Wexxon the Great Alien Warrior - Juno Wells Page 0,33
my shoulder, her eyes staring up into mine. “Fine. But if you won’t teach me how to fight…at least teach me how to read?”
“How to read?” I was puzzled by her request. “Are you already so bored of our conversations, my sweet wife? You wish to seek out other forms of entertainment?”
“Knowledge has always been my greatest weapon.” She smiled between her words. “I may never be like you in the arena, Wexxon, but if I’m able to understand more about this world, at least I’ll have a chance on it.”
“You will have a chance as long as you are with me—”
“Wexxon. Please.” Something weary flashed behind Rachel’s eyes. “Please. I…I just need to feel myself again. I need to feel like I…before I met you, before I ever came to Xelxar…I was such a different person. And I…I feel like the longer I’m here, the less of me there is.”
“…I’m sorry you are feeling that way, my little warrior.” I sighed before I relented to her request. “I will give Palqeet the order. You will have access to the castle’s library, whenever you like. She can teach you all that you need to know.”
“And what about a translator?”
“What about it?”
“Do you think I could survive the implantation?” she asked. “I know that you will always take care of me, Wexxon, but what if I come across someone who doesn’t have a translator installed? What if I can’t communicate?”
“Rachel, that is highly improbable—”
“Please?” Rachel begged. “If there’s a way for me to safely have one installed—”
“I’ll have Aldvirion look into it for you,” I replied, with a slight grin. “But you should be warned. If he’s going to handle your surgery, he’ll need for you to be observed beforehand, to make an account of your anatomy the best that he can.”
“I didn’t realize that Aldvirion was a doctor,” Rachel murmured. “I thought that he was a warrior, just like you.”
“Warriors can always be more than one thing,” I answered before I pulled her even closer to my side. “And Aldvirion has always had the talent for it, even though he’s never quite had the friendliest disposition.”
It’d taken me two full days to recover from my wounds in the arena, the majority of my time spent in bed as I waited for the pain to subside. I’d barely allowed Rachel in to see me again, not wanting to worry her any further when it came to my ability to protect her or our future together. I’d been grateful, though, that Palqeet had taken so fondly to Rachel, happy to spend more time with her as I focused on my own recovery.
But now, I wished to see my wife again. It was strange, the way I’d felt when I was apart from her for any length of time, like we’d been separated for years and years. And, feeling driven by the ache in my chest, I made my way toward the castle’s library, bypassing the warriors who wished me well in the halls.
Although when I finally came across Palqeet and Rachel, both of them holding identical copies of a shimmering, silver book in their hand, I suddenly had no desire to interrupt their conversation. Instead, I chose to lean against a nearby wall as I waited for them to notice that I’d entered the room as I quietly watched my wife’s lips slowly move in imitation of Palqeet’s own.
The longer I’m here, the less of me there is.
I thought back to Rachel’s words when she begged me for the reading lessons, when she insisted that she needed a defense of her own. And even though I hadn’t known Rachel before she came to Xelxar, I knew that there was something inside her, some spark that I never wanted to see extinguished if I was able to help it.
And as Rachel sat in the library beside Palqeet, still repeating after her words, I couldn’t help but smile to myself.
Because my Rachel was positively glowing.
“What does this symbol mean?” Rachel quietly asked, pointing to something on the page. “I don’t think we have anything like this in our languages back on Earth.”
“Hmm. Let me see…” Palqeet’s words trailed off as she peered down at the book. “You know what? I think that symbol means that your husband is here to see you.”
“My husband is here to see me?” Rachel seemed confused by the explanation.
“In the shadows, just like a ghost,” Palqeet joked before she shot a look over at me. “Did you need something