Page 18 of Princess (Marinah and the Apocalypse #5)

Marinah

The meeting with Desmond, Julia, and several of the women who wanted to help and more than likely adopt went longer than expected. The women stayed silent because Desmond made himself a problem again.

“We did fine on our own,” he said angrily.

“From what Julia told us, you didn’t,” I replied, keeping my tone as even as possible.

He turned his eyes to me, and Ms. Beast grumbled. “People get sick. That’s what went wrong. If we hadn’t gotten sick, we would still be at our home.”

“We were near starving,” Julia said, giving her brother a hard stare. “That’s why we stayed at the outpost after we recovered. You always seem to forget that part.”

He went silent, and I took a minute to regroup.

“The people in this room want the same thing,” I finally said.

“We want everyone on the island safe, fed, and to have a roof over their heads. Families are willing to take in the children and provide love and care. Children are treasured here, and they want it to be a permanent solution.” I stared at Desmond.

“The kids trust you. Help them and give them a chance to be part of a family.”

His sneer was his answer, and I turned to Julia.

“We have doctors and food stores. We have well-built homes and an underground network of tunnels if the island is attacked. Work details are chosen, not assigned in most cases, and the harder the work, the more time off. Shadow Warriors guard this island, but humans are the most valuable part of this world. It’s their island.

You and the children could make it yours too. ”

Her eyes slid to Desmond, then back to me.

“My brother believes everyone is out to get us. We’ve trusted people before.

” She looked down for a moment before meeting Desmond’s eyes.

“What choice do we have? They flew us here. Are we going to swim back?” She touched his arm.

“I know you love the kids as much as I do, but they are too young to care for each other or for themselves. They need help. We need help.”

“If we do this,” Desmond said, “we take away our options.”

Julia threw her hands up in the air. “What options?” She looked at me. “He doesn’t want this to be his fault if it goes bad. He won’t agree, but I will.”

Desmond pushed his chair back and stormed from the room.

“I’m sorry,” Julia said. “He’s not a bad person; we’ve just been through so much.” She turned her attention to Maria. “Cade needs someone to love him. He is the neediest child we have.”

“I have love for him now,” Maria replied in stilted English.

Julia smiled at her. “He needs you, and I feel that you will give him a good home.” She wiped tears from her eyes. “May I visit him occasionally?”

Maria wiped her own tears. “Mi casa su casa, my home is yours. Gracias, senorita, gracias.”

Julia focused on me again. “Would it be possible to interview those willing to take in the children? I would need an interpreter.”

“Yes, we have many bilingual islanders and even some Shadow Warriors. Whatever will make this easier for you.”

“Desmond needs something to do, or he’ll be a bigger problem.”

“What about working with one of our defense units?” I asked. “They are made up of islanders and Shadow Warriors. The southern part of the island has its own protection unit. He can choose where he goes.”

“That would be perfect for him, but convincing him to do it could take a bit. Are women trained too, because I would be interested?”

“Yes, but I know something you might enjoy more. One of our near-teens has teamed up with a Shadow Warrior. They want to train children to protect themselves. They could use help and having more than one training group would be a plus. A few of the new children will stay here but most will go to the southern part of the island where it’s safer.

If Desmond chooses to go there, you could go with him and train kids who are interested. ”

Julia smiled. “Desmond lives to fight. I want to be able to protect myself and others if needed, but I don’t have the killer instinct Desmond has.”

“Even without the killer instinct, you were very good at killing a hellhound,” I said. “Having you help train the younger generation would be a huge bonus.”

“Thank you, Mark and Suzie, the other teens with us would want to help too.”

“The four of you are old enough to live on your own. We have several homes available that would fit, but you could also choose families willing to take you in.”

Her relief was obvious. “Our own home would sweeten the deal for Desmond.”

“It’s a plan then,” I told her.

We set up a block of time for the parent interviews.

I walked Julia to the training gym so she could officially meet Togg. We found him talking to Desmond about killing hellhounds.

“We confuse them,” Desmond said. “We work strategically to take them down so we can stay away from their teeth and claws.”

“You do a damned good job of it too,” I said.

He went silent, and his shoulders stiffened.

“Julia will tell you what we discussed. Julia, this is Togg. Ruth’s mother is having a baby, and you’ll meet her later.”

With a silent sigh of relief, I left and headed to the med bay.

“You’re in big trouble,” Ruth said as soon as she saw me.

“What’s new?” I quipped. “I’m always in trouble.”

“Beck is unhappy with you for letting my mom ride on the airplane. He says she could have had the baby on the plane.”

Missy hadn’t asked my opinion, and she reminded me of that when I told her she couldn’t go.

She stopped me and said she had several more weeks until she gave birth.

When I tried to argue, she held up her hand.

“I’m tired of being useless. I’ve put up with that bitch in the holding cell for weeks now, and you’re lucky I didn’t blow my brains out.

