I fight back fresh tears as I get to my feet. "Oh my god, you guys. I've missed you so much." I choke on a sob as I hug Helen and clutch the vase at the same time. When Helen lets go of me, I put my arms out for Jade. God, she looks good. Her brown skin is glowing, her kinky curls tamed and pulled back off her head with a fancy metal band. She wears a dress similar to Helen's, but whereas Helen's skims every curve of her body, Jade's is loose and draping and looks comfy as heck while still being pretty.
The look on Jade's face is less excited as she studies me. Jade puts her hands on my cheeks and frowns. "Girl, you look like shit."
"It's okay," I say brightly. "I'm pregnant."
Jade gasps. "Alice didn't tell me. Did Straik force you?"
Force me? The man worships at my feet. I frown, shaking my head. "I had to practically demand for him to fuck me. He's far more patient than I am."
"You're pregnant too?" Helen makes an unhappy sound. "How come everyone is pregnant but me? That's so unfair!"
93
RUTH
Alice picks up a cube of cooked meat and holds it out to her lion-lizard thing as we sit around the table, eating snacks. "Did I forget to mention Ruth was pregnant? My bad."
Jade glares at her. "Yes, you did."
"Look, there's a lot going on," Alice says, shrugging as the creature delicately tongues the meat out of her fingers. She scratches its chin and speaks in a baby voice. "Isn't there, Sterre? Yes ma'am, there is. There's so much going on."
Helen sighs happily and puts her hands on her chin, giving me a dreamy look. "Tell me everything. Did he press his hand on your throat and make you call him Daddy? Did he ask you how much you liked his cum, you slut?"
I choke on the sweetened tea I'm drinking. I cough hard, and Jade thwacks me on my back as I try to catch my breath. "What the fuck?" I manage. "Helen, what are they letting you watch?"
She makes a face. "One of the second rank guards let me borrow his vid. It's bad?"
Jade leans in toward me. "I'm gonna have some words with that guard."
I'll bet. Helen's still sheltered. Unlike the clones on my Straik's ship, Helen was stuck with us on the Buoyant Star and didn't get a lot of life experience. I can't imagine what that guard was thinking letting her watch porn like that. From the sound of it, pretty hardcore porn, too. I frown. "Helen, you can't watch shit like that. If he gave it to you, he wasn't trying to be your friend. He was probably trying to get in your pants."
She digests this, then laughs, shaking her head. "They would not fit him. My pants are far too small."
Oh boy. "Someone else tell her." I slide a piece of cake toward me. I do like that this end of the universe involves a lot of cake, at least. "So where's this Lord va'Rin?"
"Meeting with the brothers and Lord Straik," Alice says, feeding another cube of meat to her massive cat-thing. I avoid sitting too close to it because that thing sure does have a lot of sharp teeth, and I'm reminded of all those newspaper articles back on Earth of lions eating the lion-tamers. Alice doesn't look worried, but I'm not willing to risk a few fingers. "I think they're still trying to figure out what to do with Crulden Number Two."
I take a bite of cake. "Who's Crulden?"
Jade nudges her plate away, avoiding looking at the food. "You're better off not knowing. He's dangerous and he was in a pod, and they woke him up. That's all you need to know."
I twirl one of my eating sticks in the air. I gotcha. "So y'all woke everyone up? Are they okay? Give me all the details."
As Jade starts to tell me about the “awakening process” for the humans, I glance over at the far end of the room. Ruthie's sitting at another table with her refreshments, because she didn't want to impose on our reunion. I felt a little guilty at her ostracizing herself, and I'm feeling protective of her. Protective of all my people, really. Maybe this is a side-effect of the pregnancy, but I want Ruthie to be accepted and loved by my friends, I want my husband safe and happy, and I want to murder the guardsman that let Helen watch a damn porno. I watch Ruthie for a moment, since I can't really murder a guardsman given that we just got here. She has her head together with Kazex, and they're sharing a bowl of fresh veggies. As she smiles and whispers something to him, he gives my sister this utterly besotted look that makes me ache because I want Ruthie to be happy. Dopekh, too. I scan the room for him and find him by one of the large windows, gazing out as he talks to Salvotor.