The Golden Heart: Alliance Book One (Alliance Series 1)

by Jessamyne Hunter

  Of course, he had never worn the coat and his accessories to a diplomatic meeting with other planets, knowing some of them would be kindly calling it poor taste of fashion while other might feel like Kellan was mocking peace.

  So while his father had never shown any kind of recognition to Kellan’s work, the crew and soldiers on the governmental space-station- which was a huge ship in the orbit of Earth- had always been nice to him.

  At least they had appreciated his work, occasionally thanking him for treaties and agreements he had negotiated. Some of them had used to tell him kind words of praise, but none of them had ever bowed to him…not like the people on Phy’vohran who acted as if he was something very special and somehow above them.

  A small craft and Kellan’s two guards Jorax and Kalik waited for them just outside the gates.

  “If the Highnesses wish to do some shopping,” Jorax, the more fun of the two guards, grinned.

  Kalik, of course, stood there with a serious face, back straight and on alert.

  “The man needs to smile, except Sartak is his role model; then he should frown and scowl,” Kohtah told Jorax who then started nodding enthusiastically.

  “That man does not even smile when surrounded by naked courtesans, your Highness,” with that the guard flung the doors of the craft open and made an exaggerated gesture of courtesy to bid them to enter the craft.

  “I do not visit brothels or any such places, Princess Kohtah,” Kalik said severely, looking Kohtah into the eyes who blushed at that.

  “Thanks,” Kohtah whispered to the guard while Sartak frowned.

  Kellan only smiled, looking rather happy and content.

  The guard had called Kohtah a princess and thus made Kohtah happy.

  While he was still a man, he wished to be a woman and the guard calling him Princess showed him that there were people who took account of his wishes.

  I should think of Kohtah as a woman, too, Kellan thought, And I should ask Sartak to do the same.

  The ride in the craft proved rather short, but still, it was relaxing. Other crafts flew through the streets too, either as cabs or private crafts.

  “I’ve heard you are the third son of a lord, Kalik. Is it true? Why did you join the guard?” Kohtah sat next to the guard, smiling at him sweetly.

  He didn’t seem nervous or anything like that at all, but…was that a hint of a smile?

  “Yes, Princess. My father is Lord Tasax. I decided I wanted to serve the crown, so I became a palace guard. I was in the army first but eventually retired from duty after years in the Special Forces. I am Second in Command of the Palace Guard now,” Kalik recounted.

  Kohtah nodded while in thought, clearly thinking about what to ask next.

  “Rumor says, Lord Harok Darlvok, current Captain of the Guard, wishes to retire soon. Will you take his place then?” she wanted to know.

  Kalik shook his head slowly, trying to remember all the aspects, the bits of information regarding the current situation.

  “It is true that Captain Darlvok wants to retire. He has an estate and a territory to run. I believe he was given a seat on the Crown Council by King Leylos some time ago. Darlvok-Estate stands empty at the moment. Only the servants live in it. Thus he cannot stay forever at the palace, even though he has his private quarters there. A lord, especially one with such a high title, must know his duty. My father is a lord councilor, but since I am only the third son, I have no important responsibilities in our territory…that would be the case if things were normal. I won’t take over the Captain’s place since I could be summoned home to marry at any time,” he then explained.

  “Summoned home to marry? Do you not wish to marry someone you love?” Kohtah looked taken aback.

  “My oldest brother Renor came back from war injured. He needs dozens of people tending to him at all times and an excessive amount of medicine and painkillers. My other brother Silor was born with a mental illness. He forgets a lot of things, has fits and…well, his mind is that of a child. So your Highness can see, my wishes hardly matter now. I will not be able to choose a spouse myself, except that spouse somehow benefits my reputation. Father already wishes me to come home but for now, he hasn’t ordered it so far,” he let out an unhappy sigh which was rather off-character for Kalik, though it showed how much the situation bothered him.

  Kohtah stayed silent for a moment, watching her entwined fingers and smiling gently at no one in particular.

