by Vivian Venus
“You’ve received the rite of the dragon shift, you’re now of age,” the king said. Rhys was standing in front of him, his eyes defiant. “It’s time for this dawdling to end. It’s time that you chose someone to take as your wife.”
“Princess Tana from Woodscale,” the queen said. “She’s a very kind, very intelligent girl.”
“And incredibly boring,” Rhys said.
“This isn’t about excitement, Rhys,” the king said, his voice stern. “This is about fulfilling your duty as prince. You’ve rejected princesses and royalty from nearly all of the neighboring kingdoms, Rhys.”
Heather felt strange overhearing this conversation. Strange because she had been wondering if Rhys was seeing someone, and strange because she felt silly even having thought about something like that. After all…he was a prince.
“And what about Kyp? He’s the eldest.”
Kyp pushed the door open all the way, making his entrance obvious. He took Heather by the arm and guided her to come with him. “Leave me out of this,” he said, grinning. “Mother and father have already wasted enough breath on me. Besides. I’m not like you, Rhys. I’m not refusing to see women, there’s just too many for me to choose…” He laughed. “I’ve brought Heather, as you’ve asked. She’s quite stunning actually. Maybe I’ll turn my attention on her too.”
Heather blushed at the unexpected forwardness of his comment.
Rhys turned, his expression annoyed. “Brother, don’t you have something important to do somewhere?”
“Oh, he’s been angered. Maybe there’s hope after all.”
The king grunted. “The crown is doomed.”
Rhys had grown tired of his parents pestering about finding a suitable wife. He had met lots of women from all across the continent, many beautiful, all of them from royalty. They shared one other common trait – they were all extremely boring. Always prim, proper, the perfect example of what a woman “should be”.
Rhys knew the duty that he and his brother had to the kingdom and to his parents, but as it were, he had begun to think that there was no one that interesting out there. He had begun to think that maybe he would just fly off in his ship and roam the galaxy. His brother had plenty of girls, he would settle down with one eventually. Probably.
But something had changed. This girl, Heather… she was different. Strong, capable, totally uncaring about any of the silly protocols that all the other girls seemed to care so much about. And, he thought she was gorgeous. But despite all those things Rhys was hesitant about getting closer to her. He was afraid of what might happen if he did. She was from another world after all. Eventually, she would have to leave Raspharion.
“Heather, please come forward,” the queen said.
Rhys straightened up slightly as Heather stepped forward. She glanced at him, but he wasn’t looking. What’s his deal, she thought.
“The Oracle has news for you.”
The Oracle, who was waiting off to the side, slowly hobbled to them. She took Heather’s hand in hers. “My dear,” she said. “I have poured over the archives in the royal library to try and find a way to transport you home.”
Heather nodded.
“And I was not able to find any way to re-connect the portal to your world. What’s more, I have searched the star charts and could not find a system that matched yours. It’s possible you come from a realm that is far outside the space which we have explored.”
“So…I’m stuck here,” Heather said.
“For now. But don’t give up hope. I will continue looking for a way to return you to your home. For now, we should look for the connection of why you and Rhys were brought together.”
“How do we do that?”
The Oracle smiled. “Only time together will reveal.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Rhys strode ahead as the two of them walked through the Royal Tower halls. He had been completely silent since the Oracle gave the instructions that they were to spend time together. Heather stewed, trying to figure out what his problem was. She touched the smooth gemstone of the ring on her finger. Feeling its familiar surface always gave her a little comfort. She walked quickly to catch up with him. “Where are we going?”
“To the training yard,” Rhys said plainly. “Every morning I do combat and physical training.”
“And I’m just here to tag along?”
“The Oracle said we should spend time together. So let’s.”
He pushed open a pair of wooden doors and she squinted her eyes as they walked out into the sunlight. This is another planet, she reminded herself. She took a deep breath. The air smelled different here, or at least it seemed like it did. Maybe it was just her imagination, but it felt richer somehow. She listened, taking in the sounds of the environment. She hadn’t noticed it yesterday with all the excitement, but it even sounded different here. It was like travelling to a foreign country and being surrounded by a whole new set of bird calls and other noises. Except she wasn’t even sure what she heard were birds.
They walked down a stone paved path through a pleasant garden. The officials who passed by gave little bows of respect to Rhys, and stared curiously at Heather. By this time the news about her arrival had spread throughout the Royal Tower, and everyone wanted to know who this new mysterious seer girl was. Heather felt awkward as she felt all the eyes on her as they walked and she straightened up and tried to make her face look pleasant.
“Is something the matter?” Heather asked. “You’re being really weird all of a sudden.”
“I’m fine,” he answered.
Heather frowned. She hated the sudden awkwardness. “Is it because your parents are trying to make you get married?”
