by Amber Stuart
He swallowed in a dry throat. Now he was hallucinating. And he was staring, he realized, gawping at the human female with his jaw hanging open, looking to all the world like an astounded court jester! He had to get a hold of himself.
Years and years of military training, governing a giant empire and a stubborn cultivation of his own self-discipline paid off as he was able to tear his eyes away from the stunning female. But still he felt the urge to look at her, to stare, to take in every detail of her otherworldly beauty and breathtaking personality, her loving manner and feminine grace, the way she would look up at him with her huge eyes while making love, the way she would care for their children, the heirs of his empire...
What was he thinking?! He knew nothing about her lovemaking or child-rearing qualities! He must be much sicker than he thought, quite delusional. And it all seemed to focus on her.
A spear of fear shot through him. Had she poisoned him? Had she enchanted him with some alien witchcraft? Was her unbelievably attractive scent laced with poison? Was he somehow allergic to humans?
He dimly realized that the meeting was over and his assistant nudged him to get to his feet. He did, feeling his legs shake. Only a lifetime of diplomacy and self-control kept him upright as he tried to keep his back straight and walk out of the meeting room ahead of his delegation. As his physical distance to the female increased, he felt a piercing pain in his chest and a violent urge to turn around and go to her, stay with her forever and forever.
He whimpered very softly and marched on.
Chapter 4
The speech the prince had given had been just fantastic, Jen thought. She been worried that it would be boring, full of platitudes about the commerce and trade and taxes and customs tariffs and things like that. After all, that was all the Earth delegation had talked about when preparing for the meeting.
But Prince Tar'Shoc had seemed so emotional and real, talking about love and romance and even children! How wonderful that had been. He was very different from the dry and businesslike Ambassador Wilson.
The prince had looked at her once, too, after his speech. His eyes were just crystal clear and seemed to send out a light, and with the eyelashes radiating out from them, they looked like huge, blue stars in a golden sky.
Then the prince left and she was alone on the alien side of the table. Again the members of the Earth delegation were staring at her, whispering among themselves while looking at her.
“Sullivan!” Mrs. Deveaux barked. “What in the name of all that is holy did you do? Have you gone completely transformative?”
“Sorry, sorry... He just grabbed me! I didn't know what to do! And he smells so nice...”
“Smells nice? That's Prince Tar'Shoc you're talking about, Sullivan! Be more respectful and not so... so... logarithmic!”
Huh? Jen distractedly grabbed her pads and papers and everything else except the water bottles. They were dirty and slippery from rolling around on the floor, and she had her hands full already.
Then she followed in the wake of the ambassador's entourage, the junior assistant sub-secretary sending her an angry look as she once more tried to keep up.
“Come on, Sullivan,” he seethed again.
She didn't hear him, because she suddenly noticed that there was a strange longing in her chest. Something was missing. Something big.
Chapter 5
“Tell us everything, please, Your Highness,” the Chief Royal Physician said. His name was Dr. A'Atk, and he was an old Derigaz who had invented many medical procedures that were long forgotten, but he was still considered the best doctor in history. Now he was the leader of the team of six doctors that followed the prince everywhere he went. The young royal had never needed them before, so they were very excited to finally be of use. They had put the prince to bed even before they knew what was wrong, just to be on the safe side.
“Very well,” the prince said. “I was speaking at the conference. I've done similar things many, many times before, for all kinds of species. I usually keep it mostly friendly, but with a threatening undertone that they feel, but can't quite pin down. It always works. But this time... this time...” His voice trailed off as he stared ahead, reliving in his mind what had happened.
“This time,” his chief adjutant continued, “His Highness used highly unusual words and phrases. Children were mentioned, flowers, lovers, even intercourse. It was very flowery language that no one has ever heard from the prince before.”
“Intercourse?” the doctor said, knitting his brow.
“Yes, it was one of the first things His Highness said,” the adjutant confirmed.
Several of the doctors in the room exchanged glances.
