Hello and thank you for your patience! Endings are always the hardest, but I think we got there. I enjoyed writing this world and consider this the ending 'for now.' I have been toying with some ideas for prequels and definitely sequels esp. featuring Iona, so that will likely be my next project when I have the time. Thank you so much for sticking around and all the notes (though some were quite impatient :) )
Fair warning that this last chapter is light on the sexy bits (which is why I had such a time finishing) but there just wasn't a place for them in the pace and mood I was going for.
~~
Zoe tugged Iona after her through the utilitarian cargo ship. She thought of it as HER ship after the days she and Aegis had spent on it together and her time learning to rewire it. She forced her eyes to avoid certain spots that held memories. A corner where Aegis had pinned her to the wall and fucked her. The little lounge where he'd laid her down and forced orgasm after orgasm from her with his urgent tongue. The cockpit where she'd crept up on him and took his cock into her mouth as he stared out into the endless stars. She supposed every inch of the ship actually held dangerous memories she couldn't dwell on now.
Coming to one of the small cabins, she tapped at the door, glancing down over to Iona and giving her a tight smile. "Come in," Keeper's muffled voice called through the door.
Zoe pushed open the door to find Keeper bent over the small desk in the corner of the room. His dark green wings twitched at his back, obscuring whatever he was doing at the table. Zoe paused for a moment, examining the old Oathkeeper. He was the oldest one she'd seen, though all the others had mostly been in passing. Or when she was surrounded by a myriad of them in the Oasis...but she'd been a bit distracted during the gala. The dark green wings looked frail and she wondered if he could still even fly with them. Keeper turned in his chair, his milky eyes blinking as he sent his mind questing.
"Ahh, the two humans. Perfect. We'll need to get ramp up your dosage to catch you up to your schedule, Zoe. How many days have you missed your pill so far?" he asked and Zoe noticed the desk was covered in several pill containers.
"I..." her original purpose in seeking him out forgotten for the moment, Zoe's hand flew to her stomach. She counted the days aboard the Silent Maiden. All but the last day and the day she and Iona had spent in flight she'd skipped the pills. "I think only two or three," she said, stepping toward him and beginning to rub her stomach on concern. "Will that hurt the baby?"
"No, it shouldn't. The hard work's already been done at this point," he gave her a sheepish smile. "The ongoing treatment now will be to help your body withstand the pregnancy."
"Withstand?" Zoe asked skeptically.
Keeper cocked his head. "Perhaps not the right choice of words. Weather the pregnancy. Endure it? I anticipate it being a bit harder on the fragile human body than a normal pregnancy. But you've already felt the effects of the treatment. Improved metabolism and recovery. All around increased efficiency. Of course, this is the first so, who knows? Perhaps your body will reject it still or collapse under the strain..." he shrugged.
Iona gave a little gasp beside her and Keeper's head jerked to the other woman like a snake. "And you, yes. We'll get you started on the first round to prepare for fertilization."
"What!?" Zoe and Iona both barked out.
Keeper sat back, his head cocking this way and that as he pondered their reactions. "I'd thought that's why you brought her, Zoe? And you seemed pleased with the attention from Wing and Scout earlier?" he finally asked, puzzlement wrinkling his already wrinkled face.
Zoe twitched and glanced to Iona. The familiar blush raced up Iona's cheeks, leaving her face red with embarrassment as she avoided Zoe's eyes. Zoe set her mouth in a hard line and looked back to Keeper. "She's not taking it if she doesn't want to. But yes, let's get me restarted."
Keeper frowned, but turned back to the little desk and deftly began dropping pills into one of the containers. "Of course. Aegis says she's a free human so she's a free human." He turned back to Zoe and thrust the little container to her. As she peered inside at the large white pills she felt Keeper's irritation needle at her. "You know about Aegis's mother I presume?" he asked softly.
Zoe's hand clenched around the container as she glanced back up to him. "I do, a bit. Yes." She furrowed her brow, trying to understand this strange turn in the conversation.
"Zenith. She was the great beauty of her time. Moreso even than her elder sister Dawn, Paragon and Bastion's mother. Zenith was the youngest of the Gilded that were left after the Glory. There were so many plans for how to utilize her bloodline to repopulate Gilded. Of course, we know none of those came to fruition. She fell in love with Scythe, general of all the Onyx, right hand of Zenith's father. It was a great scandal, as you can imagine."
