by Lucia Ashta
The gray eyes became steelier. They held mine for a long time before shifting to stare off into the distance. There was something there, but the King gave me no indication of what it might be. Finally, he spoke. “What are your plans for Ilara?”
“I’m not sure I understand exactly what you mean, your Majesty.”
“You searched for my daughter everywhere on Planet O.”
I nodded.
“You searched within the palace—which shows me that the palace isn’t as secure as I believed it—”
I thought that the fact that my father had almost managed to have him killed this time, and did kill the queen last time, would have been proof enough of this.
“You searched within the royal city. You even looked for her in the Koal desert where few dare to go.”
“Yes, your Majesty. I searched for years.”
“But you came up with nothing.”
“Yes, your Majesty. Not even a rumor that she might still be alive.”
“Yet you continued your search for her. You didn’t give up.”
I waited until the King met my eyes straight on, across the rest of the bed and the several feet of open space that separated us. “I will never give up on her.”
“Yes. Yes, I see that. And what made you think to go to your father’s laboratory? How did you think to search for a trace of her there?”
“It was the only other place I could think of to look for her. I’d looked everywhere I could think of—no matter how remote—on this planet. No rumor of her whereabouts reached me. No sightings of her. Nothing about her seemed to continue on Planet O. That left only one possibility.”
“Because you knew she was alive.”
“Yes. Because I knew she was alive. I can still feel her. I knew the assassins hadn’t killed her. They couldn’t have, even if you sentenced them to death for her murder.”
A glint of defiance crossed the King’s eyes, even though he hadn’t had to justify his actions to anyone for a very long time. “It was the only way to keep her safe. It was the only way to cement the idea that the assassins killed her. Either way, they earned a death sentence. Entering the palace as they did, with the intentions they had, when the royal family slept—or was supposed to be sleeping.” He gave me a meaningful look.
Ilara hadn’t been at the palace when the assassins slipped through its defenses. She hadn’t been in her bed where they searched for her when she should have been asleep. She’d been with me, in my chambers, where no one but Dolpheus knew we were together. She’d rocked her hips above mine, our bodies slicked with the heat of passion, even as the assassins killed one of her ladies and tore the sheets back from her bed.
“I would have done the same thing,” I said. Compassion had its place. But in times such as these, when it was war even within a time of peace, a man had to do what he had to do. Sometimes, it was just that simple, and just that cruel. “If you hadn’t ordered the assassins executed on the spot, they might have spoken. They might have said that they hadn’t killed Ilara, and that would have been enough to encourage whoever sent the assassins to continue looking for her. That person would have continued to hunt for her to wipe out the royal line of Andaron, so that it ends with you.”
It was fucked up. The main threat to the woman I loved was my own father. As much as I’d hesitated and deliberated about sharing what I had with the King, I wished to share it with my father even less. At least the King cared for Ilara. My father would kill her, even if he knew what she meant to me. My father’s ambitions surpassed any sense of decency. He’d become a different man altogether once the King killed his mother for treason. It had only gotten worse once my mother left my father for another man.
“In a way, I suppose I owe you thanks for my daughter’s life. If she hadn’t been with you, the assassins would have found her vulnerable in her bed, and they would have killed her. However, given the circumstances, I will not thank you, you understand.”
I supposed I did. There weren’t many fathers willing to thank a man for penetrating their daughters.
“Who have you told that you believe the Princess lives?”
“No one but Dolpheus, your Majesty. And as you saw, Dolpheus can be trusted. He would rather die than betray me. And he would betray me if he betrayed Ilara. He knows that.”
The King’s words came slower now, the pauses longer. He was thinking, reviewing the many possibilities of my unexpected involvement in Ilara’s life. His gray eyes were as astute as ever, though they wandered the room distractedly, landing on me only occasionally now. “If I were to tell you of Ilara’s location, what would you do with the information?”
My heart started beating faster. I was closer to Ilara now than I’d been in three long years. “I’d bring her back here, of course.”
“No. I won’t allow you to do that. She’d be in immediate danger the moment of her return. That’s the whole reason I sent her away in the first place. To protect her from your father and his… ambitions.”
“But your Majesty, she must return here. This is her home. She loves Planet Origins like no one else I’ve met.”
The King sighed. He knew what I said was true. Ilara wouldn’t be happy anywhere else. Planet O was an important part of who she was. She wouldn’t want to become anyone else than the person she was destined to be. She was a princess of the Andaron dynasty, born to rule all of Planet O at the time of her appointment or King Oderon’s death.
“No one would know she was here, your Majesty. I’d make sure of it.”
He chuckled without mirth. “How do you expect to smuggle the most recognizable woman on the entire planet back here without anyone discovering her? Even if you managed this remarkable feat, how would you keep anyone from recognizing her once she was here? You can’t expect that she could live here for long without someone discovering her presence.”
