“You don’t have to turn me in. We can come to some kind of arrangement.” He peeked at me over his shoulder. He thought I was here to capture him, and do what? Hand him over to my father or even worse, the Vandelrizi, to be tried as a terrorist? I shuddered. He may be a dangerous criminal, but a Palasium trial was equivalent to a death sentence. He would be tortured and executed before nightfall. I wouldn’t do that to my worst enemy.
“I’m not turning you in,” I said softly.
“Then why’re you doing this?”
“Because you have something I need.” I tightened the rope and made a knot. Next was his legs and I angled around him.
“Sounds interesting. What can I do for you?” My heart sped up and very naughty thoughts entered my mind. Heat spread through my body. My teenage hormones were running rampant from the moment he got out of the truck. I had never met anyone that could affect me so deeply in a matter of minutes.
“I need something that’s in the truck.” I didn’t know why I was explaining myself to him. He was the hostage and I was the hostage taker. Was that even a proper word? My mind was in a jumble around him. I slid the rope around his ankles.
“What will your father say if he knows you’re stealing from him, Alexis?” I gasped and my eyes snapped to his. He knew my name, which meant he knew who I was this whole time. He knew my father was the Prime Minister of Palasium.
“Technically you can’t steal stolen goods.” My voice cracked. I had to keep it together; I was still the one in control. “You recognized me?” There was no use in denying who I was.
“You’re Alexis Miller, the beautiful daughter of a traitor,” he answered and my heart did a little flip. He thought I was beautiful? It didn’t matter that he called Robert a traitor. He was one and a lot of things a whole lot worse that no words could describe.
“Okay, so you know who I am. What’s your name?”
“Chai, milady.” A smile tucked at my lips. He was doing his best to be charming. He leant forward and inspected the knot I was making.
“You’re doing it all wrong.” I rolled my eyes. I was proud of the sturdy knot I made.
“You’re going to give me a lesson in tying knots now?” I scrutinized my handiwork and felt satisfied that he wasn’t escaping any time soon.
“I can give you lessons in many things. In fact, I’ll enjoy giving you a few lessons, Alexis.” His voice turned soft and seductive and my eyes widened. He was definitely flirting with me. Two could play this game.
“I’m sure you will and maybe I can teach you a few things as well. And only my father calls me Alexis. My name’s Lexie.” I gave him my best kittenish smile and tucked at the tight knot. I didn’t need any lessons, especially from him. He threw his head back and laughed.
“Why don’t you untie me?” His eyes caressed my face. “We can start the lesson right now.”
“We’ll have to do it some other time.” My hand moved of its own accord and for a second I let myself have the luxury of touching the waves of his hair. I snatched my hand back.
I was so going to hell. I stood, grabbed my backpack and stretched my cramped legs, before heading for the truck. I wished I didn’t need to leave him there, knowing that after I found what I came for I would never see him again. I might just as well admit it. I liked him.
I lifted the canvas covering the back and scanned the stacked rows of boxes. It had to be here, I saw it listed on the requisition form sent to Cyrius yesterday. I shoved boxes impatiently out of the way until I finally saw a smaller one hidden underneath a heap of blankets.
I tore the tape on top that sealed the box and opened it, relief flooding me. There was a lot more than I anticipated inside; it would be enough for at least a couple of weeks. I grabbed the vials of antibiotics, little plastic bags with painkillers and bottles of medicine with names I couldn’t even pronounce. I felt like leaping up and down and doing a little dance. This whole day and facing a very dangerous, but extremely sexy rebel fighter was definitely worth the treasure I now had in my possession. I emptied the box into my backpack and turned around. I gasped as I bumped into a rock-hard chest.
“How did you…” I glanced at the tree and the frayed pieces of rope lying on the ground.
“You should’ve listened. You were doing it all wrong,” Chai said and I shuddered at the steely glint in his eyes. Mr. Nice Guy was gone. His face was carved from marble. I took a step back, my spine pressing against the cold metal of the truck.
