by Zara Zenia
This was not going to be another night of idle pleasure spent flirting. I would make sure of that. We had a job to do. We were on a mission driven by genetic ingenuity and desperation. The future of our entire race depended on our success with finding fertile Earth mates. I missed my home and yearned to eventually go back, hopefully, with Amy by my side.
I got dressed, getting ready to head to the ballroom to check on the preparations for the party. I glanced at my human phone on the shelf outside my training module. The screen was lit, and when I grabbed it, it stated that I had a message. Hoping that the mayor’s office might have some news for me, I started to unlock the message when Coel’s voice came from the door, announcing himself and requesting entrance.
Eagerly, I turned to him, assuming he must have the latest intel to relay. Instead, his expression was apologetic.
“Your Highness, Mrs. Barnaby, the catering supervisor, has requested an audience with you.”
I rolled my eyes, but before I could dismiss the notion or tell him I was busy, she stepped into the room. “Oh, Your Highness!” she said, sweeping into a curtsy. Great. I couldn’t muster up an excuse to escape her if she was standing right in front of me.
She was dressed in civilian clothes rather than her work attire. The fabric clung to her in indecent ways that seemed entirely out of place for an interview with your employer, not to mention at such an early hour. She was a married woman, but she certainly wasn’t playing the role of a doting and trustworthy spouse in the absence of her husband.
I trained my eyes on her face, forcing a tight, polite smile. “Can I help you, Mrs. Barnaby? Is something wrong with the catering preparations?”
“Actually, it’s just Ms. Barnaby now,” she corrected with a winking smile that gave me chills.
Coel cleared his throat and excused himself. Wretched man.
“Oh, my apologies,” I answered formally and indifferently.
She stepped forward, swaying her hips in too obvious a fashion as she moved. “Thank you, but I’m not. Our marriage died a long time ago.” Her voice was a whisper and eerily portrayed desperate seduction.
“Oh,” I said awkwardly and shifted my weight, clearing my throat and looking anywhere and everywhere besides her.
“Call me Darla, please,” she said, smiling as she reached me. Her tongue slithered aggressively out of her mouth as if she were waiting for me to pounce and kiss her or something.
“Well, Darla, I must say this is highly irregular. Is there something you wanted? As you know, we’re hosting a party tomorrow and I must attend to the arrangements.” I waved her off dismissively, but she failed to exit, the message going right over her head.
She looked up at me through her lashes, angling her head to the side. Something about her eyes seemed cold, I thought, irregular and void of emotion. She was almost robotic.
“Your Highness. Gardax,” she said, though I hadn’t given her leave to call me by my name. “I hope I don’t sound too forward, but I just feel such a strong pull between us, a connection I can’t fight anymore. Surely, you must feel it too?” Her perfume burned as it filled my nostrils. Had she tried to drown herself in the stuff?
I opened my mouth to deny it, but she pressed on. “I know you have a world of women to choose from, but I could never live with myself if I didn’t speak now, if I let this pass us by because I was too shy to speak out.” She continued to bat her eyelashes in that sickening way.
The way she was leaning into me felt quite the opposite of shy. She was contradicting herself and pretending to be someone she wasn’t, a detestable act and something that annoyed me.
“I have come to you this morning to humbly submit myself to be scanned. I know you’ve scanned others in the kitchen and I think I know why you’ve waited to scan me. It’s because you feel it too, this power between us, and it wasn’t right, not while I was married. But you don’t have to be afraid anymore. I’m not.”
I wanted to politely but firmly decline the offer, but I stopped short of doing so. What could it hurt to scan her and be done with these uncomfortable interactions? It was clear she had set her sights on such a match, so it was only right that she should have her disappointment and be allowed to move on. For God’s sake, the woman had left her husband on this wild notion! I hated to be the bearer of bad news for her, but the quicker we got this uncomfortable interaction over with, the better for both of us.
“Ms. Barnaby, or Darla, rather, you are right. I should have scanned you. Allow me to quickly rectify that,” I said, pulling the scanner out and turning it on.
As the device activated and hummed to life, I felt a stab of apprehension but quickly disregarded it. It would be like ripping off a Band-Aid. Surely, she wouldn’t be my match.
Holding the scanner out between us, partially in an effort to force her to back up as she was entirely too close, I gave her an apologetic expression as it didn’t react. To my relief. The scanner remained still and quiet, void of any interaction.
But then, to my horror, it did. All of a sudden, out of nowhere, my worst nightmare began to flash and hum right in front of my eyes. I was powerless to stop it. I jerked the scanner and slapped on it, certain that there was some sort of mistake.
It began to vibrate and light up. It flickered for a moment then slowly began growing brighter and brighter. My stomach dropped and the room seemed to go out of focus as the awful reality slammed into my brain.
Darla’s expression was somehow calm and satisfied, despite my inability to mask my own shock or displeasure. Her lips were curled into a sinister and satisfied grin. The smirk and smugness on her face made me roar inside with fury.
The scanner finally emitted a series of clicks, and a report appeared on the screen, listing the results of the reading and summarily declaring her my mate. This couldn’t be happening to me. I was shrinking into the abyss of despair. The walls were closing in, threatening to swallow me whole.