“It’s true, your Majesty. It’s not possible to bring Ilara back in the open. However, I could sneak into my father’s laboratory once more. I could bring Ilara back without a trace and without anyone knowing it.”
“And once you got her back here? Then what?”
“Well, unfortunately, there’s no other woman that looks like her. A disguise would be nearly impossible.”
“Yes. It would. Which is why your plan won’t work. Only members of the Andaron line have ever been born with her eyes. Even someone who’s never seen the Princess before will notice her eyes and know she’s of the royal line. The eye color is legendary.”
“I’m the first to admit this is a problem. However, I can work around it. With your permission, I can alter the identification records. Associate her palm and features with another person, a fictitious one, so that at least the security system you have in place across the planet won’t pick her up.”
“That still doesn’t solve the problem of people recognizing her face.”
“You’re right, it doesn’t. But it’s a good start. Until we figure something better out, she could stay with me at one of the remote estates my father has given me to manage. He doesn’t want to be bothered with these faraway locations now that all of his attention goes to the splicing. Dolpheus could accompany us there. He too is a good soldier. No one needs to be there but us. The servants could be managed so as not to be around when she is.”
The King seemed to be considering it. I pressed on.
“It’s not an ideal situation, I know that. But it would work. My being at one of the remote estates for the long term won’t arouse suspicion. My father barely notices me anymore, consumed with splicing as he’s become. And it will be natural for Dolpheus to accompany me.”
Moments passed, marked only by more pregnant silence. I would have continued to speak, but the truth was that I hadn’t figured out more to this plan. I didn’t really know what I’d do with Ilara once I got her back. I’d been so focused on getting her here, that it was hard to see past the step that had seemed so monumental before I came to the palace to face the King.
It would be tricky to keep her return to Planet O concealed. But I also knew that she had to return, so I’d find a way. I had to. I knew Ilara almost as well as I knew myself, and I knew that she’d agree with me. Even though we’d never spoken of it, I knew I was following her unspoken wishes.
“I know that I can work it out. I can find a way.”
“Really?” King Oderon cocked his head cynically.
“Yes, your Majesty. I understand that my plan isn’t yet perfected. But I didn’t even know if you’d be willing to trust me with Ilara’s location. Without it, there was nothing more I could do.”
“I’ve no doubt that you would have found a way to obtain this information without my cooperation.” The cynicism was gone. It was, simply, the truth. I had no idea how else I could have procured the location, but the King was right: I would have found a way. In general, I didn’t give up easily. When it came to Ilara, it was an absolute. I didn’t give up. Ever. The mind merge had revealed every bit of me to him.
“I would have tried.” Each moment, it grew easier to forget about my weakness. I began also to forget that I was speaking with the mighty and fearsome King Oderon. I was beginning to remember who I was.
The King nodded. There was no recrimination for the ways I might have gone about procuring information concerning Ilara’s location, even if they likely would have involved some deceit toward him. He and I were similar in one way: We did what we needed to do to protect the people we loved. And neither one of us saw a single thing wrong with this.
“You do know where the Princess is, your Majesty?”
“Yes. I do know. In fact, I’m the only person that knows. There’s no one left alive that does.”
I wanted to know more. There was obviously more. But I didn’t have the advantage of having studied the King’s brain. I had to tread with some caution at least. The rumors of his fierce retribution were enough to remind me to choose my words more wisely than I usually did.
“And you will trust me with this fact?”
“Under ordinary circumstances, I wouldn’t trust you with this information, even now that I’ve seen enough of your thoughts and memories to know that my daughter wasn’t foolish in placing her trust in you. However, the more people that know any one fact, the higher the chances are that this fact will be divulged.”
This was true. And it was why I trusted no one but Dolpheus with my affair with Ilara.
“Yet these are not ordinary circumstances. They ceased to be so a long time ago when your father began his splicing business.”
A spark struck somewhere in my brain. I hadn’t linked the two events together. But now that the King mentioned it, I realized it was true. My father changed the most, to become who he was now, almost entirely unlike the person he used to be, when he discovered the mechanics for splicing, not when the King ordered his mother killed, and not when my mother left us.
“I’ll recover from this latest attack. I’ll fortify my defenses so that no assassins can ever touch me or my family again. I’ll continue to rule as I have.”
King Oderon let the big however hang in the room like a fog thick enough to conceal hidden dangers. However, if anything were to happen to him, the Andaron dynasty would die with him unless Ilara were here to claim the throne. Without Ilara to claim her right to rule, my father would. And that would be the end of Planet Origins as either one of us knew it, and King Oderon had known it for much longer than I had.
Without Ilara back on planet, the home she loved so much might cease to exist.
Nine
I was certain that the King had already made the decision to allow me to bring Ilara back to Planet O. It was how I’d found the patience to bear the King’s theatrics even in my weakened and exhausted state. I was wholly unprepared to have him withdraw his permission.
“But Your Majesty, she has to come here.”
