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

by Jessamyne Hunter

  Blake noticed his brother yell the same things he had just thought a minute ago into the speakers for their soldiers to hear.

  “God, give me strength,” he whispered when they were shaken by the next wave of attacks.

  Little cracks formed on their wall, some of their gliders needing to retreat.

  Immediately the gaps were filled although the wall grew smaller for a moment until the gliders that had retreated earlier were ready again and started to connect to the wall at the edges.

  While they were under attack, Blake knew exactly that the soldiers hadn’t turned the blasts on full power and he was happy about it.

  They were soldiers and they followed orders. It was a good sign that they were hesitant in harming them for real, but that they were shooting anyway dimmed the relief.

  How long would it be until they had enough and started the attack for real?

  Wave after wave of energy bullets and laser rays came down on them but not once did they return the gunfire.

  Luke and Blake both hoped for this madness to stop. They hoped it so badly, but the end was nowhere near.

  They waited for the shots to cease but they just didn’t.

  It had felt like hours, but then, Blake took a shaky breath when the sound of battle stopped. He didn’t dare to open his eyes and he might be right not to do so.

  The next time he heard the shooting pick up, nothing hit them.

  Confused, he opened his eyes after all.

  His brother was now stood in front of the windows, looking back at him over his shoulder. A relieved smile passed over his lips.

  “Look!” Luke mouthed and Blake looked.

  Phy’vohranian gliders were racing between the gliders of their opponents as they stared at the scene in disbelieve. They aimed for the artillery; not quite blasting them to pieces like it would have been expected after the breach of treaty.

  The shooting went on for what seemed to be hours, but when it was done; pieces of metal and guns floated around them, vanishing in a cloud into the vastness of space.

  It gave them time to breathe, a moment to calm down.

  “Is it over?” he asked, but Luke gave no answer.

  Blake didn’t dare to ask again.

  He waited while the Phy’vohranian ships started to patrol the space between their wall and the new formation the others were taking.

  Sartak and the others raced after the pirate’s great ship, but it was cloaked now.

  Barely visible in the blackness of universe, it was too hard for them to follow. The ship wasn’t visible on their radar anymore since it was cloaked.

  Sartak cursed the circumstances. He banged his fist against a seat and sank down in his captain’s chair.

  It was half an hour later when Aoran touched his shoulder. He looked up and rose to his feet.

  “The human’s have split their soldiers. Some of them seem to be on our side, the others are not,” his best friend informed him.

  “I haven’t caught a sight from the pirates since they passed us,” Gwyndea yelled from somewhere behind him.

  Vex and Trouble had retaken a glider to their ship that was just a short distance behind them.

  Now they appeared on one of the big screens.

  “How do we go on?” Trouble asked, a grin forming on his lips.

  “We weaken them. Shoot the big ship,” he ordered and Kariary readied the guns.

  Harok was behind some of the artillery controls, aiming at the big ship. He set them on repetitive shooting and went on with calibrating the other guns.

  Suddenly, after the first shots, they had drawn all the attention.

  The gliders clearly belonging to President Harrison left their places in the formation and circled them.

  Shots rained down on them, banging against their hull but didn’t do that much damage.

  They were about to shoot again when the pirate’s big mother-ship appeared across from them.

  The hull flickered several times; it was there and gone and there again.

  It was strangely mesmerizing.

  The golden bird that shaped the front of the ship had glowing red eyes. It stood on fire, its feathers burning and softly illuminated by light from the inside.

  For a moment it stayed there, hovering in space.

  Its size was threatening, the length of it still covered in the black fog created by the hull or whatever kind of shield they were using. It was nothing they had ever seen before and it was frightening.

  The President’s ship desperately started to maneuver; seemingly trying to get out of line but was not fast enough.

  The pirate’s ship roared to life, the bird’s eyes shining even brighter now as the rest of the ship became visible.

  It started to move, its whole length rushing forward like a spear. It raced directly towards the President’s ship, which was still trying to escape as Sartak and the other’s stood in shock and confusion.

  There came no warning, no chance to surrender.

  It just attacked.

  The impact when the pirate’s ship slammed into the tail of the President’s ship broke the much weaker hull.

  The golden bird’s beak ripped the metal apart like it was thin paper. Pieces of metal and strings were flowing in space while all the lights of the President’s ship went out and then flickered back to life.

  It had lost its maneuverability and was now only running on emergency power. The gates at the sides opened wide, showing the docking station.

  Sartak supposed they were readying the escape gliders and capsules, but of course, Sartak wouldn’t let them.

  But before anyone could do anything, someone forced a video connection.

  The screens flickered.

  Smaller explosions still went off outside, but all of them had drawn their attention to the screen.

  For a moment nothing happened, but then the screen flashed a bright white and a room illuminated by starlight white lamps and chrome colored walls appeared.

  Two figures stood in the middle of the room. One of them wore dove-gray formally looking attire and black boots, his graying golden hair reminded Sartak a lot of the President and Kellan’s brothers.

  The other person, though, had pale white skin and silvery white hair. The robe they wore was white with a golden shimmer. Red blossoms of bloodstains covered the area where the thighs were, and red sprinkles were all over the length of it.

