Beno glanced at Sera, and his expression was stony but his emotions were full of distrust. He said nothing further.
The white road began to shimmer with flecks of silver as they approached the front gate of the palace. The building itself was immense, spreading over the entire side of the mountain and reaching up nearly as high. It was a vision of soaring arches and towering spires, all interconnected with traceries of elevated walkways and air bridges. Ivy and flowering plants graced the walls and balconies, and the warm tropical breeze seemed tailor-made to the place.
Sera gaped up at the palace as they passed through the gates, which had been flung open wide in welcome. The ground was entirely silver now. The path led through an atrium with an ornamental garden, flowers of every color and description blooming on all sides. Another gate waited, and they passed through this one, too, into another flower-strewn open courtyard. A third gate opened as they approached it, and when they crossed the threshold, it closed behind them with a hiss.
The vehicle stopped at the base of a set of glittering silver stairs. Full-blooded Ylian women flanked the steps, all of them dressed in lesser variations on Apfira’s finery. A woman in a black uniform stepped forward when their hoversled stopped, and she offered her hand as assistance for them as they alit. The queen gave her a warm smile and nod.
Apfira was the first to exit the vehicle, followed by Theyn and Beno. The women on all sides stared openly at the two Ylian men, and it occurred to Sera suddenly that of all of the full-blooded Ylians they had seen so far, none had been male. Beno took Sera’s hand and helped her to the ground himself, not permitting the woman in black to do the honors. The woman looked affronted but held back, allowing Beno and Sera to pass. Asa and Joely dismounted next, the wounded Texan accepting the offered help without hesitation.
Apfira led them up the stairs to a set of lapis lazuli double doors that opened up into a vast throne room. Three ornate chairs waited on the dais at the far end of the room, sitting beneath an immense tapestry showing a stylized planetary system picked out in silver thread on a deep blue background. The chamber’s ceiling was so high overhead that Sera had to crane her neck to see all the way to the top, where there was an oculus shaped like a starburst.
The queen glanced at the woman in black, and she bowed and hurried off to speak with the servants. A fourth chair was brought and placed on the dais beside the other three.
“Welcome, Prince, Companion and Selected. You honor us.”
Theyn looked at the thrones and made no move to approach them. “Thank you.”
There was a moment of awkward silence, then Beno said, “Your Majesty, His Highness is weary, as are our companions. We request permission to rest before a more formal audience begins.”
She pursed her lips. “Of course.” She beckoned to a servant, who bowed to her. “Take Prince Theyn and his companions to their chambers.”
“Yes, Majesty,” the servant whispered, bowing. “This way, please.”
The group were escorted through luxurious hallways and up a wide, curving flight of stairs until they reached a blue and silver door. The servant opened the door and stepped aside, bowing as Theyn passed. Once all five of them were inside, the door was shut, and Sera heard a soft click.
“I think they locked us in,” she said.
“That ain’t right.” Asa sat down. “Man, my ankles are killing me.”
Theyn went to where the cowboy was sitting and knelt at his feet. “Would you allow me to help?”
“With pleasure.”
The blond Ylian gently rested his hands on Asa’s abused limbs and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath, then blew it out slowly, and his hands glowed white. The glow extended out from where Theyn was touching him until Asa was completely enveloped in the soft light. The light flared once, then seemed to sink into the human’s body, absorbed by his need to be healed.
When the glow had receded completely, Theyn sat back. “Better?”
Asa looked at him in shock. “It’s all gone. All the pain… how did you do that?”
“I just redirected our combined life forces to speed up your natural healing.”
Theyn looked grey and exhausted. His eyes glowed less brightly, and even his scales had lost some of their shine. Beno went to his partner and helped him to a nearby chair. He took Theyn’s hand and pressed it against his own solar plexus. Theyn’s hand glowed again, and this time the light sank into him. He absorbed energy from Beno for a brief moment, then broke the connection and sat back in his chair, his color returning to normal.