  Kellan sat opposite of her, already knowing what was going on inside her mind. He lightly tapped her leg with his foot.

  Dazzled, she raised her head to give him a questioning look. Instead of speaking he nodded and gave quick glances in Kalik’s direction, encouraging her to say what she had in mind.

  She sighed, noticeably straightening her back. She took a deep breath and turned to Kalik, who regarded her closely with a hidden fondness in his eyes.

  “You’re the future head of your house then…perfectly fine and no one will take offense or say stupid things about it,” she said cryptically.

  Kalik frowned a bit but didn’t seem to know what to respond to that.

  Kellan rolled his eyes. Oh hell, how difficult could this be? Not so much since both of them seemed rather fond of each other.

  Kellan remembered talking with Kohtah the whole night several times while Sartak had been on his mission. They had talked about Kalik.

  Kohtah seemed to be in love with him but hadn’t been sure how to approach him. At first, other guards had been scheduled to accompany them to the city, but Kellan had had a short word with Captain Darlvok, asking him to send Kellan’s personal guards with them. He had done it for Kohtah, and after hearing the man calling her princess, Kellan just knew he was right for her.

  So Kellan pointedly cleared his throat, drawing Kohtah’s attention to him. She flinched, but then finally nodded.

  “Lord Tasax, would you like to walk through the city with me?” she asked sheepishly.

  Kalik looked surprised at first, but then awkwardly blushed and stuttered a response that possibly meant he agreed.

  The craft came to a stop and Jorax and Kalik opened the doors for them.

  The whole ride while Kohtah had talked with Kalik and Kellan had been listening, Sartak and Jorax had been raving about the contestants of the upcoming Gladiator Games. They still weren’t finished with complaining about the incompetent new contestants- a group of young Phy’vohranian lordlings.

  Kellan stood there waiting with his arms crossed in front of him.

  He patiently watched the two men talking and talking while Kohtah and Kalik vanished into the crowd.

  They were at the central marketplace. The big fountain sprinkled water out of the mouths of countless small creatures resembling alien sea dwellers. Kellan looked around and immediately found some interesting stalls. He could make out the figure of two humans amidst the tall Phy’vohranians. They were conversing with a shop-keeper. The shop-keeper fumbled his arms in the air, making extensive gestures while talking. His face was flushed an angry red and Kellan feared the situation might get out of control.

  Frowning, he decided to ask them what was wrong. He noticed Sartak and Jorax follow him, still talking about the Games.

  When he was almost at the stall, he heard them argue about a shipment which had never arrived and wasn’t paid yet.

  “Indulge me, what is the problem, gentlemen?” Kellan asked nicely and both the people arguing and the two behind him raving about the Games silenced.

  The shopkeeper's face paled upon seeing Kellan. He quickly bowed and shot him a nervous glance, then looked at his prince behind Kellan.

  “These men claim a shipment was made and I shall pay it, but I swear it never arrived,” he whispered.

  He didn’t seem to lie, but one could never be sure. Kellan regarded him warily and then turned to the two human men.

  “Where did the shipment come from?” he asked them.

  Both had exchanged glances before the older one re
sponded.

  “Who are you, if I might ask?” he looked Kellan up and down but apparently didn’t know how to determine who he was by just the look of his clothes.

  Kellan didn’t expect them to recognize him.

  “I am Royal Consort Kellan Harrison-Nexvrin,” he answered politely.

  When both their faces turned ashen, he at least knew they had heard the name before.

  “H-H-Highness! The peace and trade agreements! We are so sorry. We humbly beg your pardon!” he almost shouted in Kellan’s face.

  He tried to hold back his laughter; it was a good thing he knew how to put on and keep a neutral face. He still smiled when he nodded in recognition.

  “We are travelers. We sent a cargo ship to Yaldia to fetch wares and it then flew to Phy’vohran. It should be at the docks near Nuxar, but it isn’t,” the older man explained ruefully

  Kellan frowned, thinking about how to solve the situation and eventually took out his communicator to call Leylos’s office. Just a few seconds had passed before the king answered his call. The slim screen showed his Father-in-Law’s concerned face.

