Still, deep inside he knew that it wasn’t going to happen. He had the feeling that him having a penis was a well-known fact to Prince Sartak.
That guy had promised to not lay a finger on him, hadn’t he? So Sartak wouldn’t if he was an honorable man. But was he?
Fuck. He was fucked.
He would march right into his doom- there was no doubt about it. He, a Harrison, would be living with people who hated him; despised his family. There was no way to deny the fault of the Harrison family. He would live his married life in a dark cell in some cold and filthy tower- that was for sure. The way the former King had chopped off grandpa Alois’s head when they had managed to capture him, was enough of an indication for what would await him in his new home.
He was dying to finally get to Phy’vohran. He was so excited he wanted to jump out of the next airlock he could find on this damned ship.
He stood stiff as he waved his brother goodbye. Now he truly had nobody. He was alone on this foreign ship of an enemy who had been determined to crush his family and planet only weeks ago. He couldn’t help but feel devastated.
His father had bartered him away into the hands of a brute alien race for trade agreements and unstable peace. The Phy’vohranians could do anything to him and not a soul at home would hear about it.
The Phy’vohranians were likely going to be cheering while he was eaten alive.
He hesitated to follow behind the Cjon’vaiian women as they left the docking station.
He wished he could take a glider back to the governmental spaceship of Earth, but he was trapped on the Pra’vs-kwarana and wouldn’t leave her until they reached Phy’vohran.
They passed through countless well-lit corridors on different floors and eventually, he lost track of where he was. He would never find his way back on this massive ship if he ever got lost. Best he stayed in the room they were taking him to.
When they reached a hallway colored in rich dark brown tones, wine red carpets and golden chandeliers with sparkling crystals, he knew it was the private quarters of the royal family or visiting dignitaries.
It sounded strange, but it felt more like home.
Excessive luxury without a personal touch was all he knew from the day of his birth. It would have been sad growing up like this, but he had never seen the other side of the coin. All he knew was that his mother had hated this kind of life.
She had always been depressed, and one day, when he’d come back from the senior ambassador’s office, he saw her swaying from the ceiling.
She had worn her red dress with the gold embroidery; her feet had been bare; the hair pinned up in an elaborate hairdo; face looking empty and blue. On the floor, to her feet had been a blue envelope with a message addressed to Kellan only.
She had apologized for leaving him alone, but she couldn’t bear life anymore.
It had been six years now.
He still missed her and would never stop doing so. Once she had been a strong and fierce woman when young, but living with Samuel and being forced to stay on the spaceship had taken its toll on her. Calla had needed her freedom but trapped on the government’s ship, she had withered like a flower denied the warmth of the sun and water.
Kellan didn’t want to share the same fate, but marrying Prince Sartak might do the same to him. Calla and Samuel had never been in love, she had been just another pawn in the game played by the rich and powerful people.
Born the daughter to the most influential weapons dealer, she had a political marriage to ensure her father’s trade and wealth.
She’d then dedicated her life entirely to her children to keep herself from falling apart. She had been but a caged animal, a lioness enchained. She fought and fought but couldn’t get free. Samuel wouldn’t send her back to Earth or anywhere else. He had denied her numerous requests to leave the spaceship at least for short vacation.
Calla had missed her friends and other family members, but none of them had been allowed on the governmental ship. She had missed the smell of earth and rain, the rustle of the leaves in the last existing forest.
She had been an adventurer, always on the move and helping people in need. She’d used to go to the slums and pay medical treatment for the ill, but after her wedding, all of that had come to an end. All she’d loved had been taken away from her. On the spaceship, she had spent days after days with nothing to do besides looking pretty.
When she’d decided to have Kellan, it was her last attempt at fighting back. She didn’t want to lose, and for a while, she’d stayed put, but eventually, she’d given up. Kellan didn’t know what happened to finally break her. Still, he wasn’t angry or disappointed. He knew she was at least in a better place now. Maybe she was floating through space, going wherever she wanted to go and with no one to tell her otherwise.