Sera shook her head. “You guys are full of surprises.”
“We’re not the only ones,” Beno said. “This place, these people – it’s all so strange. Where are the males? This isn’t right.”
Joely sat down on a white couch. “This whole place feels weird. I feel like I’m in an episode of the Twilight Zone.”
Sera shook her head. “Someday you’ll have a conversation that doesn’t include pop culture references.”
Joely nodded. “Probably, but today is not that day.”
Asa went to the door and looked at it in confusion. “There’s no knob or anything. How does it open?”
“There’s a sensor on the wall,” Beno said. He walked over and pressed his palm against a slightly raised area. The door whined but did not otherwise respond. He frowned. “It’s locked.”
“Too bad you don’t have your glove with you,” Sera said. “That would short circuit the locking mechanism, right?”
“In theory,” he nodded.
“Why would they lock us in?” Joely fretted.
Theyn sighed. “I suspect it has to do with what Apfira said about how we have to be sent back to our people. I think they intend to send us to Bruthes whether we like it or not.”
Sera scowled. “That’s kidnapping.”
“They seem to have a very unique way of looking at things.” The blond Ylian shook his head. “I must apologize - the way Apfira and her kith are behaving is not the way our people live.”
Beno crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. “Five hundred years is a long time. If they’ve been here on this colony all that time, isolated and insular, who knows what changes they’ve undergone?” He looked down. “Ylia and our ways are gone.”
Asa rubbed a hand over his face. “Well… since we’re stuck in here all cozy-like, I think I’m gonna have a look around.”
“I’ll go with you,” Sera said. “Anything is better than just sitting around.”
Beno joined them, and the three of them explored the accommodations they had been given. The main room, the one where they had been talking, was flanked to the left and right by four bedrooms, two on each side. All of the bedrooms had decadent beds draped with silks and filmy gauze curtains, and there were double doors leading out to balconies that overlooked another garden. They were much higher up than Sera had expected, and looking over the edge of the balcony, she was certain that if they tried to escape that way, they’d all break their necks.
Each bedroom had its own bathroom with sunken soaking tubs. Fresh-cut flowers stood in vases in every room, and the floors were silver-flecked marble tile. The entire suite smelled of flowers and incense, a sweet scent that was quickly becoming cloying. Sera’s stomach churned and she sat down on one of the beds.
“Are you all right?” Beno asked her.
She nodded. “Just feeling a little sick, I guess.”
He smiled gently. Pregnancy illness?
Maybe.
He put a hand on her shoulder, and she leaned into him, closing her eyes. He held her briefly, then kissed her hair. Asa cleared his throat.
“So, uh, I guess I’ll pick a room and get some rest,” he said. “Getting beaten up by the Mexican military has a way of wearing on a person.”
“Good idea,” Beno said. “We should all take a few minutes to regroup and gather our strength.”
Sera looked up at him. “Gather our strength for what?”
He t
ouched her face. “For whatever comes.”
Chapter Eighteen
Theyn, Beno and Sera took one of the four guest rooms, and Joely and Asa took another. When she saw Sera’s questioning look, she defended, “I don’t really want to be alone right now, okay?”
“Not criticizing,” she reassured her friend. “I just like the combination.”
Asa’s response was to tip an invisible hat to her before they retreated behind their shared closed door.
When she entered the room she would share with her bond mates, Sera took Theyn’s hand and pulled him into an embrace. He came quietly. She held him for a moment, then reached out for Beno, who came to their sides. She folded him into her arms, as well, holding them both tight.
“It’s been a lot to take today,” she said sympathetically.
“Yes,” Theyn agreed. “And it will probably only get worse.”
Sera kissed him. “Don’t think about that right now. You’re tired, and you used up most of your energy helping Asa.”
“It was -”
“Don’t argue,” she scolded. Beno chuckled and reached out to gently squeeze the back of Theyn’s neck.