“Then,” the prince said, despair on the edge of his voice, “I made nonsensical statements about ecstasy and the love of a good woman. Roses! Passionate embrace! Entirely out of the blue. It was quite shameful. Birds! Good Space, I must be very sick.”
“Hmm,” said Dr. A'Atk, examining the prince's eyes with a small laser device. “It sounds unusual, certainly. But not... hmm... not unprecedented.”
Other doctors in the room nodded and murmured.
“What?” exclaimed the prince. “You mean... similar things have happened before?”
“They have,” the doctor said calmly, noting something on his old-fashioned pad. “Tell me, Your Highness, was there anything unusual about this particular conference?”
“Well, I suppose. Every conference with an alien species is different. These ones, the Earthlings, are not as different from us as most other aliens. Their language is primitive, of course, but logical enough. But apart from that, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing at all!”
The room was quiet as the doctors considered the diagnosis.
“But wait,” the adjutant exclaimed. “The female!”
“The female?” Dr. A'Atk said, interested. “Which female was this?”
“His Highness sat right beside a human female that he met in the corridor,” the adjutant said eagerly. “She was quite... voluminous.”
The prince sent the adjutant an angry look. He suddenly felt a surge of fury. He very strongly disliked the other male talking about her, as if it sullied her, made her dirty. Only he should talk and think about her! No other male should be allowed to even lay eyes on her!
“Tell us more about the female, Your Highness, if you please,” Dr. A'Atk said.
“There's nothing to say,” the prince snapped. “There was a marvelously attractive Earthling female there, attached to the Earth delegation. On a whim, I decided that this heavenly woman should sit next to me during the meeting, so that I might enjoy her company and her sensational smell and consider what we shall call the countless children she will bear me after we spend many months in ecstatic and orgasmic bliss together, enjoying the magic that only two intertwined souls can experience. That's all, everything quite ordinary. Now let's return to the topic at hand! I'm losing my patience.”
The doctors carefully avoided looking at each other, but the tension in the room was tangible. The prince was saying some outrageous things. And he seemed to be completely unaware of it.
“Certainly, Your Highness,” Dr. A'Atk said, very soothingly. “And yet, before we continue the examination, let me just ask you this, and please bear with me: When you looked at this female, did she overwhelm you with her beauty and her obvious allure? Did she attract your eyes in a way that was impossible to resist? Did you find her to be the perfect, genuinely flawless mother to your heirs? Did you imagine her face underneath you in the throes of passion, looking up at you, her eyes wide in ecstasy?”
With an insane roar, the prince bounced up from his bed and tried to attack the elderly doctor. But the physician had been prepared, and slipped away from his royal patient with a speed that surprised everyone. Immediately, strong officers grabbed the prince and held him back, barely able to keep the young, powerful male under control.
“How da
re you speak about her!” the prince yelled, struggling against his officers. “How dare you even think about that heavenly creature! You're not worthy to feel her otherworldly scent from miles away! She's mine, do you hear? Mine!”
There was murder in the prince's eyes and a stunned silence in the room. Only the grunts of the prince and his officers could be heard as he tried to escape their iron grip to attack the doctor.
Only the Chief Royal Physician was not perturbed. “Let us turn to other topics,” he said smoothly as if nothing had happened. “Your Highness, you played Migiuz yesterday, did you not?” The doctor shrewdly turned the conversation to the prince's favorite topic, the intricate sport of Migiuz, which he enjoyed every day. “I understand you won by six half-points, but surely your secondary attack has declined somewhat?”
Soon the prince had calmed down and was lying down again. The adjutants took the opportunity to start their daily State of the Empire orientation, informing him about the various events taking place in his huge empire and the items where his decision or ruling was needed. It took his mind off the terrible illness he was obviously suffering from while the medical team quietly left his suite.
The doctors assembled in the lobby outside the royal quarters.
