by Maia Starr
“Not really interested in hearing about your lobotomy victims, Rilark.”
“Ouch! Hey, if you’re ever looking to see how it’s really done, my door’s always open.” The shifter laughed, and I looked at him with disgust. His laughter quickly died, and he rolled his eyes. “Oh come on, that was a joke.”
“Whatever,” I breathed.
“Hey, I’m just looking out for my baby bro.”
My heart skipped, and my eyes narrowed toward the soldier standing across from me. “What did you say?”
He stared at me seriously for a moment, and I wasn’t sure I had heard him right. His baby brother? He went to speak, but suddenly he turned his head to the side so that his lips sat against his shoulder. “Shh…” he hushed and slowly walked the perimeter of the tiny encasement.
The armored guard put his arm around me, and I tried to slap him away before he forced me down into a crouched position. “I said be quiet,” he instructed, and his eyes furtively searched the room. “There’s rebels in here.”
“What?” I whispered in shock. “How can you tell?”
“I can hear them. Listen.”
I did as instructed and could hear a barrage of planes overhead; I could hear screams coming from the floor beneath us. I began to shake wildly as I imagined a stream of fire flooding the building; I saw the same victims I’d operated on weeks earlier and feared becoming one of them.
Rilark opened the hatch above us and pulled me up into the elevator shaft. Claws surged forth from his fingertips, and he cut the cord for the elevator, his wings flapping as the elevator plummeted beneath us. I didn’t know what shocked me more: the sudden crash or the fact that we were flying. He let his wings glide us back toward the bottom.
He took us back down into the elevator box and pried the doors open with his claws. He dragged me out into the lobby that was now flooded with both human and shifter soldiers.
There were rebel shuttles overhead, and while no shots had been fired yet, we were all instructed to get low to the ground.
The lobby was overcome with panic and shouting as the soldiers repeated their instructions for us to get down. I knew they were trying to protect us, but the formality of the crisis sent my anxiety running. I prostrated myself and put my hands over my head as instructed, shaking with fear as Rilark placed a heavy wing over my body.
A bomb sounded outside, and the ground shook beneath us as though a great earthquake had been let loose. The surface below me bounced and broke in two, causing me to lurch backward and scramble against the hundreds of bodies that filled the room.
The screams filled the room in echoes mixed with the loud crashes of whatever was happening outside. I could barely hear, my ears screeching with a high-pitched drone that made me feel faint. I watched my feet atop the surface, watched how they shook wildly beneath me; I had no control.
Rilark was calm. He hovered above the ground as it broke and cracked, his eyes looking around the room with calculation. He dropped to his feet and walked up to me, saying something that I couldn’t make out.
“Down, down, down!” the guards screamed at the red shifter, aiming their guns at him, but he was beyond listening.
“Get up,” he said firmly and grabbed my arm.
He took hold of me and took to the air once more with me in his arms. He pushed through the soldiers and drew his laser pistol, finally able to get us outside. The sky was an eerie orange and filled with smoke. Fires could be seen 50 feet away from the embassy, a bomb having been set off near the shuttles.
Rilark grit his teeth and grabbed my scarf, pulling it up over my nose until I took it from him, holding it there as he instructed. The smoke was thick and quickly coated my lungs even through the barrier I’d created.
Riots of people surrounded the area, desperately trying to put out the fire. Their bodies moved in blurs of swimming motions that screamed and swelled through the streets. I heard shouts and cries and officials yelling commands, but I never spotted the rebels until a swarm of ships flew by overhead at intoxicating speeds.
I thought I had a firm grip on Rilark, but the myriads of people flooded us, dragging me far from him and leaving me searching for his familiar horns in a stream of barely conscious panic.
Chapter Six
Galsthenn
One hour.
One hour ago I was told the most terrifying news of my life. A panic broke out after the rebels had tried to bomb a shuttle. Rosalyn was lost in the shuffle, and Rilark saved her.
