Kingdom Come

by Devi Mara

  After a handful of minutes, the palace came into view. It was blinding white in the midday light. The enlil slowed and finally stopped, landing on the front lawn. Enric hopped out as soon as the panel slid open. He waited for Konani to join him before walking toward his home.

  “My son,” his mother said, the moment he entered the throne room.

  He studied her as he approached. She appeared paler and thinner than the last time he saw her. Her usually luxurious hair was wane and dull, hanging limply around her face. She sat with her back perfectly straight, but he could see small tremors shaking her shoulders.

  “You’re not well.”

  She gave him a small smile. “I did not call you here to discuss my health, son.”

  He paused at the base of the steps to the throne and looked up at her. “Nonetheless.”

  The motherly warmth fled her eyes at his tone. “You forget yourself, Ambassador.”

  He ducked his head. “I apologize for my lack of respect.”

  He knelt on one knee and crossed his right arm across his chest. When he raised his head, her gaze had thawed. She studied him closely.

  “What is that?” she asked, her eyes on the dagger.

  “A courtship gift for Abigail.”

  “She has acknowledged you?” his mother asked, obviously pleased.

  He paused. He was not sure he could consider her behavior accepting. She had yet to tell him he could approach her. If she had not asked for assistance, he would not have been allowed to take her arm in the garden. For the thousandth time, he wondered if there were a better way to approach her. He looked down at the dagger in his hands. Perhaps, it would please her.

  “Not yet.”

  His mother shifted in place. “Have you not made her aware of your feelings?” she asked sharply.

  He frowned to himself. “I have not met her gaze. What more can I do to show her the high esteem in which I hold her?”

  “She is from Earth. What is so obvious to us is not to them.”

  He looked at her sharply.

  “I mean no offense, my son.”

  He sighed. “I know. I apologize.” He reached up to loosen his tie. “I am merely irritated with the human governments.”

  “Which brings us to the business I have called you here to discuss. The Dorn have been far more active of late.”

  Mention of his father’s people made him tense. He had met his father only five times in his life, none of the meetings had been pleasant. While the man adored his mother, he had very little interest in his son. Edric preferred it that way.

  “What have they done?”

  The Queen visibly sighed. “Caern has chosen to supply that rebel group with weaponry.”

  “The one you were following in Eastern Europe?”

  She nodded. “The skirmish has bloomed into a small war. The Russian government is trying to contain the situation, but…”

  Edric scowled. “Anything else?”

  In a fluid move, his mother stood from the throne to descend the steps. “Always. The Dorn are warmongers, you know this.” She stopped in front of him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

  “What more is there, mother?” He did not fail to noticed the way her lips quirked up at the title.

  The smile fell away when she began to speak. “Caern has chosen to show the government of China a better way to control the rising population.”

  He looked into his mother’s eyes and saw true concern. If it was enough to concern his war-hardened mother, it was surely a nightmare scenario.

  “What has he done?”

  She backed away from him and began to pace. “He is trying to convince them to selectively sterilize certain parts of the population.”

  He stared at her. “That is in complete violation of the galactic alliance.”

  She gave him a darkly amused look. “You think he does not know that?”

  “And Gol approves of his second’s actions?”

  She gave a helpless shrug. “Arammu or no, he is a Dorn King. Violence is in his nature. As it is in ours.”

  “But we have the decency to stay neutral,” he argued.

  She waved him off. “It is no use concerning yourself over. Your bond mate is away from it. Soon, she will be here and the affairs of Earth will no longer concern her.”

  He frowned. He doubted Abigail would turn her back on her world so easily. Especially with her family there.

  “The Raena crown has passed to the King’s eldest daughter,” she said, when he continued to stand silently.

  He considered the news. The Raena were the only visiting civilization that had never interacted with the humans. They believed in keeping the human world free of outside corruption. Unfortunately, the Dorn had been interfering in the events of Earth since the people discovered agriculture. His people, while living among the humans, took a much less malicious stance.

  “Princess Kaleen?”

  His mother nodded. “She spent a year among humanity a few decades ago. It has apparently inspired her to take over rule from her father.” She shrugged. “It hardly matters.”

  Edric considered her words and nodded. “True. I doubt new rule will change their approach.”

  “Do you have any plans to interfere with Gol’s actions?”

  The Queen paused in her pacing and turned to face him. “You know I will not stand against him unless he violates the treaty.”

  And he did know that. It was the nature of the arammu bond. Queen Loreet had come close to breaking the treaty only once and it was in defense of him. Caern never approved of his king being forced to bond with a Ghadrikan. While he was unable to harm the queen, because it would also harm his king, he had chosen to channel all of his anger toward their child. Edric had a very healthy amount of hatred toward the man.

  “Is there anything else I should know?” The conversation was making him weary.

  “Yes,” Queen Loreet answered. She approached him, stopping in front of him to meet his gaze. “Caern has shown an interest in your Abigail’s country. He has met with their leader twice. I can only assume he intends to offer them the weaponry you would not.”

