by Trina Novak
If he could just get her to come to him, then he would know. He would know how much he wanted, and needed, to fight for her. And if it turned out that it was all in his head, then he could send Cassandra back to Earth before Rollox exacted his petty revenge, and everything would be fine.
A plan began to form in his mind. A plan to bring Cassandra to him, to have the chance to taste her lips, to feel her skin. No harm would come to her, he would make sure of that. He just needed to follow his heart, as his adopted mother used to say.
As the twin suns rose above the Azakian Mountains in the distance, Zarak knew that he needed to put his plan into action. It was early, before a soul on Azakia was awake, and Zarak was still, hours later, consumed with thoughts of Cassandra. Sleep would not come to him, not until he did something, anything.
He rose from his bed and walked into his private anteroom, where his personal holophone machine rested, powered off. He accessed the main menu and found the coordinates for Cassandra Wessex in the system folder, and before he was even fully aware of what he was doing, he was placing a call to her.
He hadn’t even brushed his fingers through his hair. He was wearing the thin, loose garments he regularly wore to bed. He hoped he didn’t look tired, unkempt from a night of tossing and turning. How strange, he thought, to have these feelings, to want to make such an impression. In his life as a young unmatched and unmarried Azakian, he had never much considered the impression he made on women. They either liked him or they didn’t. And if they didn’t, there were others, plenty more females.
But Cassandra. Cassandra was different. As his holophone machine whirred and buzzed, making a connection to her, a million miles away, he felt an uncommon pang of nervousness. He smoothed his dark locks down and slapped his cheeks, trying to get himself ready for the moment when he would see her.
The holophone whirred, trying again and again to connect. What time was it on Earth? He had no idea. Maybe Cassandra was deep asleep, oblivious to his persistent holophone. Maybe the whole idea was ridiculous.
Then, just as he was about to give up, the lights emanating from his holophone took shape. They undulated and pulsed, giving form to a person in the dim light of his anteroom chamber.
And there she was. Cassandra.
“Hello?” she said, her voice scratchy and deep, as if she hadn’t spoken in a while.
She wore some sort of nightgown, gauzy and light, and her long golden curls were messy, adorably so. She looked like a watercolor painting, all soft curves and diffused angles, colors and shapes and eyes and lips, and lips... did he say lips?
He wanted to kiss those lips.
“Hello Cassandra,” he said, his voice coming out as strange as her own.
“Oh!” she said, jumping back a few inches in surprise. “It’s you. It’s... I mean, hello. It’s you. Hello. Sorry, I already said hello.”
Her nervousness was palatable, and so endearing that it was intoxicating. He felt, in that moment, that he was right. Cassandra felt something similar for him. Otherwise, why was she so flustered?
“I just wanted to check in with you and see if you’d made a decision about coming to Azakia,” he said.
“Yes, well, yes,” she said, correcting her posture and putting on an air of formality. “I mean, no. No, I won’t be coming to Azakia.”
“I really think you should,” Zarak replied. With great effort, he stopped himself from telling her everything. He wanted to say that she was beautiful, that he hadn’t slept, so consumed with thoughts of her, that he ached to meet her, face to face, not via hologram technology. It was perhaps best, he decided, to take it slow. Though he wasn’t sure how long he could keep that up.
“Well, I’m not going to come,” she said again, her voice firm, hard. “I don’t know if this is appropriate to say, and honestly I don’t care if it is of not. I think Rollox is a pig. He’s a disgusting man who obviously has no respect for women at all. He might be the worst person in the universe.”
Zarak loved her candor, the way she spoke her mind so freely and openly. As she spoke, her brow knitted in anger, and his heart began to beat faster. She was so sexy when she was angry.
“I agree with you,” he said. “My brother is awful.”
“Wait, Rollox is your brother?!” Cassandra’s face twisted into a look of pure disgust. “How is that possible?”
“I was brought to the planet and adopted as a young boy,” Zarak explained. “We are not really brothers. And we’re not close. We share an intense mutual dislike for each other.”
