by Roxie Ray
Every now and again, the trees would rustle with purpose, and I knew it was because some great creature was passing over the jungle floors. I thought about Mum and how much she would have loved this world. I thought about her often, now. I thought about Dad, too. I had even started to think about Sara. It didn’t hurt like it used to, and that gave me the freedom to remember the old memories, the happy memories that had been buried under all the pain and guilt.
So this was what healing felt like? It tasted suspiciously like freedom. I turned my face up to the pale, purple-pink Svantian sky and concentrated on the warm breeze caressing my face. My eyes flew open when I thought I heard a sound coming from my chambers. It hadn’t been very loud, but I was sure it had come from inside the main solar. I knew it wasn’t Quatix. I would have sensed him before I heard him.
“Meri-Dana?” I called.
There was no sound. If it had been Meri-Dana, she would have come straight to the balcony to announce her presence, and it was too early for the kitchen to send up supper. I turned to the bedroom doors, but no one seemed to be there.
It was just your imagination.
But my skin was tingling with a sense of foreboding I couldn’t explain. My whole life had taught me to trust my instincts, and right now, they were telling me that I wasn’t alone.
“Who’s there?” I asked firmly, turning towards the doors of my balcony. “Show yourself.”
My hand twitched toward my waist before I realized that I was not wearing my warrior’s belt and had no weapons on me. Fear kindled in my gut, and I tried not to let it show on my face. A shadow fell across the balcony’s doorway, and while I recognized him as Svantian, I knew for certain that he was not a Svantian I was very familiar with.
The intruder stepped into the spotlight that the silver moon cast across the balcony. I started in surprise as I took in his dark eyes and deep purple scales. It took me a moment to put a name to his face.
“Nils,” I breathed.
“You know my name,” he said, looking more than a little pleased.
He must have been six-ten, at least. He was wearing the layered medallion belts that Svantians were so fond off. The muscles of his arms bulged as though he were flexing them. His eyes were alert, but I saw no reason in them. What was he doing here? The Sives had just robbed Svante of its most precious resource — it didn’t make sense that he would be here instead of with the rest of the Sives.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, backing up against the balcony’s balustrade. “Did Bis’er send you?”
Nils growled in disgust. “I don’t take orders from that bastard,” he spat. “The Sives should be ruled by one of the warrior races, not some arrogant fish without a tail. I’m here because I go where I want and do as I please.”
“The Gnosees are gone,” I said, feeling my voice start to shake. “And you have betrayed your people. What on earth could you possibly want in Svante?”
“Well, for starters — you.”
My body went cold, and for a second I thought I had misheard him. I blinked, trying to make sense of his words.
“I don’t understand —”
“I remember seeing you that day in the marketplace,” Nils said, his eyes roving over my body with brazen want. “You were wearing a blue gown. It hugged the lines of your body perfectly. And I appreciated the bells in your hair. Who would have thought an Earthling could look so very Svantian.”
My heartbeat was getting faster and faster as I realized that the lack of reason I had seen in his eyes had crossed over into madness. He had to be mad, to stand there in front of me, talking to me like a serial killer out of a Hitchcock movie.
“I knew that day when I saw you surrounded by hulking aliens with none of your beauty that I wanted you. And I would have you at any cost.”
“I already have a mate,” I said through gritted teeth, trying to call out for Quatix through our soul bond. I couldn’t push thoughts or words through, but perhaps I could push through enough emotion so that he would hear me. I only hoped that we weren’t too far away from one another for it to work.
“The common folk talk,” Nils replied. “They say no marriage has taken place yet.”
“You don’t have to be married to mate,” I said. “Quatix and I are tied together by our soul bond.”
Nils’ eyes went wide with shock. “You have… performed the mating ritual? You are bonded to the king?”
“I am,” I said, glancing down from the balcony as subtly as I could.
The ground was far below me, but there were a number of different trees whose branches reached out towards me. Still, the closest one was still several feet below me, and I wasn’t sure if I had the courage to jump on my own.
Nils’ expression turned dark immediately. His dark eyes seemed to get even darker and I felt as though there was a noose tightening around my neck.
“You will be killed if they find you here,” I said, trying to scare him into running. “Your best chance to live is to leave now.”
Nils snarled at me. “Not without you.”
“Didn’t you hear me?” I said, raising my voice and filling it with false strength. “I have mated with King Quatix. You can’t take me, you can’t touch me.”
Nils bared his teeth, and it took all my resolve not to cringe away at the sight of him. “That bastard, he has everything already. Why couldn’t he leave me this one thing?”
“I am not a thing,” I said forcefully, my face burning with anger. “I am a person, and I chose Quatix, just as much as he chose me.”
“It was the wrong choice,” Nils hissed.
He took a step forward, and I pushed myself against the balustrade, cringing away from him. “What are you going to do?” I gasped.
“If I can’t have you,” Nils said, reaching out to me. “Then no one can.”
His hand entwined in the loose curves of my hair, and I acted on instinct. I sent my palm slamming into his face, and I knew it was my imagination, but it felt as though the sound of my slap sent a subtle echo through the Svantian jungles.”
