by Erin Raegan
Tahk visibly relaxed. A huge breath huffing out. “Toyl stones. They glow purple and cannot be mined very easily. Our fire-stones glow blue, and near our House, they glow golden which is what you see around you on the ship. They are much easier to mine.” That was cool, not that I would say so. I was not above being a little petty.
We were both silent a while. I had no idea what to say without crying all over him and begging to go home. I had done enough of that already. He made it very clear that was not happening.
“My mate.” He rubbed his face. I held in a snort. Mate? Mate, really? I hated that I used to love that. “I had hoped I may have given you enough time to come to see some sense. I have suffered your―”
WHAT?
Affability had left the building. I spun on him and shoved a finger in his face.
“Sense? SENSE?” I shouted and breathed the fire of the dragon bitch I was on the verge of becoming. “You have not suffered! Did you lose your family? Your home? Did I steal you away across fucking galaxies and light years from your planet? Did your mate betray you?” I shoved his chest with the tip of my finger, it hurt from the hardness of his scales, but I was too pissed to care. His eyes had widened, and his shoulders had stiffened. “No! You have not suffered! I loved you!” I hated the crack in my voice. Loathed the tears that stung. “You don’t hurt the people you love. And you hurt me. There is no sense in that.” I gritted my teeth and backed away from his reaching hand.
“Loved?” He searched my eyes. “This cannot be so.” He blew a large breath through his nose. “I am your Pythen as you are my Pythe. You have my heart. I will earn back this love, and you will see―”
“No, No Tahk.” I scrubbed at my face. “You can’t fix this with pretty words. You want to earn it? Take me home. Find my mother and save everyone we left behind.” I was nearly begging, and I hated him even more for it.
His face drew hard and cold. “This is not possible.”
“Then we have nothing to say to each other.”
“Lovely, I―”
“Don’t you dare call me that! Leave.” I pointed to the door and kept my face away from looking at the devastation slowly taking over his. “Leave, Tahk.”
He shoved his face in front of me. “You will enter my House and become my Pythe in all ways.”
“Leave.”
He gnashed his teeth. “Do not forget mate, you are mine, and I will have you again. I suggest you cease this nonsense before leaving the ship. Your new life is just beyond that portal, accept it.”
I glared with all the hate he caused in me.
I would never accept it. I would never be his again. I looked down.
There was a pair of booties sitting by the door. Little furred ones.
Chapter 4
Chyn
The comm call came late into the night.
Chyn sat up from his furs and looked around the bare room. It was dark and empty. Not a sound could be heard on the small moon he occupied save for the beep of his comm unit. He was alone. He scowled and snatched up the unit.
“I have a job for you.” The raspy voice echoed in his ear. Hidabron was the only being to have a direct contact line to Chyn. He set up jobs and funneled requests to him.
“Where?” He growled and reached for a supplement pack, ripping it open. The cool liquid poured down his throat, cooling the burn.
“Dahk Home World.” The ancient brigand sounded wary.
Chyn paused and swallowed. This gave him pause. Another hit on Home World? It was not the Master for he would have demanded a meeting unless he set a trap. It was not so surprising if he did, the Master may use Chyn’s skills occasionally, but he saw him for the threat Chyn was and would just as easily slaughter him if he had the capabilities. Which he did not. None did.
“Who?” Chyn chugged the remainder of the supplement.
The voice answered, and if Chyn could feel such a thing as surprise, he would have.
It was no matter, it was a job, and he would do it.
Chapter 5
Peyton
Tahk’s enormous battleship slowly descended into Home World’s atmosphere. It was nothing like the little flyer we took to Earth. If I hadn’t been watching it, I wouldn’t have known. The floor didn’t shake a bit. I stood completely still, not even swaying.
