by Zara Zenia
She edged closer to me until she was so close that her perfume flooded my nostrils and made me recoil.
“What are you implying, carrot head?” she hissed.
I glanced over at the guards, who were looking dubious for being gullible enough to fall for Tia’s trap and provide her any assistance whatsoever.
I knew that Darbnix wasn’t behind this. He wouldn’t have his guards tie me to a chair. It just wasn’t part of his hardwiring. He was nothing short of a gentleman.
“How did you tamper with the device?” I asked as if we were having a leisurely conversation that held no merit.
“The scanner?” Tia’s cheeks blushed rosy and she smiled coyly. “It was easy really. Darbnix is such a big dumb brute that he didn’t even see it coming. I infiltrated his computer system until I was able to alter the feedback from the receivers. I wore a necklace that the genetic scanner would recognize, thus tricking the device to ultimately light up after being pointed in my general direction.”
Tia strutted about the room as if she were proud of her fail-safe concoction of a plan, wickedly sneering as she gave me side-eye glares.
“It sounds like you have everything all figured out then,” I mocked.
I knew that I needed to do my best to keep myself together. Showing any sign of weakness to Tia Teller would be my downfall. She was the type to manipulate anyone and brainwash them into going along with her evil plots. The guards standing on either side of me were proof of that and probably regretted ever saying more than a simple hello in passing to her.
“You’re damn right, I do.” Tia flipped her perfect blonde hair behind her shoulder, cackling maliciously.
Then, she approached me with devious specks flickering in her gaze. “I relish every single second of taking Darbnix and his idiotic brothers on a ride.” Then she was right next to my face. I could see the caked-on layers of makeup. It must have been several inches thick.
She narrowed her eyes as a shadow cast across her features. She held the light from the phone right up next to me. “I will make you disappear forever for trying to steal what was promised to me.”
My skin crawled. A chill ran up my spine, but I kept it together. I held myself in one piece, resisting the urge to crack. I didn’t know why this vicious stranger hated me so much just because I was ordinary in her eyes and had a chemistry and connection with Darbnix. She wanted to take me down for following my heart and my natural instincts, and that made her my enemy.
Then, a stunning revelation flashed in my mind as if a lightbulb had suddenly been flicked on in order to light up the room. My thoughts were swirling with brainstorming ambition.
“Tia, you are forgetting something,” I dripped in a haughty tone.
“What?” She whipped around, staring at me as if she wanted to slap me across the cheek.
I nudged my chin in the direction of the guards. “You have a little audience who has been listening to every word you said.”
I gave her a sinister smirk as if I had her right where I wanted her. Now, it was her turn to fall into a trap. Karma always came back around like a pendulum swinging from a string.
Tia’s mouth hung open. Her jaw went slack, and a wild craze entered her already wide-rimmed blue eyes. She stammered, unable to verbalize an entire sentence.
There was an intensity that hung in the air. The guards shifted their weight uncomfortably and stared at the dusty wood floor as if they wished there were some way to use a mind trick to melt right into it and disappear altogether.
I held my breath, waiting to see what Tia would do next, what kind of act of defiance or excuse she would hash out in order to weasel her way out of the corner she was backed into.
I heard a thunderous crash and jumped, screaming in fright. At first, my mind was under the impression that a bomb had exploded outside the shed. I squeezed my eyes shut, but as I heard crashing footsteps entering the room, I knew I had to open them again to survive.
Then, my heart stopped. Darbnix was looming over us. His fists were balled and his eyes were glowing with hatred and fury. He looked like he could spit lava. Davon was by his side, looking diplomatic and smug. A roar of guards bellowed into the room and stood by Darbnix’s side. A few media cameras clicked and flashed as Tia shrieked and tried to conceal herself, but it was no use. She was trapped with nowhere to go but into the abyss of her own lies.
Chapter 19
Darbnix
“Darbnix, my love!” Tia cooed, waltzing in my direction with a tone that dripped with breezy delight. She was as fake as her tan. “What are you doing here?”
