by Roxie Ray
I slammed my fist down on the console, frustrated. “So they told you nothing, then.”
“That's… not precisely true, no. They told me to tell you that even if you and your coterie had not transgressed against them during your previous visit to their world, it was ‘not for them’ to provide you with any specifics regarding who was behind the plot to restart the war with the Mana. They did say that there were certain dangers imminent on your home world, though. The kinds of dangers you would want to be there to deal with personally.”
“Which could mean anything,” I growled. “Or nothing, for that matter. Anything else?”
The First Minister shook his head timidly. “No, Lord Akzun. I'm sorry.”
“Well. Regardless, I thank you for doing your best on my behalf, First Minister,” I said, trying to keep the irritation from my voice.
I switched off the comm before he had a chance to simper more polite, diplomatic nonsense. No, the Lunians' “warning” was anything but precise – still, it meant I had to return home at once. The Moon People were many things, but they were not liars. Even when they manipulated others for their own ends, they used carefully-revealed truths to do so.
I marched back to the command deck.
“Carly, I have something to tell you.”
“Wait! Before you do, take a look at the view screen.”
I peered at it, trying to make out what I was supposed to see. There was a massive asteroid in the center of the screen – its surface was scored with plasma marks, and smoke and debris were drifting from it.
“A direct hit!” I crowed, the sight buoying my mood. “Well done! Most impressive!”
“You haven't seen the impressive part yet,” she said. “Hang on just a sec while I zoom in, and…”
The asteroid was magnified on screen, and when I saw what she was referring to, my eyes widened in disbelief.
She had used the most narrow setting on the plasma beam to engrave the rock with the initials A and C – and to sketch a crude Earthling representation of a heart around them.
“Just a little something to commemorate our first voyage together,” she said proudly.
I was deeply touched . “Thank you, Carly. That was… tremendously thoughtful of you.”
“Well, thank you for treating me like more than just another blood slave.”
As much as I wanted to take her in my arms and tell her that she wasn’t just another blood slave – that she wasn’t truly a blood slave at all – there simply wasn’t time. “Unfortunately, we must go back to Valkred at once. I have been informed that there might soon be a situation there which requires my personal attention.”
Carly tilted her head. “Oh? What?”
“The messenger was… far from specific in that regard. Even so, we must return.”
She nodded. “I understand. Still, thank you for letting me fly the Wrath. I had a lovely time.”
“I'm so pleased to hear it,” I told her. “Now access the navigational computer, find the list of pre-set destinations, and take us to Valkred.”
To her credit, Carly had no problem following these instructions – and soon, we were descending onto the tarmac of the Ruby Stronghold, where Zark was waiting for us.
“Welcome home, brother,” Zark said with a grin. “I realize your pleasure cruise was brief, but I hope it was entertaining nevertheless.”
“Has anything happened since I've been gone?” I asked, getting directly to the point.
Zark rolled his eyes. “Of course not, Akzun. Everyone on the entire planet has stood frozen like a statue, just waiting for you to come back.”
“I mean it, Zark. Anything out of the ordinary? Anything that might be related to the situation with the Mana?”
“No, nothing at all. If there were, I'd have contacted you about it at once.”
I gritted my teeth. “Very well. Maintain extreme vigilance. Something is going to happen, and when it does, I want us to be prepared for it.”
Zark raised his eyebrows. “That's it? Really? ‘Something’ is going to happen? You can't give me more to go on than that?”
I glared at him. “That's all the information the Lunians were willing to share. Still, when the Lunians tell you something…”
“…it's usually best to heed their words,” he conceded. “All right, I'll put all of our planetary forces on high alert, and make sure Torqa and her people are even more paranoid than usual.”
I sighed – another waiting game. Nevertheless, “Thank you.”
As Zark walked off, Carly's stomach growled loudly. She put a hand over it, wincing. “Oh, God, wow, that's embarrassing.”
“Not at all. The body behaves as it behaves – there is no shame in it,” I reassured her. “Do you require food?”
“Now that you mention it, I am pretty hungry. After all, my meal last night got interrupted by a falling statue. And by, you know… other things.”
“Fair point. I must confess, I often forget that the members of your species require sustenance on a far more regular basis than we do. Come, let's get you to the kitchen so that you may eat.”
17
Carly
I sat at a counter, watching Akzun move around the kitchen and prepare our meal. I was surprised – I had to admit, he seemed quite deft and knowledgeable as he modulated the cooking temperatures of the various stoves and surfaces and mixed the ingredients.
When he noticed me watching him, he said, “Perhaps you are surprised to see me prepare our meal myself. However, before I became Blood Ruler and lived in a castle full of chefs and servants, I was known for being rather capable in the kitchen.”
“Well then, far be it from me to doubt the cooking talents of Chef Akzun.” I laughed. “So, what are we having? Whatever you're making, it smells heavenly.”