“Thank you,” I said gratefully as the red shifter passed my Rosalyn over to me, exchanging her like goods at a market as he placed her shaking body into my arms without a second thought. Save for some bruising, he told me, she checked out alright.
He’d told me just one hour earlier that he would be bringing her to me; told me what had happened at the embassy. Every moment I was without her was a sick pain that ran through my stomach relentlessly. My body trembled with anticipation to see her alive and well, and now here she was.
Now I could worry about what the hell had happened at the embassy. If it was really the rebels, then I had a lot to think about.
The red and black shifter looked me over before nodding, considering her job done for the night. I glanced at his wings and the intimidating horns that protruded in spires from the back of his head and couldn’t help but wonder why some dragons chose to remain shifted.
I retracted my wings whenever I had the opportunity and tried to look like a gentleman. I supposed it was just in his nature to try and look daunting; he was a soldier, after all. But there was a time and place for such things, and spreading your wings like a maniac after Rosalyn had been through a trauma wasn’t the time.
Catching my visual reprimand, he set his wings back, clipping them together like butterfly wings to hide them from my sight.
As I looked him over, I noticed how different he looked, yet how much the same his features were as when we were children. Knowing him all these years had slowed my recognition of how much change had actually taken place.
His face was long; his body tall and built, yet slender. His hair was a wild mess of vibrant color, where I was completely white. Silver shades in my hair being the only deviation from my icy appearance. We looked nothing alike, I thought. The only thing we had in common was our height and our mother.
My brother’s mouth set in a hard line and he awkwardly shifted in the doorway. “She’s fine,” he said with a shrug.
“I lost my ring,” Rosalyn said with some shock as her weeps and sobs consumed her ability to speak. She raised her shaking hand to me as proof, and I cradled her in my arms, looking to Rilark helplessly. He shifted his lips to the left side of his face and gave a slight roll of the eye.
I laughed, despite myself, and hushed the brunette. “It’s okay, we’ll find it,” I cooed and looked up at Rilark who shook his head; it would be too dangerous to go back for it.
“Let’s not worry about that now, okay?” I asked and Rosalyn shook within my arms.
“I need to find it,” she wept.
“It’s just a ring,” the red dragon snapped, and I looked at him with wide eyes.
“It’s her sister’s ring,” I corrected.
“Then she shouldn’t be wearing it,” he scoffed; genuinely annoyed.
‘Her sister is dead’ I mouthed to him, and he immediately snapped his mouth shut. I shook my head and walked Rosalyn to the bedroom, narrowly missing the Peruvian console table full of books that was set out in the hallway. Rilark followed unsurely behind me, and I was suddenly very aware that my brother way in my home.
I set the girl on the bed, and she cried into the blankets like a young child would. I felt terrible for her. Not only to have gone through this ordeal, but to lose a piece of her family in the interim would be the cherry on top of a rotten day. I looked to Rilark and wondered if he was judging her. I wondered if her tears seemed misplaced or senseless to him. They weren’t to me.
“I want you to take her
to Vennolyn’s Tomb,” I said quietly, shutting the door so only a crack was left open.
My brother wrinkled his already damaged nose and raised a suspicious brow. “That’s on the other side of the planet.”
“It’s an order,” I said with a smile.
“Ah,” he chuckled. “So that’s how it’s gonna be?”
Rilark was always wild. He did what he liked no matter the consequence. We’d grown up together, and I never thought of him as anything but my brother. Not a bastard child, nor the son of a rebel. Just, Rilark. He never listened to me, and more often than not I found myself chasing after him, running into the mines or flying across the city and getting into trouble.
I always told him when we were children that one day I would tell him what to do and he would have to listen. I was always aware of my station; told that one day I would rule the Koth. He would give a hardy laugh at the sentiment, and we would joke about it.
And while we both laughed now, the moment quickly passed, and his face turned back to the bitterness I’d grown so accustomed to.
