Stolen for the Alien Prince

by Leslie Chase

  "There's a food extruder in the living area," I pointed out, resisting the urge to laugh when I saw her blank expression. It wasn't her fault, I reminded myself. Of course a princess didn't know how to operate the kitchen. Doubtless she'd never had to prepare her own meals, or even seen the servants who did it for her.

  "Come, I will show you," I said, and pulled open the curtain. The extruder was a cheap model, and I didn't expect that it would provide anything up to a princess's standards, but it was food.

  She watched dubiously as I showed her the controls. There wasn't anything clever about it, and even for a basic extruder the selections were limited. That was probably for the best, I thought — fewer controls to confuse Immorata with.

  But it did mean that the resultant bowl of goop didn't look appealing even to me, let alone an Imperial Princess. I didn't blame her for wrinkling her nose in disgust as I handed it to her.

  With a delicate sniff, she brought a spoonful to her lips and tasted it. Frowned, and tried again.

  "Maybe it's just because I'm starving," she said, "but this stuff is actually not too bad."

  This time I couldn't help laughing. "Princess, the verkesh are cheap scum, but they aren't idiots. Mostly, anyway. They wouldn't want to eat something that tastes as bad as that looks."

  She smiled, acknowledging the point, and set to eating in earnest. I knew it had to be awful in comparison to what she was used to, but she didn't complain. Sometimes she surprised me, and that gave me hope. Perhaps Immorata wasn't the useless princess she made herself out to be.

  "I'll be back as soon as I can," I told her, and dropped out of the vehicle.

  The first thing I noticed when I hit the ground was the smell. Whoever had settled this place clearly hadn't made any provision for so many people and there was no infrastructure to keep the place clean. It took a moment to get used to the awfulness of it.

  In that time a few people had noticed me. Most moved on quickly, but I saw a gang of thugs sizing me up and felt a smile on my face. The nearest of them paled at the sight of my fangs and I walked towards him. Not only would they know the lay of the land here, but they also looked like people I wouldn't feel bad about hurting if I had to. The best kind of informants.

  The gang was mixed, several species amongst them. Unusual — most gangs were pretty exclusive in my experience. Perhaps what passed for a criminal underworld on Erdush was different, though. The place didn't seem to have enough permanent residents for communities to have built up.

  "That's Hayen's truck," the leader of the gang said as I approached. "What are you doing with it?"

  Great. Someone who knew the verkesh. That made things a little tougher. I looked him up and down, considering my options. His species was unfamiliar to me, but he had the lean and muscular look of a fighter, and enough scars to show that he had some experience. Hopefully that meant he had the brains not to fight if he didn't have to.

  "He a friend of yours?" I answered his question with one of my own. The gang looked each other, then shrugged.

  "We've worked with him a few times, that's all. Don't need any trouble."

  "Hayen should have been that smart," I told them, grinning wider. They all tensed, and I could feel the anger and fear in them. The desire to assert themselves on their turf warring with their caution. I didn't need the distraction, so I tried to push them in the right direction. "He picked a fight with me and I ended up with his truck. Won't need it once I'm off-world though, so I can sell it cheap."

  "How cheap?"

  "A few questions answered, that's all I need."

  The leader weighed up his options, but I knew which way he'd jump. The hovertruck wasn't in great shape, but in this junk heap of a town it looked like a big prize. Getting that just for talking was better than a fight which he had to know would hurt, even if he was dumb enough to think he could win it.

  It didn't take him long to come to the same conclusion. He nodded and everyone relaxed.

  "Alright, I guess we can be friends," the leader said. "I'm Grax. Whatcha need to know?"

  "Start with the easy one — which of these ships belonged to Hayen?" I looked out onto the landing field, and the gang all laughed.

  "See that one staining the soil?" Grax asked, pointing. I groaned. Yes, I saw it. A saucer-shaped ship in awful repair. The engine was leaking something and even from here I could see that the drive surfaces were misaligned. It was a wonder that the ship hadn't exploded already.

