Alien Prince Charming

by Zara Zenia

  The room was growing colder by the minute as the sun receded from the sky, and the chill and the otherworldly dress made my body seem almost foreign to me. I looked down at myself swathed in finery and couldn’t help but wonder if I wouldn’t wake up soon to find myself still napping in that corner. Had I blurred the lines of fantasy and reality once again? But here I was. This wasn’t a dream.

  I unmade my thick braid and piled the curling waves into a mass at my crown, putting the pins Darbnix had given me into place to secure the impromptu style. For one of the first times ever, I regretted that I had no makeup, but when I caught my reflection in a piece of broken glass, I didn’t dislike what I saw. The adornments Darbnix gave me were lovely, but I could still see myself beneath them. I didn’t find myself worthy of wearing such delicacy.

  As I walked quickly to the door to join them, I grabbed one last thing. Reaching into my jacket, I pulled out my switchblade. I may be dressed like one of those gilded upper-caste women, but I would fight for myself and the people I love like the refugee I’d always been.

  “Whoa.” Bodi laughed. “You about to shut that party down. No way the prince marries Darla after he sees you.” He laughed lightheartedly.

  Darbnix smiled appraisingly. “Everything is more convincing from the lips of a beautiful woman.” His eyes twinkled as he gave me a respectable wink.

  I blushed. “Well, let’s just hurry.” I wasn’t used to receiving this amount of favorable attention, but we didn’t have time to sit here and dish about how stunning I looked or didn’t look. The clock was ticking, and Darla was still out there.

  Darbnix led me to a transport shuttle outside the warehouse where Bodi and I had been encamped. At my insistence, Inez agreed to bring Bodi aboard the ship under the guise of an apprentice. I’d made it this far because of him, and I wasn’t about to leave him behind now.

  The shuttle ride was quick, and when we disembarked, it was in a different dock than the staff entrance. There were a number of shuttles arriving, carrying guests for the party. My heart raced in anticipation and I prayed that I wouldn’t be recognized by anyone in attendance.

  “Darla insisted the wedding be a surprise to announce once the festivities of the party began,” Darbnix informed me, whispering in my ear as we shuffled through the drones of people.

  “Of course, she’d want to gloat, to crow over everyone she feels she’s superior to now,” I answered darkly and narrowed my eyes.

  A guard came to our shuttle, but seeing Prince Darbnix, he bowed and allowed us entrance. It felt surreal walking among all the dainty, delicate guests. I was out of place and out of my element, but I had Darbnix by my side to subtly coach me along.

  But we didn’t have time for me to feel out of place. Once we’d moved into the main hail, Darbnix pulled me with him down a side passage. He yanked me with a frantic desperation that alarmed my senses.

  Winding through a series of doors that appeared out of nowhere, passages filled with servants, and beautifully anointed rooms, we finally made it. My heart was in my throat, but I was still breathing.

  Darbnix stopped and whispered hurriedly to the guard as Bodi and Inez caught up to us. In a matter of seconds, the wall vanished, and it felt like almost as if we had fallen out of the ship. I tried to stifle a scream by clamping my hand over my mouth. I hadn’t been expecting that to happen.

  The floor, the ceiling, the walls, all of it was transparent but for a faint, rippling shimmer. It was like we floated, suspended by some unknown force, in the vast emptiness of space. Strange floating candles like tiny, brilliant stars hung in the air. It was an out of body experience. I twisted the skin of my wrist to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

  “Prince Gardax, Ruler of Erebis, heir to High Throne of Trilynia, do you pledge your troth, by the sacred seal of the Trilyn, to take this woman to wife?” A woman with caramel skin and knee-length black locks stood at the far end of the room where Gardax stood with Darla, their backs to us.

  My heart pounded in my chest, and without thinking it through, I simply called out to him, “Gardax!” It was urgent, impulsive. I spoke before my mind had a chance to convince me not to.

  Shocked, he turned toward me. His eyes scanned me as if I might not be real and then finally locked with mine. He stared at me, completely bewildered.

