He sits again and looks me over. “And why would you think this?”
“The way she acts. When we’re off the ship she’s fine. I think there may be something which was planted on the ship which is communicating to her through perhaps a chip inside her. She hears voices and when she sleeps she speaks out loud.” I stop myself as he’s frowning at me.
“She says she wants to kill me in these voices.” He smiles. “She would’ve killed me the other day if you hadn’t stepped in. Is that how I am to die? At the hands of a damn woman? An Earthling at that? What an ironic thing, don’t you agree?”
His laughter fills the room, and it turns into a fit of laughter until he coughs and sputters and finally he stops. His cheeks are red from his little fit and I find he looks a little insane.
“Father, I will not let her kill you. When she’s awake she never says she wants to kill you. I won’t let that happen to either of you. Kataline is not a killer. Something inside her may be. But she is not one. I do not want any death on her innocent hands.”
Just as I glance out the window, I see one of our moons setting in the lower part of the pane. We are growing much closer to Euthenia. We are running out of time.
“How are you to stop her, Kerr? Please enlighten me.” His eyes also travel to the moon.
“When I hold her, she becomes quiet and controlled. I somehow overrule the voices inside her. I will continue to use that to keep her from harming you. Once I have the medic scan her this will all be dealt with and she will no longer be a threat to you.”
“Except, you will not get the chance to do that. You see, I overheard you talking and I know you are to lock me away in the ship and leave me in here alone and the ship will be destroyed by some secret weapon. She must be their secret weapon, Kerr.”
I stop and think about what he’s saying. If that’s the case, then what am I to do?
Allow my wife to use her powers to kill my father and stand idly by because of what someone who has taken over what is ours has said to?
My head hurts from my troubles and I have no idea what to do. I have no want for my father or my wife to die, yet it seems if what he’s thinking is true, I will have to choose.
I was told not to defend my father. If I kill my wife and choose him, I will surely die as well. If Kataline is their weapon, she will not be all they’re depending on to get the job done.
I overheard the lead voice come out of her sleeping mouth say if she did not kill the King then it had the power to destroy her.
I guessed that meant the device which is surely planted in her would cause her death. Another thing I cannot let happen.
If there was a way for me to find that thing in her and get it out of her then so much could be avoided. Even if it means the entire Armada goes to another planet to live out our days.
But if my wife will be destroyed with that action I would never be able to live with myself.
I turn to my father. “I need to know the worst thing you’ve done. So I can justify things, Father. I have to know. What was the worst thing you’ve done in your entire life?”
“Hurt you, Son.” His face goes ashen.
My brows furrow. “Hurt me? Father, you have never hurt me. I mean, you’ve pissed me off with your hatred of my wife. But you have never hurt me.”
“I have. You just didn’t realize it was me who hurt you.” He gets up and his shoulders are more slumped. “Let this old man die, Kerr. Take your new bride and live a happy life. Hopefully, the new ruler will see fit to allow you to maintain your rightful place in the hierarchy.”
I watch my father walk away with the death sentence dangling over his head like a hangman’s noose. My heart is filled with dread and it aches deeper than I knew possible.
After tossing back the remainder of my drink I notice Bet has come back in. She looks timid and I wonder if she wants to tell me something.
“Bet, would you like my permission to speak freely with me?”
She nods. I hesitate for a moment. Not sure I want to hear what she has to say with all of the other things straining my brain. But my curiosity wins out. “Go ahead.”
Bet steps closer and looks down the corridor to make sure my father is gone, I’m sure. “You cannot let your father die. Your mother would never forgive you, Kerr.”
I nod. “I know that. She loved the man more than life itself. I have no idea what I should do.”
She sits down next to me and places three, little, brown pills in my hand. “These will keep your wife in a deep sleep. If you can keep her asleep until we arrive and you can get her scanned, then there is hope she’ll not be able to kill your father. If it’s true she is being programmed to kill him, like he thinks.”
I take the pills and place them in my pocket. “But whatever is inside her could destroy her if she doesn’t complete the task of killing him.”
“I know I’m just a genetically damaged woman, Prince. But what if the two of you took the small emergency shuttle and got to Euthenia before the Armada? It has a cloaking device and you could get in undetected. Get her to the medic and get the thing out of her before we even land. That would keep her and your father safe. Then your father will have a chance to plead his case.”
The little woman is on to something. “Or perhaps I could sneak into the palace and find out who our enemy is and stop him once and for all. The reign would revert immediately with their death and the Armada could land safely. All passengers, including my father, would stay alive.”
I pat her on the back and she smiles. “Glad to be of help, Sire. As your sweet mother’s hand-maiden, I still have a deep loyalty to the woman. To stand by and watch the love of her life be struck down is not a thing I can do. Not without trying everything I can think of to stop it.”
