Jailed (4 page)

The silky black hair curled all over the small head, just like her mother’s.

“If the forest can change your body, can’t it help you lactate?”

Honour whispered. “I didn’t want to stress out Liash by taking Annabella that soon.”

“Oh. Gotcha.”

“I will talk with her and ask her when she feels she will be ready to give her over to me. She has been carrying her for six months. I don’t want her stressed any more than I want Annabella freaked out.”

“It is sound thinking.”

“Plus, there are still some negotiations to work out and lactating all over the boardroom is not a good look.” Honour smiled.

Kori snickered and the food arrived. Everyone gathered around the buffet and took turns holding the baby. When it was Kori’s turn, she looked down into the sweet features and imagined them with a feline cast.

Realising where her mind was, she looked around for someone to hand the baby over to, but everyone had a plate and were in conversational groups.

She sat down and rocked Annabella, humming softly to her like she had to her nieces and nephews back home. This was the most homesick she had been in her life.

Honour sat next to her and looked down at the baby. “She looks happy with you.”

“She is a minute away from a demand cry. She’s hungry, but she is trying to figure out if a breast is going to spontaneously appear. Once she figures out that it isn’t happening, she is going to scream.”

“I am guessing there are a few babies in your family.”

“Nineteen at last count or when I left, whichever. I was the only one who didn’t have the nesting urge until I was away from home. Too much disappointing sex, I suppose.”

Honour laughed.

On cue, Annabella let out her cry and Liash appeared, reaching for the child. “Time for me, I think.”

Kori surrendered the baby and sat back, “Whew. That takes me back.”

“It has been a while for me as well. I frankly didn’t give a thought to that clause in the Volunteer contract. Mind you, being out in Nyal space, I wasn’t thinking that I would ever be called upon to make good on my agreement.”

Over the month and a bit that Kori had been at the station, she had learned Honour’s story. A researcher who had been taken by Raiders and sold to the Yalki, she had ended up catching and keeping Acuar’s affections and those of the forest as well. It was a three-way that Kori didn’t like to think about too much.

“How long will you stay down here?”

Kori sighed, “I have to get back up tonight. The Muskari want a proposal outlined so that they feel more in control of your negotiations.”

“Aw, I was hoping that you could spend more time down here with me.”

She chuckled. “Sorry, Honour, you are meant for Yalki, I am meant for the station. It saves on the amount of people you have to put on rotation up there. It isn’t healthy for them and we both know it.”

Honour sighed, “Yes, but having aliens looking out after our interests is difficult. We can’t ensure loyalty or defense of our station without having locals there.”

“Then you might want to put more funding into a better atmospheric system for them. They need more humidity than is being offered. I think it would help.”

“I will look into it.”

Kori grinned. “Please do. I can always give you an itemized list.”

“I will take those under advisement.”

Kori’s wristband chirped and her day with gravity pulling steadily on her was over.

It was time to return to her home away from home after celebrating the baby shower for the first Halfling human born on Yalki.

She was still smiling when she exited the shuttle to return to the station. Kori headed out and went through customs once again, but now that she was settled on the station, it was more like a simple punch card.

Kori headed back to her room and the Masuo shifted into some lightweight pajamas. She had ten hours until she had to work up the proposal with the client, but she was going to get some heavy sleep in the meantime.

She checked in with the emissary and let him know that she was back but asleep and passed out.

Her day resumed its routine the moment that she woke. It was a dull routine, but it was hers. The embroidery was the only outlet for that boredom, so she had a lot of items around her room that had been customized. She hadn’t been allowed a needle and thread in Janial, but here, there were no such restrictions.

It was fun and something that she could take with her to do on breaks to help her hands flex a little.

When there was nothing else to do, at least she could keep her hands busy. Her thoughts had their own issues with replaying her one night with Norod. Those thoughts not only kept her occupied but increased her body heat every moment that she remembered.

Who knew that a one-night stand would burn itself in her thoughts?

The months of her contract passed and to her surprise, Nikada never came to visit. She had family business to attend do, which didn’t seem at all like the Nikada that Kori had come to know.

Five days before the end of her contract, Kori got a message. “Greetings, Kori I have finally been able to put some time away, and if you are still amenable to a visit, I can be there in thirty-six hours.”

Kori replied. “I am only here for another five days, so if you are going to see me, now is the time.”

“I am on my way.” Nikada winked. She cut off the connection, leaving Kori sitting and staring at her terminal.

Blinking, she resumed her notes on the trade agreements and finished producing the pre-trade proposals for the Kresinar. So, she was getting her visit and the archive had produced a long-term assignment for her. She didn’t have a location yet, but it had been gained on the strength of the Yalki recommendation. She owed Honour and Acuar a lot.

When she finished verifying that all the seeds and plants were listed, she filed the document with the surface. It cut down on the negotiation time that the Host and Bride had to spend on the station. They were physically tied to the world and time away from it caused a lot of strain. Not to mention time away from little Annabella. That was a strain of a different type.

Acuar was taking to being a father. Annabella had transferred custody and was now living with the Host and Bride. She was the first child of the three to be raised with them, all others had remained with the surrogate family, but Honour wanted her child with her.

Annabella’s growth was the main reason to put her with her parents. She was growing at an alarming rate and already looked like a four-year-old. Kori had embroidered another series of gowns that would last until Annabella was at least a year old, by which time, she would look like a twelve-year-old, by current patterns.

Kori finished up her work and turned off her terminal before leaving the small office she had been assigned. Her watchers had only been with her for the first week; now that she had a grip on the layout and people of the station, it was easy to get around.

She walked through the market set aside for station staff and made a few selections for dinner before returning to her quarters. Her living space had actually been part of the area on which the candidates for the position of bride had lived. The grass in her room had taken getting used to, but the wall of roses was her favourite feature.