From the way Rhys’ eye twitched, Heather knew she had been accurate. “What’s wrong with getting married?” she asked. “I’m sure you must be able to get any girl you’d want, right?”
“Trust me,” he said, “the girls who are ‘fit’ to marry me are not the kind of girls I want.”
“Okay, what kind of girl would you want?” Heather wondered if she was going to regret asking the question.
“It’s not something I want to discuss,” he said.
Heather’s face lit up. “I know! I could read your fortune.”
“My fortune?”
“Yeah, it’s something I would do for my friends at home when they were having problems with their love lives. I could see what’s in store for you.”
Rhys looked at her. What good would a fortune do? It would probably reveal nothing worth hearing. But curiosity got the best of him. “Okay, seer girl. Read my fortune.”
Heather grinned and pulled him aside, and the two of them sat on a bench just off the path. Rhys looked at Heather, at her slight smile as she rubbed her hands together and the way her hair fell neatly over her shoulder and shined in the sun. He had never seen a girl in this way before. His heart quickened and he wondered if maybe this was a bad idea. He was certain that the future that Heather would see would not make him happy. After all, right now there was only one future that he knew would make him happy.
Heather’s gaze flicked up to meet his for only a moment, and she looked away as she took his hands in hers. “Put your palms up,” she said softly. Rhys did, and he felt a rush as her soft, warm hands cradled his.
His palms were calloused, and Heather found herself running her thumbs along his tough skin, imaging the thousands of hours of sword training that had made them that way. “Okay,” she said. “Just relax. I’m going to read your palms.”
She shut her eyes and concentrated as she always did when reading fortunes, and traced her thumbs down from the top of Rhys’ palms. Suddenly she felt a warmth building within her. The ring on her finger grew hot and a shock of energy surged through her body, jolting her like she had touched a live wire.
She saw herself looking up into a man’s eyes, a shadowy form. The haze resolved and she could see that the man was Rhys. They were standing under the big tree on the hill. They were
alone, their hair ruffling in the wind. He was touching her, moving his hand around the small of her back.
He drew her against him and touched his hand to her cheek, brushing strands of hair away that had fallen there. Her eyes closed, and she rose on her toes to bring her lips to his…
Heather coughed like she had been smacked on the back and the vision vanished from her mind. She looked around. Rhys was staring at her, eyebrow raised.
“Everything okay?” he asked.
Heather blinked. What the hell was that?
“Yes,” she said, letting go of Rhys’ hands. She stood up quickly. “It doesn’t seem to be working today. Sorry.” Rhys stood up with her, trying to read her reaction. She looked away.
“You’re the one who’s being strange now,” Rhys said.
“I’m not,” Heather said. “We can try again later. Come on, let’s go. Don’t you have training to get to?”
Heather hurried Rhys along, trying to hide how flustered she was. That had to have been some mistake, she thought. Maybe she was seeing it through someone else’s eyes?
They walked to the royal forest that was neighboring the Tower. Hidden amongst the trees was a setup of equipment that Rhys used to train with, all next to a large circular dirt clearing.
“So this is where you come to train?” Heather asked. She took a seat on a bench next to the clearing.
“That’s right,” Rhys said. He drew his sword and whirled it. “Stay there,” he told Heather, and then walked out in to the middle of the clearing. “Begin training program,” he said loudly.
Heather sat quietly, waiting for something to happen. She soon heard a noise from out in the woods, like the thudding of feet. Suddenly, three robotic creatures burst out from the trees and charged at Rhys. Their bodies were metal orbs, and they moved on whip like legs. She watched in slight shock as they attacked, and Rhys deftly dodged and evaded them, quickly disabling one by slicing two of its legs off with his sword. He ran and leapt off of the crippled robot, swinging his sword down in a clean arc and slicing another in two. The last robot came at him, and Rhys blocked an attack with his blade, then grabbed the arm and yanked. The robot lurched toward him and he thrust his blade out, impaling it.
A chime sounded out, signaling the exercise was complete. The robots shook, and their parts moved back together and reassembled. Rhys slid his sword back into his sheath and walked over to the bench.
“If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were trying to impress me,” Heather said.
Rhys laughed. He picked up a training sword from the gear rack and handed it to her. “Why don’t you give it a try?”
“Me? You have to be kidding. I don’t know how to use a sword.”
“Not yet,” he said. “But you can learn. Come on, stand up.”
Heather stood up hesitantly, awkwardly lifting up the heavy wooden training sword.
“I know what you can do,” he said. “Just do what you did against that tentacle beast, and you’ll be fine. I’ll run the beginner course.”
“What? Wait, Rhys, I—”
“Begin training course,” he announced. Two of the robots stood up and walked back out of the training circle, and the third shuddered and rose up on its whip like legs.
Fear suddenly surged through her, but she wasn’t going to back down and run away. She gripped the sword with both hands, holding it up in front of her. She was surprised when she felt Rhys grasp her hands, wrapping his arms around her.
