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Of all the thingsI had considered about Holly, her coming from thefuturehadn’t been one of them. The possibility of her having crashed with another Manx ship had seemed far-fetched, but this?
The evidence seemed nearly irrefutable, though. The little book she gave me had pictures of the same place we were at, or at least close enough so that we would have seen the giant city from here. Not to mention she had no reason to lie to me, especially not with something as outrageous as this.
“So, there are no others… like you?” I asked, and the disappointment must have been reflected in my voice.
“I don’t know, Thor. Like I said, I don’t even know what happened to me. I don’t know if this was something on a grander scale or just me. I’m sorry.”
I nodded. “Still, I’ll have my warriors keep searching. If there is even the slightest chance of finding more women like you, we need to find them before the others do.”
“Others?”
It was time for me to fill her in on my story. “I told you the Manx attacked my planet and took me prisoner?”
She snuggled into me, and her eyelids drooped a little, but her heart rate was still slightly elevated. She wouldn’t be able to fall asleep easily, and neither would I. So I put my arm around her and held her close.
“They brought me and the others aboard one of their prison ships, which take unwanted individuals—criminals, rebels, prisoners of war, you name it—to their prison colony called Primus 2. But something happened, and our ship crashed here. The survivors banded into groups like mine. Some are friendly, others are… not.”
She exhaled loudly. “I’m doubly glad I ran into you, then.”
“Me too,” I said, and kissed the top of her head, unable to resist having a small taste of her any longer, needing to reassure myself she was really here. Just the thought of the possibility of one of the tribes made up of hardcore criminals having been the ones that found her was unbearable.
“I’m sorry about your planet and your people. That must have been terrible,” she said in a low voice, and I suppressed all thoughts of the other tribes. She was here, with me, and that was all that mattered.
“It was. Sometimes I wished I had died with them. I didn’t understand why the gods spared me only to have me crash on this planet.” I couldn’t even count the number of times I had railed against the gods, cursed them for leaving me stuck here alive, unable to avenge my people. “But now I see why.”
She looked up at me with a questioning expression, yet, etched into her lovely features was understanding at the same time.
“Because of you,” I explained. “The gods wanted me to findyou.”
I knew she didn’t fully understand; we had barely met a few hours ago. She would think me a lunatic if I spoke of love anddestiny or told her that she was my szaria. But I wanted her to at least see a fraction of the gift she was to me, to make her feel safer so she could understand I would do anything for her, even give my life if I had to.
She gnawed on her lower lip as if she too held back a secret, but a yawn distracted her.
“You are tired. Here.” Gently, I laid her out on the bed. “Get some more rest. You need it. Tomorrow we will talk more.”
“Thank you, Thor. For everything,” she mumbled before she snuggled into the pillow and closed her eyes.
I watched until her breathing evened out, then I carefully got up off the bed and moved to the table where I finished the stew, still watching her sleep.The gods work in mysterious ways indeed, I mused. Never in a million years would I have thought to find my szaria here, now, on this planet.
I’m from the future. Her words echoed in my head. How was that even possible? I tried to imagine what she had gone through, compared me being ripped from my world to her being ripped from hers, but fell short. My experience was very different from hers. At least I had seen it coming, had been prepared for fighting as a warrior. But her? She hadn’t told me much about her world yet, but as a female, I doubted she had been prepared or trained to survive in the wild or to fight for her life. Which only raised my estimations of her. Her willpower and ingenuity were commendable. How she had survived here for this long was a small miracle, and I would thank the gods for it every day of my life. They must have kept a special eye on her.
“Thor’Steyn?” a deep voice whispered.
“I’m coming.” I rose from the chair to talk to Xano, who stood by the entrance, carefully trying not to peer at Holly’s sleeping form on the bed. I owed him and the others an explanation, and now seemed as good a time for it as any.
“I don’t know much”—I got straight to the point after I moved us to a position where I could look at my friend while also keeping an eye on Holly and shielding her from his curious eyes at the same time—“but there is a possibility there might be others like her out there. We just need to find them.”
“Is it true that she is your szaria?”
I nodded and allowed my face to show my elation over the truth of it. “She is.”
Xano wasn’t a Vhar’Khyng like me, but his people had their own version of soulmates. Sel-Gor was the only one in our group whose people never had any soulmate bonds, which according to him, now was a small blessing. Or had been. I wasn’t sure how he would feel about this later when others found their bonded mates, if they were that lucky.
Xano placed his palm on my shoulder. “I’m happy for you, brother.”
I knew he meant it and smiled at him. “Thank you. Gods willing, we will find yours as well.”
“I pray for it every day,” he confided.
