Jerof

by Phoebe Nix

  The sun outside Liz’s window looked like a metal ball that had been burnt in the forge, emitting a faint ruby red that washed over the room, giving her skin a pink undertone as she gazed out at the world.

  She tilted her head outside the pentagonal frame, watching Hagrans as they went about their day, looking like specks of bronze in an Impressionist painting. She parted her lips as she recapped all that had happened in the last couple of weeks. She had gone from living the shock of ending up on a different planet to enduring the heartbreak of having to be separated from Jerof

  Liz had never experienced such a fulfilling sense of victory before her training with Finoa. But underneath the adrenaline rush, her chest ached as she thought about what the Princess had said in the Royal ring. The words had been said to make her fight, but the truth was the same.

  Even in the event Jerof were to choose her over some princess that he’d never met, Liz wouldn’t let him. She had wandered into his life by sheer coincidence and was destroying everything this kingdom was built on.

  Humans really do fuck everything up, she thought as she lay on Jerof’s bed. He had been in that meeting for hours, and she had thought about retreating to her bedroom. All these Council members were wary of her, and she didn’t blame them. She was nothing but an invader in their eyes, with a dangerous impact on their future King.

  She found herself fantasizing about being declared the Queen, not because she craved the power; she liked the idea of being Jerof’s wife. Their intimacy did not need to be kept a secret. Hagrans were conservative when it came to political regime, but they seemed to be liberal enough about sexuality. Unless of course, if it interfered with Royal weddings.

  Liz was stuck.

  She wanted to disappear, go back in time and stay in that Matarma resort. She wouldn’t have to live with being a burden. If she were to run off to the forest, she would eventually be found. Although she’d only been with Jerof for a couple of days, she knew he would walk to the end of Hagran to find her.

  He had enough on his plate.

  Liz caressed the drapes that fell from the canopy as she her thoughts raced in a tangled web. Her mind felt like it was about to explode. She tilted her head down to gaze at her body, wondering how Jerof’s massive organ was able to penetrate her. She smiled, as she recalled the intimate night they had spent together. As much as she longed for him, she knew full well she wasn’t good for him.

  She had to find a way to leave.

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Jerof?” Liz called out, smiling as she rose from her bed.

  It slid open to reveal the Princess. Finoa wore her hair down and was clad in a green coat with black pantaloons.

  “No, just me, sorry. I was looking for my brother.”

  “No just me, sorry,” Liz echoed.

  “But I wanted to speak to you.”

  “You’ve said enough,” Liz blurted, turning around to walk back to the bed. She was grabbed by the arm.

  “Wait,” Finoa pleaded. “You’re not actually mad at me for what told you, are you?

  “It’s not that I’m mad at you, Finoa, I’m just displeased and pissed at the whole situation.” She shook out of her grasp and sauntered to the open window. “Everyone keeps assuring me that I’m not a burden, but shit’s been going downhill ever since I got here.”

  “To be fair, shit’s been going downhill before you did.”

  “I fanned the flames.”

  “God, you sound like those old Council members who only speak in literature,” the princess teased. “I didn’t mean to upset you. Perhaps I shouldn’t have told you.

  “No, I’m glad you did. I understand why you would prefer that your brother marry a real Hagran princess than some random human who appeared in the middle of the Icelands, but it still hurts. I feel like I’m not good enough, but I also get it. It’s this mixed feeling.”

  Finoa strolled toward her friend. She placed a comforting hand on her shoulder from behind. “I get where you’re coming from,” she said. “But it’s not the way you think. You’re not a burden and you didn’t make anything worse than it already was before you were in the picture. And whatever Jerof decides, we’ll still either make you the best life here or get you back to your home planet. We’ll find a way.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Liz mumbled. “If I stay here, I’ll always feel alienated. Like, literally, an alien because I am.” She paused. “And I can’t just learn about all this Allegiance and DNA crossing and just go back home and pretend nothing has ever happened. I’ll never see the world the same way again.”