The thought made him smile. She’d wanted love and happiness, but hadn’t gotten either. Even though she had loved her children, she had known they were strong enough and wouldn’t need her as much as she was craving for someone to lean on; for someone who understood her. Samuel clearly hadn’t been that person. And a parent wouldn’t cry on a child’s shoulders. She had been strong for her kids, but she had also been alone.
Kellan was sure that she now was free to live her life as before again. He wanted to believe in an afterlife so much, even if only for his mother’s sake. She deserved it. Life hadn’t been kind to her.
Kellan, I’m sorry for leaving you, but I wish…
One day you will leave this horrible place, find the love of your life and the both of you will spend your days happily together. Just like me, you are not made for a life on the governmental spaceship. It will only lead to misery. We both need a place warm and welcoming; a place we will always return to. The spaceship with its cold surroundings is no place for golden hearts.
Love, Mum.
He knew the few lines she had written to him by heart. He even kept the letter in a plastic envelope so he could carry it everywhere.
Even now he reached into the pockets of his long coat to feel the cold material of the envelope. He was sorry he couldn’t fulfill his mother’s last wish. Again it was a political marriage, but he would at least be able to give his people an illusion of peace and forgiveness. Only the stars knew whether the generous offer would come true.
Kellan hoped so.
He hoped for it so badly.
Earth and its mostly non-aggressive alliance partners would have lost the war in the next few years. Attempting to forge peace with the Phy’vohranians again had been the last chance to avoid slavery of the entire human race.
The last time humans had tried to negotiate peace, someone had lost his head. President Alois had traveled to Phy’vohran to apologize for his father’s betrayal. The Phy’vohranians had smiled and welcomed him; agreeing to a peaceful meeting. But as soon as Alois had arrived he was dragged to a platform and beheaded.
The whole scene had been a live stream to the governmental ship. He remembered that day when his father had dragged him to his office. Kellan had been seven years old, and his mother had begged Samuel to leave her son alone with this.
“He’s too young!” she begged, but Samuel ignored her.
Kellan cried; his father seemed so angry and his face was all red. When he looked back over his shoulder as his father dragged him onwards, he saw his mother standing there. Her eyes were all glassy; resignation showing in her every feature.
And then, with a sudden jerk, she turned around and walked away as if nothing had happened.
When the big door shut with a loud thud, his father finally let go of his arm and motioned him to stand in front of the big screen.
Kellan’s legs trembled. He felt heat on his neck and it crept up his face. His father was still staring at him; his gaze hard and cold.
“So you like to defend those lizards?!” his father growled.
The tone of his father’s voice sent shivers through his small body. He’d usually avoid his father when he was like thi
s, but now he couldn’t just go. His father would be so furious if he did.
“You like your grandpa, right? He’s turning in his grave because of your words,” he snapped at Kellan; his words accompanied by a slap to his cheek.
Kellan let him because he knew that if he turned away, it would lead to some serious thrashing.
Holding his hair in a painful grip, Samuel turned his head to face the screen.
A scene flickered over the screen.
There was a stage of some kind. A big man- a Phy’vohranian- snarling and hissing in a language he couldn’t understand. The man had wild eyes; his face was a grimace as he shouted words and more words.
Then a smaller figure was dragged onto the stage- a rumpled figure in formal clothing and gray hair.
It didn’t take Kellan long to recognize Alois Harrison.
Kellan’s father made him watch the whole scene.
The man pulled a sword from a silver sheath and waved it around. It was curved and slim, probably sharp enough to cut metal.
Alois looked up at the Phy’vohranian, his mouth open to say something but the man wouldn’t let him.
He swung his sword with effortless grace. As it touched Alois’s skin, his eyes grew wide.
Kellan watched, sickness clouded his mind. He couldn’t think, only stare as nausea rolled through him. No! No!
