by Zara Zenia
“Correct, Prince,” Davon answered.
“What intelligence have you received or discovered on your own to support this claim?” My interest was piqued. I needed to know more on the subject, and more importantly, how to protect myself from falling into one of the victim categories.
“I have reason to believe that this hacker is attempting to tamper with the genetic scanners,” Davon stated gravely.
“Great,” I sighed. “Not again.”
“Unfortunately, we may be facing the same kind of ordeal as Gardax went through,” Davon stated apologetically.
“Just give it to me straight,” I told him. I was a little dubious about the whole subject, especially since we’d ensured that this sort of thing would never happen again.
“Can I meet you at your conference room at the palace?” Davon asked. “I can lay out everything I have gathered on the hacker and the criminal activity I have noted thus far.”
“Sure. Whatever you need to do, Davon. I’ll be here, waiting.”
“Fantastic,” he exclaimed, which was out of character for him to show excitement.
“Should I round up my brothers first?” I asked, hoping that wouldn’t be the case because our palaces were hovering above different cities. It wouldn’t be an impossible challenge but an annoying hindrance.
“I believe time is of the essence here,” Davon stated formally. “If I could just get to you first, because we are already in the same location, then you can relay the information to them once we’ve discussed everything?”
“Okay. That sounds like a good enough plan to me. I’ll see you shortly then.”
I hung up the phone and walked around my office, watching the doors and walls fade away as soon as I got too close to them. Then, when I would walk away, they would reappear.
A nervous feeling hung in my gut like a bowling ball. I tried to pacify the feeling by imagining Rose’s smiling face and her beautiful red hair. She was delightful to talk to, and the conversation seemed to flow effortlessly when I was with her. She made me feel happy, like I could forget all my problems and responsibilities.
Slith wobbled into the room and glanced at me curiously. He licked his lips as he jumped onto the desk and wrapped his tail in a little coil behind him. He stared at me expectantly until I plucked a flower treat, which I kept waiting for situations just like this, in my pocket.
I chuckled. “Here you go,” I said with a smile as I watched my beloved watch-lizard happily chomp on the treat.
A few minutes later, I got word that Davon had arrived. I walked across the palace to the opposite side of the house where my private conference rooms were. You had to enter the room based on eye-scanning technology and then a final step was a fingerprint scanner. Only once a person made it through those specific protocols would they be granted access to the private chambers.
Davon had such security clearance, and he was already waiting for me in the room when I arrived.
“Hello, Prince Darbnix,” he said in greeting and gave me a beaming smile and a jovial bow. His mustache hung proudly on his upper lip, something he refused to ever shave. It had become his trademark.
I gave him a polite nod, but I was anxious to cut through the small talk and receive answers. As much as I enjoyed Davon’s company, whenever I was graced with it, it unfortunately meant that there was an issue to resolve.
“Tell me what I need to know,” I requested. “Brief me and catch me up to speed.”
“Of course.” Davon nodded professionally and laid out his slides to present on a projector.
A woman’s face splashed across the screen. She had white-blonde hair that was worn in a chic bob kind of cut. Her black dress formed to her figure perfectly and her neck and ears displayed expensive, flashy-looking jewelry. She appeared to be young, vivacious, and trendy.
“Who is that?” I furrowed my brow curiously and pointed to the screen. I wasn’t expecting him to show me pictures of a cute young female.
Davon sighed somberly and placed his hands behind his back, interlocking his fingers. “This,” he said with animosity as he nudged his chin to the screen, “is our perpetrator.”
“Her?” I frowned in disbelief. “She looks like she’s on her way to walk a red carpet or a runway at a fashion show.”
“That’s the worst part,” Davon agreed with a chagrined nod. “She’s a snake in the grass. She wants us to believe that she’s just this cute and sassy woman, but underneath, she’s sick, twisted, and very dangerous.”
I shrugged. “Okay. Well, how do you know this?” I asked.
