by Mason, Jolie
“For what?” Nina looked skeptically at the rail-thin figure of the young girl.
“To get you out of here before the cameras come back up”, she said waspishly. “My orders are to get you safely to the servant’s entrance and out in the tube tram without compromising my position inside the palace.”
Nina eyed the girl carefully, looking for any sign of deception. “Who gave those orders?”
“Tybalt Rax”.
Nina blinked. “Ty? Ty gave you orders to help me?”
She nodded. Nina breathed in then out. The betrothal had never been officially dissolved, though he knew she’d wanted a life in medicine far more than a life in court. Ty had let her go, hadn’t he? What was he playing at now?
“Call me jaded, but why?”
The girl nodded, irritated. “He told me you’d ask questions. He says, ‘ for auld lange syne, my dear’.” She looked at Ra’dan. “Do you have any other options?”
“We don’t”, he said to Nina.
“Right”, the girl continued. “I have been sent to lead you to your rooms, but two doors down from here,” She pointed at Ra. “You are going to overpower me into the room on the left where you are going to steal staff uniforms and IDs that are mysteriously easy to steal as they will be folded on a bench. You will then make your way down the hall into the kitchens and beyond to get into a tram and leave the palace. A transport will be waiting at the end of the tram-line. Take it all the way to the end.”
The red-haired girl proceeded them into the hallway. The hall remained empty as they walked past first one door, then another. Playing for cameras that might be recording events, Ra’dan grabbed the girl around the waist and pushed her through the doorway she’d mentioned.
Nina hurried to follow them.
Benches and cubicles lined the far wall, and everything was utilitarian gray. Two neatly folded uniforms lay on a bench, just as the girl had promised. Ra’dan held the girl loosely in his arms. Nina still couldn’t see his eyes beneath the glasses, so she couldn’t help but make a squeak when he turned the girl in his arms and said “Sorry” just as he pulled back and knocked her cold to the floor.
“Why would you do that?”, Nina hissed furiously.
“Look to your left on the ceiling”, he said quietly rushing over to grab a pile of clothes.
Nina looked up and saw one of the security camera drones stationed in the corner. She looked away. Of course, she thought. So the servants can’t steal the silver.
He’d removed his jacket, but left his clothes on underneath the long gray jumper of an electrician. He nodded his head toward the second pile on the bench. “You need to get those on”, he told her.
Nina looked around. There were no privacy screens or dark areas anywhere. She wouldn’t have the same luxury of putting this dress over her clothes, she thought, as she looked it up and down. It was dove gray and white with ruffles, the uniform of the housemaids. She took a deep breath and started peeling her dress from her trembling body. So what? It’s just skin. Who cares who sees it?
Nervously, she let the finery she’d worn in here fall in a puddle, as she fumbled to pull the ruffled skirt of the uniform over her head. She arranged the skirts over her hips, but couldn’t fasten the closure at the back. She twisted her arm unnaturally trying to reach it. Ra’dan growled, “Here”, and put her back before him, his hands guiding her shoulders, and his body between hers and the camera. Then, she felt the intimate touch of a single finger at the top of her spine. Her breath froze in her chest, as it slide softly down the center bones of her and right into her core. Her head spun with his minor distraction from the danger they faced. Deftly, his hand worked the closure and then he ran that same hand over her arm to her clasp her hand and lead her through the door at the far wall.
A long hall led to another and then another, as signs pointed them to the tube tram. He let go of her hand as the sounds of other footsteps rang out in the other hall and chatter grew ever closer. “Through here”, he said pointing toward massive double doors. Two servant girls laughed and continued back the way she and Ra had come, taking no notice of them as they opened the doors to finally spill out onto a large departure platform. One after another the pill shaped tubes, seating up to four each, lined the tramway. Just beyond the protective roofing over the passenger area, she could see the gray clouds puff by full of rain and gloom. Ra indicated the first tram car, pulled out a ID card and held it over the scanner. This is where they see if Ty was still friend or foe.
