Titan Rising 2 (Syalantian 2) Read online

  Picking up my pace, I was forced to wonder why I should be the one bothered about this. He's obviously the insane one, hitting on the servant girl, in front of his wife. On their honeymoon no less. What kind of letch does that? And Anula's freaking awesome. Not to mention she's tall, gorgeous and hello – already married to you; you green headed Casanova! Seriously who does that?

  I worked up a good head of steam when I rounded the last hill, and the gazebo loomed into view. What the hell?

  As if the whole setup wasn't ostentatious enough with a solid Genarian crystal roof and matching carved Corinthian columns, big as the ones in the Acropolis with twice as many statues on top; someone had to go and add insult to injury. Every column was adorned with silks representing the soft corral pinks and the golden sunburst colors of dawn. Massive golden feathers of the giant Antarian Tuchy bird encircled the entire structure; their gentle ministrations powered by some unknown source, kept a small cool breeze flowing throughout the structure. The reflecting pools were filled on the inside of the gazebo, leaving only a narrow walkway to the single wooden lounge chair at the far end, which faced the perpetual sunrise over the lake.

  "That's fricking it," I snapped, changing the setting of my laser like focus to kill. I've had enough of his stupid royal advances, his stupid muscles, and his stupid, dreamy, smoldering, emerald-eyed gazes. Who the hell did he think he was? Whether he wanted or not, whether or not I was forced to work on an ice barge mining Pluto, I was giving this bastard a piece of my mind.

  I skidded to a halt maybe 10 feet from him. There was no way I was waiting until we were face-to-face. Couldn't risk losing my nerve. Not that it seemed to matter. The smug bastard was just lounging there in his chair, covered from head to toe in a long green toga like piece of clothing, replete with headscarf, that hid his physique and I assumed was intended to guard him against the elements. What a girly man.

  "Listen you," I snarled. Ooh, good start Emery.

  "You have some nerve to call me out here like this. I told you last night, no. I don't care if you are royalty, I will not be anyone's concubine. What the hell is wrong with you? You're here on your honeymoon for gosh sakes. Your hon-ney-moon." I made sure to emphasize, to really drive home his patheticness. "And are you blind? Anula is awesome!"

  "I have no idea how you've been invading my dreams, and I don't care what we may have done in them, they were only dreams. They were not real. Let me repeat this, in case I didn't make myself clear a second ago. Dreams are not real. And I really didn't appreciate you invading mine last night after I told you I don't want to be with you." Okay well, yes I did say I didn't want to be with him, but saying I didn't appreciate the attention he doted upon little Emery last night might be stretching the truth.

  He leaned forward, and made a move like he was going to unwrap his scarf.

  "Stop." I commanded, holding my hand up in the universal sign of, well, stop.

  "You don't get to talk. I've had enough of you, enough of your lingering gazes, and of your prancing around in front of me half naked, and of your dream liaisons, and enough of your complete disregard for Anula's feelings. I don't ever want to be around you. Period." I barked the last bit at him, then spun away. Thought better of it, and whirled back to face him.

  "You know, I wasn't going to get involved. My grandmother told me never to get mixed up in another couple's problems. But poopy on that. I think I'll have a word with Anula when I get back. She doesn't deserve this, and she doesn't deserve to have to put up with the likes of you." Punctuating my sentence with a stomp of my foot. That's right! Suck on that you lecherous, entitled royal excuse for a man whore.

  I watched him as he gathered his teensy tiny hummingbird-sized balls and stood in a slow deliberate move. My hand clenched into a fist, and started to pull back by its own accord. No doubt it had a mind of its own. I would never, under normal circumstances punch a guest in his straight perfectly shaped royal nose.

  His shoulders began to bounce. I failed to see what was so funny. A quick glimpse of my surroundings let me know we were the only two people in the gazebo. Was he laughing at me? Oh boy, was I gonna get to test out my right hook today.

  "Thank you Emery, I needed that," a decidedly feminine voice chuckled.

  My jaw dropped off, shattered to dust when it hit the gazebo floor then blew away in the current created by the Tuchy feathers, as the figure in front of me removed her hood.