“No.” The silver head swiveled obstinately. “No, she doesn’t. I’ve thought about it more and I’ve changed my mind. As is my prerogative.” He let the reminder of the power he held over me smother me like a blanket. “The reason I sent her away in the first place was to protect her.”
We’d already been over this. Or so I thought. “Yes, but Ilara won’t be happy unless she’s home. Home for her is here. There’s no other place for her.”
“I can appreciate your sentimentalities, as I’m certain my daughter would. She always found impractical ways to look at the practical. However, returning her to the planet now, at this time of heightened threat, would be to endanger her greatly. I got very lucky this last time. It was an extremely close one. If not for your… liaison… she’d be dead. I can’t chance it another time.”
“Your Majesty, under no circumstances would I suggest bringing Ilara back here and into danger if I didn’t think it imperative. But there are good reasons, other than her preference, why—”
“There is no reason you could give me that would be sufficient to warrant putting my only daughter and surviving heir in peril.”
“And if it concerns the best interest of all of Planet Origins? The well-being of its people? What if her return is the only way to ensure that the Andaron rule continues?”
The King was a stubborn man. But no man could put his stubbornness before reason and rule for long. The decisions of a monarch lasted far longer than his emotional outlook on a subject. King Oderon waited, and I took it as permission to make my argument.
I spoke with measure, choosing each word mindfully. I remembered that this was the same king that had executed my grandmother without a trial. His declaration of treason was sufficient to end her life. He could end mine just as abruptly. “As I’m certain you’ll agree, Your Majesty, it’s of utmost importance that your rule continue. If someone were to manage to depose you, Planet O would fall into chaos, and the old battles that were waged for centuries will have been for naught. Under your rule, the royal city has maintained peace for a very long time, far longer than I’ve been alive to remember.” I omitted the constant, bloody fighting that occurred nearly continuously outside the city’s walls.
“The Princess doesn’t need to be here for my rule and the royal city’s peace to proceed.”
“Your Majesty, I believe that she does.” I paused to gauge whether or not my comment made him angry. I couldn’t tell. I continued. “The people—your subjects—love you. They want your rule to go on. Things may not be perfect on Planet O, but the people understand the regulations and how everything works, and they know that so long as they keep to the limits defined by those regulations, they can expect safety for themselves and their families.
“But Oers are nervous, my Liege. They wonder what will happen to the city they love. They’ve seen the royal palace, which we’d all believed to be impenetrable, vulnerable. First the queen they adored was murdered. Then, they believe, the princess. And their king was attacked and is still recovering.
“These acts don’t reassure the people. They terrify them. They very nearly worshiped the Queen, and she was taken from them. They also love the Princess, and they believe her dead as well. They fear what will happen if someone manages to get to you, a king of legendary prowess. What will happen? There’s no one to continue the rule of the Andaron dynasty as far as they know. The instability of rule right now is a constant worry to them. All they’ve known is the rule of the Andaron line. All they’ve known is the order you and your ancestors have brought to this city, once you drove out the Harals.
“They see you, their invulnerable king, suddenly vulnerable, and no one to take your place if something should happen to you. They hear rumors of my father and his splicing empire that only accommodates the rich. My father doesn’t care for the masses, your people, and they understand that. Your lack of an apparent heir makes your rule more susceptible.”
I met those sharp gray eyes to assess his reaction. I still couldn’t tell what he was thinking although I could be certain that he was. “The only way to fortify the throne—your throne—is to
bring Ilara back.”
“We already discussed that no one could discover that she’s on planet because it would endanger her life.”
“I know.”
The King waited for more. But I just didn’t have it. The plan, if it could be called that at this stage, had holes as big as craters. I didn’t know how I would bring her back, keep her safe, and all the while make her survival known to fortify the throne.
However, I’d said it before: I wouldn’t give up. I wasn’t a quitter. I didn’t have a sliver of quitting in my body. “I’ll find the way. I’ll find a way that makes it all work.”
“You sound confident.”
“I am.”
“Why?”
I debated for a beat, then continued. I was already all in. There was no pulling back now. “Your Majesty, you saw everything there is to see about me. You know why.”
The King smiled a smile that was so charged with conflicting emotion that it resembled a grimace. “You really think you can find the way to do it?”
“I do. Without a doubt.” I realized how ballsy it was of me to say this as I truly had no idea how I’d accomplish this monumental feat. But I had a nice set of balls. It made sense to use them.
The King, infallible in the people’s eyes, changed his mind. “All right. All right then. I’ll allow you to try.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.” I smiled a better smile than he had. “Where is she?”
“I’ll tell you that after you’ve convinced me that your plan will work. When you find a way to keep her safe upon her return to O, I’ll tell you where she is.”
My smile fell. “I understand, your Majesty. I’ll get to work on it right away.” I scooted forward on my seat to stand.
“Before you go, there’s something else. Something you must do for me in exchange for the information of Ilara’s whereabouts.”
I didn’t move a muscle, perched at the tip of my seat.
“You must give me information about your father.”