Sera stepped back, her hands trailing down their chests until she reached their belts. She pulled them after her as she retreated back toward the bed. Beno raised an eyebrow at her, and she grinned in response.
“We’re all tired, I know,” she said. “And this probably isn’t the place to do anything that’s too much fun. But I want you two to lie down with me and show me how much you love this baby in my belly.”
Beno’s gaze was heated as he looked at her. “I’m not thinking about the baby.”
Theyn laughed softly. “You two go ahead. I’ll just… be over here.”
“At least watch,” his partner chided playfully.
“How could I not?” he responded. “You two are so hot together.”
Sera smiled and bit her lip, tugging Beno’s belt a little harder. “Why are you still wearing this?”
“I thought you said this wasn’t the right place…”
She tilted her chin down slightly and looked up at him through her long, blonde-tipped eyelashes. “Screw propriety.”
Both Ylians laughed, and Theyn said, I knew there was a reason we love you.
Their moment was interrupted by a man’s voice in the common area outside the bedroom. “Your Highness?”
Theyn left the bedroom, and Beno and Sera were right behind him. A man stood in the sitting room, dressed in a plain blue jumpsuit. His eyes were golden and without irises, like Ylian eyes, but his scales were multi-colored, giving his skin an almost tortoiseshell effect. He was short and slight, with an almost wispy build, and his hair was a dull brown. When he saw Theyn, he bowed deeply.
“Her Majesty has requested the honor of your attendance at a feast this evening. Your Companion and your Selected are also welcome.”
“And my human friends?”
The man hesitated. “They will be welcome also.”
“We accept the invitation,” Theyn said.
The man bowed again. “Thank you. I will return with appropriate garb.”
Sera glanced down at her jeans and tennis shoes. Yeah, she thought. Not the right outfit for dining with a queen.
“What time is this feast?”
“It will be in two hours, Highness.”
Theyn tilted his head slightly, studying the man. “What is your name?”
“Korin, sir.”
“Thank you, Korin.” He hesitated, then said, “You know, you’re the first male I’ve seen here on Itzela. Where are the others?”
Korin looked startled and uncomfortable, and his golden eyes flicked from Theyn to Sera to Beno and back to Theyn again. “We are...here and there. Mostly here in the palace, performing our duties as Her Majesty’s servants. There are very few of us.”
Beno said, “Are all males Her Majesty’s servants?”
“Of course.” Korin bowed to Beno. “Companion.”
Beno and Theyn exchanged a loaded glance, then the blond Ylian said, “Thank you for your assistance, Korin. You may go.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
As soon as the little man had left, Beno said, “Something’s not right. Since when do females outnumber males? And what is he crossed with? He doesn’t look fully Ylian.”
Sera conjectured, “They’ve been here for hundreds of years, and it’s possible that there’s an inbreeding situation. Or there might be some sort of sex-linked reaction to a toxin or parasite or something that’s endemic to Earth but not found on Ylia.”
Theyn nodded. “Roon and the men on the Cyclops aren’t small, but they’re hybrids. They may have been strengthened by crossing with humans. And Commander Elina said she didn’t think she would ever see a full -blooded Ylian man, which implies that there are none here.”
“There’s one other possibility,” Beno said. He explained to Sera, “Even in our time, males were beginning to falter. That’s why we had to develop the merging - it was only when we merge that we’re fertile. We need to be matched to be able to reproduce. If there’s no partner, there’s no merging.”
“That’s bizarre,” she said. “So when you merge to become fertile… which one of you is the father?”
“We both contribute genetic material,” Theyn said. “In order to become viable, his sperm needs to meld with mine. Matching involves identifying those males whose genetic material will combine properly. On our own, or when we merge but our sperm doesn’t meld, we are essentially sterile. As for which of us is the father of your child, well… we both are, in a very real sense.”
“The baby’s eye and skin color will show whose genetics were dominant,” Beno added.
“Maybe the males here on Itzela can’t match up.” She crossed her arms. “That would certainly explain why Apfira kept looking at the two of you like she’s a lion and you’re fresh meat.”