  "Could be worse," I muttered. At least it was in one piece, unlike the Darkfang. "Very well, that's one question answered. Now, what's the big news."

  "Ah, you haven't heard?" Grax snickered. "Figured maybe Hayen told you who he was hunting. There's a rumor that the Silent Empire misplaced a princess."

  The rest of the gang snorted with laughter and I forced a smile. That was not good, not at all. A quick glance around told me that there were humans here, which was something at least. But as long as the princess insisted on wearing her fancy dress, she'd stand out like a gemstone amongst the dross.

  "How'd that happen?" I asked, more for time than anything else. It wasn't going to be easy to keep her out of sight, and getting that damned ship spaceworthy wasn't going to be a quick job. On the other hand, staying here was only going to get tougher.

  "I don't know, it had something to do with the fight up in orbit yesterday. Big explosions, man, boom-boom!"

  Everyone looked impressed with Grax's impression of a ship blowing up, and I tuned the gang out. They were clearly out of the loop here, no matter that they pretended to be the big men locally. Someone had to have spread that story, the stop at Erdush hadn't been part of our planned route, but these kids weren't the ones who'd tell me where it came from.

  "Alright, friends," I said, forcing myself not to sneer as I spoke. I'd avoided having to kill them so far, and I didn't want to get pushed into it now. "That'll do. When I leave, you get to keep the truck and everything in it. Now, where can I get a drink, something to eat, and maybe some parts for a spaceship?"

  Grax grinned. It looked like he was smart enough to take that victory rather than pushing things too far. Young and inexperienced he might be, but I'd met a lot of stupider gang leaders in my time.

  "Rer's place is good for food and drink," he said, pointing to a bar next to the landing pad. "Lots of spacers stop there. Parts? Lots of scavengers around the port, but Yennifer's probably your best bet. Tell her I sent you, she'll take good care of you."

  I chuckled. What he meant was that he'd get a kickback for sending me to her, of course, but I had to start somewhere. Nodding, I took my leave. I had no intention of going to Rer's, of course. Somewhere spacers gathered was too dangerous — I might not be as recognizable as Immorata, but there was no point in taking the risk.

  There certainly was a lot of activity around the port as I made my way through it, and if the word was out that there was an Imperial Princess to find, then I had to work fast. Whoever planted the bomb that destroyed the Darkfang might already have agents here, and if not, then the local hunters would be enough trouble.

  My hands curled into fists and I trembled with rage. The urge to hunt down whoever had killed Darkfang nearly overwhelmed me, but I forced myself to keep walking towards my new ship. Tracking down the enemy could wait until we'd survived the trap they'd set — and that meant getting Immorata safely home.

  Then, I promised myself, my vengeance on the people who'd nearly killed us both would shake the heavens. But first, my mate had to be safe. That was the first and most important rule.

  The ship didn't look any better up close. A crudely painted sign proclaimed it to be Nest Four, which only made me wonder what had happened to the first three. But the keys I'd taken from Hayen's corpse opened the door easily enough, and while the ship must have been cramped for the verkesh and their prisoners, it had plenty of space for two. It had a stocked galley and fuel. And it had a hyperspace engine. It would do, if I could get it into a condition I'd consider safe
to fly in.

  That would be the tricky part, because it was held together with tape and hope. Gritting my teeth as I pulled open inspection hatches I counted the number of ways that the ship was a death trap and cursed.

  I could fix it. I might not be an engineer but traveling space on my own had taught me a lot about maintaining my ship. More than the verkesh had ever learned, it seemed — a lot of what was wrong would be easy to fix with the right parts. They just hadn't bothered, and every hour we were stuck here on the planet was a delay that we couldn't afford.

  At least none of the parts I needed ought to be hard to find. Yennifer's shop, sitting on the far side of the landing field, was surrounded by a junkyard that looked like it would have everything I needed... though I wouldn't count on anything there being in good condition. The sooner I could get the ship fixed, the better. I looked the place over as I approached and approved. For a dwelling here it was well fortified, walls of crushed vehicles surrounding and protecting it. Not enough to hold off an assault, but enough to make it awkward to slip in unnoticed or to get stolen goods out.