  “Their weapons are inferior to ours,” he said with a scowl. “I have already offered them defensive measures.”

  She gave him a hard look. “They do not want to defend, they want to attack. And inferior or not, the Dorn weapons are far advanced to anything they currently possess.”

  Edric fought to control his anger. Caern was near Abigail. “What do you suggest I do?”

  “Impress upon the government the superiority of our weaponry.”

  “And then?” he asked.

  “Suggest that information may be discovered by your bond mate if she spends a few days here.”

  He frowned. “I will not bring her against her will.”

  “Does she show interest in you?” his mother asked. At his nod, she raised an eyebrow. “Then, invite her to visit. Perhaps, you may convince her to accept your courtship proposal.”

  Chapter Five

  Black Waves

  “As soon as there is life, there is danger.”

  - Ralph Waldo Emerson

  She followed the president through the halls of the White House silently. The man had not looked at her since they left the table and she got the impression he was angry about the lunch. Which was another thing on her mind. There had been no discussion of anything worthy of note taking, yet Agent Jackson had said she had to be there.

  She frowned to herself. Her presence at lunch had been pointless. Aside from showing the prince the garden and falling on him, she had not accomplished anything. She doubted the president would be pleased to know about her little tumble with a foreign dignitary. She tried not to think about the various ways that statement could be taken.

  “Miss Ashley.”

  She jerked her head up to see she was standing in the middle of the hallway outside The Oval Office. In her inattention, others had joined them. She glanced at the three men and
blinked in surprise. Slowly, she turned her head back to them for a double take. They were definitely not human.

  While she knew, from a purely scientific perspective, the prince was not human, he certainly could pass as human. These men could not. They were tall, strongly built, and green. She blinked several times to be sure. It was no trick of the light, they were a dusky green. None of them were looking in her direction, so she felt a little less guilty about staring.

  From her position several feet away, she could see their skin was textured but she could not make out the interesting pattern. She craned her neck to get a better look.

  “Miss Ashley.”

  She snapped to attention. “Sir.”

  The president watched her carefully, probably waiting to see if she was done gawking. She could feel her cheeks heating in embarrassment.

  “These are the Dorn ambassadors.”

  She hoped her face did not appear as clueless as she felt. Agent Jackson had not mentioned another alien race in the White House. Her mind spinning a mile a minute, she forced a small smile.

  “Pleased to meet you,” she said politely.

  As one, the three turned to look at her. There was something dangerous and calculating about the way they stared at her. The one closest to the president stared at her with shining black eyes, devoid of any emotion. He did not blink.

  “Lord Caern, this is my assistant, Abigail. She will be happy to assist you with anything you may need.”

  She internally balked at the president’s words. No, she would not. She would prefer to be on the other side of the building from the disturbing gaze of the man. She gave a small nod.

  “How pleasant,” Lord Caern said. Everything about his tone said the opposite. He spoke as if she were something foul he had stepped in.

  She fought not to bristle. As if he could see her inner struggle, his lipless mouth curled into a sharp smile. A moment later, the tip of what she assumed was his tongue snaked out and flicked in the air. Her eyes widened.

  As the appendage slithered back into his mouth, he gave her an unreadable look, his gaze sliding over her.

  “The Ghadrikan Ambassador was here?” he asked the president. She noticed the ridges above his eyes were drawn together in a scowl.

  The president glanced at her. He pursed his lips and motioned for her to come closer. She kept her eyes of the three men to his left. Caern, the closest, watched her with an expression she could not identify. She had a feeling it was unpleasant. She paused in front of the president and forced herself to focus on him.

  “Candace should be off by now. Why don’t you go ahead home?”

  She nodded quickly, more than happy to get away from the man making alarm bells sound in her head.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, sir.”

  She walked away from them slightly faster than her usual walk. If she had not been wearing the uncomfortable shoes, she would have sprinted. She did not slow until she was outside the office where Candace worked. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she raised her hand and knocked.

  “Come in,” Candace muttered, just loud enough to be heard.

  Abby pushed open the door and popped her head in. The office was empty save for Candace’s small desk near the door. The dark-skinned woman looked up at her, raising one eyebrow.

  “Well?”

  “I’m off.” At Candace’s unimpressed look, she shrugged. “I’m going home.”

  Candace looked away from her to the paperwork spread across her desk. She seemed to be mentally calculating the amount of work. After a moment, she looked up.

  “Fine. Hold on.”

  She shuffled the papers into four separate stacks. Abby was not sure how her organizational system worked and from the frown on the other woman’s face, she was not going to ask. In minutes, Candace had cleaned her desk and grabbed her purse.

  “Come on, then.”

  Abby moved back from the doorway to let Candace lead the way. Even after a week, she was still prone to getting lost. Outside, the usual car was waiting for them. That was another puzzling thing. She was unsure why a car was provided for them. It seemed to show favoritism, if nothing else.

  “Saw the prince’s party today,” Candace said casually.