He turned his face to me, displaying his razor sharp teeth. “Such a shame,” he said. “I would have been a mate worthy of your time and attention. I am ten times the being Quatix is.”
“You are nothing compared to Quatix,” I scowled back at him. “I would rather die than be with you.”
The growl he emitted seemed to come from his chest. “I can arrange that —”
I heard a loud bang and the sound of running footsteps. Relief washed over me as I sensed Quatix’s panic and fear flow to meet my own. He was here, and he had brought the Protectors. He appeared at the entrance to the balcony with Terrox, Brailin, and Comadin at his back. All four of them froze when they caught sight of Nils.
“You fucking bastard!” Terrox roared.
Nils grabbed me suddenly and pushed me in front of him, a shield that stood between him and Quatix’s wrath. His hand came to land on my neck, and I struggled helplessly within his grasp, rebelling against his rough touch.
“Let her go, and I will let you live,” Quatix said, taking a step forward.
Nils laughed maniacally. “Fools. I have her in my grasp, and you have nothing but desperation.”
With that, he flung me over his shoulder, jumped onto the balustrade in one swift move, and launched us off the balcony into the thick canopy of trees below us. As I sailed through the air, the world spun into a dizzying blur. and then I felt leaves slap against my face.
I heard Quatix’s furious roar, but I couldn’t sense his panic because mine was drowning out everything else.
26
Quatix
I roared so loudly that I saw a throng of Svantian crawlies take off into the air, frightened by the echo of my outrage. I was seeing red mist. My anger burned so heavy, I felt as though it would spark through the trees and set the whole jungle on fire.
That moment when Nils had jumped, I felt as though he were ripping away a piece of me. I hadn’t even c
aught a glimpse of Rosa’s face. Her hair flowed down across her face, marring her features from view. But I could still sense her emotions. She was panicked and scared, but most of all, she was determined. I could sense that she was fighting.
“I can follow him through the trees,” Comadin said, turning to me with a faint sheen of sweat on his forehead.
“Do it.” I nodded, despite the fact that I knew it would be the least effective method. I wanted to be thorough.
Comadin didn’t wait to be told twice. He jumped onto the balcony and heaved himself off of it, into the canopy of trees before. I heard the thud of his weight land on a heavy branch, and then he disappeared into the thick foliage. I turned to Terrox and Brailin urgently.
“Alert the other protectors. We cannot let him leave Svante with Rosa.”
“We can try tracking her through her translation chip,” Terrox suggested as we ran back through my chambers.
“Unnecessary,” I said. “I can sense her through our soul bond. I can track her myself.”
“Soul bonds are not always that accurate,” Terrox pointed out cautiously.
I could feel Rosa still. He wasn’t so far away that the connection was muted or blurred in any way. I would find her. There was no other option.
“Ours is,” I insisted with hubris. “Now go. We cannot lose the bastard.”
In a matter of minutes, I was racing out of the castle’s walls. I could sense Rosa on the other side of the gates. The guards saw me coming toward them at a run and pulled open the gates as fast as they could. I caught a glimpse of Nils on the other side as he cut through the pathway and jumped over a fallen branch. He was making his way through the underbelly of the mountain, away from the city and the marketplace.
Rosa’s skirts were flying in the wind. Her face was still hidden from view, but I could tell she was struggling against Nils. Vuks, Lexor, and Terrox appeared at my shoulders, all three panting heavily and in their own state of panic. To lose any female to unnatural means was considered a tragedy among our people, but to lose a queen was far worse. It was considered an ill omen for the planet and its people. Even if that had not been the case, the Protectors were my brothers in arms. We had just buried our brother’s mate, and no one wanted to repeat the process.
The four of us took off at a run. We had just hit the stoned pathway that led down the mountain when Comadin ran into us. His breathing was labored, but I knew he still had a mile or two left in him.
“The bastard is fast,” Comadin complained as we ran through the precarious mountain cliffs together.
I tried to tell Rosa I was coming by pushing through my emotion so that she would know I was on my way to her, but my concentration was weak, and I kept losing track of what feeling I was trying to get across. I abandoned the attempt all together when we came to a dirt track that led to a flat bit of land surrounded by trees.
“Where do you think he’s taking her?” Terrox asked.
“He’s probably taking her to the place where he’s stowed his getaway ship,” I said through gritted teeth.
I followed Rosa’s tangled nerves through our soul bond, and the more progress we made, the more clearly her emotions came through. She was definitely fighting against him and my heart swelled with pride. She may have been half his size, she may have possessed half the power, but she had the pride and the courage of any Svantian three times her size.
I slowed down a little and held up my hand. The other protectors slowed down, as well, looking at me with curious eyes.
“We have him,” I growled.
I heard a muffled scream and frowned. Rosa was panicked, but the panic had a different flavor to it. It was like she was trying to warn me about something.
Suddenly, a burst of red light zoomed through two trees and smashed right into Terrox. Terrox flew through the air, taking down Comadin and Luxor down with him. Vuks and I ducked for cover, unsure of what the red beam was. I crawled through the jungle floor toward Terrox, who was lying closest to me. His body was shivering violently like he was having some sort of fit.
