I leaned down to claim her lips, cupping her cheek in my hand, electricity shoots between us, and I breathe out a contented sigh. But our blissful connection is broken when a loud boom cracks through the air and vibrates through the ground, shaking the entire palace.
20
Madeline
The explosion rumbles through the palace, shaking the ground like a massive earthquake. I throw my arms around Damious, ducking my head into his chest as dust streams from the ceiling.
He holds me tight until the shaking stops. Then he stands, his eyes dark with concern.
“What’s happening?” I gasp through the thick air.
“We’re under attack,” he growls through clenched teeth.
“Oh my god.” I cover my mouth with my hand and turn to look out the window behind me.
Beyond the palace walls, an army of men is marching toward the us.
“This is inconceivable,” Damious says looking down at the site. “They are attacking the royal palace! Nothing like this has ever happened on Mars.”
“Damious…” I reach up to him. He takes my hand and squeezes it.
“You need to go to a safe location. There is a panic room in the basement.”
“I don’t want to leave you.” I stand and wrap my arms around him.
“Your safety is my greatest priority.”
“But what about you? You are king! I’m just an Earthling.”
“Madeline,” he growls.
“I want to help!”
I’m afraid, but I can’t go hide in a panic room while he’s out here fighting for us. For the planet.
“The greatest help you can be to me now is going to safety in the basement.”
“I can do something,” I say, desperate to be some kind of assistance during this crisis.
“Please, Madeline,” he breathes.
“Okay.” I relent, looking down at the floor. “I’ll go.”
He takes me gently by the hand and leads me down the hall to the elevator. We go further down than I’ve ever been in the palace.
The elevator door swishes open and we are in a hallway that is plated with steel. At the end of the hall is a thick door that is sitting open. Beyond I can see a comfortable apartment with everything one might need to survive a long siege.
I turn to Damious, my mouth dropping. With a gasp, I wrap my arms around him and bury my head in his chest. I suddenly realize how serious this situation is. What if something happens to him?
“Come,” he says, his voice low.
He guides me into the room and shows me where everything is. It’s all self-explanatory until he comes to a small alcove behind an airlock.
“If anything happens to me, I want you to take this shuttle. It is programmed to land on one of Jupiter’s moons at a secure base. You will be safe there.”
“Damious…” I can’t speak. Fear contracts my throat, and no sound will come out. I cling to him. Part of me feels like this is all my fault. Even though I had nothing to do with it. My mind is racing in a thousand different directions and I can’t make sense of a single thought.
“It won’t come to that, Madeline. But if it does… You need to know. I won’t allow anything to happen to you. Even if the palace is lost, I cannot risk your safety, or the safety of the heir to the throne that you may now bear inside you.”
I shake my head, my lips pressed together so hard they hurt. The only sound that comes out of me is a strangled peep. He leans in and kisses my head.
The floor trembles underfoot. Even deep underground in this panic room, the danger of the bombardment is obvious.
“You will be safe,” he says, holding me close. “The military is coming now. We will make short work of this assault. I only hope the palace can withstand it.”
He makes a move to step away from my embrace, but I hold him tight. I’ve never been so afraid. Not when we were kidnapped. Not when we awoke aboard the alien ship. My fear now is that I will lose him. If I lose him, I don’t know if life will be worth living after. To have been so close to having the love he offered me only to have it snatched away so soon. The prospect is so cruel, so wrong. I can’t bring myself to let him go.
But he reaches behind his back and pries my hands apart, letting him loose from my grip. He holds my hands, looking down into my face with a pleading expression.
“Stay strong, my little queen.”
“If something happens to you…”
“I will be fine. The rebels are not in full force here. Most of their numbers are directed at the bridal house.”
I gasp, thinking of Sophia. We can’t bring her here now, not with this happening. If it’s worse there, then I can only imagine what danger she’s in.
“Go,” I finally say, dropping his hands.
He strokes my chin and smiles. “My queen is strong. Stay strong for me. For all of Mars, my love.”
He turns and goes, locking the door behind him. I am alone in this sealed steel room. I’ve never felt so alone. I shake my head, panic bouncing around inside me like a ping pong ball.
I flick my wrist device and call Sophia on the large screen on the wall. It rings and rings, but she doesn’t answer. Finally, her image comes up on the screen. She’s in a room much like the one I’m in. Except hers is full of dozens of girls.
She must be holding her wrist device to her face. The shot is close-up and bounces around as she moves through the crowded room.
“We’re under attack,” I tell her. “I’ve been moved to a safe room.”
“So have we. The safe room in the bridal house is at maximum capacity. I sure hope we don’t have to sleep down here, there are only a few beds.”
“I wish we’d gotten you here before this all went south.”
“Me too,” she says.
“How is everyone else holding up?”
“Not great. A lot of girls were already falling apart.” She shakes her head and sighs. I wish there was something I could do. I’m supposed to be queen now, yet I feel so powerless. I need to help them. I need to make them feel better. To give them hope.