Her. Darla. My mate. My biological mate. My genetic match. How was this possible?
It couldn’t be. It defied explanation. How could I be so repulsed by the person most suited for me? I needed answers. I wouldn’t rest or accept this as my fate until I had the solid evidence and proof to back this assessment up with scientific steel.
“Oh, Gardax!” she said, throwing herself at me and planting an unwanted kiss on my cheek as I fortunately turned just in time for her to miss my mouth. Her sloppy return landed on my cheek. I tried not to visibly look appalled as I tried to free myself from her grasp.
I scrambled back, extracting myself from her grasp and knocking over a breakfast tray that rested on the table beside me. Dishes shattered and metal clattered against the floor. Food splattered against the walls.
Coel came running in. “Prince Gardax! Are you well?”
I slumped back, staring blankly, unable to form words. My mind was still in shock.
“We’ve matched!” Darla announced, turning to Coel and grabbing the scanner out of my hands to show off the evidence. “I suppose that makes me your boss now.” She smiled with a cold satisfaction that made my skin crawl. Was she already spinning devious webs to gain power?
Coel looked from her to the scanner and then to me. “Your Highness?” His frown and furrowed brow gave way that he thought this must be some kind of terrible joke.
I looked up at him, dumbfounded. “It’s true,” I managed to croak out, wildly numb and tingly with disappointment. The world moved in slow motion. I couldn’t contain a single calculated thought.
My life descended into a depressing chaos. Darla burst into a flurry of activity, demanding that we make an announcement and ordering accommodations to be arranged for her on the ship. She was bouncing around the room like a wasp, buzzing from order to order.
Ironically, she seemed far less interested in interacting with me now that the scanner had declared her my bride and far more content to lord over the servants and staff. She spoke in a sadistic and assertive tone, waving her hands animatedly
in the air as she barked orders left and right.
This could not be my life. Could it? Could I resign myself to marriage with someone I could barely stand to be in the same room with? I racked my brain, trying to find some link or similarity between us that could justify the pairing.
But there was simply a total absence of reason or logic. Nothing made sense. Chaos and reality blended into one harsh, beaming ray of despair.
My thoughts went back to Rawklix’s comments, not so long ago, about obeying the rule of the scanner, even if it matched us with a warty pit-dweller, as he’d so tactfully put it. Was he right? It seemed like a vicious joke that would never come true back then, but now, I was facing the beast with no way out.
The notion that I could be matched with someone to whom I was not at all attracted had been a possibility, but now I was faced with the certainty of it. It was one thing to not be entertained by an aesthetically pleasing person, but it was another to loathe your mate altogether.
I had the better part of the day to come to grips with it before Darbnix sought me out.
“Well, those human authorities are faster than you gave them credit for! I understand you’ve matched. Congratulations!” he said with a hearty smile on his face. He gave me a fond pat on the back. His hand landed on my skin with a brotherly smack.
I looked at him, numb and distracted. “No. it’s not her. It was someone else, a catering supervisor on the ship.” My voice sounded cloudy and distant. Far away.
“Oh,” he said, his blank tone properly encompassing the hollowness I felt over the matter. “Well,” he said, clearing his throat, “you will be high king. No one would blame you if you made an exception. It’s one thing to take a bride you don’t love, but it’s another when there is someone else that you do.”
Did I? Did I love someone else? The truth of it was impossible to deny, even in the privacy of my own mind. But it didn’t matter. I had a duty. A duty I was born into and I could not abandon now, no matter how unpleasant it was. Mating with Darla would be hard, but I would have to accept the terms. I hadn’t made the journey over thousands of miles to quit now.
“I can’t. I will not hold you and the others to a standard without following it myself. I cannot be the exception. I must be the example, no matter how wrong it feels. If I’m to rule, I must be able to place my people before myself.” I didn’t even realize I had been shaking the entire time I was speaking to my brother.
He grimaced. “No one expects you to martyr yourself.” He seemed embarrassed for me but empathetic.
I shook my head, resignation settling in. “I’ll do what I must. We all will. Now, I should speak to Coel about arranging the ceremony.” The words were like bile spilling from my throat.
Chapter 16
Amy
“He’s mine! Miiiiine!” Darla cackled into the phone. Her voice was twisted with malice and smug, arrogant glee.
I looked down, half expecting my stomach to have dropped out of my body. Could she really be engaged to Gardax? It sent my world into a spin. How could he want her? Her? I didn’t want to see him with anyone, but Darla? That was somehow in a separate universe of awful. He hadn’t even tried out the scanner on me. Did it really react to her? How could this be happening?
“You tried to interfere, but nothing was going to stop me from getting what I deserve, what I want. I’m going to be his queen, and you and the rest of this stinking cesspool are going to be nothing more than a distant memory soon.” The threatening tone in her voice made my blood run cold, but another thought popped into my head. If Darla was getting what she wanted in the end, didn’t that mean that I deserved what I was also promised?
