by Lisa Lace
Kai grew up at the periphery of court life. Because his mother was a commoner, she was not allowed to attend special events. One of his life's goals was to make himself the most honored of Anquera's warriors. Then his mother would have to be accepted by the court and have a presence there. Princess Andeleth didn't sit on the Queen's throne, but Kai could stand beside it and remind everyone who the heart of Anquera was.
Today Kai didn't feel like appreciating anything. The ambassador of the Similcue stood next to Warrel. Kai didn't have any proof, but he suspected Bretland knew the truth about the Similcue. Now that Bretland was dead, he could not bear witness against the dishonorable enemy. Kai didn't think Bretland's death was a coincidence. Seeing the Similcue and Anquera's leadership together made Kai's blood boil.
He didn't like that Warrel was physically sitting on the Emperor's throne. It was not improper given the circumstances, but Kai still considered it a mark of disrespect. Emperor Kanton was not dead, but Warrel already acted like he owned the office. Kai felt sick.
Instead of bringing Kai close to the throne, the guards on either side made him stop a considerable distance away. The gap was unusual and one typically given to an enemy.
So that's how it is, thought Kai.
"Commander Imwaden," said Warrel. "I am shocked."
"About what, your Highness?" Kai fought back a sneer, which he felt Warrel deserved. He would not dishonor himself or the throne by being rude to the crown prince.
"I have information that you are involved with the terrorist organization that disrupted the reception of Earth woman Jennifer Carden."
"That's ridiculous." Kai couldn't believe Warrel was attempting to sell an obvious lie.
"You've made a good show of sympathizing with the Earth people, of course. Calling Jennifer Carden your sindare. But that's a lie, isn't it? You have planned to derail the marriage between you and the human all along, making it look like they were dishonorable and broke the treaty."
"With all due respect," said Kai through gritted teeth, "I believe your Highness is misinformed."
"I don't think so, Imwaden. You were discovered hovering over the body of Commodore Bretland."
Kai stared blankly at Warrel, not believing the facts could be distorted so thoroughly.
"Arrest him," said Warrel. "I'll make sure he stands trial for his crimes. In the meantime, to keep our honor intact, I will marry Jenn Carden."
Chapter Seventeen
Jenn sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She still felt woozy, and the floor looked far away.
"What are you doing?" asked her guard.
"I need to stretch my legs. It's bad for humans to be inactive for long stretches of time."
Jenn didn't mind telling a little lie because she hated being here in the first place. It was bad enough that she was kidnapped from her planet, then tossed around like a rag doll when she first set foot on Anquera. Now she was locked away, with a promise of future imprisonment with creepy Prince Warrel.
"Let me call the doctor," said the guard.
"Go ahead. I'm not stopping you." Jenn slid to the floor and started walking to the door.
"Wait."
"Do you think I'm going to escape? You guys are watching me every minute."
"Get a doctor to Jenn's room." She had already left.
She wasn't comfortable walking around in her examination gown. It was long enough to reach her knees, and shockingly thin. It seemed to have an even bigger gap in the back than hospital gowns on Earth, and she felt like everyone would stare at her body. She peeked out into the corridor and checked in both directions. Seeing no one, she stepped forward even though she wasn't sure where she would go.
I should find Kai, she thought. They could help each other understand Warrel's plans. For a moment, Jenn felt lost. She was out of her league. She had trained to be a physical therapist, not fly around in spaceships, play politics, or marry big sexy aliens.
She had no clue as to what the Anquesh warrior could or would do, but she had to try to find a way out of it.
"Jenn," said her guard. "Wait."
She kept moving, and the guard followed her. In the back of her mind, Jenn remembered that Kai's mom was supposed to be in the same building. "Where is Kai's mother," she asked. But the hulking warrior looked at her with confusion. Whatever translated English to Anquesh didn't exist in the hallway.
Maybe simplifying her question would help.
"Kai."
If she focused on a single word, would it communicate her desires to the warrior?