“Can you put me on the big screen?” I ask her.
“Sure, but then everyone will hear our conversation.”
“I want to address them. If I’m going to be Queen of Mars, I need to start acting like it.”
“Oh, okay,” she says, flicking the screen.
Suddenly, there is a very different view. I can see most of the room clearly. I see the panicked faces of the women in the room. I see Bobby sneering at me. I see Sophia’s gaunt face and the dark circles under her eyes. I see the blank stares and frantic movements of the girls I was living with just a few days ago. I’m not any better or any different. Except for one important distinction: I am in love with a Martian. The Martian who is king. He calls me his queen. And to be the woman he needs me to be, I will do what I can for the other Earthlings who need a leader of their own now.
“Listen everyone,” I say, my voice trembling. I clear my throat, trying to find my own strength. I know it’s there. I’ve always been strong. I’ve always known what I wanted and how to get it. And just because I was abducted by aliens and fell in love with a Martian doesn’t mean I’ve become a weak sex slave. I am Madeline Weber, student council president. Straight A student, captain of the cheerleading squad. I’m still all those things. And all of those things and Damious’s love have prepared me for this moment.
“I am Madeline Weber. I have been matched with Damious Girr, King of Mars.”
There is a collective groan throughout the room. I am losing them. They don’t trust me or the Martians.
“We have all been through so much. First we were abducted by giant bugs. Then we were taken by giant Martians. They brought us here, to the future, and told us we would become their brides. Knowing everyone we loved is dead and we can never go home doesn’t make it easy to accept a fate of repopulating someone else’s planet.
“Believe me. I know from experience. My own beloved sister Abigail i
s still back on Earth. Or at least she was a thousand years ago.”
There is a murmur of agreement among the girls and I feel like I’m getting their trust back.
“I want more than anything to bring her here to be safe. Because it is clear that the Earth was lost to Mantises. But not even the king who loves me can risk all of our lives to go back to save my sister’s.”
“He’s lying to you!” someone shouts.
“I know this is hard. But the evidence is right in front of our eyes. We can fight against the truth or we can all have a collective nervous breakdown. It’s your right to process this however you want. And I’m not going to try to talk you out of your emotions.
“I’ve been right where you are. But I was given a chance to see things from a different perspective. I was matched with the king. I have heard and seen things that many of you have not. And I know one thing for sure: I am committed to the future of Mars as much as my match, the king, is. I will do everything in my power to ensure the safety and stability of Mars. If that means waiting ten more years to return to Earth, then so be it.”
“We’re never going back!” someone wails.
“We might not be able to go back today, but I know for a fact that the Martian scientists are working on the time paradox problem. Maybe someday they will be able to save Earth too. All we can do is to be patient and to try to stay strong.”
“They are going to get through the gates and rape us all!” another girl screams.
“The king informs me that your safety is his greatest priority and therefore the greatest priority of Mars.”
“They are Martians. How can you say that?” Bobby says.
I frown. They need to understand that Mars is divided. Not all of them want the same thing.
“About half of the planet is rebelling against the system that they originally voted for. The king and Council are doing everything in their power to rectify the situation.”
“What if the guards turn on us and join the rebellion? We aren’t safe,” another girl screams.
She has a very good argument. One that I cannot debate. I have to dig deeper. I have to say something that will reassure them, that will help them find the strength they need to get through this.
“We are in a very dangerous moment. Perhaps the most dangerous moment of our lives. But the good guys want to protect us. They will fight and die to protect you. You must believe in the power of their desire to keep you safe, as my king has for me. But more importantly than that, you must find the strength in yourself to withstand the panic and strain of this moment. If we fall apart, no one can protect us.
“We are Earth women. We aren’t frightened little worms. We stand up for what we believe in. We stand up for ourselves. And we bravely face our challenges with the steely resolve of our ancestors. Do not let the human race down now because you are scared. If you do, then we’ve already lost.”
I regret what I’ve said for a moment, thinking the tough love might not have been the right tone for the moment. But there was no way to sugarcoat it. Falling apart will not help them. Blind faith in the Martians will not help them. The only thing that can help them is to be strong for their own sakes.
I see girls wiping the tears from their faces, lifting their chins, standing from where they were curled up on the floor.
The entire energy of the room has changed.
“Thank you, Queen Madeline,” Sophia says with a wink. There isn’t even a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
My heart swells with pride. “I’ll stay here with you until it’s over,” I say, to the room. “We’ll get through this together.”
21
Damious
Turning away from Madeline and leaving her in the basement rips me apart. I should take her away from here. I should hide her away on a moon base and forget about the trouble on Mars.
But I know I cannot, no matter how desperately I want to protect her from all of this. Me abandoning Mars would be abandoning all hope for a civilized future for our children. And that I cannot do.
I hurry down the hall, feeling the shockwaves of another blast vibrate through the ground. This cannot go on.
The AI informs me that the military has arrived as I take the elevator up to the highest tower. I walk out onto the landing pad and look down at the approaching army of rebels.
