by Zara Zenia
This was always my father's way. He always just said everything would work out, and in that way, he often avoided responsibility or got himself into trouble. I on the other hand, preferred to work things out and find solutions. I was different from my father, but not completely.
I didn’t want to have to tell my father I was thinking of changing my mind. And I was thinking about canceling my part of the agreement, to marry the alien prince. There was no point in bringing him into my decision. My father was always rash and quick to take action instead of thinking things over. I was the type who needed to think and process. Telling him would only bring him unnecessary worry and I didn’t want to do that to him.
We continued to walk along the edge of the marsh.
My father collected shells and put them in his pocket. “Something to decorate my room, something Earthly,” he explained.
We finished our walk and then I took dinner with him in his room. I listened to him talk about old days, before the Trilyns arrived. How much simpler things were then, and I wished I were in those days now. Afterward, I returned my room and after not sleeping the night before, I fell into a deep slumber. It was exactly what I needed.
The next day, I was surprised that Manzar had not come to visit me yet. I’d thought he would have by now, but it didn’t matter. I decided to keep myself distracted. I prepared my camera equipment and took photos of the Sacred Garden. I’d made it a point to try to take as many detailed photos of every single plant in that Garden. At this point, I was barely on the fifth plant from the main door. This was good, a good project because it would take a long time and keep me focused.
When I returned to my chambers, I had a recorded message blinking on the control panel. I played it.
“Andromeda, this is Pakdor. I will be coming to your chambers one hour before dinner to fit you for your wedding dress.”
Panic came over me. What was I to do? Obviously, Manzar didn’t think that I would call off the wedding, because he hadn’t stopped the wedding plans.
Because I didn’t want Manzar to come to my room and question me, I decided that I would go through with the fitting. I might as well, as it was just a fitting…just a dress. It wouldn’t matter if after the dress was made, if I still decided to call it off. I was sure he could just save it for the next human female that he decided to trick.
An hour before dinner, Pakdor showed up just as he said he would. “And how are you doing these days, Andromeda? You look very radiant,” he said walking in with a large box. He set it on the table.
“I’m well, Pakdor, thank you.” I smiled.
In truth, I knew I wasn’t calling off the fitting because I rather enjoyed my time with Pakdor. It reminded me of hanging out with one of my girlfriends back in college. I needed this escape. Looking at pretty fabrics and ribbons would be fun. Just like having a girl's shopping trip, even though he was a male alien.
“Now, let’s get started. We have a lot of work to do. I need to know which fabrics you would like to be used in your gown.” He opened the box then started to take out one bolt of cloth after another and set it on the table. They were the most beautiful fabrics I’d ever seen, and some of them sparkled as though they were made of glitter. They were stiff, but soft to the touch.
Pakdor then proceeded to tell me the names of each fabric, and which plant it was made from. Now that I knew a little something about the plants in the Sacred Garden, I found it very interesting.
The entire time I was examining the fabrics, I wondered what I would look like standing across from Manzar, in this fabric vowing to be his mate for life. It was all so confusing.
“I think this green one would go well with your eyes, what do you think of this?” he asked holding up a fabric to me.
It was absolutely stunning, a light pale green color. Very soft and beautiful, not too overpowering. I turned to the mirror, looking at myself. Was this truly, what I wanted? How could I know for sure? I really did need to speak with Manzar. It was time. A couple of days had passed, and there was much left unsaid between us. I couldn't go on with the anxiety of knowing whether I would be to marrying him or not. But before I made the decision, I needed to hear what he had to say. Did he feel strongly for me the way I did for him? Or was I merely a human to use as a baby factory?
“Yes, it is a lovely fabric. I think you’re right.”
He nodded. “I was thinking of using it for the skirt, a long train. And it would be many layers of fabric, with this white fabric underneath, and lots of strips of fabric making out the skirt, going all the way down to your feet. Then the top would be made of this white material…” Pakdor continued to talk.
I was only half listening. All I could think of was… Where are you, Manzar? Why have you not come to me?
“Is something troubling you, Andromeda?” Pakdor asked as he held out a ribbon to me.
I didn’t know how long he had been holding it. “Oh. Sorry. Um, no I’m fine.”
“Andromeda. I might be Trilyn, but we are the same when it comes to matters of the heart. Want to tell me what is bothering you? Or should I just cancel this fitting right now?” he asked putting his hands on his hips.
It made me laugh. “Fine. You caught me!”
“That’s what I thought. Now tell Pakdor everything.”
“I have found out that the prince did something. Well, he scanned me without my permission before I even met him! Can you believe that? It is against the laws to do that, yet he did it anyway! He didn’t tell me he’d done it until just the other day. He’s been holding onto this secret. How can I marry someone who has proven he keeps secrets from me? How can I trust and how can I—”
“Andromeda. We are not human. We are Trilyn and there are differences. But I have known the Prince since he was young and all his brothers. They are under a great amount of stress. Do you know what kind of pressure it is to have the entire race of Trilyn on your shoulders?”
“No. I suppose not.” I looked down, frowning.