There were no other living beings on her level, so she could run through the rest of the gardens as she willed. It was a strange place to live, but for the next five days, it was home.

Kori hummed to herself and chopped up her ingredients, spiced it and stuck it in the heater. With dinner in the oven, she went for a walk.

It was odd how she had managed to consider the Yalki Station home. Of course, she was living in the highest oxygen area and the only one dedicated to Terrans, but it was still odd to have an entire level of a space station as an oxygen farm covered with plants and grasses.

The Yalki had this space dedicated to the candidates for bride, but Honour authorized some walls to be parked on the green space to allow Kori plenty of oxygen and humidity. The Freyalki were invited to use the space as they wished, but they chose not to use it, even though the humidity and oxygen would probably ease their withdrawal from the planet’s surface.

She walked through her private space and acknowledged that this would be the last time she had a space like this at her disposal. The silence was also something that got to her. Kori wasn’t used to silence. It was why she had taken to humming. When the timer chimed, she could hear it from half a kilometer away.

Sighing, she returned home for dinner and a night of watching vids on races of the Nyal Imperium.

Two days later, Kori got a ping on her com unit. “Yes?”

“You have guests arriving at the station.”

“I am on my way.” She was out of bed, through the solar shower and her Masuo was in a leopard and stone-print bodysuit as she sprinted to the lift to meet with her friend.

Wait, did he say guests?

Shrugging, she made her way to the shuttle bay and waited on the other side of the customs registration.

Nikada was waving violently with a grin on her face; the expression on Norod’s face was much harder to read.
Oh, goody.

Dealing with what had to be a casual night on his part made Kori all confused. She wanted to be cool and calculating but that was not in her nature. This was going to be difficult.

She waited, and when Nikada and her bags made it through the security scans, she hugged her friend and laughed when Nikada started sniffing her.

“You smell different. More like soil and plants.”

“This is Yalki Station, it is all about soil and plants.” Kori hugged her again.

Norod stepped up and inclined his head. “You look well.”

She extended her hands, palm down. He followed with extending his own hands palm up and fitted them to her much smaller appendages. “I am well. I have friends, a job, a vid screen and a hobby. All the things I need to get from one day to the next.”

His eyes glowed down at her and there was a world of meaning in that look. “It seems you have all you need to survive.”

She smiled up at him, her hands warm in his grip. “Survival is not living.”

He blinked and smiled slowly. “So, there is room for improvement?”

“There is always room for improvement.”

Nikada looked from one of them to the other. “Are we just going to stand here while you two play at being cryptic, or shall we get to our accommodations?”

Norod released her hands slowly, and Kori backed away.

She blushed and nodded. “Of course. Sorry, Nikada. Please come this way. I have reserved you the best rooms at the diplomatic hotel.”

Norod asked, “We are not staying in your quarters?”

“I have a bed designed for one woman and no room for guests. It was not designed for me to have visitors.”

He looked a little disappointed.

“Also, the Yalki have much different rules of hospitality than your people do. They believe in providing food and entertainment, and that is all.” Kori was smiling.

“Pity.” Nikada sighed.

Norod chuckled. “Then we shall be content with whatever the station can provide.”

The people of the station smiled and waved at her as she led her small party through the halls. There was nothing like being friends with the Host and the Bride to make the Freyalki relax in her presence.

The hotel was marked clearly and as Kori entered, the staff came to attention. “May I introduce you to Nikada and Norod of Wyencar Prime. They are my guests.”

Thiak smiled. “They are indeed. We can take them right in. Will you be using the spa with them?”

Kori turned to her guests, and they both nodded. “Yes.”

“Very good.”

The attendants came and removed the bags that Nikada and Norod were carrying. “This way, please.”

Their group headed into the hotel and up the wide lift to the VIP quarters. It was a wide suite that would suit the siblings very well.

Kori waited in the entry hall while they got the tour of their rooms. “Would you care to head to the spa or to one of the restaurants for some refreshment?”

Norod stretched lightly. “I wouldn’t mind a trip to the spa.”

“I can arrange some tea and snacks there as well. Nikada, are you up for a massage?”

Nikada grinned, her teeth gleaming. “Just point me in the right direction.”

They trooped out of the suite and down to the spa floor. The attendants were helpful and asked, “Would you like to get a massage in the same room or privately?”

Nikada grinned, “Private for me, please.”

Norod looked down at Kori, “I don’t mind sharing.”

Kori swallowed. “Couples massage for us then.”

They were taken in, and Nikada floated along behind a very attractive young man with his face masked.

Norod removed his clothing and Kori distracted herself by climbing onto the bed and lying face down before she banished her Masuo to her ankle. Norod looked even better than he had six months earlier. She didn’t know precisely how she could be sure, but it looked like he had been working out.

When he turned and she spotted the erection that was slowly beginning to jerk awake, she tucked her elbows next to her breasts and kept her eyes focussed forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see him settling on the massage bed and reaching down to settle himself. His body was covered with the same pattern that she wore on her suit, and she kicked herself for letting the Masuo pick its own designs out of her subconscious.

Once they were both settled, the masseurs walked in and spoke softly to each of them, determining how strong the massage should be.

Kori looked up at Wen. “My usual but skip as much of the bruising as you can.”

“That will be tough, Korianne.”

“Do your best.” She smiled and settled as Wen oiled his hands and settled in.

She was going to try and remain quiet, but it felt so good to be worked over that she groaned and grunted as he slid his hands over her. She looked over at Norod, and he was staring at her through narrowed eyes. Leonik was working on him and was breaking a sweat as he kneaded at Norod’s skin and muscle.