She gave me a feigned lecturing glance as if I were her child who had appeared from behind a door and been caught looking at something they weren’t supposed to see.
“I could ask you the same thing,” I said. “Why is Dr. Rose Rand tied to a chair?” I pointed in Rose’s direction. She was as white as a sheet. Her eyes darted left and right, between me and Tia and our vicious exchange.
“I found her this way!” Tia placed her palm to her chest and gave me a look of bewilderment as if she were baffled and horrified to find Rose in such a compromising position.
“Really?” I gave her a sardonic smirk, not believing a single word that came out of her slimy mouth.
“Yes!” It was almost comical, bordering entertaining, the way Tia was trying to cover her tracks. She might have found herself to be sly, but I saw underneath her wild schemes. I was on to her, and she wasn’t going to get away with it this time.
“Thank goodness you brought the press here to cover this horrible event,” Tia drawled dramatically. Her cheeks flushed, and she pretended to wipe sweat from her brow. “I don’t know what would have become of Dr. Rand if we hadn’t found her out here, all tied up.”
“Exactly who do you suppose tied her up?” I snarled. I was losing patience in playing Tia’s little game.
“I have no idea, but when we do . . . we need to make sure they are properly punished!” Tia shook her head with perplexity as if it was a crying shame.
“Stop lying.”
Out of the darkness of the shed, Rose’s smooth voice chimed like a songbird in the night.
“You know what you did.”
Rose’s voice was taut, malicious, and vindicating. My heart pounded, and a smile crested the edges of my lips. Even through all the torment she had endured, she was still a fighter. She was a strong and resilient woman who was determined to never give up, and I admired her. I was bursting at the seams with love for her.
Tia began laughing with hysteria ringing in her voice. “What on earth are you talking about, dear friend?”
“She’s not your friend.” Tobbin, my youngest guard, dared to speak out. He stepped out of the shadows and into the light from cellphones lit up by my guards. He was glaring maliciously at Tia. A deep scowl etched across the lines of his forehead. “You did this to her. You forced us to bring her here and tie her up.”
Tia gasped as if lies were physically sprouting from Tobbin’s tongue. “How dare you,” she snapped with fury. “It’s not true.” She spun around to look at me, a plea for mercy twinkling in her wide blue eyes.
I walked over to Rose and kneeled down beside her. “Are you hurt?” I gently stroked the side of her cheek, which was stained and damp from tears.
“No,” she whispered, shaking her head as she nervously kept her eyes locked on Tia as if she didn’t trust her for a second to be out of her sight.
“Let’s get you out of this rope,” I told her as I moved behind her back to cut through the dingy white rope holding her hands behind her back.
She winched in pain and instinctively drew her hands up to her chest. I noticed with horror that her wrists were swollen and red, raw from where the coarse fibers of the rope had been rubbing with friction against her sensitive skin.
“I will make sure we get our medical teams to look at your wrists and bandage them up,” I reassured her.
“It’s okay.” Rose gave me a brave and st
oic glance. “I’ll be fine.”
I kissed her softly on the lips. Her scent and her taste were so wonderfully familiar. She was a breath of fresh air to my senses.
“I love you,” I whispered gently into her ears. “We will make it through this.”
Rose nodded as if she wanted to believe me but was still having difficulty in the dreadful situation we were in. “I love you, too,” she stated as her voice cracked.
Tia cleared her throat behind us.
“Excuse me?” she shrieked in a shrill tone. “What are you doing, Darbnix? Get off that woman. She is trying to tear our relationship apart.”
I whipped around to glare at her. “We have no relationship, Tia.”
Tia pouted, but she didn’t skip a beat. “I’m your genetic match, remember, sweetheart?” Her voice was laced with malicious warning, as if I shouldn’t dare protest her or cross her again.
“Why did you lie?” I pressed her, unafraid of what she was capable of. I was ready to tear her down.
