by Alyse Zaftig
I didn't know how to explain to her just how overbearing my great-aunt was.
"Just leave it alone."
Serena looked out the window and ignored me until we got there. When we got out of the levi-car, she gripped my arm and hissed, "Who is that?"
"He's from the old world. He is finishing some kind of doctorate, studying the colonization of this world."
Serena tried to twist her hair so that it fell over one shoulder. "Introduce us. He's so handsome."
She was shameless. I beelined for him. "Excuse me, sir?" He turned around and looked Serena up and down. "May I present Serena? Serena, this is the scholar Lord Borbon."
"Enchanted." He kissed Serena's hand. "And what a pleasure to see you, too, Arienne." He hadn't let go of Serena's hand yet. Instead, he put it on his arm so that he could walk away from me. He wasn't being rude. Serena was pulling him towards the door to the porch with all of her might. I was pretty sure if I followed them, I'd find them attached at the mouth. The novelty of someone from off-planet had excited Serena, especially since he was handsome and intelligent. He was a rare jade-colored dragon when he shifted, but I guessed that Serena could find that out for herself.
"Hello, lovely."
I tried not to grimace when I turned around.
"Hello, Lord Georgius."
"I noticed that you looked a little lonely. Your great-aunt isn't here."
I looked at the floor. "I guess so."
"Can I take you to the refreshment table?" There was a glint in his eye. He'd finally caught me. He looked very satisfied, a smile hinting on his lips. He was staring down my dress again.
I felt the hair on the back of my neck rise. My heart was beating like a rabbit's. "I'm so sorry. I need to use the powder room."
I fled straight to the front door to get my levi-car. I sent a message to Serena so when she finally stopped making out with her dragon, she'd know where I'd gone. I would send the levi-car back for her when I could.
I had to figure out a way to avoid him. I couldn't keep going to his parties. I had to avoid Agatha and my great-aunt. They didn't actually hate me, but they were slowly shoving me into a corner. I needed to figure a way to avoid marrying this odious and evil man.
9
Antique Shop
Xuan
I wrote down the tracking number for the new statue. There were still a few stragglers in the shop. With the big party going on, I should just turn off the OPEN sign off. Slow nights like tonight weren't worth staying open. A very small percentage of nights helped me keep the doors open. The Draka who came in here could afford the whole thing. I didn't like to mooch off of my sister's family, so my primary source of income was this shop. She'd helped me with purchasing and stocking my initial inventory, and I didn't want to accept any more help. The Draka nobles who came in here to buy artifacts as decoration kept me going. My first months had been full of buzz, because they were curious. But party season, mixed together with mating season, was a big threat to my business. Maybe I'd reduce my hours. The Draka didn't seemed inclined to invest in more "art" when they were running around to parties. The last people in the store walked out. The door chimed as t hey left.
I turned off of the Open sign as I heard the sound of a bell. Had one of them forgotten something?
When I looked, my heart stopped. The woman, the one I hadn't been able to forget, was back in my shop. And at least this time I didn't have to deal with my semi-hostile cashier. If I didn't talk to him, he was going to drive away all my business.
"How can I help you?"
Her face was a little flushed. "Could I stay here for a minute?"
"I'll make you some tea." I turned to make some tea.
She looked uneasy, shifting her weight between her feet. "I shouldn't be here. I shouldn't..."
"We're just drinking tea. I'm glad for the company. My shop's empty since there's another Draka party." I didn't know why she was here, but I was grateful that she'd come back. I hadn't even known her name when she haunted my dreams.
"What's your name?" she blurted, hugging herself.
"Xuan. What's yours?"
"Arienne."
"You're very beautiful, Arienne."
Her cheeks flushed as she fiddled with the semi-precious stones one the long gloves that she was wearing, which went halfway up her arms.
"You look like you escaped the party that everyone else is at."
She smiled at me. I felt something warm in the center of my chest.
"There are reasons for that."
"Why don't you tell me about them?"
The tea was ready. I turned off the kettle and poured tea into two cups for us.
I was careful, but in a few minutes, she wasn't as stiff.
"What are you doing here?"
"I escape into the marketplace whenever I feel too cooped up."
"And you came to this shop."
She ducked her head. "I came back...I wondered who you were."
"That's easy. I'm Xuan."
"I've heard about this store, but I hadn't been here before the last time."
She turned to look at the door as if she felt like she might leave.
“Would you like some tea?”
She turned back to me. I held my breath for a second, because I could see her refusal in her eyes. She wavered for a moment.
“Yes.”
10
Tea Party
Arienne
Xuan looked shocked by my acceptance. He almost seemed as if he could read my mind and knew that a moment ago I’d contemplated running back home and never darkening his doorstep again.
“Great,” Xuan said, recovering. “I need your company, if you’ll let me make you some tea. My shop hasn’t seen a lot of people today, since there’s a Draka party going on right now.”
I flushed and fidgeted, playing with the semi-precious jade decorating my evening gloves.