  Abby glanced at her to see the other woman smirking. She nodded. “Another meeting.”

  “That is one fine man,” Candace continued. “What do you think?”

  Abby eyes widened, before she looked out the window. “Which one?”

  “The prince.” Her tone implied she thought Abby was being dense.

  “I guess so,” she muttered, trying very hard not to think of how it felt to be close to the man.

  “That older guy’s not half bad, either.”

  Abby looked back at her. Probably Limek. “He’s bonded.”

  Candace shrugged. “Doesn’t mean I can’t look.”

  Abby snorted. “You may rethink that if you met his arammu. She’s about 6’1”.”

  Candace gave her a considering look. “You’ve met all of them? I’ve heard they don’t talk to any of us.”

  It was Abby’s turn to shrug. “I met the prince’s advisor, Konani, and his captain of the guard, Limek.”

  “What are they like? Jamie in the second floor administration office said the blonde woman looked like she wanted to eat her.”

  Abby snorted. “I seriously doubt that. No, they are…” She trailed off and frowned. “Well, I guess they are like us, just a little more…fierce.” She nodded to herself. That was the perfect word.

  Candace nodded silently. A moment later, the car pulled up in front of the triplex and they stepped out onto the sidewalk. She would never get used to the sheer domesticity of the neighborhood. The white buildings in perfectly straight lines, separated by a square of grass every few buildings. It was a far cry from the wide open space of her hometown.

  “Are you in for the night?” Candace asked when they separated to go to their apartments.

  Abby unlocked the front door and nodded. “I’ve got about three hours of Big Bang Theory to get caught up on.”

  Candace sent a confused look. “Whatever. I’m going out in about an hour. Let me know if you want to come.”

  Abby nodded. “Will do.”

  She stepped into her apartment and shut the door behind her, flipping the lock. As she turned around, she paused. Something was different. She gently set her keys in the bowl by the door and crept further into the living room. Her eyes scanned over the generic furniture that came with the apartment.

  Standing next to the couch, she looked down. The carpet was indented six inches to the left of the sofa. She frowned. The couch had been moved. Once she noticed it, she saw several other things had been moved slightly. The small kitchen table looked like it had been bumped and several of the pictures on the wall were tilted out of alignment.

  She stood in the middle of the room and spun slowly. Now that she was truly looking, even the table inside the door had been moved. Someone had been in her apartment. The thought sent a surge of irritation through her. It was probably Agent Jackson’s doing. She scowled and stomped into the kitchen to grab a Diet Coke.

  She would follow through with her evening plans and not give the foul man the satisfaction of a phone call. Plopping down on the couch, she flipped on the TV. After a few minutes, she realized she was too agitated to watch it. She tossed the remote on the couch cushion beside her and rose to grab the cellphone from the kitchen drawer where she kept it.

  Jackson answered on the first ring. “What is it, Miss Ashley?”

  She ignored his annoyed tone. He was not the only one with reason to be annoyed.

  “Was someone in my apartment?”

  “What?” he asked sharply.

  She heard him cover the mouthpiece of the phone and muffled shouting in the background, before he came back on the line.

  “What exactly happened?” The annoyed tone was gone, replaced by one that was all business.

  She frowned but t
old him what she had noticed. She heard car doors slamming in the background.

  “Sir?” His behavior was starting to concern her. “It was your agents in here, right?”

  There was more muffled shouting on his end. “No,” he finally said. “I will be there in five. Go to Miss Williams’ apartment and wait there.”

  Her eyes narrowed at the order, but she started toward the front door. “Will do.”

  He instructed her to stay on the line until she was in Candace’s apartment. She disconnected when she was standing in the other woman’s living room.

  “Well?” Candace stared at her with her hands on her hips. “What’s going on?”

  “Someone was in my apartment.”

  Her arms fell to hang at her sides. “You’re kidding?”

  “Nope.” Abby shook her head and took the opportunity to look around.

  Candace’s apartment was much nicer than her own, she noticed. Probably had something to do with the personal possessions. All of hers were gone. She wandered over to the fireplace mantle to look at the framed photographs. Candace followed her, still looking a bit shaken.

  “Did you call someone?”

  Abby nodded looking over the pictures. “Agent Jackson will be here in a few minutes.” She caught Candace’s nod from the corner of her eye.

  She noticed Candace was in every picture with the same few people. The central picture was taken on a beach. A kind-faced older man with pure white hair and dark skin stood in the back. To his right was a pale woman with windblown blonde hair. She was smiling widely.

  An older woman stood on the man’s left. Her blue eyes were crinkled at the corners from years of smiling. She held hands with the man. Candace stood next to the blonde woman, one arm slung over her shoulders. She was smiling brightly. The last figure was a woman with long, dark hair and pale skin. Her eyes were a light blue, almost gray.

  “My family,” Candace said, drawing her attention.

  Abby looked at her. “They look nice.”

  Candace smiled faintly. “Yes.” Her voice took on a strange accent, for a moment. When she spoke again, it was gone.