As if on cue, my stomach rumbled in response, and Surkah chuckled.
“I wanted to have food brought to this room, but the shipmaster would like for you to be immersed into the population aboard the Ebony, so you aren’t confined. And as you’re not wounded any longer, you will no longer need to stay in the medical bay.”
My heart jumped, but I made sure to keep my expression even. I didn’t need Surkah suspecting that I was planning to escape the second I got a weapon and the chance presented itself. Getting out of the medical room would surely open me up to many chances.
“Um,” I said, gnawing on my lower lip. “I don’t know.”
Being in a room full of humans was not something I ever wanted to be a part of but being in a room full of humans and Maji even more so. There was no way I could escape if eyes were all around me. Especially Maji eyes. They didn’t seem to miss a thing, and I hated that.
Surkah placed her hand on my shoulder. “I will not let anyone harm you, Nova.”
I didn’t trust Surkah. I knew she and the other Maji were up to something, but I felt conflicted because she didn’t seem to be malicious. My gut told me she was the genuine female she appeared to be, but I couldn’t overlook that she and the other Maji were keeping something from me.
“Okay,” I said softly.
“Oh, and I want you to know that I disagree with what Mikoh said yesterday. Your name is beautiful.”
My lips twitched. “You’re very sweet, thank you.”
“He can be very … difficult to deal with.”
“I’m sure you’re putting that mildly.” I deadpanned.
“Maji is a male dominant race, so it’s ingrained in them to be stubborn, I guess.”
“I kind of feel bad for you since you have to marry him.”
“Do not feel bad. Mikoh is a dominant male, but a male’s mate is really the Maji who is in charge. When Mikoh and I mate, he will do everything in his power to see that I am happy, and he will grovel when I am not. If he makes a decision I am not happy with, he would only do it once it’s for our family’s best interest.”
That drew a surprised laugh out of me. “That sounds like human men, the grovelling part anyway.”
Surkah smirked. “Males will use mating as a way to make us forgive them. We love touching one another and need sex often, so when a female is upset with her mate, he will go to great lengths to be close to her and be endearing and gentle. Females have so much power over her mate; she is his heart, so he will do just about anything for her.”
My heart fluttered.
“That’s so romantic,” I said. “In a weird, sexy alien kind of way.”
“I was once told a story by my eldest brother, Ryla, that I think you would enjoy.” Surkah giggled. “Nearly forty-two years ago, my papa greatly upset my muma because he missed a planned meal with her. It was the four-hundredth and fifty-fifth year of their mating, and he missed it. Ryla told me she cried a lot, and it distraught him and my other brothers who wanted to beat Papa for bringing her pain.”
She shook her head, amused.
“When Papa got home, and he realised the day, he went almost as white as your skin. He tried to make it right, but Muma refused to talk to him for three whole weeks. She withheld sex from him—even though she went into heat towards the end of the second week, she somehow held strong against the pain of her uva. Papa took it as a respected male and waited for her permission to touch her. The final straw for him was when Muma smiled at other males during the monthly banquet meal between the royals and the Guard. He dropped to his knees before her in the great hall, in front of everyone, and begged her forgiveness because her smiles were only meant for him, and he hated that another could receive them. He poured out his heart to her and told her there was no other female he would rather spend all of his days with. They conceived me that very night.”
I smiled widely. “I like that story.”
“Me too; it reminds me that when I want to throttle Mikoh, he will treat me like that too. Soon enough, I will become his whole life, and he will become mine.”
I eyed Surkah. “I know he is your intended and has been forever, but do you want him to be?”
She didn’t reply to me with words, but instead, she blushed, and that was a clear answer to me.
“You do!” I gasped. “You like him.”
Her blush darkened.
“Do not tell him,” she pleaded in a hushed whisper. “He would never let me forget it.”
“I won’t say a word.”
“Do you think he is attractive?” she asked then quickly added, “I will not be angry with your answer.”
The thought of the Maji being attractive never crossed my mind, but I didn’t think of Mikoh when I thought of what I found attractive in a Maji. I was thinking of Kol with his tall, muscular body, his strong jaw, high cheekbones, plump lips, and his large, hypnotising violet eyes. Yeah, the Maji was an attractive species, and Kol was hotter in ways I never knew were possible.
“I think he is very attractive,” I said to Surkah, switching my thoughts to Mikoh, “but his attitude needs a lot of work.”
Surkah laughed merrily. “I tell him that often. He is too serious.”
“And sarcastic.”
Surkah nodded, smiling wide.
“I really like this,” she told me. “I have been waiting for my brothers to mate so I could have a sister-in-mate to talk to. It can get very tiresome in a family full of males.”
“I haven’t had anyone to really talk to since my father died, but before my family passed away, I was surrounded by men, so I understand how you feel.”
Conversation with my father had only been short and sweet after Zee died, but for the two extra days I had with him before the sickness claimed him, I talked to him all of the time even though I knew he probably couldn’t hear me. Him just being there was enough.
Surkah reached over and pressed her hand on top of mine, startling me from my thoughts.
“I hurt for you, Nova.” She frowned. “I feel pain just thinking about my papa passing. I cannot fathom my life after him, so I truly hurt for you.”
Don’t cry.
I cleared my throat. “Thanks, Surkah, but I’m okay. I’ll see him again someday.”
“How?”
“In Heaven.”
“I’ve never heard of a planet called Heaven. Is it recently discovered?”
“It’s not a planet, but my father is there.”
“Is he not dead?”
“He is.”
“Then how will you see him again on a planet that does not exist? I am very confused.”
I laughed.
“Heaven is a belief,” I informed Surkah. “I believe my father is with the Almighty in Heaven. It is one of many old beliefs on Earth—”
“Oh!” Surkah cut me off excitedly. “Your Almighty is to you what my Thanas is to me. He is the keeper and protector of Maji and ruler of the Beyond. When our bodies die, our spirit goes to be with Thanas to assist him in protecting the people and Ealra. If we lead a bad life and do awful things that Thanas cannot overlook then we spend entirety with Kuat, the ruler of the Underworld.”
“If we do bad things in life that cannot be repented, we go to the Devil, the ruler of Hell. Our beliefs are much alike.”