Davon’s eyes lit up with bright pride. “It is, of course, Prince Darbnix, my job to discover any flaw I can in the design of the genetic scanners meant for each of the Trilyn princes.”
“I know this already,” I retorted, possibly a little too impatiently. I softened my gaze. “I’m sorry,” I told him and waved him to continue. “Please, finish.”
Davon inhaled a deep breath. “This woman is named Julia Morse. She is a thirty-year-old electronics engineer,” he explained.
“Okay . . .” I said with trepidation. “What has she done to make you suspect her?”
“I am afraid that she may have also discovered a flaw in the genetic scanners,” he explained regretfully with a frown. His lips curled in frustration. He moved to another slide that showed Julia working diligently over some kind of computer device that I didn’t recognize.
“She must be smart,” I mentioned casually.
“Extremely intelligent and one step ahead of us,” Davon said with a shriek. I stared at him, startled by his outburst.
“It is quite possible that she has created an exploit which she plans to use to manipulate whom the princes marry,” Davon continued.
I leaned back in my seat and stared at Davon, pretending that this was just an unfortunate coincidence and that he was probably just being misdirected in his findings. The only problem? Davon was rarely, if ever, wrong about anything.
“That woman,” I mentioned and wagged my finger in Davon’s general direction while he stared at me and waited for me to elaborate. “Darla. The one who was arrested last year. Is there any connection?” I raised my eyebrows.
Darla had meddled with the scanners and my brother Gardax had been her bait. This situation sounded suspicious and conveniently tied in with what had happened with my brother.
There must be more electronic rats trying to infiltrate our systems and obliterate our opportunities to succeed in this mission, which angered me. I cracked my knuckles as a way to release some of the hostile aggression I felt.
Darla had attempted, unsuccessfully in the end, to hijack the scanners to create a fraud against Gardax. She’d used our uplink to the Trilyn main computer network to get her slimy job done. From there, she had been able to hand-pick herself as Gardax’s bride even though she hadn’t been a match for him.
“Is she one of Darla’s counterparts?” I asked.
Davon hesitated but eventually began to nod. “I’m afraid so, Prince Darbnix,” he responded in a soft whisper. He scratched his mustache. “I’m still trying to locate all the information I can from the source so that I can infiltrate the network and find the answers.”
I nodded. “Right. Well, it sounds like you are doing the best you can,” I mentioned as a way to boost his confidence on the subject.
“This woman.” Davon pointed at Julia. “I’m afraid she is extremely dangerous if we don’t try to stop her before it’s too late.”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded. “That’s where you come in.” I pointed at him and gave him a smile. “But please, let us know if there is any way we can aid you in your efforts,” I added.
“Of course.” He bowed gratefully.
“Julia is the ambitious type of sociopath who will use her resources to work against us,” Davon explained. “We must keep a watchful eye on her.”
“Absolutely.” I nodded somberly. “Thank you for informing us of what information you do have, even if it’s
not much to go on right now. At least we know what kind of behavior and issues in the computer system to look out for, right?” I chuckled nervously.
Davon’s expression brightened with understanding. “Yes, Prince Darbnix,” he said.
I knew that he had the intelligence and resources of his own to get this Julia woman. It was only a matter of time before we found her flaws and used them for our own benefit.
“I want to take her down and destroy her,” I murmured under my breath. I had mainly been stating it to myself, but Davon grinned as I noticed that he had heard me too.
“Yes sir.” He nodded. “That is exactly what I intend to do.”
I stood up. “So, you really think you have a handle on her agenda? Is she working directly for Darla?”
Davon shook his head regretfully. “I’m sorry, Prince Darbnix,” he explained. “I don’t have that information yet as to whether she is working directly for Darla in this case.”
“Oh,” I said, a little disappointed.
“But I am working on it,” he assured me.
