by T. J. Quinn
“Yes, it does.”
“Our planets are very similar.”
“Perhaps, that’s what makes our people so compatible with yours,” he ventured.
“Yes, I guess it’s a possibility,” she nodded.
“Does your sea have fish? You know, aquatic animals?” she asked him.
“Yes, it does. Some of them are edible, some are poisonous,” he replied, “But we prefer meat.”
“Yes, I’m sure you do,” she chuckled.
“Are you ready to go back up? I want to show you a few more things,” he asked her.
“Yes, of course. We just need to wait a few seconds for my feet to dry,” she said walking away from the water.
“Allow me,” he asked, kneeling in front of her.
“What are you doing?” she asked, puzzled, with a slight frown.
But he didn’t ask, he showed her, as he blew towards her feet. His breath was warm and dry, and her feet were dried in just seconds.
“You breathe fire as well?” she asked, a bit startled. She hadn’t thought of that possibility.
He got up, smiling. “Yes, we’re Drogons, forged with fire.”
“Of course,” she took a deep breath. “Are you sure you’ve never been to my planet?” she asked, teasing.
“Yes, why do you ask?”
“Some of our ancient legends are about some creatures we called dragons. They could also breathe fire and fly. There was never evidence they actually existed, but many people believe they did,” she explained.
“As far as I know, my ancestors never traveled that far, but anything is possible,” he shrugged.
She put her slippers back on, and he held her in his arms once more, to take her up.
This time, she didn’t feel as scared as she had the first time and she was even able to appreciate the fantastic view.
He dropped her gently next to the vehicle and grabbing his cape and putting it on, he invited her to get in.
“Where are you taking me now?” she asked, as he drove off.
“To see the trees, I think you’ll like it,” he glanced at her, with a smile.
“Yes, I’m sure I will,” she nodded, smiling back at him.
It didn’t take them much time to reach what he called a park.
It amazed her. The trees were really huge, even bigger than the sequoias. There was a whole forest of them, but not of the same species, there were at least half a dozen different trees there, but they were all huge. Their leaves were of dark green, so dark it was almost black, and she guessed it was due to the reduced sunlight they had on the planet.
“Do you have birds?” she asked, surprised by the silence.
“Flying animals?” he asked for confirmation. She nodded. “No, I’m afraid we’re the only ones flying around.”
“That’s curious,” she said, arching her eyebrows.
“We have registries of their existence, thousands of rotations ago, but I guess our ancestors thought they needed the supremacy of the skies.”
She chuckled and walked a bit more into the woods. The silence was almost overwhelming, but it also felt peaceful. It was the perfect place to meditate, that was for sure.
“It’s amazing,” she took a deep breath. “Do you have wild animals out here?”
“Yes, some. They don’t represent a danger to us, since we’re stronger and faster, but yes for your species. You can’t come out here alone, without protection,” he warned her.
She shuddered. “Of course.”
“It’s time for us to return to the palace,” he warned her, and she nodded. “What do you think of our planet so far? Do you think you’ll be happy living here?”
She didn’t answer his question immediately. She had accepted the fact she wasn’t going back to Earth. She was a realistic person, and she dealt with facts, not hopes, and dreams. But was she going to be happy there? How the hell did he expect her to know that? She guessed she would be content, at least, at the beginning. Time would tell if she could be happy.
“I don’t have enough information to answer that question. But if you ask me if I’ll be able to live here, then, yes, I’m sure I will,” she finally replied, in a cold tone.
“You have been hurt,” he murmured.
She looked away and ignored his words. She wasn’t ready to open up her heart to him or anybody else, for that matter.
“It must be lunch time, right? We better get going,” she said instead and headed back to the vehicle.
Chapter Three
The trip back to the palace was made in silence. Haakon regretted having let those words come out of his mouth. She clearly wasn’t ready to trust her heart to him, and he wouldn’t gain anything trying to force it.
He had taken a significant risk suggesting flying her to the beach, especially when she had been so startled when she had seen his wings the first time, but to his surprise, she had accepted and had put her life in his hands, literally.
He could still feel the softness of her touch on his neck when she had wrapped her arms around him. The heat rushing through his veins was sizzling, his need for her was getting more and more urgent, and he was starting to have problems controlling it. But he knew she wasn’t ready, and the last thing he wanted was to ruin things between them. The whole soulmate thing was too new, too unexplored for him to take any risks with her.
His instincts assured him, he couldn’t lose her.
They arrived at the palace, and he guided her directly to the meals room. There was no one else there, and one of the servants informed them the rest had already eaten.
Haakon asked him to bring them some food and invited her to take a seat.
“What did you do back home?” he asked her, as they waited for the food.
“I used to have a marketing company,” she replied.
“Marketing? I don’t recognize the word. What exactly does that mean?”
