Chapter 19: Chapter 19

AMY

~What are those two up to, sneaking off the bridge together? Mikhlas almost hung a do not disturb sign on the way out,~ Amy thought.

Ever since Izzy told her that Mikhlas kissed her, she’d watched the big guy. She held no doubts that the captain felt romantically inclined toward her friend, if only she could see it.

She didn’t know what to think of it. Would Mikhlas be good for her? She was still getting over Peter at some level, despite the fact that she knew Izzy felt unhappily married for many years.

~And what about you, Amy? What does Silian think of you?~ Amy stood and went to sit next to him, feeling small in Mikhlas’s large chair.

“So, how does this bad boy work?” she asked, looking at the display in front of him.

“You want to learn to fly a ship?”

“I’m a quick learner,” she shot back.

“Very well. Prime flies the ship. Unless we are in a hostile situation, Prime has full control, but if we need to take over, then these controls will become active.”

He pointed to the small area of his controls that were not lit up like the rest.

“This is to move the ship…This fires the weapon systems…And this controls engine power.” He pointed to various buttons and screens and levers on the panel in front of him.

“What does this do?” She pointed to a screen with dots marked out on it. It looked like a star map, but she was no expert.

“This shows me where we are. It reads the stars around us to give me a location,” he said, and Amy looked a little closer at it.

“And, where are we? In respect to my world?” she asked. He tapped a few times on the screen, and the map scrolled out. It showed a dense coloration of greens and purples, and a thin blue line showing her the position of Earth.

“We are well beyond your galaxy, seventy-five million light-years away from Earth. Your galaxy is quite small, comparatively speaking, only a hundred thousand light-years in diameter.

“Do you know what your world looked like seventy-five million years ago?”

Amy just shrugged, not sure about the sudden change in topic.

“Want to look? It’s why the captain asked to stop here,” Silian said and looked at the main screen in front of them. The image changed, with the sea of stars spinning as the ship turned around.

The viewscreen moved so fast, Amy wasn’t sure what she was seeing until the perspective halted not far from a mostly blue planet.

If it wasn’t for Silian’s prompting, she wouldn’t have picked the planet as Earth. Most of the landmasses were concentrated, with just a hint of a recognizable shape in South America and Africa.

“That’s amazing!” she said.

“Just wait,” he said as the image zoomed in even more.

~So much is different,~ she thought as he concentrated on the northwest of the land mass.

He zoomed in, showing huge rolling plains and open savanna dotted with conifers. The ground almost glowed with healthy plant life as he approached.

A massive abundance of wildflowers gave the sea of grasses a certain colorful blush as he stopped near a stream.

From the top-down perspective, she looked at the shapes moving for a second before they registered. ~No way!~ There on the screen in front of her, she recognized dinosaurs.

The squat round shape of an ankylosaurus, with the distinctive tail, imposing spiky hammers at the end.

Huge triceratops, looking from above like spiky rhinoceroses, smaller shapes she couldn’t name, half covered in feathers.

“This is why the captain ordered such a small jump. He wanted to show Dakira Izzy.”

“How is that possible?” Amy asked.

“We traveled faster than light. The light from your world takes seventy-five million years to reach this location in space. What you are seeing is your world, as it was seventy-five million years ago.”

Amy couldn’t believe her eyes. She stood, and went over to the screen, reaching out a hand as if to touch the spiky creatures.

Of all the things she expected to see when leaving Earth with a group of aliens, dinosaurs were not on the list.

“Dinosaurs!” Lucas’ sudden yell broke the moment as the kid ran over and pressed his nose to the glass, quickly followed by his older brother.

“Oh man, that’s a pachycephalosaurus,” James said, pointing to a group of smaller shapes with weird rounded heads.

“Why don’t you boys try and find some more? This is the age of Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

Eyes agog on the screen, the two boys were instantly submerged in the search for the large predator.

She felt Silian’s large hand on her shoulder, turning her to one side of the big screen, where a massive shape slinked toward the water.

“You have the most beautiful look of amazement in your eyes. I’d like to see that again,” he said quietly in her ear.

“I’m okay with that,” Amy nodded and put her hand over his. He kept his warm hand there for a moment and then stepped back.

“Take as long as you want,” he said and returned to his seat.

This was the most amazing thing Amy ever saw, and what Silian said to her still rung in her ears. He wanted to show her stuff like this every day. She wasn’t sure her mind would be able to take it.

