Incoming Tablet Communication Tasha Wallace:You were a bit of a unique case, Jaya. Since, when you arrived here, you weren’t really a participant of the program in the usual sense. Shiloh has already entered the program and agreed to marry one of Warden Hallum’s men.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson:We haven’t met any of the men in Warden Hallum’s province. But we’ve seen all their pictures in the calendar!
Incoming Tablet Communication Tasha Wallace:Shiloh hasn’t had a chance to meet all the men yet, either. The snow has hindered shuldu travel quite a bit. But we’ve heard from Warden Hallum that he, Xennet, and Dorn should be arriving tomorrow morning. We’ve been staying with Rivven at his saloon.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson:Ooh! I remember saloon guy!
Incoming Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois:I liked the way he was polishing those glasses. Makes me wonder how he’d polish other things…
Incoming Tablet Communication G. Jaya:Oh, here we go…
Incoming Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois:LIKE SOMEBODY’S CLIT!!!
Incoming Tablet Communication Tasha Wallace:From what I’ve seen of Rivven, he is thoughtful, competent, and efficient. I have no doubt he will excel at whatever he attempts to…polish. But this is probably entirely irrelevant until the others arrive and Shiloh gets to know them, too.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson:So you’ll have to choose one, Shiloh? Dang. That’s kind of a lot of pressure! I’m honestly relieved that I just got assigned to Silar. Because he ended up being so perfect. But I might not have known it when I first met him. He was so quiet…
Incoming Tablet Communication Magnolia Jones:But being able to choose also has its merits. I didn’t marry the man I was assigned to. And I couldn’t be happier.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson:True!
Incoming Tablet Communication Magnolia Jones:It’s really amazing, isn’t it? The way all our stories started out a little differently. But in the end, we’ve all ended up in the same place.
Incoming Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois:A hot cowboyland penal colony?
Incoming Tablet Communication Magnolia Jones:No, Darcy. We’ve all ended up in our own happily ever afters.
15
SHILOH
The others arrived bright and early the next day. Three men on shuldu, making their way down the freshly shovelled path towards the saloon. It was extra cold today, and the sky was bright and incredibly clear, just like the morning I’d first arrived on Zabria Prinar One. The sunshine made it easy to see the men, even when they were far away.
The one in the middle wore a warden’s uniform, just like Warden Tenn’s. That had to be Warden Hallum. He had cool yellow hide, like lemon yellow paint tempered with the tiniest dab of silver. His long black hair was tied neatly behind him, and sat ramrod straight in the saddle of his massive black shuldu. It really was a gigantic creature. Larger than any other shuldu I’d ever seen. Which, until that moment, had only been Foxitt. But it was also larger than the shuldu the other two men rode on either side.
“Who’s who?” I asked it generally, as all four of us were standing outside the saloon, ready to greet the newcomers. But I kind of hoped that Rivven – who was standing directly behind me – would answer. He’d been oddly quiet, even for him, since our kiss last night. It made me nervous. Like maybe I’dmade some kind of mistake. Maybe kissing was a no-no before marriage here. He hadn’t tried to stop it. Hell, he’d been an extremely enthusiastic participant. The way he’d backed me up to the window sill and lifted me, pressing between my thighs with his enormous, hard cock…
It was the stuff of wet dreams.
“The one in the middle is Warden Hallum,” Tasha answered, dragging me back to the present moment and out of my memories of last night. “On the left is Xennet. Dorn is on the right.”
Like Rivven, both Xennet and Dorn were shirtless on their steeds. The sun illuminated every line and curve of hard muscle in their torsos. Xennet was the leaner of the two, his skin a bright, springlike green and his glossy hair the colour of Old-Earth lavender. Dorn’s colouring spoke of warmth, with rust-red hide and brownish-red hair. His hair was much shorter than any other Zabrian male I’d met so far.
All three of them wore boots and hats and rode with obvious expertise. Once they appeared in the distance, it didn’t take them long at all to reach us.
“Greetings, Shiloh!” cried Xennet.
“Morning,” Dorn grunted.
They both dismounted under the watchful eye of their warden. Warden Hallum gave off completely different vibes from Warden Tenn. I quite liked Warden Tenn. He was gruff and sometimes edging into grumpy. But I sensed deep kindness in him. Sometimes, playfulness emerged, usually directed at his wife, whom he so obviously adored. If anyone were going to bend a rule to help one of his men, I had no doubt it would be him.
Warden Hallum was another story entirely. There was no arrogance in him that I was aware of, but there was still a sort of imperious power in the way he held the reins, controlled his seaton his mount. His eyes remained a cool, implacable grey, with hints of bright silver at the centre, but no white. Even Warden Tenn’s eyes had shown white a few times over the course of the days I’d spent here, usually when looking at Tasha.
From what I’d gathered so far, never showing white in your eyes was a sign of great restraint and control, prized among the Zabrian people.
I decided I didn’t particularly care for that cultural standard. I liked when Rivven’s eyes went bright and hot when he looked at me. It felt earnest and honest and true.
They’d burned like lanterns last night.
