Huen: Sci-Fi and Fantasy Romance (Zhekan Mates Book 2)

by E. A. James

  She didn’t see it when Adrik peeked open one of his eyes.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  A growl rumbled through the air, ghosting over her face in a taut, warm wind that smelled of rot and fish.

  Leonie, half-asleep, turned away and cringed with disgust.

  The second growl had her snapping her eyes open.

  She rolled away just as two enormous paws smashed against her blankets, a roar bellowing above them.

  She scrambled to her feet—dirt and torn leaves falling off her—before dashing to the side as the bear charged at her. It smashed its paws against the ground and then turned to her.

  “Adrik!” She rolled out of the bear’s way again, kicking off one tree to propel her forward and away from her attacker. “Adrik! I need help!”

  The bear snarled, slowing as it circled her. Its beady eyes locked with hers, ferocity a suffocating aura around the beast.

  Her heart, lodged at the base of her throat, hammered. “Adrik.” She glanced at where he had been sleeping, only to discover that area vacant.

  The bear crouched, prepared to leap.

  Adrik crashed into it. Their large bodies tumbled over the ground, the bear’s claws slashing out while Adrik kept his arms around the animal.

  Leonie went rigid, eyes blowing wide and heart stuttering. And then she remembered the bow in her pack.

  The bear snarled and Adrik grunted as they fought.

  She ran to her pack. She had just dug out the bow and two arrows when abrupt silence fell upon the forest.

  She snapped her attention back. “Adrik?” she breathed, her chest icing over.

  Adrik and the bear lay limp on the forest floor. Suddenly, Adrik grunted, sliding a part of himself from beneath the bear before rising and dusting the dirt off himself.

  Leonie dropped her weapons, a shaky sigh bursting out of her mouth. “Thank the gods.” She glanced at the bear, still unmoving. “Is it dead?”

  “Yes,” Adrik huffed. “I snapped its neck.”

  She blinked owlishly at him—at his large hands. “Wow. Alright then.” Shaking herself out of her stunned state, she searched through her pack again, this time for her daggers. “We must skin it and package the meat. No life should be lost in vain, not even a predator’s.”

  “Sentimental reasoning, but it has a practical nature to it.”

  She snorted, smiling. “I’m glad you approve.” She pulled out two sharp daggers, gleaming beneath the scattered sunshine that shone through the trees. “Now, hold the bear up for me, will you? This is going to take a while.”

  Adrik nodded.

  The bear meat was gamey but filling, leaving the shops of scattered villages obsolete for their vital need of food. Thus, they continued on solely through forests until they crossed the border into the Kingdom of Sallimor, a much drier place covered mostly in sand. Where she and Adrik walked now, however, was covered with some tall yellow grass and a few dead bushes.

  Leonie glanced around, twirling slowly as she did so. Unease sank in her bones.

  Adrik sighed. “What are you doing now?”

  “Where is the border patrol?”

  “The Kingdom of Sallimor doesn’t care about its borders. All guards surround the royal family, nothing else.”

  “Really?” She faced forward again. “Well, then what about Sasawa’s border patrol?”

  “We have one guard stationed at the Southeast post. No one from Sallimor ever ventures to Sasawa though.”

  “That can’t be true.”

  “Virtually, it is.”

  “Is that what they teach you in the military? It doesn’t sound accurate.”

  He shook his head and shrugged. “It’s just something I noticed when I first came to Sasawa.”

  “From Maylorn.”

  He gave her a disapproving frown, his forehead wrinkling a little. “From Sallimor. Maylorn isn’t next to Sasawa.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I know that! I meant you left home to come to Sasawa.”

  “Oh. Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “It was…” His frown deepened, gaze scattering about as he thought. “Different. No sand, not a lot of Gargans. I appreciated it.”

  “You wanted to be away from your own people?”

  He tensed, not looking at her. He remained quiet for the next few moments, each step as rigid as the previous one.

  Puzzling, she thought as she observed him. Guilt tried to flare up within her—she had clearly opened an old wound—but confusion kept all other emotions back. Leonie scratched her jaw, her mind trying to reach certain conclusions. When it couldn’t, she gently said, “Forgive me, I didn’t mean to insult you. I just…I just don’t understand. People usually want to be near their own. It’s an instinct, I think.”

  He scoffed. “Instinct? If that is so, then I was born without it. A defect, perhaps.”

  Her heart ached. “What? You’re not a defect!”

  Adrik grunted; his facial muscles stiff and eyes blank.

  “You’re not,” she repeated. “I’m being sincere. I never meant to imply—I mean of course, you’re not a defect. Why would you ever say such a thing?”

