The Princess and her Alien Rogue: Alien Romance

by Harmony Raines

  “I’m not leaving,” he said firmly, fully clothed but minus the shirt. He was going to need all of his tricks to defeat the mob who were coming for him.”

  “You have to.”

  “I can fight them.”

  “And they will kill My Princess.”

  The words hit him in the gut. Of course. If they had been together he could have protected her, but if the Emissars already had Tallia, they had a hold over him; they had leverage. “I can’t leave her.”

  “If you do not, you will both die.” Rian wiped her eyes. “Please, do as she wishes. Get off the planet. They will likely use her, make her revoke the crown and all claim to it. But if they are pushed they will simply kill you both and be done with it.”

  “Rian, I can’t.”

  “She said to tell you that she would rather live a life in captivity knowing you were alive, than face the future with your death on her hands.” Rian looked away from him.

  “Tell me. What else did she say?”

  “Nothing,” Rian said quickly.

  He reached out and touched her arm, holding her gently. “Tell me.”

  “She said we should find Misha’Ha.”

  “The witch who told Tallia where to find me?”

  “Yes. She says Misha’Ha will either tell you what to do, or she is guilty of treason. In which case My Princess asks you to put a knife in her heart. Just as the witch has put a knife in My Princess’s heart.”

  “So I’ll go to the market and find her. You know where she is.”

  “I will tell you.”

  “No. Come with me.” He held her arm, and started to lead her towards the doorway.

  “I have to stay here and help My Princess.”

  “How?” He turned and faced Rian. “They know how much you mean to Tallia too. Do you think they will not use you against her?”

  “I … I am but her slave.”

  “Who would die for her.” His face softened. “Come with me and help fight them, from the outside. Take me to this psychic and see what she has to say. Then if you want to, you can come back here.”

  “Very well,” Rian agreed. “I will come with you and put the knife in this witch’s throat myself if she has betrayed My Princess to the Emissars.”

  He had not thought of that. For all they knew, the witch had been put up to this whole thing by the Emissars. However, he could not work out why they would want this Misha’Ha to tell Tallia to marry him. If they were going to get her to marry a fake husband as her fated mate, then surely they should have picked a man who did not know how to kill. Instead of one who was more than willing to do cut down anyone who stood between him and his wife.

  As they ran through the deserted hallway, down the stairs towards the kitchens, he heard the shouts of the guards who were entering the room they had just left. It was all he could do to summon the will not to turn around and cut them down where they stood. Only the thought that it would make matters worse for Tallia stopped him. He had to find out the truth, and from there he would be able to plan his next move.

  Chapter Twenty-One – Tallia

  “What are you doing?” Tallia asked angrily as she stared at Emissar Aleck through the bars of her cell.

  “What we should have done long ago.” He smiled at her benevolently. “We should have spared you this last year of trying to find a husband. We should have sent you away and taken control when your foolish father died. The people would have believed you too weak and sad to rule, there should have been no long-drawn-out charade. But we wanted to allow things to happen naturally, for you to realize you are not suitable to rule. But instead you married that silver alien. Now we have to act before you produce and heir and prolong this mockery. We are not willing to give power to your kind any longer.”

  “My kind? My kind came here and saved the people from zealots like you. I think it is my ancestors who made a mistake, they should have thrown you out of the palace hundreds of years ago. Instead you have been left to fester like an open wound; well, I will heal that wound.”

  “And how are you going to do that, My Princess. You are in here, and we will keep you here. When that creature is found he will be brought to justice for attempting to murder you.”

  “You are going to pin this on him? You’re going to blame him for my death, and what? Kill me yourself?” she asked.

  “Yes.” He looked at her coldly. “Before you married him we would have been content for you to live out your days in peace, away from the palace and stripped of your power. But now we are in agreement, you are not to be trusted.”

  She laughed. “The only ones around here who should not be trusted are you and your fellow Emissars. How long before the sacrifices begin again?” She gripped the bars of her cell, until her bones showed through the skin covering her knuckles. If only she could reach Aleck, she would tighten her hands round his neck in the same way, until he breathed no more.

  “Soon. We thought we would start with your slave. Rian, isn’t it?”

  “No,” Tallia said. “She is innocent in all this.”

  “Then tell us where that monster is and we will spare her life, I am sure there is a man down in the south who would take her on. She is used to obeying, after all.”

  “You are the true monster. You and all your Emissars.”

  He came close to the bars and whispered, “And so what if we are?”

  “I will see you dead.”

  “An empty threat, considering which side of these bars you are on.”

  “Things change, Emissar,” she said firmly. “It’s a lesson you and your kind have never learned. You change and adapt, or you die.”

  “It is you who will be doing the dying,” Aleck said, and with a smile of triumph, he turned and walked away from Tallia, up the stairs and into the light. A light Tallia was unsure she would ever see again.

  Turning away, she went to the back of her cell and slumped down. She was not defeated yet; Johar was out there somewhere, free. She had to believe that; anything else was unthinkable. Anyway, if they had him under arrest, Aleck would have told her; of all things, he did like to gloat.