“The concept of marketing is a management philosophy according to which a firm's goals can be best achieved through identification and satisfaction of the customers' stated and unstated needs and want,” she tried to explain. “It’s basically telling people what they and where they can best satisfy that need.”
“I’m sure you were an expert in that area.” He said, chuckling.
“Why do you say that?” she frowned. She hated empty compliments.
“Back in the car, while we were driving through the city, you made me realize we need to add more color to it. I assure you we have never even considered the idea,” he explained.
She gave him a faint smile and nodded. “Yes, I guess that’s a sample of what I used to do.”
“You should work on that idea, and sell it to my brother,” he suggested, in a serious tone.
“I don’t work on that anymore. I had lost my spark way before I was abducted by the Slythonians,” she replied in a cold tone.
The food arrived at that moment, and he wasn’t about to ask her why. The expression on her face sure didn’t invite to more questions.
It was a hard subject for her, he could tell that much.
They ate in silence, and all of his intents to start a new conversation were dodged blatantly.
When she finished, she got up. “Is it dangerous to wander through the gardens of the palace?” she asked, in a cold tone. “I would like to take a walk.”
“Yes, of course. I can walk with you…” he started to suggest, looking to spend more time with her, but she cut him curtly.
“Thank you, but I will be okay on my own.” With those words, she left the room and headed out to the gardens.
He was able to see her disappear behind some of the tall bushes in the garden and let out a sigh.
“Troubles in paradise?” his brother’s voice sounded behind him.
“You could say that.”
“Perhaps, you should ask for some advice from Fritjof. He doesn’t seem to be having any problem with his soulmate,” The King teased him.
Haakon growled. “You ca
n’t compare those two. They might look alike on the outside, but I’m sure their resemblance ends there.”
“Yes, I noticed that. Erin is what you see: open, cheerful, the soul of the party. Rosalind, on the other hand, shows very little,” his brother pointed out.
“She has been hurt. Not so much physically, but I can tell her heart, and her soul were wounded, and they haven’t healed yet,” he said, still staring out the window. “If you add that to all she must have gone through since the moment she was abducted by the Slythonians and sold to us as a slave, you get a not so good cocktail.”
“She might need you to help her heal.”
“I’m not sure she’ll let me help her,” he let out a sigh. “She’s very stubborn.”
“I know you’ll find a way. Give some room, but not enough to make her think you don’t really care,” he advised him.
“When did you become so wise?” he tilted his head to look at his older brother.
His brother shrugged, but there was a sad shine in his eyes. “Being alone has given me a lot of time to read.”
“I know what you mean,” he looked back at the gardens. “I want to take her with me to the mountains, for her to see my real me.”
“I know, but I don’t think she’s ready for that. Give her a couple more weeks, for her to adjust to our planet before you show her the harshest part of it,” Brynjar warned him.
“I know… it’s getting harder and harder to control my need to take her as mine.”
“Don’t let your impulses control you. You could lose her altogether.”
He sighed but didn’t comment. He knew that much.
“I’ll go find her. She might get lost,” with those words, he left his brother and went looking for her.
Following her scent was quite easy. It was intense, unique and he would always be able to identify it.
For a person so small, she had walked a vast distance in such a short period of time. He found her sitting under a tall bush, near a small stream that ran across the gardens, staring at the singing water.
He took a seat next to her, obviating she hadn’t acknowledged his arrival.
“I thought I better come get you. Like you said, the gardens are enormous, you could get lost,” he said, in a soft tone.
She just snorted, but it was enough for him.
“Did I bother you in any way?” he asked after a few moments of silence.
“No, of course not. I guess it’s been too many things happening in a very short period of time.”
“Would you like to talk about it?” he offered, smiling. “I can be an excellent listener.”
She shook her head. “I wouldn’t know where to start.”
“Start from the beginning. Tell me about your life,” he suggested.
“There’s nothing special about my life,” she had taken a deep breath before she continued. “I was an only child, born to a couple of professional people that had very little time for children. My mother didn’t even bother to have me. She preferred to hire a surrogate mother and pick me up at the hospital the day I was born.” There was so much resentment in her tone, he felt sad for her.
“What’s a surrogate mother?” he asked, not familiar with the concept.
“It’s a woman that carries other people’s babies for nine months, feeding and protecting it, and then hands the baby to the biological parents for a sum of money. It’s the new trend on Earth in my times,” she explained.
“Why did your mother do that?”
“She didn’t want to go through all the annoyances of carrying a baby.”
“How were you conceived?”
She looked at him and verified he was puzzled. “In a lab. They extracted an egg from my mother’s womb and fertilized it with my father’s semen. When I was an embryo three days old, they implanted me in the surrogate mother’s womb, and nine months later I was born and delivered to my parents,” she explained.
“I had never heard anything so weird,” he muttered. “This technology was developed to help couples that couldn’t conceive on their own, but it soon became standard. People even started to choose how they wanted their children to look.”
