by Maia Starr
They would rather die than surrender the planet to the Vellreq or flee to Kalron, and had pledged their loyalty to me no matter what the cost to them. The thought was comforting, and I smiled in gratitude at Peko. “Thank you.”
“Of course, sir. Now please, eat this and feel heartened. Fate will have her way.”
I nodded, and lifted the plate, feeling better for the first time since Melinda had retracted her passions.
“All right, Peko. Peace to you.”
Peko bowed. “Peace to you.”
I watched her as she retreated from my office and shook my head, taking a bite of the dessert. Peko was right. Fate would have her way. All I could do was play my part, and hope that she would be on my side.
***
I didn’t get to sleep until about three rotations before I had to wake up, so when I came down for first meal, I was not feeling very well. When I saw the human female fidgeting in her seat, her malicious beauty just as striking as ever, it put me immediately into an unhappy mood.
“Good morning, Supreme Leader Aloitus,” Peko said brightly. She was obviously pleased that I had come down to the first meal of the day. I had decided that I would no longer let my inappropriate feelings for a human get in the way of my work. It was far too important.
“Good morning, Peko. Thanks to you this morning for the meal.”
“Of course, sir,” Peko replied, beaming. I usually wasn’t one to heap praise onto anybody, but I was feeling very grateful for the intervention she had given me the night before. It had been just what I needed to hear. Especially after the horrible experience with the human. It could have been so wonderful. Why had she ruined it?
“Greetings to you,” I said coldly to the human, as it was customary for me to greet everybody the first time I saw them during the day. That way I could go about my business the rest of the day without having to be a slave to social custom.
“Good morning,” she said, keeping her eyes pasted on the food that she was moving around on her plate.
Peko left the room, leaving me alone with the female. We avoided each other’s gaze, and I would have been happy to leave it that way for the rest of the day, but the human, for the first time at the table, broke the silence.
“About what happened yesterday. I—”
“Have you no tact, human?” I snapped, disgusted. Did humans really discuss such intimate matters over a meal? I didn’t want to hear about it, especially not in a place where Peko or Chef could easily overhear.
“Tact? No…I mean, I just wanted to say I was sorry…”
“Your sorrow has no place here. In fact, nothing you feel has a place here. This whole situation is strictly business, and you are just a bargaining chip. Or have you not gotten that through your thick human head yet?”
I regretted letting my angry, tired words out on the human this way, but there was no stopping my temper once it had flared up. I could see her face falling in pain, but still, the onslaught continued despite my best efforts to slow it down.
“I brought you to Jenal’k for a purpose, and it wasn’t to sit across from me every day, feeling high and mighty, as if you are too good for me and my people. It wasn’t to give me the same smug look day in and day out and make me serve you. You are my human, my female, and as Supreme Leader of this planet, you are to do as I command you do.”
Melinda stayed quiet, her beautiful eyes downcast and her face drawn in anger. I was thankful she didn’t attempt to retaliate. When I was angry like this, on so little sleep with so many responsibilities pressing urgently upon me, it was almost as if I was looking for a fight. If she had indulged, there was no telling what might happen.
“I don’t feel like seeing you right now. You think your petty feelings and actions are worth talking about beyond their impact? After the fact? How self-absorbed! Are all humans the same?” I exclaimed. “Why don’t you take your meal into the bedroom and stay out of my sight for a while. You can do that, can’t you? There are much more important things on this planet than you, and it is my job to tend to them. Is that clear? Do not approach me again.”
Melinda stood from her seat, her eyes crystal and cold. I was chilled by the quiet malice in her face, but there was nothing I could do to take my words back. Besides, who cared if she was angry at me or not? There was no good to be had in occupying my mind with such petty matters. Emotions would only get me in trouble.
Again and again, I had been told this during my training. And now, that training was being put to the test during the most crucial time in Thressl’n history. I would be stronger than this. The human could be damned for all I cared. I would do my job to serve my people, and that was going to have to be the end of it.
Chapter 7
Melinda Jefferson (Daughter of the Prime Minister)
I stormed to my bedroom, holding my plate of food tightly. I pounded the code into the door and stomped inside. When the door hissed closed behind me, Kirk popped out of the closet, frowning.
“Are you all right? What happened?” he asked.
I thrust the plate of food to him and sighed in exasperation. There was no way I could tell him that I had slept with Aloitus, or describe the way he had attacked my feelings for regretting it afterward. I had never met a more insufferable, cruel man before. What had I been thinking, letting myself be vulnerable to him?
“Aloitus is an awful man,” I said as vaguely as possible. “I don’t really feel like talking about it right now.”
“Is he as bad as the Vellreq?” Kirk asked, moving beside me on the bed.
“Yes and no,” I said, sighing heavily. No, technically the Vellreq had treated me much, much worse. They never would have allowed me to leave my home, let alone take me out to a beautiful, mystical river unlike anything I had ever seen before. But they had never hurt me so badly either.
