“Yes, that man Storn was trampling was my ex-husband.” Mia spoke up bravely, though Baird got the idea she was what the humans called “an introvert,” which meant that any kind of outspokenness was difficult for her. “You don’t see it on the video, but Hank—that’s my ex—was trying to strangle me with a piano wire when Storn burst in and stopped him!”
“A piano wire, eh?” Aldus Perce gave her a skeptical look. “If that’s true, where are the marks on your neck? I don’t see a thing there—you look perfectly fine to me.”
“That is because I healed her,” Storn said, speaking in a low, measured voice. “We Monstrum Kindred can administer the Healing Kiss to our mates and prospective mates—it is a gift given to us from the Goddess.”
“And I can vouch for the fact that she did, indeed, have very severe injuries,” Olivia said, frowning at the human Secretary-General. “I have time-stamped pictures to prove it, if you’d like to see them. Mia’s ex-husband was trying to cut her head off with that wire. You can’t blame Storn for going into Rage when he walked into the room and saw what was happening!”
Baird gave his mate a look of approval. He loved how Olivia was such a strong woman and wasn’t afraid to speak truth to power.
But Olivia’s words seemed to have almost no effect on Aldus Perce. He pursed his lips in apparent disapproval and glared at Storn.
“You’re trying to blame the atrocious attack we saw on the Kindred phenomenon of ‘Rage’ are you? You’ve been using that same excuse ever since we humans lost our case in the World Court, and it was ruled that no Kindred warrior could be held responsible for his actions when he attacked an innocent human man!”
“That male was not innocent and it’s not an ‘excuse’—it’s the truth!” Baird said angrily. “No Kindred warrior can stand by and see his female harmed without going into Rage! I would have done the exact same thing that Storn did if I had seen someone hurting my mate!” He put an arm around his wife and pulled her closer and Olivia put her arms around his waist.
But Aldus Perce only shook his head.
“You’re just trying to excuse what is absolutely inexcusable behavior!”
“Please…” Sylvan put up his hands in a gesture of peace. “May we not move to the Council table so that we can try to work out a solution to this disagreement?”
“This is no simple ‘disagreement,’ Chancellor Sylvan,” Perce snapped. “You’re not only proposing to allow this…this half-animal thing to stay aboard your ship where it can get down to Earth at any time, you’re also asking that we allow even more of his kind to call brides from among us!”
“The Monstrum Kindred are honorable males,” Storn said, lifting his chin. “We may have some characteristics that appear animalistic to you, but I assure you that we are fully sentient at all times. In other words, we Monstrum are people, just like you.”
“Please,” Sylvan said, still trying to defuse the situation. “Let us sit down and discuss this calmly. I’m sure the rest of the World Council would like to weigh in on the matter.”
He gestured again to the council table at the center of the dome where several world leaders were already present and others were being projected as holograms in otherwise empty chairs.
“You can come and have your say, but it won’t make a bit of difference,” Perce said, sneering. “The people of Earth will never agree to sacrifice our daughters to these monstrous new Kindred.”
Baird saw the lines of strain around his half-brother’s eyes and felt a surge of sympathy. But Sylvan kept his cool—as he always did—and they all went to have a seat at the Council table.
Because they weren’t part of the Kindred High Council, Olivia, Storn, and Mia had to sit in a row of chairs behind Baird and Sylvan. They sat beside a mature Elite female who looked to be in her late forties or early fifties, who was taking notes and recording the meeting. She nodded politely when Olivia settled beside her and then went back to her job of recording everything that was said and done.
“Leaders of Earth,” Sylvan began, when the introductions had been made. “I come to make some explanations and a plea for those who are disadvantaged.”
He spoke eloquently and at length about what had really happened with Storn and about the Satyr Kindred’s people, the Monstrum Kindred. He explained about the rips in the Multiverse which had allowed denizens of one universe to infiltrate another and told how the Monstrum Kindred’s universe was overrun with evil.
“There are only a few thousand of them,” he said, as he ended his remarks. “And we are not asking that they should come to Earth to pick and choose among your females. We are only asking that if a human female’s mind aligns with a Monstrum Kindred’s, that he should be able to Claim her, as other Kindred warriors Claim brides from Earth already, which is part of our agreement and the Bride Draft. I ask you now to speak amongst yourselves and come to a conclusion.”