  "Anula," I gulped.

  CHAPTER 4

  "Oh Emery, I knew I liked you," princess Anula beamed, hands poised on her hips.

  Oh crap. I was stuck there. Feet frozen in place, mouth stuck agape. In a panic, I fancied the princess turning into a queen and hollering from her heart, "Off with her head!"

  Anula moved in. She was choking me, no crushing me in her inhuman grasp. She stayed there for a moment, stroking my hair. I still wasn't dead. Wait, was she hugging me?

  "It's okay honey." She released me from her suspicious yet nefarious and seemingly well-practiced death hug. Diabolical. The princess led me, in my near catatonic state over to the single lounge chair. Helping me down into it, her voice became laden with concern "Sit, sit. There you go. Oh my gosh, you're shivering. Here put this on."

  Before I knew it, she practically had me swaddled in something that felt like cashmere but looked like purple lizard's foreskin. Giving me a kindergarten teacher's smile I readied myself for the final blow.

  "Listen there's probably a few things you need to know about us, and particularly about Rohn." She wrung her hands together tightly, but her voice was soft and comforting. Maybe I would live through this after all. Anula continued, "You see, Rohn has to marry and consummate the marriage by his 28th birthday. If he doesn't, he not only loses his standing in the royal house, but he forfeits the crown. Even worse, it goes to his vial, alien-hating uncle."

  Taking what seemed to be a few nervous steps back and forth, indecision creased her brow. After a few moments,- her sharp deep blue gaze weighing me in - she seemed to steel her resolve before she confessed, "he's madly in love with you."

  I stared in disbelief at this woman who was perfect in every way imaginable, and now she was telling me, that her husband after meeting me for all of five minutes was in love with me. How could she stand to be in the same room with me, let alone the same planet? My mouth moved on its own accord. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe you knew and you still were so nice to me," I blurted out before throwing a hand up to clasp my mouth, as if I could catch the words.

  The queen-to-be just chuckled again. An open, honest laugh. It dawned on me that she was in earnest. Or insane. With a swift drop she was on her knees in front of me, hands on my shoulders. Insane it was, I guessed, and braced myself.

  "Emery, look at me,” she commanded. “If Rohn didn't marry me he would've lost everything. And the truth is I love him too much to allow that to happen. Our parents are extremely close and we grew up together. We've been best friends ever since we were children," she explained. I guess she also picked up on the sinking of my soul with every word she shared. Shaking her head as if to clear it she started again.

  "Okay, I see I'm handling this the wrong way. Heck, I'm almost as bad as Rohn. Oh great force, maker of all things, guide my words," she sighed lifting her face to the sky. After a moment she looked straight into my eyes and said, "Do you know normally he's a chatterbox? However, since he's found you, he's turned into a blathering idiot. Emery dear, I love him, but I could never love him that way." She nodded her head to assure me she spoke the truth.

  "But you're married to him."

  "Yes."

  "And he's a prince."

  "No, he's The Prince," she corrected. "Remember I told you, he's first in line for the Crown."

  This was crazy. There had to be something else. I couldn't believe the horned monster of jealousy was striking me, and she was the one married to him. Narrowing my eyes at her, I stammered, "what about the sex? He's gorgeous!"

  She visibly blanched, "
Ew, gross. He's like my little brother." An all over body shiver racked the princess, and she grimaced like she had walked into the elevator after my boss ate two trays of dessert slugs. "I could never think of him that way. At one time, I changed his diaper you know."

  She still hadn't convinced me, maybe this was just a ploy for some weird Syalantian sex ritual, some kind of ... let's bait the alien into a Syalantian sandwich thing. Let me tell you, the hotel spent a lot of money on its privacy walls, then went cheap on the doors. Standing in the hall, some of the things I’d heard would curl Bev's toes. "Well, you were going to consummate the marriage, weren't you?" I muttered.

  It was her turn to look embarrassed. "Not really," she whispered, tossing furtive sidelong looks. Taking a moment to scan the area, Anula paused in her explanation. When she was satisfied we were alone, she leaned in conspiratorially, "We were going to fake it."