“Thank you,” he replied with a smile. “For your dining pleasure this evening, I have selected some of the finest delicacies the galaxy has to offer. Seared Clench-Mollusks from the oceanic depths of the Mana home world, which have been brining in their own juices since before the war – they should be immensely tender and succulent by now. A rare flank of ganjiibeast, packed in salt and Krote sweet spices. A loaf of bread baked from wheat harvested on the moonlit plains of Yuluna, and infused with nectars from the ancient clicker-bee hives on Nanryr. And pickled stems of thresher-daisies from the fourth moon of Xehrul, aged in a barrel of blood-beetle husks for flavor and then breaded with the powdered bone of sacrificial Drekkir demon-hounds.”
I catalogued these improbable-sounding items in my head, then smiled. “You made some of those up, didn't you?”
Akzun met my gaze for a long moment, his expression unreadable – then broke into a wide grin. “Yes. That last dish I mentioned was indeed fictional. The rest are quite real, though. However, I do have something special to offer you. Something exceptionally rare.”
He reached into a cabinet beneath the counter and produced a wine bottle, handing it to me. The words on the label appeared to be in French, and I read them aloud, certain that I was mangling the pronunciation horribly: “1811 Chateau D'Yquem?”
He nodded proudly. “A most expensive and sought-after bottle of wine. Its worth is estimated at over thirty thousand of your Earth dollars.”
“Wow.” I put it down on the counter quickly, filled with a dreadful certainty that if I didn't, I'd end up dropping it and breaking it by accident. “Where did you get this?”
“One of your planet's more, shall we say, ostentatious rulers collects such items, and presented it to me during my last visit as a sign of respect. Or fear, perhaps. With your people, it is sometimes difficult to tell for sure. Whenever I'm there, the look in their eyes tells me that I bear a certain resemblance to creatures from their nightmares, and that they would offer me anything just to quell their terror of me.”
“Can't say I blame them,” I said. “You spend your whole life having people tell you that vampires aren't real, and then one day, you're face to face with one. Besides, t
hey aren't acquainted with your charming side like I am.”
His face lit up in a way I'd never seen before. “What a lovely thing to say. Here, let's sample this treasure, shall we?” He removed a pair of glasses from a shelf, uncorked the wine, and poured it.
As I took a sip, I had to wonder: Was it my imagination, or had his behavior toward me changed significantly ever since my near miss with the statue in the garden? During our initial interactions, he had seemed so guarded and aloof, so imperious. But now he seemed open and engaging, unafraid to show his emotions. Was there anything specific I'd done to put him more at ease?
Or was he just… warming up to me, slowly and in his own way?
I couldn't say for sure, but whatever the reason, I liked it a lot and hoped it would continue. When he dropped the whole Blood Ruler routine and acted like a real person, it made me feel like I might be able to fall in love with him – to have a future with him.
When we'd made love for the first time, he'd let a stray thought slip about making me his mate. But what did that mean to him? What did that mean for me? The term was such a strange one – so formal, almost clinical, the way the narrators on the Discovery Channel used to refer to animals that procreated. Surely, to the Valkredians, it meant more than that? It meant something deeper, a real connection?
Was love even a concept on their world? For that matter, was marriage? I hadn't found any direct references to either in the novel Zark gave me, but then, it had been translated from its original language, so I wasn't sure I could rely on that for accuracy in this context.
Most of all, how was I supposed to even broach these topics without it seeming weird, presumptuous, or premature? Now that Akzun was loosening up around me, I didn't want to make him uncomfortable or withdrawn again.
“Akzun,” I began, trying to sound casual, “have you ever had a mate before?”
He paused midway through cutting the ganjiibeast into chilled slivers. A shadow passed over his face, and I worried that I'd brought up some terrible memory for him.
“Yes. Her name was Elrisa. She… died.”
“I'm so sorry to hear that. Do you mind me asking what happened? I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, that's okay.”
He inhaled deeply, steeling himself. “No. I do not wish to talk about it. But I must. You have a right to know about her. About what happened. It will… clarify things for you somewhat, I believe.”
I frowned, remembering the earlier interaction in Akzun's chamber. “Does this have anything to do with what Torqa was saying before we left?”
“I fear it does, yes.”
“She said something about your judgment. About you 'making these kinds of mistakes before.' Was Elrisa some kind of spy?”
Akzun nodded sadly, focusing on the food and refusing to meet my gaze. “When I first saw her, it was at the Vukkovka Festival of Midnight. She was… the most beautiful member of my race I had ever laid eyes on. She was so perfect in her seduction. Our eyes met, and she gave me the smallest smile – but she did not approach me. She kept her distance and waited patiently for me to make the first move, for me to believe that I was the one in control of it all. She manipulated me. Expertly.”
“It almost sounds like you admire her,” I commented.
“And why not? It is no small thing to make a fool of the Blood Ruler of the Valkred.” He paused, then added, “Or at least, it shouldn't be. There are those, like Torqa, who would say I made it quite easy for her.”
“That's not fair.”
“Isn't it?” Now there was a hard, bitter edge to his voice. “Oh, I made such a grand spectacle of our romance. I had chosen my consort, the perfect woman to sit by my side, to help represent our people to the rest of the galaxy. Lovely, graceful, well mannered, and so devoted to me. So loving, so eager to please. She was everything I had ever wanted in a mate. I was positive that my people would adore her as much as I did.”