  Darla glared with devilish ferocity at me but grabbed Gardax’s arm, demanding he complete the ceremony. “Answer her!” she screeched.

  I stood frozen as I heard the words fall from his mouth, my chest squeezing at the sound. He was robotic, as if he weren’t really emotionally in the same zone as his body.

  “No,” Gardax answered after a long pause.

  Silence preceded the wretched sound of Darla’s screeching. “Whaaaaaat?!”

  “No,” he repeated, pronouncing the word more clearly. He began to shake his head as the phantom of his tormented state of mind began to lift like a fog.

  Darla whirled around. “You! You filthy little low-class whore! You are not ruining this for me!” Spittle dribbled down her chin. Hysteria burned in her eyes and her chest heaved with deep, sharp, ragged breaths.

  She charged, sprinting with a speed I would not have thought her capable in her gaudy four-inch clear heels. I was her intended target.

  Reacting with the ‘low-class’ instincts I’d earned through years of survival, I turned, sidestepping the strike she meant to land on my face, and reaching into my up-do, I pulled out my switchblade, holding it to her side as she froze in place with the realization that she’d lost.

  “You’re going to pay for this,” she seethed with hatred.

  “No. you are,” I whispered back with the relief of finally being free to stand up to her. There was no way out. She was trapped.

  Chapter 19

  Gardax

  “Arrest her!” Darla demanded, still held in place by Amy’s knife at her side.

  I was momentarily frozen in shock, mainly from seeing Amy arrive as if to come to my rescue. I stared at her. She had her eyes locked on Darla, knife glistening in the light.

  The guards didn’t move, looking to me for direction, but I was still too dazed at Amy’s presence to speak.

  “Arrest this scheming bitch, damn it! I’m your queen!” she cried with bitter petulance. Her voice echoed through the silence.

  “Not yet, you’re not, and you won’t ever be, once everyone hears the truth,” Darbnix answered with a harsh tongue.

  The rest of my brothers crowded around. “What’s going on?” Manzar grumbled. The rest looked perplexed.

  “She’s not your match,” Amy said, looking to me. “She tricked you. She fooled all of you,” she said, looking around the room.

  “Shut up, you lying wretch!” Darla spat, squirming in Amy’s grip.

  “You, be quiet,” Darbnix warned. “Or I’ll bring Shashti out and we’ll see what she makes of you now.” He glared at Darla as if she were the scum of the planet.

  Darla glared but stilled, her eyes darting in an angry panic around her, as if sensing the tide had turned against her fully. She was on the defensive, looking for a way to weasel out of this one.

  Amy looked back at me and my heart stilled in my chest at the sincerity and pain in her eyes. “She took my sister and blackmailed me into staying away from you, Gardax, and then she manipulated one of your scientists to create a device that interferes with your scanner, making you believe she was your ideal match, when in reality, she is not. She manipulated me, she abused my sister, and she deceived you. She’s not your match.”

  Before I could answer, Manzar cut in. “And how do we know this is all true?” he demanded, arms crossed. He didn’t know anything about Amy, not like I did. His cynical tone cut through the air.

  “Because I helped her. My deepest apologies, Your Highnesses. It is with great shame and humiliation that I must own to the truth of these statements. I conspired with this fraud to deceive Prince Gardax into believing she was his mate. But it is not true.”

&nbs
p; He stepped forward and ripped off what had appeared to be a simple metal bracelet that Darla wore and held it up, revealing a tiny web of circuitry on the inside of the band. “This is the evidence of my disgrace.” The man looked pained and shamed all at once, his face displaying grief and remorse.

  “No!” Darla screamed, “I’ll kill you for this! You son of a bitch! You’re nothing more than a backstabbing, sniveling loser! They’re lying to you, Gardax. Your brother is trying to take the throne for himself. He’s trying to prevent you from having children of your own so that when he kills you, he’ll inherit it all! Don’t listen to them!” She was shrieking maniacally.

  Shouting erupted, sweeping the scene into chaos. Everyone’s eyes were wide with confusion and shock. I didn’t blame them. This was turning out to be quite a spectacle.

