Page 22

“Yes. That’s actually what I’m contacting you about.” I cast a glance back towards the house, then returned my attention to the screen. “A fourth female has recently arrived.”

“Another bride?”

“No. The organizer of the program. The human-Zabrian liaison, Tasha.”

“I don’t see why this warranted a call to me.”

“Can’t a warden call another just to catch up a bit?”

Warden Hallum stared flatly back at me, no hint of amusement curving his harsh mouth.

“Never mind,” I said with a dismissive flick of my tail in the dust behind me. “I’m calling to alert you that things have… changed.”

His voice went knife-like. Cutting, cold, and precise.

“In what way?”

“There was a communication mix-up,” I explained. “Perhaps an intentional one. Apparently, the empire never informed the human side of the program that the men here are convicts. All three brides in my province know now, and they have chosen to remain with their husbands. But Tasha has only just found out. She has come here in person to inspect the conditions and meet the men. She is threatening to potentially prevent the program from moving forward, both here and in other provinces in the future.”

“Other provinces,” he said on a low growl, “meaning mine.”

“Yes.”

Warden Hallum rolled his jaw.

“Your province was the test run,” he reminded me, his voice still so sharp I imagined it could – and would – cut a lesser man. “If it fails there, no other men will have their chance.”

“I know. But, frankly,” I added, bristling, “I think it is rather a testament to my men that they’ve managed to win their wives over, despite this obfuscation.”

Warden Hallum gave an unimpressed grunt at that. Clearly, he did not put much stock in the wooing capabilities of my men. Which, to be fair, neither did I. But against all odds, Silar, Fallon, and Garrek had all managed to win the love of their women despite their past crimes and their current idiocy.

“So, why are you calling me, then?” Warden Hallum asked. “I have not yet informed my men about the bride program. I was waiting until it was deemed successful in your province and I received the go-ahead to instate the program here as well.”

“I’m calling you because I need your help,” I replied. “Tasha has decreed that she would like to meet more of the unmarried males in the colony. Both Oaken and Zohro in my province. And the men in yours.”

A long silence. Then, “You are telling me that you will be bringing the human female Tasha here? So that she can inspect my men and judge their worthiness as potential husbands for future human females?”

“Correct.”

Impatience gnawed at me. If Warden Hallum did not agree to presenting his men before Tasha for her judgment, or if they made a bad impression upon her, I was certain it wouldn’t merely cost them their chances at wives, but Oaken and Zohro, too.

It truly did seem to me that this was all or nothing. For better or worse.

“So?” I asked, my voice coming out louder than I’d intended. “Will you do it? Will you and your men be ready to receive us when we come?”

Something went metal-hard in Warden Hallum’s grey gaze. When he spoke, it was quiet, but so drenched in determination that it sounded more like thunder.

“I have never once faced an inspection that I did not pass, and I do not intend to start failing now,” he growled. “Bring the human here as early as you wish.”

“It will probably be a few days of travel by slicer. Two or three, I’d say. And a day or two of preparation before that.”

“Understood,” he replied. And then, in the moment before his face disappeared from the screen, he fiercely added, “We’ll be ready.”

8

TASHA

“Oh, you need not help with that!” Fallon plucked my dirty cup – the one I’d been trying to bring over to the sink – from my hands.