I watched in total awe as the planet’s landscape grew closer. It was so beautiful. I had never seen anything like it. Not even close. It glowed this amazing purple everywhere. The ice was hard and very similar to Earth’s but tinged in purple. It looked like sparkling amethyst. Violet trees passed by. They were so tall and wide, their branches bunched and mushroomed at the tops. There were no leaves of any kind. Just sparkling violet ice dripping down like crystals. The buildings were stone, a lighter shade of violet. It was a glittering oasis. I had literally died and gone to a princesses heaven. I had to pinch myself―twice.
And then we docked on a large patch of ice, and I got my first look at the castle. I knew I would never be that girl living on a farm in Idaho ever again. The sight changed me on such a fundamental level my body vibrated from it.
Castle did not do the structure justice. It was amazing. Wonderful. It was by far the greatest thing I would ever see.
Covered in the same violet ice, glowing on the horizon―stars were reflected all over the castles surface. It was dark on Home World without a sun, but the toyl stone lightened it just like the ship, giving it an ethereal glow.
I had walked into a fairytale.
I hated I was by myself. If felt like a sight that needed to be witnessed together.
Viv would know, she would feel this with me.
I was staring at a piece of my father I thought I would never get back. It was the castle of my childhood.
I stifled a sob.
It was like he reached out and built it for me all over again.
I was devastated and elated simultaneously. I was a wreck.
Ryt found me like that. Staring out the window like all my greatest hopes and dreams lay out there, just out of my reach. He panicked and called for Tahk. And when he came running, I couldn’t summon a glare or word. I barely uttered a sound as he lifted me and carried me from the ship.
I didn’t feel a single bite of cold. I felt so much more than that, seeing it outside for the first time. I just stared and stared, unable to be parted from it.
Viv lost her hold on emotion the moment she stepped outside after me. “Oh, Pey.” She grabbed for me, but Tahk wouldn’t put me down. Instead, he held us both as we sobbed in remembrance of the man who would have taken one look at that castle and declared ‘You want that bean? It’s yours.’
I heard him all around me. ‘You see that, princess? I’m still with you.’
Tahk held me as the Dahk filed out of the ship, he didn’t say a word except to order a flyer to the castle to hurry along the receiving party that would be on the way to escort us. It was then I came out of my haze. The Dahk he had spoken to stood on the ice, spread his wings and flew.
I hadn’t seen that since we first met them at Colt’s gas station. Dahk were fast. They flew high in the sky, cutting through the breeze quickly and efficiently.
Moments later we could see a dozen Dahk returning with him in the sky. It was then Viv shifted away from me. “I’m going to go check in with Gryo,” she pushed the scraggly hair from my dry cheeks and pecked me once before leaving.
“Commander, the King is getting anxious. He wishes to depart,” Ryt said, eyeing me in confusion. I must have made quite the scene, falling apart. The Dahk wouldn’t understand the significance, but I had a feeling Tahk did. I had told him about my father’s castle that day in Idaho. Lying in bed, cuddled together. When I had been blissfully ignorant of the danger holding me tightly.
He proved me right when Ryt walked away to help another Dahk unload a crate. “It is as your father’s molded castle?”
“So much like it. It looks like he came here and made it himself, sprinkling it in jeweled
glass.”
“He stays with you,” Tahk hesitantly began, staring in the distance. “He has brought you here as I have.”
Now, I was not a superstitious person. I believed in logic. Facts. But even I couldn’t ignore the powerful feeling of divine intervention. If I could look past Tahk taking me, put aside Earth’s perilous position, and my own mother, I would have agreed with him. How else could my father have made an exact replica of a castle on an alien planet billions of light years away? If I had been that love-sick girl I was just weeks ago, I would have looked at Tahk and told him that yes, my father brought me here. He wanted this for me. He guided me right to you, and you to me.
But I wasn’t, and I couldn’t. Whatever higher power was interfering right now, well I wasn’t the only one in need of them. It was special, but people of Earth needed saving more than I needed a childhood castle made real. I would never forget it―for my father. But I would also not let Tahk use this against me, to get me to bend to his will.
