Free Sentinel's Hunger by Gracie C. Mckeever

wish there was some other way.”
    “But Quna—“
    “Your condition does not preclude your living a long Inanna lifespan, nor does it prevent you from serving in an advisory capacity to the assembly. Your diplomatic skills are impeccable and will be much sought after. You just cannot serve as a sentinel.” Nahemah knew these were small consolations to someone who held her post to The Highest so dear.
    Xevera stood, then bowed at the waist, gaze unflinching. “If it pleases Quna, I would like to keep this from the assembly for the time being.”
    “Very well, I will give you two weeks, no longer. Each day that you put off feeding puts yourself and your fellow Emsharrans at risk.”
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    “Understood.” Xevera nodded. “However, I would request to escort the next retrieval team into the Great Above.”
    “Xevera, the dangers to the squad could be catastrophic.”
    “I would die before I let anything happen to your great-grandson and his mate.”
    Nahemah felt Xevera distancing herself, retreating behind a wall of formality into the cold and impersonal world of her military training, and wished that she herself had not created the need for her friend to dissociate. “Alex and Genesis trust you with their lives, as do I. They, however, are not the only ones I am concerned about.”
    “When I swore allegiance to you, Highest, I swore to abide to the tenets of the Alliance and the New Regime as well. I would never bring harm to a human.”
    Nahemah’s smile was indulgent.
    Should she tell Xevera that the first man to mate with her and survive her hunger was her soul mate, or that any of the others who did not survive were the sacrifices that had to be made to a sentinel’s hunger, tenets of the New Regime notwithstanding?
    She stared at Xevera, heart pounding with the decision she was about to make.

    * * * *

    Nahemah woke with a start, jerking up in bed, only to feel the gentle but firm embrace of her lover, Tenebrion, Supreme and ruler of Gaiam, enclose her in his warmth. He cradled his chin against her shoulder to nuzzle her neck.
    “What is it, mishva ?”
    Nahemah swallowed hard, the vision of her last meeting with Xevera still weighing down her mind along with the imminent arrival of her great-grandson and his wife.
    “They will be here soon.” She pulled out of Tenebrion’s arms with a sigh rather than directly respond to his question.
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    “Alex and Genesis?”
    She nodded, not looking forward to meeting with them so early in the morning but knew that there was no reason to delay the encounter any longer.
    Between making plans for her handfasting ceremony to Tenebrion and scrambling to assure the assembly that Xevera was safe in the Great Above until another squad could be sent in to retrieve her, Nahemah had her hands full.
    Of course, the situation could and would have been much more serious had any in Emsharra’s assembly and Gaiam’s council known the truth of Xevera’s condition and realized that as long as she was loose in the human world, all humans were at risk. As long as humans were at risk, the Alliance and New Regime were at risk.
    “You will have to go, Ten.”
    “Are you sure there is nothing I can do to help?”
    “This is something I must handle myself.” She knew that he sensed the difference in her, that he wondered why she had her shields engaged around him when normally she did not.
    She could not risk Tenebrion catching any errant thoughts. She did not want to put him in the position of putting his feelings for her above his duty to his people. She would not. And as long as he did not know the situation with Xevera, he would not be forced to reveal it to the Alliance. Once the Alliance was in the picture, they would take the decision on what to do about Xevera out of Nahemah’s hands.
    Nahemah could not allow this, had to resolve the situation on her own. Too much was at stake, the life of her friend and erstwhile Sentinel-in-Command