Cassandra smirked, her lips curling up at the corners, and Zarak wanted nothing more than to feel those lips against his own. “So why, if you agree that Rollox is such a scumbag, would you suggest I come to Azakia? I highly doubt my opinion is going to change once I meet him in the flesh.”
“I’m not suggesting you come to Azakia so you can meet Rollox,” Zarak said, moving a step closer to her. “I want you to come to Azakia to meet me.”
He heard Cassandra’s breath hitch. “Oh,” she said, her eyes wide.
He couldn’t take it slow a moment longer. “You feel something for me, Cassandra. And I feel something for you. It’s clear. It was clear the moment we laid eyes on each other, wasn’t it?”
“I... yes,” she said, exhaling with what looked to Zarak like relief.
“I don’t want to be coy or play games with you, Cassandra. I’m telling you that I want you. I want you. I want you to come to me. Will you come to me?”
“I... Yes, I mean, I want to. But...” She sighed, and her worries were clear to Zarak. “Keptin told me some things. Not that Keptin is... well, he’s weird, and a little incompetent. But he told me all of this stuff about galactic treaties and whatnot and basically said that Rollox would probably kill me and start an intergalactic war if I, you know, if I chose you over him.”
“Well...” Zarak replied, not sure how to continue. How could he ease her mind?
“So it’s true? This dude’s going to murder me?”
“He’s not going to murder you, Cassandra. I’d never let that happen. I’d never let anything bad happen to you, ever. I promise you, I’ll protect you with my very life.”
“Oh, great,” she said, “so maybe I won’t get murdered but you will?”
“Cassandra, I—”
“Can’t you just come here, to Earth? Meet me in a coffee shop or something, like an old fashioned date?”
Oh, if only it were that simple. Zarak loved his adopted planet, but he would gladly leave it for a chance at happiness with Cassandra. “Azakians are banned from Earth, thanks to Rollox,” he explained. “It’s fine for you to come here, but if I was discovered on your planet, I’d be arrested before I could leave the starbridge.”
“Of course,” she said, her eyes downcast.
“So come to me, Cassandra. Come to me,” he said.
He explained his plan, the only plan there was, to bring the two of them together. Cassandra would agree to an in-person meeting with Rollox, as a means to get her to Azakia. She would, as distasteful as it seemed, pretend to give Rollox a chance. She wouldn’t have to touch him, of course, in any way whatsoever. She wouldn’t even have to spend much time with the putrid man. Maybe a dinner, if that. Rollox had no time for courting, for getting to know women. He would largely ignore her, Zarak assured her, as that was how Rollox treated all women.
This deception was the only way to bring Zarak and Cassandra together.
“So then what?” Cassandra asked. “Am I supposed to marry your jerk brother and just spend my life sneaking off to spend time with you in secret? I won’t do that. No way.”
“Absolutely not,” he assured her.
“Then you, or me – or both of us – gets murdered for our little ruse?”
“Absolutely not,” he said again.
“What if we meet in the flesh and there’s no spark? What if we end up not liking each other?” she asked. “I mean, this is all really romantic, but we barely know each ot
her.”
“Then you go back to Earth,” he said. “Cassandra, I’m just asking you for a few days. Just give me – give us – a few days. Come here, have one uncomfortable dinner with Rollox, and let’s meet. I’m not asking you to marry a monster and live a life of deception. I’m not asking you to risk your life – I promise, your life will not be in danger. I’m just asking you to follow your heart and see where it takes you. My adopted mother, the former Queen of this planet, once told me that the heart can know in an instant that which the mind may take decades to understand, and she told me that above all else I should follow my heart. So I’m asking you to follow yours, to listen to what your heart tells you.”
“That’s... that’s a compelling argument,” she said, her chest heaving as she took long, slow breaths.
“What does your heart tell you, Cassandra?” he asked.
“It tells me that I like you in a strange way,” she said. “An intense way. Which is insane. You’re basically a stranger. An alien stranger from another planet.”
