Vengeance might have located her family’s bodies. Astrid exchanged her long gun for a battle-ax, excitement bubbling inside her. The warrior clasped her free hand, linking their fingers together.
It was the most secure way to hold a hand, but it felt intimate, reassuring. She didn’t protest because her thoughts were on his find.
And because his grip on her felt right. But she didn’t have the time or the inclination to examine that. They might be freeing her loved ones’ souls this planet rotation, allowing them to fight in the Great Battle.
A tremendous wrong could be redressed.
The cyborg led her through the woods, his tread silent, sure. Light from Second Buoir’s solitary sun shone through the branches. Dewdrops glistened on the vegetation. The air smelled clean, fresh.
As they moved, the scent changed. The putrid aroma of death clung to the breeze. The planet’s unique soil slowed decomposition, partially mummifying bodies. That was why preparation was key. It allowed souls to leave bodies quickly.
Vengeance slowed as they neared the site. Astrid’s hands trembled. He squeezed her fingers, thankfully not commenting on that shameful show of weakness.
The terrain had sunk, creating a giant hole in the ground.
She looked over the edge.
Saw her mother’s preserved face. Her eyes were gone. Her skin was stretched tight over bone only. But her identity was unmistakable.
“Mamma.” She scrambled down the incline and fell to her knees beside the corpse.
Her mother’s skin resembled leather, the scar on her forehead still vivid. Her hair was thin and fragile, twined into the fighting braids of her clan. The predator tooth from her mother’s first kill still hung around her neck.
Her mother never took that off. Astrid had played with the tooth while seated on her lap as a child. Train harder and you’ll earn your own soon, her mother had promised her.
She had trained harder and had eventually earned her own tooth. Both of her parents had been so proud, beaming at her, their warrior daughter.
Now they were lost to her. So was her tooth, the item disappearing in battle solar cycles ago. A wave of sorrow swept over Astrid, as fresh, as acute as the planet rotation her loved ones died.
Mourning the fallen was an act of selfishness. They would be moving to the next place, fighting in the Great Battle. That should a cause for celebration, not sadness.
She clutched her mother’s bony hand, struggling to control her emotions, to hold back her tears.
Vengeance gazed at her with a blank expression, one she’d seen on many cyborgs’ countenances during combat. He didn’t say anything, didn’t do anything, simply stood beside her.
His proximity was enough. He calmed her, giving her strength, allowing her to contain her grief.
Once her anguish dissipated, and her rational thought returned, she looked around them. There were other bodies. She spotted one of her brothers, her father, an aunt. Had they located all of her family? Could Siv, her baby sister, be buried there too?
“We should lay out the corpses.” She waved at a bare patch of ground, her voice husky with unexpressed sentiment. “We can prepare them quicker that way.” And she could note which members of her clan they’d found.
“Pass them to me.” Vengeance held out his arms. “I’ll lay them out.”
“This is my mamma.” She carefully gathered the remains, and transferred her mother to his hold, trusting him to handle her beloved parent. “There wasn’t a human in the universe who could defeat her in a dagger fight.”
“Cyborgs aren’t human.” He gently set her mother’s body on the ground.
“That’s why she’s dead, why they’re all dead.” She gripped her eldest brother’s corpse. “My kinfolk were the fiercest human fighters in the universe.” She transferred her brother to Vengeance. “When they refused to side with the Humanoid Alliance, the Humanoid Alliance sent the only warriors who could defeat them.”
“They sent my brethren.” He placed her brother next to her mother. “That’s why you hate us.”
That’s why she should hate him. “If a warrior’s soul isn’t properly released from her body, she is trapped on the planet, forced to remain close to her corpse.” She conveyed her father’s body to the cyborg. “That’s who led you here, my family’s ghosts.”
She’d been searching for their remains since she arrived on the planet. He’d been on the surface for mere planet rotations.
Yet her loved ones had chosen him as their conduit.
They wouldn’t have led an enemy, a warrior they reviled, to the site where their bodies laid. Her loved ones had trusted Vengeance to correct the wrong done to them, had selected him to help give them peace.