  “What happened?” the king asked, getting right to the point.

  Kellan squared his shoulders, sensing this whole thing was more serious than it seemed.

  Yaldia was one of the Phy’vohranian Alliance planets. It was at the other end of the Silver Galaxy. The Galaxy in which Phy’vohran was located was called like that because of the gray meteor fields and silver nebula interweaving the whole galaxy.

  Yaldia was the planet of the White Desert. The entire surface was covered in white sand or vast deep blue oceans. It had only a few large oases in which their big modern cities were located.

  Other than that, they had sky-high pyramids and underground towns. Most of their architecture reminded Kellan of ancient Egypt.

  Their cities in the sea, on the other hand, were destitute of imagination.

  Playful towers and spiral buildings; round or mushroom-shaped houses; all shapes imaginable could be found down there.

  One would guess those Yaldians lived rather backward, but that wasn’t the case at all. Their cities had the newest and most impressive technologies. Their submarines imitated the giant fish creatures that lived in the sea beside them and Kellan knew no faster hunter-gliders than the Yaldian ones.

  Their spacecrafts moved with effortless grace, resembling their sea dwellers both in appearance and movements. To Kellan the space ships looked like some ancient crabs; the main body elliptical with long tails and finger-like wings. Both tail and wings moved around in fluid motions, letting the ship glide through space just like their inspirational models were gliding through the water.

  The Yaldians were insect-like. Most of the time, the Yaldians on land traveled. Always on the move, they were a restless people with many nomadic tribes.

  The Yaldians traded with metals they mined from undersea, nick-nack like jewelry or glass objects- mostly glassware or stained glass pictures- their people handcrafted.

  From the looks of the shopkeeper's stall, the shipment was probably glassware.

  “A cargo ship from Yaldia-“ Kellan didn’t get any further because Leylos started to moan and rubbed his face in exhaustion.

  “It went missing, I assume? We have a fucking pirate-problem. We managed to chase away the ones heading towards us, but our alliance partners are struggling. I guess Earth has the same problem. I need to send forces to our friends,” he explained while sipping on his tea which probably contained some of those relaxing and calming herbs.

  “Naturally,” Kellan responded and quickly said goodbye because he heard another call coming in.

  So with the bad news, he turned to the three men waiting for a solution to their problem.

  “Pirates,” was all he needed to say because the three men’s faces showed they understood very well.

  The two humans gave him a grim nod, lips pressed into a thin line.

  While they walked away, speaking loudly into their communicators, the shop-keeper turned to Kellan and thanked him.

  “I’ve never dealt with humans…I admit I was a bit overwhelmed,” he said with a sheepish smile and gave Kellan an armlet made of a blue ornamental rock with black and golden veins.

  “So could you boys stop bitching about the contestants? I’m just asking for a moment of shut-the-fuck-up, so please!” Kellan finally exclaimed when he was about to ask the tailor to repeat what he had just said for the third time now.

  “Well, I must say, they are quite right about the Balor-boy. He is a very rude, spoiled brat. I guess his parents never told him no,” the tailor interrupted, making Kellan turn his eyes.

  “So anyways, can we go back to the subject now? Maternity clothing! Is there any way possible I won’t look like a colorful trash bag? If you can do that, I would be most grateful,” Kellan said, not even caring about asking the tailor to repeat his words again.

  Shopping with his husband and his guard was most exhausting. He sure wouldn’t take them with him another time.

  He quickly finished his order of new clothes and left the shop before the three men possibly started to nag even more.

  Without waiting for them to follow behind, he stepped on the street and shouldered his way through the crowd of people. The marketplace was stuffed with them. It seemed like every citizen had some kind of business here today.