If I need to climb into the wheel well, I will be on that plane. ”

I looked at Ruth and tried to hold back some of my frustration. “Tell Beck I’ll meet him on the training field whenever he wants to take it up with me.”

She giggled just a bit before the corners of her mouth turned down. “Human parents don’t want their children learning to fight. Or at least they don’t want them learning from me. I’m trying to hold onto my patience and see it from their perspective, but I’m having trouble.”

She said human like she wasn’t one. I had a feeling she didn’t think of herself that way.

“Julia, one of the teenagers who arrived last night may be able to help. She will be going to the southern part of the island, and I’ve offered her a chance to train with the adults and to set up classes for the youth. After your brother is born, you need to meet with her and share ideas.”

Ruth’s jaw set stubbornly, but I cut her off.

“Julia is older than you, and within a couple of years, you will be training with the adults too. I plan to address the lack of parent support for your endeavor when I meet with the kitchen staff again. That should give you a few children to work with. More will follow if they see the good it does. Julia has good fighting techniques, and you can all learn from each other. Use Togg too.”

She rolled her eyes at the mention of Togg. “He has a good heart, but he’s bossy. He’s disappointed in the parents too. He told me you were going to assign him someplace else on the island, and he would rather stay at the citadel.”

I hadn’t told him I was sending him south, but it was easy to figure out. I liked that he was bossy with Ruth. She needed someone looking over her shoulder. I didn’t entirely trust this new Ruth, but only time would tell.

The door opened, and Axel, looking tired, walked from the medical room. He smiled when he saw me. “Mom and baby are healthy.” He turned to Ruth. “They said for you to go in and meet your new brother.”

“Yippee,” Ruth shouted.

“Quietly,” Axel admonished.

She didn’t acknowledge his order, just rushed into the room.

Axel closed the door behind her and gave me a not-so-nice stare.

“I know,” I said before he started his lecture. “Missy shouldn’t have been on that plane. I take full responsibility.”

His anger was on full steam. “Part of being our leader is making hard choices. You gave into Missy because you feel bad that she had to care for Mrs. Barnes. It’s no excuse.” His hard eyes drilled into me.

Ms. Beast took notice, and I held her back. Axel was right. I deserved this lecture. I had made a bad choice due to guilt. I looked away.

The warmth of his hand settled on my shoulder.

“You will make many mistakes, but if this one had gone south, you would never forgive yourself. The baby is in excellent condition, and so is Missy. She told Beck to keep his mouth shut, or he could find another room to sleep in.” Axel chuckled.

“That guarantees even with a screaming newborn, Beck will sleep in Missy’s bed until hell freezes over. ”

I looked into Axel’s eyes again. “Thank you. I know I’ll make mistakes, but you’re right. Harm to the baby or Missy would have been shattering.”

“I need to examine you and check in on the little princess.” Laughter flashed in his eyes as he spoke.

“As my doctor, as well as King’s, you are not allowed to take sides. Please call this baby an ‘it,’ if you must,” I grumbled.

“That won’t happen. I’ll say prince to King and princess to you and keep it equal.”

This time I growled, even if it was good-naturedly.

After Axel had me in a medical gown and sitting on one of his tables, he examined my wounds, which were almost healed.

“Pregnancy is increasing your healing ability. I don’t remember reading anything about this in the men’s texts. Have you run across it in the women’s?”

The damned journal! My great-grandmother made it frustrating enough that I had to fight throwing the book across the room each time I settled down to decipher more.

“That bad, I take it?” Axel said, looking at my face.

“Worse. I wish my grandmother Veda had written it. She at least would make sense. It’s like entire sections are left out.

I thought Endura gave the journal to me to help.

For each small bit of information I learn, it causes ten more questions that I don’t have answers to.

On top of that, deciphering takes more time than I have.

When I think I’ve figured out a word or two, something changes, and it doesn’t make sense.

People think English is hard, but they have never attempted to read my great-grandmother’s writings. ”

Axel just shook his head and changed the subject while he measured my belly and did all the other things he needed to do that made him feel better. He kept a written log, which I peeked at.

“An inch?” I questioned. His chart showed my stomach had expanded, and it had only been twenty-four hours since the last measurement.

“Yes, this little princess is growing fast.”

“I may need to give birth in my Warrior form so he doesn’t kill me coming out.”

“Hmm,” Axel said. “Have you seen anything like that in the texts?”

“No, I was joking. You think that’s what I should do?” I asked.

“I have no medical opinion one way or the other. So far, you and the baby are healthy. Tomorrow, I’ll take measurements again and do a vaginal exam.”

“Hopefully the Federation will attack in the next few hours and ruin your plans.”

He laughed.

I’d had to get over my aversion to a friend seeing parts of me that should stay hidden, but I was still uncomfortable.

Ruth stuck her head into the room. “Do you want to meet my baby brother?”