With a pretty good plan now, I feel a hell of a lot better about the outcome. I kiss Bet on the cheek, making her blush and giggle.
“You are one smart woman!”
Nearly bounding out of the room to go back to my room I find Kataline sitting up in the bed and holding her head.
Taking the pink drink to her, I sit down and hold the glass up. She downs it quickly and looks at me. Her eyes are red-rimmed, and she looks more than tired.
“Kerr, it’s getting worse. So much worse. Do not leave me alone again. I had to fight myself not to go find the King. I managed, but I don’t know how much longer I can stop. By the looks of things with the moon now in the window I know it won’t be long now.”
Her body is shaking and I pull her to me. “I have a plan, thanks to Bet. You and I will be leaving this ship soon and getting to Euthenia before the rest of them. We’ll get whatever has been placed in you removed and everything will be okay. You’ll be safe and I’ll get into the palace as I know an underground entrance only the Kings and Queens have ever known about. I will end the person who has taken over and we will all live happily ever after.”
Her body tenses. “You know that sounds a lot like a fairy tale, Kerr. They seldom go as planned.”
Heat fills her body, and she pushes back out of my hold. Her face is contorted and her eyes roll up. I jump on her, holding her tight to me.
She thrashes in my arms, but I refuse to let go. “Come back to me, Kataline. Don’t let them overtake you!”
Though she’s moving like a wild animal in my arms, I hold on like her life depends on it. Finally, she stops moving and starts crying.
I kiss the top of her head and ease my grip. “You okay, Baby?”
“No! No, I am not!” Her arms wrap around me as she cries into my chest. “Kerr, I will not be able to stop. This will take me over and I will be helpless to stop it.”
“Bet gave me some pills to put you into a deep sleep. If you get so bad I fear I won’t be able to help you regain yourself, I will make you take them. You’ll sleep until I get you help.” Her body shakes in my arms as she cries.
Her hands move to hold my arms and she looks at me. “Kerr, I am more afraid than I have ever been. This thing
inside me is pulling at my mind. Bending it to think things which are not true. At least from what I’ve heard about your mother they can’t be true.”
“My mother? Why is she in your mind?” I ask in complete confusion.
Her blue eyes are shiny from crying and it breaks my heart. “The sinister voice keeps telling me that the King has to pay for what he did to her.”
With a shake of my head, I say, “My father did nothing but love her. It’s a trick to make you hate him. This has to be the work of whoever has taken over. Hell, for all I know I may get back to find the monster has done something to the guards we left behind and even to Caleb to make them believe something which isn’t true.”
“How can you be sure your father didn’t have something to do with her death, Kerr?”
“He was with me when she left the palace. He couldn’t have had anything to do with that. And if you could’ve seen his face when he found she was missing. Well, it was awful. When they found her body torn up the way it was he was sick for a long time.” I shake my head and know he had nothing to do with it.
“It’s just that the voice is screaming at me. It’s so damn loud. Telling me over and over how the King is not the man he seems. He’s not to be trusted. He is only to be killed.” Her face is so calm as she says these horrible things.
“It’s not real, Kataline. I can vouch for him. I was there. He loved my mother. He did, and she loved him.” I pull her to me again as I cannot stand to look into those eyes any longer.
Her eyes are telling me she is beginning to believe the lies her mind is telling her. If I lose Kataline to the device which is trying to control her, I will have lost everything.
“Don’t give in to it, Kataline. Whatever you do, place your faith in me. Not something which your mind has conjured up from the things they are putting in your head. Listen to me. Trust me. Believe me.”
She nods and sighs. “I will, Kerr. For as long as I can, I will believe in you and not the voices in my head.”
“Good, Baby. Stay with me. Don’t let me go. No matter what, don’t let me go.”
I have to move this along a lot faster. Time is running out and somehow I have to get us ready and down to the emergency shuttle before this thing takes her over.
We have to gather the things we’ll need to take with us. I think we should leave as soon as we possibly can. But we’ll need food, drinks, clothes.
“I have to get Bet to gather the things we’ll need. I know this sounds horrible. But I don’t know how else to keep you from harming my father while I’m gone the few minutes it will take to get to her.”
I take her to the hook on the wall and take the cord and bind her hands. Then run the cord over the hook, holding her up.
She looks at me with understanding and I hate I have to do this to her. “I am sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m okay. Go get her started and I should be able to control myself for a few minutes, anyway.”
The fact she’s helping me to keep the sinister thing inside her away from my father makes me love her even more.
