Page 66 of Keeping His Mate
We enter without knocking since Varrek summoned us here. When we reach the second floor and enter his training room, Queen Ekoya of Trovilia is on the screen pad in Varrek’s hand, sitting patiently in her throne with her hands in her lap.
Ahlvo, Grotahk, Eduno, and Chloe are here as well, with a sleeping Vahla in Chloe’s arms.
“Ah, there he is,” Queen Ekoya says when her eyes land on Bruvix. “The undead warrior. Good to see you, my friend.”
“And you, Queen Ekoya,” he replies in a formal tone.
“This must be your lovely inara, Elle-noor, yes?” she asks.
I step forward and stand next to Varrek. “Hello,” I say with a wave. Then I feel rude having not curtsied, so do that too. “Pleasure to meet you.”
If she’s weirded out by the curtsy, she doesn’t show it. Instead, she gets straight to business. “Now, I wanted to congratulate you on the execution of Bzzsil Chi. I am certain it was the best possible outcome for everyone involved. Except him, of course, but no one cares about him.”
“Thank you,” Varrek replies. “But I must be honest and tell you that we did not kill him. It was the tr’gorys, a predatory creature local to this region of Oluura.”
The queen sits perfectly still, and if not for her occasional blink, I would assume the comm froze. “You say a creature killed him?”
“A pack of them,” Bruvix adds. “And killed his guards.”
Her eyes narrow, and she tilts her head to the side. “You trained these beasts to slay him?” Then she leans in closer. “May I borrow them for a time?”
Everyone laughs at her joke, except for her, which makes me wonder if it was actually a joke.
“I had been building a case against that vile monk slug for several moon cycles before this series of events unfolded, and his death facilitates the move into the next phase of my plan, so I thank you,” she says with a smile and bow of her head.
“What plan is that?” Varrek asks.
“I am trying to establish a peace treaty with the king and queen of D’Alluk. Negotiations are precarious after your father slaughtered their males and tried to kidnap their females.”
“Yes,” Varrek barks out. “I am familiar.”
“In order for them to agree to even discuss the treaty, they requested I investigate the disappearance of several D’Allukan females. I suspected they had been sold into slavery but could not confirm who might be the cause. As soon as you alerted me to Bzzsil’s death, I had my warriors travel to Nu’Piix to destroy the brothel.”
“I assume you found countless unsavory deeds there,” Ahlvo replies.
She nods, her eyes wide with excitement. “I did, indeed, as well as the missing females. Every one of them.”
“So you freed them? Returned them to their home?” Chloe asks, smiling at the queen proudly. “That’s incredible.”
“Yes, they were reunited with their families. It was lovely, and all are safe now,” she says, placing a hand over her heart. Then her expression turns from relieved to...worried. “There remains one problem.”
Varrek purses his lips. “And that is?”
Queen Ekoya shifts uncomfortably in her throne. “Upon entering the brothel, my warriors discovered more human females Bzzsil had captured. Clearly, we have no means of sending these humans back to Earth, so perhaps you could care for them...for the time being.”
Ahlvo, Bruvix, and Varrek reply simultaneously with some variation of “Absolutely not!” while Chloe shouts, “Of course, we will!” The three males whip around to shoot frustrated looks at the new mom. But she doesn’t back down. “What other option is there?”
“They could be sent to Trovilia, and Queen Ekoya could watch over them,” Varrek replies, pointing at the screen.
“Do you think I did not consider that, Varrek?” Queen Ekoya replies tartly. “Now that this treaty is in motion, I must see it to its end. I am traveling to D’Alluk at first light and will remain there until it is done. So I will not be here, and I do not trust anyone else to comfort the humans.”
“Yeah, who better to do it than us?” Chloe adds. When Varrek looks as if he’s about to argue, Chloe says, “You saved me. Let me save them. Pay it forward.”
He sighs, and his shoulders drop. “Fine.” He turns back to the screen and asks, “How many are there? And when will you be sending them?”
The queen replies with a slight chuckle. “Expect a remote transport ship to arrive with six stasis pods by tomorrow eve.”
“You already sent them?” he shouts. “Why did you even ask?”