My father may have wanted me here, but he would have been disappointed in me if I let any man, alien or otherwise, boss me around and take away my freedom and choice.
I couldn’t deny the tiny curl of unfurled hope, though. Maybe my dad sent me here, but maybe it was more than that. Maybe he was telling me it would be worth it, that Tahk would be worth it. That we would somehow get past this and everything would be okay. That we would fix what was between us, just as dad and I had fixed my broken castle.
So, I looked at my Pythen and released a small smile, for the moment, for the hope. “Maybe.”
Tahk’s face lit with surprised delight, and he opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by the Dahk landing in front of us.
“Commander.” The new Dahk scowled at me. He was nearly as tall as Tahk but not as bulky. His head ridges were cropped close to his skull, and he wore a long flowing blue robe.
“Lieutenant Hull.” Tahk scowled and turned from the Dahk, placing me on my feet. Then he tucked me into his side tightly. “Meet, Pehytohn, my Pythe.”
“Good greetings.” Hull glowered, not at all friendly.
“Good greetings,” I returned, holding back the sarcastic undertone. This was not a good start. This guy’s disgust of me was clear. How many would be of the same mind?
“Why were you not at the landing to greet your King?” Tahk glared at Hull until he looked away from me.
“We had not expected you so soon. There were preparations to be made.”
“You did not expect to receive your King? After his brother had died?” Tahk’s tone said clearly what he felt about that. He didn’t trust this Dahk. Neither did I.
“Where is the new King?” Hull flushed and looked through the crowd unloading the ship.
“Here.” Uthyf moved our way. Regal in his bearing. There was a bleakness to the cold countenance I had known him for. He missed his brother but had stepped up into the role with determination.
“My King.” Hull bowed along with the twelve odd Dahk with him.
“I will meet with the Council immediately. See to it.” Uthyf spread his wings and without another word, lifted into the sky. Hull sputtered and followed.
“Yilt. With me.” Tahk lifted me again and bent his knees.
“Wait!” I wasn’t ready to fly! Didn’t they have little ships for us humans? Alien cars? Horse-like creatures and buggy? I didn’t care what, but I would not handle flying like this well. I’d be just fine with walking.
“We must go.” Tahk bent again.
But I shouted frantic, “What about Vivian and the others?”
“They will follow shortly.” Then he launched us into the sky.
I screamed and clutched him around the neck. Tahk chuckled. “I have you, little human.”
“Don’t you dare drop me,” I shouted over the whistling wind, staring down at the ground that was so very, very far down.
His face scrunched with affront. The cold was hitting me now. My cheeks were sore from it, and I could barely feel my fingers.
I was not wearing near enough clothes. I should have stuffed my ass more. It felt like it was going to fall off.
As cold and frightened as I was, it was still amazing to see. So high up in the air, the castle cast a reflection all around the ice surrounding it, and in the valley below on the far side I could now make out an enormous village of stone structures in the side of a tall stone hill and scattered away from it. None looked like homes, more like open shops with Dahk filing in and out. It backed up against a large mountain drop. Dahk were disappearing and appearing from there, traveling to and from the village. I wondered if that was where the homes were. Down on the other side of the cliff. When you had wings, a cliff was no big deal. But I would not be going near that deadly drop.
“What’s down there?” I shouted in Tahk’s ear.
He cringed at my high pitch but nodded over there. “Home World has a great number of mountains. They have natural caves that we expand into homes. Some choose to live on land, but it is few. We stay from the harsh climates and gravitate towards the natural warmth of the center of the planet. The toyl is too hard to mine to build much. It is easier to use the formations naturally, and it will glow lighting the cave homes. We use a fire-stone to light the way when the toyl is not naturally in place.”
I wondered why the castle was built outside, for the most part only the far-left side touched the mountain, and just barely.
