by Karen Kelley
“Oh, great,” he muttered.
Lara stepped in front of him. “He’s a friend.”
They looked at each other, their foreheads wrinkling. He bet this wasn’t in their training manual.
“But he’s human…and he’s a man. We must eliminate him before he contaminates the planet.”
“If we close the door, we can leave the way we came,” Sam whispered. They might look like Kia, but they sure didn’t act like her. Or maybe they did. The first time he’d met Kia was right after she screwed up their surveillance, then started a barroom brawl. Maybe they weren’t so different after all. “The sooner we leave, the better.”
“Can’t,” Aasera told him. “We’d only get halfway. Not enough fuel.”
“Right now, halfway is looking better than being zapped into oblivion.”
The panel slid open again, and a woman in golden robes stepped out.
“Princess,” Lara muttered and lowered her head.
The princess met his gaze, then raised an eyebrow. He bowed his head slightly in deference to her station, and the fact that he’d just as soon not get his ass zapped.
“I heard your arrival is causing quite a commotion, Lara,” the princess said as she walked closer. She kept her gaze on him, though. He returned her stare.
“Forgive me,” Lara said. “It was my fault he came with me. If anyone should be punished, then it is I.”
“And you have brought someone else with you.” She moved her gaze to Aasera.
“Princess.” Aasera bowed.
The princess looked at her closely, then her eyes widened slightly as if she recognized her.
“You will come with me.” She turned and strode back to the panel in the wall and waved her arm. It silently opened.
“That sounded like an order, not a request,” Sam said.
“We must go with her.” Lara grabbed her satchel as she hurried from the craft, then tugged on his hand.
He noticed the women’s surprised looks. A healer had touched someone. Oh, my God, the world was coming to an end.
How had Lara survived all these years without touching anyone? They acted as if it was a crime. He frowned. As far as he knew, it might be.
How the hell had he gotten himself in this fix?
Now he knew a little of how Lara must’ve felt when she landed on Earth. But at least there hadn’t been a bunch of people ready to zap her.
“Where are we going?”
“Shh,” Lara hissed.
Lara knew she was in so much trouble. She didn’t even think the chocolate bars would help. What had happened? They had been kissing, Sam had leaned her against the wall, she remembered her hand…
Oh, that must’ve been what happened. She’d leaned against the power button. Aasera had probably corrected the problem at the same time.
And here they were. On Nerak. Except men weren’t allowed on Nerak. Poor Sam. What would they do to him?
She squared her shoulders. No, she wouldn’t let any harm come to him. But her worry only escalated the closer they got to the princess’s dwelling.
Each of the princesses had her own dwelling within the bubble on the outer edge. The Elders lived in the center. A clear bubble pipe connected communities, or one could travel by aero craft.
It was such a misfortune that Princess Shaedra’s happened to be the closest to the landing site. She was the most difficult of all the princesses. Lara wouldn’t put it past her to zap Sam into oblivion.
They came to the end of the hall, and the princess waved her hand. They went down another hall, and at the end, she waved her hand to open another door.
Her dwelling was furnished with lavish cloths in bright colors. Gems hung from the ceiling, catching the light from the windows and creating colorful prisms on the walls. Out of all the princesses, Shaedra preferred an array of different textures and colors.
But the softness of her dwelling didn’t make her any more forgiving of a transgression to this degree.
“I’m disappointed, Lara.” She sat in her thronelike chair, her golden gown fanning out beside her. “Not only have you brought a man into our midst, but you’ve also brought someone back from the dead.”
“It wasn’t her fault, Princess,” Aasera said with her head bowed respectively. “The craft wouldn’t start, and she has the remedy for the Elder. I was only trying to help, but the man and I were on board when it started. Before we knew what had happened, we were on Nerak.”
“What do you think will happen when word gets out that the dead live and there’s a man on our planet? Total chaos, that’s what. The Elder, though better, is still quite ill. The damage could be irreparable.”
“Then beam us back to Earth, and we’ll be out of your hair,” Sam said.
Lara stifled a groan. He didn’t know who he was speaking to. She squeezed his hand in warning, then realized her mistake when she noticed the princess studying her.
“You touched him,” she said. Her eyes narrowed. “Step closer, Man.”
He frowned. “The name is Sam.”
“Sam.” She tested the word aloud. “It’s a strange name. Quite ugly.”
“I happen to like it.”
“Step forward, I command you.”
Lara could see by his scowl that he didn’t like taking orders from the princess any more than he had from her. This wasn’t good.
