by Roxie Ray
Rosa reached out and slipped her hand into mine. “So, do you want to hear about my day?” she asked, a small smile starting to form on her lips.
How could I resist her? She had me entirely within her power. “Of course.” I nodded. “I want to hear all about it.”
Just at that moment, a polite rap came at the door. “That’ll be our supper,” I said.
“Can we have supper out on the balcony in our bedroom?” Rosa asked. “I didn’t discover it until just now, it’s magnificent.”
“Of course, my love.”
Rosa’s smile brightened as she turned back into our room. I pressed the release button that allowed the staff entry and waited till Gronar had wheeled in a large trolley with a variety of dishes that had been hidden underneath giant silver and gold cloches.
“Good evening, Your Grace,” Gronar said, bowing and revealing the intricate web of braids at the back of his head.
“Supper will be on the balcony tonight, Gronar,” I informed him.
“As you wish, my King.”
I followed Gronar out onto the balcony where Rosa was waiting. She was standing at the soft point of the giant semi-circular balcony that extended out from the main body of the castle and offered a spectacular view of Svante’s jungles. The moon, larger than life and dominating the sky, hung low, casting its silver light over everything.
“Good evening,” Rosa said, as she noticed Gronar.
“Your Grace,” Gronar said, bowing low again.
“Your braids are so lovely,” Rosa said.
“As are yours, my Queen.”
Rosa smiled. “Where are you from, Gronar?” she asked.
Gronar glanced at me with his dark green eyes. “Uh, I am from a small town called Maralixar.”
“Is that on this continent or the Western one?” Rosa asked.
“This continent, my Queen.”
“Rosa,” I said gently. “I think Gronar might have to get back to the kitchens.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” Rosa said immediately. “I didn’t mean to keep you.”
“Not at all, my Queen,” Gronar said, smiling at her with unreserved liking. “It is a pleasure to answer your questions.”
He bowed to both of us and left us to the quiet of our private balcony. I could hear the soft serenade of thorn birds in the distance. It gave our moonlit dinner an especially romantic atmosphere that was only marred by my own conflicted thoughts.
“Why all the questions?” I asked, sitting down at the round glass topped table in the middle of the balcony.
Rosa stayed on her feet as she looked out at the jungle beneath our feet. “They are my people now,” she replied. “I want to get to know all of them.”
Her sentiment touched me, but it also enhanced my guilt. It was a huge role I had thrust upon her, with no regard for how it would affect her life.
“Do you think you’ll miss Earth?” I asked abruptly.
Rosa looked taken back by the question. “Well of course there are things I will miss. It was my home, after all, but I don’t want to dwell on what I’ve left behind.”
“What have you left behind?” I asked.
Rosa looked thoughtfully at the moon, and then a slow smile spread across her face. “My patients,” she admitted. “And my rehab clinic. It was the first thing I started after I got my PhD.”
“PhD?” I asked.
“Do you have schools in Svante?” Rosa asked.
“We have eleven years of schooling,” I said. “And no more.”
“Well, for humans, we have roughly twelve years of schooling, and then there is an option of higher education that you can choose to do when you’re an adult. You choose a specific field and study it until you’re considered an expert in it.”
“And you’ve done this?” I asked, amazed by the concept of specialized study for so long a period of time.
“Yes.” Rosa nodded. “In psychology. It’s the study of human behavior; it helps you understand how a person thinks.”
I smiled. “Most Svantians are mind readers — the need to study the art of understanding how creatures think is moot.”
Rosa nodded. “Of course, but for humans, it’s necessary.”
“What made you turn to this field of study?” I asked.
Rosa hesitated for a moment, and she started to wring her hands together as though the words had fallen out of her head. She glanced at me and gave me a small, insecure smile.
“I went through a hard time, once,” she told me. “When I was much younger. I lost someone very close to me, and… it nearly broke me. After that, I knew I had to get help. So I went to this special facility that helped me process my grief, and when I had recovered, I realized I needed to give back in some way. I wanted to be for other people what my therapists had been for me.”
“Who did you lose?” I asked, seeing the pain etched across her features. There was moisture sparkling in her eyes, but I could tell she was holding back her tears.
“My baby sister,” Rosa said, after a long pause. “She was very young.”
I wanted to ask Rosa how the child had died, but the aching throb in Rosa’s eyes prevented me from pushing for any more information.
“I am sorrier than I can say,” I said, reaching out and taking Rosa’s hand.
She took a few steps closer, and I pulled her down onto my lap. I kissed the curve of her neck, and slowly, I saw a smile appear on her face.
“I did turn my life around,” she said. “I started to help people, and I ended up making a difference.”
“And what will become of your… rehab facility?” I asked, managing to remember the words she had used.
Rosa’s eyes clouded over a little, and I realized that this was the one thing she was proud of that she had been forced to leave behind.
“I don’t know,” Rosa admitted. “If they don’t find someone willing to manage and run it, I suppose they will have to close it down.”
“And that upsets you?” I asked.
“Not enough time and energy is spent on people with mental health issues,” Rosa said. “I’m afraid that it will fall to the wayside and all those kids out there with no homes or families or guidance will go the wrong way, like I did.”