Zoe swallowed. She didn't know why Keeper chose to tell her this story now, but she leaned toward him, dying to hear more. Beside her, she sensed Iona perking in curiosity as well. "Aegis called her Oathbreaker."
Keeper laughed. "Yes, they did call her that, a last-ditch attempt to try to force her to accept some of their breeding plans. At the time, there were several Gilded males that were itching to put a baby in her belly. Anything to produce another Gilded female."
"What Oath was it she broke?"
"Oh, who knows? Gilded were always so secretive. I imagine something about keeping our bloodline pure. Ensuring Gilded rules the stars for eternity."
"Eternity is a long time," Iona finally spoke up. Zoe was surprised to find Iona dropping onto the narrow bunk against the wall, apparently getting comfortable to hear a story from Keeper. Zoe found herself dropping down next to her and waiting for Keeper to go on.
"It is a long time, too long. Paragon knew this." Keeper trailed off, his faded eyes staring at something from his past. After several long moments he blinked, shaking himself to the present. "You understand how we're born? How only a Gilded female can bear Gilded or Onyx?"
Zoe nodded.
"It's the trick of our biology. Only one child can be born to a single pairing. And even then it's not guaranteed that if Gilded mates with Gilded that they'll produce another Gilded, they could have the bad luck of having an Onyx or even a Bronze. Such is how Bastion was born. Dawn had several other children with the remaining Gilded males after the Glory, but as you know, no other Gilded were born." He chuckled. "Zenith thought it hilarious. She called it their curse and became even more steadfast in her refusal to mate with another Gilded, like her sister. She turned to the Onyx Scythe to keep her other suitors from her and that is when they fell in love, and then Aegis was born. The last child of a Gilded female."
Zoe blinked, trying to imagine the world of these ancient people. It seemed so ridiculous. Only one child could be born to a set of parents. Ever? She realized she still rubbed at her belly. "So that's why you need us. Paragon thought to create a new...what? More flexible race?" She laughed bitterly.
"Essentially. Though, when I first began my research, when Paragon was still quite young, I was initially trying to create a therapy for our own people. Of course," he again chuckled, thoroughly enjoying his rapt audience. "When Paragon found out he threw me in the dungeons for weeks. He said Oathkeepers were perfect and that it was a sin to meddle. You can imagine my surprise when he arrived one day with questions about this species he'd been studying on a little planet across the galaxy. From there...you can fill in the rest." He grinned and Zoe wanted to smack the smug smile from his face.
"So it was wrong to toy with Oathkeeper DNA but not mine? Not humans?" she grated out.
Keeper shrugged. "You were little more than animals. Tied to your own tiny planet and solar system still. Think of it as a gift, we're helping your evolution along. Essentially."
"Zenith was right. You all deserved to go extinct. You can't even see how twisted and selfish you are."
To her surprise, Keeper again shrugged. "Perhaps. But you're living proof that my work is a success. When your little golden child--"
"The child could be Aegis's. I hope Gilded is gone forever," she snapped. She wondered, could she love it if it was indeed Paragon's? The extent of his callousness shook her. But the child in her was half her own blood. And technically related to Aegis through his and Paragon's mothers. She shook her head. Keeper had distracted her. There wasn't time for this.
~~
Aegis snapped closed his gauntlet and glanced out the viewport. The lead ship in Bastion's fleet was growing larger. Closer and closer he sped. He'd already hailed them, though they thought this still just Scout and Wing on their scouting mission. When he boarded in his full battle armor, they would know what he'd come for. He could only guess as to how Bastion would treat him. If he were truly as depraved as Zoe thought, he'd have Aegis killed as soon as he boarded the ship. But Onyx honor was a force of nature itself. He couldn't imagine all his brothers turning on the oaths of thousands of years.
And yet...the vision of Bastion with Paragon's golden head in his hands left Aegis nauseated. Bastion had already turned against his brother. Would the rest of Onyx go with him? The formal challenge of one Onyx against another. That was sacred.
Aegis guided the scouting ship into the cruiser's docking web.
~
Stepping from his sleek ship onto the flight deck, Aegis felt the ripple of surprise from the scurrying Oathkeepers that filled the space. Most were Garnets with a Sapphire engineers scattered about. He swept his eyes over the group and like when he'd met Beam and her Ivory crew, sensed their excitement at seeing him. As Wing and Scout promised, the lower colors hoped he was their chance at avoiding war.
