by Lara LaRue
“To perform his assigned duties,” she replied. “He is a hunter.”
That explained the machete-type weapon I’d seen earlier. “In the desert?”
“One does not hunt in the desert,” Geneva answered and looked at me like I asked a stupid question. “There are forests west of here.”
“Oh,” I responded. I stopped when I realized we were at the end of the cluster of houses and she was no longer walking. “What’s the matter?”
“I would like to go to Earth one day,” the woman said.
“Why don’t you?” I asked. “Your people seem to visit Earth often.”
She seemed to have caught my meaning, that we were continuously being kidnapped from Earth. “I am sorry you had to be a victim of that.” She apologized. “But it isn’t so bad being here, is it? We have a few humans here who are situated well.
“That’s easy for you to say,” I retorted. “I’ve received more than my share of hostility.”
“That is not always the case,” she defended. “I’ve met a few humans who seem to prefer being here, and there are others who have never been shown hostility. Jupiter is not as bad as you think.” Her face grew blank then as she stared ahead. “Look!” she exclaimed and pointed to an object in the air that was approaching us.
“Gideon?” I asked. Actually, I was hoping it was him, and the thought that it was reanimated my heart and it started thudding once more.
The hovercraft circled ahead, and he indicated the house when he saw us. We started back, and I began jogging toward it. I could feel pressure building within me the closer I got to him. He would have news about Sekkol, and I hoped it would be good.
Geneva was lighter on her feet than I expected and got to the door at the same time as I did.
“Where’s Sekkol? What happened?” I asked as soon as I got inside and she closed the door behind us.
“They’ve taken him into custody,” Gideon replied.
“And?” I asked when I saw he wasn’t going to say anything else. I could feel the lump in my throat growing bigger the longer I waited, and my head began to feel heavy as anxiety filled me throughout. I tried not to visualize Sekkol in chains, or worse, though I couldn’t dismiss the feeling of dread that came with Gideon’s very few words.
“That’s all I know,” he replied. “When we got to The Great Pike, he ordered Thorax and me to leave him. We did as commanded, but Brom informed us that when he was being released, he saw Sekkol being led away by the royal guards.”
I stared at him, still waiting for more. When nothing else came, I grew livid. “So you mean to tell me you went all that way only to leave and not know what happened to him? What kind of soldier are you?”
“The very best,” Gideon said and scowled at me.
“And you just left him there to die?” I could hardly believe any of this was happening. “He came back for one of you. He could have left Brom there to die and then flee and live happily ever after. But instead, he left me here so I can be safe. He replaced Brom so he can be safe. And you just left him? Without finding out what’s going to happen to him?”
“I know what’s going to happen to him,” Gideon barked. “It’s the same thing that happened to all the others before him who transgressed any of our laws.”
“Oh, I see.” I fumed. “So he is going to die, and that’s it. You’re okay with that.” It was a statement, not a question. I folded my arms across my chest and stared at him. His mouth opened, but nothing came out. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. At least he had the fortitude to fight for what he wants and believes in. I can hardly say the same about you. About any of you,” I said as I stormed out, almost bumping into the door that was sliding open too slowly.
I was angry and hurt and needed once more to clear my head. I felt I would collapse when I thought about him dying, about not seeing him again. And I was afraid for him. But what was I supposed to do? I would likely be killed too if they ever found me, and then he would die in vain. But I couldn’t just stay there, not knowing what would happen to him.
I was still heaving, my consciousness toying with several possibilities, when I felt someone behind me. I turned and saw it was Geneva.
“You are very passionate, woman of Earth,” she said to me.
I didn’t reply, but instead turned around again. I folded my arms across my chest and stared past the clutter of homes into the distance.
“I don’t get you people,” I said and turned again. “How can you just watch this and do nothing? He is supposed to be the next ruler of Jupiter. Why won’t anyone fight for him?”
“You are right,” she said.
“What?” I asked, hardly expecting that response.
“We are too set in our ways, driven by too many rules and not enough instinct,” she admitted. “I guess it takes love to make one do otherwise.”
“What does love have to do with this?” I questioned.
She reached out and placed her hand on my chest, and my eyes followed it and then found her smiling eyes after.
“It is strange how you can possess something so powerful yet be so oblivious to it,” she said.
“What are you talking about?” I was already confused and could not handle any complicated thought.
“You love him,” she said, and then she removed her hand and walked away.
I watched her as she did, and for the first time since I met Sekkol, I opened my mind to the possibility that I had fallen in love with him. And then I was saddened to think that as soon as I found love, it was already being taken from me.
Chapter 20 / Sekkol
Her hands made slow movements across my chest and stopped to make circular patterns around my nipples. They gradually perked and grew harder the longer she played with them. Then she moved, and her lips took the place of them, and when she covered me with the warmth of her mouth, my body shook, and I grabbed a fistful of her hair as minuscule bumps decorated my body. Her tongue flicked over the hardened peaks, and when she looked up at me, her brown eyes taunting me, I pulled her upward and planted a firm kiss on her lips.
