Alien Prince

Tierney basically hated me. She was sulking around the spire, and she treated me as though I were the worst thing to ever happen to her. At first, I resented it because I remembered that she was just as scared as the rest of us when this whole thing began. But I tried to remember what my parents had taught me about compassion-something about being kind to one another because we were all fighting an unseen battle. Even if she had been brainwashed, she didn't know the difference between that and overwhelming, uncompromising love. Her heartbreak was real, and I knew that if she and I were ever going to be friends, I needed to treat it as such.

I knocked on her bedroom door one morning after she had missed breakfast and peeked my head inside the dark chamber after I thought I'd heard her say "Come in". She was still in bed, her long, blond hair a matted coil on the pillow beneath her head.

The chambers were small, but well appointed, with a canopy bed in the center that boasted gossamer curtains that you could draw to create a warm enclosure around the pillowy down mattress.

I approached the bed and tugged the curtain to the side. She rolled over, turning her back to me as she saw me approach, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that she'd been weeping. "Tierney...?" I gently ventured, "Don't you want to come have something to eat?"

"What's the point?" She responded, her voice tremulous with bated breath.

The room smelled of sweat, and I wondered just how long she'd been laying there like that, tossing and turning in her bed sheets, and crying until her eyes went dry.

"Well, I usually eat my feelings when I'm sad," I quipped, proffering a smile. But humor was definitely not the tac to take with this despondent beauty. I cleared my throat and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "I just wanted to apologize to you."

"What for?" It was more of a statement than a question, really, and her tone indicated that she didn't much care what I had to say either way.

"For your suffering." I tried to be as earnest as possible, but it was actually really difficult to apologize for rescuing someone from a master who'd purchased them from a slave ship. I tried not to let that attitude come through my voice. "Would you, er..." I reached a tentative hand out to place it on her shoulder, but she shrugged me off. "Would you like to tell me about him?"

She sniffled, and her voice came back thick with tears and snot. "You don't really want to hear about him," she said.

"No, that isn't true," I said. "I really do."

She turned over quickly, and I saw that her glassy blue eyes were ringed in red. "You do?" "Of course."

She lifted herself up onto her elbows, adjusting her nightgown so that she could sit cross legged on the mattress in front of me without damaging her remaining modesty. "I was scared, you know," she began, bending her head so that I could barely see her face behind the curtain of her hair. "I was terrified of the Keldeeri who wouldn't be? They look like giant, fleshy insects." A genuine shudder ran down her spine as she began to pick absently at her nail beds. "But my... master..." She broke off in a low chuckle, and it was the first time I'd seen her smile, maybe ever. "It's so absurd to call him that. But I suppose that's what he was, as I was bought and paid for."

I quirked a brow in silent question, and she looked up at me and gave a slow shake of her head. "That isn't what it was like between us."

"What was his name?" I asked quietly, afraid that if I spoke too loudly, she would stop telling her story.

"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...lay with him?"

She looked at me like I was an idiot. "Well, yes," she confirmed. "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, glared me down.

"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 asked, 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 lease she was able to see some reason. "How could I have known that you had fallen 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 head, 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 an intricately 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 ventured, 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, Waleden 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 was 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 that her dimples showed. I caught Waelden staring at her, grinning back, their smiles a mirror for one another. Hm, I thought. And where was Vanixa?

"Have you heard anything from the Atria yet?" Tierney asked, and I was just glad that 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?" She pressed.

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. Because 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, that 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 was grinning 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 separate rooms, 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 that was draped over 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 that 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.

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"Please try not to worry-please try to trust me."

"I do trust you," he interjected, 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 slowly, 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. Someday, 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 was nodding. 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; I 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...er..." "You don't have any children," I helped him along.

"That is right."

"Well, none of us do, Waelden," Calder barked, unnecessarily harsh if you want to know the truth. 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."

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"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 Waelden smiled, I could see that it was, at least in part.

But: "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 asserted, "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 "

"But Vanixa is Europax," I protested, "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 was looking 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," I offered.

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 that his elbows were on his knees, his fingers steepled together.

"I am honestly not sure," came my whispered reply.

"Are you...happy? Relieved, perhaps?" He was searching 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 that felt 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."

"But...?"

But I don't want to leave you.

"I don't know."

He smiled at me; he was trying to be kind. "You're only just getting used to being Queen, and maybe you do not care to go back to a smaller life."

I returned his smile, but I didn't feel any mirth. "Maybe."

"Being a Queen suits you," he said graciously, moving to the far end of the room, and pretending like he was very interested in the tapestry that covered the far wall. It was a primitive thing that depicted some scene-unknown to me-of Qeteshi history. And what it lacked in stylistic elegance, it more than made up for in radiant and rich color.

"Being a King suits you," I said, and it did. Something about it had levelled him out. Though I had known him only for a short time, he'd start off so volatile, so angry. But he slipped right into this role, in all likelihood because he had been born to do it.

"Do you think so?" He asked, without turning to look at me. "I am not so certain."

"It does, Calder," I went to him then, standing close by his side, looking at his profile while he examined the tapestry. The room was awash in warm golden light, and he looked quite beautiful in the glow. "Your mother would be quite proud." He tried to smile, but instead he dropped his gaze to the floor. Something opened up in him as he exhaled a shuddering breath and turned to face me. He was so large, easily three times my size, and yet in that moment he seemed to shrink before me. "I do not want you to go," he said, his voice hushed and urgent. "I am sorry-I know, perhaps, that you must. But you will take my heart with you when you do."

It was the raw vulnerability of it that sucked the air out of me, and I want to him, tugging him forward by the collar of his shirt until our mouths met. I kissed him like an apology, and he forgave me again and again and again.