The Melier: Home World (Women of Dor Nye Book 2) (8 page)

“Sweetling, have you spoken to Soren about this?” Grams asked. She had a sour look to her face; the same look she always had when someone or something upset one of her granddaughters.

Lucia snorted in a very unladylike manner that would have Nova
tsk’ing
her. “Soren actually wants to take me back to Dor Nye, but I keep telling him if we run, it won’t change anything. It’s really just a show, because I’m honestly a little scared, and upset, and I feel like this will never work.” Lu shook her head and wiped at her eyes. “I just want to come home.”

Grams eyes softened and she tilted her head slightly. “I want you home too, but I don’t think you will ever forgive yourself if you give up now. It may seem like an impossible task, and it might be. If you stick it out, you can at least say you gave it your best effort.”

She sniffed and wiped her eyes again. Her sinuses were beginning to swell and make it hard to breathe from all the crying. Grams had a point; it was just hard to even think of staying on a planet where literally
every
being except three hated her. Lenny didn’t count because she loved anyone who would snuggle her.

That thought made her lips twitch just a little.

“My grandfather once told me,” Grams began. “The Melier never agreed with the Coalition helping Earth’s people relocate to Dor Nye. Humans ruined their planet and Melier thought dying along with Earth would be due punishment. They didn’t feel humans deserved the opportunity to destroy another home. That happened hundreds of years ago, sweetling,” Grams said softly. “It is time for both our peoples to move on.”

“You’re right,” Lu sighed, mulling over the information. “I can’t let them run me off. I’d only be doing exactly what they want, and expect.”

“That’s my girl,” Grams smiled.

“Wait,” she quirked a brow in confusion. “I thought you didn’t know who the Melier were?” Lu thought back to when she first introduced Soren those months ago. Everyone had been thoroughly surprised by him; everything about him, as if they had never seen a Melier before, like her.

Grams gave one of her classic mischievous smiles. “I’m old. Maybe my memory isn’t so good.”

Lu narrowed her eyes, knowing full well that was her overused excuse when she
conveniently
omitted information.

They chatted a while longer and the comm was passed around so she could say hi to everyone and tell them she missed them.

When she ended the call, she sat there in silence.

It was at that point how much she realized her family really was important to her. Not just because she loved them, but because they were a network of support. She noticed since her time away from them, being in an unwelcoming atmosphere, her self-confidence was slowly ebbing away. Her sense of adventure, fearlessness, and the
spark
that was distinctly
her
was no longer what it once was.

How did that happen?

Lu wasn’t
weak
. She didn’t run from a challenge when it got difficult; she stood her ground and faced it. Soren believed in her. Val’Zun believed in her. Gi’Ren believed in her. All of the Herana’s believed in her and she
had
to do this.

No, she
wanted
to do this.

I can do this.

Lucia inhaled through her nose and exhaled through her mouth, expelling all the negative energy of the past two weeks and vowing to start fresh.

No more avoidance, no more silence. She had a royal family to
convince
, a planet to explore, and an entire species to sway into throwing away centuries of prejudice that was only wasted energy and potential.

When something moved out of the corner of her eye, Lu’s concentration was interrupted. She turned her gaze and shot to her feet, face contorted in horror at what she saw across the room. Perched on a cushion was a
giant
, glossy black beetle. It was half the size of Dezzy, her family’s pet Ro’Catta, with three beady, black eyes that watched her. Its jagged pincers were large enough to literally rip off limbs or saw through her ankles with little effort.

Lucia tried not to trip while searching for something to kill the fiendishly large bug with.

She tried to keep the bug in her peripheral vision, and rummage about as quietly as possible. Her eyes lit up as she wrapped her fingers around a glossy, long piece of wood sticking out from under a couch. She examined it loosely and figured it was part of a table.

Oooooh! This will work.

Definitely.

The servants must’ve missed this piece from Soren’s raging episode the night of the party.

Lucky us.

Weapon in hand, Lucia stalked the gigantic insect like a child after an ant; small steps, quiet as possible, and ready to lunge. She imagined she looked ridiculous. Luckily, no one was around to witness her tomfoolery.

I really am ridiculous, stalking a bug.

How did you go from taking on space pirates to having a baby, and now you’re hunting creepy crawlies.

Well, it all started with a meddling Sanruki healer, and a freaky aphrodisiac…

I was being sarcastic.

When her silent stalking brought her just feet away from the beetle that had its back to her, she silently raised her makeshift weapon and swung.

Unfortunately, her aim was terrible, and she missed the beetle entirely, instead connecting with a small statue. She watched as it busted into multiple shards, creating a hackling sound that seemed to shriek throughout the suite.

“
Shit!
”

It was ugly anyway.

Lucia sighed as she watched the beetle scurry to the far side of the room, and perch on a stack of books belonging to Soren.

Once again, she assumed her hunters stance.

Tiptoeing toward the bug, she was honestly surprised it had its back to her once more. Maybe it was just dumb. A big, dumb beetle.

One can always hope.

Again, she got close enough to swing. This time her aim was considerably better, but she still missed the damn thing. The piece of wood whizzed just above the beetle, skimming the shiny black shell of its back, and bouncing into the wall with such force, vibration jittered up the length of her arms and nearly chattered her teeth. Knocked off balance, she squawked, and tumbled to the floor, flat on her bum.

“Jeeezzuuuzzz,” she moaned as she rubbed her tailbone, and watched the stupid bug skitter across the room once again, evading her efforts to end it.