“Good.” I gave him a satisfied smile. “Alas, that’s all we can do, right?” I walked over to him and gave him an affectionate pat on the back.
“Right.” He seemed both elated and uncomfortable by my gesture.
He frowned and wrinkled his forehead. His mustache twitched. “I’m just a little frustrated at the moment,” he confessed.
“About what?” I paused to study him.
“I wish I knew all the answers to exactly what her plans are,” he explained.
“I know.” I took a deep breath. “At least you have the red flags in place. Now we can just be on higher alert.”
“Her agenda will be a sinister one,” Davon admitted. “Regardless of whether she is working directly for Darla, or perhaps just a copycat. You see these villains doing that sometimes. It’s common for more of them to come out of the woodwork and try to become the hero for their kind after another one of them falls short or fails completely. In this case, that would be Darla as the fallen hero. Julia might be looking to rise from the ashes and finish the job that Darla never could.”
“It sounds atrocious,” I admitted with a wrinkled nose.
Then I thought about Rose again. Her beautiful face flashed in front of my vision as if she were an oasis in a desert or a premonition of my future. Could she be my mate? What if my scanner had already been tampered with? If I pointed it at Rose, would it light up? Or should it light up, but it’s been fixed to point to someone else?
The uncertainties rattled and infuriated me. I needed answers. Did my heart secretly want my match to be Rose? In the private recesses of my mind, I wondered if I was falling for her, even though we had just met. We had undeniable chemistry, and every time I was around her, I felt a euphoric peace swirl around me. I didn’t want to be consumed with a starry-eyed crush, but I was afraid I was tailspinning in that direction. That was one of the things I hated most about these damn scanners.
If they were supposed to point us to our genetic match but we fell in love before then, what would happen? Gardax had gotten lucky to be matched with his soulmate. Would my brothers and I also have that kind of luck? Or would we strike out? There were so many answers floating out there that made me wary of the entire process.
“I appreciate how diligently you are working on this for us,” I said with a professional nod toward Davon. “Without you, we wouldn’t even know this little issue had arisen.”
“My ultimate goal is to take her down,” Davon snarled as he glanced venomously at the picture of Julia happily smiling on the screen.
I stared at her. She seemed nice enough, but smiles on the surface sometimes never gave away the sinister behavior lying underneath. If she was truly a snake in the grass as Davon explained, she must be taken down, and quickly.
“Again, I’m sorry that I can’t provide you with a better wealth of information at the current moment,” he said with an apologetic frown.
“It’s okay.” I waved his embarrassment off. “You are working on it, and that’s all that matters.”
“Thank you for your reassurance, Prince.” Davon’s smile was warm and genuine.
“Just let us know when you have more information, will you?” I asked as we exited the conference room and prepared to part ways.
“Absolutely.” Davon nodded enthusiastically. “You will be the first to know.”
“I promise to catch my brothers up to speed as well,” I mentioned as I led him to the exit.
Davon extended a hand to shake with me. “We will be in touch then, okay?”
I smiled. “That sounds perfect.”
I didn’t want to reveal to Davon the cracks and flaws I was afraid of. Here we were, in another compromising position with these scanners. They were seeming to be more trouble than they were worth, but we still had the pressing matter at hand back at home. We needed genetic matches, and the situation was dire. A lot was at stake and our planet was in jeopardy. Unfortunately, some of these dirty humans knew of our vulnerabilities and used it to try and sabotage us. I wouldn’t be another statistic. I vowed to take these minions to the ground, no matter the cost.
Chapter 6
Rose
The ground below began to fade away into tiny, spectacular dots underneath me as I took the shuttle up to the floating palace belonging to my new friend, Prince Darbnix. I still had to pinch myself that this was my life.
A few days ago, I was just a veterinarian living a standard, seemingly ordinary routine. Now, here I was, getting ready to enjoy a fancy breakfast held at the private invitation of one of the richest princes in all of Trilynia.
