“You two…” I murmured slowly, realization taking root deep in my chest. “It is not just a marriage bond between you. But a mate bond.:”

“If you mean that I’m in love with him,” Cherry interjected, “then yes. I am.”

Silar’s gaze glowed bright white as he wrenched his head to look at her. I turned away from them both, needing some blasted time to think. I curled my fingers around the edge of the kitchen’s deep sink, leaning forward and staring out the window.

I forced out a tight breath between my fangs, analyzing and tossing aside possible courses of action. The more I thought, the more Silar’s exile to the mines seemed the only possible outcome. There was a dead body on his property and somebody had to pay the price.

The body. Probably should have dealt with that first…

If I left it too much longer there wouldn’t even be a body at all.

I frowned, then tugged pensively on the loose rope of a thought that might just turn into an idea.

“It won’t be long,” I said slowly, “before a genka smells the blood and comes for the corpse.” I spun around, inhaling quickly. “I never saw you kill him.”

“What?” Silar asked. He said it with some suspicion, as if he were now somehow doubting my faculties. I couldn’t say I appreciated his tone considering I was actually trying to help the white-eyed fool.

Not exactly patiently, I repeated, “I never saw you kill the human male.”

“But you saw his body.”

“I never actually checked if he was breathing.” I paused. “I probably should have…”

“Well…” Silar grimaced. “He wasn’t.”

I held up a hand. “I didn’t hear that. And I didn’t see you kill him. Come morning, all that’ll be left is his shuttle, his blood in the dirt, and genka tracks.”

I spoke quicker and quicker as my plan began to come together.

“Of course, I will have to alert the appropriate human and Zabrian authorities. Let them know about this tragic… accident.”

“Accident?” Cherry echoed, looking confused and hopeful in equal measure.

“Yes. Accident,” I confirmed. “The accident of the human who got himself all turned around, landed in the wrong place at the wrong time, and got snatched up by a local predator. I can make arrangements to have his ship collected and sent to Elora Station. And with it, I will also give a pointed warning to the human side. I will make it known that unless a human comes under the specific provisions of the bridal program, we cannot guarantee their safety.”

The newlyweds cast cautious looks at each other. A smile flickered across Cherry’s face. Then she took Silar’s hand in hers and clutched it tight, not caring a whit for the blood.

“If any other human males should ignore the landing embargo and wander onto Silar’s property as that one did,” I went on, “they will likely meet the same grizzly fate. Everyone knows Silar’s ranch is in an area absolutely crawling with genka. This should prevent any more… incidents.”

I cast one last look out the window, flicking my tail with satisfaction before looping it ’round its hook. Things were tying up nicely. Yes, this would work out just fine.

“Well. I think that I’ll be going now,” I said. “Tomorrow morning, I will be expecting a call from you, Silar.”

“A call? What for?”

Empire help me, but the boy could be dense.

“We understand, Warden,” Cherry said, giving Silar’s hand a knowing squeeze. “We’ll call you tomorrow to let you know about what we’re going to, um, discover on the property in the morning. Then you’ll have a record of our communication about it and you can go from there.”

Thank goodness Cherry seemed to have enough brains for the both of them.

“You see this?” I said dryly, aiming my tail at Cherry. “This is exactly why I voted yes to the bride program. It’s a miracle you’ve got her, Silar.”

“I know,” he said quietly.

“I can’t wait until the others are paired off as well,” I grumbled. “I might finally get some blasted peace. Spend less time worrying about you lot. You’re all in desperate need of somebody with some sense to sort you out and the Empire knows it can’t always just be me.” I breathed out noisily, casting one last look around the room, trying to decipher if there was anything else I needed to do before I left. But I did not think so.

Silar was a mess, of course.

But he had Cherry. And I had a feeling that meant he was going to be just fine.

“I’ll go now. I’ll wait for your call tomorrow.”

I opened the door, listening to Cherry’s high, shaky call of, “Goodbye Warden! And thank you! Thank you so, so much!”

Listening to his wife’s words, I did not pay attention to Silar slipping out of the house with me. The door closed with both of us on the outside of it. My shuldu perked up, eyeing us before ambling over.

“I presume you’ve secured the property,” I said. It was a pointless question. Silar may have been a fool in many areas. But this would not have been one of them.

“Yes. The male was alone.”

“Good.”

I closed the last bit of distance between my shuldu and me. My hand froze upon the saddle when Silar’s voice cut through the cool air.

“Why did you do it? Why will you let this go for me?”

His question caught me off guard.

“Does it matter?” I asked, twisting to peer at Silar curiously. It was not like him to ask extra questions or make conversation, even about important subjects. Perhaps most especially about important subjects, actually.

This had to be his wife’s influence.

“I want to know,” he said.

I cast my gaze over Silar’s frame and face. Stony. Serious. Covered in blood. Eyes like white-hot coals.

“Because I know you,” I finally said. “I’ve known you a long time, now. I know that you need her. And even more than that?” I turned and hoisted myself up into the saddle, grasping the reins. “I know that you deserve her.”

Silar did not reply. He simply watched me as I urged my mount into the road.

“Despite it all, you’re a good man, Silar,” I called back at him. “And that in there is a good, good woman. Keep her happy. Oh,” I tugged on the reins, slowing my mount and turning back towards Silar’s house. “I dropped your order there by the door. This was the first chance I could bring it after its arrival. It’s why I came all the way out here tonight.” I jutted my tail at the potted package I’d left on the ground by the door before I’d come into the kitchen.

I guided my mount back into the road, ready to begin the long ride home. From the corner of my eye, I saw Silar move. He bent his big, bloodied body so he could get a better look at what I’d brought him. The order that had just about cleaned out every last credit to his name.

The order he’d placed the very day his wife had arrived.

That was the last glimpse I had of him that night. The image I carried with me all the way back.

The image of Silar bending, then crouching, silently gazing upon his new little sapling of a cherry tree.

30CHERRY

When Silar came back inside after saying goodbye to the warden, he went straight to the kitchen sink and began to scrub his hands in vigorous silence.

“Are you… Are you alright?” I asked warily, edging up to him. He’d killed a person tonight.

And told me that it wasn’t the first time, either.

Silar’s gaze slid to me from the side. A muscle in his jaw twitched, his eyes flashing white.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “There’s blood on you.”

“Oh, God, don’t worry about that!” I cried, glancing down at myself in bewilderment. Who the hell cared if my pyjamas had gotten a little dirty?

Apparently, Silar did. As soon as his hands were clean, he grabbed a spare cloth, soaked it with water, and stroked it with dutiful reverence across my cheek, then my eyebrow, then my ear.