“That’s unnatural,” he protested.
“Yes, it is. But, it’s normal back on Earth,” she let out a sigh. “When my parents got home with me, I was handed to the nanny, and my contact with them was short and measured. It was like that my whole life until they passed away when I was sixteen.”
“It must have been terrible for you,” he picked her hand in his and caressed its back with his thumb.
She stared at his hand for a few seconds feeling the already familiar heat rushing through her whole body, trying to decide either to let him continue or pull her hand away. She let him continue to caress her hand. It was… comforting.
“They were practically strangers to me. I don’t think I spent a whole year of those sixteen with them,” she confessed. “But their death left me alone in the world.”
She rubbed her eyes for a few moments. “It was then when I met Johanna. She quickly became my best friend, the sister I never had and sometimes, even the mother I always missed. She was two years older than me, and she decided she had to protect me from the cruel world outside,” a sad smile crossed her face for a few seconds.
“She sounds like a very special person,” he murmured.
“She was. She was already in college, and as soon as I graduated, I joined her. She was studying marketing, so I studied the same thing. I just wanted to be with her. Fortunately, I was talented for it, and when I graduated, we formed a firm.”
“I’m sure you did a great job.”
“Yes, we did, much better than I ever expected. My life was finally perfect. I had a job I loved, I had the best friend anyone could have, and I had a boyfriend that was starting to feel like Mr. Right,” she summarized.
Haakon had trouble hiding the wave of jealousy that invaded him. He knew he didn’t have the right to feel jealous, but feelings weren’t rational.
“What happened?” he asked the question, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the answer. Not if was going to make her go through the whole experience again. He could tell the end hadn’t been good. He pulled her hand to his lips and kissed the back of it gently, encouraging her to go on.
She let out a heartfelt sigh. “Johana was killed in a plane crash. She was flying home to spend the holidays with me. I was devastated, and Jonas couldn’t understand why.” A tear rolled down her cheek, and she wiped it, furious. “We broke up a couple of weeks later after I sold the company. I couldn’t keep working there without her.”
Haakon didn’t hesitate. He slid an arm around her and pulled her to his chest, hugging her tight.
She struggled for a few seconds before she buried her face in his wide chest and allowed the tears she had been repressing since her friend’s death to flow out.
She had no idea for how long she cried. At some point, she must have fallen asleep leaned against his chest, mentally exhausted.
By the time she opened her eyes again, the sun was setting on the horizon, and they were lying on the ground, with her leaning her head on his chest. He had covered them with his cape.
She tried to get up, but he kept her where she was. “How are you feeling?” he asked her in a soft tone.
“Embarrassed. I shouldn’t have put you through all that drama,” she replied, still squirming to stand.
“There’s no need to feel that way. You needed to let the pain out, and I was there for you, as you would be for me if I needed you,” he said, letting a gentle kiss on the top of her head.
She shuddered and finally managed to kneel next to him. “Thank you for listening.”
“Thank you for sharing,” he got up and stretched his hand towards her. “Come, soon it will be dark and cold. It’s time to go back to the palace.”
She allowed him to help her get up and they returned to the castle talking about the bushes and the flowers of the garden.
Despite all of her self-scolding, she had to admit she had never felt lighter than she did that night. She felt as if she had removed the heavy stones she had always carried throughout her life, Johana had alleviated that weight, while she had lived, but it returned worse than ever when she died.
After giving up trying to sleep, she put on some clothes and wrapped herself in her cape before she left her room, through her terrace. She had noticed it surrounded the palace and ended up in a flight of stairs that led directly to the gardens.
Perhaps a long walk would tire her enough to help her get some sleep.
The moon was shining high in the sky, and its light was more than sufficient to light her way. The flowers scented the night, and she took a few deep breaths, revealing on their delicious perfume.
She had been walking for a few minutes when she felt she wasn’t alone anymore. Haakon was behind her, and she turned slowly to face him.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.” he said, closing the distance between them.
“You didn’t,” she didn’t stop, but it took him no time to reach her.
“What are you doing out here at this hour?” he asked her, sounding a bit concerned.
“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought a walk might help me,” she explained, without facing him.
“It’s too cold to be out here at this hour. You could get ill.” He admonished her, walking next to her.
“I simply couldn’t stay in bed any longer,” she stated, “And I’m not cold.”
“What troubles you?” he asked standing in her way, forcing her to stop walking.
She tilted her head back to look at him. “Nothing. I just couldn’t sleep, that’s all,” she replied, in a cold tone, trying to walk around him, but he didn’t allow her.
Instead, he cradled her face. “There’s sadness in your eyes.” He murmured.
The warmth of his touch set her heart in a frantic rhythm, and she closed her eyes for a second, allowing herself to enjoy such pleasure, even if for just a moment.
