by J. M. Page
A tiny smile lifted the corners of Jen’s mouth and she nodded, her eyes drifting to the floor. “I’ve noticed,” she said, sounding almost admiring. Zak couldn’t be sure, but the little lilt in her voice made his heart jump nonetheless.
While they stood in line for their food, Golbath and Doran ahead of them, Jen turned her wide oceanic eyes toward him. “So, what is it that we need to discuss?” Her teeth drew her bottom lip in and worried at it in the most endearing way. Zak just wanted to jump forward and capture her lips with his to still her nervous energy.
“It’s about the treaty,” he said, suddenly unsure about the lie. What if she didn’t believe him? What if she wouldn’t go for it?
He had to try. It was the only way he could see to make this work.
Her expression drooped again, and again his chest tightened with guilt.
“Is there a problem? I was under the impression it was mostly a formality — that the details had already been discussed with your military?”
He nodded, taking the plate of unidentifiable food from the person behind the counter. Earth food certainly looked strange, but he’d had enough odd things in his life to not be fazed by it. “It is, the only problem is Granotan tradition. It’s a little silly,” he said, shaking his head.
He saw the confusion in her eyes, she still didn’t know anything about his people, but this time it was to his advantage.
“I don’t understand,” she said, carrying her tray to the empty table Golbath and Doran chose.
“Agreements like the one your planet has proposed can only be signed on Granotan soil. It’s a sovereignty thing. If I do it here, our subjects will believe we were coerced.” For a moment, he held his breath. It sounded plausible enough even to him. Hopefully she wouldn’t question it.
She set her tray down and slumped into a chair, just staring at the food with forlorn eyes. “Oh,” she said.
Zak sat next to her and began eating, more impressed with the taste of the food than the appearance.
She kept staring at her food, not touching it, until finally she looked up at the table and said, “Excuse me, I have to make a call.”
“Take your time,” Zak said. But it wasn’t what he wanted to say. He didn’t want to give anyone a chance to talk her out of it. He wanted her to readily agree to get on a shuttle and go home with him. He wanted her to feel this connection between them and be as enthusiastic as he was.
He wanted a lot of things, but he couldn’t voice them out loud. Instead, he acted unaffected as she stood and left the cafeteria.
Chapter Seven
Jen
Crap. What now? Jen fled the cafeteria quickly, her cell already in her hand with the Ambassador’s number dialed.
Her one job today was to get this treaty signed by any means necessary. She understood that, but she didn’t think “any means” included visiting another planet!
And the Prince said it so casually, like they should have known this fact. And they should have, and would have if Jen had done her job properly. If she’d done her research, they would all already know about this little quirk of the Granotans and maybe she wouldn’t have been tasked with the impossible feat of getting the treaty signed.
As much as the idea freaked her out — being invited to another planet by an alien Prince was not what she expected when she woke up this morning — she had to admit it sounded a little exciting, too.
She was intrigued by this Prince. She liked spending time with him. She liked the way he made her heart flutter and her pulse race with those incredible green eyes of his. She liked the way he regarded her with warm appreciation that she felt all the way in her toes.
And she’d always wanted to see other planets.
Her hands grew clammy at the very thought of leaving Earth. People did it all the time, but she was not one of them. Jen had hardly ever left the city, let alone the planet.
There was no use getting ahead of herself, though. She needed to talk to the Ambassador. She was sure there were protocols for things like this. That one of the other Ambassadors would take up the job to ensure she didn’t mess it up. Surely, Tully wouldn’t want her to keep handling this in light of the new information.
So, she pressed the button to dial and waited for him to answer.
“Tully speaking,” he said after four rings.
Jen’s heart clogged her throat. She didn’t want to have to tell her boss that she failed her assignment, but what choice did she have?
“Hello, Ambassador. It’s Jen,” she said.
“Jennifer! How is the Prince? Has he signed the treaty already?”
Jen cleared her throat, a prickle of uncertainty tickling it and making her hoarse. “Uh, no sir, that’s what I’m calling about.”
She could hear the Ambassador talking to someone on the other side of the phone and waited patiently for him to return his attention to her.
“We need that done, Jennifer! It’s very important,” he said, taking a tone that felt a lot like he was scolding her.
Jen frowned and pulled at a loose thread in the hem of her shirt. “I understand, sir, but he wants me to—”
“He’s a Prince! Of course he has strange demands. You have my full support to do whatever’s necessary to get that thing signed and on my desk.”
“Right but—”
“I believe in you Jennifer! And I’m counting on you, okay?”
It was no use trying to argue with him. Clearly Tully didn’t want to hear what she had to say or even acknowledge that she was trying to say something. She sighed, knowing that she was just going to have to suck it up and do this thing.
