by Poppy Rhys
“You could have been killed,” Soren roared and paced around the small space. “Why should we not kill him? He does not deserve anything less.” The room suddenly felt more cramped as their anger permeated the air, making it hard to breathe.
“I don’t care,” she continued to hold onto Zun’s arm. “I mean, obviously I care, but-”
“We should not have brought you here,” Soren panted.
“We must take her back to Dor Nye,” Val’Zun sighed dejectedly. “She is not safe here, and I can no longer agree with her about persevering.” He said this to Soren. “Our people are too resistant.”
“Stop doing that,” she let go of his arm and calmed herself before she spoke again. “I am not leaving and neither of you can make me. I said I would do this and I intend to stay, no matter how long it takes for your people to at least tolerate me.”
“You do not understand, Loo-Sha-”
“No, Soren,” she interrupted and pointed to the restrained guard. “I do understand. And if you kill that man…” she shook her head. “If you kill that man, it will just be one more thing that will make it harder for your people to like me. They will think you are putting an outsider above your own kind.” She stared up at him with as much determination as she could muster. “This will end badly.”
Her mates both stood there panting, nostrils flaring, chests raising and falling. Soren looked away, blowing out his breath and brushing her off. “Take her away,” he said to a guard. When one of the palace guards gently gripped her upper arm, she jerked out of his grasp.
“I can walk unassisted, thank you,” Lucia scowled, giving Soren one last look before she turned back the way she had come.
Chapter 12
Lucia stormed through the halls of the palace as she tried to understand how Soren and Val’Zun couldn’t see how terrible a decision it was to kill that guard. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand their anger about the situation because she was angry too. They were blinded by their need for retribution though, and that’s what would turn everyone against her, not them. It would be her fault if that guard died, that is how the Melier people would see it.
It wasn’t only the attempt on her life that had her face flushed with aggravation. No, it was the secrets that her mates had. What else were they not telling her?
She wiped impatiently at her eyes that were leaking, her lungs exhaling a shaky breath as she momentarily stopped, and pressed a hand against the wall. To her dismay, a small cry slipped past her clenched teeth and she leaned heavily on the wall, bending over to inhale deeply. A second later she was brushing her curls from her face and pushing herself to stand upright once again. Her embarrassment that she couldn’t seem to control her emotions in front of the stationed guards they passed, and the ones escorting her, was eating her up. Lu took a few more deep breaths, sniffing, and brushing the moisture from her face as she squared her shoulders and willed herself to get a grip
“How embarrassing,” she breathed out a strained laugh as she tossed a glance over her shoulder at her two escorts. “Please don’t mind me.”
Instead of going back to the suite, she decided to make her way to the medical wing. The party was tonight and she really wanted to be able to understand the Zacva, and any other languages her translator wasn’t programmed with. It took her a few wrong turns, but she finally found it. Before she entered the automatic glass doors, one of the guards cleared his throat.
“For what it is worth, Princess,” he said as they stationed themselves outside of the wing. “He is a traitor to Melierun, and he should die.” He dipped his head in her direction and then went stoic at his post.
Lucia’s hand floated to the base of her throat and rubbed as she stood there for a span, piecing his statement together.
She didn’t want to hope that the guard said it because he saw her as worthy of the title or her place in this world, but she did. She really did, and as she turned and walked through the glass doors, a longing to prove herself to the Melier people flared back to life in her being.
She calmed her beating heart and continued on.
The medical unit was quiet, and the sterilized air filled her lungs. She moved about, looking for medic Tuzon. Lucia said his name quietly, hoping he’d hear her if he was around.
“Yes, Princess?”
Lucia yelped, swirling around to the direction the voice came from.
“I’ll never get used to that,” she blanched. “Maybe I should get everyone a bracelet with bells. My years keep shaving off with how sneaky you all are.”
“I will try to make more noise when approaching you next.” Tuzon smiled, teeth glinting in the lights. “How may I assist you?”
They set about updating her translator with the languages of Melierun’s allies so she would be able to converse freely with species she may see at the party. It was quick and painless, much to her relief. She really didn’t want to let something like the implant gun he’d used previously, anywhere near her head.
Later on, thoughts swirled her mind like circling stars as Lucia walked the stone paths through the palace gardens. The heat was disagreeing with her, but she needed fresh air and she really wanted to take advantage of the time she had alone.
Lately, it didn’t happen very often, and it was nice just to have some time to analyze what she’d seen earlier that morning.
This must be why the brothers have been watching over me.
Why wouldn’t they tell you someone has it out for you?
Maybe they didn’t want me to worry.
That’s bullshit.
Yeah… I guess it is.
So the beetle had been an attempt on her life. How many other times had someone tried to kill her and failed? A flaring paranoia gripped her mind, and she wondered how the hell she was going to stay sane knowing she was in someone’s psychotic sights.
A small rustling in the foliage to her left interrupted her worrying. The last thing she needed was to stumble upon some crazed alien bush animals territory. She had never seen anything besides birds all the times she’d walked the garden, but she wasn’t solidly sure what roamed the low lying bushes and trees around her.
“Hello?” she spoke.