  My eyes went wide in surprise and I was just about to say something when she held a hand up to keep me from interrupting. I relented.

  "You see," she continued, "when a royal Syalantian mates, and an offspring is conceived from that union, the non-Royal mate is then genetically promoted to royalty, and everyone is aware of it." She pointed to her head, and sure enough amongst the gorgeous waves of blue there was the smallest strand of green. "Their entire head of hair changes to the color green," she noted. Catching my eye she qualified the statement. "I've had this small strand of royal green since birth, as has my mother and hers before that, signifying a mark of royal blood from centuries ago."

  "So you were going to dye the rest of your hair?" I asked, even as my voice hitched.

  "Not exactly. There's nothing strong enough on our world, yours or any of the other colonized worlds in the Empire that is strong enough to color Syalantian hair. The blue always shows through."

  "Then how?"

  Anula smiled at me again while she explained, "Rohn's younger brother, Jaiem, was surveying a jungle planet in the farthest sector of our galaxy with a trusted friend. Their ship had experienced some kind of engine trouble and they were planet stranded for two weeks. During that time, they came across a strange bat like creature that laid clumps of gelatinous, greenish-blue eggs on the inside hollow of rotted trees. It was apparently unique. As they were unable to find any signs of a second member of its kind.” Anula stared at me for a couple of moments, worry drawn on her beautiful face, before she continued.

  “As you know, given enough time on their own and lack of any supervision men will be boys. On a dare, his friend ate one of the greenish-blue eggs. Stupid I know, but wait. The next day he woke up to a full head of green hair. It lasted for three days, before his hair started shifting back to blue." She smoothed out the dress underneath her robes, her head now hung down as if she'd been caught with her hand in her grandmother's cookie jar. She raised one eye at me and smirked, "They brought us back enough eggs to run the ruse for three months, at which point his uncle would be considered too old to ascend to the throne. Three of his cousins would then be in contest for the crown. Three idiots mind you, but far better than his rotten uncle."

  The room spun like that old carnival ride where they strapped you onto the wall, and the gravitational forces kept you flattened against it, while it spun then turned on its side. My mouth leapfrogged over my brain again, and I blurted, "Then you haven't…," punctuating it with a suggestive eyebrow bounce.

  "No Emery, never," she vowed, "but he still has to consummate his marriage by midnight tonight. A retinue of viceroys will be coming to verify the union." She held her hand out, helping me up from the chair. "Maybe it's time that you go and find him, Emery. This time in the waking world."

  This lady was fruit bat crazy. "Anula, those were just dreams," I objected, gesticulating wildly with my arms.

  Her face relaxed, and I felt like I was staring into my grandmother's warm eyes just before she hugged me. "They were as real for him as they were for you. A gift for any Syalantian with just a drop of royal blood. We are able to connect with our perfect mate long before we ever physically meet. This is considered the greatest blessing of the royal family, and why the Empire and our home planet have been blessed with peace and prosperity for over 3000 years."

  I looked at her like she had just grown horns and a tail.

  The princess continued, "Seriously Emery, you think money or power mean anything, when you have perfect sex every day of your life? That's what you'll have with Rohn. I know it was far more difficult for you, not having Syalantian blood. You wouldn't have been able to control the dreams in the same way a Syalantian might. You probably didn't know their meaning, but certainly felt the strength of your bond with him. It means you should be together. You should be with Rohn."

  Holy nuts on a chicken. The dreams were real. For him, he's actually been having sex with me. I've actually been having sex with him. We've been having sex. My brain hit the brakes fast. Everything stopped, I didn't know what to think, how to feel. Sure, the dreams were perfect, but they were still only dreams. Weren’t they? Oh my gosh! The sex was real. My thought process was locked in a vicious loop of acceptance, then denial and all over again. Panic rose up fast, deep from my gut assailing my mind with question after question. Did I brush my teeth before I went to bed every night? Did I forget to shower some nights? Holy crap he's seen me naked! Heat spread across my cheeks and other nameless parts of my femininity.