Over her shoulder, she watched the entrance to the tram tube. A commotion cold be heard beyond the doors. Indistinct shouting reached her ears. “Hurry”, she mumbled the command at the tram.
With a hiss and a crack, the door lifted, even as the side car ramp simultaneously lowered to fit over the gap between tube and platform, forming a place to board the car. She gave a nervous giggle into the air and they both stepped in. Sliding to the far side of the car and strapping in, she looked up and met Ra’s eyes, though she couldn’t see them behind the dark shades.
“Anything about this Tybalt I should know?”
“He’s my betrothed”, she said, licking her bottom lip nervously. “Has been since I was ten.”
Ra nodded. “It would seem, my star, that everyone wants you back. Is he trustworthy?”
She heard the distinct tone in his voice, a hard tone. She reached for his hand, tucking it into her own as they felt the quick, fluid tug as the tube shot away into the tram-line. “I think he may be, yes, but Ra’dan?”
He didn’t look at her at first. Just remained eyes forward and that little muscle in his jaw flexing back and forth as he gritted his teeth made her smile. She let go of his hand and ran a long finger along his jaw. “Ra?”
Finally, he turned to her. “It won’t matter what anyone else wants. You have me.”
He took her hand in his own. He shook his head. “Don’t”, he whispered. “No promises. We may both end up slaves to another’s whims. Did he love you?”
The change of subject was so abrupt she didn’t know how to react in the moment. She supposed he was right. Had she ever really belonged to herself? She imagined there had always been an invisible leash somewhere ready to tug her back.
“Did he love me? I suppose he did. I’ve never really thought about it. He runs a robotics firm, successfully. He’s a political powerhouse, come to think of it. He doesn’t need a connection to the throne, and we’ve always been... well, friends of a kind.”
She turned to watch the city buzz by outside the tempered windows. “When I told him I didn’t want to marry, he was fine with it, but disappointed, he said. He funded my trip to Sor, helped grease a wheel or two to get me the medical grant I needed.”
“He loves you”, Ra said.
“We’re friends”, she insisted. Ra’dan looked at her once again, removing his glasses.
“He loves you. He let you go when you wanted to start the clinic, and he’s risking everything to save you now. Trust me, Star. He loves you. Can you trust him?”
“He’s a good man, if that’s what you mean.” Ra’dan tensed. She felt it through his arm where he clutched her hand.
“In that case, if we don't get off this planet, I want you to do what you have to do. You survive. Understood?
She stared him down intently. “Yes, Captain. Same to you.”
Periodically, the tube would ding and indicate a stop arriving. They ignored the sound as Ra held her hand, running his long fingers over the skin of it, exciting nerves she didn’t think could get excited. He whispered her name, then suddenly he turned to her, ran his other hand into the hair at the back of her neck, and tugged her closer. “Just in case”, he said, just before he crushed his lips to hers.
He communicated with his mouth to hers in ways human beings could not with words. She gasped. There was fear that he’d lose her, fear of slavery once again, relief that she wouldn’t be alone should he die, and there was love. So much love, she could disappear in it. Ni
na realized somewhere in the blur of overwhelming emotion and tongues melding with each other that she felt what he felt.
There had been whispers that Sorians had psychic ability, innate and dormant among their genetics. The rumors were true because she felt every little thing he did in the moment. She didn’t just know he loved her, she felt it. Every little nuance of meaning filled her head, flashes of white flesh in moonlight, clouds of her shining hair surrounding his face as he breathed her in deeply. Nina’s body and soul were twined with him. His memories of her invaded her senses.
Suddenly, her body was a wondrous thing. Gods, she turned him on, she realized and gasped into his mouth. His hand slid over the side of her breast through the gray fabric before he pulled slowly away. As though he savored each touch because there would be no more. Nina sat there, eyes closed, brain completely disengaged. She only knew that wasn't normal. She'd noticed something was different between them, but this was truly wondrous. He'd just shown her a universe all at once.
