“Does it matter?” Her tone was sharp, but I thought perhaps it might pain her to think of his name, and hurt even more to say it out loud. “He was good to me. When he bought me...” She arched one delicate shoulder in a shrug. “I was so scared that he would be this revolting creature who would use me for his own pleasure and keep me locked up in a cage. But he was sweet. Shy, even. He brought me back to his chambers, and he gave me fine silk robes, and he…” She smiled faintly, and averted her eyes. “He asked to brush my hair. And he did it with such tenderness.”
She shook her head, her expression changing. This was a woman in pain. I narrowed my eyes, doing my best to ascertain whether this was brain washing, or if this was earnest. But not being a specialist, I hadn’t the faintest notion one way or the other.
“Tierney,” I said softly. “Did you ever…lie with him?”
She looked at me like I was an idiot. “Well, yes,” she said. “But he never made me.”
“I’m not saying he did, but I do want to remind you as to what purpose you were purchased to serve.”
She threw the covers from her body, her white shift falling past her knees as she scrambled to get off the bed, away from me. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” She spat.
“Tierney—”
“No, I don’t have to listen to this!”
“Please, just listen to me for one second,” I said, standing and rounding the bed to corner her. I took her hands in mine, and she glared.
“No, I want you to get out!” She jerked free of me, like I singed her with my skin.
“Tierney, please. Why are you fighting me?”
“Because you are trying to keep me from him!” she spat, her voice thick with emotion. “You’re trying to keep us apart forever, and that makes you my enemy.”
“Tierney,” I said again, holding my hands out in front of me, “I never once said you could never see this man again.” She blinked, but remained frozen with that grimace on her otherwise lovely face. “I never would want to keep you from someone you love. That wasn’t my intention. But your family doesn’t know where you are, and they deserve to, don’t you think?”
She didn’t agree, but neither did she argue, so I counted that as a win and continued. “I will return you to your family on the Atria, and then if you still want to find this man of yours, I’m sure they will help you.”
“Do you think…” she began, inclining her head slightly.
“Of course. If they love you as I’m sure they do, they’ll only want for you to be happy. And if he makes you happy, I’m sure they will help you find him. But you must admit,” I added, “you were brought together under dubious circumstances at best.”
A sigh emanated from her rosy pink lips and she could do nothing but nod her head in agreement. “I suppose I can’t argue with that.”
At least she was able to see some reason. “How could I have known that you would fall in love? I thought you were in danger, I was trying to help you.”
She sniffled, and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, bobbing her head in a nod. “I suppose I see that now.”
“So let us have no more sulking,” I said, taking her by the arm and walking in step with her toward a decorated bureau at the far end of the room. “Let’s get you bathed and dressed, and ready to walk the road that will lead you down the honest path toward the love you left behind.”
She was nodding; I’d made some progress. “I was, like I said, rather frightened of the Quarter Moon,” she said.
“Of course you were. So was I. Deathly afraid.” I shuddered to think of them. It was a wonder I was able to keep my cool when Thassian was there, when I could see the revolting saliva drip down his mandibles. “But just think, now when you’re returned to him, it’ll be as equals. You’ll be free to love openly amongst your family. You could marry him if you were so inclined—”
“He’s already married,” she said quietly. Ah, I thought, so that’s it, then. But who am I to judge? I let the comment slide.
“I’ve had my ladies put some clothes in here for you. Some of them were supposed to be mine, but I was the only plump human among a coterie of lithe Europax, so I’m sure they’ll look better on you.”
“Thank you,” she murmured, looking up at me. “Am I supposed to call you ‘your highness’?”
I laughed. “No, it’s…no. It’s fine, don’t worry.”
She tried on a smile and it lit up her face. Good. Two of them didn’t hate me, at least. Two more to go.
