He knelt and put a hand on her belly.He chuckled.“It has begun.”
“I am really going to have to talk to Skylar about her timelines.”
Zoey grinned.“She always sucked at time tracking.We think she had undiagnosed ADHD, or she just didn’t care.You are pregnant again?”
Aretta looked at her with wide eyes.“I get to be a big sister?”
“Only until it finishes becoming an adult, and then you will be the little big sister.”Orex smiled.
Karogyn clasped her hands together.“Truly?”
“Truly, Karogyn.”Orex grinned.“Eleven months from now, my little family will grow, but in the meantime, I wish to adopt Aretta legally.”
Aretta froze.“Mom?”
“It’s up to you.This will be between you and Orex.I will be there during negotiations, but all the rules of deportment and expectations have to be outlined.If you are okay with that, I am okay with that.”
Aretta looked at Orex and nodded.“We need to talk about it.Is there a garden or something we can walk in?”
He smiled and looked at her seamstress.“Do you have what you need for her?”
“Yes, my lord.I will prepare your insignia for the clothing.”
“Put it on anyway.She is under my care, whether or not she chooses to be my official daughter.”
Aretta nodded.“This is a walking conversation.”
Orex nodded.“Then, let us walk, little one.”He held out his hand, Aretta took it, and they walked toward the back of the house.
Zelda looked at some of the designs and spoke to the seamstress.The other woman whispered, “Aren’t you nervous?”
“No, his mind touches mine, and the same the other way.He isn’t a danger to her.My mind carries my love for her into him.He has welcomed it and her.There is no ill intent when he looks at her; rather, there is a curiosity to see what she will become.”
The seamstress blinked.
“Were your people always here?”Zelda asked quietly.
“No, lady.We were brought here by Orex eight hundred years ago.He’s a good ruler, and we are healthy, wealthy, and have excellent trading under him, but we didn’t have anyone companion or consort class.”
“It is literally a way of thinking.If you can’t produce their frequency, you just can’t produce it.It is that basic.I don’t know what the designers were thinking, but I think it was because they planted assessor genetics in those populations.”
“Assessors?”
“They are another creation of the designers.They are there to check on the Hmrain to make sure they aren’t doing more harm than good.Our world was one that Ra chose to make home for a while.There was still his style of building that is now the main structure on Aten.He was on our world for quite some time, and they left their genetics across the globe.It must have been quite a party across thousands of years.”
Zoey laughed, and Zaniah snickered.
The housekeeper said, “Do you have such bloodlines?”
“Not as far as we know.We are just...wait.The other mother.She could have had some assessor genes.”
Zoey nodded.“She could have.She wouldn’t have known it, though.Your mom had a vibe about her, too.”
Zelda shrugged.“We will have to run some genotyping.”
They continued selecting clothing, boots, and daily jewellery.The others could do that.Zelda was stuck with what Orex provided.She was wearing enough right now to pay for her house back on Earth, Zoey’s house, Zaniah’s house, and all of their neighbourhoods.Here and now, it was shiny and heavy.
She looked down at her belly.