Lacey's Warriors (Bondmates #6) - Ann Mayburn Page 0,57
of a Matriarch land to start her own Territory before she’s mated. It is a law leftover from the days before the Great War that resulted in the Hive, one probably long forgotten, but still valid and used on occasion for cases like ours—where the daughter was born before the bonding. The original Kadothian Matriarchs were inherently territorial and having two strong women living in one household was a recipe for trouble. To help keep fights from breaking out, once a daughter reached a certain age and became engaged, her mother would give that daughter a piece of Territory to call her own and live on. It was up to the daughter to hold that land and make it prosper and a way to avoid siblings fighting over the Territory.” Her mom grinned at her. “You, my dear, are an unmarried young Kadothian woman, daughter of a Matriarch, engaged and about to go off on her own. I would like to gift you with some Territory I was recently given by Lady Elsin on Madre Tierra as a bonding present.”
Another barrage of information flooded Lacey’s mind as her crystal implant helpfully supplied that the moon Madre Tierra was roughly 2.5 times the size of the real Earth. It was named by the first Earth female to become a Matriarch, a poor young woman from Mexico City. She’d decided to name the planet Madre Tierra, or Mother Earth, in hopes that it would be the cradle for a new, better civilization than the one she’d left behind.
Over the centuries, the Kadothians had transformed a few of their many moons into habitable worlds, replicating the planets that Matriarch’s had left behind which no longer existed. Her gazed snagged on one moon, a bright orange, peach, and gold planet with pink swirls for clouds. That particular planet was a replica of another world that had been destroyed by a meteorite three thousand years ago. And that was Kadothian years, so in human years—
“Lacey.” Her mom snapped her fingers, startling her out of learning about the bride moons, as they were known.
“I’m paying attention, sorry,” Lacey said as she shook her head. “Sorry, still getting used to this crystal implant. It’s so weird to think a question then just…learn the answer.”
“It’s like the Internet,” her mom agreed as she shifted and rearranged her black dress. “But way worse for getting sucked into. Karwin likes to catch me staring off into space and teases me that I have drool running down my chin as I learn new things.” Her face went kind of blank for a moment, then the familiar ‘can do’ fire started to flare in her blue eyes. “Right, we have to get going. Are you ready for the ceremony?”
“Ceremony?”
“Yes, we need to broadcast it to your husbands. Phin sent me a mental message that we need to get moving.” Her mom stood up, the black gown she wore falling around her feet in a swirl of fabric. “Come on, lazy bones. Up and at ‘em.”
Standing, Lacey hurried to catch up to her mother after she’d removed the privacy bubble. “Where are we going? What ceremony?”
“The one to give you land on Madre Tierra so you and your husbands can start your own Territory and don’t have to worry about what will happen if the High Congress takes your Territory on Kadothia.” Her mom gave her an arch look. “Did you hear a word I said?”
Musing that she could still feel like a chastised little kid, even though she was twenty-two, Lacey snorted. “I was listening. But why a public ceremony, and why do we have to hurry?”
“Gwarnon’s people, your future citizens, are all waiting in orbit around Madre Tierra, waiting for you to officially claim the Territory under the old Matriarchal laws, so they can land and start working on making it their new home. You’ve got close to a million people in orbit or waiting to transport to Madre Tierra.” That made Lacey stagger to a stop, but her mom grabbed her hand and dragged her along. “Come on. Hustle. We need to get this done. Phin says Gwarnon and Chel are about to face the High Congress.”
They rushed past a nighttime garden filled with glowing delights Lacey would have loved to explore if her mom hadn’t been ripping her arm out of her socket.
Evidently, Lacey wasn’t the only one who’d gone through the transition and come out stronger for it.
They approached a door leading into what looked like an enormous