  No, no way. I totally could not process this now. This was way too much. The wife of the man I'm totally in love with is telling me to be with him. Wait a second... Am I in love? It certainly feels that way. My every waking minute has been occupied with thoughts of him; the overwhelming need to be close to him, to touch him. For months now, I’ve lived and breathed for the late night moments when he invaded my dreams and took me in his arms. Absolute happiness! Pure joy!

  Meeting him in person has set me on fire, like 24/7. My body, my soul overwhelmed by the unrelenting, constant craving to be with him. The thought of losing him makes my stomach drop to my toes. The pain of our separation unmatched by a thousand visits to the dentist. Yeah, I guess I am totally head over heels, fall down to the ground and thank God you’re a woman, in love with him.

  Hell, we've been making some sort of dream love, for the last two months almost every night of the week.

  But this was still wrong. Love or not, he was monumentally unavailable. I was being pulled in every direction at once. I staggered to my feet, using what little hold over myself I still possessed and pulled away from princess Anula.

  "I have to go," I shouted, and ran as fast as a startled antelope. It didn't matter where, as long as it wasn't here.

  From far behind, I heard Anula cry out for me, but the dam had burst open and the tears were flowing. I couldn't have answered her even if I wanted to.

  CHAPTER 5

  Being wrapped up in dirty sheets the rest of the day was the best way I could think of to hide myself.

  The folks down in laundry were happy for the help. Geez, I thought I had it bad, but at least I wasn’t trapped in a cave of a basement every day with 100+ temperatures and 100% humidity. Imagine the worst parts of Florida and Alaska put together. Yikes!

  When my shift finally ended at eight, my behind-the-scenes clothes, a cream-colored, sleeveless shirt and a pair of cream pants made from the same scratchy medieval fabric as my daily uniform stuck to me in places I didn’t know I had places. My hair was plastered to my head like I'd been caught in a rainstorm hunting ducks underwater. My only intentions were to slink back to my room and dunk my head under an extra cold shower. I was oblivious to the half-naked man who followed me out of the main building.

  "Emery, wait," he whisper shouted into the night.

  The Prince. I walked faster.

  He ran to catch up with me, easily keeping pace with his long muscular legs. "Darn it Emery," he huffed. "I know you talked to Anula. You know we can be together."

  I shook my head. No. No. No. Wait, why am I trying to convince myse
lf. It's prince horny toad over here that doesn't seem to understand who I am. I stopped walking. When he realized he'd gone a step or two beyond me, he turned and came to stand in front of me.

  My strategy started with keeping my head down so I wasn’t distracted by his demigod good looks and delicious, need-to-be-kissed lips. I let my fury build and swirl inside me, ready to explode Mt. Vesuvius style. He stepped back a foot when I looked up, and I knew full well my ultra pissed-off stare was rivaling that of a supernova itself.

  I poked his chiseled chest. "I won't. You're still married. It doesn't matter if Anula says its okay to fool around with you, I still won't do it. Not with a married man."

  Still glaring at him, I could practically feel the black smoke escaping my overheated ears. And yet, he was smiling like he just spotted the infamous Galorian laughing dodo bird, known to be extinct for seven centuries. He reached into his loose fitting tunic, flashing me with some of his bronzed, lickable skin and pulled out a piece of paper. He gently placed the paper into my shaking hands, his dazzling emerald eyes locking onto mine.

  "What the hell is this," I growled with the patience of a caged Larskin tiger.

  "Please, read my Asanti," he pleaded.

  Written Syalantian was a whole different animal than the spoken language. My mood wasn't helping me focus. Rohn must have picked up on the strain in my face, so he spoke while I read, "It's an annulment. I just had it notarized. Anula and I are no longer married, as we've never consummated the union," he intoned, eyes wide with anticipation.

  I stared at it hard. Any minute now it was going to dissolve or maybe burst into flames. I checked the stamps, both Syalantian and human. For a fake, it seemed quite authentic. I whipped my dissecting gaze at him, followed by a quirk of the brow. He never flinched. He didn't waver one bit. It was real.

  “Hmm,” I sighed. "But this means… Why? You barely know me, and why do you keep calling me Asanti?" I asked, still suspicious but hoping beyond hope.