  “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

  “It is!” Liz shouted. “It is when you know everything, and you know you can’t do anything to change it. And if I dare tell anyone about it, I’ll just be considered insane. It’ll just live inside my head until I grow old and question whether it all really happened.”

  Finoa was silent. There was nothing more to be said.

  “Well, if you ever feel like going to one of those tours again, you know where to find me,” she said, sliding her hand off Liz’s shoulder.

  “Don’t forget to invite me,” Jerof said.

  The two women turned around. Liz’s heart rate immediately spiked as she locked eyes with him.

  “I’ll leave you two some privacy,” the princess murmured, rushing to the door and sliding it closed behind her.

  “Hey.” Liz spoke softly. She wanted nothing more than to run and jump into his arms, for him to envelope her and tell her that it was she who he wanted. But her feet were rooted to the spot. He walked towards her, not taking his eyes off her the entire time until he stood in front of her.

  Instinctively, she reached out and caressed the side of his face as he traced the back of her hand. His eyes were closed, and he took a deep breath, as though he were preparing himself to tell her something of importance.

  “Jerof,” Liz said. “Finoa told me about what happened in the meeting.”

  “She wasn’t there,” he said, sliding her hand off his face and walking toward the wardrobe. He began undressing himself of his Royal robe.

  “She was there in the first half of it. I know I was brought up. And I know some Hagran princess was also part of the conversation.” Her voice wavered.

  “It’s not important.”

  “It’s important to me,” Liz replied. “You think you can just have sex with me and hide this from me? I thought what we had meant more.”

  “Of course, it did. It’s not important because I’m not marrying a princess I’ve never met just for some verbal peace treaty. It can be done without a wedding.”

  “But I thought this has always been the way you guys do things?”

  “I don’t want to,” Jerof rebuked, his voice echoing. He turned to face her. “You walk into my life and you turn it completely around. You give it meaning and you make me feel,” he paused, waving his hand as he gathered his thoughts, “all these things I’ve never felt before. I’ve been with other women. Hagran women, but I’ve been with plenty. I’ve never felt this way before. I can’t explain it.”

  “Jerof, you know I feel the same way.”

  “I don’t know if you do. Ever since I laid my eyes on you, in that forest. You were in that weird outfit of yours. You looked so helpless and delicate. Like you needed to be protected,” he confessed. “But then days go by and I realize I’m the one who needs your protection.”

  Liz was taken aback.

  “And I can’t explain how strong your impact is. You’re my muse. My motivation. You don’t say a political word to me, we talk about absolute nonsense, but the moment I leave your side, I have all these ideas rushing through my head. I have solutions for problems that have stuck around for centuries. I don’t know what you do to me, but I know you’re the right woman for me and I’m the one for you. I’ll never be with anyone else.”

  “Jerof,” Liz mumbled as a tear slid down her cheek. “As much as this warms me, and as much a
s our feelings are more than mutual, I don’t want you to make these decisions because of me.”

  “You’re mine.” He growled.

  She paused to watch him study her facial expressions. He stood by the open wardrobe, undressed, his eyes fixed on hers as they travelled from one eye to the other. “At the end of the day, I ended up here by accident. It wasn’t planned. Maybe you want it to be planned because you’re so desperate for an answer, you’re making me your answer. But I feel like I’m nothing but trouble, Jerof. I’m a burden, and you don’t need to be doing this.” She sniveled as she wiped away her tears. “You don’t need to lose everything for me.”

  “You don’t understand.” Jerof strode toward her in decisive steps, his feet thumping on the carpeted floor. He cupped her face between both of his hands. Her head was miniscule compared to his grasp. “You think I’ll be giving up on everything, but it’s quite the opposite. I’m not desperate to make you my answer, but you are.”

  “How do you know that? What if you make that one big decision that you regret for the rest of your life?”