  That suggested the owner was a professional, and if I had to deal with criminals, I'd rather deal with those who knew what they were doing.

  Yennifer herself turned out to be a human, which was good news and bad at the same time. A human living outside the Silent Empire would presumably have opinions on the royal family, and might well recognize a princess. On the other hand, at least I would be able to read her body language.

  Two large lizardhounds waited at her side as I approached, their tongues darting out to taste the air. Enough to keep her shop safe from the criminals that surrounded her, probably. I decided I liked this human — even if she probably was a criminal herself, it took something to run a business in a place like this.

  Unfortunately, that didn't mean that she would be helpful. She listened to my requirements and sighed, putting her hands on her hips.

  "Sure, I can do most of that," she said. "Probably all of it, but I'll have to check on some of the parts. The question is, can you pay? I don't know you, and you don't exactly look like you're carrying a lot of cash. Plus, you're looking for parts for a ship I know didn't belong to you yesterday, so..."

  I couldn't blame her for being cautious, of course. Offering credit would be an astoundingly bad idea in a place like this. The trouble was I really didn't have much else to offer, not without admitting who I was at least. I regretted getting rid of the hovertruck so quickly.

  "I have enough money off-planet—" I said, and her laugh cut me off.

  "Sure, and my aunt's the empress," she said. "Doesn't help either of us here, does it?"

  My hands closed into fists at her words, spines on my arms spreading in a threat display. No one doubted the word of an Acheran warrior-prince.

  The lizardhounds growled, ready to defend their mistress, and I forced myself to relax. She had no reason to know I was a warrior-prince, and I could hardly tell her. It would risk giving away everything. So instead I bowed my head and forced myself to relax.

  "I don't have anything here," I admitted. "But I only need to make one short hop in the Nest Four. How about I trade you the parts I don't need for the ones I do — there's at least one food extruder I can part with, and an air recycler. Probably a lot of other bits and pieces. And you can have every damned chair in the place."

  Her eyes sparkled as she laughed again, kinder this time. "Yeah, verkesh chairs are no fun at all, are they? Okay, I'll see what we can do. Take me a while to look for the parts you need, though."

  I tried not to show my relief. If we could just get the drive working safely and enough of an environment system to be confident it would last the rest of the way to Achera, then this would all be over. I'd be home with my new mate.

  It was a weird feeling to realize I was actually looking forward to that now. Not just to fulfilling my mission and my duty to my family, but also to bringing Immorata home. I wanted to see her face when she first encountered the majesty of Achera's mountains, and I wanted to hold her and keep her safe. Was the princess growing on me?

  I couldn't decide if that was a good thing.

  11

  Hope

  Waking up alone I felt confused, sore, and hungry. For a moment I didn't remember where I was and assumed I'd fallen asleep on the couch again. My neck hurt, and I was dressed, and I started to panic as I couldn't remember whether I was due in to work today.

  Sitting up quickly I looked around the unfamiliar room and my heart sank. For a moment I'd let myself think that my only problem was whether I'd make it into work in time to avoid getting shouted at. But, looking around the alien truck with its slave-cages, I remembered that getting fired was the least of my problems.

  "Count your blessings," I told myself as I stood. "At least I'm not locked up in one of the cages."

  Though I might as well have been, for all the freedom I had. Xendar might mean well, but he was still my captor and once he found out who and what I really was — and more importantly, what I wasn't — I had no idea how he'd react.

  The trouble was I didn't see how I could possibly fool him for much longer. Every day we went on, Rofain's plan seemed more and more implausible. He'd been a fool to risk it, or desperate enough to believe something that couldn't possibly work. But then it wouldn't be him facing the consequences when my deception was revealed.