“What the fuck is this?” I demanded with new fear.
Terrox’s eyes were wide open, and I could see that he was alive and aware, but it looked like whatever Nils had hit him with had rendered him incapacitated.
Vuks was on the other side, checking both Comadin and Luxor. “It’s a current gun from the far east side of the galaxy,” Vuks informed me. “Its effects won’t wear off for at least another thirty minutes or so.”
“Fuck!” I growled, realizing that I couldn’t rely on my protectors for this one.
That suited me just fine. I wanted to deal with Nils alone. “Go back to the castle,” I told Vuks. “Get help and —”
“I can’t leave you here alone.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. I can handle myself.”
“My King —”
“Your king has just given you a direct command,” I hissed. “Now do as I say. Go.”
I didn’t wait for Vuks to answer back. I had already lost precious minutes checking on Terrox. I needed to make sure that Nils’ ship didn’t get off the ground. If he managed to get airborne, I risked the chance of never seeing Rosa again. My mind couldn’t even fathom that possibility. The reality that I might lose her was so dark that my mind shied away from it with violent fervor.
As I stormed through the trees, I caught sight of Nils in the distance. He was setting Rosa down in front of a small spacecraft that could have held maybe ten Svantians at the most.
The moment he set Rosa down, she jerked away from him and made as if to run in the opposite direction, but Nils grabbed her again instantly and slapped her so hard she landed on the ground in front of his feet.
I had meant to be silent. I had meant to sneak up on Nils and take him by surprise. But watching Rosa being slapped by that betraying bastard sent me over the edge. I roared with outrage, and Nils’s head snapped towards me. I was gratified to see fear flit across his face, but a second later he was smiling. He grabbed Rosa and pulled her in front of him, just like he had on the balcony.
“You bastard,” I said, drawing closer. “That’s the second time you’ve used my Queen as a human shield.”
“Oh, she’s far better than a shield,” Nils replied, his eyes unfocused; I wondered if he was calculated or just plain insane.
“Get your hands off me, asshole,” Rosa hissed.
“Silence, whore!”
If I could have ripped him apart, limb from limb, I would have. “That is the Queen of Svante you are speaking to, you poxy son of a bitch.”
“She is not my queen,” Nils spat. “Now, unless you want to see her royal guts on the floor, I would advise you to step away and let us board the ship.”
“I would sooner die.”
“Would you rather see her die, then?” Nils asked, almost patiently. “Perhaps you are sick of your queen already? Perhaps you would like to gift her to me.”
I growled low, feeling the animal inside me take over. The red mist of my anger blurred my vision for a moment, and I realized that I needed to be smart if I wanted to get Rosa away from Nils.
“What do you want?” I asked. “You are here for a reason, and somehow I doubt my queen is what you seek.”
“She is a valuable female,” Nils said with a shrug. “She has many great uses.”
“Speak plainly,” I spat.
“There is so much you don’t know.” Nils laughed, tilting his head back. “There is so much you don’t understand.”
Rosa was looking at me with wide eyes. I could see a number of cuts and bruises on her arms, and the right side of her face was already swelling where Nils had struck her. I was going to make him pay for that.
Rosa shook her head imperceptibly. I could feel her emotion push through our soul bond. She wanted me to walk away, let her go if it meant that I would be safe. I gritted my teeth. I would not let her sacrifice herself for me or for anyone else. I knew she could sense my resolve, and she mouthed some
thing to me.
“No Quatix,” she said. “I love you… please.”
“That was a pretty nice current gun you used back there,” I said, trying to buy myself some time.
Nils stiffened immediately, and I could tell by his response that his current gun was either used up or too far away from him now to be useful.
“You came prepared,” I continued.
“I always do.”
“But you have no backup,” I pointed out. “It almost seems like Bis’er sent you on a suicide mission. Did you do something to upset the outlaw king?”
“I do not answer to Bis’er,” Nils sneered. “He is just another false king, as you are. I work for myself.”
“And yet you came back to Svante, after helping this king you do not serve to win the Gnosees to his cause. None of that makes sense.”
Nils moved back a little, pulling Rosa with him. I tensed immediately. Another three steps and he would be able to jump into his ship and take off. Even if I managed to close the distance between us, it still wouldn’t be enough time to stop the ship’s door from sealing Rosa inside and keeping me from getting to her.
Nils’ hand was draped across Rosa’s neck, and she cringed against him uncomfortably. I sensed a new flavor to her emotion, but before I could pin it down, she opened her mouth and bit into Nils’ arm as hard as she could. He howled in pain and released her instinctively. Rosa scrambled away from him, tripping on her dress as she tried to get as far away as possible.
Furious, Nils tried to make a grab for her, and that was all the distraction I needed. I bounded across the damp forest floor in seconds, and my hand closed around Nils’ throat. His eyes went wide as he turned to me, realizing his mistake.
He was almost as tall as me, but his muscles were considerably bigger, and I quickly realized that his desperation made him stronger. He placed a hand over my wrist and tried to break my hold on him. I felt my knuckles whiten as he put pressure on my grip. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Rosa run across the matted dirt, leaves crunching in her wake.