by Tasha Black
7
Juno
Juno stood on the platform, beautifully dressed and nervous as hell.
Zane was beside her. He still had that pissed-off look. Or maybe he was just trying to be tough.
It was so hard to tell.
Back home, her fellow Terrans were a straight-forward people. It didn’t pay to beat around the bush when everyone was a stone’s throw from starvation.
But here it seemed like people thought they were more refined, and so motivations were hidden behind flattery and reserved expressions.
She would have to learn to play their game. It was as simple as that.
“Lobby,” she said softly, bracing herself for the drop.
This time, she almost enjoyed the moment of weightlessness.
“Your majesty,” a servant shouted from the hall the moment they touched down. “I am Daynomus Crex, personal valet to the king. His radiant majesty, King Cassius of Frigalia awaits you in the Titanium Dining Room. I shall accompany you from here.”
He gave Zane a dismissive look that Juno didn’t care for.
“Greetings,” Zane replied in a dark tone. “Her brilliant majesty, Princess Juno of Adair does not travel without the company of her own personal valet.”
“I-I see,” Crex stammered, clearly not expecting this turn of events.
“Lead the way,” Zane said in a tone of impatient disdain.
Juno bit back a laugh. Her valet might be fancy, but he could obviously take care of himself with this crowd.
They followed Crex down the hall and out into the main ship.
Waves of passengers walked the rings around the forest. They wore all the colors of the rainbow. Juno admired the scarlet tunics of a particularly happy looking family of pale green humanoids.
Well-dressed vendors at the shops on the first floor stood quietly at their posts. No one called out to boast of their merchandise or demonstrate their wares as they did at the market back on Terra-4. It was like they didn’t even need her business.
And maybe they didn’t. So far, Juno had not identified a single shop that sold anything necessary to life. There was a store with cases of sparkling stones and chains, a book store with sensi-readers and even some old-fashioned case books. They passed a shop with vats of colorful steam, where passengers waited in line, apparently to inhale it. Juno couldn’t be sure whether it was meant for sustenance or cosmetics.
“The floors above are for residences, your majesty,” Zane said quietly. “Here on the main floor you can find anything your heart desires.”
Juno highly doubted that.
“Is all of it nonsense?” she asked before she could stop herself.
He chuckled.
“Sorry,” she said. “I’m not interested in shopping.”
His eyebrows went up slightly, but he nodded.
“Your majesty,” Crex cried out, gesturing to a dark alcove with velvet ropes separating it from the rest of the ship.
A small copper sign above the opening read:
Titanium Dining Room
“Copper is a rare metal,” Crex said smugly. “That sign alone is worth a fortune.”
“Shouldn’t it be Copper Dining Room, then?” Juno wondered out loud.
She was rewarded with the sound of a stifled chuckle from Zane, who was now walking behind her.
Crex pretended not to hear her and lead them into the gloom.
A host as dappled and slimy as an old Earth seal greeted them with a loud sniff.
“This is her majesty, Princess Juno of Adair, here to dine with King Cassius of Frigalia,” Crex said proudly.
“No active drones,” the host said in a mournful tone.
BFF-67 buzzed in annoyance, but folded herself neatly back onto Juno’s wrist-dock.
“Thank you,” the host said, just as sadly. “This way.” He extended a webbed arm to show them.
Crex headed off.
Juno and Zane followed.
King Cassius was seated on a pile of brocade pillows on the floor, a suspended table floating in front of him. The overhead lighting set off the highlights in his golden hair.
“Your Majesty,” he cried, arms spread.
He did not get up.
“Your Majesty,” she said, inclining her head.
“Please, sit,” he said, indicating the pile of pillows on the other side of the table. “Crex, Zane, there’s a table in the front for you. Enjoy a meal on me.”
“I will attend to the princess, much thanks your majesty,” Zane replied calmly.
“Nonsense,” the king said. “Go. Eat. I insist.”
“I am grateful for your largesse, but I serve at the will of the princess,” Zane said firmly.
The king’s face went bright red.
Juno was about to lose her audience.
And her dinner.
“Zane,” Juno said quickly, before the king could respond. “Please enjoy your meal. I will send BFF-67 for you if I need you.”
“Truly, boy, you can see our table from there,” Cassius added, looking distinctly less ruffled. “A man just wants a little privacy now and again for quiet conversation.”
That sounded promising. Juno smiled encouragingly at Zane.
At last he nodded and followed Crex to a table across the room.
“You inspire great loyalty in your servants,” the king said approvingly.
He was really going all in with the game.
She decided to play along. There was no reason not to enjoy it while it lasted.
“It’s so hard to get good help,” she said with mock sympathy.
“Tell me about it,” he rolled his eyes. “I’m surrounded by morons. Present company excluded, of course.”
“Of course,” she replied.
“How are you enjoying your travels?” he asked.