She watched as he further exacerbated the problem by planting his hands on his hips and glaring at the princess.
“Please, Sam,” she whispered under her breath, but the princess heard and cast a glare in her direction.
“For you,” he told Lara, and she breathed a little easier.
He stepped closer.
“Stop there.” Shaedra narrowed her eyes as she looked him over. “Turn around.”
“Your wish is my command.”
“Yes, it is,” she told him.
Sam muttered something under his breath, but Lara assumed if she couldn’t understand what he’d said, then neither would the princess, and that was probably a good thing.
Sam turned in a slow circle, stopping when he faced her once again.
“Take off your clothes,” she ordered. “I wish to see what you look like without them.”
“Lady, I don’t give a rat’s ass who you are. I refuse to strip just so you can be entertained.”
“He insulted me. Did you hear that?” She looked at Lara. “Your man insulted me.”
“Please, Shaedra, he meant nothing by his words. It is the way of humans to wear clothing.”
“Are their bodies horribly disfigured?”
“No, of course not.”
She looked at Sam again. “Then why are you ashamed of your body.”
“I’m not. I just don’t go around taking my clothes off for women I don’t know.”
“Did you take off your clothes for Lara?”
“I don’t think that’s any of your business, princess or not.”
“Sam, you’re not making this any easier.”
“No, he isn’t.” Shaedra reached in her pocket and pulled out a little black box, pointed it at Sam, and pushed the button. A red beam shot out.
One se
cond, he was there, and the next he wasn’t.
“He’s…he’s gone.” She looked at the princess with accusing eyes.
She’d sworn to herself she’d protect him while he was on Nerak, but now he was gone—forever. No more Sam.
“How could you!”
Chapter 27
“W hat? Make him go away? It was easy,” Shaedra said with a shrug. “I just pointed and pushed the button.
Tears filled Lara’s eyes. Her Sam was gone. She would never feel his arms around her again. Would never taste his lips. She sniffed. And she would never love anyone like she’d loved him.
“You care that much for him?”
“Yes, not that it matters anymore.” She hugged herself, trying to hold in the emotions.
“I did not disintegrate him, Lara. I only made him leave for a bit. He’ll return in due time, and maybe he’ll have a better attitude.”
“You didn’t disintegrate him?”
“Of course not. We haven’t done that in years. You know this.”
She breathed a sigh of relief. Sam would return shortly. She hadn’t lost him forever. This was very good.
“When will he return?” She had to know positively.
Shaedra bit her bottom lip. “I’m not exactly sure. I’ve never made someone go away.”
“Damn, damn, damn!”
“And what does that word mean?” Shaedra asked.
She frowned. “I’m not sure, but Sam says it a lot when he’s upset.”
“Damn.” The princess tested the word. “Yes, I like the way it rolls off the tongue. We’ll incorporate it into our system.” Shaedra turned her attention to Aasera. “Do you know the meaning of this word?”
“I believe they call it cursing. It makes them feel better to utter it. The male species, especially, like to say it a lot.”
Shaedra nodded. “The Elders said you were dead. That you were killed on a mission.”
“I was exiled.”
Lara noticed Aasera did not say the Elders had lied. That would be very disrespectful. The truth but disrespectful. Aasera still held true to the Nerakian values.
“Why would they exile you, then immortalize you on our meeting room wall?”
“Because I refused to eliminate the child within me,” Aasera told her, standing tall.
Shaedra gripped the arms of the chair. “You were with child? But that’s impossible. Nerakians cannot bear children. Not and live through the ordeal. The Elders have passed the stories down through the ages about the horrible pain women went through.”
“It was painful, true, but I’m still here.”
“And the child? Did it survive as well?”
“Her name is Lyraka, and her gifts are more powerful than what we have.”
“You’ve fared well then…on Earth?”
“I’ve missed my home…my people, but I managed. It’s not as bad as we were told.”
“But there are so many men there. Did you copulate with one? Is that how you came to be with child?”
“Yes, but he wasn’t a good man.”
She nodded. “Then what the Elders said was true. Men are cruel. They prey upon women.”
“Not all men, Princess. Sam is a very good man.”
The princess looked at Aasera for confirmation.
“He seems good,” she grudgingly admitted.
“And did you copulate with this male…Sam?” the princess asked Lara.
Her skin grew warm as she remembered the pleasure she’d shared with Sam.
She could lie. It would be much safer. But she was afraid the princess would know. “Yes, and it was quite different than copulating with a companion unit.”
“In what way?”
