by Calista Skye
“Please,” Genie answered, full-on marrying the moment.
She was going to enjoy this. Jana was right, why would she have ever wanted to deny herself?
“I recommend the Sama Dekeri. It is a delicacy.”
Genie made a what-the-hell face, and broke into a sporting smile.
Why not?
“I'll take it.”
The server awarded her an indulgent smile and passed over a drink with foam that threatened to waft over the shell it was contained in, then seeing that Genie needed nothing more, she made her way around the lush hovercraft with her tray, her moves like that of a cat in the form-fitting teal suit she wore.
“Fucking amazing, isn't it?”
Genie turned to share a smile with Striker who'd been openly oggling her the moment she and Jana had emerged at the front hall of the base to wait for pick-up.
“Who'd have thunk we'd get a flipping, welcoming ceremony?”
He asked it with a cricked brow, like he wanted to say something more but chose to rein his tongue.
“It's a lovely gesture.”
“So long as he's not expecting anything in return.”
Genie grinned.
“Just enjoy the gift. He has more than he'll ever need. I think this is a good sign. He's telling us he's really okay with us being here, beyond his duties to the alliances he's formed.”
Striker searched her eyes and shrugged, downing the contents of his shell, his eyes quickly darting the gathering for another drink tray.
“Might as well enjoy it,” he said finally. “Stay out of trouble.”
“You, too.”
She could only imagine what kind of enjoyment he had in mind with the Tentai beauties strewn about the shift, all shiny, and scrumptiously dressed.
“Madame, the King would like to speak with you.”
Genie spun around to meet the faintly glowing, violet eyes of the envoy, her heart immediately taking into a healthy thump. Mouth going dry, she quickly lifted her shell to take a sip of the Sama Dekeri before answering.
“Um, sure. I'd be honored.”
“This way.”
He gestured toward a section of the ship that wasn't opened to the whole of the party, and Genie took his side without openly questioning it, her eyes roaming and meeting Jana's where she laughed and leaned into a group of Tentai who seemed absolutely enraptured with her. Giving Genie a stark thumbs up, Jana's eyes glittered with encouragement.
They reminded her to live tonight, without words.
Heart warming, Genie took in the opalescent décor of the halls the envoy led her through, feeling herself relax instantly once she was within their borders. When the pair finally drew to a stop, some of her nerves returned, though, and she met the envoy's gaze with a poorly veiled hesitance.
“Should I just wait... here?”
Genie only half-saw him nod as he bowed and took his leave, then gathering her courage, she looked to the door and approached it, a small lump forming in her throat.
When the door creaked open, she felt like her heart might stop, but then the most lovely young Tentai server emerged, her eyes large and sparkling like watermelon tourmaline as she exited and bowed.
“Please, have our welcome,” she rasped, her voice low and deferential.
She averted her eyes when Genie thanked her and gestured the translator over the threshold. Genie watched her take a position outside the door then finally dredged up the courage to actually step in.
The entrance itself was dark, and the deliciously, cloying scent of alien incense engulfed her in a sweet, woody smoke. Admittedly, it helped calm her some, but her nerves were undoubtedly still on edge.
Straining to make out the space she'd entered in the dim of the chamber, she jumped when small, bouncing lights lit the ether, the pronounced buzz of mini wings zipping around and past her ears.
Gasping, Genie's hand rose to cover her chest.
“Do not be afraid. They only wish to make you comfortable.”
Genie couldn't find her words as intensely as her heartbeats filled her ears then as the room came into focus, along with the thoroughly, stunning image of the king. He was even more beautiful than he'd been when she'd first laid eyes to him, powerfully impressive, but vulnerable somehow. Something in his eyes communicated a hunger and a secret fear that it might not be sated.
“T-thank you for having me, King Sesh.”
“I'd prefer if you didn't address me with a title. Sesh is fine.”
Genie swallowed her nerves, a wave of heat coursing through her.
“Alright, Sesh.”
Nodding, the king took several, slow steps closer to her, stepping into the soft glow of light created by the buzzing things surrounding her head.
“They're night wings, casting a kind of starlight from the pits of their bellies.”
Was... was he answering her thoughts?
“I'm... I apologize. My people are accustomed to intimate thought. I will keep away from your head if it makes you uncomfortable.”
Genie cleared her throat.
“Thank you.”
The king smiled. His smile was warm and quietly accommodating.
“Are you enjoying the festivities?”
“I am. Thank you. This is all very lovely.”
Was the heat set on hell? Why was it so hot in here?
“You're probably wondering why I asked you here.”
Well, at least he wasn't fishing around in her head now. I mean, she was, wondering that, but it wasn't what she'd been focused on just then.
“You're the chief translator?”
“Associate. Kenna is the chief.”
“Of all departments. More of an overall... manager.”
“Yes.”
The king took a few steps closer to her, tenting his fingers contemplatively as if he was carefully selecting his words before continuing.
