The Ilia's Lovers - Chapter Eleven

When morning came, Hadith was awoken by Dahnus.

They made love for hours, then after lay catching their breath, both their bodies covered in sweat.

Dahnus was away at Aran Darl Thalos’s house strategizing the previous night. Apparently, he’d come home famished for his mate.

Dahnus was currently kissing Hadith’s stomach, his fingers kneading his waist.

Finally, seemingly satisfied that Hadith was thoroughly made love to, he crawled up the bed and they wrapped their arms around each other, their legs entwining.

Slowly, his breath came under control. It reminded Hadith of the way Elaine had paused last night, breathing in a particular way she’d later explained forced her body to switch from panic mode to normal mode.

‘I had supper on the sunset balcony with Elaine last night,’ he told Dahnus.

‘That is good news. How was she?’

‘She has a way to go, but she was a so much better from that first day.’

‘Did she enjoy the spectacle?’

Hadith smiled, remembering the look on Elaine’s face. ‘She did. Though any moment of introspection seems to bring back bad memories for her.’

‘When will Harumi be back?’

‘She doesn’t want to stay away too long. She intends on bringing another therapist with her when she comes. There’s a therapy she wants to try but she needs another therapist here to do it.’

‘We’ll get another suite prepared,’ Dahnus replied.

Hadith’s arms tightened around his mate. Dahnus’s heart was always open, ready to embrace and help where he could. Hadith had no idea how he was the way he was when so many others with less rank thought themselves above him.

He was worth the entire first chamber and more.

‘I’m pleased to hear she’s doing better.’

‘I’m going to make supper on the balcony a regular thing. She’s been here several cycles. I want her to know she’s not just here to be protected, but here as a welcome guest.’

‘Maybe I will join you sometimes, if she’s willing?’

‘I’ll ask her.’

Dahnus kissed Hadith. For a while the got lost just sharing their breath. Finally, he pulled away.

‘What are your plans for this rote?’

Hadith let out a long breath.

Last night, there was a moment when Elaine was standing on the balcony and Hadith could see her represented in the golden stone of the mountain.

‘I’m going to source a block of gyesh stone and plan a new sculpture,’ he said. ‘I’m going to sketch it out first.’

He could see it perfectly. The way Elaine had styled her hair, though a part of him was tempted to sculpt it with her hair down, her locks blowing in the wind. Her dress moving in the same direction. Dynamic, beautiful. It was the only way to truly capture Elaine. She had a form that was best captured in movement.

‘How about your rote?’ Hadith asked.

‘Quennen’s working with the IGC and Devori to remove our representative Coshi from the IGC. I have to call him today to discuss it.’

‘Your spies are effective,’ Hadith said, pressing a kiss to the top of Dahnus’s head.

They slipped into companionable silence, until, some long minutes later, Dahnus made the first move. They quickly bathed and walked towards Dahnus’s office. It was a floor below the family area of the palace. Hadith walked inside with him, then climbed the spiral staircase, into the small library where he walked through the hidden door into his own office.

Technically, this room was a part of Hadith’s whole suite.

As a lover, not Dahnus’s mate, Hadith had his own rooms in the palace. Because only Dahnus, Danari and Hadith knew the truth, that Dahnus and Hadith were in fact each other’s bonded mate, he rarely used any rooms but his office and his studio.

The walls were the familiar mellow golden yellow of the mountain.

Hadith’s suite had been designed around circles and semi circles. The rooms were all circular, with the furniture designed and fitted around the lines of the room.

When Hadith first moved in, the room was completely panelled in wooden shelves and cupboards. Hadith had most of them taken away, leaving only the ones behind his desk, which framed a large pair of glass doors that led out to a private balcony, that was connected by a set of steps to the balcony outside of Dahnus’s office.

Hadith rarely used them, as they were too public. Anyone in Corus with a telescope could watch.

The rest of the walls had been stripped back to the rock face. Along with the wood, it left the room feeling warm and golden.

Aside from the desk, chair and shelving behind him, there was a roll armed chaise set against one wall, with two seats sat at angles forming a small seating area. Hadith had long lost count of the number of times he and Dahnus made love on that chaise.

On the wall, were hundreds of Hadith’s drawings.

Some were detailed sketches of sculptures he had created.

Others, were studies. People, places, hands, eyes, plants and animals. Some were signed and framed, things he might gift at some point. All were stuck to the wall with fixtures that wouldn’t damage the stone.

Sitting at his desk, Hadith looked down at the pad he kept there. It acted as a desk pad, always sitting there, whatever else he was doing. Sometimes he jotted notes onto it, other times it sat beneath a sketch pad.

Now, Hadith used it to capture ideas of the sculpture that he was suddenly obsessed with.