  “Breakfast.” A guard came up to the bars and thrust a plate of food at her. “Eat.”

  She sat still for a moment, wondering if they might poison her and blame it on Johar. Her stomach rumbled, telling her to take a chance, she had to keep her strength up. Going over to the plate, she looked down at it and smiled.

  She was not alone. There were people out there who were still her friends, and who might help Johar to free her. She picked up one of the honey cakes, savoring every mouthful. It tasted all the better knowing that there were people she could depend on, Yassa maybe, that even though she had lived her life keeping her distance from people, she had made friends, or at the very least, earned the loyalty of those who would rather be ruled by her, than the Emissars.

  Once her meal was finished, she left the plate outside her cell, and went to the straw mattress in the corner and lay down. She was tired. Last night had been wonderful, but exhausting. She still ached inside from Johar’s lovemaking. It made her feel closer to him in some strange way, it made their marriage real. She clung to that as the long hours drifted by, and she dipped in and out of sleep.

  Every time there was a noise, she woke to listen, hoping it was someone coming to her aid. Each time someone came down the steps she opened her eyes, imagining it was Johar come to rescue her. Yet as the day passed and the light through the small barred window grew dim, and the air grew cold, her hope faded.

  By now he should have found Misha’Ha. If she had been truthful, she would have told him how to deal with the Emissars. Tallia reminded herself to keep hoping; she had been a prisoner less than a day, and these things took time. However, her impatience to be out of here was growing. Not least because all her thoughts were consumed by how many ways there was to kill an Emissar.

  Chapter Twenty-Two – Johar

  They had escaped the palace, but found the town filled wit
h guards from the palace. Carefully, Rian had guided him to the shop The Silken Promise. There they had begged Hosta to hide them. Strangely enough, she had a hidden basement that was perfect; it was also filled with silks and fabrics that could only be contraband.

  “A woman alone has to make her living where she can,” Hosta said as he looked at the stacks of fabric.

  “Lucky for you, we are not citizens of your planet, so your tax avoidance is nothing to us,” Johar had said.

  “You forget you are the prince now.” Hosta had laughed, and walked back up the steps. “Until they burn you alive anyway. And then I think the last thing you will be thinking of screaming is that Hosta owes coin to the crown.

  “I’m pleased she takes it so seriously,” he said, sitting down next to Rian on a stack of woolen cloth.

  “We are lucky she is here to help us. It will be best to go into the marketplace below at dusk. You can never tell how many eyes the Emissars have amongst the people.”

  “Will the people support the Emissars taking power?” he asked. He did not know how much they would care about a change in rule.

  “No. I do not think so.” She sighed. “That is, until they have burned their family and friends.”

  “So we need to stop that happening.”

  “Yes. But how, when the guards at the palace are so well armed and the common people are shut in out. Many will have to die to penetrate the palace.”

  “It doesn’t look good. Does it?”

  “No. Let us hope the witch has some news.”

  ***

  That seemed unlikely as they stood before the tea shop where Rian had led him under the cover of darkness. Hosta had lent him a thick woolen cloak in the hope it would cover his tattoos. He was still glowing faintly, although now it was with anger and thoughts of revenge rather than pleasure and thoughts of love. Although his feeling for Tallia was the fuel, stoked by his intense need to save her.

  “This is it?” he asked. The whole shop was in darkness, no sign of any light inside. Johar pressed his face up to the window, and peered inside. “Nothing.”

  “My Princess paid her two bags of gold, one for the information, one for her silence. My Princess then told her to leave.”

  “It looks as if the witch obeyed.”

  “Then what do we do?” Rian asked, her voice showing her fear for the first time since they had left the palace. She had been so convinced they would come here and meet with Misha’Ha and be given the information they needed. Now she seemed beaten.

  “We will find a way,” Johar said. “Let’s look around the back.”

  They had to skirt around the whole block of houses to find the gate leading into the yard belonging to the shop. Johar checked to make sure it was the right one, because from back here they all looked the same.

  “This is it,” he said, and pushed the gate open. Its hinges were rusty and worn, and he had to use his shoulder to shove it open wide enough for them to both squeeze in. Squeezing into small spaces had never been one of Johar’s ideas of fun; he was not built for small in any way.

  Once inside the back yard, they kept low, or at least he kept low, as they walked towards the back door. It was locked. He prepared to put his shoulder to it and push.

  “Wait,” Rian said, “We should knock first.”

  “Knock? But there is no one in.”

  “Then why are we breaking in?” she asked. “If you think there is no one here, why are we bothering to access the house?”

  “Because…” He knocked the door quietly, rather than arguing with Rian. Then they stood and waited.

  “There was a face at the window,” Rian said, scared. “Not a woman, a man, with a beard.”

  Johar wished he had a weapon, anything to use to put up a fight. He settled for picking up a large stone that fit in his palm snugly. “I’m going in. If there is someone in there, then they might have answers, or at least a clue as to where we can find the witch.”