As we got closer to the castle, I could see the sky beyond it and the lavender moon taking up a large portion of the skyline. It was so much closer than Earth’s was, nearly quadruple in size, with a smaller moon off to the side. Looking just behind me, I saw the third moon farther out from the rest and in the distance a flickering light. It wasn’t bright, but still full of color that hurt my eyes after staring too long. It was a swirling cloud of rainbow colors, and I could see it was what aided the toyl in lighting the planet. Not enough to heat the surface but just enough to see the way. It was the first time I realized I would likely never see anything like sunlight again.
Only darkness.
I didn’t know how to feel about it. On the one hand, it was massively depressing, on the other, I gained the luxury of seeing the beauty in front of me. I would miss the heat though, the lazy days on the beach, hard work on the ranch as the sun beat down on me. Opening the windows in the morning to flood the house with morning light.
I turned from what must be the Dahk’s dead sun and went back to looking at the castle. Dahk were flying all around, and those on the ground stopped and stared, pointing up.
Uthyf landed while we were still in the air, and I watched as they bowed to him and thumped their chest.
“Stay with me at all times.” Tahk thundered in my ear. “Do not leave my side.”
I nodded. Seeing the hundreds of Dahk between the castle and the village, he would have to pry me away. I was not safe here.
Tahk slammed down, absorbing the blow in his knees, so I barely felt it. My feet had barely touched the ground before a large Dahk was stomping over. His face was hard, slightly lined with age. His ridges curved up around his flat ears to point and arrow towards the back of his head. He was coming so fast I startled and backed into Tahk, who curved his hand around my stomach tightly to rest at the curve of my hip. I gripped his arm firmly and involuntarily flinched as the Dahk stopped barely a foot away, “Son!” He shouted and grinned wide, his fangs gleaming.
“First Father,” Tahk patted me reassuringly on the hip as he reached around and slapped his father on the shoulder.
His father returned the sentiment but held on and looked down to me. “Daughter.” His grin grew impossibly larger. I tried not to gulp as those large fangs were shoved an inch from my face. “You are strange looking but have the hips of a Xixin female! You will bear my son a strong dahkling.”
Tahk chuckled when I stiffened. Most of my childbearing hips were stuffed towels. But middle school taught me a lot. Stuffing would be mine and Viv�
��s secret.
“Her mammary glands are rather large as well, father, she will feed young without much trouble.”
I rolled my eyes. Tahk was bragging. Father and son were the same the galaxy over.
“So, she does.” Tahk’s father started to check me out from head to toe. I tried not to shift. “No wings, my son, she will depend on you for travel from that remote hole.” This sounded like a warning, but not at my expense. More like he was scolding Tahk.
“Yes father, I will have something more accessible placed in our home for her.”
“Good. A mate needs to escape her mate from time to time.”
“We have only just arrived, and you wish to take her from me?”
“She is my new daughter, a blessing. I wish to know her better. She will visit often, as will I, while you are away defending the kingdom.”
I would? AND TAHK WAS LEAVING ME HERE?
I glared at them both. Tahk’s father howled in laughter. “I am Haytu, daughter. Do you know of hildo games?”
“Hi,” I waved, and he looked to my hand strangely―Dahk didn’t wave or shake hands. I slapped his shoulder a little awkwardly as Tahk had. “I’m Peyton and just a little.” The Dahk played the stone game on the ship. I watched Yilt a few times before he tried to teach me. It was complicated but a lot like chess.
Haytu smiled softly and patted my hand. “My youngest dahkling, Kudeyas, used to play but she spends her time on socialites now. I am glad to have a new game partner.”
“You have a sister?” I looked to Tahk in surprise. He had never said, but I had never asked. There was so much I didn’t know about him. I had a feeling that mistake was going to bite me in the ass.
“And a brother.” Haytu scowled at Tahk. “Vyndor.”
Tahk flushed and glared at the ice below us. “An oversight.”
“How much does she know?”
“Not enough.” Tahk glared at his father in warning.