“Okay?” he prompted again.
Jen gritted her teeth, trying to remember why she liked working for this man. It wasn’t so much working for him that she enjoyed as it was the job itself. Tully was scattered, effusive, and more charm than substance. It was learning about the aliens she enjoyed. Studying their differences and learning about all the unique things that made them special. Tully she could take or leave, honestly.
“Yes, sir,” she finally said, resigning herself to the inevitable outcome.
She was going to have to go to the Prince’s planet.
After hanging up with the Ambassador, Jen trudged back into the cafeteria, dread, apprehension, and a glimmer of excitement all swirling around in her intestines, making her feel queasy. She plastered a fake smile on her face — not ready to go down without a fight — and sat next to the Prince again.
He gave her a quizzical look, and she was struck again by how those green eyes of his seemed to see right through her, burning a window through her exterior walls until he saw the most secret intimate parts of her that she tried to keep hidden. It was unsettling, for sure, but another part of Jen kind of liked that there was someone who looked at her like that. Someone she couldn’t hide from. Someone that understood her.
That was a ridiculous thought though. How could he understand her when he’d only just met her?
And yet… The way he looked at her confirmed that he knew her so much better than she was comfortable with.
She nodded at him, poking at her food, all appetite gone now. She had to eat something though — who knew what kind of food they’d have on his planet. She needed her strength. So Jen ate a few bites before facing the Prince to give him the answer he asked without saying anything.
“I guess we’re going to Granota,” she said.
On the opposite side of the table, two forks clattered in unison to their trays as the other men looked on with horror and shock.
The shimmering opal man cleared his throat and canted his head to one side. “Your Highness?”
For a brief moment, Jen thought she saw a look of embarrassment on Zak’s face. It seemed like he’d been caught in something he shouldn’t have been. But that was silly. He was a Prince. He could do whatever he pleased.
Zak nodded. “I informed our liaison of the long-held Granotan tradition of signing agreements on our own soil.”<
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The other men looked at him, puzzled for a beat, before recognition dawned on one’s face, then the other.
“Oh, of course,” Opal man said.
Zak turned and gave her a small smile. “Doran has informed me that the shuttle is ready to leave when we are. We can go after lunch,” he said.
Jen choked on her mashed potatoes and had to gulp down half a glass of water to stop the sputtering. Zak looked at her curiously, his brow furrowed with concern.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Jen nodded, wiping at her mouth, trying to catch her breath. “I… That doesn’t give me much time to prepare or pack or anything,” she said.
Zak shrugged, drinking from his own water casually. “The Crown will provide what you need,” he said.
Jen’s stomach did a flip-flop, but she remembered what Tully had said and knew she didn’t have a choice. She was going to be leaving Earth in only a few minutes.
Jen had never been aboard a shuttle before. She’d seen plenty of them take off and land, she’d greeted many people getting off of them, but she’d never been on one herself. It wasn’t too unlike an airplane, she decided. Much roomier, but that was probably because this one belonged to royalty.
Not that it was ostentatious. There were about a dozen seats in the main cabin, each comfortable, plush, and covered with buttery leather of unknown origin. Along the sides of the cabin there were two long windows that gave quite a view, she imagined. She’d know for sure once they took off.
She took the seat across the aisle from Zak and fumbled with her safety harness as the shuttle’s engines roared to life. Her hands trembled and her fingers were damp with nervousness. She tried and failed four times to get the buckle to clasp and finally Zak recognized her struggles.
He unbuckled his own harness and crossed the aisle to kneel in front of her.
“Here, let me help,” he said, bent on one knee. For some unknown reason, the closeness of him made her breath hitch. He invaded her senses, her nostrils filling with the scent of fresh summer rain, earthy and clean all at once.
“Thanks,” she whispered, as the back of his hands skimmed her chest while he hooked the harness. The contact sent a tremor straight to her toes and Jen had to push back a frown. What was this new reaction to him? She wanted him to be near her, to touch her, to hold her…
Get it together, Jen, she chastised herself.
After Zak buckled the harness, his hand lingered for a moment, his eyes searching hers like there was something he wanted to say. The moment hung between them until finally he seemed to realize it and looked away.
“Are you nervous?” he asked, testing the harness to make sure it was snug and secure.
Jen nibbled her bottom lip, wondering if she should admit it or not. Maybe she should just play it cool, act like this was no big deal at all. But then she remembered the way he seemed to see right through her bravado and she nodded.
“I’ve never left Earth before,” she said.