Not that I took time to even entertain whether he was rich. It was an added perk, a bonus, for sure. I would be silly to deny that my heart didn’t flip every time I envisioned myself waltzing around a ballroom adorned with crystal chandeliers in a custom-made dress with frills, lace, and all the finest luxuries that money could buy.
Alas, a girl could dream. I knew that Darbnix had his doubts about the genetic scanners and their capabilities for working properly, thus he wasn’t ready to use it on me. I didn’t mind the attention, and I would just enjoy his devotion while it lasted.
My career had offered me many benefits over the years, including a decent place to live that was safe and secure. Financially, I wasn’t a royal princess or anything, or wealthy by any standards. I did well for myself and was proud of my accomplishments.
I could dip myself into the affluence of Prince Darbnix’s lifestyle and hope that it lasted for as long as possible, at least into the afternoon.
“We are here, Madam.” One of the shuttle officers gave me a charming grin with lips stretched enthusiastically. He wore a shuttle jacket with the Trilyn crest displayed on the back, portraying the fact that he was with the transit authority.
“Oh,” I stated with a return smile, startled out of my delirious thoughts about the unlikely possibility of Prince Darbnix sweeping me off my feet. “Thank you.”
The kind transit worker took me by the hand and helped me to the ground by way of a set of pop-out steps leading to the palace. As soon as we arrived at the front gate, it disappeared in front of us. I walked through to the entrance foyer where I was greeted by the handsome smile and bright eyes of Darbnix.
“Hello,” he said and trotted over to me. He planted a kiss on my hand, making me feel dreamy.
“Hello,” I managed as I swallowed hard and took a deep breath. “Thank you again for having me over for breakfast.”
The prince laughed. “The pleasure is all mine.” His eyes had a mischievous twinkle in them as he waved me along, beckoning me to follow him. “Come,” he said. “I am sure you brought your appetite?”
I rubbed my flattened tummy. “Absolutely.”
We arrived in a different dining area than we had before. This one was in a conservatory room, completely encased with floor-to-ceiling windows and a glass floor.
“Wow,” I said, completely m
esmerized by the view. “This is incredible.”
“I know.” Darbnix beamed proudly at the compliment. “This is one of my favorite rooms in the palace.”
I drifted around the place, staring in complete awe at the world below, spread with miles of farmland and green spaces, blue sky stretching as far as the eye could see. In front of me, there was a canopy of stars as the blanket of the atmosphere and its beautiful spectacle of the universe in front of us made the world seem truly magical.
“Its breathtaking, really,” I whispered, thoroughly impressed.
“Just wait until you see the breakfast treats.” Darbnix chuckled with amusement, seemingly fascinated by my delighted reaction to the conservatory.
I laughed. “I have no doubt you will be ready to impress.”
“Please, take a seat.” He gestured to a glass table with iron chairs tucked neatly underneath. He scooted one out for me and cast me a warm smile.
“Thank you.” I nodded with a blush as I took the seat that he had pulled out for me.
He sat across from me, and almost at once, a butler of some sort, wearing the same kind of formal servant clothes that were maroon and soft yellow, appeared from behind a stretch of wall.
He greeted us politely with a gracious bow. “Good morning, Madam, Prince.”
“Good morning,” Darbnix stated kindly. “As you can see, I have a very special visitor joining me for breakfast.”
“Indeed, she is quite beautiful.” The servant gave me a smile with a little dimple in the side of his cheek.
“So, what is in store for me today?” I asked and propped my elbows up on the table, giving Darbnix a dreamy glance as I cradled my chin in my hands.
He glanced at his servant. “Thomas will be giving us delicacies from your own farmlands,” he said with a smile. “Fresh fruit, custards, scones, and muffins.”
“Yum.” I grinned and began to salivate. “That sounds delicious.”
Darbnix moved out of the way so that Thomas could place the trays of food onto the table in front of us. “And of course, a little sausage and eggs for protein.”