“I’ve just begun them,” she reminded him. “But so far it has been very exciting, much different from my home. What about you?”
He shrugged elegantly. “My own home is the most exquisite place in the universe,” he said. “I don’t really care for travel.”
“Then why are you out here?” she asked, fascinated.
Before he could answer, a waiter slid over on a wheeled device.
King Cassius spoke with him in a language Juno didn’t understand. She didn’t know what they were saying, but she knew enough to be impressed. With the easy availability of universal translation devices, very few people chose to learn a language other than their own. Only someone with an excess of time or money would even bother.
She suspected the king had both.
“I hope you don’t mind me ordering for you,” he said. “There are just so many delicacies you simply must try.”
“Thank you,” Juno said, hoping at least one of them was simple enough for her to choke down quickly. Her stomach had been empty for so long that she felt hollow.
The waiter poured an orange beverage into their glasses and then rolled away.
“To a new friendship,” King Cassius said, raising his glass. It clinked against the golden rings on his fingers.
Juno lifted hers and then watched as he drank.
He didn’t wince or cough, so she ventured to take a sip.
The beverage was sweet and thick, like nothing she had ever tasted.
“This ship has a hydroponic garden,” the king told her. “They’ve managed to grow a mango tree in it.”
“This is mango juice?” Juno asked.
“With a few things to accentuate it, yes,” he told her, smiling so that his blue eyes crinkled.
Juno took a larger sip. The juice seemed to awaken her senses as it traveled through her. She hummed in appreciation.
He chuckled.
“I thought there were no more mangoes,” she said after a third sip.
“With enough credits, it’s amazing how many impossible things can be made possible,” the king replied, looking thoughtfully down at his glass.
“So why did you say you were traveling?
” Juno asked.
But the waiter had appeared again with a sizzling dish, which he set at the center of the table with a flourish.
It looked like an iron pan with rings of small white cubes inside. The pan rested in a bowl of clear water with small purple flowers floating in it.
“Krssleyan buns,” the king said. “Let them cool a little first.”
Juno nodded.
“What is your favorite food?” he asked her.
“Anything sweet,” she replied.
“Ah, so the princess has a sweet tooth,” he smiled. “You’ve got a real treat in store. Pace yourself, your majesty.”
She smiled back at him, wondering if all royalty could be this kind-hearted. Most outsiders didn’t think much of her people back on Terra-4.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“I was wondering why you are traveling if you don’t enjoy it,” she tried again.
“Ah,” he said, nodding. “You know, I was hoping to avoid that question.”
“Why?” Juno asked.
“Because the answer is sad,” he explained. “And I want to be happy tonight.”
She nodded, looking down at the pretty little buns in the pan. What could a king who had everything possibly have to be sad about? The universe was filled with unhappiness, it seemed.
“Princess Juno, I do not mean to shut you out,” the king said softly. “If you insist, I will tell you.”
She didn’t insist. She felt bad that he thought she was pushing, and she was about to tell him so when he put his hand on top of hers.
He was a handsome man, and one who could help her people. But there was something a little off about him. Something she couldn’t quite put her finger on, like there was more going on with him than she was seeing. Maybe that was why she didn’t feel any connection when he touched her.
Or maybe she was just tired and hungry.
She thought back to the way she’d felt in the elevator chute when she’d been so close to her valet. She hadn’t minded that at all…
“I travel because I have been deposed,” he said. “My people are suffering. And I cannot help them.”
“Deposed,” Juno said. “You mean, you’re not king anymore?”
“A man came to our planet,” he replied. “He lied to my people, told them their troubles would be over if they only listened to him.”
“Oh,” Juno said.
“Our young rose up against the crown. We are an aging planet, and he promised to lessen their load. But now that he is regent, they see it was all lies. And they see how cruel he is,” Cassius went on. “We had a pleasant enough existence before, and I had some ideas I was working on to help with our population.”
Juno nodded.
“But now,” he spread his hands as if to say he was at a loss.
The whole story was so horrible.
And though she knew it was wrong to hear about his misfortune, and then feel sorry for the missed opportunity for her own people, she couldn’t help that being her first thought.
A partnership between Terra-4 and Frigalia could have brought workers to Frigalia and work to the Terrans.
It could have solved everyone’s problems at once.
“Of course there is a rebellion now,” Cassius said, toying with the condensation on the outside of his glass as he spoke.
“A rebellion?” she asked.
“My loyal people have risen up against the tyrant,” he told her, pride in his suddenly tear-filled eyes. “But they have no funds to arm themselves. And my own assets were frozen by the interloper.”
Juno looked around, hoping he wasn’t going to ask her to pay for this opulent meal.
“I travel because I had some credits stowed internationally,” he told her. “With a Myveerian travel brokerage who made my arrangements on this ship, for example. And my mission is to raise funds to help my people overthrow the tyrant.”
“I see,” Juno said, in awe.