I had tossed and turned all night, thinking about what I had said to Aloitus and the pain that had flashed on his face before he had turned away. It was something I had regretted saying immediately. Didn’t he understand that it was difficult to accept any type of feelings for someone who had simply kidnapped me from my home?
But when I tried to apologize to him, he had all but bitten my head off and told me he didn’t want to see me at all. How could he have been so cruel? Why couldn’t he just try to put himself in my shoes instead of lashing out at me so harshly?
“Well don’t worry,” Kirk said brightly. “I’m here with you. And we’re going to figure a way out of this mess. Don’t worry.”
I stiffened when Kirk put his hand over mine. “I came all this way because I really like you, Melinda. I always have. And I was hoping that someday, maybe the two of us would, I don’t know…have a family of our own. I had no idea how many men across the universe I would have to fight to make that happen.”
I sighed inwardly. The truth was that I had never been romantically interested in Kirk. He had just been that fun, goofy kid brother who went on crazy adventures with me. Like following me across the universe to a strange planet where the Supreme Leader was hot and cold toward me and couldn’t handle any type of rejection or human emotion. What had I been thinking, allowing myself to surrender like that?
“Melinda, I love you,” Kirk said, setting his plate down on the bed and looking at me sincerely.
I studied Kirk, his sincere brown eyes and familiar face. Maybe that was what was supposed to happen between us. I was supposed to fall in love with Kirk, and he would rescue me from the bad guys, and everything would turn out as a simple and neat happily ever after.
Kirk didn’t wait for me to answer and swooped in to kiss me. I cringed, but kissed him back, my mind on the day before, the memory of Aloitus and his passion stirring a dark anger deep within me.
If he was going to make me feel that good but not care about how he made me feel, then he was just as cruel as I had originally thought he was. Maybe this thing with Kirk was what was right. Nothing else seemed to make sense anymore.
When Kirk
pulled away, his eyes were sparkling.
“You didn’t throw up this time!”
I laughed, remembering the first time Kirk had kissed me during truth or dare with some of the neighborhood kids. I hadn’t wanted to kiss anybody, especially him, and had run off right after to vomit.
“No,” I agreed. “Maybe you’ve gotten better at it.”
Kirk grinned and came in for another kiss, and this time I let myself relax against the familiar feeling of having Kirk near me. It was different this way, but anything was better than letting myself stay caught up in my confusing feelings for Aloitus. At least Kirk was safe, and he cared about me enough to help me find my way home. I couldn’t let myself give in to my temptation for Aloitus any longer. I would be with Kirk, and that was that.
***
That night, I lay in bed with my stomach rumbling. I had refused to come out for any of the other meals. Aloitus had told me to stay away from him, so I wasn’t about to make myself vulnerable to him again. The last thing I needed was to feel any more of his wrath.
Kirk had disappeared into the closet, apparently floating on cloud nine. He spoke so excitedly about all the things he had always imagined we would do if we dated, and how it was like a dream come true for him to kiss me.
But the whole time he spoke, all I could think of was how hurt I felt about the way Aloitus had treated me. It had been very difficult for me to open myself up to him, especially to apologize for hurting him even though voicing my true feelings felt like the right thing to do at the time. Now though, I didn’t know anything.
Finally, the rumble in my stomach prompted me to get up, and I quietly ventured to the kitchen rather than steal from Kirk’s meager stash of food. Hopefully, I would be able to find something I could snack on. Otherwise, I would be up all night and victim to my hunger.
“What are you doing?”
My whole body was electrified by the surprising shock of Aloitus’s masculine voice rumbling from behind me.
“I got hungry,” I said, afraid not to speak to him. After all, he had made it abundantly clear that he was in charge. If I didn’t answer him, who could tell how he might react?
“Then why were you not at the other meals? I wanted to…”
Aloitus trailed off, and I dared to face him, staring him defiantly in the eye.
“You said you didn’t want to see me, so I did what you wanted.”
“That wasn’t really what I wanted,” Aloitus said, his face so tired and confused that I almost felt sorry for him.
“Well, you sure fooled me,” I said, stalking on toward the kitchen. I could feel his powerful body follow me down the hall, although he moved with impressive silence.
“Apologies to you,” Aloitus said. “I am under a lot of pressure and—”
“Save it,” I interrupted. “I know the dynamic here. You’re the big, spoiled boss-man who is used to getting everything you want really easily with no questions asked. But you know what? Things aren’t always that easy. Feelings aren’t easy. And I’m not easy either, all right? And whether you think you own me or not, you don’t. And no matter how mad you get about it, it won’t change how I feel. The only thing that can change how I feel is me, do you understand?”
“I…”
I shook my head and stalked toward the kitchen. Aloitus sighed quietly.
“Apologies to you,” he said tiredly, and disappeared down the other end of the hallway.
***
The next day I didn’t see Aloitus at all, except once when he strode past me. But that didn’t even count; it was as if he didn’t even see me there. All of the staff around the palace were whispering about how worried about him they were. Apparently he wasn’t eating or sleeping much. All he could think about was the Vellreq. But what did the Vellreq have to do with anything?