Tia cackled. “Darling, I didn’t lie about anything.” She shook her head in denial.
I pointed to Rose, who was standing beside me. I protectively took a step in her direction.
“Then please enlighten me, Tia. Why did you lie to my guards and have them believe you when you ordered them to kidnap an innocent woman on your behalf?”
I raised an expectant eyebrow and waited patiently, humored to see what kind of excuse Tia would pull out of that empty brain of hers.
Tia scoffed, looking both appalled and insulted. “I did nothing of the sort.” Her eyes were a steel color, refusing to crack.
“It’s true.” Herders’s voice bellowed through the room, confirming what I already knew, the horror that Rose had endured.
“I will have you arrested for talking to me that way!” Tia yelled in Herders’s direction. “I am soon to be the princess of Noor. I will not be defied.”
She stood her ground, pursing her lips together. Her hands locked on her hips and she looked like a pouty, sullen child who was not getting her way.
“You will be the princess of nothing,” I hissed, glaring daggers through Tia.
The cameras were rolling. The hungry press held their shots, kept their microphones turned all the way up. Those lucky enough to attend and witness this ousting in person knew how important it was to capture the essence of the moment and bring Tia Teller to justice.
“Tell everyone the truth, Tia,” I snarled with a coy smile. “Tell everyone on live television how you hacked the genetic scanners in order for them to register you as the match.”
“I . . . no, it’s not what you think.” Tia was stammering, grasping at straws. She knew she was backed into a corner. Her eyes were wide and stunned, like a deer caught in headlights.
“Unfortunately for you, Ms. Teller,” Davon declared as he stepped in front of the lights attached to the cameras, “we have been outside, shooting footage this entire time. We captured all your filthy, devious lies on camera and on our microphones.”
A vile scream erupted from Tia’s throat. It was primal, and her lips curled into a devious, maniacal twist.
“It wasn’t me,” she proclaimed as she desperately tried to fight off the interplanetary police force I had brought with me for this sole purpose. They were in charge of distributing punishment and crimes across the planets to protect the rights of any and all races.
She flailed her arms and legs, kicking and biting at the captain and his men as they struggled to keep a tight grip on her. Tia’s hair was askew, and her face was contorted with fresh batches of fury that made her exceptionally disgusting.
“I will tell you everything you want to know,” she panted. “I will give up my accomplice who hacked the genetic scanners. I can tell you who was behind this plan the whole time. I swear it wasn’t my trap.”
Tia continued to ramble. Her hands were now tied behind her back with handcuffs as the guards attempted to drag her across the shed’s floor and to the door.
There wasn’t time to react to Tia’s outburst. There wasn’t time to ask her what she was referring to. We were robbed of that moment in an instant. Everything changed.
Tia’s body suddenly went slack. Her once-protesting arms went as limp as noodles by her sides. Her jaw opened, and her eyes rolled back in her head.
I glanced at Rose, who appeared to be just as baffled at Tia’s changed demeanor as I was.
“What the hell is going on?” I shouted to the intergalactic police, thinking they might have slipped her something in order to pacify her, like a tranquilizer shot in her arm, or worse. As much as I despised Tia, her cooperation was vital. It was essential that we receive whatever information from her we could on who might be the puppet master behind Tia’s strings.
It appeared that the mastermind in charge of Tia and her fate was not going to allow that to happen. Whoever was behind the curtain, and Davon and I strongly suspected Julia Morse to be the culprit, they were going to cover their tracks no matter the cost.
Tia fell to the floor in a crumpled heap. Her body began shaking. The guards hovering above her had looks of horror splashed across their faces. She began to convulse. Her legs and arms jerked at her sides, but this time, it was part of a seizure episode, not trying to get away.
White foam began oozing out of her mouth. Her eyes rolled back in her head. She started making a moaning sound that was like a frog croaking.