“Please,” I admonished him. “Take her with you. I’ll be along in a few weeks. I just need to get her out of the city for now. Besides, we just made an alliance with the Vennolyn. They’ll welcome you both with open arms and keep her hidden.”
“You think the rebels are after her?”
I shrugged. “At this point, anything’s possible. I just want to make sure she’s protected, and obviously, I made the right decision thinking you would put the utmost importance into protecting her.”
“Hm.” He raised a brow with intrigue as he skimmed the contents of my bookshelf with his finger. “How does Bromis feel about that?”
“I don’t know. You’ll have to go ask him yourself.”
Rilark leaned his head back and gave an arrogant laugh, smiling at me before turning his attention back to the books.
“Take what you like,” I said eagerly.
“No, thank you.” He turned down the white and gold halls and turned back to me when he reached the end. “Don’t need anything distracting me from my job.
“You leave in three days,” I said lightly and followed him to the door. He hesitated there, and I took it as an invitation to keep our conversation alive. “Why don’t you stay?” I asked, unapologetically eager to spend time with him. “I could use the company. Maybe we could run through the–”
He raised his hands in a wave of polite decline, or as close as Rilark could get to polite. “Can’t. Long night ahead,” he said simply. “Job doesn’t end at rescuing damsels in distress.”
“Right,” I smiled. “Goodnight then.”
“Goodnight.”
I locked the double doors behind him and heard him enter the elevator. I stared down at my whiskey with a sigh and took one last sip before entering my bedroom. I lay down beside Rosalyn, who had calmed her tears long enough to look up at me with her beautiful eyes, rings of green mixed and melded with brown strands in those beautiful hazel eyes.
Grabbing her chin in my hand, I kissed her gently, and she wrapped her small arms around my neck. “I’m sorry about your ring,” I said quietly. “But I’m glad you’re safe. I was so worried. If something ever happened to you, I don’t know what I’d–”
“Do you think we’ll be able to find it?”
She’d asked me so sincerely that it made my stomach sick. I wanted to give her everything, and I knew what the ring meant to her. Not only was it the last memory she had of her sister, but it was her last connection to Earth. I had no idea what it must have felt like to come to a new planet and feel like you have no ties to your own life.
I rubbed the space on her finger where the ring had sat and pursed my lips at her. “I hope so,” I said confidently. “I’ll have it looked into tomorrow.”
Rosalyn looked at me seriously for a moment before her eyes seemed settled once more. She crawled onto my and curled into my arms like a kitten finding a comfortable crevice, still shaking from the day’s events.
I caressed her body and sighed into her beautiful scent. My whole body washed over with relief now that I was able to hold her in my arms once again. “So…” my tone wavered uncomfortably. “I want to send you away for some time.”
“I heard,” she admitted. “Without you?”
I pursed my lips and my brows shot up. “For a time. Weeks, maybe.”
“Weeks?” she repeated with disappointment. “After what just happened?”
“That’s why it must be done now,” I nodded. “For your protection.”
She stared at me, and her eyes seemed to circle my face with an unsure gaze. Finally, she nodded.
“Don’t worry,” I said. “You’ll be in good hands.”
Chapter Seven
Rilark
The aftermath of the panic in the city was less than devastation. A barrel near a shuttle had exploded with great smoke. Fifty were hospitalized but all survived. On top of that good fortune, none of their equipment took a hit.
The attack was a bluff; an annoyance, if nothing else.
It took just a few hours to be able to use my clearance and get back into the scene and assess the damages. I spent hours at the site, consulting other soldiers and lowering myself to make chit-chat with the human males there. I reported back to the Koth by the next morning to give them my full assessment.
Even though the shuttle station was targeted, it still took less than two days for the Koth to send myself and Rosalyn, along with a handful of other soldiers and representatives off in –low and behold– a shuttle.
My good friend Tardis flipped through a stack of playing cards as he leaned back against the cushioned wall in the common area. The shuttle, like everything else in Galsthenn’s possession, was luxurious and held only the best for its passengers. The best food, best wines, best entertainment.