  My heart sank, and I wondered whether I should just confess to Xendar. He was a good man, for an alien monster. I thought I could trust him to treat me fairly. Except... what was fair, for someone who impersonated a princess? That sounded like a serious crime, and worse, like a personal betrayal. And I'd seen him tear through a gang of armed aliens as though they weren't there. If he got angry, there wasn't a thing I could do to save myself from him.

  It wasn't even all about my safety. Xendar needed to marry the princess to stop a war, and as far as the galaxy was concerned I was the princess now. Even thinking that made my blood run cold. Did I have a responsibility to live with the lie? To spend the rest of my life pretending to be Xendar's perfect princess?

  I no longer had any confidence at all in Rofain's plan to swap in the real princess. Worse, when I tried to imagine it, I felt hurt and betrayed — which made no sense. I didn't want to be Xendar's bride.

  Did I?

  My thoughts and feelings were a horrible mess and it hurt to try and make sense of them Gritting my teeth I tried to distract myself with breakfast. The reconstituted goop that the machine mounted on the wall produced had an awful texture, but the taste was surprisingly good every time I ate a spoonful. Maybe there were some advantages to life in outer space, if even a cheap run-down gang like this could get tasty food on demand.

  Or maybe it was horrifically bad for me but tasted good. I had no way of telling. Right now, though, all I cared about was getting something to eat.

  Behind me, the vehicle's door slid open and I spun around to see Xendar climbing inside. He shut the door behind him as fast as he could, then turned to look at me.

  "Can I get some fresh air?" I asked before he could speak. The air outside was anything but fresh from the filthy stench that had come in with him, but I was feeling too cooped up to care.

  Xendar shook his head firmly. "No. Under no circumstances. There are too many people out there looking for you, Princess, and if you go outside you will attract too much attention. I can't keep you safe from everyone."

  I sighed and threw up my hands. "I'm going to go crazy in here, then! There's nothing to do."

  The grimace that crossed his face seemed genuine, but he shook his head again. "I am sorry, truly. But I will not let you put yourself in danger again — I only barely arrived in time to save you the last time."

  The memory of that made me shiver again, and I nodded quickly, hugging myself. "Don't worry, I'm not going to make that mistake again."

  Xendar's look turned from stern authority to concern in an instant, and he was at my side before I could blink.
His strong hand took mine, squeezing with a gentle power, and I drew a ragged breath.

  "My princess," he said, looking into my eyes. I hadn't noticed the flecks of gold in his violet irises before. They were beautiful, and somehow calming to look at. "My princess, I know that I have not protected you as I should. I know that you must be disappointed in me. But I swear, by Fires of Achera, that I will keep you safe and bring you home."

  His sincerity was impossible to doubt. There was a passion to his words, a power to them that I couldn't deny, and I knew then that though he might fail it wouldn't be because of anything he left undone. This was a man who would put himself between me and harm even if it cost him everything. A smile tugged at my lips and my cheeks heated as I shook my head, looking away.

  "You think I'm disappointed?" I almost laughed as I spoke. "Xendar, you've done more than anyone could have expected to keep me safe. I'm only alive because of your quick thinking, and I'm only free because of your bravery and skill. If you hadn't been there to save me, I'd be in one of those cages right now."

  "I would never allow that," he said, the ferocity of his words making my breath catch. He was so close now, I could feel the heat of his body and I wanted to feel more of it. Swallowing, I sat up, our faces only inches apart.

  His free hand rose to touch my cheek, and I moaned softly at his touch. A shiver ran through me, my body melting with desire, and my heart raced as I stroked a finger along his forearm, tracing my way between the razor-sharp spines. Such an alien body, but I wanted to know it all. To explore it.

  Xendar's growl was low, a deep vibration that I felt inside me more than heard. He bent over me, face lowering towards mine.

  "Princess," he breathed, and I shivered. "Immorata..."

  At the last second, before our lips met, I turned away. It was the hardest thing I'd ever done, but I couldn't. I couldn't do that to him. Everything he thought he knew about me was a lie, and if I didn't dare tell him the truth, that didn't mean I could take advantage of him like this.