~But then he pulled away. Why did he do that? He didn’t pull away in the sparring match. Something’s changed.~

She watched the animals walk around, but they no longer held her interest. She turned and sat back down next to Silian.

“This is…,” she mumbled.

He turned his chair and leaned in, so close behind her he could feel his breath and smell that spicy orange scent, he whispered, “These are just some of the wonders you will see in your new life.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For showing me this.”

“This is only the beginning. I want to show you more, it’s just—” He stopped, and a shiver ran down her back. He was so close, and her imagination took her in every direction with that simple statement.

“It’s just what?” she said, turning to him and looking into those deep-blue eyes.

He smiled. “It’s nothing. Another time.”

“Don’t do that,” she said.

“Do what?”

“Don’t pull away or only show me half of you. I don’t know what this is between us, or what it might become, but I can tell you are attracted to me.” She swallowed.

~Come on Amy, you can’t tell him off for not telling you things if you won’t either. Woman up.~

“I…like you too. I want to know if there is something special between us. Don’t be afraid to show me what you really feel.”

He leaned forward and whispered, “Even if it’s dangerous?”

~What?~

“Are you hungry?” he asked.

MIKHLAS

Mikhlas sat on the lounge and smiled as he watched Izzy’s face at the sight on the screen in her room.

She jumped for joy at the sight of it. If he’d known something as simple as prehistoric animals brought her such joy, he would have done this a long time ago.

“Oh, wow. Mikhlas, this is incredible! I can’t believe I’m seeing this with my own eyes,” she said, finally stepping away from the window and coming over to him.

~If she is this impressed by something so simple as looking back in time to her own world, what would she think of the Great Nebula?~ he thought.

“I am glad to see this pleases you, Dakira Izzy,” he said.

“Pleases me? Mikhlas, this is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I LOVE dinosaurs!” she said and looked back out.

The glow in her face almost made his hands twitch with the urge to hold her. She looked so joyful and alive at this moment. That same desire he felt in the cabin the first day he met her seized him in red-hot claws.

He folded his hands in his lap and fought for self-control, his mind fighting against his biological urges, and he wasn’t sure which would win.

More than anything, he wanted to kiss her again. To lose himself in passion and let it lead them for the rest of the night.

~But it will get you and your entire crew killed. Killed in the most painful way. You have no right to risk their lives for your own desire~.

He closed his eyes to stop his gaze from exploring the curves of her as she stood on tiptoes to look out the viewscreen.

“Oh, I hope the boys are seeing this,” she said after a few minutes.

“They are. Iry has informed me that she is with them on the bridge. Silian has shown them. That is, after all, why we stopped here,” Mikhlas said. Izzy spun around to look at him.

“You planned this?” she asked with surprise, her smile lighting up the room. It felt like the whole Universe was contained in that smile and it took him a moment to answer her question.

“Yes. I planned this stop for you and the princes.” He looked at her, lost in those hazel eyes.

“At the cabin when I healed you, I saw an image of you and your father standing together. You looked about Lucas’s age, and he held your hand. You held a toy in your other hand. Prime identified the toy as one of these creatures.”

He listened as her heart rate changed and saw a single tear escape and roll down her cheek. ~Why is she crying? Did I do something wrong?~

“Forgive me, Dakira Izzy, I did not mean to upset you. Should I go?” he said to her, but she shook her head and knelt next to him on the couch.

Before he knew it, she took his face in her hands and pressed her warm lips to his. He froze in shock, and when her tongue entered the kiss, all thought stopped.

Her breath caressed his chin as she pulled away to kiss him on his neck and trail down to the top of his chest. He looked down to realize she straddled him and his shirt was open.

His own hands, so recently folded in his lap, were under her flowing yellow top, and he could feel her delicate and warm undergarments. He squeezed, gently feeling the hardness of her nipples, and she moaned.

The sound tore into him, threatening to take away all reason, and he took a deep breath, trying to summon the fortitude to stop this madness before he got his entire crew killed.

He opened his mouth and then lost the words as she sat up, her groin pressed into his growing hardness and slipped out of her top with one smooth move.

Before he could recover his wits, she laid down another row of burning kisses that slinked downwards.

“Stop,” he whispered, as her fingers pawed at his waist. “You have to stop.” He managed to find his voice and hold her shoulders before she slunk even lower.

His words seemed to get through to her. She looked at him, confusion and desire in her eyes, and she bit her lower lip.