Zak stood and took the seat next to her, rather than across the aisle, buckling himself in. “You’ll like Granota,” he said. “It’s not unlike Earth, though we run things a bit differently.”
The shuttle’s thrusters ignited and Jen looked up in alarm. “We’re going already?”
Zak chuckled, nodding. “Hold on,” he said.
He didn’t need to tell her to do that. Jen gripped the armrest with white knuckles, her breathing strained and shallow. This was it. She was really leaving Earth, going to some strange planet with an alien she’d only met that morning. She never even told the Ambassador what was going on — not that he seemed to want the details — if something happened to her, who would ever know?
Zak’s hand slipped over hers, warm and reassuring. He squeezed gently, telling her without words that it was okay. Her skin tingled where they connected and she couldn’t help imagining his touch on other places on her body. Trailing down her arms, her sides, lifting up her shirt and…
“It’ll be okay,” he said, his voice vibrating through her.
Her throat was dry and her voice cracked when she spoke. “Th-thanks for sitting next to me…”
The answering gaze he sent her way made her heart stop for a moment. There was something in that look that said ‘I’ll always be there for you,’ but that was ridiculous. She was just seeing things that weren’t there.
The shuttle pulled back on the airstrip, and all at once, they hurtled into the sky. The force of take-off pushed Jen back into her seat. She couldn’t move or turn her head. Everything was so heavy, and pulled back like she was made of magnets.
She couldn’t look away from him even if she tried, but looking at him brought her comfort in a strange way. His calm and composure eased her anxiety and soothed the raging doubt in her blood.
He squeezed her hand again, glued in place the same as she was. “It’ll be over soon,” he said as the shuttle rattled and screamed through the atmosphere.
Then, all at once, the magnetic force dissipated and Jen felt like she was floating in its absence.
No, scratch that — she was floating. The harness kept her tethered in place, but her butt was no longer in the seat, it now hovered an inch above it, her hair floating out around her like she was underwater.
There was a ding and a light came on in the cabin and at the same moment she fell back to her seat, gravity back to normal.
“You survived your first launch,” Zak teased with a smile. A nervous bubble of laughter worked its way from her and she nodded.
“I guess I did!”
“I knew you could do it,” he said, his hand falling away from hers.
On instinct, she looked at the place his hand had just been and frowned at its absence. Her hand felt cold and lonely there without his, but she’d never admit it.
“So, tell me about your planet,” she said as he unclipped his harness and she did the same.
“Of course,” he said. “But first, I want to show you something.”
He took her hand again and pulled her to her feet, leading her over to an unobstructed portion of windows.
Jen bent to look and her knees almost buckled, her head spinning.
Earth was outside that window. Serene and beautiful as ever, but for the first time in Jen’s life, she wasn’t there. For the first time, she saw her planet from afar and realized how small they all were. How small she was.
“It’s beautiful,” she said, tears gathering in her eyes. It was overwhelming, seeing her home like this. Thinking about all the billions of people who lived their entire lives never seeing the majesty of what she saw now.
“Gorgeous,” Zak said, a hint of warmth in his voice that suggested he wasn’t talking about the planet anymore.
Jen’s face heated, but she didn’t turn from the window. She was probably just imagining things like that. She needed to just focus on her job, getting the treaty signed, and get back as soon as she could.
The Earth grew smaller and smaller as they flew, until it was nothing more than another dot of light in the sky disappearing amongst all the others.
It left Jen with a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. A feeling that made her realize the vast scale of the Universe and all the beings in it. There was so much she hadn’t seen, so much she didn’t know.
They lingered there by the window for a while, Jen suddenly overcome with emotion. She tried to hold it all in, but it was so much. Too much.
Zak rested his hand on her lower back gently, not pushy or unwelcome, just a warm comforting presence there. It surprised her, the familiarity of the touch, but she didn’t pull away from him. It felt nice to have someone there. Someone that didn’t try to force words into a situation where none were needed.
Warmth flowed from his hand, into her spine, and somehow it calmed her. Soothed her. Tamed the raging emotions that flowed through her with such ferocity.
“How do you do that?” she whispered.
“Do what?” his voice rumbled in re
sponse, vibrating all the way through her to her toes.
“Calm me. It seems every time I get stressed out or overwhelmed and you’re nearby, you manage to make it go away. Is that something your people can do?”
It wasn’t unheard of. Extraterrestrials had all sorts of abilities that humans didn’t. Some were very skilled with mind-reading. Some had telekinetic abilities. And there were some — maybe like Zak — who were able to project emotions and soothe flaring tempers. At first, humans had been afraid of those powers, but in time, they came to appreciate them for their usefulness and many of those aliens were now employed by her government.