  He took a deep breath, his muscles relaxing and his eyelids lowering. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I…I grew up in a family that was very…strict in their ways of thinking. I was different from them, so to them that made me limited.”

  Defective. She winced, her chest feeling as if it had been cracked open. She tightened her grip on her pack and blinked hard. Before all of this, she had believed her family had loved and accepted every aspect of her. Now…well, at least the former was true.

  She inhaled shakily, the ache in her torso burning a little hotter. “They’re foolish for thinking that way.”

  He chuckled. “That so?”

  “Yes.”

  “Funny, I thought you would agree with them. We haven’t always seen eye to eye.”

  “That doesn’t make you defective.” She glared at the yellow grass—becoming sparser and sparser the further they traveled. “People can be different from one another without being defective.” She spat to the side. “What a horrible thing to make someone feel.”

  “Everyone thinks that way, you know,” he said, lips quirking upward. “We all think we’re a little better than others.”

  “Well, that isn’t right.”

  “Perhaps.” His smile widened. “Though that comment in itself argues that one way of thinking is defective.”

  She stopped, head hurting and frustration flailing inside her.

  Adrik stopped and looked back at her. He was still smiling—no, grinning at this point.

  Amusement bubbled up her aching torso, and she shook her head. “Why does this make you so happy?”

  “Hap—?” His lips twitched, his eyes widening before he frowned. Then he cleared his throat and continued forward. “We should really keep moving.”

  “You’re keeping another secret from me?” She hurried after him, her arm grazing his. “What is it?”

  “It wouldn’t be a secret if I told you.”

  “Yes, it would. It would just be a shared secret. Those exist.”

  His lips quirked upward again. “Ah. Be that as it may, I prefer to keep this one to myself.”

  She pouted goofily. “You’re no fun.” When he didn’t respond right away, she bumped into his firm arm again.

  His smile widened just a bit more.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Sand in her boots, Leonie approached the first Sallimor village. Adrik strode beside her, his steps languid and indifferent to the sandy terrain. Leonie couldn’t help but glance at him with envy each time her own steps wavered.

  One of these times, he caught her. “Why are you looking at me?”

  She stared at his feet and pouted. “No reason.”

  He opened his mouth, but his flickering gaze caught sight of something in the distant—and he abruptly faced forward.

  A group of people, all well dressed, hurriedly mar
ched out of the village and toward them. They looked like their hopped from one foot to the other, spears pointed skyward.

  Leonie stopped and squinted. “That’s not because of us, is it?”

  Adrik stopped, too, inhaling deeply. “We should run.”

  “What? No, this looks important.”

  “It looks dangerous.” He reached for her.

  She ducked away and walked closer to those who marched toward them. Their uniforms were a dark blue, the large symbol on their chest a shiny white. “That looks like the royal guard, does it not?”

  Adrik sucked in a breath. “It does, but I still don’t like this.”

  They remained where they were until the guards finally arrived, their spears swung downward and aimed at Leonie’s chest.

  Leonie shot up her hands and cringed. “Okay, maybe you were right.”

  Adrik sighed, raising his hands, as well.

  “Mad Duchess of Asawiss,” the guard in the center said. “You’re under arrest in order to protect the royal family from your blasphemy.”

  “From my what?” She shook her head, her beating too wildly for humor to blossom. “Look, I—I only want to prevent a war. I don’t mean anyone any harm.”

  Adrik took a step forward, a little in front of her. “How did you know she was the Mad Duchess?”

  She clenched her teeth.

  The center guard said, “We received word of her travels and impending arrival in our land. Her threats will not stand here.”

  She paled. “I’m not threatening anyone!”

  The center guard drew his sword and raised it close to her chin—and, subsequently, closer to Adrik’s hip. “Nor will you ever.”

  Adrik grabbed the blade and squeezed, the metal shuddering within his tight grasp.

  The guards’ eyes widened.

  The center guard tugged at his sword, but it barely budged. He bared his teeth as fear swirled in his eyes. “Resisting arrest is also punishable. We merely intend to arrest the Mad Duchess, not her companion, but if you persist—” He growled as he pulled even harder.

  Leonie slowly stepped around Adrik, her elbow tapping his upper arm. “Let go. I’m willing to go with them peacefully.”

  Adrik kept his narrowed eyes on the center guard. “It isn’t right for them to do so.”

  “They’re just scared. If the royals are willing to hear me out, then maybe they’ll understand.”

  “They’ll lock you up for your madness.”

  Discomfort crawled over her skin, she wasn’t sure how many more times she could stand being called mad. “Well, yes, possibly. But if that occurs, I can reach out to my family, and they can find a way to return me home without any violence.” She pointedly lowered her gaze to the sword in Adrik’s hand. “No one has to get hurt. Or humiliated.” She cocked an eyebrow at the guards.

