point. Gen, pick off as many as you can. Juls, you go second. Run for the exit, don’t get bogged down in a fight.”

Juls, to her credit, doesn’t argue. She’s hanging in there, but she twisted her ankle in one of the climbing courses earlier, and her face is still slightly green.

“Abby, you go third. Try to get Juls out safely if she falls. No one gets left behind. I’ll go last, and I’ll try to sweep anyone out with me who falters. Got it?”

We all nod, our unquestioning faith in Niki’s leadership on full display.

Another projectile crashes at our feet, and Abby coughs, the smoke and sparks exploding outward. This one came from behind us.

“Fuck,” Abby says, scrambling forward. “On our six!”

“Gen, MOVE!” Niki yells.

I do as she says, shouldering my energy rifle. It only has a few pulses left, according to the charger on it. I focus down the sight, ready to take out anyone who moves.