Chapter 27: Chapter 27

ISABELLE

The transfer room flashed into being around her, and Izzy immediately turned, looking for Mikhlas, only to find him absent from the room.

“Prime! Where’s Mikhlas?” she asked with her heart in her throat.

“I transported him directly to the recovery room, Dakira.”

Izzy sighed in relief as Silian stepped past her.

“Excuse me, Dakira Izzy. I must go to the bridge. With the captain injured, I must take command, and that announcement at the battle dome has me worried.

“Justice Command may come after us, so I’m going to initiate our next jump.” He placed both hands on his chest and bowed his head to her before making for the door.

“Iz, are you okay?” Amy asked, her eyes following Silian’s broad back.

“Yes, I was just worried that Mikhlas didn’t make it to the ship. I’ll go see him now. The two of us need to talk.”

“Good. You do that. I’ve got someone I need to talk to as well. I’m coming too,” Amy called out after Silian, hurrying to catch up.

As she stepped out the door, Izzy realized she had no idea of the location of the recovery room. “Prime, can you guide me to the recovery room, please?”

“Dakira Izzy, Mikhlas will be fine. My nanites are seeing to him now. I wonder if I may speak with you privately in your quarters before you go to see him?”

~What’s that about?~ she thought, turning to her quarters.

As Izzy entered her room, she found one of the Prime dolls standing next to the lounge. The doll gave her a nod as the door closed behind her.

“You needed to speak with me, Prime?”

“Yes, Dakira Izzy. Please sit,” Prime said, the doll gesturing to the comfortable-looking lounge.

“I’d really rather go see Mikhlas.”

“Sit, Dakira. It is important that we speak before you visit the captain. Please?” And once again the black doll gestured.

With a frown, Izzy moved and sat down, crossing her arms. “What’s so important, Prime?” she asked.

“When you were down on Arkadia, you asked me to monitor you in case you required assistance.” The Prime doll folded itself on the couch next her, appearing very relaxed.

“As such, I heard the conversation between you and Amy about Captain Mikhlas.”

~What conversation? What is she talking about?~ So much happened with the fights down on Arkadia, she couldn’t be sure what Prime spoke of.

The doll sighed. “Many forget because I am part of this crew, that I am also a small segment of the greater being known as the Alpha Primordial Sentinel Being.

“You said something I cannot ignore. That you would choose Captain Mikhlas to be your Doge. That you wanted him with you.”

“It’s true, and I meant it.” ~In fact, I think I’d like him to be more than that.~

“But the Captain thinks he is not worthy, and the Sentinels would not agree with the choice.”

“Whether my brothers and sisters agree is immaterial. You said the words in the presence of a Sentinel.

“Captain Mikhlas is now nominated for the position of your Doge and will need to undergo the trial to determine his suitability for the role,” Prime said.

“I see, and do you think the Captain will be successful?”

“No.”

Izzy’s heart pounded within her. ~Mikhlas said that if I choose someone not suitable and they fail the trial, they don’t survive the process. What have I done?~

“But—”

“There is another option, Dakira.”

“What do you mean?”

“You have the ability to choose a partner to help you in your rule as well as a Doge. Before you say anything to me, however, I want you to see something,” Prime said, turning toward the window in her room.

The lights dimmed and with a few bright-blue flashes, Mikhlas stood in front of her, looking at a position a couple of feet above her head.

Izzy saw the pain in his eyes and the impassioned way he spoke as he explained why he rejected her that night she threw herself at him. That other lives than his own would be in danger, but that he would choose it.

He declared his love for her, and she started crying, yet a smile spread on her face at what she heard. ~He loves me. I knew he felt the same as me. I have to talk to him, tell him I feel the same, but—~

“Prime, why did you wait to show this to me?” she asked, wiping her eyes.

“Because you’ve never said how you feel about the Captain.”

“And if I choose him to be my King? Will he succeed?”

***

Izzy stepped into the recovery room, stopping in shock at the sight that greeted her. Mikhlas lay on a white bed, unconscious and covered in nanite film. Next to him, a bulbous yellow blob reached toward him.

“What are you doing?”

The thing turned, sucking the appendage back into its body with a shlucking sound. “We are cleaning. There is a spot of blood on the sheets. It offends us.”

~Cleaning yellow blob monster! ~“You’re Zaxary. Lucas told me about you.”

“Yes, the Dakira Izzy. We are the Zaxary.” The blob shifted its mass in a move Izzy guessed was the closest it could get to a bow.

“The Prince Lucas enjoyed our joke. The Prince Lucas made the laughing. Would you like a joke?”

Izzy smiled. She certainly didn’t expect to meet the last member of the crew when visiting Mikhlas. ~I have so much to say to him, and now he’s lying there unconscious.~

The Zaxary appeared to take her silence for consent. “How much dirt is there in a hole measuring two cubits by three cubits?”

She shook her head.

“There is no dirt in a hole.”

She smiled at the blob before letting out a small chuckle.

“Oh, the Dakira Izzy makes the laughing. This pleases us. Would you like another?”

“No, thank you, Zaxary. Can I have some time alone with the Captain, please?” she said, stepping forward, all her fear of the strange alien gone.

“But the spot of blood still offends us,” the Zaxary said, and she frowned at it.

The blob stilled and did the shifting mass thing again.