Running my hand behind her neck, I press my lips to hers and she eagerly accepts my kiss. “Thank you for being more than I ever expected, Kataline.”
Her smile is sweet. “You’re more than I ever expected too, Kerr. Hope never seems to leave you. No matter the odds or how crazy it all gets, you have hope.”
“Without hope what do you have?”
I hurry to go get Bet started preparing the things.
Things are looking up!
CHAPTER 7
Kataline
Pain rips through me as my body arches off the wall, trying to get off the hook. The sinister voice is loud in my head. “I will not let you do this! You must complete your task!”
“No!” I scream back at the damn voice which is plaguing me. “I won’t do it! No matter what. You cannot make me!”
My body is shaking and banging against the wall. The room seems to be spinning and I feel as if I’m falling away. Into a dark abyss.
Arms run around me and words are murmured. My head is pounding and the loudest voice screams like it’s being tortured. The other voices join in, but they’re moving further away.
The sounds keep going until all I can hear are the words, “Come back to me, Kataline.”
My breath comes back and I inhale deeply then open my eyes to find Kerr wrapped around me. His lips press against my neck.
“Kerr, I’m okay.” I can barely breathe. My body hurts.
He takes me off the hook and lets my hands free. Pushing the robe off my body, Kerr runs his hands over the back of my shoulder.
“Oww!” I flinch away from his touch.
“You have a bruise here.” His lips touch it. His hand runs over my bottom. “You have bruises all over your ass, Kataline. It looks as if you’ve been beaten.”
“I recall my body smacking hard against the wall.”
He picks me up in his strong arms and takes me to sit on the bed. “I should have strapped you to the soft bed instead of hanging you on the wall. I didn’t think about how it might try to get off the hook and hurt you in the process.”
Naked, he has me on his lap and strokes my hair. “Soon this will be over, Baby. Soon we’ll be on our way to Euthenia in a cloaked vessel. Soon whatever is inside you making this happen will be removed.”
A pain starts deep inside me. As if a knife is plunging into my stomach. I take in a sharp breath and grab at my stomach. “Kerr!”
His arms wrap around me and he holds me tight, but the pain doesn’t stop. “Kataline, don’t let it take you. We’re so close.”
My body starts shaking and I fly off his lap and into the wall. He rushes to get to me as I’m held to the wall by some invisible source.
He gets close enough to reach me and suddenly he’s thrown backwards and hits the opposite wall.
“Leave her alone!” the sinister voice shouts out of my mouth.
I struggle to get myself under control. But the pain in my head is back and the pain in my abdomen is nearly killing me.
I watch Kerr struggle to get back to me. And he seems to be making progress as he moves against what looks like a strong wind. Then he flies back again, pinned to the wall.
His face is turning red as it looks like he can’t breathe. I cannot allow this to happen to him.
No longer able to keep the voices away, I close my eyes and concede to the sinister one. “Take me! Leave Kerr alone and take me!”
I can hear Kerr screaming, “No! Kataline, do not give up!”
But I have to or this thing inside me will kill the man I love. Inside my mind, I tell it again, “Take me. I will fight you no longer.”
My body falls off the wall and Kerr is picking me up before I know it. I’m myself. Not the monster I thought I’d become.
“Quick, take these,” Kerr tells me as he pushes something into my mouth.
They feel small and round and I swallow to take them down. He gives me a drink of water and picks me up and puts me on the bed.
“What was that, Kerr?” I ask as my head feels light and my body listless.
“That will put you to sleep for the rest of our journey back to my planet. It will keep that thing from taking you and making you do things you don’t want to. You will sleep and I’ll carry you to where we need to go.” His hand moves over my brow and his lips touch my cheek.
“Thank you, Kerr. When I wake again this horribleness will be over, won’t it?”
He nods and presses his lips to mine. “Sleep, my love. I will take care of everything. Worry about nothing. It will be over soon.”
My eyelids feel heavy and I’m barely aware of him pulling a purple, long dress over my head and body to dress me. He lifts my body and places the golden cloak, he said is made from a protective material, around my shoulders.
He lays me back and Bet steps inside. A couple of bags in her arms. “Oh! She looks so tired. Did you give her the pills?” she asks Kerr.
�
��I did and they seem to be working. The thing inside her has grown so strong it nearly choked me to death,” he says as he looks through the bags.
My heart skips a beat as I hear him talk of nearly choking to death. The thing inside me is quiet. All the voices are eerily quiet. I feel as if I’m falling.
The light fades away and I am going under some deep blue water. It’s warm and cozy and I want to be here. Floating in the strange depths and feeling like this is amazing.
Given To The Alien: A SciFi (Science Fiction) Alien Romance (The Euthenian Battle Book 3) Page 5