  “Enough!” I said loudly. “I’ve heard enough lies.” I walked toward Amy and Darla. “Release her,” I demanded.

  Amy’s eyes went wide but she did as I asked. She had a stung look on her face as if she were wounded by my reaction.

  Darla pulled back quickly, springing toward me. “Ha! See! I told you, I would have what is mine.” She snickered with a pathetic laugh.

  Placing a hand on her shoulder, I turned toward her and looked deeply into her eyes. “Yes, you will have everything that is meant for you. Coel, take this treacherous deviant into custody.” Finally, I was able to expel the one statement that I had been longing to say for so long.

  “No! Gardax, wait!” she screamed, trying to grab onto me, but Coel was already there, placing her into temporary partial paralysis with a Neural Oscillation Disruptor. Her eyes went wide. Her mouth went slack.

  Darla’s arms dropped by her side, and while she growled and struggled against the neural interference, she couldn’t overcome it enough to form whatever hateful words were on her tongue. She looked as if she were having a convulsion in reaction.

  I turned away from her then and went to Amy, taking her hand in mine, hardly believing that she was truly there before me. Her kind eyes warmed my heart and a contented sensation overcame me.

  “I don’t know how to begin to apologize for everything you’ve been through, but allow me to start making things right?” I asked, raising her hand to my mouth and pressing a kiss there. Electrical volts of sensual chemistry rippled through my bones.

  She trembled at the contact, and I nearly lost myself, but there would be time for that later. If everything worked out, we had a lifetime to explore each other’s bodies in the most sensual ways imaginable.

  I turned to Darla, anger returning in a mighty storm as I looked upon the vile, greedy creature who would have stolen my future from me. She was flinching and sputtering. Her nose was running and she looked like a maniac being held captive, a rabid animal.

  “You stand accused of several serious crimes against the Trilyn Royal Council and your own people. As we are aboard my ship, per the treatise we have struck with the Union, you are under my jurisdiction. Trilyn law establishes that the punishment for such crimes as yours is the brisk death of space release. We are a people of reason and integrity and believe in the swift, impartial administration of justice.”

  Her eyes went wide with terror at my words as they sank in with harsh reality. She was in terrible trouble, and the color drained from her face.

  “However, your crimes are not yet fully settled. You have kidnapped and imprisoned an innocent young girl. If you lead us to her and she is recovered in good health, I may consider your cooperation as a mitigating factor,” I explained.

  Darla’s eyes darted back and forth between myself and Amy, resignation and fear settling there. I nodded to Coel, who reduced the strength of the neural interference.

  Darla stretched her jaw, as if getting used to the feel of it once more.

  “Well?” I demanded. Was she really debating this? Did she not understand the danger she was in?

  She huffed angrily. “Yes, fine, I’ll tell you where she is.” She flicked her gaze to the floor and fumed in fresh anger. It was either cooperate with us or face imminent death. The choice should be simple.

  “Go now. Take a team and follow her directions. Bring the girl back here as soon as you’ve located her,” I directed Coel, who nodded and prodded Darla to walk in front of him.

  With them gone, Rawklix whistled. “So, what now? Can we go to the party or what?” Leave it to my youngest brother to want to get down to the real entertainment of the evening.

  I shook my head, exasperated with my youngest brother. “Go do what you will. I need to find Lifiya. You,” I said to Inez, “You will come with us.”

  He agreed and the small group of us—Amy, Darbnix, Inez, me, and a young boy who had apparently assisted Amy during this tumultuous ordeal—went to find Lifiya.

  Her reaction was what I expected, bewildered and mortified at the misapplication of the technology she had helped to create. After a good deal of convincing, I finally assured her she was not to blame for the situation.

  As for Inez, I was sure what to do with him, but now was not the time to deal with him. He kept glancing at me periodically with eyes laced with panic and fear.

  The two of them set to clearing and reprogramming my scanner, which had been returned to the lab once Darla had been proven as a match. My heart drummed in my chest. I was anxious to get the device up and running again.

  While were waiting, Coel found us. Corinne had not been kept very far. Darla, in her hubris, had hidden her in a storage container in the closet of her private office, aboard my ship, no less.