The dress, captured by a gust of wind, blowing back against her form, showing the femininity of her figure.

Her hands, one clutching the Morni covering he’d affixed to her, to stop her getting cold. Then without the covering, instead, he laid her hand over sternum, her fingers curved as though adjusting something there. So he added a necklace, and made it a necklace that he’d seen Dahnus’s mother wear once. The necklace their Danicalti would inherit as a part of the large family collection of jewellery. For some reason, the simple elegance seemed to suit Elaine. He curved one finger, like she was stroking over the heart shaped gem hiding amidst the tri-bar that wound around it, representing the tri-bond of Amaran’s.

The other hand needed to be holding her skirts, and the material should fold and spill, drape and move with the wind.

He was only a few moments into sketching her hair from last night when his mind affirmed that her hair would be loose. Caught by the wind, it should shift, twist and fall. Giving the appearance of moving, almost writhing.

Hadith sketched each individual part of her, then, grabbing a sketch book, he began working on the first sketch of the whole piece.

When he was done, he could see he wasn’t there yet. There was something missing, but, the inspiration was there. He was well on the way.

Happy with his work, he sat back and let himself drift off into thinking about how he would shape each piece. How he would do the work.

There was no point in buying the piece of gyesh yet. He needed to know the form. When he knew it, then he would go to the quarry. When he saw the piece, it would change the form, but until he knew the basic form, he wouldn’t be able to choose the stone.

There was always a difference between plans and execution.

Hadith’s stomach twisted at the thought of Dahnus in his office below and hoped that the execution wasn’t too different from Dahnus’s plans.

*****

Nothing ever went to plan!

Dahnus sighed, looking into the pale-yellow eyes of Representative Coshi.

‘My mother is sick,’ Coshi said, the lie falling easily from his lips. ‘I’m afraid I must ask that you allow me to return to Amara.’

Dammit!

‘I understand, Landis,’ Dahnus said, calling him by his personal name.

‘It has been my greatest honour to serve you, and the Amaran people,’ Landis continued.

‘You have done a most excellent job,’ Dahnus said, giving a small bow of his head as a gesture of his gratitude.

Quennen and his allies were moving against Landis Coshi. They believed someone else might be more amenable to the IGC’s demands.

They knew they couldn’t get their hands on Elaine, so the IGC were using that to try and put pressure on him in other areas. Trying to get other concessions out of Amara, concessions that went against the fabric of Amaran society.

Amaran space cut a swath across the known galaxy. Slave ships had to go around it, or risk being boarded and having their slaves taken to be released, rehomed, protected.

The IGC wanted to create a corridor of safe space in Amaran space for slave ships to use, and they were willing to use any advantage to get it. Coshi had a weakness, he had gambling debt and the IGC were willing to use them to weaken him.

So, Coshi was leaving.

He was making this an unofficial request, giving Dahnus enough time to install a replacement, before Quennen demanded the First Chamber have the right to choose the IGC representative, which he’d been fighting for, for the last twelve solars. Or thirteen Earth years, his brain provided.

‘I’ll call you shortly, Coshi.’

Coshi nodded and the screen went dark.

‘Marstam. I want you to call Alina Qarta.’

A few minutes later his screen lit up and Alina stood in front of it, obviously shocked.

Alina Qarta was a second chamber minister. The third child of a hereditary peer of the First Chamber, her mother, Basa Qarta, was loyal to Dahnus and the Ilanian.

Dahnus had been following Alina’s career with interest. She was as loyal as her mother, as determined to protect the Amaran people as Dahnus himself. More, she was steadfast in her opinions, though willing to change them. She refused to be bought, bribed or blackmailed and was strong enough to stand up to the First Chamber when they brought her in to try question her about the attempts of blackmail, insisting she had to have some responsibility, some guilt. Not only had Alina acquitted herself admirably, she’d done so while proving she wasn’t responsible for the things a pressure group had tried to blackmail her for.

The IGC would be a test, but being a Second Chamber member, being questioned in such a way by the First Chamber was already a trial by fire she’d endured and emerged from victorious. He had no doubt she’d be able to take a seat in the main chamber and stand up to the IGC. More, Dahnus’s investigations into her had shown she had nothing that could be used to coerce her.

The female would be a perfect Ilia.

But her mating profile was wrong. It was a shame. She would have taken all the focus off Hadith. There was no way the First Chamber could object to him if she was their third.

Quickly, Dahnus filled her in on Representative Coshi’s fake story.

‘I’m sorry to hear of his troubles. How can I help you, my Ilan.’

‘I need you to get on a ship right now. Pack an overnight bag. I’m going to send you as a special courier to the IGC. You’ll meet my secretary at my office on Dahnus Ascent. He will hand you further instructions, along with a scroll. Hand that to Representative Coshi as soon as you arrive.’