At least the princess hadn’t zapped her because of her admission. She might as well tell her all of it. “Sam made my body burn, but in a very good way. I enjoyed it immensely. He made me very horny.”
“Horny? I don’t know this word.”
“It means I wanted to copulate with him very much.”
She nodded.
There was a hiss and a pop, then Sam appeared, minus his clothes.
“Oh,” the princess began, her gaze moving slowly over Sam. “We didn’t get everything correct, I see. You look much bigger than the companion units.”
“Damn, first Kia, and now you.” He quickly grabbed a cloth off the lounging sofa and wrapped it around himself, knotting it at the waist. “Did you have to do that?”
“I’m a princess. I can do anything I want.”
“Well, I hope all of you had a nice conversation while I was out in Never-Never Land.”
“Yes, we did. Lara was telling us how she’d copulated with you.”
“Lara!” Sam glared at her.
She cringed. Not talking about sex was a silly rule, and she’d forgotten about it. “They don’t talk about copulating on Earth,” Lara explained.
“They certainly don’t mind doing it,” Aasera muttered.
“Why don’t they talk about it?” Shaedra asked.
“Because we just don’t,” Sam said. “And we don’t run around without clothes, either.”
“The Elders said Earthlings were rather odd.”
“And you think Nerakians aren’t?” Sam snorted.
Shaedra raised her chin. “Of course we’re not. We are, after all, a superior race.”
“Except you don’t eat real food, and you had to build companion units so you can have sex.”
“There is that,” Aasera commented. “I did like the food on Earth, especially chocolate. Sex was exciting. Apparently, I chose the wrong male.”
“What is chocolate?” Shaedra asked.
“I brought some along.” Lara reached into her satchel and pulled out the bag of chocolate bars. Maybe the princess would see what Nerak was missing, and they could begin importing some of Earth’s pleasures.
She ripped open the bag and handed the princess one of the chocolate bars. Shaedra brought it to her nose and sniffed.
“It smells…nice.”
“You eat it,” Lara explained.
She cautiously put one corner in her mouth, then took it out. “I taste nothing that tempts me.”
“No, you have to unwrap it first.” Lara removed the wrapping from one and bit into the chocolate, then closed her eyes and savored the taste.
“Why did you not explain?” Shaedra asked, but she was already removing the wrapper and biting into the bar. After only a second, she closed her eyes and began to chew slowly. In a matter of seconds, she had eaten the chocolate.
The princess’s expression softened when she opened her eyes and looked straight at Lara. “You brought these for your princess?” The warmth of her smile enveloped everyone in the room.
No, she hadn’t. They were her chocolate bars.
But then again, if it would soften the princess’s heart toward Sam then she would give up the chocolate. She only hoped Sam realized the sacrifice she was making.
“Of course, Princess.” When she bowed slightly, she caught Sa
m’s eye. He gave her a look that said he knew exactly who she’d intended the chocolate bars for, and it wasn’t the princess.
“Good, then I’ll save them for later.”
Lara’s mouth watered as she watched Shaedra tuck the bag beside her.
“Did you find a cure for the Elder?” the princess asked, changing the subject.
Lara thought she just wanted to get everyone’s mind off the chocolate in case they tried to get it away from her. Shaedra always had to have her own way. But then, most of the princesses were of the same temperament.
“The cure?” Shaedra prodded.
“Yes, I believe I’ve found a cure.”
“Then you will heal the Elder. Go.”
She looked at Sam, then Aasera. This wasn’t good. And she could hear Sam’s thoughts as he asked her not to leave him alone with Shaedra.
“I will not disintegrate this male, but I want to interrogate him.”
“You promise?” she asked.
Shaedra raised an imperious eyebrow. “You question me?”
She bowed slightly. “Of course not.”
“Good, then take Aasera with you. I’m sure she’ll want to meet with the other Elders. They’re gathered at Torcara’s dwelling. Go through the tunnels. It might not be good if others recognize Aasera. The ones who have seen her and the male will keep their silence.”
Aasera respectfully bowed before they left the room.
When they were a distance away from the princess’s dwelling, Lara turned to Aasera. “Do you think she’ll harm him?”
“Most likely not.”
“But you’re not sure?”
“The royals are notorious for doing whatever they want. It has always been like that. I doubt things have changed in that respect.”
Lara’s heart sank. Unfortunately, they hadn’t.
“But I don’t think she will. I didn’t get the feeling that she would really harm anyone.”
“I hope you’re right.” She watched as Aasera’s gaze scanned every little detail as if she was committing it to memory. “Does it look the same?”
