Alien General's Baby (Brion Brides 7)(51)

So he'd accepted their unwelcome decision to come along with passive disinterest. Brions had no love for Uthers, but no hatred either. If they wanted to justly settle the score with the Chali, he wasn't going to stop them.#p#分页标题#e#

Unless they got in the way of his mission, of course. And the traders, for all he cared, deserved everything they got.

The only question that still needed an answer was the reason why the other Chali were rushing to Sinetha's aid. Did they come out of some sense of loyalty or to see her failed mission through with greater forces?

Braen would have bet the Benevolent he knew the truth of the matter, but the brewing conflict was not ultimately his business. Despite the region being in uproar, they still had a mission and nothing was going to stray him from that path. Especially not now, after Audrey and Naima had begun to fear for the lives of their unborn children.

In secret, the paladin commander Tieran had sent him a message concerning that.

It said: "You heard Audrey. You heard them both. After all this, the Fearless can't escape. We have this one chance to stop it forever.

“I trust in you, as Miss Jones seems to, but just like you are bound to be a true son of your world, so am I always a Palian first. So I must offer. Should the Fearless escape, don't let foolish pride detain you. I could muster an army to match yours and we would answer your call.

"One more thing, General, as one man to another. Audrey is weakening. She won't admit it, but I see the signs. I believe Miss Jones carries the same fierce Terran spirit that won't allow her to complain, but I urge you to be vigilant. For her sake, as well as the baby’s."

After that moment, Braen didn't let Naima out of his sight. Carefully, with hesitation first, he observed the little cues his gesha was giving him without knowing it herself, just like Tieran had warned.

He noticed the tiredness first. Whenever she was with him, it all washed away like sunlight pouring over a flower that had been in shadows for too long.

It was no wonder to the general he hadn't seen it before. Finding his fated, finally getting Naima to stay with him and accept the bond between them – it had blinded him to what she was still going through.

Once he would leave the room, Kerven would report the same Braen could see with his very own eyes when Naima wasn't aware he was nearby. And that was the undeniable fact that she was exhausted. Not physically, but mentally.

There was a strain in her that never truly ceased to torment her, perhaps only when they were so close together with Braen that they seemed to be one.

The fidgeting was another proof of her growing anxiety. As the Benevolent sailed closer to the planet Darius, Naima touched the glove on her wrist more and more. Small, subtle movements like brushing her fingers over the smooth surface became more frequent. She crossed her arms across her chest more often. Braen had never been so thankful for Palian technology and its wonders. His gesha was amazing and smart and gorgeous, but one thing was glaringly apparent.

If she'd still been wearing the bracelet, the Fearless would have broken through with barely a problem at this point. Even the lifestone seemed to have trouble holding the enemy at bay.

And finally there was the strand of white in her hair. When he'd met her, Naima had already been suffering the effects of the lifestone. The icy world the Fearless was on seeped through to her across space.

Audrey Price lived on a similar planet, but she was used to the cold. Naima, used to the warmth of the systems she usually visited, was not. On her, the shuddering was plain to see, especially when the general made sure the temperature in her room was kept more than a little hot.

Every time she shook from the cold that no one else could feel, the white in her hair spread a little further, forming delicate patterns like ice sculptures in the red curls.

It would have been absolutely breathtakingly beautiful if it wasn't so ominous.

The day they crossed over the border of the Darnetta system, practically on Darius' doorstep by galactic standards, Braen realized that the Fearless had struck one final blow to him before they came face to face again.

Naima was fading. Like a flower wilting in autumn, the light that usually shone through her was growing dimmer with every day.

She didn't ask for her quarters to be bright anymore, preferring the darkness that now ruled there.

The change was not immediate, but it was there. And one morning when Braen woke up next to her, cradling her in his arms, Naima's skin was so cold his heart stopped for moment before he heard her breathe.

He sent for breakfast, watching as Naima dressed. The dresses she had worn before to tease him were now gone completely, after a brief resurgence after they affirmed their bond, replaced by the uniform she'd come aboard with. She sat on the bed, pulling a soft blanket on her lap, and smiled sadly.#p#分页标题#e#

"I guess you noticed," she said, resting her head against the headboard.