Silence greeted her for long seconds.
The blue energy beam of a weapon seared past her shoulder and disappeared into the wall behind her, leaving nothing but a crumbling hole with a black singe behind.
Lucia’s legs kicked up as she broke into a run along the tall garden wall, no destination in mind other than far away from the sights of the discharging weapon. More beams were fired, and her screams rang out while dust clogged the air around her from the rocks in the wall as they began to bust with each beam that missed her.
“Loo-Sha!” she thought she heard someone yell, but she didn’t slow down.
She kept running, and the rocks kept shattering.
****
“Loo-Sha!” Gi’Ren bellowed, tucking Lenny against his chest as three of his hands hit the grass. He covered ground like a beast so he wouldn’t get caught with a stray beam, watching as Lucia continued to run, rocks exploding into a dust cloud that continued to grow and dirty the air. Faster he pushed himself over the terrain of the gardens, and just as the beams began to singe the fabric of her clothing, he launched himself at her.
He rolled so his body would take most of the impact when they hit the ground, the particle cloud closing in around them and making it hard to breathe, or see much of anything. The cries of Lenny flooded the atmosphere and Lucia coughed until he was afraid she would bring up a lung.
The exploding of the rock wall stopped, and he rolled, getting up and wrapping two arms around her middle as he guided her out of the dust while hunched down just in case the weapon fired again.
“Ren, what’s happening?” she cried, the fear in her voice chilling.
He didn’t know honestly. He’d only begun to search the gardens for her because the babe was hungry, then he heard her screams, and the harrowing crack of ro
ck breaking.
The guards posted near the entrances heard the commotion and were already heading toward them. Gi’Ren pushed the babe into Lucia’s arms and told her to keep moving toward the guards as he turned and rushed back through the cloud, grimly determined to catch whoever the shooter was before they got away.
****
Lucia continued to cough as she made her way to the guards, meeting them halfway. They were the same ones who had escorted her earlier, and they instantly closed in around her as they ushered her into the palace and urged her to be seated on a bench.
Her fear and confusion was rushing her blood and pounding her heart. She continued to choke back clean air, and her lungs felt heavy with dust while her throat burned something fierce. Her eyes watered, streaking tracks through her unclean skin, but they had never felt more dry and scratchy in all her life.
“Get the princess some water,” one ordered the other.
“Princess?” the one who’d spoken to her previously got on his knee, peering into her face. “Are you able to breathe properly?”
Lucia nodded shakily, feeling a little guilty that she didn’t even know his name so she could thank him. She wasn’t one hundred percent okay, but she wasn’t going to pass out from lack of oxygen, she hoped.
“Gi’Ren,” she wheezed and coughed again. “He went back in!”
Soren and Zun were rushing down the hall, the king, queen, and Gi’Calla in tow with a small army of the queen’s guard.
“Loo-Sha,” Soren dropped in front of her while Zun took over the glass of water the returning guard retrieved. “What happened?” he asked, his gaze and hands traveling her and Lenny to verify they were in one piece.
Zun pushed the glass to her lips and Lucia coughed, swallowed, and coughed again.
“I don’t know!” she yelled around hacking. “I don’t know anything anymore!”
Their secrecy was going to get her killed, not just whoever was a threat against her. How was she supposed to stay alive if she had no idea she needed to be careful in the palace that was supposed to be her new home? Surrounded by people that were supposed to treat her as family, but did the complete opposite?
I never should’ve come here!
“Don’t touch me,” she seethed, the realization of how close she had come to literally biting the dust frayed her wearing patience. Her throat felt raw as she worked to swallow the bile rising from her stomach. She noticed those surrounding her stopped to stare when they heard her grave tone before she clutched Lenny closer to her chest and continued to wipe more chalky debris from the younglings face.
Her eyes swept over everyone there, starting with the king and ending with her mates. Her mouth opened, closed, and opened again before she gave up. Anything she might say, she knew it would probably fall on deaf ears. Instead she shook her head and exhaled as she turned to walk away.
When her mates said her name and began to trail after her, she whipped back around.
“Don’t. Follow. Me.” She bit out. Lucia felt a sliver of guilt at their hurt and confused expressions, and a large part of her wanted to leap into their arms and bawl her eyes out that she was still alive and confess how truly scared she was.
But she didn’t. The massive, pissed off part of her wanted to throw stuff, scream, and say things that would make her feel better in that moment; things she would likely later regret.
They must’ve seen something in her expression, because when she turned back around to make her way to the medical wing, they didn’t follow her.
Chapter 13
Later that night, Lucia gladly sipped on some dark, fruity beverage while she moved about the large gathering. Her white dress that flowed to her ankles was a gift from her Grams, modeled after the ancient Greeks togas of Earth. A braided golden belt wrapped multiple times around her middle and the upper arm of her exposed shoulder was wrapped with a golden snake cuff. Her mood had lightened from earlier, but not by much, and she couldn’t help but feel a tiny irritation as a few wisps of her swept up chocolate curls tickled along the back of her neck and the curve of her ear.