“Hold the sword like this,” he said. “A little higher. And to an angle. The point should be crossing up like this, so that it forms a guard. Turn your hips like this…” He touched her hip, slowly positioning her. “And move your chest forward a bit, like this…” He lightly touched her back. It felt like he was whispering right into her ear, and she shivered. When he moved away, Heather was surprised at how she reacted. She felt longing. She wanted him to come back and be close to her again.
“Okay, remember that stance. Now just try to evade and touch the machine. Go!”
The robot surged to life and charged at her. Heather immediately snapped back into reality as it came towards her, two of its arms poised to strike. She let out a scream of surprise as it swung at her, and she felt her body react in reflex. She dodged out of the way, her legs almost carrying her by herself.
Rhys watched as Heather moved. Her stance was open, but it didn’t matter. She easily dodged and evaded the robot’s attacks, moving like she was dancing with it. He couldn’t help but watch in awe. Her legs moved like springs and she bolted to the side as its arm swung down to the ground. The way she moved was like watching an expert swordsman, except for the way she flailed the weapon around. “Excellent, Heather!” he called. “Keep the sword up! Don’t let it drop!”
Watching her movements, Rhys felt a stirring inside of him. She was gorgeous. He had never felt this way about any woman before. It was overwhelming, overtaking him like his dragon mind had when he had first shifted. He couldn’t resist the feeling.
Heather easily moved out of the way as the robot swung to attack her. Spotting an opening, she lunged in and swung the sword, its wooden blade clanging against the robot’s metal body. The impact jolted her and sent her off balance, and she stumbled to the ground. The robot buzzed and deactivated, teetering on its legs before losing its balance. It was going to fall on her. She gasped and tried to move out of the way.
“Heather!” Rhys shouted, leaping forward. Just as the robot was about to fall on her, Heather rolled to the side out of its way. It smashed into the dirt, and she collided right into Rhys.
The two of them fell onto the ground. Heather felt Rhys’ arms around her, breaking her fall. Her head was up against his chest, and she heard the beating of his heart. Her body felt tiny in his embrace, wrapped up and fragile in a way she had never felt before.
Is this really happening? She slowly looked up, and her heart jumped as she saw that he was looking back down at her, gazing into her eyes.
“That was amazing,” he whispered.
“I…hardly knew what I was doing,” Heather said, her voice weak.
“It looked like you knew exactly what you were doing,” he said. He drew his face closer to hers.
Oh my God, Heather thought, her heart slamming hard in her chest. It’s happening…
She parted her lips as she gazed up at him, waiting for him.
A chime sounded out that wrenched the two of them apart, the moment between them disintegrated. Rhys got to his feet and helped Heather up. He walked over to a small standing console and hit a button, and a holographic projection of the king and queen appeared.
“Rhys,” the king said. “Return to the castle. We have guests.”
“Who is it, father?”
“Princess Tana has arrived. Don’t keep her waiting.” The hologram disappeared.
Princess Tana. Rhys was not expecting this. Princess Tana was the latest and one of the last princesses his age that were waiting his favor. “Come on, let’s go,” he said, turning to leave.
“Wait, Rhys,” Heather said. He stopped, and she tried to find the words to express how she was feeling. It had crept up on her, but and she had a hard time explaining it to even herself…but she recognized it as something she hadn’t felt in a very long time. She had only known him for less than two days, but that was enough time for her to know that she wanted Rhys. She wanted to be his, and for him to be hers. She wanted to just go back in time and let the moment play out.
Heather wanted to know what Rhys felt – did he feel the same way? She wished their moment could’ve just played out…
And who the hell was Princess Tana?
“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “We need to go.”
Heather watched as Rhys walked back the way they came, the afternoon sunlight framing his broad shoulders. She took a deep breath and tried to push back the feelings that had begun to well up inside of her, telling herself that it wasn’t too late to forget them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Rhys and Heather entered the Royal Tower and took an express lift up to the throne room. Rhys was silent the entire way up and Heather couldn’t think of anything to say. She stood slightly behind him, and she snuck a look at him out of the corner of her eye. As the lift pinged off the floors to the throne room, she noticed him straighten up a bit, becoming more formal in his posture.
There was a final ping, and the doors hissed and opened. A girl’s high pitched shriek greeted them.
“Prince Rhys!”
Rhys strode ahead, trying to smile like he was pleasantly surprised. “Princess Tana.”
A girl in a frilly blue dress ran towards them. Her hair was long and golden, her body slender and petite. She had a practiced daintiness in the way she ran, like she had been training all her life to run into a prince’s arms. Heather tried her best to fight it, but a heavy feeling of self-consciousness came over her, and her heart sank down. This is a princess. Rhys is a prince. This is the kind of girl that he should be with.