“You don’t want me to…”

“We can’t,” he said. “It wouldn’t be right.”

He wouldn’t be able to hold back much longer. It took every ounce of control he had left, but he gently pushed her off and uncomfortably stood up, willing a certain part of himself to settle down.

Isabelle grabbed her discarded top and covered herself, looking away. “I’m sorry. I thought you…”

He took a knee, relieving some pressure, and tried to capture her gaze with his own, failing in the attempt.

He reached out one hand to turn her head and let her see how serious he felt, but his hand fell away as he knew he couldn’t touch her.

What they’d already done endangered his own life and that of his crew.

“Dakira Izzy, please trust me when I say that I want nothing more than to see where this would lead. I would give up my life for it, but I cannot put my entire crew at risk for my own pleasure.”

~How can I make her understand without hurting her?~

She sat on the couch, silent to his words for a moment as more tears rolled down her face. “This wasn’t easy for me,” she whispered. “I don’t…for me it’s not just about…but you smell so good…and I thought…”

She trailed off, sniffing.

“What you want cannot happen. I would choose it. With all my heart, but we didn’t talk about it. You don’t know what it means to choose me like that,” he said.

She turned and looked at him, her eyes red and puffy. “Will you get me something to blow my nose with, please?” she asked in a small voice.

Mikhlas nodded. “Of course,” he said, standing up and walking to her bathroom. He grabbed two white tissues from a box that stood next to her sink, pausing to look at himself in the mirror. ~You fool. What have you done?~

He listened to his own heart racing for a moment and pulled in a deep breath to calm himself. Turning away from the mirror, he walked out to find Izzy’s lounge empty.

He scanned the room, closing his eyes and focusing his ears, searching for the gentle beat of her heart. When he didn’t find it, he opened his eyes and looked around.

~She is gone. She has run away…from me. I have hurt her. I swore to never let her feel pain, and now I am the cause of it. She must understand. I have to make her understand why I stopped her.~

Mikhlas scrunched the tissues into a fist and stuck them into his pocket. “Prime, begin holographic recording,” he said, standing straight.

A blue line ran over his body, from his head to his feet and back up again. “Ready to record, Captain.”

He stared at what he assumed the height of her eyes would be, and took a deep breath.

“Isabelle, I need you to understand. The laws I follow are cruel to men like me, and they are designed to protect the Monarch…from everything…including me.

“If I were to allow what happened to continue, I would be sentencing the entire crew to their deaths.” He paused, looking away. ~Just tell her the truth. It’s the least she deserves.~

He moved his eyes back to the spot he’d chosen.

“I cannot risk them, as much as I want to. If you chose me in the way you want, I would be forever bound to you, as your King.

“Please understand, you will never be granted this choice again, and it must be ratified with the Sentinels. They must all agree.

“If you choose me, and I fail to be chosen as your King, you will live your reign alone, and I will be dead.

“I don’t know if you feel ready to make that commitment. We barely know each other, but I know how I feel. I have loved you since the moment I first saw you. I am yours, in every way.

“You have my hearts, till the day they no longer beat.” He lowered his eyes to his boots.

“If things were different, I would accept what you offer me in a heartbeat. I would take the trial, and hang my life in the balance, despite the slim chance of success. The chance to be with you is worth any risk.”

He looked back to where her eyes would be.

“Yet that is not a chance I can take for the people who rely upon me to keep them safe. There is so much about me you do not know. Don’t make the choice unless you feel the same way about me, and you think the risk is worth it.”

He didn’t know what else to say and felt drained from his impassioned speech. “End recording Prime. Please ensure she receives it.”

He closed his eyes and turned away. When the door closed behind him a burning sensation in his chest rose. How could he be so stupid and reject her like that? She was everything he never knew he needed.

If he’d let it play out, he would have the chance to be hers, and she his. His to love, and to protect, and to be with every day. ~But I’ve messed that up now.~

He walked back to the bridge slowly, deep in thought. When he got there, the sight of Silian and Amy sitting together, smiling, annoyed him. Not directed toward them, but to himself.

He felt his eyes begin to burn and knew they would be red. Silian turned to look at him, and the man’s smile quickly faded. He heard Silian tell Amy he would return soon and came over to Mikhlas.

“What is it?” Silian asked, looking at his eyes.

“Nothing you need to worry about. Take a break, First. I’ll take the con and prepare for the next jump.”