Chapter 4

Arccoo

The mansion made for an ideal hiding place thanks to human superstitions about life continuing on after death. This irrational fear aroused such an intense reaction in them that they avoided “haunted” places as if the very ground itself were cursed. He’d observed this from the windows in high rooms looking out over the building’s surroundings. Children looked up with cautious fascination while adults crossed the street to put as much distance between them and his temporary home as possible.

Their avoidance wasn’t conscious. It was automatic, instinctual, he thought. Without looking up from their primitive devices, their feet simply carried them to the opposite sidewalk.

Carmen’s second sibling—the human preference of not numbering children was still strange to him—explained the phenomenon to him over coffee.

“We are terrified of the dead. Terrified .” Sofia took a deep gulp from her massive mug. “Which doesn’t make sense. The paranormal is proof that we go on. It should be accepted, embraced, even celebrated. Instead, we run from it.”

“Why is that?” Arccoo asked, setting his own mug down with grace. Royal muscle memory was not easily cast aside.

Sofia flung her ponytail over her shoulder and brought the mug up to her thin mouth. “Because accepting that ghosts exist means we’d have to admit that we’re mortal. We Earthlings like to believe we live forever. Until we don’t.”

While Arccoo didn’t see the reasoning in being fearful of a dead person, he couldn’t deny that his own people were equally repelled and fascinated by the end of life. That was why honoring traditions was so important to the Thryal as a way of carrying their ancestors with them.

The words of his elder father whispered in the halls of his subconscious: We walk the paths of the first and all those who walked after. Let their knowledge be our wisdom.

The solitude of the mansion served his purposes at first. He was free to wander the grounds and piece together the mystery of this blue planet while tinkering and repairing his ship’s hardware to jerry-rig a way out. At least he successfully opened the beacon. The gadget was designed to survive the most extreme situations the universe could throw at it. Even if Arccoo slipped into the band of a hungry star and burned to ash, the beacon would emit a signal back to his people, alerting them of his final location.

Once he realized that his only hope was to wait for the sentry ship to arrive, the solitude began to eat at his nerves. Being away from Thryal chipped away at his spirit.

Then Carmen arrived.

Her exuberance filled the dark and dusty halls with a light brighter than a blufire crystal. Watching her moving through the many rooms and corridors as if seeking a hidden code to her existence was like being touched by the cosmos itself. He recognized a kindred searcher behind her big, longing eyes. She, in some ways, was a human reflection of his inner self. Where he concealed his wayward spirit behind a regal exterior, she exuded it with every step.

Since birth, the eyes of an entire people had been on him. When he began visiting other planets in the name of duty, he was only a prince—distant, unattainable. Now, occupying the mansion with Carmen made him feel as though he had traversed endless seas of worlds to finally find someone who saw the true him.

After their encounter under the moon, he had trouble untethering his mind from the warmth of her full lips. They were softer than Maresian silk, and he wanted nothing more than to feel them again.

Kissing a human was a singular experience. Of course, on Thryal, a kiss was a statement, a reminder of a connection between individuals.

Not so with Carmen. Life passed through her skin. She was sharing some of her essence with him and the intimacy energized his desire. He didn’t think it was possible to connect with such power. The only word he could think of to describe it was intoxicating.

No wonder humans feared death. They were bursting with life.

The following day was treacherous. For one thing, he assumed Carmen would not want Sofia and Elena to know she had been embracing an alien lifeform. Most species were reluctant to accept a culture that was not their own, but humanity took their phobia to such an extreme that they went to war based on skin pigmentation. How would they feel about someone with gray skin?

The other problem was his duty. He had a responsibility to his people. Romantic entanglements were frowned upon for royals. Marriages were strictly conveniences. Love got in the way of serving the people. They were who mattered now. Not his silly obsession with a human.

She wore away at his resolve, however. He noticed a bit of awkwardness around him at first, especially when her sisters were present. Her statements were clipped. She never looked at him. Her body language was stiff and closed off.

This made him anxious. Had he done something wrong? Was she ashamed?

Toward the end of the day, both Elena and Sofia announced they had plans and would be gone for the rest of the night. Upon hearing this, he noticed Carmen glance at him from the corner of her eye.

When they were alone, he cleared his throat. “I will get some work done,” he said, the formality in his voice making his skin crawl.

Her eyebrows arched in surprise. “Oh,” she said. “Okay.”

He sensed reluctance, which kept his legs in place.

“Um…” She pulled at her fingers. She wanted to say something. He could tell by the way her expression changed. Finally, with a big sigh, she spoke. “Do you want some dinner?”

They cooked together. She was a maestro, conducting a symphony of flavors, and instructing him on temperatures, boiling times, and seasoning mixtures. She was comfortable with him and showed it. The way she spoke and swayed told him that the shell she’d been trapped in all day had been cast off.

“We can’t cook without music,” she said after a few minutes. She chose a song with the kind of rhythm that even made him want to move. She was possessed by it. Even while explaining something, her legs shimmied and her hips glided from side to side.

The effect was captivating. Her shape was so different from the women back home, he thought again. They were appealing in their way, but the way her body flowed in graceful peaks and valleys kept his eyes drawn to every curve as they evolved with each movement.

At one point, she raised her hands above her head, lifting her shirt just enough for him to catch a glimpse of what waited beneath. The preview was subtle, barely anything, but it set his mind ablaze. The urge to take Carmen in his arms threatened to consume him. It took all of his etiquette training to smother the fire and maintain his composure.

As they ate, Carmen told him all about her family, about the happiest holidays she could remember, the embarrassing moments that still made her blush, and the regret she felt for not making more of her life.