Tears shot into his eyes when thick red blood sprinkled the view a few seconds later. A head rolled over the stage as the thundering, victorious laugh of the man sounded through the speakers.
Kellan threw up on his shoes and his father stepped away from him, sneering and calling him weak.
He sobbed, he gagged and cried.
“Why?” he choked out and looked at his father with tears streaming down his face.
“Because your grandfather was a fool. He wanted to make peace with them. He lost his head. Do never defend those people again!” with that, his father turned away and left him where he was.
Kellan crouched down, his stomach still hurting and nausea still waving trough his body. When he felt a little better, he looked up at the frozen screen.
Drops of blood clung to the man’s face as he smiled madly.
Even this young and having never met or seen the Phy’vohranian king before, Kellan knew who this man was.
He felt hate boiling up in him like never before. This was the face of a monster, and his people were the same.
Kellan saw them standing around the stage; thirsty for entertainment- entertainment that his grandfather had brought them by being executed without a trial.
He would never defend those people again. He would never seek to make peace with them.
They were savage beasts. He hated them. He hated them so much for what they had done to a man of peace.
Kellan was all for peace…only not anymore when it concerned these lizards.
When he felt strong enough to walk again, he rushed to his room and threw himself on his bed.
Curling up on the mattress, he cried until he fell asleep from exhaustion.
When he woke up again, he had no idea what time it was.
But now, whenever he closed his eyes, he saw blood and the head rolling over the floor.
He cried some more, and his mother came in at some point, looked at him and left.
She had said nothing; just looked at him with empty eyes and left.
After he had no tears left to shed, he decided that those aliens were now his most hated enemies. He would crush them. He would never forgive them. Kellan wanted revenge. Those aliens would pay. He swore that he would never let one of them live if he came across them.
The image of Alois’s chopped off head still haunted his mind and he would never forget.
Back then, Kellan had felt so much hate and hurt.
Today he felt different about this. He could think about it rationally now, but that didn’t mean he liked the Phy’vohranians.
Their king had done something gruesome to a person who hadn’t been at fault.
Griffin, the Harrison who started the war, had been dead for a couple of years by then. He had died in his bed- went to sleep and never woke up. The real bad guy had escaped a fate fit for him, but his son, who only wanted to make reparation, had to pay his debt.
Alois hadn’t deserved his life to be ended like that. How trustworthy could the Phy’vohranians be after they’d pulled such a stunt?
Klaijvia and Galjaia had left him to his room. It was a big suite, with walls covered in dark wooden panels with painted on silver ornaments. The bed was eight feet two wide and nine feet eight long. It was plain huge, and Kellan was even more nervous about meeting the Phy’vohranians. He had known that they were large humanoids; had already stood in front of one but seeing the bed made him shiver. Hell, it scared the shit out of him.
Sighing, he sat down on the mattress and looked around.
The furniture looked heavy and expensive, but what else would one expect of the royal quarters? The tall mirror showed him an exhausted young man, sickly pale-faced and not a trace of a smile on his lips.
He felt like crap, and he looked like crap.
The servants hadn’t brought his things yet, and he suspected they wouldn’t be going to do that anytime soon.
He flopped himself on the bed and curled up into a ball. The world was spinning in his head and he felt a sob escape his throat.
2
He woke up to noises in his chamber. He dozily opened one eye and spied his surroundings, but they were foreign to him. Grumbling, he opened the other eye and then it hit him. Starting up, he remembered the events of the last hours.
He was on a Phy’vohranian Star-Cruiser; in the royal quarters; on his way to Phy’vohran to marry Prince Sartak. The quiet rustle could only be caused by moving fabric. Someone was in this room; someone he had only noticed just now.
He looked around, expecting to finally meet either the Prince himself or someone else of his family. Eventually, he found the tall, lean man seated in a plush, velvety red armchair.