“Your brother’s one hell of a guy,” Tardis said as he shuffled his deck; he kicked his feet up on the stool in front of him.
I rolled my eyes and offered a long sigh. “Can you not?” I winced. “That’s not supposed to be public knowledge, remember?”
“Right, right,” he waved me off with a smile.
The shifter was blue and yellow, with a welcoming smile and an outgoing personality. We’d been friends for years and years. I’d bonded with him some fifteen years ago. Just a few short years after that his father, Targeg, was killed in battle.
Tardis’ view of the Koth had changed drastically after that. There was some rumor that his father’s death was part of a cover-up on Earth’s behalf. Since then both of us had dabbled in doing work for the rebels. I knew he’d joined their beliefs and so I’d helped him do a few missions here and there for them, relayed some information, but I was hesitant to dip my feet in the water.
Tardis passed out a hand of poker my way, and we could barely finish a hand as Rosalyn entered the room.
“Aren’t you supposed to be guarding me?” she teased with surprisingly playful tones as she took a seat at our table.
“We’re on a shuttle,” I said with a chuckle. “What do you want me to protect you from? Boredom?”
“Maybe.” She shrugged. Her shoulders were bare from the tank top she wore. Tight jeans fitted her bottom, and she looked like anything but a wife to one of the Koth. Her cleavage spilled over the oval neckline of her shirt and Tardis kicked my foot from under the table as his eyes found the milky skin.
“You could… deal me in?” she asked.
I eyed Tardis, and he shrugged. “The more, the merrier!” he shouted and did ask she asked. We didn’t know she would give us a run for our money by the end of the night. I suspected foul play but couldn’t prove otherwise. “I fold,” Tardis said with a defeated laugh as he tossed his cards onto the table.
“Best three out of five?” she asked with her childish grin.
“You women really know how to take away the pride, don’t you?” Tardis chuckled. He nodded and said, “Deal me in.”
She shuffled the
deck and then began dealing the cards. I grabbed my hand from her and watched as she slipped her unwanted cards to the bottom of the deck. She seemed so resilient and almost unreadable in her expressions. Shy when she smiled, her emotions were almost hidden within her timid demeanor.
Unless she was talking to me, of course, then she would release her inner beast.
She spoke endlessly about books she’d read and anecdotes about her learning to become a nurse and quips about growing up with her sister. She revealed notable conversations she’d had with my brother and how much she was enjoying being on Udora. It was almost like she’d relented to being a real, likable person all of the sudden.
I looked at her square chin and noticed a smile creeping on her lips. With an over exaggerated sigh, I said, “She’s on fire tonight!”
Rosalyn smiled slightly and tossed a card into a pile.
“A far cry from the stories I’ve heard about you,” Tardis teased as he tossed a card to her and received a replacement.
“What,” she gestured to me with a flirtatious grin and asked, “He spreading rumors that I’m a bad poker player?”
“Worse,” Tardis widened his eyes, scales dulling under the fading window light. “A bore.”
She looked at me and gave a mock gasp, touching my skin with a lighthearted slap and sending a rush of goosebumps along my arm. “Rude,” she announced with mock offense.
“Um. Do you know Rilark?” Tardis said, nudging me with an annoying smirk and the pair of them laughed.
“I’m fairly certain I’ve been keeping him on his toes,” she said, slower now. “Did he tell you about what happened?” She paused and corrected, “The bombing.”
“Everyone here knows,” I rolled my eyes. “Why else do they think we’re on our way to the great beyond?”
She flushed and seemed embarrassed. “Oh, right. I forgot.”
“Yeah she’s kept in interesting, all right,” I laughed and flopped my cards down on the table. “We’ve got a rebel bombing on our hands; you get me?” I said jovially as I leaned into the table, setting my arms over their cards. “We’ve got injuries, and a stampede happening, civil unrest, and you know what princess cried about when we got back to Galsthenn’s?”