Monsters

Chapter 4 - REYN

Reyn growled dismissively to her comment, it was despicable that she would backpedal now that his father was present. The use of the dreaded word monster also served to make his blood boil but instead he grabbed her arm digging his claws into her soft and vulnerable skin. 
"You may speak to me however you wish but you will show my father the respect he deserves." He shoved her to her knees not so gently and smacked her face hard. "Lessers do not look the General in his eyes." His blue-green eyes returned to his father's stern green gaze. 

"She is indeed a threat. Look at her, half us and half them." He spat at the very idea of the humans messing with the genes of one of their own. "She has to be valuable to them. Or perhaps a test for us." The general stayed quiet for a long moment before he hooked a claw under the woman's chin and forced her to look him in the eyes."Well girl. Do the humans care for you? Are they going to be coming through our forest looking for you?" His accent was thicker than his sons, but his English was much better. He'd been dealing with human prisoners since before either his son or this human had been alive. Most of those interactions had come to the end with death.

Nova's eyes grew dark at the question. With the males claw digging into the base of her chin she had no choice but to stare into his green unforgiving gaze. Her face still stung from the hit she'd received from his son. Her cheek already beginning to swell.

 "I supposed they care for me if you consider beating, rape, and torture caring." She spat, a frown cementing her features, "and as far as if they're going to be tramping through your forest, well, " she paused, taking a breath as she gathered her thoughts, "As far as I know I'm the only beast let from the cage, and the others cannot come less they have their white suits." She was low on her usefulness, and his father could sense it. His dark green eyes did nothing but sing her death to her. "But." She said, a small cruel smile playing on her lips "If you are truly scared they may come to take your people. Why don't you go to them instead? Infiltrate their home, and show them you are not a force to be reckoned with. I lived in the domed capital. I can help you."

The general released the girl as fast as he had captured her. Reyn watched him carefully, but his face revealed nothing. He just tapped a claw on the stone pillar as if lost in thought. Reyn knew exactly what it would mean to the general if he were the one to hand the last human city over to the king. The king would make his father the richest Male on this planet. His name would echo through eternity. An Adovi could never have wished for more than that. 

"Make sure no harm comes to the girl. I have quite a few things to think on, my son."  He didn't even wait for Reyn to respond he merely left them both glaring at each other on the porch. The servants rushed to greet Reyn but recoiled at the sight and smell of the woman. 

"Bathe her. Dress her. Then have her sent up to my apartments," Reyn growled giving her one more long look of disgust before he left her with the servant. He stomped up the stairs to his rooms trying to push every thought of this whole mess from his mind. At least for a little while longer. The small Adovi woman smiled apprehensively as she helped Nova to her feet and ushered her down the stairs in the opposite direction. 

Following the path through the garden Reyn made his way back to his apartments. He'd had them built a little over a year ago. Since he and his father could no long cohabitate without being at each other's throats 24/7. Reyn often had the aching feeling his father was starting to see him as a threat. He was proud of course. He wanted his son to be a great general one day, and until that day he intended to keep his son in check. Reyn allowed it, after all he was a bastard. He had no rightful claim to anything. It was only his father's good graces that kept him in line for his titles and his lands. If he so wished, his father could denounce him at any time. This was the reason that Reyn's surname remained Ward and not Vereanson. He unlocked the door to his home with the keys he kept around his neck, and slipped inside shutting it behind him. 

He ignored the movement of the servants and made his way through the hall to his room. The smell of pine greeted him as he pushed open his bedroom. He grabbed his book from its stand and was instantly buried into the book, as he did most days. A small rap on the door had him sighing. He gathered himself and pushed the leather bound book onto the arm of the chair before he rose and slunk to the door.

Reyn had changed into more comfortable clothes, and as soon as he saw the way Adovi clothes hung on the small woman's frame he almost wished he hadn't, but he swung the door open anyways and threw out his arm. "As long as my father wills it, my home is also yours." He shut the ash wood door behind her and led her into his bedchamber. He smoothed out the comforter and picked up all the pillows and tossed them back on the bed. This was the only room on the estate that he never let the servants touch. It was much too personal for them. He didn't even want them to get a glimpse at who he was deep down. Books littered every free space in the room, every space that wasn't taken up by weaponry or clothes, that his father constantly had sent for him. He disapproved of the way his son preferred soldiers' clothes over that of a commanders. Reyn wasn't one for silk, or frills. Higher on the stone walls held a couple shelves filled with odds and ends that had caught his eye on his travels. "This is the safest place for you." He explained as she took a couple tentative steps into the room. "My scent will overpower yours... I am the only one whose loyalty will never be questioned. Harboring a human is a capital offense, general or not." His eyes roamed over her for another hungry second before he lit the bio-luminescent light by his bed and turned to leave the room.

"Human" the woman snorted, and the Reyn paused in the doorway arching to hear the last of her nonsense thoughts, "I am neither that nor beast. Human is a term I lost long ago, and even then, I'm not sure if humans are as human as they claim to be. This world is bitter and cruel, and full of monsters on both sides." She grazed her fingers along the spines of the books, not bothering a glance at him lingering in the doorway. "My name is Nova." She barely whispered, but all the same she knew he'd heard with his heightened sense. "That is the only thing they let me keep. The only sentiment I harbor from my brief existence as a human." She glanced at him, at his silhouette against the slow burning fire. He did not turn around, and it seemed like there was nothing more she wanted to say, as she carefully dislodged a book from the shelf. Weapons clashed together as it loosed from its spot. It made him wonder about humans. They had intrigued him when he was a boy. They were so soft, obviously not meant for this harsh world and yet they clung to life. "What's it like?" She asked softly, pulling him from his thoughts. All her bravado and bravery washed away. He turned then, arching a brow at her nonsensical question. Her black curls fell into her face as she carefully flipped through the book. "Never mind." She forfeited. As she sat upon the rug, resting her head upon her knee.

For a moment Reyn was tempted to stay. There was something about this woman that drew him to her. She was half something and half something else. She didn't really fit anywhere. Neither did he, he never really was a person. Rather he was a weapon, a tool. Nova. The name bounced around in his head as it occurred to him that the first thing she touched was a book. Not a sword, or a blade, or a bow. She had chosen a book, a book that just happened to be his absolute favorite. At the same moment it also occurred to him as she stared blankly at the pages that  she couldn't actually read. Books were a rarity in this world and few were blessed with being able to own them. Even fewer could actually understand the ancient human languages that they were written in. Before he could change his mind he padded over and sat on the furry rug with her. He leaned back against his bed and slowly took the book from her hands.

"It seems that you are caught in the middle of something. A puppet in a play that started long before any of us were born. I know something about that." He turned the book towards himself and ran his clawed fingers over the worn letter. "This one is called The tale of two cities. It is my favorite." His eyes roamed over her for the first time without any type of animosity. He had to admit that her eyes did something to him. It twisted up his stomach and made his heart beat faster. Her hair no longer hung in clumps of dust but rushed over her shoulder like a waterfall of dark curls. Her skin no longer grungy gave off a faint golden glow. "Do you want me to read it to you?"