“Well, gentlemen,” the Chief Physician sighed, wiping his brow with a handkerchief. “I suppose we all realize what has happened. The prince has found his Hon'eekoh, his One True Love, his Meant To Be, his partner for life. And she's not a Derigaz. She's an Earthling. It's strange, but there can be no doubt. His behavior and reactions point only to that. Unless anyone has any objections to that diagnosis?”
The doctor looked around the circle of the best physicians in the Derigaz Empire. They all shook their heads sadly and sighed heavily in agreement.
Except one.
“I think there could be other reasons for his strange state,” Dr. Mon'Toc said. She was a renowned psychologist who owned several institutions on many planets. It was a mystery to most of her colleagues why exactly she was renowned, because she had never published any papers and seemed not to ever have treated any patients except the prince.
“I highly doubt,” she continued, “that His Highness has a non-Derigaz as his Hon'eekoh. It has never happened before to any Derigaz. And certainly not to a royal prince! The scandal alone... No, it's out of the question. If the heir apparent were to marry a non-Derigaz, there would be uproar! The people will never accept an alien Empress. It could threaten the throne and indeed topple the entire empire!”
“Those are all political arguments, Dr. Mon'Toc,” the Chief Physician said mildly. “What we're considering here are the medical sides of things.”
“When the patient is a prince of the realm and in line to become the next emperor at any moment, then the medical and political sides are one and the same!” Dr. Moc'Toc shouted. “And this Earthling female cannot have a place in his life! Not at any cost!”
“If she is his Hon'eekoh,” another doctor pointed out, “and he is somehow not allowed to marry her, then he will remain childless. He will never marry anyone and he will not leave any heirs. And he will probably not live for much longer. That, if anything, will plunge the empire into chaos and civil war.”
“I am well aware of how we Derigaz procreate,” Dr. Mon'Toc said icily. “Yes, we all must find our One True Love, our Hon'eekoh, to be able to marry and have children. That's trivial for most of us. But for His Highness, it's a matter of the gravest importance!”
She suddenly jerked her head back and her eyes widened, as if struck by an important realization, and she drew her breath in an excited gasp. “Wait! On reflection, I think that his state was indeed brought about by his Hon'eekoh. But I don't think it was the Earthling! I think it was another female, a Derigaz female, his real Hon'eekoh, who released this Madness of Love in him!”
The other doctors looked at her, puzzled.
“Dr. Mon'Toc, it's well known how the Madness of Love shows itself,” one said. “The prince's symptoms are a perfect fit for the male Madness when having met his Hon'eekoh for the first time. Certainly he has a particularly powerful Madness of Love, but that is to be expected from such a virile and strong young man. Everything about him is magnified.”
“Precisely!” Dr. Mon'Toc said triumphantly. “It was so powerful that it had a delayed onset! The Madness was released slightly after His Highness was in the company of his real Hon'eekoh!”
“Slightly after?” the doctors looked at her sceptically. It was unheard of. The Madness of Love always showed itself immediately when a Derigaz first met his or her Hon'eekoh.
“Yes!” Dr. Mon'Toc roared. “For you see, only minutes before this Earthling conference, the prince was in another meeting, being orientated about Earthling psychology! And that's where he was in the company of his true Hon'eekoh!”
There were mutterings of “nonsense”, “no, no” and “insanity” from the doctors around her, but Dr. Mon'Toc was not deterred, only straightened her back and stared right at the Chief Physician.
“Then I'm sure, Dr. Mon'Toc, that you will grace us with the knowledge of who his Hon'eekoh is, in your opinion,” he said, very calmly.
“Certainly. It is none other than my own daughter, the psychology student Hecs Mon'Toc!” Dr. Mon'Toc exclaimed.
It briefly occurred to the Chief Physician that his team seemed to consist of doctors who were very easily stunned into silence, because now they were all quiet again, only staring at Dr. Mon'Toc in disbelief.
Then they all started talking at once, angrily refuting her theory.
“That's completely against all know medical science!”