Understanding dawned on the face of the Anquesh warrior. He made a gesture with his hand. When he walked back toward her room, she stopped and shook her head.
"Ada," she said in Anquesh, using the rudimentary language skills drilled into her by her TerraMates lessons. She crossed her arms across her chest. It meant no and, coupled with her body language, she hoped it would be enough to get her message across. "Kai," she said more forcibly.
The warrior grimaced but changed direction, heading to a new location. He led her down several corridors, finally ending up in front of a room with several guards in front of the entrance. He spoke with the guards, who shook their heads. The Emperor rushed out. He looked at Jenn and nodded his head, then raced down the hall.
A soldier escorted Jenn into the room, where she found the princess laid out on her bed. She was barely moving. Lights flashed above her head on an inset board. In the corner, standing so quietly that she didn't notice him at first, was a man who looked similar to the Emperor.
Still not Kai, but his mom, at least, she thought to herself. "Sorry for bothering you. I'm having some communication problems. They were supposed to take me to Kai."
"You must be Jenn. I'm Hanton, the Emperor's brother. I don't know how he's going to get through this alone."
"She's not going to make it, is she?" said Jenn.
Hanton shook his head.
"I'm sorry."
"Are you, Earthling? Or are you glad you will be a witness on the day Anquera loses its heart?"
"I am. Whatever you think of our people, most of us don't want war. But sometimes it's necessary."
"Necessary," snorted Hanton. He shook his head as he crossed his arms. "I just got married, you know."
"How would I know? We just met a minute ago."
"I think she's with child already. Now that I will be a father, I worry about the future. What kind of place will we give to our children when we fight ourselves to the brink of extinction?"
"We ask ourselves the same questions."
Hanton sighed. "Andeleth is a rare woman. She persuaded my brother. He will allow Kai to marry you."
Jenn's heart jumped. "Allow? I thought the marriage was a sure thing."
"It was not. I advised Kanton to give false support for the wedding. It was supposed to buy us time and let us negotiate with another race. Together, we would defeat you."
She swallowed hard. "You are exceptionally honest."
"It doesn't matter any longer. Kanton will not survive Andeleth's death. Whoever sent the bombs killed the Emperor as surely as if an assassin's blade found his heart. Warrel will become Emperor, and that will be the beginning of the Anquesh Empire's fall. I tried to tell Kanton, but he loves his son, and only sees the good in him. Warrel will take us to war again, with or without the Similcue's help. The battles will destroy us financially. Kai was right. The only hope for both our races is a treaty with Earth. It's unfortunate that we won't honor it."
Kai saw red when his stepbrother announced he was going to marry Jenn. He shook as his body temperature rose and adrenaline shot through every cell of his body. The nuxmunit, the battle rage, swept over him at the thought of this dishonorable cur touching his sindare. His skin flushed with a dark blue-brown hue as his muscles bulked. He was going to kill that fucker.
"Mine!" he roared. He pushed through his guards and rushed up the dais to reach his stepbrother. Kai didn't see a person related to him on the thr
one. All he saw was an enemy with a frightened look on his face.
Many hands grabbed his body, preventing him from moving further. Kai thrashed and bellowed as men pulled him to the floor and held him down against his will.
"Do you see?" Warrel cried. "Kai persists in his treachery despite the presence of witnesses. Get him out of here and lock him up. When I have everything settled with Jennifer Carden, it will be time for Kai to have his trial."
Kai gave a long keening cry born of the nuxmunit, but his struggle was futile. Many warriors held him down, pushing his body and face into the unyielding stone floor.
"He's bleeding," said one fighter.
"He injured himself in a previous battle," said another. "He's torn all his stitches."
The other warriors started muttering. Kai was out of control. "Warrel, she's mine! I will kill you!"
A doctor approached Kai. "Hold him down. I need to stabilize him." He held up a large needle.
"Ouch," said one of the guards. "He's going to have a headache tomorrow."