“But your heart?” he asked again.
“My heart wants to come to Azakia,” she said. “I just don’t know if I should listen to it. Maybe your mom’s right, but what do I know. I’ve certainly never met your mother. I... Fuck,” she muttered, then brought her hand to her mouth briefly. “Sorry. I don’t know how Azakians feel about cursing.”
Zarak grew more intrigued with Cassandra with every passing moment. She was able to freely speak her mind and assert herself, yet was still respectful of other’s customs. And how sweet, that she worried about offending him with an English curse word. Of course, he wasn’t offended at all. Hearing a word he knew was considered filthy come out of her beautiful mouth was incredibly arousing.
Oh, what he wanted to do to her...
“I don’t mind cursing at all. It only makes me want you more,” he said. “Say it again.”
“Fuck,” she whispered, a smile curling at the corners of her mouth.
“Again,” he commanded.
“Fuck,” she said, louder.
“Cassandra,” Zarak whispered, staring deep into her green eyes, “do you have any idea how much I want you?”
Chapter Eight
The holographic image of Zarak flickered, and for a moment he looked pixelated, like a broken television. Then I kicked the holophone machine on my coffee table and the image corrected, and it was once again as if he was right there in front of me, standing in my living room.
“Don’t you want to meet me, Cassandra? In person? As you say, in the flesh?” Zarak cocked his eyebrow and gave me an excruciatingly teasing grin.
Of course I wanted to meet him in the flesh. It was all I could think about. But it wasn’t that simple, not by a long shot.
“Zarak,” I said, “I don’t know what you want from me.”
“You know exactly what I want.” His voice was so forceful that it sent an immediate thrill of excitement through my body. “I want you to come to me. Now.”
“But what if—”
Before I could finish my sentence, he took a step closer. If we were actually in the same room together, our bodies would’ve been almost touching. Instead, his holographic image loomed before me, teasing me with its proximity. He looked close enough to taste, even though in reality he was a million miles away.
“Don’t worry about what if’s,” Zarak said. “Don’t worry about anything. Just come to me.”
“I want to...” I whispered, then my voice trailed off as he lifted his hand and brought it to my face. He traced his thumb over my lips, and I felt a sharp, warm tingle as his holographic hand touched my very real and very eager mouth.
“I want to touch you, Cassandra,” he said, his voice low and deep, resonating in the very deepest part of me. “Don’t you want to touch me?”
I whispered yes. Yes, I wanted to touch him, and I didn’t want to wait. It was the most maddening feeling I’d ever experienced, to be so close yet so far away from Zarak. My limbs felt both heavy and light at the same time – I wanted to throw my arms around him, to fall into his strong, warm body, but I knew if I tried I’d only walk right through his holographic projection.
“Get on the next starbridge,” he growled, his lips just millimeters away from mine. “Come to me, Cassandra. Come to me. Come to me.”
He said it over and over, like a command, like a magic spell, and I felt my defenses weaken and crumble. My heart hammered in my chest, and I felt almost lightheaded with pure wanting.
“You’re trouble, Zarak,” I said, my voice breathy and my lips trembling.
“I know.”
Chapter Nine
Fine, so the plan was a little crazy: pretend to be interested in a completely evil pig in order to spend time with the man I was actually interested in. And then – what? I wasn’t entirely sure.
I conceded that maybe the whole thing would turn out to be just a fun fling. Maybe I’d just spend a few days getting up close and personal with an incredibly dreamy alien, then I’d go back to Earth. If nothing else, it would be an exciting experience. Something I’d never dreamed I’d get to do.
And of course, if all went well, then who knew. Maybe Zarak and I would run off together and live happily ever after.
Either way, the decision was made: I was going to Azakia. I used up all the vacation time I had at work – five measly days – and booked my ticket on the nearest starbridge.
I’d never been on a starbridge before. In fact, I’d never even been to another country, let alone another planet. I wasn’t afraid of flying, but a starbridge wasn’t exactly like flying – it was more like an incredibly fast, incredibly tall elevator. As I looked up at it, disappearing behind the clouds, my heart pounded like it had never pounded before.