Her gaze swept to the edge of the room where Soren and Val’Zun were brooding, watching her like a pair of hawks. She moved along, ignoring them, as she had since her visit with Tuzon. He had given her, and Lenny, a breathing treatment that would help dissolve the particles they had inhaled during the attempted assassination. Until her mates wanted to tell her everything, they could have her cold shoulder.
Attempted assassination.
That’s what the family was calling it, though it was being kept under wraps so as not to spook the foreign representatives and their families.
I will not let it get to me.
She had been chanting that to herself the entire afternoon and well into the evening. If she let all of it really sink in, she might lose her fucking mind, especially since Gi’Ren never found the shooter. Whoever it was may still be within the palace, and that thought alone sent a jittery shiver up her spine, causing her to grip the goblet in her hand so the liquid wouldn’t slosh over the top.
“They are only trying to protect you,” Val’Koy said beside her as he continued to introduce her to people, ever the diplomat. Since she’d eaten roosca worms, he had been friendlier, and less creepy. He still made her intensely uncomfortable with his comments, but she was beginning to understand she had to dish it right back.
MoMo chuffed up at her and then took off running around the crowd, harassing a few individuals. Lucia hid a smile behind her glass as the rude, red female that insulted her at Soren’s banquet nearly tripped over the crazy furball.
“I’m sure they are,” she replied. “And I appreciate all they’ve done, but secrets will only harm me. Us. Our relationship. Until they can see that, they can stew on the sidelines while I talk to guests that are much, much prettier than me, in the name of good trade.” She giggled, as a golden skinned male raised a suggestive brow at her. A low rumbling growl could be heard and she knew exactly who it was, but she continued ignoring it.
“You are cruel,” Val’Koy shook his head, a wicked smirk playing on his lips. She rolled a shoulder and then politely grinned at the next guest he steered her toward. The large male that looked at her previously was now regarding her with a gleam in his eyes.
“The princes are fortunate males,” his husky voice rippled like water over pebbles; soothing and smooth. “My mind is curious why they are not hiding you away. Someone may smuggle you off for themselves.” His golden lips pulled up in a flirtatious smirk and she giggled again, purely because it was entertaining to hear the single growl turn into two as Soren joined in. She took his offered hand, and he lifted it to his lips and kissed her knuckles softly.
When she pointedly looked at her mates, the Jūloy tossed his head back and laughed heartily, Lu’s smile widening at the pleasant sound.
She continued to mingle with various guests, Val’Koy at her side, and he surprisingly steered her clear of the less than polite Melier that still couldn’t stand the sight of her.
The palace seemed to be divided; half still loathed her, while half tolerated her presence. It was little progress, but considering the short amount of time she’d actually spent on Melierun, it was a giant win. She was just happy to be at a party where some people actually wanted to speak to her. It wasn’t lost on her that most of those people were visiting species from other planets, and she was at least thankful her human status wasn’t going to ruin any trade agreements.
You’ve already stolen the queen’s pet; don’t fuck with Melierun’s trade.
No pressure.
When her feet got too tired to carry her around any longer, she left Val’Koy’s side to seek Sola. A tiny smile played on her lips when she found her and Lenny lounging, Gi’Ren close by.
It was still very strange to her that Gi’Ren didn’t have a mate to speak of, nor any younglings of his own considering how fond of Lenny he was.
She slowly dropped to her knees onto a cushion and press
ed many kisses along Lenny’s chubby cheeks. She purred, and grinned while her little hands fisted and jumped, and it was as if earlier hadn’t happened at all with how happy the babe was.
Val’Zun was sitting down beside her then and she continued to ignore him, even though she felt his gaze upon her. He was willing her to look at him, she knew, which only entertained her further while she cooed at Lenny and spoke about him.
Let’s see how he likes it.
“Unca Zunny just looks so miserable, doesn’t he little babe?” Lenny chirp-purred louder while Zun scoffed. “Why is he just sitting there like a jar of fruit? I don’t know either!” He scoffed again and Lucia giggled down into the younglings face, lightly tickling her fingers over the babe’s arms.
“You are acting like a youngling,” he groused and she continued to ignore him. “This is nonsense.”
“Does anyone else hear that buzzing sound?” She smiled and Gi’Ren rumbled his amusement while Zun was nearly hopping from his cushion with annoyance. He made it so easy to get under his skin.
“Loo-Sha,” he warned.
“There it is again.”
“Loo-Sha.”
“Maybe we should signal one of the guards to get a bug swatter.”
“Loo-Sha,” he rumbled lowly. “If you do not cease your games…”
“Man, it’s persistent.” She tried to keep from giggling like an idiot down into Lenny’s face.
“She has no manners!” He threw his hands in the air as Soren sat beside him. “She is rude, she is insulting, and she is being foolish.”
“Loo-Sha?” Soren said, sighing.
“Gi’Ren, I think we have an infestation. There’s now two buzzing sounds close by. Do you see anything? Maybe I could smack them both if you point them out.”
“Enough,” Soren growled. “We have done nothing to deserve this treatment.”
“Ren,” Lu sighed. “Will you tell your brothers when you see them next that until they decide to not keep secrets from me, I’ve decided to not acknowledge their presence.”