Reja

Reja

Her skin was impossibly soft and I ran my fingers along her cheek as if I hadn’t a care. God, I so adored her deep lavender eyes. Lounging together in the tall grasses overlooking the ocean, she saw me, and I, her. But it was an impossible dream, for I was human, one of dozens at the Oordian Embassy here on Earth. She was my assignment – protecting the Reja’s daughter. Even touching Xylenya risked an agonizing death if we were discovered. Still, her gaze was intoxicating.

“Brennigh, copy?” my comm signaled, bringing me back to reality, the rhythm of the waves against the shore and the hum of a half dozen security drones returning.

“I’m here, Sanchez. What’s up?”

“The Reja’s ship just dropped from hyperspace and’ll be arriving in the hour. Better head back. They’ll be expecting the princess.”

“Gotcha. Hey, you have any idea what this is all about?”

“Way above my pay grade, man. Just get back here.”

“Will do,” I replied. “Looks like our little retreat is over,” I smiled, rising and straightening my gun harness.

Xylenya rolled onto her back, her pearlescent skin glistening like stardust. Anxiously, she turned the ends of an ancient Oordian blade in her fingertips, her mind lost in the clouds.

“You’ll cut yourself,” I teased.

Grinning demurely, she replied, “This dagger is from my Initium, as intimate to me as my affection for you.”

“We should go.”

“Your world is a paradise. I would lay here forever, if it was up to me,” she sighed, “but it’s not.”

Helping her up, her gown caught the breeze. She was like an angel, more captivating than any woman I’d ever met, human or otherwise. Xylenya tucked her knife away and kissed me gently on the lips, pressing herself into my chest. “What I would give to spend my days with you – my title, all that I own.”

“I wish I could give as much, but if they ever discovered…”

“I know,” she lamented, stepping away. “Someday…”

Alarms blared and our drones’ indicators shifted from blue to red. “Remain still!” they commanded in unison, guns turning on us.

A shadow suddenly broke through the clouds. “Oracle’s breath!” Xylenya exclaimed. “He’s here!”

“Your father?”

“Don’t call him that. He’s a brutal tyrant, a contemptible stranger to me.”

Polished durasteel caught the sunlight, deep luminous etchings flowing elegantly along its slender keel. Atop the hull, charged Ionic syphons extended up and away, like the azure sails of a glorious yacht now covering us in shadow. Finally, landing struts dug into the hillside and a slender ramp descended from a towering ornate doorway.

The first to emerge were the Royal Order, the Reja’s personal guard. Next were the lavishly kept concubines, followed by the attendants. Finally, a deep reverberating groan announced the descent of the Reja, and he drifted down upon a richly adorned hovering dais, his closest consorts at his feet. Stopping at Xylenya, he extended his hand. “Greetings, daughter.”

“Your highness,” she kissed his ring. Only the Reja’s heirs dared to get so close.

“Rise,” he glowered down upon her. “You’ve been busy.”

“Excellency?”

The Reja motioned to me. “This…peasant.”

“My bodyguard?”

“Your lover!” he accused, mouth drawn into a scowl. “I see everything,” our drones landed neatly beside him. “As first heir, you are to be pure of physical contact, now infected by this wretch.”

“I assure you I…”

“Dared to let him touch you!” he scolded. “The insolence! You taint our house with his filth!” A simple gesture and his guards restrained me.

“Forgive me! Father, I…” she pleaded.

“Spare me your indignity,” he leaned in, glaring devilishly. “Be assured, we shall beat the infection out of you. First, however, I shall filet him…”

Her Oordian dagger entered beneath his jaw, eyes widening in immediate shock as his body went limp. Withdrawing the blade, she ran her fingers along its edge, placing a spot of his blood upon her forehead.

Instantly, the guards released me and every attendant dropped to their knees, facing her.

“What…what did you do?”

“What I had to,” Xylenya admitted. “On my world, there are two ways to ascend the throne, but both are through death. This way is more unfortunate, but necessary for this sca’avak. Now, as the new Reja...”

“Should I be afraid?” I interrupted, suddenly chilled by the unexpected brutality of it.

She placed her blood soaked fingertip upon my forehead, marking me as protected, before kissing me passionately on the lips. “Not anymore.”