She opened her eyes to see his gold eyes dilated and steady on hers. She didn’t trust herself to speak without crying.
“I want you to accept what you must to be safe. Whatever that is. Do you understand?” Nina shook her head. His hands returned to her shoulders to shake her gently when he saw her face transform to a stubborn expression. “Stop it. Be my practical Nina now. We don't know what's at the end of this line.”
“No”, she answered hoarsely. She raised her hands to his forearms, tense as wire. “No, just stop it. You will not leave me or die. I forbid it.”
“You forbid it”, he mocked gently with a huffing laugh.
She ran her hands up his arms to his hands, covering them as calm acceptance flooded her. “I’m with you”, she said finally. “You are the only person in the universe who has my loyalty now. Nothing else matters.”
She meant it. If the choice was him or the three planets, she would choose him. Him or the empire, no choice at all. The Imperium would lose. None of it matters a damn, if this man isn’t in it, she thought.
“Shush”, she whispered to him when he started to protest again. “Enough. This is our life together. I’m fighting for it.”
She knew without words that he was thinking he’d probably have to die for it, that she was insane to think they had a chance. She wondered if her emotions were flowing back to him and asked. He simply swallowed and nodded. She smiled. “That feeling thing, that’s the best thing ever. What is it?”
He closed his eyes a moment. “It’s a mating bond. I’m sorry. It’s not supposed to happen like this. Some of us are telepathic, empaths, psychic. We hide it from the universe for obvious reasons. The slavers may not have understood what my abilities were, only the results.”
“Excellent sex”, she said.
He nodded and looked ahead. “We’ll be at the end soon.”
“How does this mating bond work? I've heard the women talking, but what does it mean exactly for us?”
“It’s usually done after a Sorian joining ceremony”, he sighed. “I’m so sorry. It’s a terrible thing to do without permission. It wasn’t intentional.”
“Hmm. So, we’re... kind of married?”
“Yes and no”, he answered. His fist clenched at his sides now. She felt his self-loathing, his self-pity. This didn’t require a scalpel. This was a job for a hacksaw.
“How are we not married?”
He looked her way, humiliated. “According to your traditions and legality, we are lovers only. In the traditions of the Sor, we are wed. In fact, I should and would be shunned for even allowing it to happen without your consent.”
“So, I’m your wife?” He nodded. She laughed.“Oh, you are so in for it now. You married me! Ha.”
He looked at her as if she had lost her mind. The happiness cautiously unfolding in her breast might suggest she had. “Brother, among the traditions of my people, I just became the boss of you. Prepare to be nagged. Who gets married accidentally? That's priceless.”
She still giggled when the tube tram announced the end of the line. He only watched her, confused by her acceptance, even enthusiasm. “You are not angry?”
She laughed. “Why would I be angry?”
The tram slowed with the same gentle tug and came to a stop. They waited till the familiar hiss and crack told them it was time to disembark. Ra’dan scanned the platform before he let her out. She saw that there was a pair of men in chauffeur uniforms at the end of the tramway where the shuttle park was. She met the tallest one’s eye. He nodded. Grabbing Ra’s hand, she led him over to the dark suited man she thought she knew.
Thankfully, there were no troops waiting for them or enforcers swarming the trams.
As they got closer, she said “Ty?”
He gestured with his hand for her to lower her voice.
“Did you fire your driver?” She whispered it, leaning toward him.
“Just for today”, he answered and smiled. “You look just the same. We have to get moving.”
He led them down a path between two lots. Shuttles parked on each side at intervals covered the lot. It was a busy commuter station. A green and gold shuttle chirped as the side cracked open and lifted to allow them to get in. Tybalt moved efficiently into his pilot’s seat and fired it up. “Once we break atmo, you can call the Belle for coordinates. So, Nina, what did you do to start a war?”
“Not a damn thing”, she said watching the sky. “Do you know what’s happened to Aleria?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that the woman I met yesterday cannot be my sister.”
Ty ran a hand through his dark hair and glanced at Ra’dan and quickly looked away, almost as if he wanted to be saved from this conversation. “People change, Nina.”