“When I came to oversee some of the process, I noticed a strange pattern in the ether that told me something I'd have never expected.”
He paused, inspecting her with an all but bursting pulse of intensity.
“Okay.”
The king's eyes took on a piercing tone, and he held her gaze meaningfully for a long time before averting them.
Genie's eyes followed, slipping down over him before she could restrain them. This lavender eyed god was a subtle but palpable force, one who didn't need to lord his power over others. The Tentai were very different than the run-of-the-mill alien species Genie had made the acquaintance of in school. They seemed to have their roots in the depths and appeared to be quite comfortable with it.
The robe he wore swished softly as he moved closer, slinking down over him, a subtle, glistening gold that brought out the violet undertones of his skin. Tentai skin almost looked to be carved of stone, dependent upon the way the light hit it.
Right now, he looked every bit as otherworldly as he was, and more. He looked like someone who knew deep truths, of course about his own kingdom, but also about the cosmos, and even... about her.
Genie's eyes zeroed in on the lush swell of his lips as he continued, now much closer to her than before. Close enough to reach out and touch, though she truly wouldn't dare.
“You have...”
His eyes averted as he found his words. “...Been in my dreams, ever since.”
His velvet voice thrummed through Genie, more intimately than if he'd reached out and took her hand in that moment.
“Me, too.”
Sesh's eyes rose up to meet hers, and they took on a deeper, more probing pulse, as if he was checking for her internal reaction to it. Though, of course he wouldn't do that now knowing that she didn't want him kicking cans around in her head.
“The way I felt when I laid eyes on you,” he went on. “The way the book glowed...”
Genie creased her brow. The way the book lit up?
“That's not the natural way of the tome?”
The king looked her over, a calm, smile flashing his
eyes.
“No.”
What could that possibly mean? Shit. What was he trying to tell her?
“It means the book expected you,” Sesh clarified, though Genie got the distinct vibe that he was holding something back.
“But how can that be? I'm from Earth.”
“It would not matter if you were born five galaxies away. A foretelling is a foretelling.”
A burst of vapor rising up from the vents blew Genie's curls across he cheek, and she saw the deepening of the king's gaze as he regarded her.
Then he took another step closer.
“There are... things I would like to show you. Things that will confirm what I'm telling you and more. You'll need to see them for yourself.”
Genie was awhile before answering.
“Alright.”
“Will you enjoy the night's tour, and stay in the guest chamber? I can explain that you will be inspecting artifacts. Working.”
“I'll... be inspecting artifacts?”
Again, a smile flashed in his gaze.
“Yes.”
“I'd... love to stay.”
~
She'd returned to the rest of the party after that, with the king escorting her, no less, and she couldn't remember having been so overwhelmed and delighted in the same turn. The land the hovercraft revealed to them was lush and spectacularly otherworldly, unlike anything Genie had seen before.
The flora and fauna were something out of a psychedelic natural world, stripes and muted neon colors making the terra look like something out of an acid-trip storybook.
Several towering plants, that vaguely resembled trees from afar, and even some of the land-roaming creatures bore symbols in their fur and scale patterns that she was sure she'd seen in the first tome. The wheels in her mind began to turn with wonder. What did it all mean?
Maybe, whatever the king meant to show her would tie it together?
At the close of the tour, the envoy pulled Kenna aside and communicated the king's desire that Genie stay behind, and though the chief translator's dark, almond eyes flicked to her with concern, he agreed so long as she herself consented. When she assured him that she did with a thumping heart, he took his leave with the rest of the team holding the expectation that he'd see her after a day span.
Slightly uneasy, Genie watched her team shuffle out of the hovercraft with a weird mix of pause and excitement. The hovercraft, the king, and his Tentai version of a court were all foreign to her. But foreign or not, there was a path here that might contain answers to a number of very important questions.
Looking over the base as the last of her team disappeared into the building, she shivered in the growing chill of night, trying to force back her nerves at the prospect of spending the night on an alien ship.
Her skin flushed again, the familiar heat she was coming to associate with the king surging the surface of her skin. She sensed him, too, on a level she could only call intuitive, and she didn't know what to make of it, even as he spoke to her.
“Will you stand so far away for the entirety of your visit?” He asked.
A server approached with a tray of gargantuan fruits resting on its surface then, and the king gave her a small shake of the head before returning his eyes to the associate translator.
“Should I call her back?” He asked.
“Maybe in a bit.”
It was weird having a king ask you if a server could provide you with a selection of fruits at your whim, but she tried to make Jana's advice into a repeatable mantra to get her through it: Live a little.
Why not, right?
It felt weird now with Jana gone, though.
“Would you prefer to turn in, or would you like to acquaint yourself with the artifacts now?”
Genie cleared her throat.
“Um... Now, please.”
The king grinned.
“I wouldn't expect anything less from a women of your pedigree.