  He saw smaller and larger crafts flying through the streets; people walking, laughing and shopping, and he saw Phy’vohranians on strange mounts that looked like feathery dinosaurs. Those were supposedly a larger race of cockatrices, but to Kellan, they looked like big feathered velociraptors with a shiny, black beak instead of jaws with sharp teeth.

  He watched out for other humans since he started to miss people who didn’t tower over him…at least not as much as the Phy’vohranians.

  He also wanted to know how the humans felt about the negotiated peace and if it was stable or not. He wondered if they struggled somehow or if things were going smooth. He also wanted to know if anyone knew about his brothers and his father. He hadn’t heard from them since…well since he had left.

  He missed Blake and he really wanted to speak to him again and…oh well, he also missed Luke. Even though they had spent only a little time on the governmental ship together, he missed Luke’s stupid comments and his shenanigans to annoy him. Blake would take Kellan’s side and then they’d do crazy stuff together, trying to get on Sergeant Mura’s nerves. The man simply disliked Kellan for no reason really. During Kellan’s rookie-time he had more than just once caused the man to burst into a rage fit though…

  He’d love it if Blake and Luke could visit him anytime soon. His father, on the other hand, could stay where he was.

  He didn’t believe for a minute that the man didn’t have something secret going on. Kellan just couldn’t figure out what he might be up to. At least he knew it was something bad. What other reason could he have for not telling Kellan about the wedding or lying straight to the Phy’vohranian king’s face? Did his father want something? Something Kellan could give him by being married to Sartak?

  Probably red diamonds since Phy’vohran had a lot of them. Kellan could negotiate that…well, maybe.

  Red diamonds were the rarest and most expensive diamonds. Peace and trade were excellent, but money was better. Since the currency was silver, gold, platinum, and diamonds- and Phy’vohran had a lot of each- Kellan’s new home was one of the richest planets known.

  There were still countless undiscovered planets and whole galaxies on which people have never landed on. But to the known world, Phy’vohran was one of the ten wealthiest planets.

  Kellan knew of a former French colony of Earth that was also very wealthy and would be number eleven on the list.

  The colony had soon become independent from Earth and didn’t care shit about the war between Earth and Phy’vohran.

  Orsaint was a planet stuck at the time of the Absolutisme or Absolutism. Kellan found them very weird
since their Earth had never experienced this era. The Earth Kellan knew could be called New Earth.

  Once on Old Earth scientist had tried to splice human DNA with other species’ DNA with the goal of creating better humans- humans that were stronger, lived longer and had intensified senses and abilities.

  Somehow it hadn’t worked out quite as the scientists would have liked. So the spliced humans had endured discrimination and the worst kind of race hatred.

  Since some of their genes were taken from animals, they had been considered low humans.

  Mostly serving as soldiers or given other tasks where strength was required; all Splices that were born too small or not strong enough had been killed right after birth. Only females were allowed to stay alive for breeding.

  So when the rebellion had begun, the Splices demanded to be granted the same human rights as the non-spliced humans. Some Splices had infiltrated the higher governmental and military ranks before the rebellion had started- that was 3516 years ago.

  In the end, after two millennia of civil war and streams of blood flowing through the streets, the Splices had decided to send Recon-Cruisers into space to seek a planet inhabitable and similar to Old Earth.

  It had taken them almost twenty years, but then they had finally found New Earth which had similar flora and fauna to Earth.

  Even the continents had almost been the same. Only that Asia and Europe were separated by a channel and North America and South America was a big block. Those were the most significant differences between Old and New Earth.

  Now almost one-thousand years later both Old and New Earth had a friendly relationship with each other again. The friendship was almost two-hundred years old now. Still, Old Earth hadn’t helped to fight the war against Phy’vohran- mostly because Old Earth was struggling with economy and ecology.

  A lot of countries weren’t inhabitable anymore due to catastrophes and poverty.

  Of course, New Earth had welcomed refugees from Old Earth with open arms. At least the Splices held no grudges against the Old Earth humans. Now they were happily mixing genes and culture while learning about each other’s history.