“You seem to be running away from the party that everyone else is trying to get into.” He winked at me, and then the corner of his mouth turned up.
“There are reasons for that.” I let go of my glove. I watched as he poured water into a tea kettle and set it to heat.
“I’ll turn the sign around. I was about to close anyway.” He walked past me and I caught a whiff of his masculine scent. He smelled like the sea, clean and fresh.
I wandered around the shop, looking at the new things he’d brought in since my last visit. He seemed content to polish the counter behind me, present but not demanding anything from me. I wished that I had more peace like that in my life. There were plenty of people who would love to have my life, I knew. I just wasn’t one of them.
When the tea kettle screamed, steam pouring out of the spout, I knew that we should sit down. I settled into a small chair while Xuan held the top of the teapot and poured tea into my cup. It was soothing to watch him give me a sugar cube. I watched it slowly dissolve into the hot water.
“Do you take milk?”
“No,” I said. I left the tea in the cup to cool on the saucer. Boiling tea wasn’t the perfect temperature.
“Neither do I, so that’s a relief. I don’t have any.” He winked at me again, and I felt a tug in the center of my chest. I was strangely breathless, sitting here with our tea.
“Do you want to talk to me about the reasons you left the party? I’m good at keeping secrets.”
I took a tiny spoon from the table and stirred my tea, as if the sugar hadn’t already dissolved in it. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can talk about it, really.”
“Must be pretty bad for you to run away.”
I swallowed to make the tears go away. “You have no idea.”
He didn’t push me, even when I wiped my eyes with the back of my right hand, rubbing hard jade against my face. He didn’t say anything, but in another moment he’d put a handkerchief in my other hand. I dabbed at my eyes, grateful for the help and for the lack of pushiness.
“Let’s talk about something else,” I said, pushi
ng out a shaky breath. “What made you start a shop?”
“I’ve always sold artifacts,” he said. “They were just obtained through…alternative means. Once my sister wed the Draka princes, though, all bets were off. I couldn’t be a thief anymore. She gave me the capital to set up a respectable business doing what I’d always done. She told me that I was done with any harebrained schemes that would leave me dead. So here I am.”
“Are you happy?” I asked.
“I’ve gotten what I wanted. What I asked for.” He looked away, gazing at the floor.
“You didn’t answer my question,” I said. “And maybe that’s an answer.”
“I don’t know the answer.” He swallowed hard. “Maybe.”
“Run away with me,” I offered.
He gave a short bark of laughter. “Are you serious?”
“Why not?” I didn’t have much to loose, just my family and my position in society. I was willing to run away with Xuan and leave everything behind.
“Not today,” Xuan said. “But I’ll keep it in mind. I better drive you home before you’re missed.”
I stuck my lower lip out in a pout. “Are you sure?”
“Get on my bike,” he said, standing. “And we’ll see where it takes us.”
11
Air Bike
Xuan
“I have a helmet you can use,” I said, grabbing a helmet from the storage room in the back and tossing it to Arienne. She put it over her head, looking more beautiful than any woman had a right to look. I put on my own helmet and pressed the button that would unlock my bike.
“Wow!” she said, walking in a slow circle around the bike. “It’s huge.”
“I made it,” I said, and I was only bragging a little bit. A lot of time had gone into this bike, the only one of its kind on this planet. It hadn’t been manufactured. I’d scrounged parts and slowly created it with my own two hands. “Hop on the back.”
She climbed behind me and wrapped her arms around my waist. I savored the feeling of her body pressed against mine before the bike came roaring to life and we were speeding back to where she must live, the Noble Quarter. We let the wind roar past us, stealing any words we might have said to each other. But truthfully, we didn’t need words.
In too short of a time, she tugged my ear with her fingers. I pulled the bike to a stop.
“We passed my home a mile ago,” she said. “I’ll walk from here.”
“I can take you back,” I said.
“I don’t want you to go out of your way,” she said.
“It’s no trouble,” I countered.
She shook her head. “I’ll get in trouble,” she said. I could hear the ring of truth in her voice. She tugged off the helmet, handed it to me, and then rumpled her own hair. “I’ll come see you again.” She waved at me and then turned.
“Until next time,” I said, watching her walk away. I had plenty to think about on the ride home.
“Xuan!” Phuong screeched. “Why do you encourage them?” She had a twin under each arm. Her face was dark. The twins were very wet.
“What did your children do this time?” I was practicing my dragon kicks in my room.
“You know what they did!” she yelled.
“I don’t,” I said, turning and picking up one twin who smiled angelically at me. That was how I knew that they’d been particularly diabolical.
“Did they get into the kitchen again?” Fire and water were both under the twins’ command, which meant that the kitchen was not a safe place for small beings who didn’t understand safety measures. They could easily float a burning log in a crazy circle around the kitchen without breaking a sweat, although it certainly made the Yore jump. Draka were, to some extent, impervious to flame, but Yore certainly weren’t.