***
The four women joined Calder, Waelden, and me for a large banquet supper. He was really rolling out the red carpet for them, trying to do his best to make them feel like welcome guests instead of rescued slaves. It made my heart swell to see it. The fine dining table in the Spire sat heavy with exotic meats and cheeses, fruits and pastries. It all looked wonderful, and mostly it smelled wonderful too, but there was this strange paste by my place at the table that was putting me off my meal entirely, so I signaled to one of our wait staff to take it away. As soon as it was gone, I was ravenous.
“I hope you ladies are settling in well,” Calder said, after sipping wine from his chalice.
“We are, thank you,” Sara said, and she smiled so her dimples showed. I caught Waelden staring at her, grinning back, their smiles a mirror for one another. Hmmm, I thought. And where was Vanixa?
“Have you heard anything from the Atria yet?” Tierney asked, and I was just glad she was talking. Calder looked a little startled to hear her voice, high pitched and quiet like the twittering of a lark, and he smiled a little.
“Ah, not yet,” he said.
“When do you expect to?”
He cast a desperate glance my way, but I had a mouthful of mashed fruit, so much my cheeks puffed out chipmunk-like. Like I said: I was ravenous.
“It’s impossible to say, unfortunately,” he went on, averting his attention to his meat, which he was carving at quite vigorously, I thought, so that red juices pooled on his plate.
A silence fell over the lot of us, though I could swear that I saw electricity flying between Sara and Waelden, but maybe it was only my imagination. I was doing everything I could not to look at my Calder. I knew that when the Atria arrived I would have to board it, and I also knew that his people needed him.
He could not come with me.
Not yet, not yet. I pushed the thought from my mind.
“Well, in any case,” Sara said, jerked back from her reverie to join the conversation, “we do appreciate everything you’ve done for us.” Sara’s eyes alighted on me, then. “Both of you.”
“I swore to you that I would do everything in my power to find you and bring you home,” I reminded her. “And so I have. Well, for two of you at least. But my journey isn’t done yet. I will find Tel and Ciara, if it’s the last thing I ever do.”
“Of that I have no doubt,” Sara said, and raised her glass to me.
“To Her Majesty, Lorelei Vauss — or is it Fev’Rosk now?” Sara grinned at me, and I could feel the color rise into my cheeks.
“Well, er…I don’t know. Vauss, I think.” I looked at Calder, and searched his face for answers. But he said nothing, nor did he give anything away with his typically expressive features. Instead, he simply raised his glass.
“To Her Majesty, the Queen,” he said, and everybody drank deeply of their wine.
After dinner, the ladies retired to their room, and Calder and I went to ours. “We should stay in the Spire now that the girls are here,” he said, and I agreed. Though, I had to admit that I missed Calder’s cozy little cottage.
“You were rather quiet at dinner,” I said, running my hand absently over the soft animal skin throw draped over a the back of a wooden rocking chair. The craftsmanship was truly remarkable. Every item in the Spire was more beautiful than the last. The artisan’s attention to detail was unparalleled, and I knew that pieces like these would fetch quite a hefty sum
if they were ever to be sold to the people of the Echelon.
“I have a lot on my mind,” he said, his tone low and level.
“Would you care to unburden yourself?” I asked, turning my attention to a beautiful side table, made of wrought iron with a blue and yellow mosaic top.
“I would not,” he said, and that’s when I looked up at him. He had his arms crossed in front of him, and he was staring absently into the mirror. But not as his own reflection: at me, as I moved like a ghost from object to object.
“Calder,” I said quietly. “Are we back on the money again?”
“Well—”
“Because I promise you, they will not let you down.”
“You cannot know that.”
“I can. And I do.”
He shook his head, and moved to sit on a cushioned bench at the foot of the bed. I watched him lean forward so his elbows rested on his knees, and bend his head forward. Muscle and sinew, like velvet over stone. He was a fine and beautiful creature.
“Please try not to worry. Just try to trust me.”
“I do trust you,” he replied, without looking up.
“Then why are you so… so…surly?”