  It was a bizarre sight.

  It disturbed Sartak deeply and his mouth went dry as he recognized that person.

  “KELLAN!” he shouted, rushing towards the screen but reminded himself to stay calm and that he couldn’t touch but only see his mate.

  An empty smile appeared on his kmeran’s lips. He looked like a ghost, his eyes had dark circles.

  “My name is Kellan Harrison-Nexvrin. I am the consort of Prince Sartak Nexvrin of Phy’vohran; I am a Lord of Earth; Prince of New Britain and the Northern Isles; Head of the New Commonwealth; ambassador of the Star-Lion-Alliance; Sovereign and owner of EVE-4. I hereby declare President Samuel Harrison a traitor and a child-murderer. He shall be handed over to me immediately. All acts of war will be halted now or be punished severely,” Kellan said; obviously, they had established a connection to all ships in the area.

  Some of the president’s soldiers put up white flags on their glider’s front screen and their guns went to sleep mode.

  Sartak sought Kellan’s glance, knowing he probably wouldn’t notice it.

  His kmeran was shaking, his fist clenched together until they were white. His lips were a thin line and his eyes unfocused.

  Now he reached for the edge of his robe, holding the blood-soaked fabric tightly in his left hand, his right hand was placed on his stomach, clasping something that wasn’t there.

  Sartak felt his heart drop, his stomach clenching into a thick knot.

  He had seen the blood, the flat stomach of his mate and he had heard him accuse his own father of child-murder.

  Still, he hadn�
��t dared to think the most obvious thing.

  He hadn’t dared; he had tried to push the thought to the back of his mind, but now it came crashing down on him like a wave.

  His blood ran ice cold as he turned around and saw Aoran watch him with a blank face.

  His uncle Harok gave him pathetic looks, pain showing on his face like he had been the one to lose a child.

  The tears that now streamed down his uncle’s face reminded him that he only knew little about Harok’s life. He might have lost a child. Sartak didn’t know, but still, a deep compassionate sadness ran through him.

  His throat was tight; he couldn’t speak, couldn’t swallow nor breathe.

  The pirates swarmed out, capturing every last of the reluctant soldiers. The surrounding space was filled with gliders- human soldiers, Phy’vohranian soldiers, and pirates. Kellan watched them through the windows.

  The cold in his veins was almost unbearable; his arms were wrapped around himself. He felt lost, so cold and lost, but nobody could help him.

  Every time his hand touched the flat stomach, his heart burned once more with pain and loss.

  He could no longer cry since he had done it for hours already.

  A quiet voice caught his attention and he turned on his heel. His uncle smiled at him, coming nearer with every step.

  “You know, I have never wanted this,“ he whispered, eyes locked on Kellan’s stomach.

  Kellan nodded.

  “I know how you feel. I felt the same once; still feeling it today. I never wanted anyone else to endure the same pain,“ he said, his voice fading as he held Kellan’s hands.

  “You did the right thing by helping me now. Don’t blame yourself. Blame my father,“ Kellan responded, squeezing his uncle’s hands for a second before he let go and turned back to the window.

  “Your father didn’t know…I might have shamelessly gone with everything he had said, but this was a sure way to make me his enemy,” Alastair whispered.

  They stood in silence as they watched the gliders. Everyone was busy with ending the madness his father had begun. Kellan took a shaky breath.

  He wanted answers.

  He wanted to know the reasons for his father’s schemes.

  He wanted to hear the reason, and he wanted to know how long this all had been planned.

  The door behind them hissed as it opened.

  Heavy footsteps sounded and several people came into the brilliant white room; a room that was made of screens. The walls, the ceiling, and the floor were made of screens and at the moment some of the screens were showing what was going on outside.

  Kellan waved a hand in front of a sensor and the screens turned back to a bright white.

  He was still standing in the middle when he turned around, his uncle by his side.

  Eryon was the first who had entered. The man looked still tired, but he came towards Kellan with open arms. Immediately Kellan accepted the hug and let the old Phy’vohranian lord stand beside him.

  When he looked around to find out who the other people were, his eyes went wide.

  Sartak and his crew, as well as Jarvan and King Leylos, were standing there and patiently waited for Kellan to notice them.

  A sob escaped Kellan’s throat as he rushed forward and jumped right into his husband’s arms.

  Sartak’s strong arms held him tight as if he never wanted to let go of him again.

  Kellan reached up to hold his face and the watched each other in silence. Both of them had tears in their eyes. Sartak whispered something in his language, which Kellan could not understand, but Kellan didn’t care because Sartak kissed him in the next moment. His lips moved softly against Sartak’s as they shared the sweetest kiss.

  But they were soon interrupted when the door opened again. The hiss of it loud enough to draw them back from each other.

  A group of pirates strode in; in their midst, they had a prisoner in shackles. A cat-like alien walked in front of them. It was probably only five feet short but had fur all over its body. The coloring reminded Kellan of a silver tiger striped cat.

  “First Officer Quinn Telsin reports for duty. Squavt, stop playing with the scaly bird,“ he said, sending the henchman called Squavt away.