“Manzar must find a human mate to have offspring with in order to keep the royal line going as all his brothers must. That is no easy feat and after years of looking, he has found no one. You must excuse a Trilyn of his nature if he became desperate and stepped out of line. I assure you it was with best intentions. Imagine if the entire human race rested on your shoulders to find a mate?”
I fell quiet. Turning his words over in my mind as I examined them. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. I suppose that is a lot of pressure for one being to handle. I can’t imagine what that would do to me if I were under that kind of stress for years,” I answered truthfully.
“The Trilyn are different. They take action before thinking of such things as feelings. It is simply not our way. You might find that as the new princess you have to adapt to many things such as this. So if you are not up for that challenge, then don’t take it,” Pakdor chastised me.
“No. I’m up for it. I guess that I just didn’t think of it in that way,” I replied.
“Because you were only thinking of yourself,” Pakdor accused. “When my Prince makes a decision it is for his entire country, not just himself. If you had to think of your entire city with each decision you made, you would see those decisions wouldn’t be the most compassionate.”
I smiled. “Thank you, Pakdor. I feel like a fool now. You have made me see the error of my ways.”
“So, then shall we continue and see which ribbons we will be putting in your hair?” He raised a brow at me.
I nodded my head. “Yes, I would like that very much.”
Chapter 16
Manzar
It had been days since Andromeda had discovered that I scanned her without her consent. I’d been tormented over it the last few days, wondering what I could do to resolve the issue. I was a Trilyn, and we dealt with things differently. We weren’t ones to think that emotions would stop a female from doing her responsibilities of creating offspring. But things were different on Earth and humans were emotio
nally charged. Almost all of their decisions were based on them, not based on the greater good.
This was new territory for all Trilyns, including myself. If Andromeda were a Trilyn female, she would do her responsibility to provide offspring for a ruling Prince, but she wasn’t Trilyn. At any moment, I suspected that she would arrive at my door to inform me that she had changed her mind about the agreement and seek asylum sanctuary elsewhere.
But so far she hadn’t and now that I’d given her space, I knew that I had to do whatever possible to salvage this agreement. Because now it was more than just an agreement to me, I was falling hard for her. I wanted her as my companion, and not simply to produce offspring, as important as that was.
I thought about providing her with a gift, an apology of some sort. But something told me that expensive Trilyn jewelry, clothing, or gadgets wouldn’t suffice. She was much more complicated than that. The one thing I could come up with that could possibly help her to see my point of view, was to speak with her and be honest with her. If it didn’t work and she still wanted to leave, at least she would know how I truly felt.
Therefore, I mustered the courage and found myself at her door, waiting for her to answer the door signal.
“Manzar...” she said opening the door.
Having not seen her in a few days, her beauty stunned me again. How could it be possible that I tended to forget how beautiful she was every time a mere few hours went by without her? “May I come in?”
“Yes.” She moved aside.
“How have you been?” I asked nervously, not knowing how to lead into what I needed to say. I wasn’t good in these situations…it wasn’t the Trilyn way.
“I’ve been well, as well as to be expected.”
“Look, Andromeda. I’ve come to apologize and to ask that you allow me to speak?”
“I will hear what you have to say.” She gestured for me to move past her, to the sofa in her sitting room.
“Thank you, that is all that I can ask of you.” I took the seat she indicated, and she sat across from me in a chair. “As you know, you are allowed to leave the agreement between us anytime that you want, that is how it is. I would respect any decision that you make, but I want you to know how and why the scanning happened.”
“I'm listening.” She looked attentive and in a reasonable mood.
So I went on, “When you first arrived, before I even laid eyes on you. I spoke with my brother, Prince Gardax. I’d told him that I was done with Earth and that I was leaving. I wasn’t having any luck finding a suitable companion, I’d never found a good DNA match. It hadn’t happened even once. Not to mention that any of the human females who came to the events to be matched with me were of no interest to me. None of them were like you.” I recalled our first encounter and I smiled. “So when you showed up at my door, I was desperate, making plans to leave Earth in thirty days. And before I even set eyes on you, I had my lieutenant scan you when you and your father were searched for weapons at the entrance. I thought it couldn’t hurt. Yes, I used the information he gave me to help me make my decision whether I was going to grant asylum to you both or not. That is something I shouldn’t have done. I should have taken you both in no matter what. Both of you have done work that is of great assistance to the Trilyns, we should be grateful, I am grateful.”
I stood up from the sofa and walked back and forth in front of the tall window, only glancing at her face every once in a while. I couldn't read her. Was she getting angrier? Was she processing what I was saying? Or did she not care at all because she had already made her decision to leave?
Sighing, I continued, “I was completely surprised when my lieutenant told me that you were a match. I never thought such a thing would happen, yet there you were a match. Then I walked into the throne room and saw you. My heart stopped. Your beauty is breathtaking, Andromeda, but you probably already know that. In that moment, I knew that I could take you as a wife and be happy, especially after you made it a point to stand up for your city and its people. That kind of strength is the kind of strength that a princess of the Trilyn needs. I wanted you right then and there. That is how it all happened. I just wanted you to know that.”
