Read Online Lesser by Viola Grace - Free Book Online Page A

situations, but until there is a direct means of communication with the world beneath us, we will go and find out what is happening when we arrive.”
    He didn’t mention that every scenario had either him or Iridia on a team, so they would always know what was going on.
    They would keep the secret as long as Tharos wanted them to.
     

Epilogue
     
     
    Iridia finished the letter to her parents, telling them that she had renewed and locked in her contract with the Nyal Imperium. Included with the letter were some stellar math problems and samples of rock from Tharos Prime.
    She looked over at Zanthan and grinned. “I am delighted that the courier is going to be here today. I can’t wait to send these to my parents.”
    “Do you think it will make them think of you?”
    Iridia laughed. “No, but it will keep them busy until they die and that is good enough.”
    He came and stood behind her at the desk. “I think you are just writing to prove that the implements that Krassos make are useful.”
    “They are useful. Very useful. I use my pen every day, writing in my journal that they also made me. Seriously, if they don’t come up with a different gift when I pop in, we are going to find ourselves in a library.”
    He rubbed his chin against the crown of her hair. “Would that be so bad?”
    “No, but my days are only filled now with writing about writing in the journals that I have gotten. I am almost to the point of writing a history of Tharos. He is willing to show me, but my hand gets a cramp just thinking about it.”
    He stroked her shoulders. “How is the baby today?”
    They both looked over at the large, glowing canister where their child was growing. Tharos recommended her not trying to carry to term, and she had taken the caution under advisement. With a little wheedling and trading with the Guardian command, they had gotten the micro-tank that was perfect for growing the little hybrid that they had named Nadica. She had opalescent wings, creamy skin and brilliant red eyes.
    “She is good. Two more weeks, and she will be out where we can cuddle her.” Iridia had a pulse monitor on her at all times, and the feedback was sent to Nadica so that she always heard her mother with her.
    “I can’t wait, and Sivengea is going out of her mind shopping for baby clothing on all the nearest worlds.”
    A pale pink light and shimmering chime rang out.
    Iridia got to her feet, settled her weapons and prepared to go to work. “I will see you later. Read her a book. I have written two more children’s stories and she might like them. Let me know.”
    She kissed Zanthan and headed to the Yikva colony where another baby was on its way into the world. As an alpha female, Iridia was invited to all the births, but she wasn’t sure if they would find it an insult to not be invited to the base when Nadica made her appearance.
    Wearing the weapons was part of her uniform though she had only used them twice in the last two years. Riot control was more of an art than a skill, and after all the practice, she felt like a true artist.
    She stood on the platform, and in a flash, she was in the caverns near the Yitva city. Iridia walked calmly past their guards and into the large manor that used to be a city hall. All the Yitva lived in the same building. The communal living went back to the days when they had been slave labour.
    The elder, Srin-ha, beckoned her inside and had her take the pregnant woman’s hand. She had been present at the birth of nineteen children at the Yitva colony, and it had been a joy and a taunt to her lack of offspring. She gave good luck and the blessing of a warrior to the little one, and the child looked at her with fathomless eyes that seemed to see to the depths of her soul.
    She knew that gaze. Nadica gave her that eternal gaze every time her eyes opened in the tank. Two more weeks and she would have a child of her own, and it might give the toddlers around Tharos a run for their money.
    Grinning,