“Of course, all contributions would be returned when my own treasury is unfrozen again,” the king went on. “I am aboard this vessel to seek investors in my homeland.”
Juno nodded, unsure what to say. He certainly had a good cause. But he had to know he was wasting his time having dinner with her. Maybe he thought she had friends in high places.
He was in for a surprise.
“But enough of that,” he said, with a wide smile. “Our buns have cooled, and so has my desire for talking about revolutions. Let’s eat.”
He took a small pastry from the pan with his spoon and placed it on a delicate china plate, handing it to her with a flourish.
Juno took it from him and watched as he did the same for himself.
When he popped his in his mouth, she followed his lead.
The bun melted on her tongue - impossibly delicate and ephemeral, like tasting a memory of sweetness.
She paused to savor it, but her enjoyment was cut short by a whirl of commotion.
“My God, no,” King Cassius moaned.
Impossibly strong arms swept Juno up a split second before a masked humanoid dove for the king.
“Death to the old king,” the masked man shouted, a knife flashing in his hand.
“Your Majesty,” Crex wailed from the other side of the dining room.
Then Juno was being carried away so quickly the room blurred.
The moment before she was back out in the main body of the ship, she caught sight of Ozmarck sprinting for his master, the horned giant moving very quickly for all his bulk, but nowhere near as fast as she was being moved by whoever, or whatever, had swept her up.
She blinked in the bright light and looked up to see who held her.
What she saw was so impossible that she closed her eyes and opened them again.
But he was still there.
A dazzlingly brilliant humanoid that looked to her like someone had poured shimmering, liquid metal into the mold of a massive man.
“Are you okay?” he asked her in a very familiar growl.
“Zane?” Juno ventured.
The ship blurred and her hair streamed backward again. She’d never seen a creature move so fast. A second later, they were boarding the platform to her suite.
“Cloud Suite,” he said.
The platform must have recognized his voice, too. It soared instantly.
Juno clung to him. “Is it really you?”
But of course it was. She thought of his eyes taking on the same metal sheen when she’d first rode the chute together.
“We can talk when you’re safe,” he murmured.
He carried her off the platform and over to the double doors.
She placed her hand against the screen, and the doors swung open to reveal her embarrassingly lavish accommodation.
“Where is your bed?” he asked.
She pointed mutely to the room where she planned to sleep.
It was a relief when he strode toward it slowly instead of streaking across the room like a jungle cat.
He opened the door and walked over to the bed, placing her down with deliberate gentleness.
She caught her breath and gazed up at him.
“Zane,” she said, more sure of herself this time.
“You’re right, your majesty,” the metallic man said. “It’s me.”
“You can stop with that ‘your majesty’ stuff,” she said impatiently.
“Really, that’s what you choose to talk about?” He looked incredulous.
“No, it’s not all,” she said. “How did you do that? Can you turn back?”
“Would you like me to?”
She thought about it.
He was positively breathtaking in the dim light of her room, the soft glow burnishing the bulges of each metallic muscle.
“Yes, please,” she said, wanting his familiar face more than she wanted to admire his beauty.
“As you wish,” he said, closing his eyes.
She watched carefully, but was unable to tell exactly ho
w the transformation happened.
It was as if a waterfall of silvery scales were flipping back under his skin.
One moment he was liquid metal, the next he was fully human.
And very naked.
And so very sexy.
It made sense. His other form had been considerably larger, and they had been moving so quickly. It would have been surprising if any of the clothing he’d been wearing had made the dash with him.
Still, she hadn’t been expecting anything quite like this.
Juno forced herself to avert her eyes, but not before she had taken in enough rippling muscles to make her feel almost faint.
She heard him grab a towel from the shelf by her door.
“Better?” he asked.
She looked up.
Now he had a towel, which practically looked like a handkerchief against his giant body.
She nodded.
“Do you have any questions?” he asked her softly.
Can you take the towel off again?
“Um, does it hurt to do that?” she asked instead.
He shook his head and smiled. “Not even a little bit.”
“Are you a cyborg?”
His jaw tensed, but he simply shook his head.
“I’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“It’s a common question,” he said. “Not offensive at all.”
“So… what are you?” she asked.
“I guess you would say I’m a shifter,” he said.
But there was something reserved in his tone.
“It makes you faster?” she asked.
“Yes, I’m very fast when I’m in my prime state,” he said.
“Prime state,” she repeated.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he told her earnestly, kneeling at the edge of the bed. “But I had to protect you.”
His eyes were still liquid silver. They were mesmerizing.
“It’s okay,” she told him.
And she truly meant it.
It felt like she had known him for a very long time, like there was something between them, an understanding. As long as he was around, everything really was okay.
“What can I do to help you now?” he asked.
Somehow, he sounded more like a knight in a fairytale than a valet.
She didn’t really need anything. Although the sight of him in that tiny towel made her think of a few things she wanted.