  He placed his shoulder against the door, but just as he began to push, it opened. Johar recovered quickly, and stood with the rock held above his head, ready to strike.

  “Johar. Is that you?” a voice asked.

  “Krigan? What the hell are you doing here? I thought you had left with the cargo.”

  “I would have. But before I left the space port, a young woman came to me and offered me a bag of silver to transport a man and woman off the planet. I was directed to this place and told to wait.”

  “And you did as the woman asked. And did you ask why?” Johar asked.

  “She gave me this bag of silver. Since when do we question our trading partners?” Krigan asked, holding out the pouch of coins.

  “The witch’s slave.” Rian took the pouch from Krigan. “She must have known we would need your help.”

  “Then let’s go,” Krigan said.

  “Wait. We can’t go to the palace without a plan, we’ll be cut down before we get inside.”

  “Who said anything about going into the palace? The woman was clear, I was to take you into space. If the danger is that bad, we need to get away from here.”

  “I can’t leave Tallia.”

  “She paid you, didn’t she?” Krigan asked. “The princess paid you the money she promised you.”

  “Yes, half.”

  “Well in my opinion you have upheld half of the bargain. I heard you got married. So now we leave.”

  “I can’t,” Johar shook his head again.

  “Is there no way to persuade you?” Krigan asked.

  “No.”

  “Then I will do what I can to help you,” Krigan said.

  “Thank you, my old friend,” Johar said, turning away, not seeing the laser Krigan had in his hand, not knowing he was going to actually use it until he felt the electrical charge along his spine, and then fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.

  Chapter Twenty-Three – Tallia

  Two days passed, with no word from anyone. The Emissars left her alone, and there were no more messages from those she hoped supported her. How many times she got up and walked the perimeter of her cell, trying to figure out a way to free herself, she had no idea. After a while, she stopped counting.

  The worst thing was how the time passed so slowly, with long days leading to eternal nights. She would sit and stare at the small window, watching the change in light, then the darkness came and she would try to make out the stars above, and wonder if one of those pinpricks of light was the planet where Johar came from.

  In those hours she would go from wishing to see him again, to praying that he had returned to the life he led before her, and that he was at least alive. Her daydream took her back to the night of their wedding, when he had asked her to let her barriers down, to let him in, and she had denied him.

  If she hadn’t pushed him away, if she had allowed him to see join with her mind and spirit as well as her body, would she be able to know where he was right now? Would she be able to feel his presence? Even if he was thousands of light years away, as she hoped.

  Footsteps were coming this way. Her body became alert, but she did not move, only shifted her thoughts to look outward instead of in.

  “Tallia,” Aleck said, coming to stand by the bars, while a guard unlocked the door. “It is time to hear the judgment against you.”

  She rose from the straw bed and went to the open door, without speaking a word. The questions she wanted the answers to stuck in her throat. What was waiting for her up there? Had they caught Johar or Rian? Were they planning on executing her, and if so, under what charges?

  Tallia decided not to give the Emissar a chance to rub salt into the many emotional wounds she bore.

  The light was bright as they walked up the stairs, her hand trailing along the rough stone wall, her mind concentrating on it, as she tried not to think about what might happen. Suddenly the desire to run back to her cell and shut the door was overwhelming.

  It was also never going to happen. She would never run from her fate. Aleck re
ached the top of the stairs and then turned right to head outside. It must have been early afternoon, the sun was high in the sky, but the usual sounds of the market were missing. As they walked out into the courtyard, she could see why. The Emissars had gathered a large crowd together, to stand before what looked like a funeral pyre.

  Her funeral pyre.

  Her knees went weak, and the desire to turn and run back to her cell and shut herself in hit her again, like a fist in the stomach, making her gasp for air. Tallia had no idea if this was for her, or for some other poor soul, but when she glanced around she could not see either Rian or Johar, so she could only assume, with some relief, that they had not been caught, and that this was for her. This was, after all, her battle, not theirs.

  How the Emissars were going to persuade the people that she deserved this death, she did not know.

  Aleck stepped forward to speak. Before him the people stood still and silent as they watched him. It was the most eerie thing she had ever witnessed, and she could only imagine what threat he had given them to make so many people stand here like pale wraiths.

  “We are here today to witness a sacrifice to the gods of Carinia. For too long we have allowed these aliens from space to rule over our planet. They have overthrown our laws, and it is time to return to the old ways.”

  Not a murmur, not even a baby cried, and Tallia felt cold, a sense of loss filling her. Had the Emissars already unleashed their fear on the people? Did the streets already stink of burned flesh, were villages filled with the stench of a terrifying death in order for the Emissars and their bullies to take back their hated control?

  Her ancestors had battled these same ways for the first two hundred years after they conquered Carinia. To think they allowed some of these violent men to stay in power of any kind had been a mistake that had taken another eight hundred years to come back and bite them in the ass. Tallia wished she had not been the one to witness it; she felt a failure, and knew now why her father had so desperately wanted a boy.

  It was not her ancestors who had failed, it was Tallia herself, the last princess of Carinia.