  “I won’t! Listen to me.” Jerof’s hands slipped off her face. He turned around, turning his back to her. She watched him from behind with quivering lips. “My mother. She knew this would happen. She knew I would fall in love with an alien.”

  “What?” Liz’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”

  “My mother had a premonition long ago that I would end up with an alien. It never made any sense back then, and it still doesn’t, but that’s what I see happening,” Jerof began. “Mother was a strange one.”

  “Premonitions. Is that a unique power that some Hagrans have?” Liz asked.

  “Sort of, but not really. It’s not like a mutation that makes you see the future. It’s more spiritual. If I’m not mistaken, I think some humans are the same way. Spiritual, that is. I’ve never really believed in this kind of stuff, but now it’s all coming together.”

  Jerof picked up another kimono from the coat hanger and wrapped it around his body without securing it shut.

  “Are you sure about this?” Liz’s eyes were still tearing up, but she had a smile drawn on her face.

  “Liz, I wouldn’t give you up for anyone,” he walked toward her. “It’s not that I never believed Mother. I did, but I never wanted it to be true because I didn’t picture it would be like this.”

  Liz perched on the bed and Jerof joined her. He slid his hands around her waist and she whimpered in anticipation as he leaned toward her and planted a peck on her soft lips. With her eyes closed, she pulled his head closer to her and sucked on his bottom lip, slowly undressing him.

  He pulled himself back to gaze at her body. “I would be a fool to give you up.”

  Jerof gently pressed on her chest to lay her down, but she pushed his hands away and climbed on top of him. He smiled, pulling her closer as he lay across the bed.

  “I see you like to assert your dominance, my Earthling.”

  Liz smiled, tracing her hand down his chest. “That’s exactly what I’m doing.”

  Chapter 18

  The way Liz whimpered and begged for more resonated in the back of Jerof’s mind as he opened his eyes with a smile on his face.

  As he turned his head, he saw Liz embracing his neck with her thigh laid across his torso; seeing her sharp curves made him as hard all over again. He was insatiable for her, but knew that he had to take it easy. Earth women weren’t used to his length and girth. He stroked her skin, enjoying how different human skin felt. It was supple and smooth enough for his fingertips to glide down her leg. She smiled, but her eyes remained closed.

  Jerof ran his fingers through her hair. She moaned, burying her head in the gap between his arm and chest.

  It was sunrise, and the room was dimly lit in purple reds. Jerof enjoyed the sight of how easily Liz’s skin would reflect lighting. He would find himself comparing the size of his hand with the rest of her, marveling how her size had become one of his favorite qualities about her.

  Before she made it into his life, Jerof would rush to the Council room as soon as he woke up to analyze their situation before the members attended. But he didn’t feel the need to prepare for anything anymore. He knew exactly what he had to do.

  Surely, he was nervous. He was risking his life for this woman.

  But even if he died, he knew he would draw his last breath with a smile on his face. His mother had always been far more sentimental than his father, and it was sometimes frustrating when he sought a logical answer. His mother would give him vague advice about the path he should take, which had made him idolize his father more whilst growing up.

  He had underestimated her. Jerof understood that now.

  Fellow Hagrans would warn him that humans were disloyal by nature – that Liz would likely stab him in the back if that would ever be in her favor; but if there was one thing that he had learned from his mother, it was the ability to read people. Liz might be on an entirely different planet, but he loved how she had adapted. How strong she was. How right she was for him. Jerof instinctively knew Liz would her risk her life for him if the situation required it – as he would for her. She was his – from now until eternity and nothing or no-one would get in his way.

  He feared traumatizing her, and he was well aware of the consequences of going into that ring. But it wasn’t about him. Liz’s life would be in danger if he left her behind; Council members like Belut and Murrn would be out for her head the moment he would perish.

