“Yes and no. There might be nothing left of my ass to punish after my father’s done with me. I still want to see them, though.”
He grabs one of Zhang’s robes for me. I drown in it. “Come with me. I’ll get you something I know you’ll be comfortable in.”
* * *
Treyu
Gemini insists on couriering me to my parents’ home. It was once my home too, but hasn’t been for a long time.
“Zhang would have a fit if I let you travel alone with threats still over your head,” Gemini had said.
And I would have told him clearly how much I care about the things Zhang would throw a fit about, but it’s sinking in that this is really happening. Wanted or not, Zhang will be my husband and that means something to Pleiadians. Even misfit Pleiadians like me. I knew since I could take my first steps that I would be a “taken in hand”. Regardless of how it’s come about, I’d like to make an attempt to get along with my husband and to conduct our marriage in the way we do things here.
I call this version of myself Agreeable Treyu. Agreeable Treyu behaves himself, but that could change on a dime. Plus, I know I’m about to get a huge lecture from Dad, which will include behaving for my husband despite him being a Centaurus.
Walking through the tall white doors is less appealing all the time. I miss my family more than I fear their disapproval, though. Dad had a home and several Orions to look after. We have a new one, a ninth Orion boy—I know, what are the chances? Father says he’ll try until he gets his baby girl. Maybe his tenth attempt at an Orion girl will be lucky.
“You want me to go in there with you?” Gemini smirks. It’s not a good look on him.
“No, but I assume you’re going to insist I have an escort home?”
He grips my wrist and straps a com around it. It’s the same size as a watch. “Use that. Reach out to me. You’d Godsdamn better, Treyu.”
What will he do if I don’t? The brat’s eternal question. “Don’t expect to hear from me for a few days.” Unless my brothers drive me crazy, which is likely. “Maybe two days.”
He smiles. “Have fun.”
Gemini as a brother-in-law isn’t so bad.
I strut toward the door, my boots crushing the crisp grass under my feet, the long rust-brown jacket Gemini found for me flies behind my legs. I don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s not as though I’ll be disowned—I’m high on the list of Father’s favorites. Father visited Earth as often as he could, sometimes just to see us. My brothers were stationed for various missions over the century I was sequestered there.
Fuck, I know why. The whole disappointment thing. I’m a letdown. Even my very genetics are a letdown. Father has to pass the Orion DNA along so he’ll have warrior sons and daughters to continue the legacy the Gods entrusted to the Orions. Even though I was second born, I ended up the runt of the litter—so far—and it took me a lot longer to pass drills just to be allowed on a mission at all.
The Orion “home” is a military compound. Not the military compound we operate out of—also on the property—but it’s run like one. An eye scan gets me past the tall walls surrounding the place and I know the guards who don’t acknowledge me—friendliness isn’t allowed while they’re on duty—and head inside.
The entryway is more disorderly than I’ve ever seen it. A tiny hoverbike is left to float in the middle of the hall and a collection of dolls are scattered like the aftermath of an explosion. The culprit barrels across the marble floor, his bare feet slapping and … is that a starblade in his hand? Lord almighty. It’s knife-sized, but still.
I catch the tiny hooligan and disarm him, doing the math. He’s four. Too young to have star blades, perhaps in another year. He stares with giant gray eyes and gray hair to match. Gosh, he’s little for an Orion. Kinda like me. He doesn’t know me, but he’ll know how our house works by now.
“I’m big brother Treyu. No fucking knives for youngling starlets. How did you get that?”
He’s analyzing me and I dare say it’s with awe. “Jamie.”
“Fucking Christ, Jamie,” I yell, stomping toward the kitchen with the tiniest star I’ve ever seen held steadfast in my arms.
My ogre-sized brother Delphinus is at the table with coffee—thank fuck coffee grows in the Nebuli—but Jamie is nowhere to be found. “He had a starblade in his hand and you’re the first one I see. You’re taking the blame for this,” I tell him.
It’s nice telling people three sizes bigger than me what to do, especially when they have to listen.
“Well hello to you too. Gods, Trey. I wasn’t looking after him but give him here.”
“No.” I clutch the baby starlet tighter, and he grips my neck in no rush to be taken from me. I love him already and he could have impaled himself right through the heart. “What’s going on around here?”
“Dad’s not here.”
Ah. That adds up. “And Father?”
He laughs. “Clearly not here either.”
