Chapter 12
The next two few days passed in a blur of waking up, breakfast, exercise, lunch and dinner with more activities like training to fight. Each meal consisted of vegetables, grains and fruit with small portions of protein. No dessert or breads, and most of the dishes were minimally cooked, so raw foods evidently were a thing here. I understood now why the Vepar insisted on healthy eating back on Earth. They believed in clean living.
The second test had commenced and a different girl went out each night, dressed gloriously for a date with the Vepar. I’d watched a few of them get ready, waiting for my turn, making themselves perfect, revealing a lot of skin, and even practicing their dainty laugh. It made me want to hurl. Thank god they weren’t going to win… or I hoped they wouldn’t, and then I could put all this crap behind me. If I attended this mating ritual as a real contender, unsure who the men would pick, I’d be so high strung and stressed.
To clear the constant thoughts hammering into me, I sat crossed legged on the lawn in the small yard filled with benches and gorgeous flower laden trees with the dual suns burning brightly overhead. There was a tranquility and peacefulness to Veon. Unlike Earth, most here rarely complained about their jobs and loved whatever it was they did. This place felt safe, though I also heard the maids talking about more attacks outside the city. How guards patrolling the perimeter were becoming more effective against the Khonsu.
A shadow fell over me, and I flinched, glancing up, squinting to see Zeni staring down at me, her hands gripping the loose orange dress she wore. It flowed to her ankles and with her hair loose and dangling over her shoulder, she was beautiful. Then again, who wasn’t gorgeous on Veon?
“I have something to show you,” she murmured and offered me her hand to stand up. I shouldn’t have accepted, but if I did end up becoming the Vepars’ mate, I didn’t want enemies but friends.
I accepted her offer and stood. The wind brushed past, pushing the hair out of her face. Her smile was bright today, and she almost bounced on her toes as we walked as if she was excited.
She looped her arm around mine like we were BFFs and strolled across the lawn, around the side of the house and through an opening in the gate.
“I’ve been thinking about you lately,” she began, while I glanced back remembering being told we weren’t to leave the house or grounds. But I was also curious what she had to show me. In reality, I was bored on my own. No books were in written english and the big monitor TV inside the communal room only showed news. The room was empty for a reason.
“It must be so hard being away from home, from those you love, and your family. I bet you had a boy or two who was interested in you too.”
I cut her a hard stare, and I saw right through her words. She played on my emotions, and sure, it worked a little because I missed things from Earth, mostly my freedom and mocha vanilla coffee, but what was she going to show me?
“Where are we going?”
“It won’t be long.” We strolled down a back alley flanked by towering fences backing onto numerous mansions. No one was around and Zeni sped up her walk.
“When I was young, my parents sent me to Journey, our nearest moon, to the best boarding school in our universe. While there, I missed them everyday and hated how everything seemed so foreign. So I understand what you’re going through.”
“Not sure you do.” Ever since losing my parents, I struggled to feel comfortable on Earth again and always felt like an outsider.
When she looked at me, something shifted behind her expression… doubt, but that was quickly chased away by her fake smile.
“What happened between you and Derrial, Corran, and Thane?” I asked. Yeah a low blow, but I wasn’t liking the way she mocked me as if she understood my life. I’d lost so much and barely kept it together most days.
She didn’t even warrant looking my way or responding, but pointed to something in the distance to a warehouse. “That’s where we’re going.” There was no heat in her voice, and her heart thumped steadily, but her smile sat crooked on her face.
Guilt skated over my mind because maybe here she was trying to do something nice in her own way and I brought up a hurtful past. Though she also threatened me in the cell… But she healed my bite marks in the first test and she didn’t need to. My arm didn’t drop off.
“I once read a quote that said, yesterday is gone. It’s a little something I try to tell myself everyday when I think of everything I’ve lost.”
“So you’re happy to move on from the past because you can’t do anything about it? That’s very defeatist,” she retorted.
“Not really. I don’t want to live with regret and always wishing I did something differently. I can only change my future.” As the words fell from my mouth, I wondered how much I truly followed this path since my parents were always on my mind, and I still drowned in the sorrow of what my supposed best friend, Cherry, did to me.
Zeni shrugged, not saying anything but hurrying her steps until we reached the side door of the steel gray building. She punched in a code into the security system on the wall, and the door slid open.
She grabbed my hand and dragged me inside, laughing. “You’re going to love this.”
We ran through an open space, our shoes thumping on the hard floor like gunshots, and we headed straight for a small spaceship. Black and slick, it was about the size of Corran’s first ship back on Earth.
Once we arrived, Zeni hit the controllers near the door and it slid upward before a set of stairs unfurled before us. She rushed inside and looked back at me, her face beaming with joy.
“Come on in.”
“What’s going on?” Nerves danced over my skin.
“Get in here, stop being so scared. I’m not going to kidnap you.” She laughed hysterically, except I wouldn’t put it past her.
Reluctantly I stepped inside, curious and needing to know what made her so excited and if I’d feel the same way once I found out.