Her tongue did a strange dance with mine, and then she started sucking on it. I’d never experienced this kind of kiss before her, but something about it caused my body to vibrate and my member to dance in anticipation of what she would do next. I always liked being in control, relished in it even, but when I was with her, I wanted her to lead; I wanted her to take control of me.
Her hands moved down to it just as it started pulsating, begging for her attention, too, and she wrapped her fingers around it and started stroking. Her pulling on my tongue while she did sent shivers up my spine, and I reached out and caught her breast that was pressing into my chest. She pulled back then and started kissing the rest of my body, making a trail down to where her hand still gripped my most sensitive region. I gripped both sides of her head when she guided my shaft into her mouth, the warmth of her threatening insanity. I felt like mush inside, and my body grew limp and surrendered itself completely when she straddled me, guiding me home.
My eyes flew open then, and I punched the bedding in frustration when I realized she was not there. It had been a dream, and my reality was the cold walls of the room that still held me prisoner. My heart was still thumping in my chest, and my forehead was damp with sweat.
I was never privy to the inside of a jail cell, but here I was, getting overly familiar with the gray walls and the compact glass door that separated me from the life I knew. I had every reason to believe I would be put to death, but I also had every intention of fighting all the way. I knew the procedure well, having witnessed the event quite a few times before. The Tribunal would convene, and I would be given an opportunity to defend myself. There would be a discussion after the proceedings, where my fate would be decided. I did not intend to leave it in their hands, nor did I plan on dying today. I had too much to live for… and her name was Keira.
There was a loud beeping sound then, and I sat up from the relaxed position I occu
pied earlier. I waited as footsteps echoed in the long hallway, and then I stood and went to the glass barrier.
“You have fifteen minutes,” the guard said just before I saw Brom’s face.
“What are you doing here?” I asked him. I had given them instructions to stay away, fearing they would take on the same punishment for my sake.
“We weren’t about to leave you here alone.” Gideon’s voice came before his face did.
“You should leave now and go back to your families,” I told them and then turned around. I closed my eyes and turned my face to the ceiling. I expected to hear movement, but instead, there was only silence. I turned back to them, the anger within me rising to greater proportions. “That was a direct command.”
“I know,” Brom confirmed. “But we refuse to obey that command, Sekkol.”
“That human of yours is quite convincing,” Gideon added and then smiled.
The thought of her sent my heart racing, and I rushed over to the glass door. “She sent you?” I asked Gideon. My eyes searched his face, looking for answers to questions I could not utter.
“She has much fire.” Gideon chuckled. “But yes, I must admit she was instrumental in my decision to come.”
“She does not know of our custom,” I replied, even though inside I was bursting at the seams with anxiety. I longed to be with her, and being locked away in this glass prison was made even more intolerable by her absence. I no longer desired to fight what I was feeling, to question the person my heart had chosen. Instead, I would make the world bend to my will, listen to my command, and follow in my footsteps.
“That may be true, but she will not be quiet,” Gideon said.
“Was she secured when you left?” I questioned.
“She was,” he responded.
“Good.” At least I didn’t need to worry about her. I knew where to find her after this was over.
“So we’ve been thinking…” Brom began and came a little bit closer to the glass. He glanced down the passageway and then looked to the ceilings as he tried to locate the hidden monitors. He held his hand close to his face so his lips were partially covered, and then he whispered, “There are only two guards out front and none along the way here. They will be the same guards that will accompany you to the trial. At midday, Gideon will wait by the door…”
The longer he talked, the more I auto-tuned him out. He was talking escape, but I knew that was by no means a solution.
“Stop,” I ordered, and his words cut off instantly. “What do you suppose will happen if I were to escape? Would I flee and live in the wild with Keira? What kind of a future could I promise her, feeding off wild animals and scavenging off the waste of others? I am Sekkol. I am the heir to this planet. I will not run.”
“You know they will take you to the disintegration chamber.” Brom pleaded with me. “At least let us do this thing for you, and then you can figure out the rest.”
“I appreciate the efforts you have made on my behalf, but I will handle this my way,” I told them. “You may go now.”
They stood there and looked from each other to me and then to each other again before they nodded and went out.
I went back to the bed, the only piece of furniture in the room, and folded my hands between my knees and waited. Soon enough, when the sun was higher in the sky, the doors opened again, and this time, another set of footsteps was heard. I got up and stood by the door with my arms outstretched, a willing participant to my fate.
“It is time,” the guard said as he punched in the numbers on the keypad and the door slid open. One of them held the plastic device in the space between my extended arms, and my wrists were automatically clamped together and held in place by the threading that looped around them. I followed them down the passageway, listening to the ominous sounds of my footsteps as they neared the court. There was a small gathering inside, and at the front of the room, the members of the Tribunal sat, with my father placed above them on the second tier.