Legs crossed, he smiled at him; revealing sharp teeth underneath rosy, full lips. His eyes were of a liquid golden tone, just like his wavy hair, but he had pupils that were vertical slits. His long fingers ended in claw-like nails, while the tips of the fingers showed traces of scales underneath.
Around the hairline of his face, Kellan could also detect the scale-patterns underneath the pale golden-brown skin. He wore turquoise robes, embroidered with beads and colorful birds. His slightly upturned golden eyes lay on Kellan, and he couldn’t deny the man was handsome in a foreign way.
The ambassador cleared his throat while his face reached the color of a ripe tomato. How long had this man been watching him? Who was he even? Before Kellan got the chance to ask questions, another man stepped out of a room, which presumably was a bathroom. This man was a Xilitarian.
The jelly-like deep blue skin and the roundish torso, hidden under a white coat, gave it away. His light blue orbs pierced through him with an analyzing stare.
Kellan felt somewhat ill at ease since he didn’t know any of the two men, who were silently watching him like he was an attraction in some circus or zoo.
“Hello?” when he finally found his voice, it sounded rough and thin at the same time.
The Phy’vohranian’s smile only broadened.
“Err… I’m Kellan Harrison, nice to meet you?” it sounded more like a question since no one bothered to say something.
Shaking, he left the bed and tucked at the stiff fabric of his coat and robes underneath, hoping to look more presentable. Still, he had the strange feeling that his appearances were more like those of someone eaten by a Mulvur and then spit out.
“You’re… very small, but pretty. The pictures didn’t live up to your real beauty. Sartak will like you even more. Sit down. Eat, drink,” the other man’s hand pointed towards a big table loaded with food trays- his voice didn’t show any traces of an accent.
Swallowing, Kellan compelled him
self to nod and walked to the table to sit down on a chair which made him feel like a dwarf from the old movies and books the humans had liked so much back in the old days.
He sunk into the plush cushions of the seat which made him curl his lips in disapproval. Kellan’s head was scarcely above the edge of the damn dining table- a fact that left him frown.
It was more humiliating than when his father not noticed him or overheard him intentionally at a council meeting. He couldn’t imagine how it would be to sit with the great Phy’vohranians, who were all tall and most of them muscled, while he looked like a little boy. No one would take him seriously.
He’d either didn’t bother to show up at the dining table or talk someone into making him a higher chair, which would again make him look like a baby. He didn’t think there was a real chance not to make him seem like an infant at the adults’ table.
He heard the soft footsteps of the Phy’vohranian man, whose name he still didn’t know. The tall male approached him from the side and held a huge but sturdy-looking pillow. Kellan glared at it for a moment before he recollected himself to force a smile on his lips.
He shouldn’t show this Phy’vohranian man his ill temper because he certainly didn’t deserve it.
The man had even thought of keeping a pillow around for him to sit on.
Kellan should rather thank him, and so he did.
Placing himself on the pillow, he immediately felt more comfortable, since he could finally see what was on his plate. It looked like white meat, sausages, and salad with a reddish-brown sauce.
Hesitantly, he picked up an enormous fork and knife, but the other man shook his head and took both out of his hands to replace them with a much smaller set.
“Thank you,“ he was only able to whisper; his face probably red with embarrassment.
The man nodded seemingly pleased and settled himself on the chair across from Kellan while he had started eating. The meat tasted like chicken and the sausages like those made of pork.
“I’m the Royal Consort Jarvan. The man over there is Dr. Selarney. His family’s been living on Phy’vohran for three generations now. He is an expert at what he does, and since you are going to become a royal consort yourself, you’ll of course only receive the best treatment by the best doctor. Before undergoing the alterations, you must eat properly. Otherwise, you will be weak and feel uneasy on your legs. With our combined and advanced technology, the process will only take you about five to seven days. You’ll be closely monitored, so there is nothing to worry about. It is safe for humans, and it was all tested,” the consort explained unaware of Kellan’s shocked, pale face.
The Golden Heart: Alliance Book One (Alliance Series 1) Page 2
