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Alina swallowed the lump growing in her throat and batted at something in her eye. She didn’t really know what to say. She was finally getting some concession from Kaia Halena, but it didn’t come with the sort of satisfaction it would’ve just weeks ago.
“I was going to Upload too,” Kaia murmured, looking down at her hands folded atop her propped-up knee.
“You?” Alina nearly choked on the word. She stared as Kaia sucked her lower lip between her teeth and issued a curt nod at her hands.
“To keep a promise,” she said. “But then you were right about other things too.”
Alina frowned, trying to decipher the words. “What do you mean?”
She did suspect, just a tiny bit, what Kaia might tell her next. It was enough to make her pulse quicken and her breath to hold. The suspicion grew when Kaia glanced over at Threxin once more, hesitating before finally leaning closer to Alina and barely whispering the admission: “I’m pregnant.”
Alina bit back a stupid smile and a big told you so. What was she supposed to do now? Congratulate her? Was she even happy? She wasn’t smiling. Instead, her gaze was fixed on Threxin, a frown denting her brow.
“When did you find out?”
“Two days ago. Your guess was… premature. It’s not far along. Quite the coincidence, huh?” Kaia huffed out a shaky laugh.
“Yeah…”
“Look,” she said, finally, looking Alina in the eye. “He’s going to find out eventually. Is he going to hurt this baby?”
Alina’s first instinct wasof fucking course not.
But would he?Threxin’s priority was still keeping command ofColossaland, later, their new planet. Would he see Orion’s heir as a threat to his leadership?
“I won’t let him,” Alina insisted, her hand hovering over Kaia’s for a moment before remembering touch wasn’t exactly a form of comfort for her. “Is it okay if I talk to him? He’ll listen if I ask, I promise.”
Alina was so sure Kaia was going to reject the proposition and shut her down, only her head bobbed in a series of nods instead. “I saw the change in Threxin once he got the NS. I saw how he listens to you. If anyone can keep him from doing something horrible to this baby, it’s you. So yeah… please talk to him.”
This was it, Alina realized. The first time ever that Kaia Halena had actually trusted her with something real. A few weeks ago she’d have been ecstatic, redoubled her efforts to keep that little flame of connection going.
Alina looked to the man—the alien—who had given her his confidence before he even really knew her. Who relied on her from the beginning, even when she was supposed to be his enemy. That was what real trust was supposed to look like. She watched Kaia as she stared down at her hands again, wringing her fingers. She hoped to help her stop worrying assoon as she spoke to Threxin. There was one thing, though, that could make the job of convincing Threxin that Kaia and Orion’s child would be no threat difficult.
“And your plan?” Alina brought her voice lower still, barely mouthing the question. Kaia’s broadcast had already been sent out. If someone were to respond, it was out of Kaia’s hands.
She scoffed. “Clearly didn’t come to shit. And when Orion found out he was furious.”
“You mean he didn’t know?” How could Kaia not have told him she had this big scheme going to get him back in command?
“He saw it the way you did… There was no way it was working out without some or all of us dying. I thought I had no other choice,” Kaia pressed her mouth into a thin line. “But there’s always a choice, and even more of them now, thanks to you. You were a good assistant, Alina. I know I wasn’t what you’d hoped for, but?—”
“Kaia, please shut up.” Alina cough-laughed through a sudden sob, tossing her bangs in her face. She acknowledged the tendril of foreign concern seeping into her mind and stroked it away.
I’m fine,she subcommunicated to Threxin.
We’re all going to be fine.
CHAPTER 57
THREXIN
Kaia Halena’s pregnancy made everything simpler. She would remain an annoying needle in Threxin’s side, but knowing any attempt at rebellion would endanger her child would deter her from doing anything stupid. He understood humans were very attached to their young, perhaps almost as much as uhyre.
And now his human-kin had even more reason to not fuck everything up. Not only was his beloved female’s life on the line, but that of his unborn child.
His Alina had told him they had been worried that Threxin would think the child a threat.
He couldn’t imagine why, considering if Orion Halen indeed guided him to the promised planet, who had command ofColossalwould no longer matter. And if Orion Halen tried to play tricks and the planet ended up being a lie to delay his doom… Well, then it would not matter because his female and offspring would be the first to die.