He pried the backpack from my clasped fingers and I made a strangled sound in the back of my throat. Where did I put the gun…my hands instinctively searched my pockets.
“Looking for this?” He dangled the gun in front of my face and panic filled me to the core. I left it at the tree. How could I be so stupid? He dropped the gun on the roof of the truck with a loud thump, well beyond my reach and zipped open my backpack.
“Let’s see what you took.” He took out a couple of vials and twirled them between his fingers. “Why did you take the medicine?” He frowned at me, as if I was a gigantic puzzle he was trying to solve.
“It’s none of your business.” My voice was strangled with emotion.
I was terrified. I saw what he did to the soldiers in the desert. There was no doubt in my mind he was going to kill me with one of his sharp knives and leave my body to rot in the jungle. Nobody knew where I was. Nobody would find me. Only my bones would be left after the wild animals were done feeding on my body. My eyes darted to the right. I could make a run for it. His legs were longer than mine, but I was fast, I was sure I could outrun him.
“Don’t even think of it,” he said menacingly as if he could read my mind. He let the backpack drop to the ground and rested the palms of his hands on the side of the truck, trapping my face between them. I was caged in, there was no escape.
“Are you selling the medicine?”
“Selling? No! I need them!” I was mortified. I would never sell something so valuable. Tears of frustration welled in my eyes. A couple of minutes ago I wondered how it felt to kiss him and now I’d give anything to escape him. I actually thought I liked him. I thought he was flirting with me, it was obviously all an act.
“Why do you need the medicine, Lexie?” His voice was low and intimidating. He may be as handsome as hell, but he was more terrifying than any wild creature in this jungle.
“I’m not telling you anything! You’re going to kill me, no matter what I say. I saw what you did to the soldiers in the desert. You’re a murderer!” I blurted out.
His jaw tensed and he narrowed his eyes. Fury rolled off him. He slammed his fist down on the roof of the truck with such force that I could hear the metal bending and ripping. I yelped in fright. Instinct took over and I slid to ground and covered my head with my arms. Years of experience taught me a valuable lesson in protecting my face. I had been on the receiving end of this kind of rage for many years.
I waited in anguished anticipation, but nothing happened. He didn’t touch me. I peeked through my eyelashes. Chai stood frozen. He stared at me cowering on the ground, his face contorted in shock. He slowly took a step back as if he was scared of frightening me.
“I’m not going to hurt you, Lexie,” he said gently and I hesitantly lowered my arms. I couldn’t get up. My legs felt weak and I didn’t trust them to carry my weight if I stood. He lowered himself on the ground across from me, his hands resting on his knee caps.
“I didn’t kill the soldiers in the desert. They’re still alive. We’re not murderers. We don’t kill if we don’t have to.” He ran a hand through his tousled hair. “By now they’re heading back to the city. But I’ve had to kill people and I will again if necessary. We’re fighting a war against the Vandelrizi and those that stand with them.” His honesty surprised me, but he was wrong. The war against the Vandelrizi was lost seven years ago. Humanity was near extinction.
“The war is over. The Vandelrizi won.” I whispered. I didn’t know who I preferred – the boy taunting me or th
is version of him that looked so serious. My fingers itched to touch the little frown on his forehead.
“The war’s far from over,” he said with such conviction that I envied him. I had lost hope a long time ago. The only thing left for us to do is survive. “Now will you please explain to me why you need the medicine?”
“You don’t understand.” I looked at my hands, inspecting my short cut nails. “The people in Palasium, the humans...”
“You mean the slaves.” I cringed, but he was right. They were slaves; all the humans in the cities were slaves. You did what the Vandelrizi told you to or you were executed, as simple as that.
“They’re ill. Some kind of flue and the Vandelrizi won’t give them any medicine.” I begged Robert to intervene on their behalf to the Vandelrizi. Maybe he could convince them to help the humans that were ill, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He never went against the wishes of the Vandelrizi and he didn’t have an inch of compassion left in his cruel body for the slaves.