She hadn’t meant to say those last three words. I could tell as much from the expression on her face after they had left her tongue.
“Will you tell me all about it?” I asked. “One day?”
She smiled gratefully at me. “Yes.” She nodded, touching my face. “I will.”
I kissed the inside of her palm and breathed her in. Her scent eclipsed even the range of sumptuous dishes that had been brought up on the trolley. What I wouldn’t give to keep her with me through the rest of my days. But that would make me just like the man who had sired me, and I refused to be like him.
“Rosa…”
“Yes?” she whispered.
“I want you to know that you don’t have to stay here.”
She sat up a little straighter and stared down at me in confusion. “I don’t understand, what do you mean?”
“If you wanted to go back to Earth and finish what you started there, I would allow it,” I tried to explain. “I would send you back to Earth.”
Her eyes were neutral for a second, and then an expression I couldn’t recognize flitted across them. She got off my lap and turned her back to me.
“Rosa?” I asked, standing up and walking towards her.
She stiffened as I approached. “Can you tell me plainly what you mean?” she asked.
I frowned, yet again unsure what she was feeling. I placed my hand on her shoulder, and while she didn’t shake it off, she didn’t exactly respond, either.
“I thought I had made myself plain,” I said. “I don’t want to keep you here against your will.”
Like my father did with my mother, I thought, completing the rest of the sentence in my head.
Rosa turned to me slowly, and she looked a little sad; the corners of her mouth were t
urned down and her eyes had lost their brightness.
“We signed a contract, Quatix,” she said. “You can’t send me back.”
“Send you back?” I repeated, finding her choice of words revealing. “This is not about sending you back, this is about you having the freedom to go. When we were on Earth, I wasn’t fair to you. I coerced you into coming with me.”
“That doesn’t mean now that I’m here I don’t want to be,” Rosa said. “You may have convinced me to come, but I agreed to.”
“I just want you to know that you can change your mind at any time.”
Her eyebrows knitted together as though she were trying to figure out what I really meant. She was a beautiful enigma, and the fact that I didn’t know exactly what she was thinking frustrated me to no end.
“Understood,” she said, an icy edge in her voice.
“Are you angry?” I asked directly.
She avoided my gaze. “No, I’m fine.”
Her response was little too clipped and came a little too quickly. “Rosa, you can talk to me.”
“I’m fine,” she said, taking a deep breath. “I think I just need to eat something.”
I had to force myself to drop the subject. I moved over to the trolley and started opening cloches while Rosa took a seat at the table.
The chef had outdone himself today with the array of dishes he had prepared. There were five different kinds of meats, three of which were drenched in thick, rich gravy and varying degrees of spice. There were crusty pies dusted with fried Ciracha leaves. There were homemade breads filled with a variety of seeds. There was wild rice with an assortment of meaty vegetables tossed through and trays full of native delicacies that I was certain Rosa had never seen before.
I served her a little bit of everything and set the plate down in front of her.
“I don’t think I can eat all of this,” she said, with wide eyes.
“Eat what you can, and I’ll help you with the rest,” I said, smiling at her.
She returned my smile, and I prayed that the awkwardness of the previous few moments had passed. I poured out some sweet wine for the both of us and sat down opposite Rosa for our starlight supper. It was a comfortably warm night, and the breeze that skirted through the balcony was gentle at best.
“Here,” I said, offering Rosa her goblet.
She took the goblet, but eyed it warily. “Thank you,” she said. “But I’ll just have water.”
“Are you sure?” I asked.
“Yes,” Rosa nodded. Her expression made me wonder, but she launched into a question that succeeded in distracting me. “Does it ever get easy, ruling a kingdom like this one?”
“It never does,” I replied honestly. “And I doubt it ever will. But as a wise Svantian once told me, ruling should never be easy. If it is, that means you’re doing it wrong.”
Rosa smiled. “Was your father the wise Svantian who told you that?” she asked.
I paused. “No,” I admitted. “That was my uncle. He died in battle long before I ascended to the throne. He would have been the better king, but my father was the oldest son. My father was neither wise nor patient. He didn’t bother himself with teaching me the art of rule or politics.”
I looked up and saw that Rosa was watching me intently.
“We weren’t very close, my father and I,” I said unnecessarily.
“I wasn’t very close to my parents, either,” Rosa admitted, while still withholding the details.
Again, it struck me that we were both keeping our secrets close to heart. Whether that was self-preservation or cowardice, I could not say. For the time being, however, I was content to let it lie. I still wished to nurse my secrets for a while longer.
We ate our meal in amiable conversation, and when the night drew long and Rosa’s eyes dropped with sleep, I lifted her into my arms and carried her to our bed. She was light as a feather and fit perfectly against me.
She sighed as I lay her down on our bed. I stood over her for a long while, trying to calm my worried thoughts.
I will not be like him, I told myself. I will keep you safe.
I bent down and kissed her softly on the lips. “I will protect you always,” I whispered to her.
13
Rosa
I woke up to an empty bed, but when I turned towards Quatix’s side, my hand fell on a crisp piece of paper with a note from him. I sat up immediately and picked up the note he had left for me.