I seized on her words. “So you’ll give me Corinne back?” If there was any silver lining to this situation, it was that I’d have my sister back with me and we could start over. I didn’t care what happened with Darla and Gardax. They could have each other. I just wanted Corinne, alive and in my arms. I would never let her go after this was over.
I could practically hear her roll her eyes over the phone. “You’re such a needy little bitch, you know that?” she spat impatiently.
I didn’t answer, just waited. She’d gotten what she wanted, and even if it killed me, I was going to have to make peace with that. But if she didn’t deliver my sister back to me safely, she was going to find out who she was really dealing with. I would find her, at any cost. She would have to face my wrath if she wanted to cross me any further.
She sighed. “Whatever, you can have the little shit back.” She sounded like she couldn’t wait to get rid of Corinne, as if she were simply disposing of the trash.
“When?” I persisted. I wasn’t going to dare and hang up the phone until I had received a solid answer from Darla.
“You know, you’re starting to get on my nerves. Don’t make me punish Corinne for your impertinence,” she threatened. “Or maybe I should trade her for you. You can work in the kitchens for my husband and me. I think I’d like the sight of you covered in soot from the oven, waiting on me.” She snickered again in that same patronizing tone that made my skin itch.
Bile rose in my throat, but before I could protest, she went on. “Then again, a rat like you can’t be trusted. Where are you?” She sounded curious and fearful all at once, as if she were expecting me to come out of nowhere and jab a knife into her aorta.
I didn’t want to tell her and put myself at risk, but I wasn’t going to get Corinne back by playing hardball, so I told her. I opted for honesty here. I didn’t want to give Darla any reason to redact her agreement.
“You’ll get the brat back after the wedding is over, when I know you can’t try and screw things up any further and I’ve secured what is mine,” she said darkly.
“Okay, when will that be?” I asked. I didn’t want to wait around forever. I had been under the impression that as soon as Darla got what she wanted, I’d have my sister back. It just seemed as if she were offering an excuse just to prolong the issue and achieve the upper hand. She had already conquered and won, so what good was it to keep my sister around now?
She hung up without specifying when exactly that would be, but I had a feeling the news would spread quickly. Every fertile female on planet Earth was going to feel the loss of Prince Gardax getting taken off the market. Who was I? Just another hopeless, heartbroken member of the masses. Soon, I would become an afterthought, a refugee out there in the world, suffering and broken just like the rest of them. At least I’d have Corinne by my side.
That’s obviously the way he saw me. After everything I said in that message, after knowing what kind of person Darla was, he was still willing to take her. He’d said as much, that he would do whatever he needed for his people. Maybe there was honor in that, but I didn’t want to bother looking for it. He must really be desperate to take her back to his planet with him. He could have her, for all I cared. I would just have to shove the pain to the back of my mind where all the rest of the angst dwelled.
Air blasted through the nearly empty room of the abandoned warehouse Bodi and I were hiding out in. He’d checked in with a contact from the network he got jobs in. Apparently, we were both still wanted outcasts, but it felt good to have someone to share that with. I didn’t have to stay out here, out on the run and all alone in the cold. We could keep each other company in order to prevent ourselves from going crazy.
I still had the phone in my hand and he looked at me curiously. “Darla?”
I nodded, struggling to keep calm as I explained, “She and Ga—the prince—are getting married.” I took a deep breath as I reeled from voicing that horrid statement out loud.
Not knowing my feelings, he nodded. “That’s good news for you, right? Maybe ease some of the heat on your back.” He gave me an innocently kind smile.
I looked away, busying myself by pulling out two packets of dried miso to reconstitute for us on the makeshift hot plate Bodi had created. For such a young kid, he really was talented—at least, when he managed to not b
low up the things he was working on. But genius didn’t come without a price, I suppose. He was the first friend I’d made who hadn’t sold me out when it served him, so I managed to overlook the occasional smell of burnt hair. He seemed to really know how to make it out in the cruel world all on his own. I was in good hands, being in his company.
“Yeah. Good news,” I managed. “After the wedding, I’ll get Corinne back.” I sighed again. My voice was depressed and shaky. I was exhausted but surviving on the remaining fumes of the adrenaline from the conversation I’d had with Darla.
“What then?” he asked, taking the metal cup of miso from me. He seemed genuinely interested in what would become of me.
“I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought that far out just yet,” I said, letting the familiar salty, earthy flavor of the hot soup soothe me. I let out a sad and pitiful little chuckle as the warmth of the soup filled my throat and hit my belly with a delicious sensation.
“Well, the posse burned me, so I’m not sticking around here much longer. Think I’ll head someplace warmer. Tired of these bitch ass cold winters,” he said, a far off, dreamy look in his eyes. I privately wondered what kind of expectations he still clung to and whether he still had any kind of optimism for dreaming of his future.
“Hey, now, language,” I warned, as if it’d been Corinne. I guess that was still a of habit, trying to protect her even though she wasn’t even here with me.
“Okay, Mom.” He rolled his eyes. For a brief moment, I could feel the fragile vulnerability beneath his words. It was awkward but also endearing, and I wished I had a way of helping him out. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even manage to take care of myself and Corinne. I didn’t have the energy or the resources to add on a third.