"This morning, for one second, I thought you were dead," Braen replied, his voice shaking a little from the effort it took not to imagine something so unthinkable. "When were you going to tell me, my heart?"

"I don't know," Naima admitted with an apologetic smile. "At first I thought it was the pregnancy. You know, changes in my body and all that. I figured it was just different because you are a Brion. When the coldness crept back, I knew. It's astounding. It feels like my bones are ice."

"Is our baby alright?" the general asked with a frown. "There is no way to protect our child like we shield you."

"I think it is okay for now," Naima said, slowly caressing her belly. "As long as I'm fine, my baby is too. It's the life after birth that I'm worried about. I'm scared of so many things now, Braen. It's wearing me down and I think the Fearless knows it."

The general sat down next to her on their bed, the massive bulk of his armor pushing the mattress down so much Naima almost fell over the edge. She laughed, but Braen couldn't take his mind off her words. He pulled her into his arms, feeling her cool skin under his touch.

"What are you afraid of?" he asked quietly. "Tell me, so I can promise you everything will be alright."

To his surprise and horror, there were tears beading in the corners of Naima's eyes.

"Don't say that," she pleaded with him. "Every time you talk like that... I want it. I want all of it. All the crazy, awesome things you've promised me. To travel the stars and be a part of your world.

“To be your gesha like you've wanted. To take our baby to Briolina and Terra so our child could see both worlds we come from.

"But I – it's too good. Like a dream that I know might not actually happen, so I barely dare to hope. What if something happens to you? What if by the time my baby is born, there won't be a father? Or what if I can’t give you the child you so long for?"

Braen kissed her, feeling salty tears run down her cheeks and wet his lips as he pushed his hands deeper into her wild hair. He kissed her until she stopped trembling, holding her through the hopeless sobs.

"I will always be here," he promised, pressing a small kiss on her forehead, seeing the way a small smile dawned on her lips. "I've come to learn that Terran girls are hard to convince, but it is the truth. When we are together, nothing can conquer us."

"We're not all like that," Naima said, accepting his offer to joke her fears away. "You just landed yourself a suspicious one."

"I got the best one," Braen argued, claiming her lips again when she seemed to burst into tears once more. "Listen to me. This is the enemy, trying to break us apart when we're so close to the end. Feeding paranoia and terror into your mind, even by a little, step by step so you would think it's you who is giving up, but I know you. That's not what you want to do, is it?"

"No," his gesha admitted.

It sickened him to know that the lifestone was no longer protecting her as well as they’d all hoped. It meant that he would have to move even faster than he already was to handle the threat of the Fearless. The closer they got to the Fearless, the more Naima would suffer. Yet to leave her behind, defenseless, was equally as unthinkable.

"What do you want to do?" he asked.

Naima laughed, running her hand over his cheek and pulling at his hair softly. His body reacted at once to the tease, but the general resisted, knowing it was not lust his fated needed from him right then.

"I want to go and see how they are doing with the spear," she replied pensively. "Keep myself busy. You're right. It's a very annoying habit of yours. This is not me. I figured out how to protect my mind, knowing it might not be a permanent solution. I started the project of the weapon to kill the Fearless. I will go to the end, come what may."

"That's the woman I love," Braen said, pulling her closer to himself and holding her there despite the fact that his armor was registering a rapid drop of temperature.

"You are very easy to impress," Naima laughed, slowly disentangling herself from his grip and getting up.

The general didn't miss the fact that she took the blanket, keeping it around her shoulders for warmth in a room that was warm like summer.

"I assure you, I am not," he said, meaning it.

As the little Terran looked at him seriously, obviously noticing how his voice had lost its jesting tone, Braen fought himself. All he wanted was to shower her with oaths and magical stories of their future together. The plans he had for them, for the worlds they were going to visit, the people he wanted to introduce to her.#p#分页标题#e#