“I see…” she said, her voice giving nothing away. “Is that all?”
I looked at her from across the room. I could no longer hold back. I took two long strides toward her until I was kneeling directly in front of her. I took her hands in mine. “No, it’s not all. I must confess, I have fallen for you, Andromeda, my human female. I will do anything to make this right. You must give me another chance. I make mistakes, and I will make mistakes in the future. But that is part of a companionship, isn’t it? To work through mistakes that we both make, and forgive each other. Tell me what I need to do to make this right. I'll do anything,” I begged.
My heart was beating rapidly. I had never done anything like this before. I was a prince. I was never vulnerable. Yet in this moment, I was. I had put everything out on the table and she had my heart in her hands.
“Oh, Manzar…” she put her arms around my neck and we stood. “I have fallen for you too. It will take time for me to forgive you for scanning me. But as you said, you didn’t know me then, and I will try to get past that. And I know you were acting as a good Trilyn Prince would, so I want to make this right between us as well. These last few days without your companionship, well... I have missed you.”
“You have? It makes me happy to hear that,” I said placing my hands on her hips. A rush of warmth and relief rushed through me. I’d been on the edge of insanity, not knowing how she felt about the situation. Joy built in my heart as I realized that she had missed me. She wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with her, I truly didn’t think that a human female who looked the way she did and was as smart as she was could ever want to be with an alien like me.
“I really have. I am surprised myself, but it is true.” She blushed.
“Then that is all that I can hope for at this time,” I said, giving her a grin.
Her lips turned up in a smile, and they looked incredibly inviting. I couldn’t hold myself any longer. I pulled her to me, closing the little space that was between us. Leaning down to her small height, I pressed my lips against hers. She was responsive, just as she had been days before. She put her hands on my chest rubbing them up and down. I became excited at her gentle touch and wanted more of it.
Kissing her lips gave me a sensational feeling. This was what I’d wanted. I had craved this for days now and receiving it was giving me sweet relief.
“Oh Manzar...” she moaned.
I loved hearing her say my name. It drove me wild with lust. I rubbed my hand down her back, until it was on her backside, and then back up to her small waist. I wanted to memorize every curve of her in this moment. Because when I thought she intended to leave, I truly thought I would never feel those curves again. I thought they were lost from me. Now I had them back, they were all mine. I was going to touch every inch of her, taste ever sweet inch of her.
The wristband on my arm sounded, alerting me to a communication. I groaned in annoyance. What do they want? This is the wrong time to bother me. Anything that they needed to tell me could wait. I ignored the signal pinging from the communication patch, hoping that whoever was trying to reach me would realize I was busy.
Andromeda pulled her lips from mine. “What is that?”
Damn them for making her stop. We were just getting heated, going back to where we had left off before.
“It’s the intercom on my wristband console. My crew is trying to get a hold of me. It’s a two way radio of sorts, but I have to open the communication in order for them to speak with me. I have no intention of doing so. They will realize that I’m busy and keep their message for later.”
“Oh, okay. I’m okay with that.” She smiled and then reached up on her tiptoes, to continue kissing me and I was glad for it.
Suddenly, the signal at her door went off.
I knew that it was my
crew. They were looking for me. I sighed in annoyance. “Damn.”
“Is that them, do you think?” she asked.
“Yes, I know it is. It must be urgent. Excuse me.” I turned and placed my hand on my crotch to shift my hardening cock in my trousers as I walked toward the door. These bastards better have a good reason for coming to find me.
I opened the door with a low growl. “What is it? I’m busy.”
“Apologies, Prince, we have an urgent message. It seems that Dr. James LaBelle has left the palace ship.”
“Wait, what? What do you mean he has left the palace?” Andi was at my side in a panic.
“Explain yourself, soldier,” I ordered. This wasn’t good. This was exactly what Andi had warned about, that her father would do something rash. It seemed that she knew him well. He had gone through with her expectations of him.
“Lieutenant Danja is on his way here. He only received the report from the guards at the gate less than a hundred and twenty seconds ago. He is putting the pieces together now. But it seems that Dr. James LaBelle reported that he had clearance to leave the palace and his guards believed him without verifying it. Two guards were assigned to escort him. He said he would return before nightfall. That’s all that I know at this moment.”
“Father... No!” Andromeda cried.
“My Prince.” Lieutenant Danja was exiting the elevator and walking down the hall with urgency.
“What news do you have for me, Lieutenant?”
“Here is the official footage. It seems that Dr. James LaBelle was able to persuade two guards that he had clearance to leave the palace. This video shows him saying so at the gate. Since he has gone on walks lately, they didn’t think to question it.” Lieutenant Danja pressed on the vankor, a hologram video projected from it.
We all watched as Dr. James LaBelle stood at the entrance pleading his case in a very efficient manner. I could see why my soldiers thought that he indeed had clearance. He was good at this. He was persuasive and not nervous. He used all the right words. Then the superior gate guard assigned two guards to go with him.