Their message was clear. They had forgiven the cyborg and his brethren for killing them, for trapping them in this world.
She should do the same thing. It was time to set her hate aside and end her private war against Vengeance’s kind.
“I didn’t see any ghosts.” The warrior’s honesty was irritating yet admirable. “I was triggering all of your traps, trying to prevent you from ending your lifespan.”
“I was attempting to end your lifespan.” Her cheeks heated. “My death would have been an unfortunate repercussion of doing that.”
“You can’t end my lifespan.” His lips curled upward. “You’re too slow.”
“Projectiles are fast.” But she no longer wished to kill him. “This is my father’s sister. She once defeated four male warriors in one bout.”
Their fingers touched as she slid her aunt’s body into his outstretched arms. A spark traveled through her from her fingertips to her toes.
Without her hate to shield her, her awareness, her need for the male had intensified. That was dangerous because he still viewed her as his enemy, vowing to capture her.
“I recently defeated four cyborg warriors in a training bout.” Vengeance set her aunt beside her father. “They were D Models.”
“They were superior models, and you defeated them,” she taunted. “That’s impressive.”
“C Models have no superiors in battle.” He scowled.
“You have no superiors among cyborgs.” She clutched a cousin’s body close to her chest. “This is my Aunt’s eldest son. I saw him down a cyborg before I lost consciousness.”
“That cyborg wasn’t a C Model.” Vengeance grasped her cousin’s corpse. “And he wasn’t me.”
“No, he wasn’t you.” She admitted. There was no other warrior like him. “He was more advanced—an E Model.”
They exchanged gibes as they worked. She shared tidbits about the beings they handled, most of her information revolving around their battle skills. Vengeance relayed stories about how he’d used those skills during fights.
The conversation helped her control her grief.
Until they uncovered the last corpse. It was half buried in the soil.
Astrid swallowed hard, tilted her face upward to contain her tears, swallowed again. They’d found Siv.
“Children and babies.” Vengeance’s voice was soft.
“I can’t.” She stood, her arms and legs shaking, her eyes stinging. “I—”
“I’ll do it, my female.” The warrior gathered Siv’s tiny body in his huge arms, cradling her next to his chest, his careful handling of her baby sister’s remains almost undoing Astrid. He set her on the other side of her mother.
She wouldn’t be alone during the ritual.
Astrid clasped her battle-ax. She should explain the next step. Not understanding the logic behind it, he might view it as barbaric, harsh, unfeeling. But she couldn’t speak the words, her throat clogged with sorrow.
She started with her cousin. “Fight well.” She slammed the battle-ax down on his chest again and again, slicing through mummified skin, cracking ribs, her muscles straining with the effort.
Her cousin’s soul was now free. He would rise into the sky, fight in the Great Battle.
She was conscious of her cyborg’s gaze on her, couldn’t look at him. Sadness swelled within her.
She moved to her uncle. “Fight well.” She did the same with that body, ensuring the chest was cleaved open, his soul exposed. Each strike of the blade drew more pain from her, her grief, her loss funneled into the destruction.
As she performed the ritual on the bodies, her tears fell, and the words became a battle cry, her heartache turning into a raging flow of heated emotion. Her heart ached, her muscles tired, and her voice grew hoarse.
Despair gripped her. She had to complete the rituals, couldn’t delay her loved ones’ ascent one more moment. The warriors had been trapped within their decaying bodies for too long already, alone, separated from their clan.
But there were so many corpses, and only one being to perform the ritual.
As she positioned herself by her youngest brother’s body, warmth pressed against her back. Vengeance’s fingers covered hers, his arms wrapping around her form, a hard wall of muscle supporting her weight.
“Fight well.” His voice rang out, strong and true.
She echoed the words. He helped her lift the battle-ax, guided it as it fell.
Relief rushed through her. With his assistance, she could do this, she could give all of her loved ones peace, reunite them for the Great Battle.
She leaned on the cyborg more and more, relying on the firmness in his physique, the strength in his form. Her chest heaved with sobs. Her eyes burned with tears.