She shook her head stubbornly. “Not that much. That’s a robot or droid, a spy or something.”
“Look, Brat, I’m not gonna lie to you to make you feel better. You can take it. She’s passed every genetic test known to mankind, and a few alien tests. She’s your sister. You think the council didn’t consider the possibility when they started to die off one by one?”
“She killed the council?”
“Not all of them, but it won’t take long. Of course, she was subtle. They were accidents or others were framed, but only a fool would miss the implications of ten men dead in mysterious accidents. Braddix and Holloway are the last two. Dead men, if they don't stay a step ahead.”
“Gods”, she whispered and leaned into Ra'dan. They barely felt the pull as they broke free of the planet below into the traffic of orbit. She listened numbly as Ty sent his launch permissions to the drone, and they were released into the traffic surrounding the Imperial Space Station.
Ty glanced at her again and pushed the comm. “Carry Bell, this is the Nina requesting your coordinates on behalf of your captain.”
A long pause stretched before Luca’s voice came back, “Nina, this is Carry Bell. We are in high orbit, sending coordinates. It would be a good idea to make sure the Captain boards first. We’re all a little jumpy up here, Nina.”
“Understood.”
Ra’dan glared out the view screen as the Bell grew larger and larger. “So,” he said. “Your shuttle’s name, that’s a nice name.”
Nina grabbed his hand and shook her head with a small, tight movement. It didn’t matter thought because Ty looked their way, his eyes falling significantly on their joined hands. He looked away. “Only a name, Captain. You’ll be home shortly.”
“You have to come, Ty. They’ll know you did this.”
He smiled one of his rakish smiles, all playboy and no substance. “Don’t be silly, Nina. I have people who need me. Rebellions don’t start themselves.”
Her hands clutched Ra’s as she sat wondering at the change in him. Had the shallow man of the world act always been just that, an act?
“How will you explain being off planet just as we escape?”
“I can just swing by the station and check
on my business concerns there. Maybe, throw one of my elaborate parties.”
Nina had to ask. “How long have you been playing this game?”
He stiffened and fiddled with the docking controls. Nothing but the sound of the clamps grating filled the shuttle. Once the shuttle settled smoothly into the bay, he turned to her. “A long while”, he said.”Long enough to be very good at it.”
“Father?” He winced, then slowly nodded.
“That was us, but I swear I didn’t take part in the operation. I told them I couldn’t.”
“But you helped somehow?”
He sighed, turning in the pilot’s seat. “I could lie, Nina. I could lie to you right now, and you’d never know. I won’t do that. Yes, I forwarded my schedule which was also your father’s. Yes, I’d do it again. The man was a tyrant. We believed your sister would rule with more wisdom and compassion. We were wrong. It was an error we are trying to correct. He was your father. I understand if you hate me.”
She swallowed hard, taking it all in. Her father’s death had been so smoothly done no one suspected assassination. Not even once. A shuttle crash, the vids all said. She remembered now that Ty had been hungover and late to that social event, forcing him to shuttle himself in and, by the time he’d arrived, it would have been all over.
Nina glanced at him. There were unsuspected depths there beneath his dark good looks, things she’d never have guessed. She shook her head. “I know why rebels would wish father harm. Gods, everyone was a little relieved. Ty, I don’t hate you, but I also don’t think I know you. In a way, you’ve always been lying to me, and you are very, very good at it. Maybe someday.”
“Nonsense, My dear.” He boomed. “You won’t see me again. Safer all round. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I should get moving. Don’t want too much time to lapse between take off and hang over, or my story won’t hold water.”
“Goodbye, Ty”, she said softly.
He smiled sadly at her. “Goodbye, love.” Tybalt looked toward Ra’dan. “Take care of her.”
Ra nodded and hit the button to activate the ramp. Nina found herself alone in the shuttle with Ty. “Why?” She hadn’t even known she would ask the question, but it was the thought on her mind. “Why”, she asked again.