  “Corinne!” Amy cried, seeing her sister.

  The girl looked terrible and I felt a fresh assault of guilt upon seeing the damage Darla had heaped upon the poor child, all so she could secure her grasp on me. She was dirty, with sunken bags of exhaustion underneath her skin. She looked as if she’d endured hell and torture. There were marks, scrapes, and bruises all over her body.

  Her hair was clipped in shocks of varying lengths, some parts exposing her scalp and revealing painful gashes. One eye was blackened, her bottom lip split, and small, circular burns angrily dotted her exposed arms and neck.

  “I didn’t know if I’d ever see you again. I’m so sorry!” Amy sobbed, embracing her as gently as she could.

  Corinne’s eyes squinted, as if adjusting to the light from so many hours in darkness. She looked around, wearily and with a nervous expression of distrust. I couldn’t blame the poor girl.

  Despite Amy’s fawning and emotional reaction, the girl was quiet, almost stoic. I did not have a lot of experience with victims of trauma, but it was clear Darla had left scars more than the ones on her arms, and I hated myself for being complicit, knowingly or not, in the abuse for even a moment.

  Now, at least, I would do what I could to ensure her recovery and offer whatever support she needed. I would ensure that she had medical care and attention as we attempted to nurse her back to emotional and physical health.

  “I have a team of doctors who can oversee her care, if you will allow,” I said gently, placing a hand on Amy’s shoulder as she held her sister tightly against her. Amy looked as if she never wanted to let her sister go but was also afraid of damaging her if she squeezed too hard against her sister’s frail body.

  Breathing in deeply, she pulled back and looked at Corinne. “Are you okay with that?” She tenderly stroked her cheek.

  Corinne nodded, just once, but didn’t say anything. She mainly kept her eyes planted to the floor.

  A blanket was brought out and Amy wrapped Corinne in it, who finally closed her eyes. “Amy?” she squeezed in a pitiful voice that ripped through my heart.

  “Yes?” she asked through tears, stroking her Corinne’s face. She was grinning at her sister so fondly as if she were an angel she dreamed of and didn’t see in reality.

  “I’m okay. Sister’s oath,” she said, raising her fingers in a little salute. “And you look pretty. I told you you needed a makeover.” The girl had a witty quip aft
er all the torture she’d been through. I admired her for that.

  Laughing through their tears, they hugged again as I watched, touched by the genuine affection they shared. A chair was wheeled in for Corinne, and after two attendants assured Amy that her sister would be well cared for, she finally allowed her to be taken to the medical chambers.

  “Your Highness?” Lifiya came into the room, Inez behind her staring only at his feet while a guard hovered beside him. “We’ve rebalanced your scanner.” She gave me an apologetic smile.

  She stretched out her arm as she handed the small device to me, and I took it, suddenly aware of the question that had burned me from the first time I’d laid eyes on Amy but which I was no longer sure I had a right to ask.

  I looked to Amy, who was watching me nervously. It was a pivotal moment. I was almost too anxious to point it in her direction. My heart ached for it to light up as soon as it was near her.

  “Well?” she asked, staring back at me with those incredible eyes of hers. She was arrestingly beautiful, dressed in the fashions of my people, her hair twisted and secured into a delicate, riotous affair. Everything about her was so pure, so genuine, so perfect. She was the perfect epitome of beauty, captivating and breathtaking in every way.

  I set it down and took her hands, oblivious to the people looking on. “I don’t need to turn this on. I don’t need this machine to tell me what I have suspected from the first moment I saw you or what every moment since has confirmed in my own heart. You are everything that I could have ever dreamed of and so much more. You are my perfect match. But what I ask, what I must ask as the future High King of my people, it’s too much to ask of anyone. You have already endured so much pain because of me. How could I impose any more?

  “I will not turn this on. I will not place that burden upon your shoulders, not unless you want me to. If you wish, I will leave you with enough money that you, Corinne, your children, your children’s children will never lack for anything. You can live your lives here, secure, comfortable, cared for, far away from the dangers and stress my position invites, if that is what you want.”