“Apologies, the Dakira Izzy. The Miran tells the Zaxary that we are bad at reading facial cues since we don’t have a face. The Zaxary shall leave and return when you have left.”

~You know, he’s—should I even call it a he? Whatever. He’s weird, but I can see why Lucas likes him.~

Izzy stepped out of the way toward the large bed that held Mikhlas as Zaxary slowly ambulated out the door.

She stood next to the bed in the space that Zaxary had occupied and looked down at Mikhlas. His handsome face, marred with a large scratch, looked diffuse underneath the nanite film.

He lay under a sheet, his muscular frame hidden up to mid-torso, and the deep gash caused when Jounan tore off his chest armor started close to his neck and disappeared beneath the white fabric.

~I’m just going to check his injury. That’s all,~ she thought, lifting the edge of the sheet. The gash looked almost hidden from the volume of silver nanites she could see moving in the wound. Elsewhere on his upper chest, clear beneath the silvery film, she could see old scars. A map of his life of pain and violence.

~But he doesn’t want to fight,~ she thought, remembering the battle zone. ~He tried to stop Gronar from even issuing a challenge. He didn’t want to kill Cadman at the cabin.~

She touched one of the faint scars on his shoulder, only feeling the slick surface of the nanite film beneath her fingertip, and traced it down his arm.

~Such a life of pain. No wonder he thinks he cannot offer me anything. He’s so caught up in his past, he can’t see the future.~

She moved the sheet lower, looking at the gash that extended to his left hip. The wound grew shallower the lower it went, until the bunched-up sheet stopped in the glory trail area.

She caught herself looking at the small hairs. ~Should I? When am I going to get the opportunity again?~

She giggled like a teenager and lifted the sheet to take a look.

“Just what do you think you are doing, Dakira Izzy?”

“Nothing! Nothing, not doing anything,” she said, quickly snatching her hand away as Prime’s voice echoed from the ceiling.

~Busted.~

She stifled a smile as she moved the sheet back up to cover him and shook her head to clear her thoughts, trying to focus on his face, rather than where her mind wanted to take her.

“I spoke to Prime. She showed me your message,” she said, unsure how to continue.

“I suppose this is easier with you unconscious. I don’t think I could talk to you like this if you were awake. You get close to me and my brains just fly out the window.

“That’s why I ran away from you that night when, well, you know. I didn’t hear what you said. Even though Miran tried to get me to see the other side. Not until Prime showed me.

“How there are lives depending on you to keep them safe and you don’t want to risk them. I get it. I have two little lives that depend on me too, and when I become queen, I guess that will expand a lot.

“The decisions I will make will be life and death for some people of the Realm.” She trailed off, not sure where she was going in this one-sided conversation.

“Thing is, Mikhlas, when you were down in that ring fighting for your life, I was so scared. Vayth could smell it, and he asked me why.”

She stepped closer to him, concentrating on the shape of his chin so she wouldn’t have to look at his closed eyes.

“It made me realize how I truly felt about you. The thought that if you died, I’d never get to sort out this thing between us and tell you.

“I know we haven’t known each other very long, and it seems like madness when I look at it, but I can’t change how I feel about you.

“I can’t shut off my emotions like that, even if you think you are a bad man for the things you’ve been forced to do.”

She stepped closer again, leaning over the bed and resting one hand on his shoulder. “I choose you to be my King, Mikhlas, because I’ve fallen in love with you,” she whispered.

She looked at his lips, so close under the nanite film. ~Well, he kissed me once without permission.~

She leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, ignoring the slick feeling of the nanite film that covered him.

“Are we there yet? I’m sleepy,” Lucas’s demanding voice broke the beautiful moment into a thousand pieces as she stepped back trying to compose herself.

“We haven’t seen the whole ship yet, Lucas. I’m just following the same line as you,” James replied.

“Boys!” Izzy said, walking to the doorway and seeing them walk down the corridor. Lucas wore a pair of Star Wars pajamas and James wore some kind of thick, warm-looking robe.

“What are you doing up so late? You should be asleep.”

“But we heard about the fight, Mom, and snuck out—”

“It’s my fault, Mom,” James said, overriding his brother. “I overheard Iry talking to Prime about the fight, and Lucas followed me. Is Mikhlas okay?”

“You watched it!” Izzy said in her best mom tone and crossed her arms.

“We only saw a bit of it, I promise,” James said. “I didn’t think Lucas should watch it, but then I got worried about Mikhlas and couldn’t go back to sleep.”

He looked at her with those big blue eyes of his, and she couldn’t stay mad. She held her arms out to him and he came to her, wrapping one arm around her waist.

“He’ll be okay,” she said, tousling his blond hair. “Prime is working her nanite magic on him. He’ll be up and about in no time, but you two should be back in bed, same as me.”

“You sure, Mom? I like Mikhlas,” Lucas said.

She bent over and picked him up, thinking she wouldn’t be able to do so for much longer before he got too big. “I’m sure. You’ll see him in the morning.”

A dozen steps down the corridor and the sleepy voice next to her ear asked, “Why was he fighting the scary blue alien, Mom?”

“Because he had to. Not because he wanted to.”

“Did he win?” Lucas asked, then yawned.

“Yes, dear, he won,” she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. ~But when I am queen, no one shall be forced to fight like that.~