“Surly?” He quirked a brow.
“Is…” I blinked. “Is that not what you’re being? Honestly, I cannot read you right now.”
He chuckled a low and humorless sort of laugh, shaking his head. “No, my dear,” he all but growled. “I am not being surly.”
“Then what is it!” It wasn’t a question, it was a demand, and he rose to the occasion. Literally.
He uncoiled slowly to his full height and approached me in a manner that reminded me of my place in the food chain, as it were. He could snap me like a twig. But he wouldn’t. He never would.
“I’m expecting to hear from the Atria at any moment,” he said, “and when I do, they will come here, and you will be gone.”
Stupid Lorelei. I was not so vain as to think I would be his sole concern, not when he had all but bankrupted his kingdom on my behalf, but I should have known that my leaving would have some impact on him. I wished that I could promise that I would come back. I wanted to promise that I would come back. But that was simply a promise I could not make. What of my family? My life’s goals? Could I shirk them all to be the queen of an unknown village? I gave a sharp shake of my head. I had only one goal, and I needed to keep it at the very center of my intentions. Find the last remaining girls whom I had promised to save. And, furthermore, bring down the cartel that would make slaves of us all.
“I will come back,” I said, and he arched a brow slowly over one discerning eye. I was clutching my hands in front of me, a sort of nervous response because I wasn’t sure how he would react. I wasn’t even completely sure that I meant it. I wanted to mean it, but I just couldn’t stand the despondent look on his face.
“You lie.”
“No,” I said, and took his hands in mine, “I will. I will come back. Maybe not right away, and maybe not forever, but I will come back.” Yes. That much I could promise him. Some day, and perhaps only briefly, I would return to him.
“Do not make promises you do not intend to keep,” he gently chided me, even as I could see hope growing in him like a light on a dimmer going up, up.
“I’m not,” I protested. “Maybe it will not be to stay,” I continued, looking down at our fingers, laced together, “and maybe it will only be for a short while, but I promise you that I will come back.”
He scoffed, giving a slow shake of his head. “I am not certain that I want you to come back if I cannot keep you forever.”
His words stunned me into silence, but even with the feint of a smile gracing his lips, I knew he wasn’t joking. A knock at the door jerked me back to myself, and I stammered a stuttering, “Uh, c-come in…?”
Waelden peeked in, trying to ensure that we were decent before pushing his way into the room. I tried to smile for him, but there was still something about what Calder had just said that rattled me to my core. I withdrew my hands from Calder’s, and moved toward the door to greet Waelden.
“Begging your pardon,” he said, inclining his head slightly even as he clasped his hands behind his back, “I hope I’m not intruding.”
“Of course not,” I said.
“Don’t stand on ceremony with us, Waelden,” Calder said, standing beside me with his arms crossed. “What can we do for you?”
“Two things, if I may,” he replied, and Calder gestured for him to join us deeper in the room. He smiled his thanks and took a seat perched on the edge of the divan, as though he didn’t want to sully it with his presence. I took a seat in the rocking chair across from him, and Calder stood stoic at my side.
“Go on,” I urged him, wishing that I’d had something in the way of refreshment to offer Waelden, if only to give him something to do with his hands. The poor creature was fidgeting something fierce.
“Well, firstly,” he said at length, “the Atria has responded to our signal.”
Startled, I looked up at Calder who was, in turn, staring down at me, his blue eyes bright and shining and clear. “So soon?”
“Yes,” Waelden confirmed. “Even sooner than we’d anticipated.”
I went cold. I thought I had more time than this.
“They’ll be in range in a matter of hours and I took the liberty of asking them to wait until morning for further contact. They responded that they’ll send a shuttle along by eleven hundred hours.” Calder nodded. He said nothing else.
“Well,” I said. My mouth was dry. Suddenly, too suddenly, this was our last night. It was over. The whole strange adventure was really over. I cleared my throat, shook my head. “I’m sorry,” I said, very aware of Calder in my periphery, “You said there were two things?”