“You’re going to give them the medicine?” Chai asked, surprise written all over his face. “Why do you care about the slaves?”
I couldn’t blame Chai for his disbelief, although it hurt. I was the daughter of a despicable tyrant – a man that lived in the lap of luxury, had a humungous house, more than enough to eat and access to the best medical care, while the rest of the humans in Palasium, with the exception of the Guard, suffered on a daily basis. Why would I care? I didn’t know how to explain it to him and I thought long and hard before I answered him.
“My mother once told me that you shouldn’t waist time trying to change what you can’t, but you had to try to change the things you can.”
“She sounds like a wise woman.”
“She was.” I didn’t want to think about her right now or the ache in my heart for her. I needed to stay focused on the danger in front of me. I couldn’t let myself trust him.
Chai rose and strode to the foliage, retrieving his knives from between the bulky leaves. That was my cue; I wasn’t going to wait for him to use the knives on me. I scrambled to my feet and sprinted as fast as my feeble legs could move towards the darkness of the jungle next to road. I didn’t know where I was going, but anywhere was better than here with him, waiting for the angel of death to come and fetch me. I could try to hide from him in the dense undergrowth.
A pair of arms circled me from behind and my back slammed into his solid chest. I didn’t know how he got to me this fast. Adrenaline pumped through my veins. I kicked backward and thrashed wildly with my arms. I wasn’t going down without a fight. It was useless, the more I struggled the tighter he held me against him. I writhed and twisted until I was too weak to move, hanging limply in his arms. He loosened his grip and spun me around.
“Stop struggling!”
I wasn’t done yet and swung my fist towards his jaw. Chai easily blocked my arm and I lost my footing and stumbled backward. My back hit the ground and I winced. He was on top of me in seconds, straddling me and pinning my arms to my sides.
“Stop struggling, you’re going to hurt yourself.” Tears streamed down my cheeks and he frowned.
“Get it over with! Kill me!” I clenched my teeth. It was no use fighting him anymore. He was faster and stronger than me. The sooner it was over, the better.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said quietly. I didn’t know if I should believe him. There was no reason for him to let me live.
“You’re letting the daughter of the Prime Minister live?” It didn’t make any sense. He reached for my face and gently wiped away a tear from my cheek with his thumb.
“I can think of a lot more pleasant things to do with you.” He gave me a lopsided smile. “But unfortunately we’ll have to do it some other time.” He echoed my words from earlier and I exhaled slowly, my tensed body relaxing under his weight.
“That’s better.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips on my forehead. I was stunned. He stood and I stared at him, jaw open. Did he just kiss me? He held out his hand and I took it warily.
He pulled me to my feet and I nervously rubbed my hands over my clothes. I must look like a mess. Strands of hair escaped from my ponytail and I was covered in dirt. My eyes were probably red and puffy from crying.
“It’ll be dark soon and the jungle at night is no place for a little girl. You must go back to the city.” He walked to the truck, scooping my backpack from the ground and handed it to me. He reached for my gun on the roof of the truck and held it toward me. I hesitantly took it, the metal cool in my hand.
“Never point a gun at me again if you don’t intend to use it. Lesson 1 – never take your finger off the trigger,” Chai said.
“Oh.” He knew I took my finger of the trigger. I must be the worse armed robber in the history of the world.
“You’re letting me go?” I asked. He wasn’t going to kill me and now he was letting me go. I was wrong about the rebels. They weren’t ruthless or murderers. He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, his warm eyes resting on my face. Again I felt an incomprehensible connection to him.
“Don’t look so disappointed. I’ll be seeing you soon, little one.” He grinned wickedly. I flushed and reluctantly stepped onto the road, heading in the direction of the city.
He was right; I didn’t want to be in the jungle after sunset. Palasium wasn’t very far from the jungle and I could reach it before dark. I didn’t understand why he was letting me go. He could have killed me or used me as ransom. I could just as well admit it – I didn’t want to go back. A very big part of me wanted to stay with him. I should’ve been thankful that he didn’t hurt me or worse. He even let me keep the medicine. But deep inside me, I knew the prospect of returning to Palasium and to my father, sapped the life from me. I turned. Chai still stood where I left him, watching me. I wanted to run back to him.