Military ships surround them, but these rebels are not without equipment of their own. For what seems to have started out as a ragtag rebellion, it is obviously well funded. I shake my head. How has Mars come to this?
I pray that my theory about the matching serum is correct. If it is, then we can do something about this mess. There will be a rational explanation for this behavior. If not? I can barely bring myself to consider it.
How can Martian men have changed so fundamentally in only a few weeks? To put the entire society at risk for the fraction of a percentage of a chance to win one of the few women. Or to risk it all by going back to Earth to do god-knows-what to the women there. I don’t recognize Martians anymore.
And I could not recognize myself a few short days ago. Before I made Madeline mine. Before I realized that my behavior might be a byproduct of the serum, I too had lost my logic and reason.
I cannot blame these men for experiencing the same side effects I experienced myself. But that realization will do nothing to keep the Earthlings safe now.
I must act whether or not I feel these men are essentially guilty of anything. If the temporarily insane gather an army and wage war against their king, it makes no difference that they are temporarily insane when lives are on the line.
The military vehicles come in from every side, cornering the rebels against the high walls of the palace.
Admiral Bishto shouts at them from his loudspeaker, commanding them to disperse or face the consequences.
With no pause or verbal response, a missile shoots through the air toward Bishto’s ship. It blasts against the ship’s shields. Electric blue lightning runs the length of the ship, hovering above the valley.
“Sire,” Bishto’s voice says through my wrist device. “Do we have permission to open fire on this scum?”
“Yes,” I say with some reluctance. I don’t want to kill these men. They are no worse than me. But they’ve left me no choice. The insanity has taken them well beyond the realm of compromise or diplomacy. They’ve been bombing the palace and launched a missile at Admiral Bishto’s ship. There is no holding back now.
I duck back into the elevator and take it down to my chamber. I will watch the battle from my rooms. The palace has no offensive power. Only a strong fortification.
I pour myself a glass of scotch and sip while I call Malico Ossi on the big screen.
“Yes, sire,” he answers. “I’ve heard about the assault. Terrible times we are living in.”
“Indeed. Have you had any headway with the serum study?”
“We are working on it. But so far, there is little progress.”
“Is it conclusive that the widespread irrational behavior we are seeing is a side effect of the serum?”
“That we can be fairly certain of,” he says, looking down at a tablet. “I’m sending you the outcome of our studies now.”
The data is uploaded to my tablet and a notification comes up on the screen.
“That is some consolation, I suppose,” I sigh, taking another sip of scotch.
The building shakes around me. Malico’s eyes go wide when he sees the dust streaming from the ceiling.
“Sire, shouldn’t you evacuate?”
“Bishto has it under control. My bride is safe in the panic room. If things progress, I will join her. But for now, I want to observe the situation firsthand.”
“Understandable.”
I pull up the data on my tablet and give it a quick scan.
“So, you have not started any trials on reversing these effects?”
“Not yet. We start that now. But we will need subjects to test.”
“I will send y
ou a few dozen prisoners. You can test on them.”
“Usually, we require signed permission to run scientific tests on a living subject.”
“Not these, they forfeited those rights when they waged war on Mars. Just try not to kill any of them. Things are bad enough as it is. I’m afraid we will lose quite a few today.”
The house shakes around me and the booming outside the palace resounds through the air. Malico’s face becomes positively panicked.
“Sire!”
“We’re at war, Ossi. We’ve never had war on Mars. But it was the power of our planet’s namesake. We are all bred for battle, despite our many centuries of peace.”
“Very well, sire,” Malico says, gulping.
“Get me a solution fast. Your team is our only hope for a resolution without further bloodshed.”
“We are doing all we can.”
“Put everyone on the problem until we have a solution.”
“But the time paradox?”
“You can resume work when we are no longer at war with ourselves.”
“Understood.”
I flick off the screen and it goes blank. I pray to the God of War that the scientists will find a solution quickly. Outside the window, I can see the military ships have overtaken the rebels. They might have had some decent equipment, but they cannot stand against the might of the Martian army.
One by one, the rebels are taken down. As the last few shiploads of rebels stumble from their ships in surrender, I am shocked to see one of the ringleaders fall to the now ruined ground outside my walls.
I hurry to the tower to watch the final moments of this battle.
Using a telescopic app on my wrist device, I zoom in on the face of one of the men on his knees before Admiral Bishto’s forces. Lieutenant Martix Controi stands over the surrendering rebels. I’m momentarily stunned. But then I tap on the audio on my wrist device to hear the exchange.
“Connon Ingor. I should have known you were behind this.”
Controi grabs the Council member and cuffs his hands behind his back. He and the others are taken away in one of the military ships.
The grounds outside my walls are littered with debris. It will take quite a bit of work to bring my palace back to what it was before this battle, but at least it is over. Lives were lost. Men lay dead and bleeding on the ground. But it is over, and we know who the instigator was.
Alien King's Match: Alien Abduction Breeder Romance (Timegate Mars Book 2) Page 12