‘Of course, my Ilan. You honour me with this task.’

She’d feel a lot more honoured when she realised she was taking over Coshi’s role. But Dahnus couldn’t risk telling her that right now. He needed to announce her role when she was already seated.

Alina Qarta would, at the age of only twenty-three solars, be the youngest representative to the IGC Amara had ever sent. But that wasn’t surprising, she gained her seat on the Second Chamber four solar ago, when she was only nineteen.

Dahnus always intended on sending her after Coshi, he thought he had a few more solars, however.

Dahnus sent a message to Thanesh through their secure channels, letting him know of the change. It would affect Thanesh’s strategy for the IGC, then sat at his desk, his head in his hands.

There were stacks of papers he had to read through, sign and send to the First and Second Chambers.

There were a host of other things he needed to do.

Instead, he breathed.

‘My Ilan, Minister Darl Thalos and his husband are here to see you.’

‘Send them in.’

The door opened and Aran led the way, his husband trailing behind him. Dahnus gestured them to the seats across the room in front of the fireplace and stood, fixing the drinks he knew they both enjoyed before walking across the room to sit with them.

‘Ariana wanted to visit Elaine now that she’s seeing people. I thought I’d come and talk to you about the Adalmis bill.’ Aran took the proffered drink and took a sip, nodding his thanks and appreciation.

‘Something wrong with it?’ Dahnus asked. It was several months since the exploration part of the bill passed in the First Chamber. The bill was due to be submitted for approval any day.

‘One of my father’s friends contacted me,’ Vedian sat forward, placing his own drink down untouched. ‘The bill will be rejected in its current form. There seems to be some coercion going on in the background.’

Dahnus set his own drink down.

This was exactly what he wanted. For the people in the First Chamber to reveal themselves.

‘We’ll have to dilute it even more than we already have. They’re trying to make us leave them in private hands but running on public money.’

‘That is unacceptable,’ Dahnus said. ‘We will have to find ways to delay the bill while we find the rot. This is what we have been waiting for. I know you’re worried about the bill. But I will not have the public paying for adalan to be abused, kidnapped and sold, you have my word on that.’

Aran nodded, looking relieved. ‘So, now that they’re making their move?’

‘They’ve given us the opportunity to root them out. In the meantime, we need to delay the bill passing up to the First Chamber.’ Dahnus looked to Aran, looking for ideas.

‘We could pull the bill, saying we need to make adjustments. They’ll think we’re diluting it, but instead we use the time to pad it, so that when we can’t delay it any further, they’ll be limited in what they can remove, before they’re considered as reaching beyond their purview. Rewrite it, so that extensive changes would be considered rewriting the bill. We can bounce it back and forth a few times by doing this.’

Dahnus looked at Aran in admiration. Only the Second Chamber was allowed to actually write and rewrite bills. The First Chamber’s power was limited to reviewing a bill and changing minor details to get it passed and there were only so many changes they were allowed to demand, each time they passed the bill back to the Second Chamber.

‘I’ll put you in charge of that,’ he said.

Aran bowed his head.

‘This is a good thing. I know what the delays mean, but catching them, the people doing this, will prevent more pain down the years.’

Aran and Vedian nodded in agreement, though their eyes looked haunted. Dahnus knew, if he looked in the mirror, he would see the same look in his eyes. Every day they delayed, more adalan matured to a point where they drew the eye of abusers. More adalan fell into the hands of people with ill intentions. More adalan went missing.

When Dahnus found these people, he would make each of them suffer.

*****

With Harumi away, Elaine’s days became harder to fill. There was little for her to do in the palace, except do the exercises Harumi left for her which took up very little of her day, and explore the different levels of the palace and it’s ancillary buildings, which she’d already done, most of the time with Harumi by her side.

She looked around the large room that was the main living space in her suite. She had the huge glass doors, that looked like French doors, closed. The Palace of Light was on top of a mountain. It was cold up here.

There were sections of the palace which were considered public which were open to the mountain, with no glass in the windows. Down there, it was freezing. Elaine had wandered down earlier and gone to one of the small balconies under the bridge that connected the palace to one of the main districts of Corus a few hundred feet away. The bridge was a feat of engineering. She couldn’t imagine how the Amarans had managed to build it, let alone how it stayed for the three hundred years since it was built.

The knock was the most welcome distraction Elaine had heard in weeks. She practically ran to the door and opened it wide.

Beside the two guards standing outside her door was Ariana Nakamura, one of the security guards from Endurance.

Elaine threw herself into her arms.

For a moment, Ariana stiffened, then relaxed and returned the hug.

‘You look like you’re doing better,’ Ariana said as Elaine drew back, a smile on her beautiful face.