“It's entirely unheard of!”
“Such horrendous nonsense!”
“This is dangerously close to malpractice!”
“You're setting medicine back by centuries!”
But Dr. Mon'Toc was just looking the Chief Physician straight in the eye in a clear challenge, only the excited silver roses high on her golden cheekbones betraying how thrilled she was with having come up with her far-fetched theory.
The Chief Physician coolly returned her gaze. He instinctively noticed her breath coming fast and shallow, her skin going silver, her heart rate increasing greatly. She saw something here, a real chance, he concluded. Her theory was plainly nonsense. She simply wanted any chance to set her daughter up as a possible Empress of Derigaz. It was quite unethical, of course.
But at the same time it was not a badly chosen goal, Dr. A'Atk thought. An empress would wield considerable power, and so would her family. And if the Emperor were to meet with an untimely demise, she would rule the vast galactic empire all by herself, possibly for decades. And, it was well know that a male Derigaz who had found his Hon'eekoh, but was being kept away from this One, would die of heartbreak very soon after.
Yes, thought the Chief Physician, for some people, it was worth setting aside any ethical and medical consideration to reach that goal. And Dr. Mon'Toc was only here because of her extraordinarily good connections at the Emperor's court. She was very dangerous. It was a gigantic risk with very little chance of success. But to her, the immensity of the prize was worth that risk.
And yet, Dr. A'Atk thought, Dr. Mon'Toc's daughter Hecs would be the worst empress imaginable. He knew her, because Dr. Mon'Toc had wasted no time in bringing her daughter into the Prince's surroundings. She was said to be studying psychology, but Dr. A'Atk suspected that she was far too stupid and lazy to ever have sat foot inside any academic place of learning.
The girl was thin as a rail, with vapid, red eyes and a tendency to drool because her mouth was always hanging half open. The prince had met her many times, but never shown any interest in her before or even talked to her, to the doctor's knowledge. She could be safely ruled out as the prince's Hon'eekoh. But still, Dr A'Atk knew that Dr. Mon'Toc would not give up. She was far too ambitious for that.
He sighed deeply. “Very well. For now, as Chief Royal Physician, I mu
st mainly consider what millennia of medical experience with the Madness has taught us. We must of course get hold of this Earthling female and see what can be done about marrying her to the Prince as per the ancient rituals.”
“Halt!” Dr. Mon'Toc screeched. “I will not have my opinion ignored. I protest against this pairing and demand that the prince instead be married to my daughter, who is obviously his true Hon'eekoh.”
Dr. A'Atk knew that Dr. Mon'Toc could be extremely persistent. “So noted,” he sighed “I will present our findings and recommendations to Admiral Vun'Sic. He will make the arrangements that he finds appropriate. Yes,” he said when he saw Dr. Mon'Toc draw breath to protest once more, “I will also present your dissenting opinion, Doctor. Let us now all remember that in the state he's in, the prince must not be made aware of any arrangements we make. And there must be no talk of the Earthling female around him! But we must get hold of her immediately.”
The Chief Physician left the room and went to find Admiral Vun'Sic, the prince's chief of staff. He walked very quickly.
Chapter 6
Mrs. Deveaux was shaking with rage. The junior assistant sub-secretary stood behind her, looking over her shoulder and likewise scowling at Jen when the two confronted her in the Earth Delegation section.
“Sullivan, your behavior at the meeting was quite... quite... convergent! I've never seen such discontinuity!” Mrs. Devaux yelled.
“Very discontinuous behavior,” the junior assistant sub-secretary agreed.
“But I had no choice,” Jen pleaded. “He grabbed me by the arm and sat me down beside him! Did you want me to punch him?”
The bureaucrat drew her breath sharply in feigned shock, and the junior assistant sub-secretary did the same with only a short delay.
“Of course you must not punch the prince!” the senior secretary said, clutching her pearl necklace in horror. “Sullivan, promise right now that you will never strike an alien royal of any species!”