Pedigree? What an odd thing to say.
“You'll understand me soon. I assure you.”
7
Genie started at the sudden flicker of a flock of night wings, their bio-illumination casting the room in an exaggerated shower of light. She hadn't known what to expect when he'd led her deeper into the hovercraft's lower decks, but the sculpted texture of the walls suggested he was bringing her to a sacred place.
Her breath stuttered.
She fought to even it.
When her eyes finally adjusted to the light, she looked to the king, her heart racing when she averted her gaze to the tome he stood to the side of, opened wide and waiting on a podium in the center of a room full of what, at first, looked like sculptures.
Genie quickly reminded herself that he'd mentioned artifacts.
This was no art gallery.
It was sacred to the Tentai.
Her heart raced. She could barely believe she was even here. It was friggin surreal.
“Come.”
Answering the intent focus in his eyes, Genie didn't hesitate to move forward, the light cast by the night wings making the room's shadows seem to shift, like she was under the surveillance of Tentai ancestors and guardian spirits.
The king gave her a warm smile when she came to stand before the book; returning his smile, Genie drew to a stop beside him. She dared not look too hard at the tome until instructed. Knew how sacred the Tentai's artifacts were, how seriously they took them.
“Do you see how it reacts to you?”
Blinking, Genie slowly glanced down, her heart warming at the sight of deep space rising up from the book's black pages.
“What-”
“It knows you.”
“The book... knows me?”
“Somehow... you are connected to our most sacred things.”
Genie quirked a brow, averting her eyes from him, suddenly overwhelmed. What was she to make of that? How could she possibly be connected?
“There's a tale of a princess, the product of inter-spatial lovers bound in an impossible affair. In the end, the king died alone, but his daughter went on to live out her life on another world. This was years ago. Many years.”
The king reached out to her then and took her hands. A surge of something she could only describe as ecstasy shot through her as their skin made contact, a completeness she'd never felt before.
“You have his eyes.”
“Who?”
“King Zom.”
“Me? My father's-”
“King Zom is not your immediate father; he is tied to your blood. I'm sure of it.”
“But-”
He caressed her fingers in his, drawing so close his breath flirted her lips, and she thought for a moment that he might kiss her.
“I would never fall in love with someone who is not of royal blood. The blood of royal Tentais speaks to one another, even when it is not in large amount in one of the parties.”
Genie gulped a breath, suddenly feeling like she was going to pass out if he didn't slow down. It was wondrous and impossible, and she... she needed to sit.
“You can't mean-”
“You are my Queen, Genie. You do not know it, yet, but the entire planet can feel it. Your blood whispers to mine and mine to yours.”
Genie's hand rose to her chest, and she took a firm step back.
“I... I need some air.”
A certain disappointment filling the king's eyes, his lips drew to a firm line.
“I'll escort you updeck. You should probably rest for the night. There are many artifacts and books that you may wish to spend time with... before you return to your work.”
~
Genie decided not to return to the artifacts that night, but she hadn't slept very peacefully when the envoy showed her to the quarters the king had reserved for her. She had enjoyed a seriously luxurious bath, though and smelled like absolute heaven by the time she slipped into the robes that were left for her.
Tentai robes looked vaguely alive with electricity in the way th
ey faintly glowed and snatched moonbeams and starlight at certain angles.
Sitting by the wall panel window, staring out at the stars of Tenta, she thought about the king's revelation to her, still numb-minded about it. He'd basically told her she had alien lineage, royal lineage, and stars, that she was his Queen of all things.
It wasn't the sort of thing men of any species said everyday, let alone on first meeting a woman, and she was going to need a minute with it.
Where had her shiny, royal lineage been when she needed it, when she was utterly ostracized amongst her peers? When she could barely scrape up enough tuition to make it through a full semester without starving? And why now? Why was this all being revealed to her now when she was so close to making a name for herself?
She really did want to make her own way, but the king would shadow over anything she would accomplish as a translator. Her hard work would be all but forgotten in the face of people learning she was a royal of some alien kind.
A strange reaction to his news, maybe, but the thought troubled her all the same. Jana would probably be thrilled to bits if she found out that Genie had royal, alien lineage.
Those were the kinds of thoughts that competed for space in her mind until the light of day was so obvious, she could avoid the king no longer, and when she finally emerged from her chambers at the chime outside of her chamber doors, she resolved to meet the matter head on.
She'd never run from anything.
She wouldn't start now.
~
“Breakfast?”
Genie's heart warmed despite her overwhelm. The king hadn't sent an envoy or servant. He'd come himself, dressed down somewhat, wheeling a tray full of food, no less.
“Prepared by the King of the East, himself.”
Cracking a smile, Genie stepped past the doors as they slid all the way open to him, and following him up to the top deck, she decide to give him a chance. It said a hell of a lot about his character that he didn't lean on his servants for every little thing, that he had made breakfast for her, no less.