Then she turned the conversation around. “What about you?”

“What about me?”

“I’m blabbing about a bunch of boring stuff you don’t care about.” She laughed. “You’re from space! Tell me about that.”

He wiped the side of his mouth. “I don’t have any interesting stories,” he told her. “I find your life much more interesting.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “There’s no way hearing about the time I sneezed on the back of Brian Fleck’s shoulder during chorus in third grade is anywhere as interesting as literally traveling through space.”

“You’d be surprised,” Arccoo told her.

She wasn’t having it. “I don’t buy it,” she said, giving him a mischievous glare.

He held up his hands in defeat. “Okay,” he said. “Why don’t we do it this way? Ask me anything you like. I will do my best to answer.”

Adopting a comically exaggerated thinking face, she tapped her chin and squinted. “Where’s your favorite place to visit back home?”

That was easy. “The falls,” he said.

“Is that like Niagara Falls?” Carmen asked.

Arccoo shrugged. He’d never heard of the place. “The falls are a series of cliffs that look out over an immense valley,” he explained. “You can see all the way down to the shimmering layer far below the crust of the world. On the way down, there are plateaus with wide fields where all manner of beasts run.” Once he started talking about it, he found himself struggling to stop. “It’s almost like seeing into the past.”

“That’s amazing,” Carmen told him. “Do you miss it?”

“I do,” he said. “I miss it very much.”

“Why did you come here?” Carmen asked. “Of all the incredible places out there to visit, why Earth?”

He’d been waiting for this question. It was only natural that she’d be curious, but revealing his mission to someone from another species was typically to be avoided. She rested her head on the back of her hands, looking up at him like an inquisitive young one waiting for a story. Nothing was typical about the way she made him feel. Damn the consequences. He was going to tell her.

“As I said yesterday, the role of the second child is to be an emissary,” he said. “Since I’m not in line to rule, I maintain connections with other worlds by showing up for big meetings and dinners and things.”

“Exciting,” Carmen said.

“It’s all theatrics,” the prince explained. “We make a show of our relationships to remain allies. No genuine connections are being made.” He sipped his wine. It was drier than he was used to but not unpleasant. “Over the last few years, a disease has started spreading throughout my people. Our doctors have determined that it began as a dormant virus that slowly mutated over time. We didn’t even know it was there.”

Sadness touched Carmen’s face. He appreciated that she understood the gravity of what he was saying.

“There is a tool called parantaa,” he continued. “We have stories from distant ages that tell of its ability to cure any disease. I came here looking for it.”

“Why would it be here?” Carmen asked. “If it can do what you said, why wouldn’t you hold on to it?”

“The stories say that the parantaa is also dangerous. It can be a great weapon. So, it was hidden. After centuries, someone found it. They attempted to turn Thryal into a planet of conquest. The war that resulted was long and hideous. The parantaa was taken off world.”

Carmen finished her wine. She stretched, arching her back. Her hair cascaded behind her like a waterfall at night, making his pectorals quiver. “That’s so sad,” she said. When she looked at him, her gaze pieced into his own.

“Would you like to hear some music?” Desperate to change the mood, the question blurted out from his trembling mouth. “You’ve played me some of yours. It’s only fair.”

She was ecstatic. He took her up to the conservatory where the acoustics were best and selected the serenade his parents danced to at parties.

“It’s beautiful,” Carmen told him. Her eyes were closed, her head tilted to the side. She looked as though she were experiencing the music rather than listening to it.

He liked watching her. She seemed to understand the melody without knowing the tragic story behind it. He was about to explain the legend that inspired the song when she spoke first. “Will you dance with me?”

She held out a hand. He held his breath and took it.

Without saying a word, she moved into him, pressing herself against his frame. Done with fighting his temptations, he put an arm around her lower back and pulled her in closer. She didn’t fight or protest. Instead, she let out a quiet, tantalizing moan.

Her hand grazed his forearm. His flesh was shimmering in the light. “I love the way you shine,” she said. Then she looked up at him, and he saw the same fire blazing in her that raged within himself.

No more words.

His lips found hers without guidance. That same sense of sharing returned, and it coursed through him with dangerous purpose. He needed more. He brought his other arm around her and brought her even deeper against his front.

He’d never known someone could make him feel like this, but he didn’t want it to end.

Her arms coiled along his shoulders and around the back of his neck. Her lips parted, inviting his top lip to enter. They were losing themselves with each other, the music guiding the rhythm of their breathing. As it grew, their breaths quickened, triggering explosions along his spine and raising the fine hairs along his limbs.

When the music faded, their embrace continued, too strong to stop now.

After her sisters returned, Carmen went to bed. He said he needed rest as well. When he reached the top of the stairs, he noticed her down the hall, glancing back at him. Her teeth were biting into her lower lip. Was she inviting him to her room? Could they continue their dance from the conservatory? Would they take it further?

Then she said goodnight and disappeared behind the door. Sleep did not come for him until the sun began to rise.

Unlike before, Carmen didn’t avoid him during the day. Instead, she would take any free moment to pull him into a secret space, hidden from her sisters, and their passion would ignite all over again. He noticed the way she lingered around him more. He saw she wore clothing that revealed more and more of herself to him. He sensed she liked the way he looked at her.

He had another sense as well. Every instinct inside him said they were reaching a point of no return. If they continued this way, their bond would strengthen to a point where breaking it would be difficult and painful. As much as he wanted that, and sometimes needed that, he had a job to do.

A sentry ship was on the way. He was certain of that. He even told her that. If he didn’t stop himself now, his people may be doomed.