Siv’s was final body. Her mother, father, and brothers would be waiting for her baby sister on the battlefield. Knowing Mamma, she’d have Siv’s little weapons sharpened and ready.
“Fight well.” Astrid could barely choke the words out.
Vengeance helped her raise the battle-ax. Her arms were a quivery mass of mush. Siv’s body was so small; it only took two strikes to free her soul.
Her baby sister was gone. Astrid released a wail, the pain unbearable.
The cyborg took the battle-ax from her, tossed it to the side, turned her within the circle of his arms.
“Don’t.” She pounded her fists against his chest. “Don’t look at me.” She didn’t want him to see her this way, overcome with sadness, weak and tearstained.
“Shhh…” He pressed her face against him. “I’m not looking at you, my female.”
That kindness from him, her former enemy, made her weep harder. She cried and cried, wetting his gray skin, her shoulders shaking with the force of her loss.
She was truly alone on this damn planet now. All of the ghosts were gone. It was only her.
And him, her cyborg. He stroked her hair, holding her.
Her grief didn’t dissipate, but it quieted, settling deep in her soul. She sniffled. “You must think I’m insane.”
“We’ve verified your kinfolk are dead.”
“That wasn’t the purpose of the ritual.” She frowned, his comment distracting her from her sorrow. “Our souls reside in the center of our bodies. To set them free, we must open our loved ones’ chests. Their souls can then escape, and they join their kinfolk in the Great Battle.”
Not every warrior knew the importance of freeing the fallen’s souls. She’d discovered that on the battlefield, when she’d split open dead friends’ chests. Others had looked at her with horror.
They didn’t know, hadn’t been raised in a warrior culture, as she had been.
“The Humanoid Alliance, when they decommissioned my brethren, sliced open their chests.” Vengeance shared, his voice quiet.
The Humanoid Alliance were terrible beings, but at least they killed the cyborgs correctly. “Then your brethren are fighting in the Great Battle, alongside their kinfolk.”
“I question the logic of the Great—”
She covered his lips with her fingers. “Belief doesn’t require logic.”
Lines appeared between his eyebrows.
“Some things you simply feel. Here.” She moved her hands to his chest, positioning them over his heart. “As a warrior, you should know that. You must have sensed danger, been unable to explain why.”
“A cyborg’s senses are highly advanced.” He placed his hands over hers, his palms rough, warm. “We detect small details humans don’t.”
She gazed up at him. “Do you have an explanation for everything?”
“No, not everything.” His eyes glowed.
He was referring to the connection between them, the attraction neither of them could resist. She had no explanation for that either, had never felt it with another male.
Only him.
“You cared deeply for the small warrior.” He rubbed his thumbs over her cheeks, easing the tightness in her skin. “Was she your offspring?”
“Siv was my sister, and she had only four solar cycles.” She lowered her gaze to his chin, remembering how her sister would toddle toward her, her chubby arms outstretched, a wooden dagger clutched in one hand, a smile on her baby face. “I was to train her, had started the process when we were invaded.”
“Cyborgs are fully mature after one solar cycle.” Vengeance traced the length of her nose, navigating the bumps there. “Our training is…harsh. We are decommissioned for any failure. Some of my brethren didn’t survive it.”
She winced. “Our training is severe, but not that harsh. I was teaching Siv to hold her daggers.” And not suck on the tips. “She had a strong grip, would have become the consummate warrior, brought honor to our clan.”
“Like her older sister.” His voice warmed.
She swallowed, her emotion threatening to overcome her again. “When your brethren attacked, Siv joined us in that battle.”
She had wanted to hide her sister away in the woods, protect her from the approaching enemy, but Siv was a member of the Buoir clan, as she was. They were both warriors. Astrid couldn’t deny her the opportunity to fight with her kinfolk.
“She met them with real daggers in her hands. Her battle cry was adorable. She—” Her voice broke.
“She faced her enemy with courage.” Vengeance cupped her chin, lifting her gaze to his.
“Your brethren killed her quickly.” She saw the first projectile hit her sister, right between her eyes. “She would have felt little pain.”
The cyborgs had followed orders, but hadn’t reveled in the deaths. She looked up at him.