“Thank you.” I said hastily and pivoted on my heels.
I quickly reached the edge of the jungle and headed west across the desert. The setting sun set the barren landscape ablaze, painting it in vibrant variations of red, buttery yellows and fiery oranges. For these few minutes, before the darkness cloaked this never-ending desolate world, the sun managed to turn something so barren and bleak into a spectacular dreamlike place.
The abandoned shed jutted out between the sand dunes. It seemed out of place and daily the sun and sand tried to destroy it, flatten it to fit in with the rest of the surrounding landscape. I didn’t know what the original purpose of this structure was or why it was built out here and not within the city walls. All I knew that my way in and out of Palasium was inside the shed. I took the small key from the back pocket of my shorts and unlocked the padlock protecting it from unwanted and curious visitors. Inside was a door to the underground tunnels zigzagging Palasium and one of them led straight to my house. A few years ago I found these tunnels by accident and I spent every free minute since mapping them. It was exhilarating, like finding a hidden treasure no one knew about. The Vandelrizi must know of them, they had to have some reason for building them, but they never used them. Maybe they even forgot they were there and I have never mentioned the tunnels to Robert. For now it was my secret.
I took one last glance at the jungle and cupped a hand over my eyes and squinted. I swore I saw Chai standing at the edge of the jungle, shadowed by the broad leaves of a tree. I could hear his words echoing in my mind.
“I’ll be seeing you soon, little one.
Chapter 3
Lazily I pried my eyes open and stifled a yawn with the back of my hand. The rising sun was casting alternating patterns of light and dark on the hickory hardwood floor through the open bay window. A slight breeze lifted and twirled the sheer white curtains. It was another cloudless day. I rolled onto my stomach and peeked over the edge of the bed. My backpack, with its precious contents was safely tucked under my bed. I pushed myself upright and sat cross-legged on the bed. A very sexy boy haunted my dreams last night and I must admit they weren’t nightmares, but glorious si
nfully, mushy dreams. I covered my burning cheeks with the palms of my hand. The chances were slim that I would ever see Chai again. He was a rebel fighter and I was…I was here in Palasium. Our worlds were not destined to collide.
Last night I made it just in time for dinner. Maria, our housekeeper shot me a quick glance and ushered me upstairs to tidy up and change. She didn’t ask any questions, only raised her silver eyebrows and shook her head at my filthy clothes and disheveled hair. She was originally from somewhere in Mexico before the invasion and her English wasn’t very good, but her eyes missed nothing. She was our housekeeper since Mom died and I was positive she must be nearing ninety years of age. Her parchment thin skin was covered in wrinkles and she wore her thinning winter-grey hair permanently in a tight bun on her head. When I was younger I firmly believed she was a witch – not a wicked witch, children eating kind, but one of the good ones sent to protect me, more like a fairy godmother. She was one of the few people I trusted completely to keep my secrets.
Robert was, as always, quiet through dinner and I was relieved. It felt like my sins were written with a sharpie on my brow for all to read. It wasn’t surprising that he didn’t have anything to say to me, our conversations had always been forced and uncomfortable. I couldn’t remember a time when we ever had a loving relationship like a father and daughter should. He had never shown me any affection since the day I was born. For years I carried the pain with me, yearning for him to love me, but now I accepted it as a part of life. I didn’t think of him as my father anymore. I even preferred to call him Robert instead of father, adding to his irritation whenever we did talk.
Maybe I reminded him too much of Mom. I didn’t have many happy childhood memories, not even from before the Vandelrizi invaded earth. They were always fighting – the sort of fights that usually ended in something breaking, doors slamming and Mom trying to hide the bruises the next day. Whenever he was near, her beautiful smile faded and she became nervous and withdrawn. I never understood why she married him or why she stayed with him for so long. After the invasion things only got worse, their fighting escalated into a full out war.
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