He had said that I was a bargaining chip the day he had been yelling at me. What did he mean by that? Maybe if I understood that, it would all come clear to me about why I was on Jenal’k in the first place.
“I missed you!” Kirk said when I returned from fifth meal, bearing a small loaf of a sweet, bready substance for him. He took the loaf gratefully and kissed the top of my head. As much as I wanted things to be simple and work out with Kirk, for some reason all I could focus on was Aloitus. He was working himself too hard. If he didn’t relax, something might happen to him.
“Thanks,” I said distractedly, crossing the room to sit on my bed.
“What’s the matter?” Kirk asked.
“I don’t know. Something is going on, but I don’t really know what. Something to do with the Vellreq.”
“That must be why you’re here,” Kirk said. “I was thinking about why they might have abducted you. It makes sense though, doesn’t it?”
“What makes sense? They wanted to piss off the Vellreq?”
“Yeah!”
Well, that would explain what Aloitus had meant by me being a bargaining chip. But it didn’t explain exactly why.
“What good would come from pissing off the Vellreq? I thought that most planets just tried to stay on their good side.”
“They are master manipulators,” Kirk said. “It can be pretty scary to be on the receiving end of their terror. That’s what my source was telling me.”
“Your source?” I asked.
“I know someone who can get us out of here, remember?”
I furrowed my brow. “I had forgotten, actually. How is that supposed to work.”
“Well, not until the shit hits the fan, you know. There’s going to be some kind of big fight, chaos and the like. Then we can take advantage of the distraction and take off. Nobody will even notice.”
“What kind of fight? Like a revolution? Are they going to overthrow Aloitus?”
“I don’t know,” Kirk said with a shrug. “Everybody who knows anything is really hush-hush about it. But maybe you should try to get some information out of Aloitus. See if he’s planning anything. That would get us all the information we need to make it out of here.”
The idea of facing Aloitus again after what I’d said to him in the hallway made me feel sick to my stomach. But Kirk was looking at me so adamantly that I felt compelled to nod.
“All right,” I agreed reluctantly. “I will try to talk to him about it.”
“Perfect!” Kirk said. “I’m going to try to get a hold of my friend to see what we can do about maybe speeding this up. I’m getting tired of sleeping on the floor.”
I felt as if this last part was sort of a jab at me for refusing to let him sleep in the bed with me. He had gotten a little bit pushy about sleeping with me, but I was still recoiling from my strange experience with Aloitus and had refused every time.
Although I knew I definitely should not fall in love with the man who had kidnapped me, I still couldn’t help but have some residual feelings for him nonetheless. The hardest part was not being able to tell Kirk. I knew that if he found out about it, it would do nothing but cause more trouble.
I left the room once Kirk had hidden himself back in the large closet, and ventured nervously toward the area of the palace where I had gleaned that Aloitus had his office. It didn’t take long to discover where it was; there was a line of men guarding the area, and all of them raised an eyebrow at me as I walked slowly toward the entrance.
“I’d like to speak to Aloitus,” I said softly. None of the men acknowledged me, and I sighed, looking around for some kind of intercom or something that I could use to send word to Aloitus that I was there.
Finally, I gave up and simply knocked on the door.
“Enter,” Aloitus said distractedly.
My stomach knotted as the doorway opened and I walked inside.
Aloitus jerked up from his work, apparently shocked to see me.
“What is it?” he asked, scrambling with his control panel to shut the door behind me so that nobody could overhear our conversation.
“I…I feel like I should know why I’m here. You’re hiding somethi
ng from me.”
Aloitus and I stared at each other, the tension thick between us.
“Sit down, human,” he said with a sigh.
I did, a frown deepening on my face. Aloitus’s handsome face was tired, and I realized suddenly that I had no idea how to conduct myself around him. I wanted nothing more than to like him as much as it seemed my body did, but there was nothing I could do to erase this strange obstacle between us.
“I understand that you are upset,” Aloitus said. “I should not have been so angry. I am under a lot of pressure because tensions are high. I am working hard to ensure the survival of my people, and you are playing a key role in that. I hope that someday you will understand my position.”
“Well maybe I can understand right now,” I said. “What is the good in keeping me in the dark when we’re both affected right now? Don’t you need to talk to somebody about this?”
Aloitus looked at me, his worn, purple eyes flashing with a pained emotion I couldn’t quite pinpoint.
“I’m not going to burden you with this, human. It is not your issue. It is mine. However, I want you to know that no matter what happens, you and the other humans on Jenal’k will be safe.”
“Please, just tell me—”
“No!” Aloitus barked, slamming his fist on the table. “This is my job, and you are interfering with it. Every day you interfere with it! This is more important than you and me, or our fleeting little feelings ever could be. Now please, leave me. I have much work to do.”
I frowned, a lump forming in my throat. Why was it that Aloitus was so unbelievably harsh with me? I did everything I could open myself up to him and work against all of the reasons telling me I shouldn’t trust this man. Something was eating away at him. Something big. And if he didn’t trust anybody with it, he was just going to destroy himself.