“They conjured sea spirits!” She put the other twin on the ground. They were masters of fire and water, but they preferred crawling over walking. The twin on the ground scuttled over to my feet and began pouncing on me like a curious kitten then bounding away.
“That doesn’t sound too…”
“And they dumped water on the visiting Draka dignitaries!” She buried her face in her hands. “I can’t take them anywhere.”
I stifled a laugh. I believed that a soaking wet Draka in human form was pretty funny.
“You’re as mature as the babies,” she hissed. “I should punish you by make you take care of the little monsters.”
“No problem,” I told her. “But they might be worse after they spend time with me.”
Phuong threw her hands in the air. “It never ends!”
I raised my hands and backed away slowly. “I can see that I’m better off elsewhere. See you.”
I made a strategic retreat from my irate sister. I was in the mood for the ridiculously expensive Draka Moon tea, which my in-laws served constantly. When I got to the shop, it was filled by Draka nobles. They were dressed in finery that made me look out of place.
I went up to the counter and asked for a pot of tea. Instead of sneering at me, as some of the nobles were, they just nodded and pointed to an empty table. They knew who I was, the brother-in-law of their princes.
I sighed. It was weird, having a married sister. I was not just a third wheel. I was a fourth wheel. I still loved her and my nephew and niece, but I needed something more.
Unbidden, I saw Arienne’s smiling face. Just thinking about her made my heart beat faster. She was so incredibly lovely that it was hard to breathe sometimes.
But she wasn’t for me. No matter how powerful or influential my sister’s husbands were, I’d never be good enough. I could tell that Arienne was part Yore, but she was obviously noble enough to be accepted in Draka society. I was pure Yore. My sister had been snubbed sometimes in Draka society, despite her husbands, and I was in an even worse position because I hadn’t married into a Draka royal house.
I stared at my hands and the skin that would never be as light as Draka in their human form. I’d never be the one for Arienne.
12
Speech
Xuan
NEXT DAY
“You skipped a word,” I said. “Start from ‘when we’ve…’”
She sighed in exasperation. “I just don’t speak well in public. If I trip up this much when it’s just you, how will I be able to handle our people?”
“You can do it.” I patted her shoulder. “We’ve been looking up Yore history and interviewing Yore people for the past few months. You have this speech down cold. The Yore love you.”
“I know,” she sighed. “But I don’t want to let them down. One wrong step and they could turn on me.”
“We’re what’s left of the imperial family,” I reminded her. “They are essentially our subjects. If they depose you, they’ll only have me. And nobody wants that.”
My sister started again. “When we’ve unearthed the buried treasure of the Yore empire, we won’t only be looking for gold and jewelry. So much of our wealth is in our culture and heritage, too long suppressed by the Draka. It’s been underground for far too long.”
“Pause for applause,” I interjected.
She waited and the continued on about the Yore cultural heritage.
My mind drifted off as she started reciting genealogy. I wanted to learn more about Arienne, so I dug into the records. I was surprised to find that she’s half Yore, even though she looks very Draka. I couldn’t find much about her birth. Nobody wanted to tell the story. But she was adopted and raised as a Draka noble. I saw for myself that the Yore didn’t seem to want to claim her.
But I did.
13
Avoiding the Parade
Arienne
While I sat in my boudoir, I looked at the invitation in my hand. There was a big parade going on today. There'd be toweringly enormous floats. I used to like parades quite a bit as a small child, but now that I understood that parades were where people were meant to see and be seen, I wasn't as eager to go.
If I went, I'd be in a sp
ecial box on a balcony meant to display how wealthy I was and how generous my parents were. I'd have to do my hair and makeup immaculately and wear a dress that made it clear that the people on the street were scum.
I didn't want to.
Instead, I found my thoughts drifting back to Xuan. I had no business getting involved with Phuong's brother, of course, but I could not deny the magnetic attraction between us. Just thinking about his smile made my heart tug painfully. My adoptive mother was sure to point me in the direction of a more suitable pureblood Draka noble instead of a Yore.
The more I tried not to think about Xuan, the more time I spent lingering on him and everything that he made me feel. Lord Georgius made me feel repulsion. Xuan didn't.
I decided to go for a short walk in town. Maybe a few breaths of fresh air would help me. I threw a scarf around my neck and headed out the door. Immediately, the smell of roasting meat assailed me. I went to find the shop that it was coming from.
It was a soup shop, the one around the corner that smelled pho. It must be a Yore feast day, though, because they were selling roasted pork. I went in and bought a box of it. My mother would never let me eat it on the street like this, like a commoner, but here I was, eating with my hands. The grease of the roasted pork was all over my hands. I was deliciously dirty. I wasn't wild enough to lick my fingers, so I surreptitiously wiped my greasy hand on the napkins that they had provided in my bag. They took care of the worst of the grease, although I knew I had to stay away from touching anything.
Throwing the bag into the trash compactor, I walked into town where some flashing lights caught my eye. The sparring boards were up since there were fights on. I was about to look away when I saw Xuan's name.