  Adrik’s glare deepened.

  She bumped her elbow against him again.

  He exhaled slowly through his flared nostrils. “Fine.” He released the sword. “But I shall be arrested with you.”

  Her heart fluttered. “Adrik, you don’t have to do that.”

  “I’d rather not stand here and watch them take you away when you’re right about it all.”

  That had her frowning. “What if I was wrong?”

  “Then they should definitely arrest you to protect others from your insanity.”

  She sneered, “Seriously? What kind of loyalty is that?”

  “I’ve known you for a few days. This amount of loyalty I’m giving you now is generous.”

  “Generous?!”

  The center guard cleared his throat loudly, regaining her attention. The other guards were nowhere near him now, and when she glanced around to search for them, two of them lightly pushed her onward.

  The other few shoved themselves against Adrik’s back, making him take a half a step forward.

  “No more talking until we reach the palace,” the center guard said, turning and then marching onward.

  The palace consisted of many towers the color of ivory, their windows so massive that they made up the majority of some of the walls. A clear and ivory castle with guards patrolling around each tower as well as the gardens surrounding the castle grounds.

  Everything sparkled and gleamed, making the structures painful and blinding if looked upon at certain angles.

  Leonie kept her hands up, her arms throbbing a bit from the constant position. She rolled her shoulders back, the absence of her pack appreciated—so long as the guards didn’t damage any of its contents.

  Adrik—rocky texture and all—looked like an impenetrable statue with his hands up and arms bent at perfect ninety-degree angles.

  Her boots kicked up some sand as they all entered the northeast tower. With so many large windows, it almost felt like they were still outdoors. The stillness and staleness of the air informed her senses that this wasn’t the case. The tiled floors—the few tan bricks that did make up the walls—they were covered in layers of dirt and sand, but it was not unappealing. It seemed to fit this kingdom well.

  She and Adrik glanced at one another as they were led to a rectangular stairwell. There, the guards stopped them before a guard on the left whispered to a man standing by the stair’s railing.

  “Princess Froda had to depart some time ago,” the man—a butler—said to the guard. “But King Gier rests upon the throne now. Perhaps it would be fitting for you to take the prisoners to his majesty.”

  The guards frowned at one another, brows creasing and eyes flaring with nervous energy.

  Leonie turned to Adrik, who glanced at her in acknowledgment. Then she looked back at the guards. “You’re aware that I’m a young duchess, yes? Then isn’t it appropriate that I speak with some form of royalty in regards to this…misunderstanding?” She flashed them her most charming smile, though it bit into her cheeks and nearly made her twitch.

  The guards reluctantly took them to the tower throne room, on the sixth story—near the top where all manner of cannons were placed, perhaps only for the sake of appearances. And like the entire tower, the throne room’s walls were made mostly of glass. The floor was a more polished marble, and it sparkled with gold specs reflecting back at them.

  King Gier sat upon a throne made of dark red and blue cushions. His limbs frail and his eyes beady, he stroked his long white beard as he stared at the ceiling. Though his eyes were a bit dulled—a gray fog overtaking the whites of his eyes—the boredom was clear to see within them. He blew out a long breath, shoulders sagging.

  He jumped when the guards guided Leonie and Adrik to him. Eyes wide, King Gier straightened. “What is this then?”

  The guards raised their spears and knocked their fists against their own chests.

  “Your majesty,” the guard in front of Leonie and Adrik said before he bowed his head, “your daughter requested the capture of the Mad Duchess of Asawiss in order to ensure the safety of Sallimor.”

  The king squinted at the guard and tugged on his beard. “What? Mad Duchess of—?” Gier raised his gaze to Leonie. He squinted even harder then, leaning so far forward that he was practically crouching in front of his own throne.

  Leonie smiled and waved as much as she dared. She knew of him well enough, but did he know anything of her?

  His eyes brightened, and he slowly sat back down. “Why you’re one of Iven’s nieces, aren’t you? Yes, Elder Duke Aldrich’s eldest child. I remember King Iven speaking highly of you and your immediate family.”

  Relief cascaded over her heart. “Thank you, your majesty. My uncle Iven spoke highly of you, as well. He told us the last time he visited the kingdom of Sallimor that you had the first editions of the entire Knights of Olnorma series. He was most envious.”

  “Those belonged to my son-in-law,” Geir said, patting his eyes. “I’m afraid I’m much too old to read as well as I used to.”

  “Oh. Well, just to clarify what is occurring here in case your eyes continue to betray you, my companion and I are ho
lding our hands up in surrender while your guards threaten us with their weapons.”