"This way he'll have a tomorrow," said the doctor, using a soft voice only Kai and the soldiers could hear. "He won't if he keeps bleeding like this."
"Get him out of here!" shouted Warrel.
The sound of Warrel's voice made Kai scream a battle cry. A sharp pain spread up his neck. He lay gasping as cold enveloped him and the nuxmunit drained from his body.
"What is going on here," shouted a loud voice from the entrance of the audience hall.
The voice registered dimly in Kai's brain as the Emperor's. The doctor instructed the warriors to turn Kai over.
A shadow stood over Kai's prostrate body. "I'm ending court," announced Emperor Kanton. "We will reconvene tomorrow!"
Kai felt sick to his stomach on the cold stone floor. He heard whispering as the massive doors to the hall closed.
"Explain yourself, son."
"Father, Kai Imwaden is a traitor!"
"That's a serious accusation. Do you have any proof? I trusted you could handle matters in my absence, but spreading false rumors is not what I had in mind."
"The Similcue ambassador gave me evidence that Commander Imwaden is a traitor."
Kai heard Kanton muttering, but the pounding in his head distracted him. His head was clearing slowly from the battle rage. The doctor's drugs were helping to drain the nuxmunit, but now he was shaking. His muscles didn't respond as he tried to pull himself off the floor.
Emperor Kanton was shouting now. "You have allowed personal feelings to get in the way of your judgment. I expected more from you, son. A good ruler must be able to put aside selfish motives for the people!"
Kai tried to reach up and get the Emperor's attention. He needed to calm down. His heart couldn't take the additional stress.
The heavy doors moved, and footsteps pounded on the floor as a messenger entered the room. "Emperor," the man said, his face drained of color. "Her royal highness..." His voice quavered and trailed off. "I'm sorry."
Kanton turned to his son, his face filled with wrath. "She needed me now, and I couldn't be with her because I was with you." The Emperor breathed in sharply and staggered as he clutched at his chest. Guards rushed to the Emperor, trying to catch him, but he slid to the floor next to Kai. His breathing was ragged. The doctor immediately turned his attention from Kai to the Emperor.
"Leave me alone," wheezed the Emperor, roughly batting the medic away. "She's gone. Nothing you do will change that." He turned to Kai and put his hand on Kai's shoulder. "I shouldn't have put you in this position, my son. Forgive me." The emperor gasped a final time and fell silent as life left his body.
The guards in the hall started talking to each other, immediately gossiping that the Emperor recognized Kai as a son with his dying breath. Warrel stared at the two men on the floor, his face twisted in rage.
"I never said I wanted to be a good ruler. My order stands," he said, looking at the guards. "Lock up Kai Imwaden. He'll stand trial after I fight Jenn Carden in the marriage ceremony."
Chapter Eighteen
The next few days passed in a blur for Jenn. Once the medical staff realized she was walking around, an escort showed up to bring her to the palace. For her protection, she moved in the middle night, but the timing meant she couldn't see much of the building. They put her in an elegant suite of rooms which she wasn't allowed to leave.
She wasn't bored for the first day. All kinds of elaborate clothing filled the closets, and it took her an entire day to go through them. In the meantime, Warrel assigned a rotating security detail to her. Jenn was thankful that they spoke some degree of English. Whatever Warrel had planned for her seemed complicated.
Kai never came to visit her, which she thought was odd. But she couldn't get any information out of her guards. Jenn felt more alone than when she was on Kai's ship. To pass the time and stretch her body, she turned to Tai Chi routines.
This morning Rotan, the head of her security detail, watched her intently as she moved from one form to the next.
"What you are doing?" he asked innocently.
"It's called Tai Chi," she said. "It's a form of exercise on Earth."
"It looks like a fighting art."
"I've heard there are fighting forms, but I've never studied them."
He shook his head. "You've never looked at it the correct way before. Let me show you, with your permission."
Jenn shrugged. "Sure."