‘I am,’ Elaine agreed. ‘Not all the way, just, better.’

Ariana stepped back and gestured towards an adalan standing behind her. He had darker grey skin than Hadith and the most stunning magenta and amethyst eyes. He had a large X-shaped scar across his face, but his open and beautiful smile made her immediately forget it was there. His dark blonde hair fell down his shoulders and halfway down his chest. It looked messy, but deliberately so.

‘This is one of my mates, Tyne Farin Thalos. Tyne, this is Elaine. One of Endurances most talented engine bugs.’

‘Mates!’ Elaine grinned and stepped forward. ‘It’s so nice to meet you. Engine bugs, is that what you called us?’ Elaine opened the door gesturing Ariana and Tyne to step inside her suite.

‘Nice,’ Ariana said, whistling.

‘You should see the bedroom. The windows have curtains,’ Elaine mimicked drawing curtains, ‘the bed sits in an alcove that has curtains and the bed has curtains.’

‘Yeah, our house has that too. Apparently, it’s pretty standard in larger Amaran homes, particularly in colder areas.’

‘Really?’ Elaine shook her head. ‘It’s so bougie.’

‘You definitely seem to be doing better.’

Elaine swallowed and nodded.

In truth, there was only so long she’d be able to do this. To talk this way. Already, she could feel herself unravelling. Though she’d never had issues with talking to people before, she’d always been sociable, extrovert who loved people and having fun, now, she felt like she was performing a role.

Don’t look at me. I’m fine. Everything’s fine. Nothing to see here.

Ariana sat down and pulled out a tablet.

“We can’t stay long, the twins are with our staff back at the estate. But I brought pictures.

“Oh, yes please. When can I visit? I’m a great babysitter.”

“I may have to take you up on that,” Ariana said. “We need a date night.”

Ariana held out the tablet and showed a picture of two babies.

“Oh my god, Ariana, they are so beautiful.”

“I know. This is Melida,” Ariana said, swiping to the next picture.

She was the paler twin, though her skin wasn’t as light as a female Amarans. She had black hair and pale blue eyes. She couldn’t possibly make out the camera, unless Amaran babies vision developed faster than humans, but she looked up at it with her toothless mouth open which looked almost like a smile.

“She’s so beautiful,” Elaine whispered, feeling a twist in her gut that sharpened to a want so keen it felt like need. She needed a child of her own. These feelings wouldn’t go away until she was holding her own child, she knew that.

“This one is Corim, he’s adalan. He looks a little darker than an adalan because he takes after his mom.”

“He has your eyes,” Elaine said, looking up at Tyne.

“He is very fortunate. My eyes are stunning.”

As Tyne spoke, Ariana pulled something out and switched it on.

Across the room, something made a high-pitched noise than sparked, causing Elaine to jump in her seat, her eyes widening, her mouth dropping open.

‘I’ve got it,’ Tyne jumped up and walked across the room. When he returned, he held something out to Elaine. She opened her hand, and he dropped it in her palm.

It was tiny. A little dot. If Tyne hadn’t brought it over, she would have mistaken it for dust, if she noticed it at all.

‘It’s a bug,’ Ariana said. ‘You must assume there’ll be another one in your room within the hour. Never say anything out loud that you don’t want people to know, unless you’ve been assured by Dahnus, Hadith or Danari that it’s safe to do so.’

Elaine stared at the dot, her mouth still open.

‘But, this is a palace. The security here should be—’

‘They’d be doing sweeps constantly the size of this place. You’d have to employ people just for that and as soon as they’re down, they’d be back again. It’s just better to carry your own of these and never say anything until you’ve switched it on.’

Elaine nodded, taking the device Ariana held out to her.

‘The Ilan was at our house last night and Vedian suggested we have this conversation with you. He says you and Hadith had dinner last night.’

‘Supper. On a balcony that overlooks the sunset. It was beautiful.’

Ariana smiled.

“When are the babies due?” Elaine asked, looking down at Ariana’s rounded stomach.

“In a couple of months. I’m still not sure about human versus Amaran babies, and pregnancies and timings. It was roughly eleven months with Corim and Melida, but we’ll see about these two.”

“Do you know what you’re having?” Elaine asked.

Ariana shook her head. “We didn’t ask. Same with those two.” She nodded at the pictures.

Ariana reached out and took one of Elaine’s hands.

“I’m not just here to talk about babies,” she said. I also wanted to fill you in on everyone rescued so far and what we know about where some of the crew are.

Elaine nodded. She knew a little, but for such a long time she was protecting herself from the harm she felt she’d incur knowing the names of those enslaved, in pain, afraid. But she was stronger now. She was ready.

“Tell me everything.”