Chapter 21

Connie

“That is twice you have insulted a member of the royal family today. Shall I call my nieces and nephew, so you may insult them too?”

The masked man came out of the shadows and walked slowly toward me.

~Great! This is all I need now.~

“I’m not in the mood to be made fun of again, so excuse me, I will be leaving now,” I said, and a stray tear slipped out of my eye.

“Wait,” he called. I stopped in a huff and turned to glare at him, my arms crossed over my chest.

“Forgive my brother, he is not usually so mean. And even though you feel like the center of this joke, I assure you it is me he is making fun of.”

“Yeah, well it doesn’t feel like it. He knew all along who you were, and what happened on the ship. He could have said something,” I said, looking at the ground.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

“For what?”

“For the way my brother has behaved. For hurting you and embarrassing you, and for what happened on the Ful ship.”

He came closer and stopped in front of me. I looked up at his mask, and at his eyes underneath it.

“Why did you do that? Why did you want to kill them?”

“It was not my intention. I did not know the air on the ship was adapted with oxygen,” he said, dropping his gaze.

“But you could breathe on the ship, didn’t that give you a hint?”

“My mask supplies me with air if I am in an atmosphere that I cannot breathe. I would not have noticed if the air was different.”

I shook my head and another tear fell from my eyes. “I feel like such an idiot.”

The man gently raised his hand to my face and wiped the tear from my cheek. “You are anything but. My brother played us both from the beginning.

“He was watching me on the Ful ship, and it was he who commanded the guards to not react to the way you spoke to me and to leave the ship.”

I cringed at the memory of what I’d said to him. I would never have spoken to him like that had I known he was the prince.

“I’m sorry for the things I said to you. I didn’t know who you were, and I thought you were trying to rob us or hurt my friends,” I said quietly.

“There is no need to apologize. You fought for them, even though I do not understand why,” he said, stepping back. I looked up at him.

“Why wouldn’t I? They are my friends, and you were hurting them.”

“The Ful scholars are not usually friends with their test subjects. It took me by surprise.”

“Let’s just say that we have an understanding. I let them study me, and in return, they show me the universe. Something my people have never done before.

“They don’t hurt me—they just ask a lot of annoying questions,” I smiled, knowing that Billy and Bob were listening.

“Will you walk with me?” The man gestured toward the path that led through the dark trees. I paused for a moment, looking at him then at the darkness.

“There is nothing to be afraid of. These are the private gardens of the palace, the safest place on this planet, and I don’t bite,” he said, and I heard the smile in his voice.

I gave in and smiled. “Fine. But I need to take these off first,” I said, grabbing his arm for balance and reaching down to remove my high heels.

The path was made of dirt, and I didn’t want to make an even bigger fool of myself by falling over.

I carried the shoes in my hands, and we walked slowly into the trees.

“What’s your name?” I asked him.

“Raylon, crown prince of the Vara king. But just Raylon will be fine.”

“I’m Constance Elizabeth Andrews, but just Connie will be fine.” I smiled.

“What brings you to our kingdom?”

“Adventure. Curiosity. Billy and Bob said that I can go anywhere I want, as long as I let them study my human nature.

“They told me about this place, and it sounded interesting.”

“Billy and Bob?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I know they’re silly names, but when they first abducted me, I was drunk, and drunk Connie has some pretty stupid ideas.”

“Like agreeing to be the focus of an experiment with a race of aliens you have never met?”

That made me laugh more. “Yep, just like that.”

“How long will you be in the kingdom?”

“I don’t know. I planned for five days, to explore, but with your brother being an asshole—” I paused and remembered who I was talking about and to. “Sorry,” I said.

“No need. I believe the term ‘asshole’ is an appropriate description of my brother and his behavior tonight.”

“Well, with your brother being such an asshole, I don’t think I will be welcome here for much longer.”

“Do not worry yourself over my brother. He will feel terrible about this in the morning. As for being welcome in the kingdom, consider yourself a guest of the prince.”

“Thank you. That’s very kind, but I don’t know if I want to stay here now. Not after I was treated like that by the king. I can only imagine what everyone else is going to be like.”

“We are not all bad.” He stopped at the edge of a lake and gestured for me to look out.

The huge, dark lake stretched out for what seemed like miles. Trees circled it, and the bright-blue moon above us was full, its rings glowing against the dark night.

“Oh…God, that is so beautiful,” I murmured.

“Yes, but deadly,” he said. He bent over and picked up a pebble from the bank of the lake.

He threw it into the air, and as soon as it broke the surface, the water boiled and turned into a luminescent blue glow.

“What is that?”

“Timix. Little blue creatures that live at the bottom of the lake and eat anything that enters the water. Hundreds of thousands of them live there. They’re fed once a week.”

“You guys feed them?” I asked with a smile.

He turned to me and turned his head to the side, and said, “Yes.”

That brought a smile to my face.

“You approve?” he asked.

“Just because something is dangerous doesn’t mean it deserves to die. Look at this, it’s beautiful,” I said looking back out at the glowing blue lake.

“Yes, it is,” he said, not turning away from me. I felt my cheeks grow hot, and I bowed my head, smiling. At my bare feet, I saw the little crab-like creatures coming toward my toes.

I jumped back with a squeal and grabbed Raylon’s arm to catch my balance. His hand held my arm gently, and with the other, he steadied me at my back.

“Careful. These creatures can devour a man in minutes. Their bite dulls the pain, so you do not know you are being eaten,” he said, his mask close to my face, his eyes staring into mine.

Why did he wear this metal cover all the time? What was he hiding under there? I wanted to see his face—to look at him, not the mask.

“Do you ever take it off?” I asked, still conscious of his hand on my back.

He let me go and turned away. “No. Only my family has seen my face.”

“Why?” I knew I shouldn’t push. It was none of my business, but my curiosity was getting the better of me.

He stepped away from me, saying, “I must return to the palace. My brother will be looking for me. I will walk you to the shuttle and have it take you back to your ship.”

He turned away from the lake, and onto the path.

~Shit, I shouldn’t have said that.~

I caught up to him on the path, my shoes in my hands, and we walked quicker back to the palace.

“I’m sorry, it’s none of my business,” I said. “I didn’t mean to upset you.” I hoped my apology would register with him.

Billy and Bob, and their million questions a day were rubbing off on me.

“Do not think of it. I take no offense,” he said, picking up the pace.

~Obviously!~

We cleared the trees, almost running, and went over to a large flat landing bay. I turned to the sky, and a small shuttle lowered itself in front of us.

As the door opened, Raylon gestured for me to get in and waited by the entrance.

“Thank you,” I said to him.

“For what?”

“Despite everything with your brother, I had a nice evening…with you.” I smiled and turned into the ship.

The door closed behind me, and the shuttle lifted into the air.