“Ticket, please?” a woman with bright orange hair said as I stepped up to the entrance, suitcase in hand. I offered her my ticket and she looked at it, pursed her lips, and then handed the ticket back. “Azakia, huh? We don’t get a lot of fares to Azakia.”
“What’s it like there?” I asked.
“I hear it’s a beautiful planet, but the ruler sucks,” she said.
“That sounds about right,” I replied.
Then I was escorted into the main starbridge chamber, which looked to be about the size of my apartment. A few dozen people stood milling around, holding suitcases, looking bored. I wondered what distant planets they were traveling to, and I wondered if there were any Celestial Mates clients in the crowd. Maybe I wasn’t the only one taking off in search of love.
Hopefully, I thought to myself with a chuckle, none of these people were Keptin’s clients.
When I told Keptin I’d changed my mind about going to Azakia, he didn’t seem surprised. He wished me well and said he was glad I’d decided to keep an open mind about Rollox (yeah, right). I didn’t tell him about the true reason I was going to Azakia, about the plan Zarak and I had hatched. Keptin had already bungled so many things, and I was afraid he’d bungle that up too, accidentally spilling the beans and getting us both killed.
Killed. I tried not to think about that. Zarak assured me that I would be safe, and I believed him. As strange as it felt, I had total confidence in him. Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time I carried on an affair in secret behind people’s backs. When I was in my early twenties, I had a brief fling with my boss at work. Of course, we couldn’t tell anyone – we both would’ve been fired instantly, as company policy didn’t allow bosses to date their secretaries. So we spent a few months meeting in secret, while pretending to be regular workplace colleagues as far as everyone else was concerned. It was a fun summer diversion, but nothing more. I knew it wouldn’t last, and it didn’t. The last I’d heard, he’d transferred to a department on Acklan-B and settled down with a local woman. So, good for him. He got his happily ever after.
Hopefully, if all went well, I’d get mine too. And if not, at least I’d have some fun, and have good stories to tell the other girls back in the secretarial pool a
t work.
Of course, the stakes were higher for me and Zarak. If we were found out, it wouldn’t just cost me my job.
But I was following my heart. What else could I do?
The starbridge began to rattle, and a low hum filled the room. “Departure in t-minus thirty seconds,” a voice called out over the intercom. The voice continued to count down: 30, 29, 28, 27... And before I knew it, the room I stood in began to rise.
I looked out the clear glass windows and watched as we lifted off, traveling up the starbridge and into the clouds. In the distance, I saw the park next to my apartment, the trees getting smaller and smaller as the starbridge climbed higher. Then, a lurch, and we exited the Earth’s atmosphere, continuing to climb into space.
Space... it took my breath away.
I’d always heard that something happens to you when you go to space, that when you see the pale blue globe of Earth in the distance, it changes something fundamental inside of your soul. And that was definitely the case. I felt on the verge of tears, completely awestruck, and more aware than I’d ever been of the billions of people I’d just left behind. All of them going about their days, laughing, crying, fighting, forgiving... I felt a rush of love like I’d never felt before. And I realized, almost in an instant, that many things I thought were important really weren’t. My petty problems, my insecurities, the differences I had with others – it paled in comparison to the sheer beauty of being alive.
I knew, as I looked out across the universe, spreading out like a blanket before me, that I’d made the right choice going to Azakia. What was life for if not living? What was love worth if you wouldn’t risk everything to find it?
As I contemplated all of this, an old woman next to me turned and put her hand on my shoulder. “First time on the starbridge?” she asked. I nodded. “It’s overwhelming, isn’t it? I remember my first trip, with my late husband. It was the best day of my life,” she said. “I got pregnant with my first child later that night.”
In what seemed like an unbelievably short time, the starbridge made it to the Galactic Space Station, where it docked, then the doors opened and we all spilled out into the GSS foyer. From there, I boarded a ship that would take me to Azakia. I was the only passenger.