His handwriting perfectly matched his calm yet commanding demeanor. He wrote in a straight, austere cursive that was bold and paid no attention to the barely visible lines of the paper. The note was written in English, and I made a mental note to ask him how he had managed to do that.
My eyes scanned through his note, and I felt a little tingle of excitement as I read it.
Good morning, my love, it started. When you are dressed and ready, I hope you will meet me in the grand hall. I have a surprise planned for you that I think you will enjoy.
Filled with excitement, I got out of bed and was about to head into the bathroom when I heard a slight knock on the door. Frowning, I went to answer it, wondering who it might be. I opened the door to find a strange woman on the other side. I wasn’t even sure ‘woman’ was the right word to use.
She was obviously not human, but neither was she Svantian. She was around my height, perhaps an inch or two taller. Her skin was the lightest of greens, and her eyes were large black orbs with tiny gold irises. She had no hair, but her scalp was covered over in a series of strange symbols that I didn’t recognize, like an intricate tattoo. The most startling characteristic about her, however, was the fact that she had three sets of arms. Her shoulder blades were broad and powerful and extended down an inch or two before splitting off into three separate arms on either side of her otherwise slim body.
“Good morning, my Queen,” she said, bowing low and ignoring my less than polite reaction upon seeing her.
“Uh… good morning,” I said, trying desperately to compose myself.
“I am sorry to have startled you,” she said.
She was soft-spoken, and I could tell from the way her eyelashes flickered at me that she was shy.
“No, I’m sorry,” I said. “I was just taken unawares.”
She smiled, a slight blush appearing on the soft green swells of her cheeks. “You have not seen my kind before?” she asked.
I smiled apologetically. “No, I have not.”
“My name is Meri-Dana, Your Grace,” she said. “I am to be your handmaid. King Quatix hand-picked me for you.”
“My handmaid?” I repeated, feeling very strange about the way everyone addressed me and behaved around me. I wondered if I would ever get used to it.
“Yes, my Queen.” she nodded. “I will draw your baths, help you dress, braid your hair, and whatever else you need me to do.”
I frowned. “I don’t know that I need someone to help me do any of those things,” I said.
Her face fell instantly, and I realized that this was just another thing I would have to accept in my new life. I wanted to reach out to her, but I didn’t know which hand to take.
“Meri-Dana,” I said, looking her in the eye. “I am very grateful to you. I would love to have you for my handmaid.”
Her answering smile was bright and full of gratitude. “Thank you, my Queen.”
“Tell me, where are you from?” I asked.
“I am Balidory, your grace, from the planet Balidor.”
I felt my cheeks flame with embarrassment. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ve never heard of it before.”
“Human usually have not heard of any other planet,” she said.
I smiled. “That is true,” I nodded. “We have remained woefully ignorant of the rest of the galaxy. Sometimes I think it was intentional. We were just afraid of what we would find.”
Meri-Dana looked suddenly nervous; her eyes went wide, and she looked at me through her lashes. “I am sorry, my Queen, if I gave offense. I
did not mean to.”
“Oh,” I said. “No, I’m not offended. The truth doesn’t offend me.” I smiled reassuringly at her. “Please, don’t feel like you need to watch yourself around me. I want us to be friends. Come.”
I gestured for her to follow me into the chambers.
“I was just about to take my morning bath,” I said.
She rushed forward and made her way into the bathroom. “I shall draw the bath for you, my Queen.”
I followed her into the bathroom and watched as she got to work. My first instinct was to help her, but I knew she would take that personally and assume I was trying to help because I didn’t like the way she was doing things.
She moved gracefully through the bathroom, all six of her hands reaching out for different things as she walked toward the giant, gold-dusted tub in the center of the room. While one hand opened the water tap, another poured in smelling salts, a third checked the temperature, and a fourth hand adjusted the nozzles on the side of the tub.
It was amazing watching her, and I realized how helpful she would be to me. Now that I’d gotten over the shock of seeing someone with six hands, I started to see how beautiful she was. Even the intricate tattoos on her head were fascinating to me.
“Do you mind if I ask what those are?” I asked, gesturing to her tattoos. “Forgive me, if that is a rude question to ask.”
Rather than look offended, she looked delighted by my interest in her. “All Balidory have them, my Queen,” she said. “We are born with these markings. They represent our lineage… from these markings, any one of my people will know from whom I am descended.”
“That is amazing,” I said.
“Thank you,” she said, blushing slightly.
Then she walked toward me and started to remove the loose sheath I wore to sleep. I froze in place, but then realized this was her job, and my job was to allow it. I let her undress me until I was completely naked, and then with her help, I stepped into the bath she had drawn.
As I sunk down into the lukewarm water, I felt the bath salts she had added attack my body like a thousand different loofahs all massaging my skin cells in perfect synchrony. It felt amazing, and I leaned back, already feeling both clean and rejuvenated. The tub was perfectly curved at the ends, as well, as though it had been molded to the curve of my back. I closed my eyes and sat there with my hands resting on the sides of the tub.