Beno smirked. “Jealous?”
She tried to shrug it off. “Maybe.”
“No need. We have no intention of being with the queen.” Theyn took her hand and kissed it. “You are the only queen I recognize.”
Sera laughed, touched and strangely embarrassed. “Wow, the things you say!”
There was a soft knock on the door, and then Korin returned with his arms full of garments. Beno relieved him of his burden and put the clothes on the couch, draping them over the back. Korin bowed to him.
“My thanks, Companion.”
“You’re welcome.” Sera heard him thinking to the smaller man, Do you serve here by choice?
There was no response, and not even a flicker of recognition that Beno had spoken. Korin looked at Theyn. “Is there anything else I can do for you, my lord?”
“No, thank you. That will be all.” To Beno and Sera, he thought, He didn’t hear you.
He’s useless, Beno growled.
That’s harsh, Theyn scolded mildly.
Sera fussed, Now that they have the two of you, they’re never going to let you go.
Beno set his jaw. Let me worry about that.
***
It took Joely, Asa and Sera some time to figure out how to don the Ylian-style clothing, but with some assistance from Theyn and Beno, they managed to dress for dinner. There were translator ear pieces for Joely and Asa, and while Sera had expected the cowboy to balk at wearing the unit, the linguist in him was eager to hear the Ylian tongue as it was spoken.
They stepped back and looked at each other, draped in silken cloth like Greek statues come to life. Asa grinned. “I didn’t know this was going to be a costume party.”
Beno snorted and arranged the pin at his shoulder that held his chiton closed. “If it’s any consolation, you totally have the legs for it.”
“Thanks,” Asa said. “I think.”
At the appointed time, Korin arrived at their door to escort them to the banquet hall. He had to unlock the door to come in, and when they were all out, he locked the door once again.
/>
Sera couldn’t stop herself from asking, “Why is the door being kept locked?”
Korin looked startled. “For your own protection,” he said, sounding as if he was surprised she didn’t already know.
“Protection from what?” Beno asked.
“From the overly curious,” the little man replied, “and from the unscrupulous.” He hesitated. “There are some who fear a return to Bruthes and the colony there.”
“Why would they fear that?” Theyn asked.
Korin shook his head and shrugged one shoulder in silent deference. “I don’t know, Highness.”
He escorted them to a colonnaded room hung with filmy silver curtains that blew in the tropical breeze. A long, low table flanked by numerous chaise lounges filled the center of the room, set with silver place settings and crystal goblets. An elaborate centerpiece made of flowers and fruits waited for them, as did Apfira, who reclined in her own chair at the head of the table.
She did not rise, but she beckoned for Theyn to recline on the lounge to her right. “Please, uncle, sit here so that I may speak to you more easily.”
“My thanks,” he said formally. “And where shall my Companion and my Selected sit?”
She smiled warmly. “Your Companion may sit across from you, and your Selected will have the place of honor, opposite me at the other end of the table.”
Sera didn’t like being separated from Theyn and Beno by that much real estate, but she felt she was in no position to refuse. She nodded. “Thank you, Your Majesty.”
Theyn took his seat, draping himself over the cushions with the ease of someone long accustomed to these fine things. Beno took his seat, as well, but with a bit less comfort. For her part, Sera wasn’t used to the idea of lying on a sofa while she ate, but she managed to get situated fairly quickly. Without asking for permission or guidance, Joely and Asa took up position on her left and right sides.
The other places filled up rapidly with beautiful Ylian women, their golden eyes shining like beacons as they took in the sight of the prince and his companion. Like Sera and Joely themselves, they were all dressed like Apfira, wearing variations on the Greek goddess look that the Ylian aristocracy seemed to favor. The combination of clothing style and the reclining postures that everyone was taking made Sera feel like she’d walked into a recreation of some ancient Athenian feast. She wondered who would be playing the part of Aristotle.
Awakening Page 16