Rotan moved in front of her. "You start in a standing position."
"Right."
"Your body weight is centered. Make your next move."
Jenn went through a long-practiced routine. She turned sideways and brought her hands up, one at shoulder level, one hovering between her chest and solar plexus.
"You are still centered, but now one hand is defending your chest while the other is in a position to make an offensive move. If I move into to you, like this, what happens?"
"I scream like a girl?"
"This isn't the time for jokes, Jenn."
"Of course. I'm sorry."
"In this position, the hand at your shoulder should shoot out, cut across my chest and throw me off-center. See?"
"I've never thought about it like that."
"What's your next move?"
"I raise my leg to shift my direction."
"Where can that leg go if a man was attacking you?"
Jenn looked down. Her knee was hovering in position between the man's legs.
"Kick you in the nuts."
"Now your attacker is off-center and bent over. What do you do with your hands and arms?"
"I put my right arm out, and shift direction."
"And while you're doing that, finish the motion. Push your hand into the attacker's face, pull it back, turn your body and give him nothing to hit. Tai Chi provides stability. You maintain your center of balance, preventing others from finding it and making you unstable. In return, you can redirect their moves against them."
"To me, it's just an exercise program."
Rotan shook his head. "Only a warrior race would create a fighting form and hide it in an exercise movement."
"Is that really how you think of us? Warriors?"
"Definitely. Only a few races that can stand up to the might of the Anquesh."
"Do you want to know a secret? We're stubborn."
"Whatever you want to call it, many of the soldiers suspect we have met our match. It frightens the nobles."
"Kai told me that my race is considered a hated enemy."
"His statement is correct."
"Then why are you telling me these things?"
"Anquesh are allowed to think for themselves. Honor is important to us, but we show it in different ways. Emperor Warrel intends to challenge you in the wedding ceremony. He believes he will preserve the honor of the Anquesh by fulfilling the treaty with Earth."
"But Commander Imwaden..."
"That's all I can say about the matter. I encourage you to practice Tai Chi and learn to def
end yourself."
Kai was in a dark, cold cell. He had no sense of time. He knew Warrel was subjecting him to techniques designed to demoralize a prisoner. The Anquesh didn't officially sanction any form of torture, but they were all trained in the techniques. Treating a fellow warrior in this manner reaffirmed the depths of Warrel's hatred for Kai.
The Anquesh commander didn't need any torture techniques to affect him emotionally. Anquesh officers trained themselves to resist manipulation while in captivity. At worst, he was experiencing an uncomfortable inconvenience. Kai had open, raw physical wounds, but he had practiced resisting the pain. As long as he stayed in one position, he could overcome the weaknesses of the flesh.
The thing bothering Kai was intangible. The most important people in his life were gone or out of his reach.
His mother and the Emperor were dead. Kai couldn't begin to confront the depths of his sorrow. It was a black well which threatened to suck him in. Kai had nothing to distract himself in the cell's inky darkness. He couldn't stop memories of his mother from playing over and over in his head.
Kai's father had died in battle before he could form a complete memory of him. Having a father wasn't particularly important to Kai when he was a young boy because he always had a mother. When his mother married the Emperor, Kai had a model of Anquesh male strength, even though he remained distant for political reasons.
Now they were gone.
Being separated from Jenn made him feel even worse. If he could only spend a few minutes with her, he would feel better, but right now Kai was an emotional wreck. He had a new appreciation of the bond between his mother and the Emperor.
Kai felt a consuming need to be with Jenn. It was a drive that directed each thought to her. Rather than worry about his dire situation, he wondered how Warrel was treating her. Was she in danger?
He realized his feelings were what Anquera poets spoke of when they wrote about sindare love. If Kai ever got out of this prison, he was determined to make Warrel pay for the deaths caused by the Prince's incompetence. The only thing gave him pleasure was imagining his stepbrother groveling at his feet, apologizing for every moment of Jenn's discomfort.