Frustrated she stood, grabbing one of the books it was previously sitting on and flung it with a screech. The book missed the beetle, as expected, but it unfortunately caught its attention.

The beady, black eyes assessed her after it turned around and she watched as its shell cracked open, revealing four very large wings.

She made a surprised sound and took a step back.

The beetle took a step forward.

Its mandibles chittered at her, and she watched in terror as its wings began to beat in an attempt to lift its fat body off the ground.

Lucia let out a strangled cry, her hand flying to her throat and she took a few more steps backward.

The beetle lifted from its place, and she screamed and hopped over a cushion.

It hit the floor as if it was regaining its strength. Once again, its hard, black shelled wings flipped up as it prepared to fly, flexing its pincers once, then twice.

Lucia
lost
her damn mind.

She turned and
ran
, screaming until her own ears felt like bleeding. Every time Lucia chanced a look behind her, the beetle’s many black legs were scurrying faster, closer, which only made her scream like a wild animal.

As she neared the entrance to the suite, the sensors tripped and the doors opened automatically, Lucia nearly slamming against the opposite wall of the hallway before she could gain traction to turn and fly down the corridor. The beetle gained on her and she thought she was going to faint from lack of oxygen and her mounting fear as images of being maimed by giant pincers flitted through her mind.

When she turned a corner, she crashed into a chest of muscle that barely flinched. She hit it so hard she went bouncing backward and nearly landed on her ass before multiple hands caught her. The fear was too strong as she continued to shriek, and climb whoever she’d run into, like a tree.

“Loo-Sha!” Val’Zun rasped, wincing and trying to control her jittery, flailing limbs. They were drawing the attention of half the palace, but she was too out of her mind screaming
‘big ass bug’
to even care. She only desired keeping her feet attached to her body.

Lucia was clawing, and thrashing, and climbing until she nearly sat on Val’Zun’s shoulders. He pulled her down and clamped a hand over her mouth, panting with frustration and the pain her screams had caused his ears. His gaze bore down into her panicked face with a glare that would naturally have the hairs on her body rising to attention, but that was furthest from her mind.

Her eyes kept looking back at the beetle that continued to gain on them, and her peels of shrieks started up again as she pushed on Zun’s chest to get him to
run
.

Run anywhere, really, but preferably in the
opposite
direction.

Val’Zun saw the beetle then.

He took a step back.

“Loo-Sha,” he whisper-hissed. “You must cease screaming. It is attracted to loud noises.”

Immediately she stilled, eyes darting from Zun to the beetle that had finally stopped scurrying toward her. Her blood was
whooshing
in her ears and she struggled to breathe while her fear riddled veins wore out in her rigid body.

A palace guard with a cinching net attached to a pole stealthily approached, caught the beetle and carted it off.

At that point, she exhaled and inhaled repeatedly and squeezed her eyes shut, allowing Zun to cradle her close to his excessively warm chest. Her shaky hands that had been clawing at his skin and scales slid up around his neck.

“Thank you, Zun,” she whispered and took another jittery breath.

“I was nearly skewered in the training arena when you started your yowling,” he scowled, pupils slowly shrinking. Lu returned his scowl, but instead of fighting with him like every fiber in her body told her to, she pulled on his neck and planted her lips on the textured skin of his cheek before she thought better of it.

“Just shut up,” she finally told him when she pulled back. He simmered, but didn’t say anything further.

The offended sounds of individuals that had been drawn to the commotion made her look away from Zun. Her gaze slid around her and then she noticed Soren speeding down the hallway toward them.

“What happened?” he asked anxiously, running his hands over her body to make sure she was whole and unharmed. Once he realized she wasn’t bleeding, he brushed her curls away from her face and leaned down to press a kiss to her temple.

“A
big
ass
beetle, that’s what happened,” Lucia huffed in Zun’s arms.

“
Trowb
beetle,” Zun’s nostrils flared angrily. Soren looked at him and they shared a quiet gaze for a time that had her wondering what they were doing.

“It was in the suite,” Lucia added. “I was in a call, so maybe that attracted it.”

She looked away and stared at Zun’s naked chest that had patches of sand here and there, like he’d fallen a few times. There was no sweat and at that point, she was convinced Melier just didn’t have that capability. She’d just never seen it.

“Why were you crying?” Soren asked, brushing his knuckles along her cheeks, and that question startled her.

“How did-” she stuttered and corrected herself. “I wasn’t.”

“Loo-Sha,” Zun admonished. “Do not lie. Your eyes are puffy, and red.”

Her fingers fluttered along the underside of one eye, pressing and feeling the spongy skin. She sighed, annoyed that her body betrayed her.

Wasn’t there a beetle to worry about?

“Listen,” she groaned, uncurling her fingers and talking with her hands as she was known to do. “I just got a little emotional when I was talking to Grams. It’s not a huge deal.”

Lu hoped they would just assume she missed her family, which she did, and not think she had blubbered like a youngling about being disliked by the others. Not that her complaints were unfounded, because disliked was putting it lightly. She imagined the Melier people viewed her like she viewed the beetle that had nearly
killed
her; something to be despised and crushed.

You’re dramatic.

I nearly lost my feet and bled out. Don’t call me dramatic.

Soren and Zun grunted, not completely convinced.

Lucia rolled her eyes.

Without another word, they carried her back down the hallway from whence they came, and soon she was being deposited on a bench in the training arena. Many Melier of all colors and sizes were pairing and sparring, and the amount of violence had her nerves hopping.