  Kellan took a closer look at the dinosaur-like horned man and saw that his facial scales appeared to be molten.

  His eyes went wide when he saw Dershra trying to bite the man.

  “Dershra! Have you done this to the poor man?!” he exclaimed horrified, but Dershra didn’t seem to be feeling very guilty.

  The little wyvern flew away from the pirate and landed on Kellan’s shoulder.

  “’Tis a’right, ma’esty. Is a lil’ protector. Ca’e too near to you. Spit acid,“ the pirate growled, though he didn’t seem very angry.

  Alastair shook his head.

  “Squavt! Work on your language!” he yelled after him as the pirate left the room.

  The other pirates, two more of the Sue’tyrnians and three humans had meanwhile pushed the prisoner to his knees. He still wore that woven bag on his head, but it was soon ripped off.

  Kellan wasn’t surprised to see his father. Hate and anger filled his glare.

  Kellan opened his mouth to say something, and that was the moment his brothers chose to barge into the room, shouting his name.

  “Oh god! Kellan! You’re all right!” Blake exclaimed upon catching sight of him.

  Both his brothers took him into a bear-hug and patted him on his shoulders which was actually more like bone-breaking smacking.

  “And you!” Blake said, pointing the finger at their father, “As you make your bed, so you must lie! It has all come back to you. ”

  Their father’s mouth curled into a grotesque smile as he laughed and laughed.

  “Stupid, stupid children. I should have killed you when you failed my family the first time, Kellan. You are all traitors! Just as your grandfather was a traitor! Who needs peace and poverty! We could have been the rulers of the galaxy! All the riches of those lizards in our hands! You destroyed everything we have ever worked for! You destroyed our legacy! You idiots! You committed treason to our family! The Lion! The Great Lions should have ruled them all, but you are too weak to rule them! Too weak to choose war! Too weak to succeed! You will never become one of the Great Lions of our family!” he raved, sounding like a madman.

  “What have you done? How long have you planned this?” Kellan asked calmly, ignoring his father’s mad ravings.

  “My whole life! Ever since after Alastair got send away to get married to Emperor Jacques-Etienne de Beauvalleé of Orsaint, it put me in the line of the next Presidents. It was my destiny, my calling, my grandfather’s great vision,” he laughed again, leaving everyone else to wonder what was so funny about all this when his head snapped up and he looked at King Leylos with wild eyes, “You! You were the first one to mess with my plans. When you killed your father…you wanted peace. I told your father that no matter to what agreement he would come with my father; I’d simply start a new war. I wanted him to fight. I wanted us to rule out whose best, but you! You held back! How can I make our reign great again when your people always retreat like little girls before we could show them who is superior in this game of war? Blake! Luke! And even Kellan! I did this all for our family. All galaxies should know our name. They should bow to-“

  That had been enough for Kellan. Without hesitation, he smacked the side of his hand against the back of his father’s head and made him pass out.

  This man…this child-murderer was also responsible for his grandfather’s death.

  Kellan was disgusted by only looking at Samuel, and when he looked up to see his brothers’ reactions, he saw that they felt the same way about this.

  None of them had known that their father’s mind had been that degenerated. This was a madman who belonged into an asylum. It was neither safe for others nor for himself to let him walk around on his own.

  He wanted him dead; he wanted to see him suffer. But then he woul
d never be able to look into the mirror again.

  He had shed so much blood already; he’d sentenced a man to death and executed two others in the arena. If he didn’t stop now, what good was his Golden Heart, anyway?

  He could at least justify the three death sentences before, but this man was still his father…though, Samuel wasn’t worthy of being called like this.

  Kellan wanted to see him beheaded, but what would it do to him? How much of his gentle heart would be left afterward?

  He had to choose between either his revenge or his sanity. Because killing his father would haunt him for the rest of his life.

  He didn’t want that.

  How was he supposed to sleep at night when he did as the pain in his heart told him to do now?

  It would be something his father would cold-heartedly demand- a head for a crime.

  Heavyhearted he sighed and cleared his throat.

  “I am not like my father, so I will only sentence him to lifelong imprisonment in a facility that will deal with his psychological problems. Until then…lock him in a cell. I do not wish to see this man again,” Kellan ordered and turned on his heal.

  He was out of the door before anyone could stop him. Sartak and Kellan’s remaining new and old family followed him, leaving the henchmen to do their work.

  28

  As soon as the door had closed behind him, the tension fell from his shoulders.

  His body felt numb and his breath came out shaky. The silence around him was deafening as he walked down the silver corridor.

  His steps never faltered even though he heard the thundering steps behind him. Whoever tried to close up to him wouldn’t be able to track him. All the years of his training were finally paying off as he soundlessly ran.

  It was too much. Everything hurt and not even the pleading voice of his husband could undo the pain in his heart.

  A sob escaped his throat.

  Kellan rounded the corner and opened the first door he came across. To his surprise, he found himself in a storage room.

  Not caring about where he was or what was stored in here, he chose one of the far away boxes at the end of the room. With a shove, he tested the solidity of the construction- a high pile of boxes and crates. When he was sure, it wouldn’t tumble, he climbed it; ignoring the pain in his stomach.