“What’s happening to her?” My gaze flicked to the medic on scene who shrugged, then rushed to Tia’s side, crouching on the ground as he began placing monitors on her chest and a breathing apparatus, some type of oxygen mask, over her mouth.
I stretched my arm around Rose, squeezing her tightly. “Come on,” I said protectively. “Let’s get out of here.”
I don’t know why, but I had a terrible feeling about the situation. We needed to flee the area as quickly as possible.
I looked behind me, curious to see what was happening to Tia. Her arms and legs were beginning to swell. Her torso began to rise like a blimp. Her dress popped off her body and all her veins became thick highways of purple under outstretched, translucent skin.
Rose screamed as I watched the medic jogging in the direction of the door. “Go, go!” he cried. “She’s going to blow!”
Before I knew what was happening, a flash of light blinded me. It was violent, radiating, and nearly burned my eyes right out of my eye sockets. Then, a loud, thundering crash nearly burst my eardrums.
Tia exploded like a bomb.
There was smoke and a sizzling fire that was crackling in the corner where the remains of Tia sat in a singed heap. Tia was dead, completely destroyed along with all the evidence that could have come along with a confession of sorts. Whoever was behind this plot was devious and murderous. I would have to go to the ends of the Earth to protect Rose now.
Epilogue
Rose
“Do it. What the hell are you waiting for?”
Prince Rawklix, Darbnix’s younger, trendier, and much less patient youngest brother, coaxed him on. He flicked his wrist insolently in the direction of the scanner.
Darbnix took it all in stride. He was grinning at me with all the excited energy contained in the entire universe.
“Are you ready?” Darbnix ignored his brother as he stared into my eyes with compassion and longing.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I was afraid to open them until the results came back favorable . . . well, if they came back with delightful news.
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” I insisted, inhaling sharply. I stood as stiff as a board and waited expectantly.
Darbnix stood in front of me. His genetic scanner had been cleared of all the hacking systems contained inside. The programming had been reconfigured and rewired by his engineering team. They had continuously apologized to Prince Darbnix. In his rational and down-to-earth state of mind, he was quick to accept their groveling. All was water under the bridge as far as he was concerned
.
“Turn the damn thing on already,” his brother Manzar droned. “You already know she’ll be a match.”
“He knows nothing of the sort,” his brother Akrawn argued. “But he sure is hoping for those results,” he snickered.
“Quiet, all of you.” I gave them playful yet stern glances and then closed my eyes again while I grinned. My heart raced in my chest. I was sizzling with anticipation.
“Okay . . .” Darbnix said in a hesitant, yet enthusiastic tone. “Here I go . . .” He trailed off and I heard silence for a few moments.
My heart plummeted through my chest. Was the device not reading me as a match? I hadn’t taken the time to prepare myself for the chance that we might not be biologically linked.
Then, I saw flashes of light that seeped under my sealed eyelids. Then jubilant and gleeful shrieks began to fill my ears. It was enough for me to pop open one eye and then the next.
In front of me stood Darbnix. Tears of joy pooled in his eyes and glistened as they dripped down his cheeks. The genetic scanner in his hand was vibrantly flashing with the most electrifying, vivid colors ever imaginable. Hues of white, pink, red, and green flashed in front of us, peppering our bodies with the flickers from the device. It was making such a scene that it looked like fireworks might erupt from the computer mechanics inside.
“I’m a match!” My voice was raspy with shock at first, but then I said it again, this time as more of a question. “I’m a match?”
Darbnix jogged the few steps over to me and draped his hands around my neck, splattering me with adoring, loving kisses.
“You are my match. I knew it all along. I felt it in my bones. The chemistry between us couldn’t deny us or tear us apart, no matter what kind of roadblocks we faced along the way.”
We were both sobbing with joy, running our hands all over each other’s body. It wasn’t until Darbnix’s oldest brother, Gardax, cleared his throat that we were suddenly jolted with the remembrance that we hadn’t been alone.