And he, a cyborg, had found their bodies, allowed her to free their souls.
He pressed his lips to her forehead. “She is now fighting in the Great Battle alongside your kinfolk.”
“You don’t believe in the Great Battle.” She wrinkled her forehead. Was he humoring her?
“I question the logic of the Great Battle. I didn’t say I don’t believe in it.”
She didn’t know the difference between the two statements, but she didn’t press him for an explanation. Believing in the Great Battle gave her peace, and she didn’t want that taken away from her.
Not after losing so many other things.
She gazed at the corpses. “We have to rebury them.” If they didn’t, the animals might disturb the bodies. “There’s a digging tool in my domicile.”
“I’ll retrieve it.” His big form blurred, Vengeance moving at cyborg speed.
“I’ll stay here.” She said that to no one, feeling useless.
Her private purpose for being on the planet—to find the bodies of her kinfolk—had been fulfilled. The official reason for remaining—to guard a planet no one truly wanted—didn’t appeal to her. Without her loved ones, Second Buoir wasn’t her home.
Her cyborg returned with the digging tool. “Are we fabricating one hole or multiple?”
“They are my family. They lived together, fought together. They’d want to be buried the same way.”
They had each other. She had one surly cyborg.
She watched him as he worked, the soil flying, the muscles in his partially healed back rippling, his jaw jutting in determination. He was digging so quickly; she’d merely get in his way.
And she was exhausted, physically, emotionally. “I don’t think I can kill you this planet rotation.”
She couldn’t kill him any planet rotation, but she kept that information to herself. He already had too much leverage over her.
“Rest, my female.” The warrior threw dirt over his shoulder. “You can attempt to kill me later.”
“And you will attempt to capture me.” She jutted her jaw.
“I will capture you.” He jumped out of the huge hole he’d created. “But first, we’ll cleanse ourselves.” He swiped at the soil clinging to him. All that action did was grind it into his skin. “And we’ll fuck.”
He was hard. Her gaze lowered. “You find digging holes arousing?”
“I find you arousing.” He set the digging tool aside, reached for Siv’s body.
“Mamma first.” She stepped toward him. “I don’t want Siv to be alone.”
He complied with her instructions, transferring her mother first, then tucking Siv’s body close to her. Astrid fussed over each corpse, arranging them in the most comfortable pose possible. Her family’s souls had departed, but she didn’t want their bodies stressed.
And she wanted them to know, if they were watching her, she cared. “What do cyborgs do to honor their fallen?”
He paused, her father’s corpse in his arms. “We avenge our brethren, if that is possible.” He resumed the transfer.
“That’s it?” She lifted her eyebrows. “You don’t remember them in any way?”
“We’re cyborgs.” His tone held arrogance. “We never forget anyone or anything.”
“Humans don’t forget their loved ones either.” She frowned, adjusting her aunt’s right arm. The older female held her sword with that hand, would want it close to her hip. “But we carve the names of our warriors who have died in battle in stone so every being viewing it, human, humanoid, cyborg, clan or not, will know they are worthy of being remembered.”
He turned his head and looked at her. “I would like to see this stone.”
He would like to read the names of her loved ones. Her heart warmed.
She was no longer his enemy but… “You’re my enemy.” She reminded both of them.
“I’m not your enemy this planet rotation.” His blue eyes blazed with energy. “We have agreed upon a temporary peace, my female.”
Had they agreed upon that? She straightened. He wouldn’t capture her, and she wouldn’t have to guard against his attacks.
Her heart would be fully exposed. She was already susceptible to him. A connection hummed between them. His nanocybotics fizzed inside her. Her body responded to the possessiveness in his voice, craved his touch.
Her gaze traveled down his muscular form. Nothing was hidden from her, her cyborg gloriously nude, a warrior in his prime, a weapon without equal.
Her mouth dried and her toes curled in her boots. For a planet rotation, he could be hers, all hers.
“This armistice is a bad idea.” She felt that in her gut. They were taking a step that couldn’t be reversed, striking a blow that could cause permanent pain.
“It’s in place.” Vengeance laid the last corpse in the ground. “Resign yourself to it.”