Page 33 of Keeping Freya (Warriors of Arracate #3)

Freya

M y head hurts. It’s my first conscious thought as I slowly become awake.

I feel groggy, and I’m kind of scared to open my eyes.

Slowly, I open one of my eyes, and bright light has me groaning and immediately regretting my life’s choices.

I have no idea where I am, but I feel nauseous, and my body’s discomfort pushes aside any thoughts of situational awareness or danger.

Blocking out the light with my hand, I try to open my eyes again and push myself into a sitting position. The world starts spinning right away, and I start hurling. I fall to my hands and knees, puking my guts out.

I sense a presence behind me, but I am too strung out to even care. If he is going to kill me, now’s the time. I won’t even mind.

“Easy, female,” a soft voice says, and I feel a big hand stroking my back.

The smell is overwhelming, though, and I breathe in through my mouth to keep from throwing up again.

Alas, my repulsion wins, and I start another round of bile-spitting dry heaves.

The person behind me keeps on stroking my back and holding my hair.

They call out something in a soft voice, and when the worst is over, they guide me to a seated position turned away from the pile of puke.

“Rest, we will help,” they say, and with great effort, I open my eyes to look at them.

It’s a she I’m looking at, definitely Sternotheri, but her features are softer than those I’ve met before.

She has a gentle demeanor around her, and when I hear bristling on the other side, she suddenly holds a cloth, which she places on my forehead.

Ah, sweet release, the cloth is wet and cold, and it feels like the best thing ever.

“Do you think you can walk? I will take you to a bed; this is no place for a female, especially not one that is wounded.”

I croak out a maybe, but pull myself up nonetheless.

If she can get me a bed to lie in, I will try my best. I keep the cloth over my eyes as gentle hands guide me outside the dwelling I was in.

I take in the fresh sea breeze outside, and it weirdly makes me feel better.

There are voices and laughter all around me, though they die down a bit when I near.

My companion talks to others in her soft voice, and I am mesmerized by it.

Could there be kindness in this rough corner of the galaxy?

I don’t really remember much of what happens next, my head is throbbing, and my stomach is spinning. The minute I lie down, I lose consciousness again.

When I wake up again, I feel moisture dripping on my lips. Instinctively, I open my mouth to give my dehydrated body some reprieve. “Easy now… how are you feeling?”

“Tired.” I check in with my body. “But better, I think.” I try to lift my upper body, but strong hands push me back.

“Wait, you are not strong enough to sit yet.”

I hear fussing all around me, and they lift my shoulders and prop something soft under them, making me end up in a half-seated position. I breathe in through my mouth, slowly, but the nausea is way less than it was before.

The light doesn’t hurt my eyes anymore, and I look around curiously. Two females are in the room with me. They are Sternotheri alright, but somehow they look different. It’s not their smaller posture or more feminine appearance; they look softer, for lack of a better word.

One of them sits next to me and smiles. “I am Aneetha. What is your name?”

“Freya,” I croak.

“Fr’Ya,” she responds, her voice the same cadence as T’Rak’s. She hands me a cup, and I eagerly drink.

“Not so fast,” she scolds, and despite my circumstances, I smile. She reminds me of my mother.

“Where am I?” I can see I’m inside a hut, but I would like to know more about where this hut is located.

Aneetha sighs. “You are at our home. The hard life of space is no place for females and children, so we made this little place in this abandoned jungle our home. A place to raise our children.”

She keeps fussing over me while she talks, accepting a plate with delicious-looking food and handing it over to me. “Eat,” she commands before she continues her story.

“We do not all condone the way of life Jatar chose for us.

When he became High Commander, he changed, poisoned our son, and changed our daughter.

I could not stand it anymore, so I begged him to let me go.

He is not all bad. There was once a time when he loved me, and I loved him.

It is the way that was chosen for him, and the path that he continued to follow.

He let us leave. Making sure we had a safe place to raise the children; the only condition was that he would come get the children when they turned 12.

” Her expression saddens. “We try to give them as good a childhood as they can get, but they all know they will have to join the fight. At least the females have a choice, though most are too afraid to go against him. It is an unhappy life, but it is all that we know.”

She stares into the abyss with dull eyes, and my heart aches for her. On instinct, I grab her wrist. “You are doing everything you can, and that is amazing.”

“Thank you, my dear,” she says with a wry smile. “You should rest some more. I will be back later.”

“Wait!” She turns around. “Is the High Commander here?”

She nods. “Yes, Jatar is here.”

“My mate will come… I mean, T’Rak will come. We got separated, and I just know he will come for me.” I cast down my eyes. “He’s a Warrior of Arracate.”

She pales. “Warriors of Arracate? Here?”

I nod. “I promise he won’t hurt you if he finds out how you’ve been aiding me… but if he can’t get to me…”

A heavy silence sits between us.

“I understand,” Aneetha says before she pushes past the screen that’s covering the door and leaves the hut.

The other female is still there, and she steps forward now. “Do not worry about Aneetha, she is strong. She will always do the right thing.” I look up to give her a smile, but the smile dies on my face. The poor female’s face is terribly deformed .

“I… I’m sorry!” I blurt out, but she keeps a serene smile plastered on her face.

“It is okay, I know my face can be a shock, but it seldom hurts anymore.”

“What happened?” The question flies out of my mouth, and I feel a blush creeping up when I realize the insensitivity of the question. “No, sorry, you don’t have to answer.”

She sits down in the chair Aneetha just vacated.

“Once upon a time, we were all living aboard ships, condemned to go where the whims of our leaders took us. We were all just scared and did what leadership told us to do. We lost a lot of good people in the battle against the Arracate. I do not blame them. We were the aggressors. But we paid a high price in casualties and injuries. The ship I was working on took hostile fire, and the screen in front of me exploded. I was still badly injured when Aneetha revolted and got the ones who wanted out. I was glad to join her.”

Tears are now streaming down my face. Every conflict has two sides, and I know I haven’t been listening to what happened with the Arracate, but her story breaks my heart.

“T’Rak is going to kill him.” The words leave my mouth in a whisper.

“Good.”

We sit in silence before she smiles at me again. “Where are my manners? My name is Anya.”

I smile right back at her. “Freya.”