  Jerof shot Liz’s body another glace before he reluctantly and slowly crept from under the sheets, letting her body slide down onto the mattress. He dropped a soft kiss on her lips. Then, with his claws extended, he scratched his scalp, shaking his long locks before climbing off the bed.

  He leaned down to pick up the kimono that was dropped on the floor last night, swinging it behind him as he glided his arms through each silk sleeve before securing it with a matching stilt.

  With his claws drawn, Jerof took a few seconds to braid his hair. Starting from the crown of his head and working his way to the bottom.

  Despite deciding to fight for his life in the Royal Ring, Jerof felt a sense of peace surge through him. All those voices that screamed in his head, each of them demanding he takes a different course – they had all quieted down.

  He smiled as Liz let out a soft murmur while she tossed and turned to her other side, covering her eyes with her elbows as the sunlight shone more brightly. He paced to the window and shut it using the rectangular remote on the nightstand. Then he walked back to her and stroked her face with the back of his index finger. She was so beautiful. He loved her curves, everything about her.

  Liz smiled, unconsciously grasped his wrist to caress it with her thumb, her eyes still closed. The corners of her mouth then relaxed as she passed back out, her hands landing next to her.

  Jerof leaned down, planting a kiss on her forehead and brushing her hair away from her face.

  “I will always fight for you, you’re mine my little Earthling,” he whispered, watching her bare chest slowly heave up and down. He pulled the covers over her, then gave his bedroom one more look-over before he strutted out. A strange feeling came upon him, as if he were committing this scene to a memory.

  He walked down the hallway, making his way to the Council room.

  “Jerof!”

  He ignored Finoa, and didn’t respond when she called out to him again. He already knew what she had to say to him. It wasn’t going to make him change his mind.

  He finally stopped, allowing her to catch up with him at the entrance hall.

  He turned around and spoke before his sister did. “We are warriors, Finoa. First and foremost. That is what you would always tell me.”

  “You will die,” she cried, punching him in the chest.

  The blow his sister gave him stung, but Jerof didn’t flinch. He stood still and let it pulsate until it faded. “I thought you believed in me.”

  “I believe in you
as a leader. I believe in you as a warrior but walking into that ring with who knows how many princes is just suicide, Jerof! Please, do not do this. Just bite the bullet and marry the bitch. I know you do not want to, but it is better than dying. Few princes have ever survived the battle.”

  “I will be fine.”

  “If you do not care about your own wellbeing and the people who love you, then think about Liz. Think about what will happen to her if you do not make it out alive.”

  “You will keep her safe and get her home. Find the shuttle and fix it. I know I can trust you with this.”

  Finoa’s eyes watered. “Please,” she pleaded.

  Jerof planted a peck on her forehead and smiled. He turned and continued to the Council room.

  As the guards opened the doors to the Council room for him, he found the King of Carr and four members who’d been waiting for him.

  “Jerof,” the King called out. “I would say Prince Jerof, but you will soon lose the title. And you will be dead.”

  “I believe that is enough, King Urik,” Akar said, shaking his head.

  “Is it? He is nothing but a traitor. I would have thought him to be a dictator, but he is worse. He is betraying us all for an Earthling. The reason why we are all in this mess in the first place.”

  “To assume an innocent being is the reason we are suffering anything is quite a stretch, my lord,” Murrn cried, throwing Jerof a glance.

  “Stop defending him,” Belut spat. “You think we should continue to praise him when he has chosen to risk his own life and the lives of other princes just for the sake of some Earthling that changed his mind about keeping his word?”

  “Again,” Jerof sad calmly. “This is not about the girl. You keep bringing her up as though she were your enemy. But if there is any disagreement, it is with me. Not our guest.”

  “She is not a guest; she is an invader. A pest,” Murrn blurted. “And the fact that you fail to see that is proof that she has brainwashed you. She could be a trap, waiting to capture Royals for more cross-testing. You truly believe she is here by accident? On the same day you went for your pilgrimage?”