Waelden looked suddenly bashful, but he nodded all the same and set his jaw in a stoic line. “I was wondering, er…that is, about Sara Yve.”
I canted my head to the side. “What about her?”
“I was hoping…”
“Waelden,” Calder gently chided, “you are already married.”
“I understand that,” he spat back. But then his expression softened. “I mean no disrespect to my wife, it’s only that she…that is…we haven’t…”
“You don’t have any children,” I helped him along.
“That is right.”
“Well, none of us do, Waelden,” Calder barked, unnecessarily harsh in my opinion. I turned around and sent a glare his way.
“And furthermore,” Waelden said, rising to his feet, “you’ve seen how she is with me. Vanixa, I mean. She despises me — she only very rarely beds me, because she feels it is her duty, since she signed up for the program and all, but she really, really hates me.”
“I’m sure she doesn’t hate you,” I offered, but honestly, I wasn’t so sure that Vanixa didn’t hate everyone and everything in the known universe. She was the nastiest Europax I had ever encountered, up to and including the entirety of the Mafaren family.
“I wanted to ask for a dissolution of my marriage to Vanixa,” he went on, ignoring my comment entirely. “I want to know what that process would look like.”
I looked up at Calder — I had no earthly notion as to what divorce looked like on Qetesh. But when I looked over at him, I saw that he had gone totally pale. It struck me, then, that he was worried the conversation would put the idea in my head. What struck me was that it wasn’t there already.
“It’s a simple enough thing, Waelden,” Calder muttered, going to his friend and patting him on the shoulder even as he helped to hoist him to his feet. “We will work it out for you, I promise.”
“Thank you,” he said.
“Of course, your wife will have to consent–.”
“And if she does not?”
“Well, I suppose that’s where things get a little more complicated.”
“Is this for Sara?” I asked abruptly. And by the way W
aelden smiled, I could see that it was, at least in part.
“No, it is for me,” came his calculated reply. But Sara Yve was round and kind and lovely, and Waelden could — and had — certainly done much worse.
“But she will have to go with us tomorrow,” I reminded him. “Sara.”
“Yes,” Waelden said, bowing his head. “I understand that. But she has sworn to sign up for the program that Vanixa had signed up for, and—”
“But Vanixa is Europax,” I said, “and Sara is human. Your settlement was given access only to Europax women. What makes you think Sara wouldn’t be placed in another settlement?”
Waelden glanced desperately between Calder and me. “Could that happen?”
“It could.” Waelden looked despondent, and as much as I wanted to help, I was more concerned about getting my time alone with Calder, as time was precisely what we were lacking. “I will do what I can to help you from aboard the Atria, Waelden.”
He smiled. “Oh, thank you, my lady.”
I stayed in my rocking chair as Calder ushered Waelden out the door, and they muttered words amongst themselves as they walked, which I could not hear. That was fine by me. I was very much preoccupied with how my life was about to go back to normal, a change that I wasn’t entirely certain was welcome.
After I heard the door close, we lapsed into a long stretch of silence before Calder took up the seat on the divan across from me. “What are you thinking?” he asked quietly, leaning forward so his elbows rested on his knees, his fingers steepled together.
“I am honestly not sure,” came my whispered reply.
“Are you…happy? Relieved, perhaps?” He searched my face, but I didn’t know what to say to him. Except the truth.
“No. I’m not either of those things.” I chewed at my lower lip for a moment, trying to pick apart the knot of thoughts and emotions sitting heavy in the pit of my stomach. “I think…I will be grateful when I can turn the task of finding Tel and Ciara over to someone much more capable than myself.”
Calder chuckled quietly. “Always putting the girls first.”
“Yes,” I confirmed. “Of course.”
Alien Prince: (Bride of Qetesh) An Alien SciFi Romance Page 14