His face was like stone, and he avoided my gaze as I was marched to the front of the room. I was given a seat, at which time the guards took their places on either side of me. There was no introduction. No acknowledgment. Just straight to business.
The member of the Tribunal in the center of the three stood and tapped onto the screen before him. “Sekkol, you have been charged with the transgression of laws that forbid any form of relation with humans except for the purpose of labor. By so doing, you have compromised the future of the race and, as such, must be held accountable. Do you deny these charges?” he asked and then stared at me through the dark hollows in his face.
Of course, I was not guilty of jeopardizing the future of Jupiter. I was not left solely in charge of all procreation. “Not guilty,” I responded.
There was a slight stir in the back of the court, and I turned just in time to see Commander Styx and Nala, his sister, just entering the room. My breath started coming out raggedly, and my fists clenched even without my conscious permission. Nala glared at me, and I returned my attention to the Tribunal.
“Do you disagree that you have consorted with a human?” the man asked again, in a much simpler way.
“I do,” I replied.
There was a round of murmurs and whispers coming from the back section again, but this time, I needn’t check to see who it was.
“Commander Styx, is there something you would like to say?” the Tribunal member asked.
“Yes, my lord,” he replied. I could see his huge frame as it rose above the other members present for the hearing.
“Proceed,” the man prompted.
“I have personal knowledge of his actions with the human. Its very words betrayed him when it referred to him as ‘companion.’ Closer investigation by me revealed that not only was she being untruthful about being his possession, but that the act was being covered up by one of his Enforcers. My lord, he has blatantly shown utter disregard for the morals and systems in place here on Jupiter and should thus be duly punished.”
That was it. I rose and turned my attention first to the commander. “Did you see me lie with her?” He could give no answer. “Did I ever claim her as my own?” Again, nothing. “I have done nothing wrong. According to the customs of our people, a man cannot choose his own mate; she will be chosen for him by way of imprinting. If such is the case—”
“Are you saying you have imprinted on her?” another member of the Tribunal asked.
I looked up at my father, his lips pursed and his fingers locked on the table before him. I wanted to deny that I had, but my lips refused to utter the words, to deny the woman I’d rather die for than live without. What I felt for her had been magnified, constantly increasing daily, and even as I knew I was defeated, I couldn’t help feeling like I had won. I smiled and then looked to the Tribunal.
“That I did,” I replied.
There was even more murmuring in the room, and the members looked from one to the other as they all speculated at the possibility that what I had said was true.
“It is impossible to imprint on a human. It has never been done before,” the first Tribunal member said at last.
“Our laws forbid it, but there has been nothing preventing us from imprinting with them before—nothing except absolute separation from them,” I told them. “How can I be held accountable for something I have no control over?” I asked, then turned to the court.
“I can assure you what he says is true,” my father uttered and then looked at me with reprimand.
The murmurs continued, but the contempt on some of their faces, like I was vile, was unmistakable.
“Your admission of guilt leaves us with no choice but to sentence you to extraction,” the tribunal member said.
And that was it. I would not be killed, but would be taken from society, to live out my days in solitude.
“What would convince you to revoke this decision?” I asked.
“Bring in the girl,” the man replied and then sat. “We will det
ermine the truth if we examine her.”
I already knew that was not going to happen. If Keira came here, they would only lock her away, and we would both be condemned to spend our lives apart. That was not a thought that rested comfortably with me, considering what Gideon had mentioned earlier.
My father remained quiet, obviously content with the decision to watch his only child carted off to solitude. I became angry, and it swelled as the guards held my hands and attempted to take me out. I grabbed one by the throat as the other reached for his device.
“Sekkol!” my father shouted, but he did not have the same sway over me as he had before.
“Father,” I replied through gritted teeth as I turned about defensively, allowing no one to have a strike advantage.
“Release him,” he ordered as he prepared to move.
“I’m afraid I cannot do that,” I told them and started backing out of the room.
I spotted the commander, his hand placed firmly on his waist, waiting for an appropriate moment to attack. I swerved to my right, widening the gap between us, and kept going to the door. He growled at me, his eyes narrowing. I was halfway to the door when I heard a sound outside. A woman screamed just before there was a thud, and then something crashed against the wall. I was temporarily forgotten as everyone looked to the door.
Then it burst open, and my body went limp when I saw Keira standing there. Her chest was heaving, her hair wild and her face dripping with sweat, like she had run all the way from across the desert.
“It wasn’t his fault.” She panted, and then a surprised look crossed her face when she saw me standing there with the guard’s neck locked under my arm.
“Take her!” I heard my father shout.
“No!” I yelled and instinctively let go of the man. He staggered away, and I lunged toward Keira before Commander Styx could get to her.
I had forgotten about the other guard until I felt something come down hard on my back. I doubled over in pain, though my eyes never left her frightened face.