“And did they?”
“For a while. Until the truth came out. Because no matter how much I loved her – no matter how many times I begged Torqa to embrace her as I did – my Supreme Advisor simply refused to trust her. Perhaps she was more perceptive than I was. Perhaps she saw something in Elrisa that I hadn't, something that made her suspect. Or perhaps she was acting out of pure jealousy, I don't know. But Torqa kept digging and digging, until she found exactly what she was looking for: proof that Elrisa had been using her relationship with me to collect crucial military information, and then transmitting it to the Mana.”
“You must have been so heartbroken,” I whispered.
“Heartbreak is a terrible thing,” he said. “Heartbreak comes to all people who allow themselves to love, sooner or later. Heartbreak is a fact of life, like illness and death. But this was so much worse. I lost the trust, the respect, of my people. I'd made fools of us all. I'd made us look weak and gullible in front of the entire damn cosmos.”
“So you had to have her executed,” I guessed. “Or else you'd have been ousted by your people.”
“I wanted to have her executed, yes. I wanted it to be something simple, private. I knew she had to die for her crimes, of course, but there was still some awful part of me that loved her. That refused to believe she was evil at her core, even after she confessed to her deeds. A part of me that didn't want her to suffer needlessly.” He scowled. “Torqa talked me out of all that. She convinced me that the only way for me to maintain order was to make an example of Elrisa in the most gruesome way imaginable. She said she knew I didn't have the heart to do it myself. She said she'd take care of everything so I wouldn't have to. And she did. By the stars, she did. And it was…”
He swallowed hard, forcing himself to go on.
“The way Elrisa looked the last time I saw her – burned and bleeding, croaking and starving and pathetic – is something I still see in my nightmares to this day. To be honest, Carly, it terrifies me. Just as… just as you terrify me.”
“Me?” I couldn't wrap my mind around what I was hearing. “How could you be terrified of me?”
“Because I barely survived the experience I just described to you. Because if I am wrong about you, as Torqa believes I am – if you turn out to be my enemy, if you shame and ruin me as Elrisa did – I do not feel that I could endure it.”
Jesus, no wonder he started off so guarded around me. I'm amazed he's allowed himself to relax around me as quickly as he has, given his history.
“Akzun,” I said, coming around the counter and touching his shoulder, “look at me. Please.”
He raised his eyes, meeting my gaze with difficulty.
“I understand why you'd feel that way. Why you'd be scared to death of risking so much, of losing everything all over again. Even if you weren't the leader of your people, even if your status as Blood Ruler weren't at stake, it would still be a depressing and frightening prospect. But listen: I'm afraid too, you know? I'm afraid of the dark.”
He reacted, confused. “The dark? I do not understand. What do you mean?”
“I mean I have a crippling fear of the dark. I always have, ever since I was a small child. I'd lie in my bed, trembling, crying, paralyzed with fear because I was convinced with every fiber of my being that there were horrible things in the shadows. Things that wanted to hurt me. Sometimes, I even used to wet the bed because I was too terrified to get up and go to the bathroom. I was sure that was the moment that whatever was waiting in the dark would snatch me away forever. And the truth is, I never outgrew those thoughts, those fears. I just waited until I was old enough to have my own place, so I could sleep with the lights on.”
“But on Valkred, it is dark almost all of the time.”
“Exactly. And yeah, it scares me. A lot. It has ever since you brought me there. Even more so, because on Valkred, there could be monsters lurking in the shadows for all I know… watching every move I make, waiting to pounce. But I'm still willing to stay on Valkred to be with you. Because you mean more to me than my fear. Because I care about
you, Akzun. Because I'd never betray you – I'd never do what Elrisa did to you. Because I'd do anything to spare you from that. Most of all, because I believe that you will do everything in your power to keep me safe. And I think together, we can help each other face our fears. We can overcome them as long as we believe in each other.”
He looked at me for a long moment, and then nodded. “I… would like to think that as well. I would like to trust in you, in what we've found with each other. But it is… difficult.”
“Of course it is. Trusting your heart to someone when you've been hurt before might be the hardest thing in the world – in the universe – to do. But I'm willing to try if you are.”
He took me in his arms, kissing me, holding onto me tightly, as though he were drowning and I was the only thing keeping him afloat. I relaxed against his body, giving in completely, letting him rely on me for comfort. I wanted to be whatever he needed, whatever would help him feel safe.
“It'll be easier once we've had this time to ourselves,” I told him. “And when the war is over. When you're not being pulled in a hundred different directions – by Torqa, by the Mana. Then we can each focus on being what the other person needs.”
“I believe you are right,” he whispered in my ear. “Thank you. For reassuring me. For making me feel I can truly believe in someone again. You have given me a great gift, Carly. One I feel I can never fully repay.”
“Well, you can start with dinner,” I said with a laughed. “Are we eating in here?”
“No, actually. I had something rather more romantic in mind. Please, follow me.”
He placed the serving dishes, glasses, utensils, and wine bottle on a hovering tray and led me out of the kitchen, a mischievous gleam in his eye.